Further clarifying her position on the so-called stimulus bill, Alaska governor Sarah Palin has issued a statement in which she says, she “agree[s] with the decision of Senator Murkowski and Congressman Young to vote NO on the package.”

I’ll be appearing on the Destination Casa Blanca program to share my thoughts on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the question, “Is this legislation the first step to universal health care?” 

I’m told that other guests will include someone from the Republican National Committee and the Obama administration. The host will be Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for The NewsHour on PBS. 

The program will air this Thursday night (2/5) at 9pm EST, with encore presentations on Friday (12am) and Sunday (10:30am and 10pm). Destination Casa Blanca is easiest to find on DirecTV (438) and the Dish Network (843 & 9401). Otherwise, check here.

Click here for other ironies of Tom Daschle’s ill-fated nomination to head the Department of Health & Human Services.

People like Robert Reich, who try to back up the claims of President Obama and Vice President Biden that “economic advisers across the political spectrum support Obama’s plan,” have managed to come up with two names of economists who support the stimulus plan and would not be regarded as left of center: Martin Feldstein of Harvard, a former top economic adviser to President Reagan, and Mark Zandi of Moody’s, who was an adviser to John McCain last fall. And now the Washington Post has blown both of those names out of the water. Leaving — by my count — exactly zero libertarian or conservative economists on that much-touted spectrum. As the Post notes this morning:

Democrats lost Feldstein on Thursday when the Harvard professor published a Washington Post op-ed declaring the House bill “an $800 billion mistake” laden with ineffective provisions.

As for Zandi,

The 49-year-old economist is a Democratic dream, a former adviser to GOP presidential candidate John McCain who advocates spending over tax cuts as the best way to deliver a quick jolt.

And Democrats have touted him a lot:

In floor speeches and news conferences, Democratic lawmakers confer on Zandi an authority once bestowed on Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman.

“I’m just saying what Mark Zandi from Moody’s, an adviser to John McCain, is saying: You have to have a package of this robustness if you’re going to make a difference,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D‑Calif.) said at a recent news conference. …

“I think [he] is a Republican. I am pretty sure he is,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D‑Nev.) said of Zandi after a recent meeting. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D‑N.Y.) described Zandi on Fox News as a “conservative Republican.” Defending the bill’s sizable spending during a recent CNBC interview, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D‑Md.) responded: “I think if you listen to economists like Mark Zandi, who was the economic adviser to John McCain in the presidential election, he has said this is the right mix.”

But wait! Post reporter Shailagh Murray actually asked Zandi about his politics.

“I’m a registered Democrat,” he acknowledged.

He signed up with McCain when Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the candidate’s chief economic aide and a longtime friend, asked him to join the campaign’s diverse economic advisory team. “My policy is I will help any policymaker who asks, whether they be a Republican or a Democrat,” Zandi said.

So … the count of Republican or conservative or libertarian economists who support Obama’s biggest-spending-bill-in-world-history stands at … zero. And hundreds of economists have declared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and other papers that they don’t support the plan. It’s time for politicians, pundits, and journalists to stop making this claim.

President Obama needs to find someone new to further socialize America’s health care system. Tom Daschle has withdrawn his name. Apparently, being Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is not all that enticing, especially if you have to start (gasp!) complying with the internal revenue code. Unfortunately, rather than learn a good lesson about the need to junk America’s complicated tax system, the politicians are probably going to use this fiasco as an excuse to give the IRS even more power. But there is a lighter side to Daschle-Gate. This 1986 campaign commercial is rather ironic considering that Daschle got caught because he neglected to report his use of a luxury car and chauffer:

Here’s a just a few bloggers who are incorporating Cato research and commentary into their posts:

• On the other side of the Atlantic, the Adam Smith Institute’s Philip Salter is blogging about Richard Rahn’s recent article in The Washington Times on the optimum size of government.
• Media critic Mark Finkelstein comments on the ABC’s coverage of free-market economists who are opposed to the stimulus plan.
• Pajamas Media bloggers Dan Blatt and Glenn Reynolds link to David Boaz’s Cato@Liberty post, “Only the Little People Pay Taxes.”
• Tipped off by U.S. News and World Report’s James Pethokoukis, editors of this blog devoted to the 2012 Republican nomination cite Michael Tanner’s analysis of the types of candidates the GOP will put up in the next election.
• Writing for The Liberty Papers, Stephen Littau posts this video of eminent domain victim Susette Kelo, who spoke at the Cato Institute last week.
• Henry Stern from Insureblog, a site devoted to insurance issues, cites Michael F. Cannon’s NRO article, “Does SCHIP Work?”

If you’re blogging about Cato, let us know by emailing cmoody@​cato.​org or send us a message on Twitter or Facebook.

I’ve been following President Obama’s early moves on government transparency on the Tech Liberation Front blog and here on Cato@Liberty.

Last week, Obama’s first broken campaign promise was the pledge to post legislation online for five days before signing it.

Well, the White House is working to address that, but it appears to be doing so with a half-measure that comes up short. On Sunday, the White House blog announced that the SCHIP legislation pending in the Senate was up for public comment. And it is, of course, but it hasn’t passed the Senate yet.

It was implicit in the promise to post bills online for five days prior to signing that the bill posted would be the one passed by the House and Senate and presented to the President.

If the White House were to implement the promised practice of leaving bills sitting out there, unsigned, after they pass Congress, that would have significant effects. The practice would threaten to reveal excesses in parochial amendments and earmarks which could bring down otherwise good bills. President Obama’s promised five-day cooling off period would force the House and Senate to act with more circumspection.

Taking comments on a bill as it makes its way through the House and Senate does not have the same salutary effect. If the White House is trying to start the five-day clock on the SCHIP bill with the posting of a comment page on Sunday, that is not consistent with President Obama’s promise.