In what Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) called the "Superbowl of Freedom," several thousand right-wing activists chanting "kill the bill!" descended on the West Lawn of the Capitol yesterday to protest health care reform. The event was organized by Bachmann and Americans for Prosperity (AFP) -- the billionaire-funded astroturf machine -- and endorsed by GOP lawmakers. With promotional help from Fox News and conservative radio, organizers called the event "an emergency house call on Congress" to stop heath care reform. Bachmann urged her followers to "scare" members of Congress, saying, "Nothing scares members of Congress more than freedom-loving Americans." Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) pandered to the crowd, saying, "Pelosi care is the greatest threat to freedom I've seen in my 19 years in Washington." While conservatives touted a crowd size of up to a million protesters, Capitol Police estimated the crowd was more likely around 4,000. As has become the norm at Tea Parties rallies, some of imagery was radical and offensive, with one prominent sign showing a gruesome an image of dead Holocaust victims to warn that the Democratic health care plan will do the same for Americans. The protests came on the same day as two key groups in the health care debate -- the American Medical Association and the American Association of Retired Persons -- endorsed the House Democrats' health care bill. The White House "seemed to pay little attention to events happening only blocks away," and House Democratic leadership is confident that the bill will pass this weekend.

ASTROTURFING: AFP, the corporate front-group founded in the 1980s by Koch Industries billionaire David Koch, worked closely with Bachmann to orchestrate the anti-health reform rally, encouraging right-wing activists to board their buses free of charge. Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) praised the protesters for arriving at the Capitol without any assistance, but AFP's own staffers told The Progress Report that their group sent about 40 buses. Rep. Steve King (R-IA), a key promoter of the event, praised AFP for chartering the buses, saying it's "as if Paul Revere had ridden across America." The Progress Report found at least a dozen AFP staffers standing at their designated bus drop off point near the Capitol, handing out signs, directions, talking points, petitions, and donuts to protesters. AFP's daily activities are managed by Tim Phillips, an infamous astroturf lobbyist who built a career using Christian front groups to wage stealth campaigns. For example, his work includes fighting under the radar to promote energy deregulation for Enron and helping notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff's clients. AFP and FreedomWorks have been instrumental in orchestrating dozens of anti-Obama tea parties and town hall disruptions. The Tea Party Patriots' listserv is managed by FreedomWorks staffer Tom Gaitens.

THE GOP TEA PARTY: Yesterday's "HouseCall" represented the GOP's strongest endorsement yet of Tea Party activism. The Tea Partiers have branded themselves as anti-government independents and many in the GOP have kept their distance thus far. But unlike the much larger 9/12 protests, which were chiefly promoted by Fox News personality Glenn Beck, elected Republican officials were the biggest cheerleaders for yesterday's rally. As MSNBC's Domenico Montanaro notes, "While other groups certainly got people to show up, the folks who came here ultimately came at the invitation of the Republican Party." In addition to "endless lineup of rank-and-file lawmakers and conservative All Stars" -- there were at least 60 GOP lawmakers on the stage -- party leaders like Boehner, Whip Eric Cantor (VA) and Conference Chairman Mike Pence (IA) all spoke, praising the activists and giving their full-throated support to the rally. As Politico's Johnathan Allen noted, "By the time activists started arriving at the foot of the Capitol around 8:30 a.m., it was clear no Republican leader could stay away." And while the crowd was "staunchly anti-government," -- "Politicians lie, people die" read one sign --  it "loudly cheered the House Republicans" when they spoke.

A RALLY BUT NO SOLUTION: Asked about the protest during his daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "There is a rally going on without a solution on their side." Indeed, the recently released GOP alternative bill does little to address the problems facing the American health care system. The Congressional Budget Office found that the GOP bill would only insure about 3 million Americans, leaving 52 million without coverage while doing nothing to prevent discrimination for people with pre-existing conditions, as Boehner himself admitted. And because the plan allows coverage to be purchased across state lines, insurance companies would be permitted to ignore "all of the consumer protection laws or restrictions on rate changes of the state." The overall goal of the GOP proposal is to reduce costs, but millions of Americans would remain uninsured and continue to pay higher premiums. In fact, many members of the Republican House Leadership would likely be unable to find affordable insurance under their own proposal, should they chose to give up their government-sponsored plans. Republican leaders hosted an 12-hour-long web-cast "townhall" yesterday to defend their health-care proposal and "kill" the Democratic bill. The event, dubbed "Pelosi Plan Exposed: 12 Truths about PelosiCare and Republican Alternatives," stuck to right-wing talking points about the government "taking over" the health care system and did little to present the GOP plan as a rational alternative to the Democratic plan.

A new labor report today indicates that the U.S. economy lost 190,000 jobs last month. Unemployment rose to 10.2 percent in October, the highest rate since April 1983 and "much higher than analysts expected."

Nidal M. Hasan's name "appears on radical Internet postings," including "posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades." A fellow officer says Hasan "argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars," and while an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan reportedly had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision.

President Obama will make his first visit as president to Walter Reed Army Medical Center this afternoon. The White House says it scheduled the visit before the fatal shootings at Fort Hood yesterday. Obama is also pushing back a planned trip to Capitol Hill "aimed at discussing the proposed health care overhaul with lawmakers" from today to Saturday.

House Democratic leaders are trying to secure 218 votes to pass a health care reform bill this weekend. Of the 258 House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) -- while "confident of victory" -- is "working to limit defections to the roughly 25 Democrats viewed as 'hard no' votes."

The editorial boards of both the New York Times and the Washington Post today sharply criticized Congress' plans to expand a home buyer's tax credit as stimulus. "This costly giveaway to the real estate and mortgage industry will spend far more in taxpayers' dollars than it can ever deliver in economic benefit," writes the Times. The Post called the extension "a bad idea."

President Obama made a surprise appearance at yesterday's White House press briefing where he announced that the AARP and the American Medical Association endorsed health care reform legislation drafted by House Democrats. AARP CEO Barry Rand told reporters that the bill meets the goals of "making coverage affordable to our younger members and protecting Medicare for seniors."

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has warned that he will not seek re-election, an indication that President Obama's push for a Middle East peace deal "has fallen into disarray." Abbas' move comes among "tensions over the administration's failure to extract an Israeli settlement freeze or any concessions from Arab leaders."

The former chairman of Citigroup, John S. Reed, apologized for his role in leading the legislative charge that led to the merger that created the megabank. He said it was a mistake for Congress to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act and endorsed the breaking up of big banks.

Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik "pleaded guilty to charges of lying to Bush administration officials who vetted his unsuccessful 2004 nomination to be homeland security secretary." Kerik, a close friend of Rudy Giuliani's, "admitted to eight counts as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, who are recommending a 27- to 33-month prison term."

And finally: A dramatic reading of Levi Johnston's tweets by William Shatner.

 by Scarecrow  http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/13221

photo: Old Sarge via Flickr

We’re going to get more jobs/unemployment numbers today [Update: numbers have just been released. "The United States economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in September. . . ."], and as soon as they’re out, the first question everyone is going to ask is “where’s the Administration’s jobs program?”

For that matter, where’s the White House on the big questions that need strong leadership?

Steve Benen started an interesting discussion about the direction/priorities Democrats should be pursuing following Tuesday’s elections. More from Yglesias. He follows up in this post, posing three possible strategies:

* Go Big: These are Dems who want to generate excitement within the party’s base, and run in 2010 on a lengthy record of accomplishments. They envision a scenario in which Dems can pass health care reform, a climate change bill, financial reform, an education bill, immigration reform, and a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before the end of next year. It’s ambitious, but doable, and would prove that Dems know how to get things done.

* Go Home: These are center-right Dems, generally from “red” states and districts, who believe every one of the votes the Go Big crowd wants is like a nail in the proverbial coffin. They’ll drive “independents” away; reinforce negative stereotypes of the party; and motivate the right wing. It’s better to scale back, the Go Home contingent believes, slam on the brakes, and focus on issues like deficit reduction.

* Take A Detour: These Dems don’t want to crawl into a hole, but they say it’s time to reshuffle the party’s priorities. The wish list can remain long, just so long as Democrats limit their ambitions, keep issues like the economy on top, and relegate issues like DADT repeal to the bottom. If Dems focus on job creation, the elections will take care of themselves.

Go Big strikes me as the smart course, but I’m not unsympathetic to the Take A Detour crowd. . . .

I’d reverse that and redefine the third strategy. I agree the “go home crowd” should do us all a favor and get out of the way; they’re not helping the Democrats or the country, and as Yglesias notes, they have no solutions, for all the hand wringing they’re doing. On the other hand, “take a detour” isn’t a choice; it’s a necessity.

We simply have to do much more to put Americans back to work. Getting unemployment well below it’s projected 10 percent (15 percent is more realistic) as rapidly as we can is a moral imperative. It’s simply unacceptable to leave things at that level, but that’s what we’re probably looking at for the next year without a major effort to change it. And, is there any debate that it’s a political imperative for Democrats in 2010?

Go Big may sounds attractive, but I honestly don’t know what “go big” even means, given the lack of strong leadership (or worse) coming from this White House. The list of things that need major overhaul is daunting, but so far, the White House has been at best compromised on diagnosis and even weaker on follow through. Who is to lead this “go big” strategy?

The remaining strength of the health reform bill depends largely on how far Nancy Pelosi and fellow progressives can push the Blue Dogs and on whether Harry Reid can manage his opportunistic colleagues, none of whom are “go big” types. If there’s any meaningful help coming from Rahm/Obama, it’s well hidden.

Yesterday, the Republican leadership embraced their party’s extremism at a Bachmann rally on the Capitol steps. It was an astonishing, frightening spectacle that proved beyond doubt how (1) crazy, (2) dishonest (3) detached from reality and (4) irresponsible the party has become.

I don’t know whether Obama ever believed he could work with a party that has sought to demonize and deligitimize him since January, told him they want him to fail, and is now recklessly toying with an angry, manipulated populist insurrection. But there’s no excuse for such delusions now.

With the Republicans now completely irrelevant (see their “health reform plan”) and running from all governing responsibility, all the President’s attention should be directed at helping Congressional Democratic leaders hold their caucus together and improve the health reform bill. It’s not about Obama’s agenda; it’s about their platform for 2010.

The next jobs/stimulus bill should be drafted now and signed before Christmas, even as they push to get a better health reform bill out as soon as they fix the political mess that Baucus/Rahm left Reid. A financial regulatory reform bill should be right behind, one strong enough to convince Geithner and Summers to resign. Perhaps Congress now understands what a liability they’ve become.

If the House can’t find enough weatherization, renewable energy, healthcare, teacher, infrastructure, reclamation and conservation jobs to fund, just ask the governors and majors. They’ve had their lists for years, and their worsening budgets are killing the recovery.

More:
Paul Krugman, Obama’s Faces His Anzio (and why we need more jobs/stimulus):

If the Democrats lose badly in the midterms, the talking heads will say that Mr. Obama tried to do too much, this is a center-right nation, and so on. But the truth is that Mr. Obama put his agenda at risk by doing too little. The fateful decision, early this year, to go for economic half-measures may haunt Democrats for years to come.

And James Galbraith was right: No Return to Normal
But Republicans are wrong: Bruce Bartlett

 by Raw Story http://rawstory.com/2009/11/exblue-cross-spokesman-health-insurance-worst-product-american-history/

Teaming with the liberal Brave New Films, a former Blue Cross pitchman is now pitching against Blue Cross.

Andy Cobb, who once tried to sell Floridians on a Blue Cross health insurance plan, says he's fed up with the industry.

"I was a spokesman for BlueCross and Blueshield of Florida," Cobb says. "Call me a spokesjerk. People who make money for buying things you don't need. And we're telling you lies."

"They, by which I mean I, make money by standing in the way of reform," Cobb says in the ad, which appears as a spoof of something like a freecreditreport.com ad. "It's time for change."

"That's why I'm calling on leaders from the spokesjerk industry," Cobb continues. "The freecreditreport.com guy. The Shamwow dude. And Senator Bill Nelson, recipient of big money from insurance companies -- to lead us. To walk away from their cash cows and tell American people the truth.

"And us spokesjerks, we'll be fine," Cobb adds. "There's plenty of room in entertainment for people who tried to sell you the worst product in American history. Private health insurance."

Paul Ryan May Be Beloved Of Corporate Fatcats But He Doesn't Lift A Finger For Ordinary Wisconsin Working Families

Representative Ryan, What Are You Doing To Save Jobs In Your District?

-by Dave Sherbula

Harley-Davidson is shutting down the Buell motorcycle plant in East Troy, WI-- down the road from me-- in the next week or so. It was founded by Erik Buell and he makes the best motorcycles manufactured in the USA. He uses Harley motors, and Harley bought the company. Harley is now shutting it down with the loss of about one hundred eighty jobs. People who love motorcycles are outraged because Harley will not sell the brand to anyone who wants to keep it going. They are insisting on shutting it down. You can hear the emotional, moving farewell by founder Erik Buell on the video below.

This is Paul Ryan's district and it was like Janesville all over again-- Janesville being his own hometown where no one noticed him making any serious attempt to save the GM SUV plant earlier this year. That plant closure cost Janesville about 2,000 jobs. We all saw Senator Russ Feingold, another Janesville native, and Governor Jim Doyle go to bat for the plant.

Fiat Chrysler announced it was going forward with closing the last remnant of the old American Motors plant in Kenosha, WI that builds Jeep motors, costing another 900 or so jobs.

We are bleeding jobs in WI-01. What do you plan to do about it, Representative Ryan? Tax cuts and smaller government would not have saved these jobs. You were elected to represent all the constituents in our district-- not just the wealthy ones. Where are your ideas to put the thousands of people to work in our district who are now unemployed? How are you going to help lead the effort to replace these well paying manufacturing jobs?

What have you done?

Regulation Going Backwards

 by Steve Benen http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020840.php

 by Rich Miller http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2009/11/06/more-kirkpalin-fallout/