06 Thursday Nov 2025
Posted in Uncategorized
Karl Rove (r) [2015 file photo].
1. Never listen to advice from Karl Rove (r).
The Meaning of the Democrats’ Victory
Voters are frustrated with Trump, but they aren’t about to embrace Mamdani.
By Karl Rove
Nov. 5, 2025 1:52 pm ET
[….]
Yeah, no.
17 Wednesday Aug 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
campaign ads, Karl Rove, Medicare, missouri, One Nation, Roy Blunt
A new ad from a dark money group, One Nation, associated with the one-time master of political duplicity, Karl Rove, paints Roy Blunt as a stalwart defender of Medicare. The same group tried to scam Missourians last fall with a message about how Blunt, who usually comes off as a slick Washington operator, really cares about the folks at home, veterans in that case. The motivation for both ads is probably the fact that Blunt seems to have a real competitor this election year. And it follows that this new ad is as bogus as the earlier one.
The new Medicare ad reflects widespread concern about a proposed trial of a new Medicare reimbursement formula – and, on the part of Republicans, no doubt, opposition to anything put forward by the Obama administration. Democrats are also concerned, but willing to critique and, if necessary, improve the proposed experiment.
As Politico describes it, “the Obama administration’s Medicare experiment would test whether the program’s payment system encourages doctors to prescribe more expensive drugs, since they’re paid a set percentage of a drug’s price — therefore getting more for a higher-cost drug.” It’s potentially a big deal since, according to Politico, “Medicare’s Part B program spends nearly $20 billion on drugs every year, and advocacy organizations are pouring millions of dollars into campaigns for and against the experiment.” Pouring money, did they say … enter Roy Blunt.
The issue is not black or white. The experiment has its advocates as well as its detractors within the affected communities:
Peter Bach, a Memorial Sloan Kettering researcher and drug pricing critic, told POLITICO’s podcast that Medicare’s planned pilot is a necessary reform. He argued that lobbyists have dramatically distorted the administration’s goal of reducing doctors’ incentives to prescribe high-cost drugs.
“This has been a highly coordinated effort to misinform the electorate, to frighten patients and to misinform policymakers about even the basic math,” Bach said.
Ted Okon, the executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance, countered that Medicare’s pilot is a dramatic overreach that would short-change doctors. He also warns the overly broad scope of the Medicare experiment could set a precedent for a future president — say, Trump — to circumvent Congress to make changes to Obamacare.
“If this is not changed appreciably, the only recourse will … be to pursue legal action,” Okon said. “There’s too much riding [on it]. It’s not just a reimbursement cut.”
Bach argued that Medicare’s current reimbursement system is set up to reward doctors, like oncologists, when they prescribe more expensive medicines. And whether that’s a good idea depends on how you view the doctor’s role, Bach said.
“Do you view them as a real estate broker,” he asked, “where if the real estate broker sells an expensive house, they make more money than a cheap house? Or do you view them more like the UPS delivery guy — it doesn’t matter what’s inside the box, whether it’s a stuffed bunny or a bunch of diamonds, they get paid the same amount to bring the box.”
Bach thinks it’s time physicians move toward the latter model, arguing that reducing doctors’ incentive to prescribe high-cost drugs would help tamp down drug spending, the fastest-rising sector of health care.
Okon cautioned that changing how doctors get paid could backfire and potentially keep patients from receiving drugs they need.
I’m a cancer patient so I’ve got, to use one of the GOP’s favorite terms, skin in the game. I trust my doctor and I’m not too concerned about the new proposal. I’m sure, based on my own research, that the drugs used in my chemotherapy are bedrock for my diagnosis, and, when they no longer work – a likely development with my type of cancer – I can’t see that this provision will prevent me from getting the drugs I need to combat my disease. I should also add that my experience with Medicare during my treatment has been excellent.
Roy Blunt’s advocacy for the status quo – and, incidentally, the folks lobbying to preserve a generous revenue stream – makes me even more skeptical about whether or not the revised rule’s impact will be negative. Why? Just consider Blunt’s past record on Medicare. After all, he’s the guy who said Medicare never made anyone healthier and that establishing the program was a mistake. Most recently, he cut money from the Medicaid program that helps vulnerable seniors navigate the program:
The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) that provides seniors with a better understanding of Medicare and saves them millions, would be eliminated by a budget bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, reported Kaiser Health News. In a statement by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), chairman of the appropriations committee’s health and labor committee, said that ending SHIP could save $52 million and would help pay for a $2 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, increase resources for opioid abuse prevention, and restore year-round Pell Grants. “Medicare is very complicated,” said Howard Bedlin, vice president for public policy and advocacy at the National Council on Aging. “Last year SHIPs helped 7 million people navigate this program and without those services, people will not be able to make well-informed choices. That’s going to cost them money.”
I’d say that when it comes to this newfound zeal for Medicare, Blunt ought to put his mouth where his money is except that he seems to be doing just that when you consider that health care industries that stand to loose money by these new rules are also big Blunt campaign donors; health industry PACs have gifted him with $174,000 this cycle alone. Absent that incentive, as his stinginess in regard to the SHIP program indicates, he isn’t that interested in helping folks on Medicare. As this new ad campaign underlines, Roy Blunt may be putting his mouth where his money is, but he’s also trying to confuse seniors about there that “is” is.
21 Wednesday Oct 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
This today from Steve Benen:
And this may be nothing or it may be something, but Karl Rove’s campaign operation is spending nearly $800,000 on a media “blitz” in Missouri, of all places, where Sen. Roy Blunt (R) is up for re-election. Blunt, a long-time fixture in Missouri politics, might seem like a safe incumbent in a red-ish state, but the incumbent isn’t particularly popular, and he’s likely to face Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D), a war veteran considered a rising star in Democratic politics. The race isn’t getting much attention yet, but Rove’s operation wouldn’t be spending $800,000 this early unless the Republican establishment were feeling antsy about Blunt’s chances.
Of course, it’s early days yet, but I’m encouraged that the GOP is taking Kander this seriously. It’s a good sign. In spite of the fact that he’s not a Tea Party favorite, Blunt is good at snowing the locals when push comes to shove – remember when he went all good ol’ boy in a rented pick-up and plaid shirt in 2010? – but his lickspittle corporatism and proclivity for corruption might finally catch up with him. As Jason Kander himself has charged, “Blunt “has been in Washington so long, […] Washington has become his home. Lobbyists and his political party have become his constituents.”
Of course, there’s still the matter of the mighty Rove PAC’s checkbook. And it isn’t like folks don’t know what Bllunt is – his money-grabbing ways are certainly no mystery, but he’s become an institution among the “moderate” GOPers as well as to some centrist Democrats in the state and they don’t really have an alternative. Nevertheless, maybe there’s hope for a strong, sincere challenger like Jason Kander – after all, the bigger they are, the harder they fall:
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.
A beamish boy Kander would be indeed – and would I ever be chortling in my joy. You can contribute to Jason Kander here.
19 Monday May 2014
Posted in Uncategorized
Today, via Twitter:
John LaBombard @jlabomb
Mama LaBombard’s take on the Sunday shows is way better than any Hill rag recap. #StraightTalkFromTheJerseyShore pic.twitter.com/DE3BZzw1NH 7:14 PM – 18 May 2014
Heh.
18 Sunday May 2014
Tags
Benghazi, Benghazi flu, Benghazi hearings, Clinton 2016, Hillary Clinton, Karl Rove, Republican Party, Republican Politics, Turd Blossom
Posted by Michael Bersin | Filed under Uncategorized
01 Saturday Sep 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Previously:
The republican establishment and Todd Akin (r) (August 31, 2012)
The casual violence of GOP rhetoric, or what’s new in Todd Akin’s lalaland (August 31, 2012)
There’s some sort of republican commandment writ in stone which they can’t seem to remember.
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Phyllis Schlafly Calls on Karl Rove to ResignKarl Rove has made himself toxic to Republicans by his incredibly offensive and dangerous statement suggesting the murder of Congressman Todd Akin of Missouri. Any candidate or network who hires Rove will now be tarnished with this most malicious remark ever made in Republican politics….
Senator Claire McCaskill (D) must be living right. Pass the popcorn.
07 Monday May 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
2012, attack ads, Claire McCaskill, Karl Rove, missouri, Senate, Twitter
Via Twitter:
Claire McCaskill @clairecmc
A few months ago saw Rove in STL airport.Then millions of secret $ attack ads.Today,McConnell on my STL flight to DC. Ok guys,I get it.
2:42 PM – 7 May 12
That’s why you always got to dance with them what brung you.
Welcome home, Claire.
27 Wednesday Jul 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
Unlimited money doesn’t necessarily equal substance and originality. Karl Rove’s right wingnut astroturf organization is spamming the Missouri airwaves with another ad attacking Senator Claire McCaskill (D):
The transcript:
First person: We’re paying double for gas.
Second person: More for groceries.
Third person: Our homes are worth less.
Fourth person: More people are out of work.
Fifth person: And it’s a lot harder to save for retirement.
Sixth person: But instead of fixing our economy…
Fourth person: …politicians like Claire McCaskill voted for billions in new taxes.
First person: …and racked up trillions in crushing debt.
Fifth person: Now President Obama wants to continue the reckless spending.
Third person: And he wants to raise taxes even higher.
Sixth person: That costs us more jobs.
Third person: Senator McCaskill…
Fourth person:…no more blank checks.
“…We’re paying double for gas…”
You might want to talk to the big oil corporations about that. You know, the ones with record profits and those lucrative tax breaks that the republican controlled House fights to preserve.
“…Our homes are worth less…”
Really. When did that happen? Oh, yeah, during the previous republican administration, under dubya.
“…More people are out of work…”
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies, part 2 (July 8, 2011)
From the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D).
Gee, that chart shows a very different trajectory from the previous republican administration, don’t you think? Or are the republican hacks at Crossroads GPS insinuating that the stimulus wasn’t big enough? Just asking, but hardly probable.
“…And it’s a lot harder to save for retirement…”
Especially when the republicans finish destroying Social Security and Medicare.
“…and racked up trillions in crushing debt…”
….The Bush Tax Cuts Are The Primary Driver Of Federal Budget Deficits Over The Next Decade….
Uh, dubya’s administration did the racking. Big time. Where was Crossroads GPS when that was happening. Oh, right, Karl Rove was helping do that racking.
“…And he wants to raise taxes even higher…”
Yep, on those who have been getting a windfall for the last eleven years. It doesn’t look like anyone in this ad makes more than $250,000.00 a year does it?
CNN/ORC [pdf]
Interviews with 1,009 adult Americans conducted by telephone by ORC International on July 18-20, 2011. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or
minus 3 percentage points.The sample includes 856 interviews among landline respondents and 153 interviews among cell phone respondents.
[….]
24. Now I’m going to read you some of the specific proposals for cutting government spending and increasing taxes that have been suggested as part of the discussions on the debt ceiling. For each one, please tell me whether you favor or oppose that proposal as a way to reduce the amount that the government owes.
[….]
Increasing the taxes paid by people who make more than 250 thousand dollars a year
Favor 73% Oppose26%
[emphasis added]
So much for convincing a majority that millionaires and billionaires have it tough.
Gee, they’re running the same ad in Montana:
And Ohio:
And Nebraska:
And Florida:
Fancy that. Heh, leave it to republicans, spam and astroturf.
Though, isn’t the diversity of America inspiring?
19 Tuesday Jul 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
Competing Twitter posts:
@KarlRove Karl Rove
Saw @clairecmc @ St Louis airport – she waved but wasn’t happy. Must be @crossroadsgps ads on her bad votes/broken promises 2 cut spending 17 hours ago
Apparently, the irony of “turd blossom” being “the brain” for the most profligate administration ever escapes Karl Rove (r):
….The Bush Tax Cuts Are The Primary Driver Of Federal Budget Deficits Over The Next Decade….
Senator Claire McCaskill (D) shows much more class:
@clairecmc Claire McCaskill
Just gave Karl Rove a wave & friendly hi in St Louis airport.Even tho he’s up on TV distorting my record,still wanted to show good manners. 18 hours ago
Previously: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies, part 2 (July 8, 2011)
14 Thursday Oct 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
2010 Elections, Crossroads GPS, Fake Grassroots, Karl Rove, Robin Carnahan, Roy Blunt, Senate race
Nothing says Washington DC outsider like seven-term Congressman (and former Republican Whip) Roy Blunt! He’s such an outsider that there are dining establishments in DC that he has only been to once!
(Wonder how much of that debt is in stuff that he voted for, but wants you to forget about)
More under fold
No, they did not get that semissourian.com thing wrong (seeing as it’s a newspaper, you would think that).. they’re citing a USER SUBMITTED STORY titled “Robin Carnahan now likes TARP” from “Tim O’Toole”
Oh yeah, they also stretched “made a good case” into “would have voted for”. After all, if you admit something has a good case, you obviously support it. If only they taught logic to the O’Toole Family. Then the letter to the editor (errrrrrrr… I meant User-Submitted Story) quoted Rich Chrismer a few times.
Head on a pedestal. I need to get that photoshop program!
Also, how much was the bailout out of that $2.5 trillion? A trillion was added from Oct 2007 to Oct 2008 pre-bailout.
But then again, it’s OK if a Republican does it.
BTW, do they need more Robin headshots for their collection?
Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies? Nothing says Grassroots like anonymous fliers in millions of homes and a company headed by Karl Rove.
Granted, if they went with Crossroads Astroturf Policy Strategies, they would have an unfortunate acronym.
I wish people who talk about fiscal conservatism wouldn’t carpetbomb the voters in mailers. Yes, that means you Turfroots Mailer Factories. And tell Tim O’Toole that I said “Howdy!”
