NDN Blog

Simon joined conservative talk show host Ben Ferguson for a debate about pensions on CNBC's "The Call" last Wednesday. Check out the clip below!

Tune in to MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show today at 4 pm to watch Simon Rosenberg on the air with Newt Gingrich's former-spokesman Tony Blankley and special guest-host Eliot Spitzer. "News of the day" is the topic, which means everything is fair game!

Simon will be on CNBC's The Call with Larry Kudlow and Melissa Francis this morning at 11:30 am to discuss pensions. Simon will join conservative talk radio show host Ben Ferguson as a guest on "The Call."

Tune in!

Today, the DNC began an ad campaign in 35 markets across the country in support of Democratic Members of Congress who Voted for the health care reform bill. Check out one of the ads below:

Over the last few days and through the end of this week, many members of the NDN Team have been and will continue to weigh in on a range of issues on national TV news programs. Here are some of the highlights:

• Alicia Menendez kicked off the weekend last Saturday with two appearances on MSNBC during which she discussed the health care reform debate.

• On Sunday morning, NPR's Mara Liasson had a story about immigration reform which featured Simon. You can listen to the story or read the transcript here.

• Simon spent Sunday evening with FOX News' Neil Cavuto commenting on the historic Health Care Reform vote in real time. Check out the clip below:
  

• On Monday afternoon, Simon appeared on BBC World News to discuss the Health Care Bill.

• Simon was back on Cavuto on Tuesday afternoon arguing that, after passing health care reform, Democrats learned how to be a true governing party, which means that we can expect other big parts of President Obama's agenda to become law--like fixing our broken immigration system, enacting meaningful energy reform, and giving American workers the skills to succeed in the 21st century economy. Simon outlined this argument in a recent blog post.

• Today, Wednesday, Alicia was up early on Fox and Friends to talk about what the health care reform act means for young people. Check out the clip below:

   

• Tonight, Alicia is moderating an exciting panel sponsored by Class of Change and New Leaders Council on young journalists.

• Andres Ramirez will be on HITN to discuss the politics of the day.

• Simon will be live in the New York studio with Alan Colmes tomorrow at 1:20 pm.

• And finally, on Friday, Alicia will join Tucker Carlson and Buddy Ciani as a guest on Hannity.

We hope you can tune to see some of the NDN Team on TV this week!

The ink from President Obama's pen had hardly dried after he signed the Health Care Reform bill into law this morning when attorneys general from 12 states formally sued the federal government. Led by the politically ambitious Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, the challengers contend that the mandate requiring health insurance for all people is unconstitutional. As of 4:45 pm today, 11 other states have joined the lawsuit: South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah, Pennsylvania, Alabama, South Dakota, Idaho, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana.

Political theater aside, such a lawsuit will likely turn out to be nothing more than a hiccup in this law's path towards historic reform. The truth is that Congress structured the mandate for individual coverage as a tax and, as we should all remember from government 101, the Framers gave Congress the power of the purse. But should the High Court agree to hear the case, Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin believes that the Court's treatment of the Commerce Clause would allow for such a tax and thus leave Health care Reform in tact. As the New York Times reported this morning,

Courts generally defer to Congress’s taxation decisions and definitions so long as they constitute a “genuine revenue-raising device,” Professor Balkin said, and so the health insurance mandate is likely to pass muster.

In addition to mounting direct legal challenges to the law, a few Republicans are organizing other efforts to disrupt the Act. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Rep. Steve King (IA-5) have introduced legislation to repeal the bill. And Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell will soon sign a bill which would expempt Virginia from parts of the law. I can only hope that these elected officials will find it within themselves to get over the partisan political posturing and give this important and historic legislation a chance for real reform.

We hope you will join us on Thursday, March 4th at 12 noon for a special lunchtime presentation as we release an important poll on the emerging 21st Electorate and discuss its implications for the two Parties in November and in the future. NDN Fellows Morley Winograd and Mike Hais will share the findings from this new poll and take your questions.

Click here to RSVP for this event.

More on this special presentation:

America is going though profound demographic change. Its population is moving to the South and West. New groups - particularly Hispanics and the largest generation in American history, Millennials - have emerged. Large waves of immigration have helped put America on a path to become a majority minority nation by the mid century. This new American Electorate of the 21st Century is creating a "new politics" in America, forcing both the Democratic and Republican Parties to forge new political coalitions and new electoral maps very different from the ones they built, ran on and governed with in the 20th century.

On Thursday March 4th at 12 noon, NDN invites you to a special presentation which will take an in-depth look at how America's population is changing, and how the two political parties are responding to these changes. Critically acclaimed authors and NDN Fellows Mike Hais and Morley Winograd will present the findings of a new major market research project designed to help policymakers and political leader better understand these changes and how they might impact the 2010 and future elections, for both parties. At the core of this new presentation will be the findings of a just completed new 2,500 person national survey, whose large sample size will allow effective comparisons across generations and groups.

The presentation and report will take a special look at one of the big questions in American politics today: Can the new Obama Coalition become the new Democratic Coalition? Is the way President Obama won in 2008, with a very different map and different voters, a road map for future Democratic success or a coalition unique to him? And what does this all mean for 2010?

To see this exciting presentation, please come to NDN at 729 15th St., NW in DC on Thursday March 4th at noon. Please RSVP here or to jsingleton@ndn.org. If you can't make it in person please watch online, or look for the video and the findings on the NDN site on the afternoon of March 4th.

Next Wednesday, March 3rd, Simon Rosenberg will join Robert Atkinson (ITIF), Joseph S. Miller, (Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies), Michael Powell (Former FCC Chairman & Co-Chair, Broadband for America) and Catherine Sandoval (Santa Clara Law School) on a panel to discuss “The Economic Aspects of Open Internet Principles and How They Should Inform Policies Affecting Underserved Communities.”

This event, sponsored by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, will be held at the National Press Club from 8:30-11:30 am. If you are interested in attending, you may RSVP to openinternetRSVP@jointcenter.org. For more information about the event, follow this link.

This morning the Washington Post reported findings from a recent WaPo/ABC poll taken in the wake of Citizens United. Unsurprisingly, the poll found that a large majority of Americans oppose SCOTUS' decision to allow corporations to contribute unlimited amounts of general treasury funds to political campaigns and electioneering. The report comes just days after Senator Schumer and Congressman Van Hollen announced that they are already working on a "legislative fix" to the High Court's ruling.

Despite Schumer and Van Hollen's appeals to both sides of the aisle for bi-partisan support for this effort, Senate and House Republicans continue to praise the Supreme Court for its decision (they say it's a victory for free speech) and remain staunchly opposed to any legislation aimed at undermining the Court's decision.

In light of this poll, McConnell and Boehner may want to rethink their opposition to such legislation. The poll's findings suggest that this just may be the one issue the American people agree with each other about. According to the poll, regardless of party, demographic, socio-economic status, gender, education level or race, 8 in 10 Americans are opposed to the decision to allow unlimited corporate money in politics, with over 60% of Americans strongly opposed. I think it's safe to conclude from these findings that the American people don't feel like this decision did anything to protect their freedom of speech (so like, what are you talking about Senator McConnell?), nor do they think political campaigns should spend a dime more. If Congressional Republicans don't change their tack on this one, their support of corporations over everyday people will likely come back to haunt them in November.

Opposing a legislative fix isn't just bad politics--it's the wrong thing to do. The High Court got it wrong in Citizens United. And while it's too soon to know if the practical effects will actually "open the floodgates" or not, the First Amendment should neither apply to nor protect corporations in the same way it does individuals. It could take another century for the Court to overturn this ruling, but we can at least try to reinstill some sense of integrity to our political process with legislation that can address this now.

In the standard brilliance of The Daily Show, Jon Oliver reports from the RNC's convention in Hawaii, where government-run health care has been keeping the islanders healthy and happy for over 40 years. Check out this clip from last night's Daily Show... don't worry, it's not a trap!