Howard Dean Slams WSJ‘s ObamaCare Op-Ed: I ‘Generally Don’t Bother’ With WSJ Editorials' (with video)

Alex Alvarez, MEDIAite with video (07:03):

“Really?” asked Scarborough. “Does that mean I shouldn’t read the editorial page of the New York Times?”

“I usually don’t read that either, except for Kristoff and Krugman,” Dean responded.

“That was a silly thing to write,” he then said of the WSJ piece, calling it utterly wrong.

Dean went on to comment that ObamaCare is a very “centrist” piece of legislation and a “relatively free market reform,” which is “probably one of the reasons why I don’t like it.” MORE...

(Updated) the FIELD NEGRO: "American Intellectuals"

UPDATE: Let the record show I doorbelled for Obama, Inslee and Cantwell for two hours this morning in West Seattle.


the FIELD NEGRO:

I was going to write something about the politics of the Supreme Court decision on Thursday, but, quite frankly, I am sick of politics in this country and all the players who are involved with it.

Most of us who know how America really works, and how the political parties function, understand that it doesn't matter who is in the White House or who controls the halls of congress. We know that real power in America comes from lobbyist and the people who can afford to pay them. Politicians who go to Washington need money to get elected and John Q. Public cannot afford to write a big enough check. MORE...

Sandra Fluke: "Why Obamacare is worth fighting for against Mitt Romney's repeal threat"

Sandra Fluke (GuardianUK):

Now that the supreme court has declared, once and for all, the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, much of the debate has turned to the politics of the ruling and what it means for the coming election. It's events like Thursday's that shine a light on the stark contrasts between our two presidential candidates.

In the hours after yesterday's ruling, Governor Romney wasted no time reminding us that repealing Obamacare will be a top priority if he's elected, egged on by congressional Republicans who had already scheduled a vote to dismantle the law. Meanwhile, President Obama continued to focus on the real-world benefits this law will bring to millions of Americans.

I agree with the president that we cannot lose sight of the human impact this law will have on young women and men just graduating from college; on mothers, fathers, and children alike. And while the supreme court's decision was a decisive victory for the American people, it does also underscore just how much is at stake in this election. MORE...

(Updated) The Blethen Times Lamely Loves McKenna

UPDATE: I just read Sanders' piece in The Garfield Messenger (from the May 25th issue, not online yet) about his experience as a high school newspaper editor. My daughter also benefited greatly from her experience as an editor there when she was a high school senior.

Eli Sanders (SLOG):

So. Inslee is better on financial reform, better on media consolidation, better on foreign wars, better on the environment, and basically—as the Times writes later—the same as McKenna on education. He also happens to agree with the Times in its support of gay marriage (unlike McKenna). But! But! MORE...

H/to Marcia Kato.

"Obama’s Big Health Care Win: An Incredible Stroke of Luck"

David Goldman / AP/"Supporters of President Barack Obama's health care law celebrate outside the Supreme Court in Washington, on June 28, 2012, after the court's ruling was announced."

Michael Grunwald (TIME):

During the Tea Party summer of 2009, when suburban revolutionaries with funny hats and nasty signs began screaming about Obamacare and tyranny, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel urged the President to settle for a less comprehensive health plan. But Obama said no, he felt lucky. At the end of the summer, after Obama’s approval ratings had sagged and Obamacare’s approval ratings had plunged, Emanuel asked during an Oval Office meeting whether he still felt lucky.

“My name is Barack Hussein Obama and I’m sitting here,” said Obama, in an anecdote first reported by Jonathan Alter in his book The Promise. “So yeah, I’m feeling pretty lucky." MORE...

Melissa Harris-Perry on the SCOTUS Decision (video)

MSNBC, video (05:29).

"Howard Dean on Healthcare Ruling: 'The President Won' " (interview by Ari Berman)

Ari Berman (The Nation):

Few politicians know as much about healthcare as Howard Dean, a former physician, five-term governor of Vermont and president candidate. Dean has long been an advocate for universal healthcare, although he was critical of the Obama Administration’s handling of healthcare legislation in 2009-2010, particularly the lack of a public insurance option in the final bill (which Dean ultimately supported). I interviewed Dean today about the political and policy ramifications of the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

Ari Berman: What was your reaction to the healthcare ruling?

Howard Dean: I was surprised. Like many people, I was shocked that Justice Roberts sided with upholding the bill and somewhat surprised and disappointed that Justice Kennedy voted to get rid of the entire thing along with the three right-wing justices.

I was glad that the president won a victory. But this pretty much ends the debate about the nature of the private sector in the healthcare business—it’s here to stay in a very big way. This is, after all, a Republican bill. Not the Republicans that we see today, but the moderate Republican wing under Mitt Romney in Massachusetts—this is their bill. For the foreseeable future there will be those who wish we had a single-payer healthcare system, but that’s not going to happen in Washington anytime soon. MORE...

"How the Supreme Court's Healthcare Ruling Boosts Obama's Reelection Bid"

Tim Dickinson (Rolling Stone):

"It's constitutional. Bitches." —Patrick Gaspard, Executive Director, DNC

Obamacare lives. And, with it, Barack Obama's case for a second term.

In laying the groundwork for 2012, Obama and Mitt Romney have had dueling imperatives: The president needs to make sure that the November election is a choice. Romney needs to make it an up-or-down referendum.

In Team Obama's frame, choosing to reelect the president is a vote to continue moving "Forward"; choosing Romney is a vote to return to the policies that created our current pain.

That frame only works, however, if you can demonstrate that you're, in fact, creating forward progress that's easing the pain. And June has been a hazardous month for that narrative. The nation's slow, steady economic recovery appeared to stall out. Job growth flatlined. Then Obama gaffed, calling the private sector's stagnating performance "fine."

The June gloom played right into Team Romney's frame: "Obama isn't working." The president hasn't delivered. You need to vote him out of office (by, oh yeah, voting for me.) The upshot of this referendum model is that you don't even have to like Romney, just so long as you want to oust Obama.

Now, imagine for a moment that the president's signature legislative accomplishment had gone down the tubes this morning, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the dissenters in finding the Affordable Care Act "invalid in its entirety."

The Romney camp could have rightly blasted Obama for two years of wasted effort. MORE...

H/t to Ari Berman.

"Obamacare Upheld: How and Why Did Justice Roberts Do It?"

David Cole (The Nation):

So why did Roberts do it? In part, the outcome reflects the fact that the truly radical position in this dispute was that of the challengers. Even very conservative lower court judges, including Jeffrey Sutton of the Sixth Circuit and Laurence Silberman of the DC Circuit, had concluded that the law was valid (although on Commerce Clause, not taxing power, grounds). But in addition, I cannot help but think that at the back of Roberts’ mind was the Court’s institutional standing. Had the law been struck down on “party lines,” the Court’s reputation would be seriously undermined. In May, the Pew Research Center reported that favorable views of the Supreme Court as an institution had reached an all-time low. Sharply divided partisan decisions like Bush v. Gore and Citizens United appear to have done damage to the Court’s legitimacy—and ultimately, its legitimacy is the source of the Court’s power. Today’s result, which upholds the actions of the democratically elected branches on a major piece of social welfare legislation that affects us all against a challenge that was always a real long shot, driven more by politics than legal principle, may help repair the Court’s tarnished image. MORE...

WA: "Inslee says it's time to make health care law work"

AP:

Congressman Jay Inslee, the Democrat running for governor of Washington, says the Supreme Court upheld the health care law despite "enormous political pressure by Republican attorneys general."

In a statement Thursday, Inslee says he hopes Republicans do not see the ruling as an opportunity for further partisan bickering.

Inslee says both parties need to make the law work for the American people.

Howie P.S.: Or as Tim Gunn says, "Make it work!"

DEMOCRACY NOW!-LIVE SCOTUS COVERAGE (streaming video)

Video from Democracy Now!

"Obama prepping thousands of lawyers for election"

Mike Baker (AP):

OLYMPIA, Wash. — President Barack Obama's campaign has recruited a legion of lawyers to be on standby for this year's election as legal disputes surrounding the voting process escalate.

Thousands of attorneys and support staffers have agreed to aid in the effort, providing a mass of legal support that appears to be unrivaled by Republicans or precedent. Obama's campaign says it is particularly concerned about the implementation of new voter ID laws across the country, the possibility of anti-fraud activists challenging legitimate voters and the handling of voter registrations in the most competitive states. MORE...

WA: "Rally in Response to the Supreme Court’s Health Care Decision"

Washington Community Action Network:

Attend a rapid response event near you!

This Thursday, the US Supreme Court is expected to rule on Rob McKenna’s partisan challenge to the Affordable Care Act - President Obama’s health care reform law. It’s perhaps the most anticipated Supreme Court ruling in our nation’s history.

Regardless of the outcome, we’ll be ready. Please RSVP on Washington Community Action Network's web site.

Thursday, June 28 outside the Attorney General's offices around the state

SEATTLE - 2pm 800 Fifth Avenue	SPOKANE - noon 1116 W Riverside Avenue
PORT ANGELES - 4pm 115 E Railroad	TACOMA - 4pm 1250 Pacific Avenue
TRI-CITIES - 1pm 8127 W. Klamath Court, Kennewick	BELLINGHAM - noon 103 E Holly St
WENATCHEE - noon 18 S Mission St	EVERETT - 10am 3501 Colby Avenue
OLYMPIA - 12:15pm 1125 Washington St SE
YAKIMA - noon 1433 Lakeside Court

Matt Taibbi: "On Hunter Thompson and Why Barack Obama Isn't a Great Shark"

Eric Sundermann (Village Voice):

What do you think Thompson would say about Obama?
I think he'd be disappointed. I think he would've liked him at first. I think he would've wanted to believe in him. Obama would've been his McGovern in '08. And I think he would've been disappointed afterwards. I hope. That's my impression. He went through that cycle with a number of politicians, I guess Carter comes to mind. He really liked Carter at first, but then he got turned off to Carter over time. His tendency was to fall in love with politicians and then fall out of love after he got a good look at them.
(SNIP)
It's not like, you know, he (Obama) tried to fight the good fight and he couldn't overcome the bureaucracy in Washington. There just was never a fight. He never tried. That's got to be on him. MORE...

"Dems go AWOL in class war"

Jonathan Martin (Politico):

“If you vote to break up the major banks, within weeks you’ll be flooded with millions of dollars in attack ads,” observed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). “If on one hand your allies are not as strong as they used to be and your opponents are much stronger, then you get more nervous.”

Just under 12 percent of the American workforce belonged to a union in 2011 — down from a ’50s-era high of about 35 percent.

“The labor union movement is the movement that carries [populism] into the Democratic Party, and as it gets weaker populism has gotten weaker,” lamented Robert Borosage, a longtime liberal activist who heads the Campaign for America’s Future. MORE...

Howie P.S.: This is not what I wanted to read this morning.

MIchelle Obama to OFA Team @HQ: "You all are doing a great job!" (photo)

(CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

From Michelle Obama, on Twitter.

"How Badly Will SCOTUS Screw Up Obamacare?" (Updated)

"Uninsured patients receiving care at a free clinic."

Jonathan Chait:

The Supreme Court is likely to announce soon if it has decided to declare the individual mandate unconstitutional. (Which is to say, it’s announcing whether Anthony Kennedy hates health care reform a lot or only a little, because everybody assumes the other four Republican justices hate it so much they’ll declare it unconstitutional.)

As you can tell, I’m already bitter about this, as the constitutionality of the individual mandate is so obvious that the mere fact that the controversy exists suggests a frightening will to power by the legal arm of the conservative movement. But, as we consider the possible outcomes, it’s worth keeping in mind something that is not likely to come through in the news coverage: The vast majority of the bill is likely to stay in place. MORE...

Howie P.S.:

Pithy quotes from Chait-

"Conservatives tend toward triumphalism, liberals tend toward despair, and the news media tends to overplay the importance of whatever thing just happened."

"If the Court strikes down the mandate, I will lose my shit. But striking the mandate would not end the law, or even most of the law."

Howie P.P.S.: Public Option Advocates To Push Medicare For All If Supreme Court Strikes ‘Obamacare.’

Tomgram: "And You Thought It Would Be Easy? Graduating the Class of 2012 Onto Our Overheated Planet"

TomDispatch:

[Note: No one invited me to give this graduation speech. It was concocted freely in the campus of my mind and it’s meant for the rest of us in the class of 2012.]

Class of 2012, greetings! It’s a deceptively glorious day, even under this tent in the broiling heat of an August-style afternoon in mid-June on this northeastern campus. Another local temperature record is being set: 98 degrees. And yes, let’s admit it, the heat, the sun, the clearness of the azure blue sky stretching without a cloud to the horizon, the sense of summer descending with a passion, it’s not quite as reassuring as it might once have been, is it? I suspect that few of you, readying yourselves to leave this campus, many mortgaged to your eyeballs (some for life no matter what you do), and heading into a country on edge, imagine personal clear skies to the horizon. MORE..

Seattle: "DOJ discouraged by talks, accuses city of 'negotiating in the press' "

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Police Chief John Diaz. Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM.

SeattlePI.com (no byline):

On Monday, Mayor Mike McGinn released a number of documents that show how little progress has been made since the investigation was completed.

In a May 16 letter to City Attorney Pete Holmes, the DOJ's Jonathan Smith says he is "troubled and surprised" that the city hasn't taken steps to address issues of discriminatory policing and community engagement.

"We have been very discouraged by the way that these negotiations have been handled by the city," the letter reads.

In the same letter, Smith accuses the city of leaking confidential material and "negotiating in the press." MORE...

"Fact: President Obama Doubled funding for Pell Grants"