More conversation and some questions today surrounding the comments made by House Caucus Chair Mike Turner yesterday:

We’ve got a lot of bills on states’ rights here, state sovereignty and all that,” he added. “We went through that fight once before. All of a sudden, we have a black man elected president and everybody wants to start acting like something’s wrong with our country. I didn’t agree with a lot of things George Bush did, but I wasn’t ready to secede from the union.

Chris Devaney, Chair of the TNGOP, is shocked. SHOCKED! I tell you.

If I were Turner, I’d take it all one step further. The rash of states’ rights and state sovereignty bills introduced in Tennessee by Republicans isn’t because we “have a black man elected president.” It’s because some people don’t like a black man telling them what to do. Can’t you just feel them bristle?

Recent events illustrate that Devaney’s shock is disingenuous. Because yes, Tennessee’s Republican delegation may not necessarily be the people who are riled up by Barack Obama’s leadership role, but they most definitely are pandering to the people who are:

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a ‘ni–er.’ And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a “faggot,” as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president’s speech, shrugged off the incident.

Manipulation in politics is nothing new but it can be dangerous when exploiting fear – one of the most unstable of all human emotions – is at its core.

UPDATE: Kleinheider has an interesting list compiled by Democratic House Leader Gary Odom.

UPDATE II: Aunt B is proud of her Democrats today. She has all the deets on 1) The press conference that was called to express the TNGOP’s “shock and outrage that anyone would dare suggest that some people have issues with Obama being black” and that Rep. Jason Mumpower rather hastily ended when “he was asked about the tea party protesters who heckled and spit at Democratic House members, including various civil rights icons, over the weekend in Washington….” and 2) the united font of swagger that has returned to House Dems.

Summary: Featuring guests Tony Garr, Executive Director of Tennessee Health Care Campaign and Karl Frish Senior Fellow for Media Matters for America.

Part 1: Yes We Did (Part 2 in a Series) There’s really one one news story this morning – woohoo! health care reform legislation! – and really one “to do” item – call and thank your congressperson who voted for woohoo! health care reform legislation. And then there’s the congressmen from Tennessee who didn’t vote for it. Call those guys too. Plus, what’s good about the legislation and Tony Garr, executive director for Tennessee Health Care campaign joins us to talk about why it’s specifically good for Tennesseans. [27.47MB download mp3]Download audio file (liberadio20100322part1.mp3)

Part 2: Yes We Did (Part 2 in a Series) So just what was the contemporary Republican party’s agenda during this health care reform debate? Freddie’s got a few ideas. Plus, we take your calls, don’t answer a few questions, and talk to Karl Frisch of Media Matters (who bought Limbaugh not one but TWO plane tickets to Costa Rica) and Mark Naccarato of SEIU Local 205.” [24.14MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20100322part2.mp3)

UPDATE: The haters may be blowing up his phone so please contact Congressman Gordon one more time to say “Thanks.”

UPDATE on all Democrats: Huffpo

UPDATE II: The Daily News Journal has the deets:

“The health care bill being considered by Congress now accomplishes three things: one, it reduces health care costs for families and small businesses; two, it improves access to affordable care, regardless of pre-existing conditions; three, it lowers our budget deficit. That’s why I am supporting it.”

As Democrats in Congress mount the final push to approve President Obama’s health care reform proposal, conservative Talk radio hosts across the country are mobilizing the “troops” to defeat the controversial bill. Premiere Radio Networks talker Rush Limbaugh deviated from his usual policy of not giving out DC phone numbers on his show and actively called for listeners to “flood Congress with calls and emails.” Fellow Premiere talkers and FOX News Channel personalities Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have also called for active protests from their listeners,…Meanwhile, Salem Radio Network hosts Bill Bennett, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Janet Mefferd and Michael Medved have all placed “Say No To Obamacare” buttons on their websites to encourage listeners to email Congress. So far, the hosts combined efforts have generated nearly 1 million emails urging defeat of the pending legislation.

There. So now you also know how “death panels” became a talking point so quickly.

For those of us who have been watching the misinformation stream coming out of the Obstructionist’s Party on the right, it has been a head-scratching fight. Though the Republican Party had ten years in the majority to study and pass health care reform legislation to their liking, they did nothing. They continued to let an ever increasing portion of America’s GDP get sucked out of our hides and into the pockets of an industry whose profiteering callousness knows no bounds. Every day American families spend 18% and still rising of our household budgets on healthcare. Well, those of us lucky enough to get it. And now the right’s rallying cry is a weak “Code Red.” Indeed, they have waited until the patient is dying on the table to start their inadequate wails of “save us,” blaming those who are trying to sort through a difficult diagnosis as if we caused the disease….

Now, as the Congress readies itself to pass legislation, we must look past the hype, the media moment of the day, the manufactured winners and losers of the horse race. No one thinks this legislation is perfect, but the Republican Party needs to start telling the truth about this issue. There is no time to start over, they had their chance, and they lost their majorities.

Perhaps we have reached the end of one battle, but this is really just another step on the long path of liberty and justice for all. Thanks to our Founding Fathers, we are no longer yoked by fealty to King or Crown, but my how the Framers would be appalled by our bent knees before the throne of Corporatism and Profiteering.

Go read the rest. Maria’s voice is one that has been hiding too long in Sumner County. She needs to be heard.

T/F/B: Speak to Power

The latter, of course and our intrepid Capitol Hill correspondent Dean (Hey Dean! You’re now our intrepid Capitol Hill correspondent!) posted a synopsis of Senator Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga) taking a stand today for what really matters most to Tennesseans:

In other HC news, the Tennessee Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to require the state attorney general to mount a legal challenge to any federal law to require participation in a health care system.

The “Tennessee Health Freedom Act” sponsored by Republican Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) passed without debate on a 26-1 vote, with five abstentions.

Beavers, showing her ignorance, said her proposal seeks to check congressional power. Otherwise the federal government “could mandate that each of us buy a Chevrolet every year so we could help pay of the loans that were made to the industry,” she foolishly said.

Only Democratic Sen. Andy Berke of Chattanooga had a clue. He said the bill “doesn’t do anything to help the citizens of Tennessee who either need insurance or need a break in what they’re paying for health care.”

Berke also questioned the constitutionality of the bill.

“This is telling the federal government that we’re not going to obey the laws that you pass,” Berke said. “My education tells me there is the supremacy clause in the Constitution which says that we can’t do that.”

The road show presentation is a grassroots effort geared towards explaining what the health care bill in Congress and health care reform will really do for people in Tennessee and across the nation while exposing and debunking the scare tactics and myths being used to derail reform. It’s a message delivery system for the truth. (Not quite as effective as having conservative mouth pieces on the radio and TV at your disposal 24/7 but still…)

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA will be the keynote speaker at two of the regional conferences – Cherokee Health Systems in Knoxville and the Cookeville Regional Medical Center in Cookeville.

Registration for the event is $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Scholarships available. Lunch included.

To register for Knoxville, contact Beth Uselton, 865-357-3151
To register for Cookeville, contact Christina Kretchik, 615-227-7500

There are 8 total THCC Regional Training Conferences. Deputy Director Kathleen Stoll of Families USA will be at the Memphis conference on Saturday, March 6.

Summary: Featuring guests Betsy Phillips, producer of Tiny Cat Pants blog and contributor to the Nashville Scene’s Pith in the Wind blog and Karl Frisch of Media Matters for America.

This is Tennessee Jumping Up and Down and Yelling “Yoohoo!”, Part 1. News, to do, and why all the good people down in Tennessee need to start paying attention to state politics. [24.56MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20091207part1.mp3)

This is Tennessee Jumping Up and Down and Yelling “Yoohoo!”, Part 2 Why health care reform matters (we’re talking to you Limbaugh), we get on a motherf**king boat with Betsy Phillips, also known as Aunt B. of Tiny Cat Pants and Pith in the Wind (two blogs that most definitely DO pay attention to state politics), and the Media Matters for America Smackdown with Karl Frisch. [23.89MB download mp3]
Download audio file (liberadio20091207part2.mp3)

What prompted this outpouring of affection from reader Dean? Well, first there was a typical cold, knee-jerk, and factually-challenged conservative reaction to a health care reform discussion from another reader:

Ryan said,

Freddie, not only are you trying to eliminate responsibility for health security on the part of insurers, but you are also trying to eliminate responsibility on the part of the insured.

I don’t understand why you liberals think that everyone deserves to have health care given to them. Anything worth having isn’t going to be free, or cheap, right? Why should health care be any different? It is your responsibility to find and afford care for your family, not mine. Let me handle my family, and you go buy the bottom of the barrel crap (public option) for your family that “means so much to you”… In the meantime, I hope you are explaining to your little kids why daddy can’t work for their healthcare, but he can go on a vacation, drive a new car, have every channel on cable (with his plasma tv), and be carrying around the newest blackberry on the market.

You want the best of everything, and you want the government to give it to us. Good luck with that.

To which Freddie issued the following smackdown:

Freddie said,

Ryan, your ability to be obtuse competes favorably with your ability to be insulting.

If you’ve followed any rational discussion about healthcare reform, the general position of those favoring health security is not to remove responsibility from individuals to ensure their own wellness but rather to ensure access to insurance in the event of a pre-existing condition, whether one that occurred at birth or one that is a result of an accident. These aren’t hypotheticals for actuaries or pundits to poke and prod at; they’re real scenarios affecting real Americans.

In an employer-based health insurance model, loss of a job typically means loss of access to affordable health insurance. If you’ve never faced COBRA premiums (which expire) or HIPAA premiums, try it. You won’t like it.

As someone who clearly favors the free market, I’m surprised by your willingness to trap a labor force that could be operating more efficiently in jobs just so that they can maintain access to healthcare.

A number of Americans interested in this debate want to work but can’t lest they earn so much income they no longer qualify for Medicaid. And if they have a severe enough pre-existing condition, they’re uninsurable in the eyes of private insurers or else, if they exercise their HIPAA rights, they’re charged premiums high enough that they’re pushed right back into poverty.

Imagine my surprise if you turn out to be anti-abortion-rights and also anti-health-security for those Americans with pre-existing conditions from birth.

It’s quite nice of you to put words in my mouth by falsely asserting what i want, but let me spell it out for you since you keep getting it wrong: I want access to affordable healthcare for all Americans. The only thing I want government to give me is the right to compete fairly with all Americans, regardless of how any of us were born or affected by unforeseen circumstances.

In order, I favor:

* Medicare for All
* Wyden/Bennett (the bipartisan Healthy Americans Act)
* a version of the current major proposals before Congress that includes a public option

You’re welcome to adopt a position that punishes the community of Americans who wind up with pre-existing conditions, and I’ll gladly continue to oppose your policy prescriptions.

And….scene.