Chad’s Morning Brief: President Obama’s Healthcare Backup Plan, Mexico’s President Applauds Obama, & More

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of June 19, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty for these and many more topics from 6-9 am.

1. Obama Getting Ready for Healthcare Ruling (link)

The White House is getting ready for any scenario when it comes to Obamacare in the Supreme Court. That includes going forward with part of the law that is deemed constitutional.

Covering all the bases ahead of a momentous Supreme Court ruling, the Obama administration plans to move ahead with major parts of the president's health care law if its most controversial provision does not survive, according to veteran Democrats closely involved with the legislation.

Even if the requirement that nearly every U.S. resident have health insurance is declared unconstitutional, the remaining parts of the law would have far-reaching impact, putting coverage within reach of millions of uninsured people, laying new obligations on insurers and employers, and improving Medicare benefits even as payments to many service providers get scaled back.

The White House says President Barack Obama is confident the whole law will be upheld when the court issues its ruling in the next week or two, but officials will be ready for any outcome.

It still wouldn't shock me to see Obama and the Democrats ignore the Court on this.

2. President of Mexico Responds (link)

The President of Mexico has responded to President Obama's immigration shift.

I would like to thank personally, and on behalf of the Mexican nation, President Barack Obama for his valuable decision by executive order to give an opportunity for young people who were not born in the United States but who arrived in that great nation before they were 16 years of age, or who are studying in university, or who have served in the United States armed forces, for them not to be deported for at least a period of two years, so this is a clear and certain situation for them.

We believe that this is very just.  It's a humanitarian action.  And it's an unprecedented action in our opinion.  And in this sense, Mr. President, we would like to thank you for the valor and courage that you had in implementing this action.  I am sure that many, many families in the United States of America are thankful to you as well.

I'm not sure why the President of Mexico really cares. Anyone seen what the Mexican government does on their Southern Border?

3. Rubio's DREAM Act Dead (link)

Rubio's DREAM Act is dead. According to the Politico:

“Frankly, the president’s executive action takes a lot of momentum out of Sen. Rubio’s push for a consensus, legislative solution,” Alex Conant, a Rubio spokesman, said Monday. “The president’s action undermines the urgency to pass something before the election — a hard enough prospect even without the newly inflamed politics surrounding the issue.”

The bill would have been a tall order in the polarized Congress and with members of both parties skeptical about the effort. But it was highly anticipated because Rubio is widely believed to be a top prospect for running mate to Mitt Romney. And it could have been used by the GOP to chip away at the Democrats’ polling advantage with Latino voters.

At the same time, the bill could have sparked an intra-party fight among Republicans who decry such proposals as “amnesty” for lawbreakers and those who want to find a middle ground on an emotional issue of major significance to the Latino community. It promised to put Romney in an awkward spot after the hard line he took on immigration during the GOP primary.

Rubio was in intense discussions with senior Republicans, such as Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, in the hopes of introducing a bill to legalize undocumented children brought to the United States at an early age provided they have no criminal record and have completed high school. It would have granted them “non-immigrant” visas, allowing them to stay in the country and access the existing immigration system, through which they could eventually become green card holders or naturalized citizens.

Thoughts?

4. Two Parties, Two Different Directions (link)

Not all is well with the Texas Democrats. According to the Texas Tribune:

Democrats haven’t won a statewide election since 1994. It makes them sound like the lizards that keep popping up as prospects for the endangered species list. But they were in contention, legislatively, until the 2010 elections undid the gains that had put them within one vote of parity in the 150-member House. The real gloom started there. That election knocked them on their heels — back to what is now a 102-48 Republican advantage. Plus, it happened in the worst year possible, right before the Legislature reworked the district maps — maps that put that overwhelming advantage in place for the next decade.

While the Republicans fight over their riches, the Democrats dream of deliverance. Maybe somebody famous will run on their ticket and put them back into contention. Or maybe somebody rich, who can hot-wire an election without waiting for the party.

Or maybe the demographic changes in the state’s population will show up at the polls. Democrats hope the growing Hispanic population will vote like Hispanics vote now. Republicans hope the new voters will share their values.

Hispanics were a common subject of conversation at both parties’ conventions last week. Those demographic changes are coming, and everyone sees it.

But in the meantime, Democrats are trying to find their way out of the hole they’re in, and the Republicans are trying not to fall into one.

The Republicans do have to be careful that they don't fracture the party in my opinion, but right now the Dems are just bad in Texas. Yes, the Hispanic population that the Democrats count on is growing, but many are Republicans or they just don't vote. Republicans may need to be careful, but right now the Democrats just need a pulse.

5. Dumb Story of the Morning (link)

It's not everyday you get to hear about a sausage attack.

A Massachusetts man wielding sausage links robbed another man of his bike and jewelry, police said.

The victim told Brockton cops he was riding his bike Sunday morning when Michael Baker, 22, swung the breakfast meat at him before beating him with a wrench.

Baker "started swinging sausage links at [the victim]," and later "began smashing the victim with a wrench," Brockton Police Lt. David Dickinson told The Enterprise.

Police said Baker had earlier stolen his unusual weapon. A sausage stand at fairgrounds in Brockton, 20 miles south of Boston, sold "the same cuts of meat and cheese and bread" Baker had wielded. Police nabbed Baker a short time later later as he rode the stolen bike, police said.

6. Good Brews Good News of the Day (link)

Little Darth Vader is doing alright.

Max Page of “Little Darth Vader’’ fame is another step closer to ruling his empire again after undergoing open-heart surgery last week.

The 7-year-old actor, who found fame while playing a pint-sized Darth Vader in a popular Volkswagen Passat commercial during the Super Bowl in 2011, is expected to be discharged from the hospital late Monday, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Now that Page is heading home, he can expect another six to eight weeks of recovery time.

Everyday, Good Brews Coffee & Tea Lounge brings you the Good News of the Day!

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Chad Hasty's Review of Blue Mesa Grill

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Roger Clemens Acquitted

Too Much Cleavage for Southwest Airlines?

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.