Ex-Democrat Artur Davis to speak at GOP national convention
There are a few moments in any national presidential-nominating convention that are designed for drama: the keynote address, the speech by the running mate and, of course, the speech by the nominee. But the GOP this year is trying to add another one in a Zell Miller-esque address by a longtime Democrat.
Democratic congressman-turned-2012 RNC speaker Artur Davis (Source: OfficialArturDavis.com)
And this longtime Democrat happens to be one of the first members of Congress to endorse Barack Obama for the presidency in 2008, the man who seconded Obama’s nomination at the Democratic convention in Denver: Alabama’s Artur Davis.
Davis’ switch to the Republican Party earlier this year was well-publicized, but I’m not sure anyone predicted he’d be a headliner at the 2012 GOP convention, announced alongside four people Mitt Romney reportedly considered as potential running mates: Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. (U.S. Senate candidate Connie Mack of Florida was also announced today.)
There have been rumors a Republican, perhaps Jon Huntsman, will address the Democrats’ convention in Charlotte. It would take more than Huntsman, in my view, to trump what the GOP gets with Davis.
Here’s what Davis said in a press release by the Republican National Committee:
The talk and inspiration moved so many of us four years ago, but unfortunately we haven’t seen the action to back it up. We were promised jobs and we got job-killing mandates and regulations. We were promised a fiscally responsible government, and we got trillion dollar deficits, debt that has never been seen, and small business burdened with new taxes, and threatened with more taxes. The time for talk is over. At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Republicans take a step to undo the mismanagement and nominate Mitt Romney as the next president of the United States.
I believe the official term for that kind of statement from that kind of ex-supporter is “fightin’ words.” We’ll have to see whether Davis proves as effective a turncoat as Miller was. And/or whether Davis ends up challenging any liberal cable-news commentators to a duel:
– By Kyle Wingfield
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393 comments Add your comment
@@
August 16th, 2012
2:32 pm
I’ve watched Krugman in a few back and forths over the years. He always has the look of a deer caught in the headlights.
I can recall one panel discussion where he was promoting universal healthcare. He asked the audience how many were Canadians. Hands went up. He then asked how many were dissatisfied with their healthcare. The same number of hands went up.
He was befuddled as to where to go next.
To the back of the class?
One thing’s for sure…he’d make a lousy lawyer.
SlickRick - glad to no longer be suffering through Fratboy George's ineptocracy
August 16th, 2012
2:33 pm
Enter your comments here
SlickRick - glad to no longer be suffering through Fratboy George's ineptocracy
August 16th, 2012
2:34 pm
Kyle @ 140 – you’re taking apples, comparing them to wheat, and concluding they’re widgets. In 2003, Krugman was saying that war + tax cuts = big deficit and oh by the way Repubs are saying deficits don’t matter, which will lead to a rise in interest rates. In 2010, Krugman was saying that short-term deficit spending to spur economic growth/recovery is more important than short-term worry about long-term deficits (which is something that needs to be dealt with, just not now). There is nothing to suggest that Krugman was a supply-sider before he wasn’t. And if you look at the facts, our nation has had its most productive and economically successful periods following the Keynsian approach. Facts are facts until they’re twisted beyond recognition by the Republican propaganda machine. I suspect Goebbels would’ve been very proud of the conservative media apparatus.
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
2:34 pm
@@
You recall that panel or the channel.
I’m sure it can be verified via youtube
Thanks
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 16th, 2012
2:34 pm
Having the second coming of Jesse Jackson dissing your wife, Bruno, for VP has to be killin, absolutely killin boy Clinton.
Will we be getting a nut cracking comment out of him, or what?
Auntie Christ
August 16th, 2012
2:35 pm
Kyle removed Auntie’s unprovoked assault on Hillbilly. Kewl!
You mean if I cry and mewl like a little kitten,the way you conservatives do, kyle will remove things like ‘you libtards,’ ‘left wing parasites,’ et al that you wingers throw out here everyday. Great, because those kinds of things really really make me sad.
SlickRick - glad to no longer be suffering through Fratboy George's ineptocracy
August 16th, 2012
2:35 pm
It’s better to be a lousy lawyer than a lousy human.
Schnirt
@@
August 16th, 2012
2:35 pm
Is House Slave the best liberals have to offer here?
Reminds me of Fred.
@@
August 16th, 2012
2:39 pm
Belly Laugh:
Yes it can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EPd2i4Jshs
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 16th, 2012
2:39 pm
He asked the audience how many were Canadians. Hands went up. He then asked how many were dissatisfied with their healthcare. The same number of hands went up.
One-fourth of American respondents are either “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with “the availability of affordable healthcare in the nation,” (6% very satisfied and 19% somewhat satisfied). This level of satisfaction is significantly lower than in Canada, where 57% are satisfied with the availability of affordable healthcare, including 16% who are very satisfied. Roughly 4 in 10 Britons are satisfied (43%), but only 7% say they are very satisfied (similar to the percentage very satisfied in the United States).
Care to revise your statement ?
On the whole Canadians are MUCH MUCH happier with their system.
House Slaves Usually Live Better Than Field Slaves
August 16th, 2012
2:40 pm
@—@@
August 16th, 2012
2:24 pm
House slave(d):
GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT
Some things aren’t as simple as you
_________________________________________
BTW, Paul Ryan also became an evangelist of AYN RAND.
He required his congressional staff to read her novels.
ALL FACTS.
NO BULL.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 16th, 2012
2:40 pm
http://www.gallup.com/poll/8056/healthcare-system-ratings-us-great-britain-canada.aspx
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
2:41 pm
@@
Thanks.
iggy
August 16th, 2012
2:41 pm
Biden reminds me of Uncle Fester. All he needs is a light bulb in his mouth and WALLAH!
@@
August 16th, 2012
2:42 pm
libtards, parasites…all plural.
No specific target. No one individual.
No sexual innuendo either.
Hillbilly D
August 16th, 2012
2:43 pm
On the whole Canadians are MUCH MUCH happier with their system.
Granted it’s a small sample size but from the Canadians that I know personally, that seems to be the case. It’s especially true of Canadians I know who live here, they generally view the way we do things in healthcare as “crazy” (their own words).
House Slaves Usually Live Better Than Field Slaves
August 16th, 2012
2:44 pm
@@@
August 16th, 2012
2:35 pm
Is House Slave the best liberals have to offer here?
Reminds me of Fred.
_____________________________________________
CONS won’t win the NOBEL PRIZE for you either
and YOU AIN’T NO shining star.
Duh?
ARE YOU THE BEST THEY GOT?
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
2:44 pm
HillBilly D
How does that translate into life span, etc?
Hillbilly D
August 16th, 2012
2:48 pm
How does that translate into life span, etc?
Clarify, please?
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 16th, 2012
2:50 pm
The whole ” Then why do they come here for healthcare ” is a myth as well.
In fact it works in the opposite. Many people who live along the border get married. Not out of love but so that one or the other can gain Canadian citizenship.
This way they can get care to fight cancer or something similar and not have to go bankrupt in the process as they would in the States.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 16th, 2012
2:51 pm
http://researchmaniacs.com/Country/LifeExpectancyUniversalHealthcare.html
Yes, Countries where they have Universal Healthcare people live longer.
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
2:52 pm
Hillybilly D
Apologize for the cloudy question. Should have said life expectancy not life span.
While health care is one of many variables that can attribute to life expectancy, it surely plays a huge part, especially on the macro level.
Kyle Wingfield
August 16th, 2012
2:54 pm
SlickRick @ 2:34: No, what Krugman was saying in 2003 is that deficits were bad because they were due to tax cuts; since 2009 he has said deficits are OK because they are due to spending increases.
Now, are you really going to argue that the past three years represent one of our “most productive and economically successful periods”?
@@
August 16th, 2012
2:55 pm
Cheesy:
I wasn’t making a statement about Canadian healthcare. I was making a statement about Krugman’s experience with a Canadian audience.
Since we’re offering up surveys, the Kaiser Family Foundation did one of their own in 2009.
What did they find? 89% of Americans are satisfied with the healthcare THEY receive. Even 70% of uninsured Americans were either satisfied or very satisfied with THEIR healthcare.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 16th, 2012
2:58 pm
Now, are you really going to argue that the past three years represent one of our “most productive and economically successful periods”?
Considering where we were in 2008… maybe
Just before Bush left office he himself said ” This sucker could go down ” meaning the economy he presided over.
I love how you guys conveniently forget that and pretend everything was sunshine and roses when Obama took office.
Sort of like the roses we were going to be welcomed with in Iraq.
Its a tough job following the worst President in history.
A man who cut taxes during wartime. Unprecedented.
Who started wars with no idea how to end them
Auntie Christ
August 16th, 2012
2:59 pm
@@ August 16th, 2012 2:42 pm: libtards, parasites…all plural. No specific target. No one individual
Thanks for the clarification Clarence Darrow. So now I know that when one of you cons reply to one of my posts and says “you libtards,” or “you parasite,” I can cry and whimper to kyle to remove it, but if it is just generic, then I have no case.
Also regarding sexual innuendo, I can mewl about any comments mentioning a certain Ms Lewinsky, and the ever vigilant kyle will promptly remove them? Can I count on that Clarence? Will you handle my complaint for me if he doesn’t?
SlickRick - glad to no longer be suffering through Fratboy George's ineptocracy
August 16th, 2012
2:59 pm
Now your first statement makes more sense, Kyle:
No, what Krugman was saying in 2003 is that deficits were bad because they were due to UNNECESSARY tax cuts WHILE WAGING AN UNNECESSARY WAR; since 2009 he has said deficits are OK because they are due to spending increases TO SAVE AN ECONOMY IN FREEFALL.
As to the second, that’s a very loaded question that I’m not going to answer. Suffice it to say that notwithstanding what you may believe, we didn’t see anywhere near the kind of spending that was necessary to really jump-start the economy or to qualify as truly Keynesian (and Krugman was saying this from day 1).
Hillbilly D
August 16th, 2012
2:59 pm
Belly Laughs
I don’t know what the life expectancy of a Canadian compared to some in the States is, I’d suspect they’d be close to the same. I think your point is better healthcare means longer life and I think that’s probably true. I’ve known people who put things off because they didn’t have insurance or insurance wouldn’t pay. That can’t be helpful.
Back when Bob Barr had his column on here, he wrote a column about Canadians coming to the U.S. for health care. He pointed to that as a flaw in their system but by his own numbers, it was 19,000+ Canadians, for whatever year he was using. Out of 30 million Canadians, that’s about .06% of the population. I don’t know but there might be that many Americans going elsewhere, on a percentage basis.
All I know is that having dealt with our health care system, weekly and sometimes even daily for the past nearly 5 years, it’s a mess. It doesn’t work for doctors, it doesn’t work for patients, or anybody else that I can see.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 16th, 2012
3:00 pm
Even 70% of uninsured Americans were either satisfied or very satisfied with THEIR healthcare.
LOL.
SlickRick - glad to no longer be suffering through Fratboy George's ineptocracy
August 16th, 2012
3:02 pm
And actually what Krugman was really saying in that 2003 piece to which your piece linked is that he was going with a fixed-rate mortgage to hedge against volatile interest rates due to misguided fiscal and political policies.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 16th, 2012
3:02 pm
All I know is that having dealt with our health care system, weekly and sometimes even daily for the past nearly 5 years, it’s a mess. It doesn’t work for doctors, it doesn’t work for patients, or anybody else that I can see.
Yet these dummies want to keep doing the same thing.
Thats what an alcoholic would call the definition of insanity.
Every other first world country has Universal healthcare.
We are the only holdout.
Ask yourself… are they all wrong ?
Kyle Wingfield
August 16th, 2012
3:04 pm
SlickRick: I didn’t read his column at the time to mean he was locking in his mortgage rate because he thought the tax cuts were unnecessary, though I’m sure he did think that. It’s because he thought the deficit was too large, even though it was a fraction of what it is even now, three years after the “stimulus.”
@@
August 16th, 2012
3:05 pm
Auntie:
Are you inferring that Hillbilly “mewled”, “cried” or “whimpered” to Kyle?
I’m betting he didn’t.
You, on the other hand, can do as you please.
Kyle Wingfield
August 16th, 2012
3:05 pm
In short, and to quote him: “we’re looking at a fiscal crisis that will drive interest rates sky-high.”
The deficit was 3.4% of GDP that year. It’s 8.5% of GDP this year.
Creed
August 16th, 2012
3:08 pm
Nobody likes mitt. he gonna lose big.
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
3:08 pm
HillBilly D
Thanks for the exchange. We can and should be doing better as a nation.
Health care bill is a step in the right direction, but seems to have many many flaws. I doubt it is going away, so it would behoove DC to start working on improvements before we get too far down the road.
Republicans had the Congress and WH and did very little. Democrats took over and gave us a flawed bill, while Republicans screamed we have a plan.
Where was it when they had the opportunity to have more impact?
DC needs to get its act in order. People thinking one party or the other has all the answers are going to continue to be disappointed. We need bipartisan ideas instead of the bipartisan crying we get the vast majority of time.
@@
August 16th, 2012
3:09 pm
Canadians, researcher John R. Lott reports, were asked the same questions in a Harris survey. “In most comparisons, Canadians were more satisfied than uninsured Americans, but just barely, and they were nowhere near as satisfied as insured Americans.” Seventy-seven percent of insured Americans were happy with their ability to access timely non-emergency care. Only 60 percent of Canadians were. And while large majorities of Canadians say they prefer their system to ours, far more Canadians than Americans (26 percentage points difference) express frustration at not being able to “see top-quality medical specialists.”
A 2001 survey asking American and Canadian medical professionals about health care in their respective countries found that only 51 percent of Canadian doctors rated their country’s emergency-room care as good or excellent, while 72 percent of U.S. doctors rate their care so highly. The hospital administrators who were surveyed painted a similar picture: 88 percent of American intensive-care units were rated as good or excellent, compared with only 70 percent of those in Canada; 81 percent of U.S. operating theaters earned the high rating, compared with 62 percent of Canada’s; and 84 percent of admins in the U.S. thought their diagnostic and imaging technology made the grade, compared with only 49 percent of those in Canada.
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
3:11 pm
Kyle
I think inflation rates are going up and it really will not matter who is in office.
They have been artificially kept low for several years now.
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
3:12 pm
@@
Is that the same for 2012?
2001?
Really?
@@
August 16th, 2012
3:14 pm
I think inflation rates are going up
You and I both.
Bernanke’s been like the Little Dutch Boy with his finger in the dam.
@@
August 16th, 2012
3:17 pm
Belly Laugh:
Cheesy’s didn’t even have a date.
I’m off to pick up a flange for my pool skimmer.
Hillbilly D
August 16th, 2012
3:19 pm
Health care bill is a step in the right direction, but seems to have many many flaws.
I’d have to disagree on the step in the right direction part. I think the only people who will benefit from the healthcare bill is the insurance industry. The bill does nothing, that I can see, to control rising cost, which is the real problem.
I think Obama mishandled this badly and squandered an opportunity. Instead of getting out front and leading and selling a plan, he punted it off to Reid and Pelosi and tried to “remain above the fray”.
The bill that was passed might as well have been written by the insurance industry. Now everybody has to be covered, which will be used as justification to raise everyone’s rates and just because everybody has to be covered, doesn’t mean everybody will be able to afford it. People who do have insurance will have higher rates, many will just pay the fine and take their chances and the insurance industry will cry all the way to the bank. In 3-4 years, I fully expect to see insurance companies announcing record profits. If I was one to play the stock market casino, that’s where I’d put my money.
I also see a lot of employers using it as an excuse to drop coverage on their employees.
I think there was an opportunity to actually do something and that opportunity was lost. It may be another 20 years before the opportunity rolls around again.
SlickRick - glad to no longer be suffering through Fratboy George's ineptocracy
August 16th, 2012
3:19 pm
Conservatives were screaming about inflation when the stimulus was being considered; 4 years on and it hasn’t materialized. Koinkydink? I think not.
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
3:19 pm
@@
Well Cheesy needs to show us a date.
A lot can change in 11 years. Maybe nothing changed at all, but something more recent would seem to add to the validity.
Hillbilly D
August 16th, 2012
3:21 pm
I think inflation rates are going up
My non-discretionary, semi-fixed expenses, have gone up 6-7%, in each of the last two years. I think the published inflation rates are useless.
Belly Laughs
August 16th, 2012
3:22 pm
HillBilly
Will be interesting to see which companies drop coverage. I’m sure some will, but I don’t many major corporations are going to but I could be wrong.
They still have to compete for workers against other companies.
To you point about the insurance companies. I agree, but I think they are going to be somewhat of a benefactor regardless of what the law is or is going to be.
BW
August 16th, 2012
3:23 pm
Yawn.
Hillbilly D
August 16th, 2012
3:26 pm
Belly Laughs
Who knows but the major companies may do it, too, somewhat slower.
Who would’ve thought, 40 years ago, that defined benefit pensions would go away and be replaced by 401ks? And the 401k was never designed to be a pension plan; it was designed to give a few high income executives a place to shelter their money from taxes. Companies quickly figured out how they could use it for the transfer, though. You never can tell about unintended consequences.
Hillbilly D
August 16th, 2012
3:27 pm
For anyone interested in the history of the 401k…….
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement/world/401k.html
@@
August 16th, 2012
3:33 pm
Belly Laugh:
The most recent I could find:
Public Perceptions and Media Coverage of the Canadian healthcare System: A Synthesis
Four of the most critical findings:
■ In particular, there is a sense that the current system is unsustainable, and that the most pressing issues include doctor shortages and wait times.
■ This apprehension is evident in government approval ratings as well. While general levels of approval have remained largely static, there is a downward shift in the proportion of respondents who feel that governments are likely to be able to improve the current system in the near future, plagued by a combination of financial constraints and inefficient management.
■ In turn, these concerns appear to have led to a steady (consideration) of alternative options, such as paying for quicker access, user fees, and privatization.
■ Indeed, there is majority support for private sector delivery of tax-supported healthcare services, and Canadians are nearly evenly divided on the issue of allowing people to pay for quicker access to healthcare services when the public system cannot provide timely access.
I’m gone.