Lefty Lobbyists Ready for Battle

Conservatives hold out hope for success in 2010, 2012

(NEWSER) - Conservatives are not happy about the House's passage of health care reform legislation. Some opinions:

• Paraphrasing Marx in the Weekly Standard , William Kristol writes that while the "the first appearance in full flower of modern American liberalism" in the 1960s was a "tragedy," this second coming is more of a "farce." He saves the big guns for President Obama: "Have we had in modern times a president who was so out of his depth?"

Big speech to Congress next week likely to make or break health care reform

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday could well be the biggest moment of his presidency, Nate Silver writes in FiveThirtyEight. Two-thirds of voters are still confused about the president's plans for health care, and this speech will be a make-or-break chance to give them some clarity and help get genuine reforms passed, he notes. More»

Let's reform health care, as long as it can stay the same

(NEWSER) - If you listen to pandering politicians or ranting radio hosts, you’d think Americans want big, far-reaching change right away. They might disagree on what change, but nobody likes the way things are. Well, you’d be wrong, writes Michael Kinsley for the Washington Post. As the health care debate so vividly demonstrates, once change becomes a concrete possibility, Americans panic. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama has backed off a bit on his “acted stupidly” comments concerning the arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates, saying they were not properly “calibrated.” But, aides say, it “was not a slip of the tongue,” Peter Baker writes in the New York Times. “Obama said what he wanted to say. The question is whether presidents can really do that.” More»

New preventive health rules require insurers to cover cost

(NEWSER) - Women can say goodbye to co-pays on birth control: Health insurance companies will soon have to cover the cost themselves, the Obama administration says. It’s part of expanded preventive care for women , including coverage of breast pumps, “well woman” physicals, and STD counseling, the AP reports. Insurance firms will likely raise premiums a small amount to handle the cost. Religious institutions may opt out of birth control coverage under the new rules, many of which won't take effect until Jan. 1, 2013. More»