COVID-19 & Healthcare

Hero Dem candidate in AZ05 responds to anti-choicers in the most delightful way

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

james woods

Arizona Congressional District 5 is currently represented by Matt Salmon (who, when he ran for Governor in 2002, was considered to be firmly in the GOP establishment but is now a member of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress) and is viewed as an unwinnable district for Democrats. Nonetheless, James Woods has mounted a serious challenge and I don’t think I’ve ever found myself in more agreement with a candidate before.

I have a vision for an America in which we approach governance with the best evidence we have available–not ideology, revelation or religion. Public policy decisions should be made rationally through an unbiased examination of facts, efficacy and outcomes. This gives us the best possible chance of steering the country toward the advancement of prosperity for all. We must thoughtfully avoid the unverified opinions and irrational prejudices in our lawmaking process that thwart our common pursuit of happiness.

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Sorry, Martha McSally, “feminist Republican” IS an oxymoron

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barber mcsally

Roll Call‘s Shira T. Center is covering Arizona’s tight CD2 race and sees a formidable candidate in Martha McSally:

Operatives couldn’t make up a better candidate résumé if they tried: retired Air Force Colonel, first in her class at the U.S. Air War College, the first female fighter pilot in combat who flies the very plane — an A-10 Warthog — that’s economically essential to the 2nd District.

At a time when Republicans wrangle with messaging to female voters, this 48-year-old’s spunk and articulate bite is made for television — and unlike anything the House GOP Conference has seen in a while…

…McSally doesn’t talk like the average congressional candidate, instead dropping phrases like “awesome,” “dorked up,” and “bad-ass airplane” before crowds and in conversations. During a live appearance on Fox News Channel in February 2012, she said she wanted to kick former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., “in the jimmy” for his position on women serving in combat…

…“I consider myself a feminist Republican, and that’s not an oxymoron,” McSally tells CQ Roll Call in an interview over a vegetarian burrito slightly smaller than a bowling pin.

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The Arizona Daily Star publishes propaganda, abuses its readers

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Back in September 2011, I posted this piece, Please, just stop the ridiculous point/counterpoint opinions in the Star:

ScreenshotIn recent weeks the Arizona Daily Star has taken to publishing a point/counterpoint series of opinions on Monday from McClatchy News. These opinions are invariably written by think tanks or politicians with
an agenda and a partisan axe to grind. There is very little factual content and even less credible analysis. This is supposed to inform readers how exactly?

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Please,  just stop the ridiculous point/counterpoint opinions. They are as useless and uninformative as the old 60 Minutes point/counterpoint segment back in the 1970s with James Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander spewing partisan invectives at one another. The media villagers find this entertaining, but it is not informative.

Almost three years later, the lazy editors of the Arizona Daily Star are still running the ridiculous point/counterpoint opinions from McClatchy on Monday. The editors are doing a great disservice to readers when they publish propaganda, misinformation and disinformation from partisan think tanks masquerading as “opinion” on its editorial page.

Today’s outrageous example comes from Grace-Marie Turner, founder and president of a Scaifie Foundation “think tank,” the Galen institute, which is funded in part by the pharmaceutical and medical industries. See Unfashionable Sentiments: Who is Grace-Marie Turner? In 2003, Galen established the Center for Consumer Driven Health Care.

This propagandist from the Galen Institute, who is not a lawyer and possesses no expertise in constitutional law or statutory interpretation, argues in favor of the “textual literalism” of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in the recent case of Halbig v. Sebelius. Health law clearly states position on subsidies.

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CD4 Candidate Mikel Weisser Smacks Down Center for Arizona Policy

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CD4 Candidate Mikel Weisser
CD4 Candidate Mikel Weisser

Recently the AZBlueMeanie posted a story about CD2 Candidate Martha McSally’s non-answers to Cathi Herrod’s Center for Arizona Policy candidate survey. Herrod is a right-wing operative in Arizona, so it’s odd that Tea Party Darling McSally didn’t answer CAP’s survey. (Remember SB1062? That was Cathi’s baby.)

One Congressional candidate who DID answer Herrod’s questions is progressive CD4 Candidate Mikel Weisser. Wow. Weisser offers a collection of no-holds-barred answers to CAP’s anti-science religiosity and their support for discrimination, the subjugation of women, and the prison industrial complex. Below are his answers.

Weisser is running against CAP stooge and incumbent Republican Paul Gosar. Gosar’s answers to this survey here. His answer to #8 sums up his stance on civil rights and equality for women: “All men are equal. Special categories are unnecessary.” (Emphasis added.)

Mikel Weisser’s Answers to Center for Arizona Policy Survey Questions
1. Repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Greedy corporations, irresponsible think tanks and heartless doctors have attacked American patients for too long. Attacks on the ACA have to be stopped.

2. Providing federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortions.

Planned parenthood is our most important women’s health organization and its opponents create havoc and misery. Groups like CAP must stop trying to control vaginas.

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9th Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down the ‘Kochtopus’ Anti-ObamaCare Prop. 106

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Image: Supreme Court Upholds Obama's Affordable Care ActIn 2010, Dr. Eric Novack was the front man for “The Health Care Freedom Act,” aka the Arizona Health Insurance Reform Amendment, Proposition 106. Proposition 106 was proposed to amend the Arizona Constitution by barring any rules or regulations that would force state residents to participate in a health-care system, i.e., “ObamaCare.” The proposed amendment would also ensure that individuals would have the right to pay for private health insurance. The Arizona legislature referred the measure to the ballot. Voters approved Prop. 106 in 2010.

Dr. Eric Novack was the front man of an organization called the U.S. Health Freedom Coalition, which was financed almost entirely by the “Kochtopus” organization Center to Protect Patient Right.

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