Don’t Blink! Walker’s Talking Points Changing Again

We already know about Scott Walker's distain for the federal stimulus (Recovery and Reinvestment Act).

• Originally he said "no thanks" to the millions of federal dollars that was set to flow into the county that he is supposed to be leading.
  
• Early on he wrote an opinion piece in the conservative Wall Street Journal about why he wasn't getting in line for federal funds (the same paper that recently reported that the stimulus was helping to lift the economy).
  
• In fundraising letters he bragged about abdicating his responsibilities and not submitting a list of programs and projects that could be funded under the Recovery Act.
  
• His obstruction was so bad on the issue that the County Board had to take action on their own to ensure that Milwaukee County taxpayers were going to get a healthy return on their federal tax investment.
  
• More recently Walker even commented on his Twitter account that the federal stimulus was not helping "real people".
  

His history on the stimulus and federal funding made three statements that he made this week all the more interesting.

On Monday he spoke at the Wisconsin Counties Association and suggested that the state was not sending enough funds to local governments. In that context he also complained that the state was using federal stimulus funds to fill state budget gaps. He conveniently didn't mention that the specific portion of stimulus money that was used for the state budget was precisely meant for that purpose. There are many millions of dollars that have flowed (and will continue to flow) to local governments from the state, courtesy of the Recovery Act that he has so strongly opposed. Actually that is what made his comment so strange. After all of his hating on the stimulus, was he really complaining that the state wasn't sending enough stimulus money to counties and municipalities?

Then on Wednesday Scott Walker put out a press release saying that he was "pleased to announce" that Milwaukee County was getting $3.85 million in grant money from the federal government for substance abuse and mental health programs. Heartland Hollar has already asked the obvious questions here:

"So why does Walker support accepting $3.85 million from the feds while at the same time opposing $2.3 billion in tax cuts over the next two years and 'a total $5.2 billion in tax savings for Wisconsin families and businesses
over the next three years included in the federal recovery plan.' Why does Walker accept $3.85 million when he opposes $3.7 billion in federal stimulus funds?"

Today is a new day and it also brings another new report of Walker's ever changing positions on the stimulus-style federal funding. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports today that Walker plans to use $36.6 million in federal funds for new buses for a "rapid transit" route. It also said that he planned on using an additional $29.7 in federal money to buy 125 new buses to help upgrade Milwaukee's aging bus fleet. I know that the $36.6 million comes from old federal transportation funds that have been stagnant for so long but exactly where is this new federal aid of $29.7 million coming from? Is this aid at all related to that dreaded stimulus package that Walker has never failed to attack? Even if this new federal money is not part of the actual stimulus, what exactly is the argument that makes this federal money good but the other federal money bad?

It should be no surprise that Walker is all over the map on federal funding and the stimulus. After the various announcements this week, I'm actually thinking that his press releases should come with the warning; "Don't blink, My Talking Points Change Quickly!"

UPDATE: Another day brings another way for Scott Walker to use the federal stimulus that he still loves to hate. In fact it appears that his entire plan, reported in the paper today, is based on the assistance that he would get under the federal stimulus.

Gableman Ashamed of His “Right to Lie” Defense?

When Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler was called before a three judge panel regarding her conflict of interest scandal she actually came to the hearing. Michael Gableman must be so ashamed of his "defense" that he stayed away from his own judicial panel. I can't say that I blame him, who would want to show their face to the public when they are essentially fighting for their "right" to lie to them?

We're Number 37: The Musical

ht: Keith at Folkbum

Sick for Profit

Your private health care dollars "hard at work" (for profits) while your premiums continue to explode and your coverage gets denied. Is this the private insurance-based system that conservatives are so excited to support? Sorry, I'd like to have a real option.



Videos are from SickforProfit.com

Doctors Support Private and Public Options

Yesterday NPR reported the results of a new survey of doctors. The results show that most doctors favor a healthcare system that allows access to both a private and a public option.


ht: Think Progress

Teabagger Education Project: Bushonomics an Epic Failure

Yesterday we reposted an item meant to provide a simple fact in the midst of all the teabagging madness this weekend. Since many teabaggers are claiming that they are "outraged" over our national debt, we decided to remind them that 82 percent of that debt was spent by Republican presidents. We simply don't remember such wild Astroturf movements when Republican presidents were running up the national debt. Now thanks to the release of an annual Census Bureau report we can add yet another lesson in what we are calling the Teabagger Education Project. This time it focuses on the epic failure that the Bush Economy was for average Americans.

On Thursday the Census Bureau released a report card on the well-being of the average American during the dreadful eight years of the George W. Bush administration. The report card specifically takes a look at income, poverty and access to health care. The Atlantic published a very simple summary of the data and also compared the records of Reagan, Sr. Bush and Clinton on the same categories (Clinton does the best across the board). Here are the basics on how Bushonomics "performed" for average Americans(all amounts are in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars):

• When Bill Clinton left office after 2000, the median income was at $52,500. When Bush left office after 2008 it had fallen to $50,303, which is a decline of 4.2 percent. That makes George W. Bush the only president in recent history that presided over an income decline over two full terms.
  
• When Clinton left office in 2000, the Census counted almost 31.6 million Americans living in poverty. When Bush left office in 2008, the number of poor Americans had jumped to 39.8 million (the largest number in absolute terms since 1960.) Under Bush, the number of people in poverty increased by over 8.2 million, or 26.1 per cent. Over two-thirds of that increase occurred before the economic collapse of 2008.
  
• When Clinton left office nearly 11.6 million children lived in poverty, according to the Census. When Bush left office that number had swelled to just under 14.1 million, an increase of more than 21 per cent.
  
• When Clinton left office, the number of uninsured Americans stood at 38.4 million. By the time Bush left office that number had grown to just over 46.3 million, an increase of nearly 8 million or 20.6 per cent. (Under Bush, the share of Americans who received health insurance through their employer declined every year of his presidency-from 64.2 per cent in 2000 to 58.5 per cent in 2008.)
  

So what is the simple take away from this data? The George W. Bush administration was an epic fail, especially for the economic interests of average Americans. Most teabaggers were Bush zealots just a short time ago. Given the disaster that he left our country in, most of them have enough sense to now try and distance themselves from him. The problem is that they are still tied directly to his failed policies that put us in this awful spot in the first place. Hell, they are not just tied to them, they are still pretending that they are the answers to all of our problems. Maybe an education is not enough, maybe the teabaggers need a deliverance.

Teabagger Education Project: National Debt

ht: Keith at folkbum's

Is “Wisconsin Knows” Linked to Walker Cronies?

A right wing blog has started speculating about who is behind the new anonymous blog, Wisconsin Knows. Wisconsin Knows posted a very detailed entry about Republican candidate for governor Mark Neumann and questioned claims that he made recently on Charlie Sykes' radio show. Specifically Wisconsin Knows challenged a Neumann statement regarding his business relationship with his brother, who allegedly had all sorts of business related problems and ended up declaring bankruptcy. The aforementioned right wing blogger spent some time Saturday morning wildly speculating that Democrats just have to be behind the Wisconsin Knows info. Well, I don't have anything better to do right now and two can play at that game, so let me take my speculating turn!

I think that one of Scott Walker's cronies are behind Wisconsin Knows' blog against Mark Neumann! Here are the reasons behind my wild speculation and I think they outmatch the right wing blogger's:

1. Walker disciples have already been quite vicious towards Neumann and his big boosters like Jim Klauser.
   
2. Walker's campaign has already delivered multiple "in your face" moments to Neumann.
   
3. Walker enthusiast Charlie Sykes is the one that very publicly brought this issue up to Neumann in the first place.
   
4. It didn't take long for the "Scottforgov" blog* to post something questioning Neumann's honesty on the issue.
   
5. Not to mention, Mark Neumann is Scott Walker's opponent right now.
   

There you have it! I think there is more evidence that Scott Walker cronies are behind the Wisconsin Knows blog on Neumann and his business practices. The big question now is how will Neumann and friends respond to these Walker attacks?

*This is not the campaign's official blog, but it is a Walker (conduit?) disciple. By the way I wish I would have seen this blog earlier, there are more entertainingly vicious attacks on Neumann and Company than just this recent one.

UPDATE I: Our friends at Heartland Hollar correctly point out that the Neumann Homes situation was brought up on their blog four months ago, long before Wisconsin Knows. They also offer interesting thoughts on how the issue might play itself out down the road.

UPDATE II:The Walker disciples at the Scottforgov blog are really on a roll! They just posted an item Sunday that does several things: 1. it makes crude jokes about Mark Neumann's "three legged strategy" 2. it suggests that the strategy may be based on old fashioned self interests rather than helping the state. 3. it suggests that Neumann smokes THC 4. it suggests that Neumann may be using his corporate dollars to actually benefit his campaign. 5. it suggests (again)that Neumann is dishonest.

Kapanke should pay for his violations, not taxpayers

Today State Senator Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) acknowledged that he violated state Public Records laws. The admission was made in court filings released today in Dane County Circuit Court. The open records complaint was filed against Senator Kapanke after he and his office delayed, concealed and even destroyed some of the requested records. The records involved his office's questionable use of his state staff and resources for two campaign related events.

The lawsuit calls for the state to pay $100 in damages and $38,000 in attorney's fees. Since Kapanke has admitted wrong doing shouldn't that come out of his own pocket? Why should the public have to pay? Especially given the tough economic times that we are in as a nation and as a state, the last thing that public dollars should pay for is Kapanke's incompetence and violations of important laws. The simple fact is that Kapanke has now admitted to the wrong doing involving the open records lawsuit and now he should have to pay for it.

UPDATE: See the actual court documents at Milwaukee World.

Also take a look at the good points being raised at Blogging Blue .

What does Walker really think about Mercury Marine?

After Governor Doyle decided not to run for another term, I suggested that the main two Republican candidates for governor actually start giving us some substance about their policy positions. In that blog posting, I said that they would not because they would very quickly paint themselves into an extreme right wing corner that won't play well to the majority of Wisconsinites. Scott Walker is an expert at avoiding substance and his latest example comes to us via his comments on the Mercury Marine situation.

Anything resembling a policy position by Walker has largely been limited to the 140 characters of his Twitter account. So it is no surprise that he has addressed the Mercury Marine situation largely in the same way. Although this week, after the union voted to accept painful wage and benefit reductions, Walker took his tweets on the issue to The Inside Scoop. Even though his comments in that piece went beyond 140 characters it didn't really say anything of any additional substance. In fact, his comments brought up more examples of substantive questions that the media should be asking him.

To start off his Scoop posting, Scott Walker seems to celebrate Mercury Marine's apparent decision to stay in Wisconsin. Conveniently he focuses only on the extremely tough decisions that the workers were forced to make. Walker completely avoids commenting on what may be the real reason for Mercury Marine's change of heart, a $50 million-plus gift from the taxpayers of Fond du Lac County. Inquiring minds want to know, what would Scott Walker have done if he were in that position? We know that his one trick pony in politics is not to raise taxes for any reason at anytime. So would he have advocated increasing the sales tax in his county to help convince a major company to stay? If not then why is he praising the Mercury result so heavily? Doesn't that go against his rigid ideology? If he does support raising taxes to keep employers in his county then why hasn't he suggested that tactic in his own county while it has lost jobs on his watch?

Rather than allowing him to try and tweet his way to the governor's mansion, the media should start asking him some real questions and demand that he provide real substantive answers.

Is MacIver Trying to “Indoctrinate” the Media?

The same week that brought false accusations from the right about "indoctrinating" students, we also may have witnessed what a real attempt at indoctrination looks like. Ironically it was a right wing organization that appeared to be trying their hand at the indoctrination of the media. Last week when the MacIver institute announced their plan to produce political news reports, their executive director and former Scott Jensen Chief of Staff, Brett Healy made several gag inducing comments about their new plan. He claimed that his right wing organization was merely trying to "help fill a void in locally-produced news coverage and analysis that grows larger by the day as news operations are scaled back for economic reasons." Yeah, and where was that bridge that you were trying to sell us?

At the beginning of this week we got our first taste of exactly how this group of right wing partisans planned to "help fill a void". Apparently the main ingredient of that "filling" was a healthy dose of deception. The Wisconsin State Journal reported on Sunday that the used-to-be TV reporter that MacIver hired was deceptive with the subjects of his first two interviews. He walked into interviews with cameras from a local TV station but didn't bother telling the public officials that he actually worked for MacIver and that the footage would also be edited to fit their ideological fancy.

The MacIver institute and their fake reporting are partially funded by one of the traditional sugar daddies of the extreme right wing, the Bradley Foundation. Just last year this foundation gave grants to many extreme right wing groups including those of the Astroturf variety that are trying to stop real health care reform (Freedom Works and Americans for Prosperity). Likewise the Bradley Foundation reported giving MacIver a 2008 grant of $50,000.

With right wing sugar daddies like the Bradley Foundation throwing that kind of money at MacIver, why couldn't they afford to provide their used-to-be TV reporter with his own equipment? They certainly could afford it couldn't they? Why did he have to "borrow" equipment from the real media? Heck, if the MacIver Institute and the Bradley Foundation cared so much about the lack of resources for local political reporting, why didn't they just donate the funds to local media?

The fact that MacIver "borrowed" equipment from the local media and then misrepresented what was actually going on suggests an awful lot about their real motivations. It seems clear that they are merely trying to blur some very important lines between the real media and those with a clear right wing agenda. Thus far it seems that their real goal is to "indoctrinate" and/or infiltrate the local media and produce reporting that more resembles Fox "News" than it does objective journalism.

Stay in School Speech vs. A Real Indoctrination

Is this really what had people on the right worked up into such a frenzy? Is this really what caused some school districts to ban the President from their kids?

Not even a hint of politics or partisanship, much less "indoctrination". If people on the right really wanted to see a political indoctrination they should check out this video of Ronald Reagan speaking to students in 1988. I wonder what kind of uproar there was on the right before/after this speech to "the children"?

ht: Daily Kos

MacIver Punks Press, Pols and Public

Poor MacIver Institute! All that right wing money and they still can't get it right. We here at Eye on Wisconsin are all too familiar with the rocky start that MacIver got when they prematurely launched. They had an organization with an invisible staff and many questions about their affiliations that never really got straight answers. The serious questions about this latest right wing organization only increase as time goes by.

In the beginning some flak for the organization (and apparently the only semi real staff person) publicly denied former speaker Scott Jensen's involvement in the organization. Almost right after those declarations, we found that actually Scott Jensen appeared to be writing MacIver's press releases. Apparently he was not too busy preparing for another criminal trial and apparently the truth was too much to ask for from MacIver. As if Jensen secretly writing the press releases wasn't enough of a tie, then the group hired his former chief of staff as its executive director and even put Jensen's favorite media guy in charge of communications.

Then rather than picking a right wing blogger of any substance, they went with the one that is about as extreme as they come. He was barely on the job cross posting between his own blog and MacIver's when he got a little uncomfortable attention. He made Dan Bice's Journal Sentinel column after he put out a string disgustingly racist comments on his Twitter account. MacIver didn't bat an eye about what most would consider unwelcome attention.

Now MacIver is getting some well deserved scrutiny over the latest in a series of questionable antics. Their latest hire is a former TV news guy that has decided to cross all sorts of lines in the name of MacIver. According to the story in the Wisconsin State Journal, Bill Osmulski (formerly of Madison's WKOW Channel 27) interviewed two Democrats and apparently pretended to be from a legitimate news operation while completely failing to notify them that the interview would also be used for right wing MacIver propaganda. Even MacIver's own communications person admits that now-fake TV reporter Osmulski should have been truthful with the elected officials and disclosed exactly what he was doing.

Given its track record in its very short life, I'm not exactly surprised at this latest development. I am however surprised that someone in the traditional media would actually accept and use Osmulski's report as a real news story. The fact that it was generated by a right wing organization powered by extreme ideology and a questionable track record, should have given them pause. But who really knows, maybe MacIver "punked" the media outlet just like they did with two of our public officials. Hopefully the majority of the media in the state will take the advice that we gave way back in early March when we wrote that the "Shady Organization Requires Real Reporting". Hopefully they will look extra close the next time that MacIver releases some "study" or "poll", and keep them from "punking" the public next.

Everyone Should Honor the Labor Movement

I'm sure that most people are looking forward to the extended holiday weekend. The truth is that if not for the labor movement in America, not only would we not have the extra day off but we wouldn't even have a weekend in the first place. Like many of the other achievements of labor, as a society we clearly take it all for granted now.

Here are just a handful of examples that come to my mind: The Eight Hour Workday, The Weekend, Child Labor Laws
Basic Workplace Safety Laws, Basic Benefits Like Vacation time, Paid Sick Days and Health Insurance

Some have chosen to forget what the labor movement won for all of us through blood, sweat, tears, and even death. Let's face it, when have the corporate elites ever given workers anything that they didn't have to fight for? Although they are a favorite target of the right-wing, there are many things that all of us simply wouldn't enjoy today without labor fighting those battles of the past. This weekend we should all honor those sacrifices of the past and think about how we can create a better working environment for the future.

Wow, are they really this paranoid?

"We are all going to be locked up in FEMA Camps!"

"The President is the Antichrist!"

"An encroaching fascist threat!"

"An encroaching socialist threat!"

"Death Panels are gonna Kill Grandma!"

And now the kook fringe believe that our President is trying to brainwash "the children" because he has a 20 minute speech encouraging them on the importance of getting a solid education? I guess you are always going to have people that go to crazy extremes but when you have entire school districts banning the President of the United States from being able to encourage students about education, you have officially jumped the right-wing shark. Exactly what is the President supposed to be "brainwashing" students about? The importance of a solid education and excelling in school? Overcoming personal challenges to succeed in life and maybe even become president? Oh my god, that is terrible! The end of the world is at hand!

I could understand if a district leaves it up to each teacher to determine if it fits the curriculum for their various classes, but basically banning it from an entire school district because of loud people on the furthest fringe? Do kids really need permission slips to hear a sitting president speak (or read "My Pet Goat" upside down)? If they still have a Civics class in schools these days, I guess they can't watch the news anymore, or read newspapers, because heaven forbid that the President may say something in them. This right wing paranoia is really becoming a caricature of itself.

I'm really not sure what drives this kind of madness. I can only come to a few conclusions.

1. Some people really are nuts

2. Some people are really that partisan and bitter about losing

3. Some people are just racists and hate President Obama for that reason

I tend to think that the majority of this is based on a bitterness and hyper right wing partisanship that is willing to go along with the craziest of accusations just because they always want to be on the attack against the other side. If it isn't hyper partisanship, where were all of these crazy accusations and protests when a president by the name of Bush did pretty much the same thing? I almost hope that it is partisanship because the thought of having these many people being this paranoid is a little frightening.

U.S. Economy, Scott Walker is on the line

In less than a week we have had two separate Republican County Executives touting the benefits of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus). Since this totally conflicts with the talking points of Milwaukee County Executive and endless Republican candidate for governor, Scott Walker, we believe that he is probably not pleased with his two colleagues. In the two blog postings we suggest that each Republican official may be due for a nasty phone call from Walker. We barely got the "Dan, Scott Walker is on the line" blog post up and then saw a report from the Wall Street Journal regarding the effects of the stimulus so far. The story brings bad news for Scott Walker's talking points and good news for the U.S. Economy. The conservative paper that published Walker's hating of the stimulus, is now reporting that the U.S. Economy has received a much needed lift from it.

Much of the stimulus spending is just beginning to trickle through the economy, with spending expected to peak sometime later this year or in early 2010. The government has funneled about $60 billion of the $288 billion in promised tax cuts to U.S. households, while about $84 billion of the $499 billion in spending has been paid. About $200 billion has been promised to certain projects, such as infrastructure and energy projects.

Economists say the money out the door -- combined with the expectation of additional funds flowing soon -- is fueling growth above where it would have been without any government action.

Many forecasters say stimulus spending is adding two to three percentage points to economic growth in the second and third quarters, when measured at an annual rate. The impact in the second quarter, calculated by analyzing how the extra funds flowing into the economy boost consumption, investment and spending, helped slow the rate of decline and will lay the groundwork for positive growth in the third quarter -- something that seemed almost implausible just a few months ago. Some economists say the 1% contraction in the second quarter would have been far worse, possibly as much as 3.2%, if not for the stimulus.

For the third quarter, economists at Goldman Sachs & Co. predict the U.S. economy will grow by 3.3%. "Without that extra stimulus, we would be somewhere around zero," said Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist for Goldman.

Since Scott Walker has so deeply (politically) invested in the failure of the stimulus and our economy, we can't imagine that he would be very happy hearing this bit of news. If Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds and Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas did get angry calls from Walker, we can't imagine the kind of foul verbal beat down he is going to deliver when he tries to call the U.S. Economy.

Dan, Scott Walker is on the line

Just last week we blogged about Scott Walker's Republican County Executive colleague to the south, Bill McReynolds. At that time we pointed out how Mac apparently didn't get the Walker talking points against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus). Mac, sent out a press release bragging about how the federal stimulus was actually going the help save Racine County taxpayers money. Given Walker's extreme and ever changing positions on the Recovery and Reinvestment Act he has now painted himself into a lonely corner that even his Republican counterparts in government have avoided. First it was Mac and now it appears that even the leader of the most Republican county in the state needs a brow beating call from the Walking failure from Wauwatosa.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that now even Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas is getting in on the stimulus action. He released his five-year capital plan Tuesday and it increases spending on critical projects mainly due to the funding provided in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The federal funds account for a huge $32.6 million of the $111 million he has designated for needed spending. Looks like Dan ignored the Walker memo on trashing everything about the stimulus. It looks like Vrakas, unlike Walker, is going to make sure that Waukesha County taxpayers get a full return on their federal tax investment.

Here are some of the projects that will be funded with the help of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

• $1.5 million to pave the county's Lake Country Trail.
  
• $1.5 million for energy saving projects.
  
• $6.4 million for improved bridges and other road projects.
  

I'm sure that Walker may not consider the people that will drive on these roads and bridges and those that are employed to carry out these projects as "real people" but obviously Dan Vrakas disagrees with that kind of extreme thinking. In fact he pointed out while talking about the federal stimulus funding that it would actually save the county money longer term.

"When you build a new road, you have less maintenance, you're not filling potholes, it's more efficient, it helps economic development. When you build a new building and equip it with energy savings, those are one-time costs that reduce our budget next year for operations."

I couldn't have said it better myself, it's a very rational approach. Unfortunately, Dan, Scott Walker is on the line and he has been about the furthest thing from rational when it comes to the Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

UPDATE: Bill McReynolds and Dan Vrakas are not the only ones loving the federal stimulus right now, apparently so is the U.S. Economy. Sorry Scott, your talking points are empty.

Now Read: "U.S. Economy, Scott Walker is on the line"

The “Solid Idea” that Torinus Failed to Mention

The newspaper columns written by John Torinus should come with full and proper disclosures. If they did, the only people that would lend them credibility would be the usual suspects among the corporate elite and their useful idiots on the right wing fringe. We've seen examples in the past of him failing to mention important pieces of information to his readers and his latest column is certainly no exception.

The Torinus column in Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tried to convince us that the Astroturf group, Americans for Prosperity, held a legitimate and "substantive" forum on health care last week. These events were nothing more than a corporately funded defense of big insurance and our dysfunctional status quo. But don't hold your breath for the corporate columnist (with an agenda) to fill you in on such minor details. He would rather pretend that it was purely a "substantive" discussion rather than a right wing self congratulatory love fest. Maybe someone should be congratulated, because so far their misinformation campaign appears to be a success.

In his Sunday column Torinus lists bullet points of what he describes as the "substance" given at these AFP (Republican) rallies. As he is trying to sell the idea that the rally was one of "substance", he conveniently fails to mention one of the more absurd (and worn out) lies that have been told by the key note speaker John Stossel. Even though it has been completely debunked many times over, Stossel has used AFP rallies to push the paranoid idea of "death panels" . Why didn't Torinus list that as one of his "solid idea" bullet points from the rally? Maybe it is because such comments would have cast doubt on his entire spin of the event and would have negated his entire premise. Hey, maybe telling the full truth would have eliminated the need for Sunday's Torinus column in the first place! Now that is what I would call a solid idea!

OWN's Message to Teabaggers at Miller Park

Americans for Prosperity, the corporate-funded interest group behind the private insurance company astroturf group "Patients First" held a party at Miller Park on Saturday August 29. One WI Now wanted to make sure and give them a rousing welcome in the form of a message in the sky.

Sen. Cantwell: Why GOP Should Support a Public Option

ht: Daily Kos