Recently in Issue Framing Category

Republican candidate for New York District 23, Dede Scozzafava, recently pulled out of the race.  She had come under withering attacks from Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman and his supporters, including Sarah Palin, for not being "conservative enough" because of her pro-choice, pro-gay marriage stance on social issues, ties to organized labor, and support for the stimulus.  Scozzafava claims her record was misrepresented and that she simply could not raise enough money to counter the...

On This Week yesterday, George Will responded to former VP Cheney's charge that the Obama administration needs to "stop dithering" on Afghanistan with what should be the standard reply to anyone from the Bush administration who has the temerity to criticize President Obama as he deliberates the significant troop increase requested by General McChrystal: "A bit of dithering might have been in order before we went into Iraq in pursuit of non-existent weapons of mass...

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the 45th president of the United States. I'm not sure when the election took place (silly me, I thought the ballot read Obama/Biden, my bad) but this is now the most powerful person in Washington, D.C.:Don't believe it? Who was the person former President Obama singled out for praise the day the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of health care reform? Olympia Snowe: "I want to...

The Republican National Committee launched its new website, GOP.com, yesterday. It was an inauspicious beginning, to say the least, but typical of the modern-day GOP. Administrative passwords were exposed, the "Future Leaders" page was initially blank but later changed to "You," Michael Steele's blog originally titled "What Up" was amended to read "Change the Game," (I thought "change" was a bad word) and when the RNC hosted a kick-off conference call the website was down....

All you need to know about why the deck is stacked against us in the battle for health care reform. From Bill Moyers via Crooks and Liars:"Take a close look at that woman sitting behind Montana Senator Max Baucus. He's the Democrat who's the Chairman of the Finance Committee. Liz Fowler is her name. And now get this. She used to work for WellPoint, the largest health insurer in the country. She was Vice President...

For some inexplicable reason, Sen. John McCain was a guest on one of the Sunday news shows again yesterday, this time CNN's State of the Union. As Steve Benen at Washington Monthly points out:"For those keeping score, this will be McCain's 14th Sunday morning appearance since President Obama's inauguration in January. That's 38 Sundays, for an average of a McCain appearance every 2.7 weeks...Not bad for a senator in the minority, who isn't in the...

A week wouldn't be complete without a few musings from the mind of Michele (Bachmann, that is). Last night on Larry King Live, when pressed by King about whether or not she agrees with the "birthers," the pride of Minnesota said: "I have no reason to doubt that he wasn't born in the United States. I have none." Knowing Ms. Bachmann's difficulty with the English language, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and...

File this under, 'if they'll do this to their own employees, what will they do to you':"WellPoint Inc., the largest U.S. insurer, dismissed a "small number" of workers last week and announced cuts to employee health benefits Friday, in its latest attempt to deal with the recession's toll on enrollment.WellPoint eliminated the positions last week and expects to let more go before year's end, though the number will be "relatively small," Kristin Binns, a spokeswoman,...

Fox News gets their share of criticism here, because as the late John Houseman would say, they have uuuhhned it. But in the giving credit where credit is due department, there was an exchange between Shepard Smith and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) yesterday over the merits of the public option. Smith makes a stronger case for the public option than have many, if not most, of our elected officials in D.C., including pointing out both...

Warning: there is some random stuff in here, but it's based upon the research I've done and where it randomly took me at the time. I encourage you to think about things and let your critical thinking take you to places you've never been. Because we live in a world of naysayers, I have included links to the sites from which I have derived my information at the end of this piece. I challenge...