THE GANGS OF DC

According to Alec MacGillis, a “reporter” on the national staff of the Washington Post, it’s all the Senate’s fault:

Wonder why President Obama is having a hard time enacting his agenda after sweeping to victory and with large congressional majorities on his side?

Look to the Senate, the chamber designed to thwart popular will.

Looks like Alec missed out on high-school civics. The United States is a republic, not a democracy. James Madison (Remember him? Founding Father? Fourth President?) defined a republic in terms of representative democracy as opposed to direct democracy.

There is much grousing on the left about the filibuster, the threat of which has taken such hold that routine bills now need 60 votes. Getting less attention is the undemocratic character of the Senate itself.

What really frosts MacGillis is the Senate’s resistance to health–care reform. Never mind that voters in all states are expressing concern; the “little people” don’t know what’s in their best interest.

Why, for example, have even Democratic senators been resistant on health-care reform? It might be because so many of the key players represent so few of the voters who carried Obama to victory -- and so few of the nation's uninsured.

Six states that are among the least populous in the country; Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Maine, New Mexico and Iowa hold 8.4 million people -- less than New Jersey -- and represent 3 percent of the U.S. population. North Dakota and Wyoming each have fewer than 80,000 uninsured people, in a country where about 47 million lack insurance

In the House, those six states have 13 seats out of 435, 3 percent of the whole. In the Senate, those six members are crafting what may well be the blueprint for reform..

Let’s see. North Dakota has a 2008 population of 641,481, of whom MacGillis claims 80 thousand lack health insurance. That’s roughly 13%. Wyoming: population 532,668, also with 80 thousand uninsured (MacGillis again). Roughly 15%. In 2008, the U.S. population as a whole was 304,059,724, with about 47 million uninsured - about 15%.

Um, Alec, from the uninsured numbers you yourself have given, it looks like those “anti-democratic” Senators are doing a pretty good job of representing the minority interests of all States.

Go back and reread what you yourself wrote:

Look to the Senate, the chamber designed to thwart popular will.

Was this really what the founders had in mind? One popular story tells of Thomas Jefferson asking George Washington what the Senate's purpose is. "Why did you pour that coffee into your saucer?" Washington asked in return. "To cool it," Jefferson replied. To which Washington said, "Even so, we pour legislation in the senatorial saucer to cool it."

Why yes, yes it was they had in mind. Think about it – and go back and reread a civics textbook.

THOROUGHLY ANNOYED

No, make that thoroughly mad.

In the last few days, we’ve had President Obama telling us, essentially, to sit down and shut up; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accusing conservative talk show hosts of astroturfing; Senator Barbara Boxer calling the healthcare, er, health insurance protestors “too well-dressed to be sincere;” and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi calling townhall protestors swastika-carrying astroturf mobs.

Bull (add the last four letters yourself. – Ed). Here are two items of interest to refute the “astroturf” charge.

From Talking Points Memo, a HCAN document accusing “radical right-wing” groups of funding an astroturf campaign: “The people who show up are far right-wing ideologues recruited by paid organizers. Much of this recruitment and organizing is funded by industry lobbyists and public relations firms to engage radical right-wing groups.”

Okaaay ....

Let’s see who Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is: [o]ur Steering Committee includes: ACORN, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Campaign for Community Change, Children’s Defense Fund Action Council, Communications Workers of America, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), MoveOn.org, NAACP, National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, SEIU, UFCW, USAction, Women's Voices, Women's Vote and Working America.

Now from the other side, a quick Google search for “tea party organizations” – gives three names that seem to constitute the bulk of the hits: Tea Party Patriots, Tax Day Tea Party, and Tea Party Warriors.

A quick cruise through theTea Party Patriots website shows it to be aggregation of smaller state and local groups. (LibertyChick.com doesn’t strike me as a well-funded K Street lobbying group.) Partners (not sponsors) include Lagniapper, Sign the Petition, American Liberty Alliance, American Solutions, Freedom Works, Smart Girl Politics, Tea Party Express, Michelle Malkin, Red State, and Red Country.

Check them out – is there any one (or combination) bigger than, say, ACORN? Is any one of them feeding at the public trough like, say, ACORN?

And these Obamacrat clowns (with apologies to actual circus/rodeo clowns) have the unmitigated gall to accuse me of being astroturf? The Obamacrats are so plastic they won’t recognize actual grass until their allergy medicines are withdrawn by our votes.

[Added]
The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge?

[Update] Looks like I'm not the only one mad about the Obamacrats' astroturfing remarks: "And they dare to accuse me of astroturfing, in my own district, on my own dime, with a sign I made all by myself with a magic marker? If they are really that stupid, this is sure to end badly for them." Thanks to Instapundit for the link.

OBAMACARE TEST

Find a path through the bureaucracy to your doctor.



A larger version of the organizational chart is here.

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION

Lawmakers rethinking town hall strategy:

[A]fter a series of contentious town-hall meetings, some Democratic lawmakers are thinking twice about holding large public gatherings. Instead, they are opting for smaller sessions, holding meetings by phone or inviting constituents for one-on-one office hours.

And who do you think they are going to invite?

OBAMA APPROVAL INDEX

Rasmussen is now showing President Obama's approval index at -8 (favorables minus unfavorables).



Extrapolating the trends (dashed lines), it appears that the slide is continuing, and that attitudes are hardening. The "strong approval" base appears to be leveling somewhat, and the middle (no strong feelings) appears to be breaking in favor of disapproval.

If the trends continue, Obama should hit a minus-25 index by the end of his first year in office.

DO AS I SAY

President Obama: "I don't want the folks who created the mess [to] do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking."

Hmm ....

Protest is, ... er, was ,,, patriotic.

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

So you like single-payer healthcare?