WELCOME to the debut of “The Truth Is!”, a blog of reporting and commentary that aims to be informative, thoughtful and provocative. At least initially, the blog will have a strong heartland flavor by virtue of the connection of a number of us to Cowles family journalism. I am former editor of the Des Moines Register’s opinion pages. Another contributor, Michael Gartner, is former editor of the paper; he later served as president of NBC News. Another former Register editor who has agreed to contribute, Geneva Overholser, is director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg school of journalism. Followers of the blog will have access also to the work of Herbert Strentz of Des Moines, a close Register and other newspaper watcher who once headed Drake University’s journalism school. Bill Leonard, a longtime Register editorial writer, will add insights.

“The Truth Is!” will be supervised by my daughter, Marcia Wolff, a communications lawyer for 20 years with Arnold and Porter (Washington, D.C.). Invaluable technical assistance in assembling and maintaining the blog is provided by my grandsons Julian Cranberg, a college first-year, and Daniel Wolff, a high school senior.

If you detect a whiff of nepotism in this operation, so be it. All of it is strictly a labor of love. —Gil Cranberg

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Gilbert Cranberg: THE NOT-TOO-SMART PARTY

How stupid is the Republican Party? On the available evidence, very. Recall that the party fought Medicare tooth and toe nail, earning it the lasting enmity of seniors. Unfortunately for the GOP, Medicare turned into, by far, the most popular of all federal programs. So when the Affordable Care Act came along to pick up where Medicare left off, instead of seeing it as an opportunity to mend fences, the GOP turned on it with a vengeance. So having antagonized the elderly on health care, Republicans now seem poised to tick off much of the rest of the electorate. According to a New York Times count, the Republican-controlled U.S. House has voted 37 times since January 2011 to cut off funds for the Affordable Care Act. 

Why such single-minded hostility? The Act was a signal accomplishment of President Obama’s first term. The more the GOP conducts its vendetta against the Act the more it earns the title the Party of Spite. 

That’s preferable, though, to another title Democrats could well hang on it: the Party of Lowered Life Expectancy. The Affordable Care Act is a huge benefit to the many millions in this country without health insurance, the people whose only access to care is the emergency room. Anyone who has received medical care in the ER knows it to be stopgap care at best. The physicians and nurses encountered in the ER usually are caring but rarely is there continuity of care. If the patient has a chronic condition, the Emergency Room can’t, or won’t, provide care on an ongoing basis. 

People treasure health care. They realize that it’s their ticket to a better, more comfortable, life. If Republicans were smart -- a very big if -- they would want to be associated with providing care that enhances life expectancy. Instead, they seem to be doing their best to make people’s lives shorter. 

My question at the outset was “How stupid is the Republican Party?” My answer: Exceedingly.

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