Howard Dean: Rep. Gingrey ‘an embarrassment’

There were some serious fireworks on C-SPAN Wednesday as former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean went after two GOP lawmakers-cum-physicians.

It all started earlier this week when physician-turned-Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said he had recently read that Dean’s wife, Dr. “Elizabeth” Steinberg, was no longer taking Medicaid patients because the government reimbursement rates are too low.

{mosads}Dean fired back on Wednesday, saying, “Dr. Gingrey is just plain wrong. He’s an embarrassment. First of all, my wife is not named Elizabeth, as her name is Judith. Second of all, she does accept Medicaid patients, so this fellow simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It’s a good thing he’s in Congress, because I’d hate to see what he’d do to patients.”

But Dean wasn’t done criticizing the healthcare views of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), an OB/GYN who had preceded Dean on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.”

Dean, a physician, didn’t take kindly to Coburn’s views on Democratic plans on healthcare reform: “The senator is wrong. He’s well-intentioned, he’s a physician, I respect that, but he’s wrong about economics.”

John Hart, Coburn’s communications director, said, “Like President Obama, Dr. Coburn has lamented the fact that our politics are stuck in the past. Unfortunately, we keep re-litigating the 1960s because Dr. Dean and others want to re-legislate the 1960s. Dr. Dean’s plan continues the stale 1960s philosophy that a little more government spending and intervention will fix healthcare.”

At press time, Gingrey told ITK, “Has Howard Dean talked to his wife in the last 12 years? It has been well documented, based on a letter she authored to her patients in 1998, that Dr. Steinberg was forced to end her participation with the state’s largest Medicaid managed program due to low re-imbursement rates. It is unfortunate that Howard Dean – rather than engaging in a real policy discussion – chose to resort to name calling, even questioning my ability as a physician … As a physician who delivered over 5,200 babies – some of whom were on Medicaid – I can’t blame her for recognizing the difficulties that government-run health care presents to primary care doctors … Under socialized medicine, patients will suffer … they’re going to suffer in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and they’re going to suffer in California and Texas and New York.  And they’ll suffer in South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan … and then they’ll suffer in Washington D.C. Byah!”

Dean told ITK in an e-mail, “Congressman Gingrey is wrong and evidently believes  that repeating information that is false will make it true.”

Cleland’s revenge

Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) gets his revenge against Republicans for his 2002 Senate loss in his forthcoming memoir, Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove.

In the book, scheduled to be published in October, Cleland berates former President Bush and several members of his administration for their actions during their years in power and hints at a government cover-up in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

He doesn’t have kind words for the former president. Cleland recalls that, during Bush’s search for Democrats to support a tax cut, he got called into the Oval Office for a “lesson in Bush-style arm-twisting.” Cleland said the meeting was “classic Bush bulls–t. There was no substance involved, just a lot of backstabbing.”

Most of Cleland’s animosity dates back to the 2002 reelection race, when Cleland was running for a second term.

He compares the GOP tactics used against him to what Republicans did to John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina presidential primary.

As to the infamous TV ad the GOP ran against Cleland, which featured pictures of the senator alongside photos of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, Cleland called it a “new low in national politics” and an “absolute distortion of reality.”

He did note that some Republicans senators came to his defense and that then-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) offered to do a TV ad for his campaign. He recalls that Saxby Chambliss (R), against whom Cleland was running, called Hagel seven times in one day to ask him not to do it. Hagel asked Chambliss to take the ad down, but Chambliss modified it instead, according to the book.

Cleland also claims Georgia’s new all-computerized voting machines were “ripe for fraud,” pointing out that he was polling six points ahead of now-Sen. Chambliss before the election but lost the race by 140,000 votes.

The Vietnam veteran, who lost his legs and right arm in the war, tackles his struggle with depression after his election loss and praises Bill and Hillary Clinton for their support.

But he also mentions a name the Clintons likely want to forget: Monica Lewinsky. Cleland writes that one of his staffers was in the same White House intern class as Lewinsky. He claims the staffer told him one night the interns went out drinking and discussed what they wanted to accomplish in Washington. Lewinsky said, “I want to earn my presidential kneepads,” the book states.

Cleland also relates that at the height of the Lewinsky scandal, several lawmakers said during Senate lunches that Clinton should resign, but “nobody dared ask him to do it publicly.”

One of those lawmakers was former senator and now-Vice President Joe Biden, according Bob Woodward’s book, titled Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate.

The book states, “Biden said their party would be better off in the coming elections if Clinton resigned. He was not necessarily advocating resignation, he said, but making it clear it was his preference. Nonetheless, he said he was sure Clinton never would quit anyway.”

Congressman Ryan, meditation fan

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) says he’s found a cost-effective way to address chronic pain, stress and other illnesses: meditation.

Ryan is urging policymakers to consider adding “mindfulness education” — learning to reduce one’s own stress level — to healthcare reform legislation.

“Every day, I meditate for at least 45 minutes before leaving home in the morning,” Ryan wrote on his website. “I find it makes me a better listener, and my concentration is sharper. I get less distracted when I’m reading. It’s like you see through the clutter of life and can penetrate to what’s really going on.”

At a hearing last week, Ryan asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to keep in mind the positive effects of mindfulness when revamping the nation’s healthcare system.

Sotomayor loved ‘Archie,’ ‘Richie Rich’

Long before she reviewed boring legal briefs, Supreme Court nominee Justice Sonia Sotomayor was a huge fan of “Archie,” “Casper” and “Richie Rich.”

In an interview on ABC on Wednesday, Juan Sotomayor, Sonia’s younger brother, provided some details about his sister’s personal life while growing up in New York.

“She loved comic books. And she loved reading ‘Archie’ and ‘Casper’ and ‘Richie Rich,’ ” Juan Sotomayor said.

He said, “She likes to party,” adding that for her 50th birthday party, “she learned how to salsa.”

Wheelchair-bound Rockefeller on Capitol Hill

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) was being wheeled around the Senate on Wednesday after damaging his knee walking up a flight of stairs during a healthcare forum in Morgantown, W.Va.

Rockefeller, who turns 72 on June 18, is handling his injury with his trademark humor, comparing himself unfavorably with GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who recently injured her leg while skiing.

“She did it very eloquently, with class,” Rockefeller said. “I tripped on some stairs. I’ll be perfectly fine in a couple of months.”

Rockefeller said he may not need the chair for the whole two months, but wants it available. He said he does an astounding eight to 10 hours of physical therapy every day (does the senator sleep?).

The accident happened in April, Rockefeller said, but this week was one of his first appearances back in the Senate. Rockefeller, who had surgery on his knee earlier this year, said his convalescence at home has been “exciting.”

“The most exciting part was when I went from my bed to the wheelchair,” he said.

West Virginia’s senior senator, Robert Byrd (D), 91, has been hospitalized since May 15 due to complications from an infection. Byrd is routinely seated in a wheelchair when traveling through the upper chamber.