“President Bush did what no previous has ever done in my forty-some years in this town,” said Martin. “He boldly called for reform of this system that has served seniors well, but now, according to a majority of citizens, it’s in need of an overhaul.”

Later, Martin put the organization’s campaign in more historical context. “Some 24 countries — back in 1995, the first year that we stuck our toe in the water, touching the third rail to see if we were gonna be electrocuted or not — 24 countries around the globe had started moving toward this personalized system,” he said. “Now about 40 countries a dozen years later. So I think it is the wave of the future.”

Here’s more video from the event, where Ryan Ellis, the sharp-tongued Director of Policy at Americans for Tax Reform (he jokes that an easy question from the audience is proof that it’s “softball season”), makes the pitch for private accounts.

Here, meanwhile, is an example of the data not quite matching the spin.

New Jersey is not part of D.C., of course.

Here’s the whole survey.

One tidbit about 60 Plus, which has a curious role in the conservative movement’s firmament: it played a small part in this year’s Virginia elections. Republican power-lawyer Barbara Comstock won a tight delegate race in northern Virginia, swept in by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s landslide. 60 Plus arranged a robocall for Comstock from Pat Boone, the group’s national spokesman.

It goes like this. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the RNC reminds us (three times!) once said that he voted for $87 billion in Iraq War funding before he voted against it. This, says the RNC, is exactly what Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) would be doing if he failed to join a Republican filibuster of health care reform and instead voted to move the bill to the floor–where everyone expects him to vote against it.

One problem with this is that it’s not technically true. In 2003, Kerry voted for a bill that would have appropriated the $87 billion in funding for Iraq while repealing some Bush tax cuts. He voted against the final bill which didn’t repeal the tax cuts. In this case, the GOP is defining “moving a bill to the floor” as “supporting it.” If that’s flip-flopping, then every Republican member of the Senate has flip-flopped–they allow bills to go to the floor, then vote against them, all the time.

Again, this is largely an academic discussion, as this video won’t be widely viewed outside a base of political junkies and partisan activists. But it demonstrates real progress for this myth of the Senate as a supermajority-driven institution, instead of one where the filibuster has been wildly, flagrantly abused beyond all recogniition.

Tomorrow at one p.m. Congressman King will join his Republican colleagues and Americans from across the nation seeking to have their voices heard in the health care debate for a second House Call press event. Republicans and other participants will deliver a message that the American people reject a government takeover of health care.

What: Second Health Care “House Call” on Washington

Who: Republican Members of Congress Americans concerned about our health care future Other Guests – TBA

When: Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 1:00 p.m.

Where: U.S. Capitol

Whether you can or cannot, please go here and call your Congressman. Tell him to vote no on the Democrats’ health care legislation.

This isn’t a surprising turn of events. In the run-up to the Sept. 12 march on Washington, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) were surprise guests at a Sept.  10 rally outside the Capitol. That event was actually identical to this one–protesters fanned out after the rally to talk to their members of Congress. But the crowd at that rally was smaller and more controlled, with most protesters holding FreedomWorks signs that had been passed out. The crowd at this rally was far less on-message. By the end of the day, the images that made it out of the rally were of protesters waving signs comparing health care reform to the Holocaust, and the video that made it out of the protest was heavy on Bachmann — one of the people Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) seemed to be referring to in a cryptic October comment about how to deal with a “problem member” who keeps making news.

Watch after the jump…

Multiple sources have confirmed that Michelle Marston, a veteran Hill aide, is leaving Bachmann’s office.

In an e-mail exchange with POLITICO, Marston declined to say why she’s going.

“I’m just not talking about it, and frankly I don’t think there’s a story here,” Marston wrote. “Now, the thousands of people calling our office to tell us [they’re] coming to Capitol Hill tomorrow – that’s a story.”

Marston is referring to Bachmann’s planned anti-health care reform rally on the Capitol steps Thursday, after which she said she plans to lead attendees through the halls of several congressional office buildings to confront members of Congress and voice their opposition to Democratic health care reform legislation.

On a wholly unrelated note, Politico quotes an anonymous GOP member of Congress offering this explanation for Marston’s departure:

“When your captain’s crazy, it’s time to find a new ship,” the lawmaker said.

(Via Eric Kleefeld)

From The Minnesota Independent:

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Hirschmann has said, “Obama, like Hitler, is ‘a charismatic leader who promises full pocketbooks.’ Obama’s pro-choice stands, she writes, resembles those of Hitler, who ‘brought abortion to a systematic level and declared the killing of unborn babies a national duty.’”

Hirschmann also told the Gazette, “He could pave the way for a future Antichrist. Obama scares me because he has no record and people flock to him. Hitler also had no record, people flocked to him and both wrote a book. Christians laid flat and Hitler came to power, just like with Obama.”

Tickets for the fundraiser are $75 in advance, $100 at the door.

Also of note, CCHC warns that “Genetic testing could be used for purposes found immoral in the Hippocratic medical tradition” on the front page of its Website.

Here’s video of Bachmann encouraging supporters to attend the CCHC dinner:

And here’s a promotional flyer: