Followups

The Democrats mantra on the election yesterday was that it was all about Medicare, while GOPers insisted it was because of the 10% two other candidates got.  The GOPer position doesn't explain why even if they'd gotten all of that, they would still have lost 21 points from the GOPers victory margin just 6 months ago. And tracking polls showed that as the Tea Party candidate went down in the polls, most of those votes went to the Dem.

But the Dems need to notice that while Medicare was clearly the most potent issue, their candidate and new Member of Congress, Kathy Hockel was a very good candidate.  Her appearance on Rachel Wednesday was quite impressive.  She speaks clearly and to the point.  (Way better than one of Rachel's other pol guests, Harry Reid.)       

Though it didn't get much attention due to the Senate vote in which 40 GOPers voted for the Ryan budget plan to kill Medicare, but in the House Eric Cant made good on his threat--he got the House Appropriations Committee to condition a $1 billion budget supplement to help with disaster relief for Joplin--where things seem pretty chaotic right now--on cutting $1.5 billion from a program to provide loans to U.S. companies in order to create more fuel-efficient and carbon-neutral vehicles:

"It is staggeringly shortsighted to pay for the economic losses of climate disasters by choking off funding for policies that reduce the threat of future climate disasters,” said Bracken Hendricks, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. “The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program is helping US companies right now, to remain competitive and protect good manufacturing jobs, by producing highly efficient vehicles that cut dependence on foreign oil. What’s next? Should we cut funding for flood insurance and slash the FEMA budget to pay for flood damage along the Mississippi?"