DOWNLOADS: (147)

PLAYS: (815)

Embed

Oops! Richard Mourdock got ahead of himself and released this video celebrating the end of the Affordable Care Act at the hands of the Supreme Court.

Via Politico:

Indiana Treasurer and GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock applauds the Supreme Court's decision invalidating the Affordable Care Act in a new video uploaded to his YouTube account.

The catch, obviously, is that the Court hasn't ruled on Obamacare just yet, and won't do so until next week. Mourdock's video, titled "ObamaCare3," is apparently a pretaped message in the event that the health care law goes down, but it hit the web early.

“Well, we’ve had our brief moment of celebration, because the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare is, in fact, unconstitutional. It’s what many of us argued all along," Mourdock begins. "But don’t sit back and think the fight is over because it isn’t. Barack Obama and Congressman Joe Donnelly are already putting Obamacare 2.0 together and they’re going to try and pass it once again. We cannot let that happen."

Subsequent to Politico's report, the Mourdock campaign pulled the video out of public view, but you know, once a bell has rung, it can't be unrung. A copy of the ad is at the top of this post.

I admit that I was bothered by Mourdock's premature dance in the endzone, even if it appears he did make videos for every possibility. Conventional wisdom holds that what is done at the Supreme Court stays at the Supreme Court until the opinion is released.

But there's that Ginni Thomas factor, and her ties to right wing organizations. Her past includes cozy and deep-pocketed connections with the Kochs, and she's now hard at work for Tucker Carlson's Foster Friess enterprise, The Daily Caller.

I note over on the SCOTUSblog there's a calendar entry for a June 26th summit at the Cato Institute to discuss the "meaning of the Obamacare ruling." Once again, that could simply be contingency planning for whatever the ruling ends up being. But it's worrisome to me that Ginni Thomas is the common denominator in an equation that includes premature end zone spiking by Mr. Mourdock even as John Boehner warns that Republican congressmen should definitely not under any circumstances celebrate if SCOTUS strikes it down.

By now, I'm assuming the court is putting the finishing touches on the opinion(s) and dissent(s) in order to release everything by Monday of next week. So why would Mourdock behave as if he knew the outcome already? Wishful thinking, or inside information? I suggest keeping an eye on The Daily Caller to see how they handle the decision when it's released to the public.

DOWNLOADS: (382)

PLAYS: (2628)

Embed

Chris Hayes took a shot at Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for where he apparently gets his news and for his hypocrisy with basing his rulings on partisan ideology and whether he likes a particular law or not when it comes to his opinion on interstate commerce.

HAYES: We now know that many of the conservative Justices appear to be getting their information from reading right wing blogs. We know Justice Scalia even referenced the infamous “Cornhusker kickback”, a bete noire of Michelle Malkin and Red State, even though the deal cut with Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson to secure his vote for the ACA, didn't end up in the final legislation.

Most importantly we were reminded that just seven years ago, while voting to uphold a federal law that outlawed marijuana grown for private medicinal consumption, Justice Scalia thought the Constitution's interstate Commerce Clause was so broad that Congress could regulate even non-economic interstate activities, so long as failure to do so could undercut its regulation of interstate commerce.

I just assumed it was from watching Fox, but maybe Chris Hayes is correct as well.

DOWNLOADS: (299)

PLAYS: (1514)

Embed

How embarrassing and shameful is this? We've got lies being spread on Fox News, a Supreme Court Justice repeating those lies during hearings before his court and then Fox repeating the lies told by the Justice in their "reporting" that evening.

Here's more from Steve Benen on Antonin Scalia telling repeating the falsehood that the "Cornhusker kickback" was part of the Affordable Care Act -- There is no 'Cornhusker kickback':

It's not fair for anyone to expect Supreme Court justices to become experts in every area of every law that comes before them. There are simply too many cases, spanning too broad a legal spectrum.

That said, it's not unreasonable to think justices should be relatively well informed about the basics of health care law, since literally tens millions of Americans are counting on them to make a fair and reasoned decisions. It makes displays like these rather embarrassing. [...]

In this case, Scalia doesn't seem to realize that the so-called "Cornhusker kickback" wasn't included in the Affordable Care Act; it was taken out before passage. Scalia probably heard something about it on Fox News, assumed it was true, and internalized his party's talking points. More than two years later, the conservative justice is still parroting a claim that has no basis in fact -- indeed, he's practically boasting about it during Supreme Court oral arguments.

Scalia is bringing to the discussion all the sophistication of a House freshman appearing at a Tea Party rally.

And here's more on Fox repeating the lie on Greta Van Susteren's show that evening --- Fox's Bream Falsely Suggests "Cornhusker Kickback" Is Part Of Health Care Law:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (148)

PLAYS: (770)

Embed

No, really. Bill O'Reilly tried to pass himself off as a Constitutional Law expert in this segment, insisting that the Supreme Court will overturn the individual mandate along purely partisan lines, 5-4. Here is the gist of his argument, loaded with unwarranted certitude:

It is as simple as that. The Federal government has no right to tell individual states that their citizens have to buy anything. That is a state decision to be applied mostly in public safety situations.

See? Simple as that. Billo has decreed that it must be so, therefore it must be, right? Well, he did bring on a guest, Caroline Fredrickson, president of -- wait for it -- the American Constitution Society.

Not that Billo let Ms. Fredrickson get a word in edgewise, but still, she managed to get the gist of her argument out there about why he was oh, so wrong. The wonkish among you can read the entire position paper here, but here are the toplines:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (297)

PLAYS: (2558)

Embed

I'm not sure which is worse. Senator Jim Bunning or Senator-elect Rand Paul. One thing is sure, however. They're both swaggering jerks. One ties up women; the other threatens patriots.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the Affordable Care Act yesterday for the benefit of repealers and anti-repealers alike. Along with the usual posturing, there was this remarkable exchange between Dr. Berwick and Senator Bunning. Clearly piqued by Berwick's recess appointment, Bunning berates him for accepting it without the proper hearings. Never mind Bunning's silence when George W. Bush appointed all of these folks as recess appointments, including the evil, odious neocon John Bolton to the UN Security Council. No, no, that doesn't matter to Bunning at all.

Dr. Berwick was really quite engaging despite the browbeating attempt. When scolded for daring to accept President Obama's appointment, he quite humbly answers that his President asked, and he accepted because he, too, wants to serve his country.

The entire hearing is here. It's quite interesting, particularly when Berwick is actually allowed to respond to questions. He's a terrific person to have as head of the CMS, particularly right now.