In 1993, calling health care reform Hillarycare was a smart idea because you tied something people weren't sure they needed to a fairly unlikeable person.

In 2009, calling health care reform Obamacare is tying a desperately needed reform to a very popular person.

Just sayin'.

During the election, I picked up this habit of bookmarking articles I came across in my websurfing that I thought were particularly interesting, thoughtful, or just a great expression of a policy or ideal that resonated with me.  It started as a reference library for combating Republican/McCain campaign lies, but it's transformed over time into my blog equivalent of an upvote.

Lately it seems I bookmark a lot, but rarely find a good excuse to use it, so I've been thinking of doing semi-regular link dumps, just in case people are curious in the sorts of stuff that I stuff into my brain on a regular basis.

So, without further ado, here's my first set of handpicked links:

• Matt Yglesias on The Noble Eightfold Path of Consumer Protection
• Yglesias again, this time on Rationing, the Post Office, and the Public Option
• Chris Hayes of the Nation, taking the time to help the GOP answer some questions about healthcare
• In the same vein, one DailyKos diarist is ready to surrender to Republican demands on health care
• Getting a bit more serious, Hunter draws some uncomfortable lines between the nutty right wing protests of today, and the anti-civil rights protests of yesteryear (which another diary underscores)
• Steven Pearlstein momentarily awakens from his newspaper-induced torpor, and stands up to say that the media is failing to do its job
• And finally, to take at least one break from the theme, here's Paul Krugman on our economic outlook.

Having trouble following the recent Republican scandals? TPM put this up, and I feel compelled to share it.

I stumbled across this article today while searching for some advice on ways to make quick cash off tradeskills.  Instead of being a simple "make Titansteel Destroyers" type of thing, it's a detailed analysis of the Great WoW Depression (which I hadn't even noticed) and the real world one (which I kinda had noticed). It's a fascinating read, even if you don't play World of Warcraft.

http://greedygoblin.blogspot.com/2009/04/deflation.html

I'm not sure, is it initiating force when you're killing tyrants who want Universal Healthcare?

Here's TPM's summary.  The full poll detail is here.

I came across this article on DailyKos yesterday:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/24/04124/0642

Ultimately, it's an analysis of Obama's speech from last night by a linguistics professor, but in the course of that analysis he gives perhaps one of the most clear and accurate descriptions of the fundamentals of what progressives believe, and how the specific policy positions progressives have stem from those underlying principles that I've read.

In a related note, here's the word cloud for Obama's speech:

And the cloud for Jindal's response:

You can see the difference between the parties pretty clearly, just from that alone.

 

Of course, it's not actually a ticket to any event, like, say, the swearing in, or the Inaugural Ball or anything.   But still, it's a pretty nice touch.

Anyone else out there get one?  I hear one was sent to everyone on the Obama donor list.

Update: Found another pic to link.

TPM doing their best to make me think this election won't be stolen:

 http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/republican_voter_suppression_a.php

 

I just saw this over on DailyKos, apparently they had their car vandalized for having an Obama bumper sticker.

 

Read their article here.

To borrow Rachel Maddow's phrase, someone talk me down about this.

Are we going to have ourselves a revolution when Obama wins this thing?

 Can a body language expert tell me what the hell this means?

First, the Politico article, titled Climing from the Wreckage.  This is the most detailed breakdown of yesterday and today's events I've seen.

Second, the Washington Post has a story about a petition being made by 200 academic economists (non-Wall Street) to Congress, asking them to delay passing any bailout plan without taking the time to properly consider the effect of the proposal, in particular:

1. Its fairness.
2. Its ambiguity.
3. Its long-term effects.

Unfortunately, there's not much there in the way of an alternate plan, but I think someone in Congress should give these guys a call.

I've been saying it myself for a while, but I came across this article on the NY Times today, about a professor of economics from George Mason University making an argument why Libertarians should rally behind Obama.

He puts it more succintly than I have, but I think it's worth a read for those Libertarians out there.

Now it's on, full bore, until November 4th.  Any bets on where polls will settle once the convention bounces tamp down, in a week or two?

The next big events are the debates.  Here's the schedule:

First presidential debate
Friday, September 26
The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.
Jim Lehrer
Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS

Vice presidential debate
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
Gwen Ifill
Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor,
Washington Week, PBS

Second presidential debate (town meeting)
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.
Tom Brokaw
Special Correspondent, NBC News

Third presidential debate
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
Bob Schieffer
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation

 

I'll be serving popcorn for the VP debate, I'm expecting fireworks.

If you thought McCain would break from Bush on some crucial issues like domestic spying, guess again.

If you're worried about Clinton holding her 18 million (only if you round up) voters hostage, take heart that she's already lost at least one.

If your only issue in this race is membership in CFR, then read what they have to say about Obama's advisors.

If you've been wanting someone to take Lieberman down a peg, Barack Obama is on the job.

If you're a Republican, and running against Obama terrifies you, well, this won't help, but it sure makes me feel good. 

If you're just happy Obama is the nominee, you're not alone.

 

I'd like to nominate the week of May 11th, as being one of the best weeks of political news this year.

Allow me to summarize the events:

1. California Supreme court overturns ban on gay marriage
2. An Iraq war supplemental budget was voted down in the House because of Republican stupidity 
3. During the debate about the above bill, a Democrat stands up to baseless smears from a Republican, showing that there are Democrats in congress with spine!
   
4. Travis Childers defeats Greg Davis in a complete, backbreaking, upset win
5. Bush attacks Obama in a speech before the Israeli senate, rallying essentially the entire Democratic party to his defense, including Hillary Clinton.  Bonus: Biden calls it bullshit on live TV.
6. John Edwards endorses Barack Obama, erasing all memory of the WV primary
7. Chris Matthews acts like a real journalist
8. McCain gives a farcical speech about his dream for 2013
9. Olbermann gives one of his better special comments.
10. More than 20 delegates have announced support for Obama, and talk of Clinton pledged delegates changing sides emerges
11. Talk of John Conyers putting out an arrest warrant for Karl Rove for inherent contempt
12. Oh, and the utter humiliation of Bill O'Reilly
13. We even got Polar Bears on the Endangered Species list (don't ask me why that became a partisan fight, though)

It's been a great week so far, and there's still another couple days to go!