December 03, 2013

Politico Magazine Offers Several Reasons Media Dropped The Ball on Vetting Obamacare, But Curiously Never Considers Pro-Obama Bias as a Factor
— Ace

The press is occasionally willing to cop to some flaws, at least when they fail spectacularly.

But one flaw they are determined to never confess: a strong rooting interest in favor of the Democratic Party and progressive politics in general, and palpable distaste for Republicans and conservatives.

Thus Politico's attempt to discover why the press failed so badly in informing the public about Obamacare deliberately misses the obvious.

Let's sum up the claimed reasons for their failure:

1. The Press Neutrally Repeated Competing Claims Between Republicans and Democrats In Favor of Scrutinizing Those Claims.

What the press delivered instead was mostly a conversation among policy wonks and Beltway political elites without letting in the people who would be most affected by the nostrums they were prescribing. The public was the victim of a messaging war, with much of the conversation shaped by spin and talking points. And as in all wars, truth is the first casualty. Americans needed clear, direct explanations, honesty, dot connection and a probe of the carefully crafted words that came to define the debate. Yes, there were plenty of fact-checkers keeping watch, but as press critic and political scientist Brendan Nyhan has pointed out, these services can fall short. Their one-the-one hand, on-the-other hand format often confuses more than illuminates. Against this backdrop, the backlash of the last few weeks was probably inevitable.

Ah yes, the fact checkers -- such as Politifact, who claimed it was "True" that "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan." To be precise, they claimed this was "Half True," but it was only not fully true because Obama couldn't force insurance companies to continue offering you the same plan.

As far as Obamacare itself, they claimed it was "True" that the law did nothing to cancel your insurance, and exempted current policy-holders from having to go to the marketplace.

They have still not retracted this claim, instead preferring to imply it's still too complicated to offer a ready assessment about (both Republicans and Democrats are spinning this!), thus sparing them the pain of confessing error.

The media did a little more than neutrally report the back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats on this issue: They actively claimed that Obama's narrative was true and that Republicans' criticisms were false. If you have any doubt about this-- about PolitiFact's tendency to cast Democratic lies as too complicated to evaluate, while claiming tendentious (but arguably true) Republican criticisms are flat-out lies, remember their Lie of the Year from 2010.

Politico is spinning. The media did not merely fail to scrutinize the parties' competing claims, and leave it all up to the readers to figure out the truth. They affirmatively reported that Obama's false claims were true and that conservatives' true claims were false.

And they're still doing it, even now. Even in this very piece, the author claims that the characterization of IPAB as denying procedures to certain patients is a flat-out false claim:

Suddenly, many journalists were realizing that the real story was not the stuff of far-right paranoia—like the false “death panels” claims or the canards about “socialized medicine” that dominated the early coverage; it was the law’s messy tradeoffs, its power to create new classes of winners and losers as it tried to bring insurance to more Americans.

Pro-tip: The whole point of IPAB is to restrict certain expensive procedures' availability, to bring costs under control, if the rate of growth of medical spending exceeds a certain amount. That's not false-- that's the explicit point of the law.

And as for "socialized medicine," well, the author gives the game away when she writes blithely of "tradeoffs" and "winners and losers" in the system. The system takes from some to give to others.

That is socialism, or, at the very least, it is a response informed by the values of socialism.

And that is the point of the thing.

2. It's All Just Too Complicated To Explain to the American Public.

American health care is what Yale professor emeritus Theodore Marmor calls a “patchwork system.” Because of the many “patches,” the best Obama could do without scrapping it entirely—a politically unviable option—was “weave them into a quilt.” As the president said on Nov. 14, in order to make things less disruptive “we tried to choose a way that built off the existing system.” And so the ACA was not wholesale reform or even a “sweeping” health care plan, as the New York Times misleadingly called the bill when it passed the House in November 2009. It was a modest, albeit complicated step to give insurance to as many as 30 million more people and reduce the number of uninsured Americans without resorting to a national health insurance system. As such, it is a crazy quilt indeed.

This was a "modest" step?

In any event, she claims here that the story was just too complicated to explain to the American public, suggesting that the fault lies with Americans' ability to comprehend the complicated system, and not so much with reporters.

But I'm pretty sure that 95% of reporters didn't understand Obamacare either. The problem wasn't just with the public, and their lack of expertise and inability to grasp difficult, complex systems. Reporters are, frankly, just as dumb, if not more dumb, than the average American citizen. (It's the stupid people who believe they're clever who do all the damage, after all.)

In any event, it wasn't all that complicated. Senator Mike Enzi explained, presciently, that most of the people in the individual market would be losing their coverage and forced into the exchanges. He explained this in 2010, in arguing in favor of his law to actually guarantee that people could keep their coverage.

There was actually a non-complicated answer here: Mike Enzi was right.

But the press didn't like that narrative, and so they didn't bother to check to see if he was right. They assumed he was lying, because, of course, that's what Republicans do.

3. The Same Thing I Said In Point One, Pretty Much. Except the Problem Is Mostly With the Political Reporters, Not the Subject Matter Expert Reporters, Like Me, Who Got It Pretty Much All Right.

I don't remember the media's health care reporters advertising the fact that most people in the individual market would lose their insurance and be forced into the exchanges. Do you?

This woman does. And she's found three or four reporters who suggested that a few people might lose their insurance, so apparently the media's "experts" all got it right.


One reason is that while many health-care wonks and policy reporters may have understood that insurers would have to cancel some plans to comply with the new law (see, for instance, this June 2010 story in the New York Times), most political reporters did not, and paid little attention until the failed Obamacare rollout became a political story.

...

Nor did the media probe deeply into what affordability really meant for all people, including those who would not get subsidies and saw insurance becoming increasingly unaffordable. That failure now haunts the Affordable Care Act, even though a few thoughtful journalists presented warning signals....

“It doesn’t fit their idea of news,” [Senator Ron] Wyden observed. “Their idea is liberals for and conservatives against.” In other words, the horse race dominated, with each horse getting equal coverage until the votes were counted.

Again, these arguments were all resolvable by simply reading the law and regulations -- something the media refused to do. And if the "experts" in the media did so themselves, they sure didn't make much noise about it.

Also note who she suggests that the media should have spent more time talking to: Not Senator Mike Enzi, of course, who warned the country about Obamacare's deliberate cancellation of policies (though no one in the media reported on it).

No, she thinks we could all do with a strong dose of Ron Wyden, whose criticism of Obamacare -- back when it contained a Trojan horse to destroy private insurance, aka the Public Option -- was that the Trojan Horse didn't go far enough.

She allows the media could have been more critical of Obamacare, then: so long as those criticism emanated from the left, and so long as the law were being criticized as not socialist-leaning enough.

But maybe this sentence explains, more than any of the prior silliness, the media's failure to adequately cover Obamacare:


Now that the website seems to be more or less working, will the media move on to the next political food fight, or will journalists do a better job explaining to consumers how they can actually use it?

Note the two absurd assumptions in that sentence:

1. that Healthcare.gov is now "more or less working," and

2. it is a media responsibility to instruct the public how they can use Healthcare.gov and assist the Obama Administration in helping its policy to succeed.

Incidentally, when she says the media should help the public "use it," I assume she means "offer advice for working around the glitches and bugs." Because usually, with a functioning website, you don't need media articles explaining how to "use it."

Even in an article desperately attempting to pin the blame for the media's failure to properly on Obamacare on anything besides a kneejerk embrace of progressive politics and an uncritical credulousness about claims by progressive politicians, she just can't help but agitate for Team Progressive some more.


The Only Permissible Criticism Is Criticism From the Left. Politico's reporter/Cheerleader for Single Payer writes this:

News outlets werenÂ’t seeking sources like Wyden. Their go-to guys were Ron Pollack, the head of the advocacy group Families USA and a cheerleader for Obamacare, when they wanted a quote representing the consumer view, and MIT economist Jonathan Gruber when they wanted the opinion of an academic. But Gruber was no ordinary academic. He was a paid consultant to the Department of Health and Human Services that was helping to design Obamacare and a staunch advocate for the law. In December 2009, with Congress on the verge of passing legislation, Families USA collected 58 mentions in the media, ranging from elite outlets like the New York Times to local dailies like the Contra Costa Times. From Jan. 1, 2009, through the end of January 2010, Gruber got 386 media mentions, compared with Jonathan Oberlander, a political scientist from the University of North Carolina who, like Gruber, was a health reform expert. Oberlander, though, was skeptical of the billÂ’s cost-containment measures and favored different solutions.

Different solutions? Why, that's rather vague. Did he propose permitting insurance companies to sell across state lines? Malpractice reform? Health Savings Accounts?

No. The "different solutions" she alludes to, so very vaguely, was... ta da! Canadian-style Single Payer.

In an article presuming to diagnose why the press got Obamacare wrong, the author continues to deliberately mislead her audience (not admitting her proposed solution is a single payer plan, choosing instead to replace two clear words ("Single Payer") with two vague words ("different solutions")) and misrepresenting the range of options America might have chosen.

She pretends the only voices worth hearing in this debate are on the left: Obama vs. Wyden, and Hacker vs. Oberlander. Health care policy is to be determined, she suggests, by an open debate between the political left and the academic left. Conservative plans are not even mentioned as possibilities, and conservatives apparently have no business in the debate at all.

And that is why the press dropped the ball so badly on Obamacare.

Perhaps if she read her own article, she'd understand this a little better.

Posted by: Ace at 01:07 PM | Comments (306)
Post contains 1976 words, total size 13 kb.

1 "a strong rotting interest"

I may have went with "strong rooting interest" there, but me like.

Posted by: Dr Spank at December 03, 2013 01:09 PM (xlX1p)

2 Politico Magazine Offers Several Reasons Media Dropped The Ball on Vetting Obamacare, But Curiously Never Considers Pro-Obama Bias The Fact They Love The Taste of Obama's Needle Dick as a Factor



FIFY

Posted by: DangerGirl, home sweet home at December 03, 2013 01:10 PM (GrtrJ)

3 It's all so complicated...yaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!

Posted by: Corky the Retard at December 03, 2013 01:11 PM (Vmc0i)

4 Website???  Christ, these clowns can't handle security details, something which the government has been doing for decades.

Posted by: Ambassador Stevens at December 03, 2013 01:11 PM (Pr6hk)

5 Do we simply pay the fine for not signing up for ACA or ignore the law and do nothing?

Posted by: 13times at December 03, 2013 01:11 PM (fGPLK)

6 Reporters are, frankly, just as dumb, if not more dumb, than the average American citizen.

That defines 90 percent of the problem right there.  The idea that some snot-nosed 24 year-old with a J school degree has ANYTHING to tell me about life, politics, the law or society, is utterly nauseating.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 03, 2013 01:12 PM (8ZskC)

7 Is this like a repost? I swear I read this same stuff yesterday. My mind is freezing up with the clusterfucks.

Posted by: Nip Sip at December 03, 2013 01:12 PM (0FSuD)

8 Yeah, single payor would have fixed all of this bullshit. Yep.

Posted by: akula51[/b][/i][/s] at December 03, 2013 01:13 PM (sjuby)

9 Tell us more about this "Web Site" thing.

Posted by: Americans Needing Journalism's Gentle Guidance at December 03, 2013 01:13 PM (8ZskC)

10 Freakonimics recently did a podcast on spontaneous order. I haven't finished listening to it, but I'd note that such as thing is applicable to healthcare. As for the press, there are two types of press-titutes: 1) the upstart lackeys who are poor and thus want to steal other people's money for themselves (progressive!) and 2) The one who have made bank and want to hang on to power (old school Johnson Democrats.). Both obviously lean left.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (tablet) at December 03, 2013 01:13 PM (U8W/7)

11 If they were serious about doing “a better job explaining to consumers how they can actually use it” they’d be talking more about the option to renew/replace your plan in December 2013 in order to avoid ObamaCare plans for another year. I’ve had to search high and low for what this means, and mostly had to cobble it together from comments and making inferences from news reports about what insurance companies think might work. I still don’t know whether having bought insurance this month will mean I get to avoid the ACA for a year, or whether something else will kick in to either reduce my coverage and/or increase my rates.

Posted by: Paid for by Citizens for Clyde the Orangutan at December 03, 2013 01:13 PM (QF8uk)

12 5 Do we simply pay the fine for not signing up for ACA or ignore the law and do nothing?

Posted by: 13times at December 03, 2013 05:11 PM (fGPLK)

 

 

 

What color are you and  how do you vote?

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 01:14 PM (ToMJU)

13 The website doesn't work at all. I got the same damn error message that I've been getting for the past two months. It doesn't work. I question if it will ever work, and honestly it pisses me off beyond measure that I'm sitting here at the mercy of a fucking government portal because our idiot president needed an applause line. I can't tell you how awful it is to see the train wreck coming and not be able to do a damn thing to stop it. On Jan. 1st, our insurance is gone. We can't get replacement coverage, and as an added slap in the face we will actually be fined for not having a product that they took away from us and then prevented us from buying.

Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 01:14 PM (hFL/3)

14 So, was this a good movie or not?

Posted by: Duke Lowell at December 03, 2013 01:14 PM (o9Rp5)

15 I figured it was because they were so free market that they had to overcompensate to be fair.

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 03, 2013 01:14 PM (2RYsC)

16 I love them when they're rotting

Posted by: grandmalcaesar at December 03, 2013 01:14 PM (yrohn)

17 Is this a movie review?

If not, I will go back and read it.. be back in an hour...

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 03, 2013 01:14 PM (f9c2L)

18 BTW, I've been telling the press so about the IPAB for years now, and unlike the Press's condescending opinion, I'm fully capable of understanding the law. I've got a higher and more relevant degree than they do

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (tablet) at December 03, 2013 01:15 PM (U8W/7)

19 Horde consensus? After this movie review, should we go see it?

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 01:16 PM (xZxMD)

20 ...it's hard to be, ummm, humble when you're perfect like, uhhhhh, me. Just ask Piers, he'll tell you...

Posted by: TEH WON at December 03, 2013 01:16 PM (Vmc0i)

21 19 Horde consensus? After this movie review, should we go see it?

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 05:16 PM (xZxMD)

 

 

 

Don't bother.  No boobies.

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 01:16 PM (ToMJU)

22 You know what our real problem is?

Is that we care just too darn much.

( Jesus pose )

Posted by: Your betters in the MSM [/i] [/b] at December 03, 2013 01:17 PM (uCNam)

23 What color are you and how do you vote? Do you have verification and/or means testing capabilities?

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 01:17 PM (xZxMD)

24 Do they offer anything on vetting Obama?

Cuz... like... fkn... wow. 

Talkabout the waterboy playing quarterback here...

Posted by: tangonine at December 03, 2013 01:17 PM (x3YFz)

25 One reason is that while many health-care wonks and policy reporters may have understood that insurers would have to cancel some plans to comply with the new law (see, for instance, this June 2010 story in the New York Times), most political reporters did not, and paid little attention until the failed Obamacare rollout became a political story.


There is a damning indictment of the media. They were SO FUCKING INCURIOUS about a law that would effect the takeover of one-sixth of the economy in an area that literally affects the LIFE OR DEATH of its citizens subjects that THEY DIDN'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO IT UNTIL IT WAS A "POLITICAL" STORY.

Just what the hell is the media there for in the first place???? Damn them all to hell.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 03, 2013 01:17 PM (8ZskC)

26 Lauren, I am so sorry for your predicament.  All of the perpetrators of these crimes, and yes I do believe at this point they are crimes, should rot in jail.

Posted by: DangerGirl, home sweet home at December 03, 2013 01:17 PM (GrtrJ)

27 I also like that they are still pretending that there are no death panels and that this isn't socialized medicine. Further anyone who thinks differently is just a wackobird.

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 03, 2013 01:18 PM (2RYsC)

28 Don't bother. No boobies. Crap.

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 01:18 PM (xZxMD)

29 It's not rape, it's consensual, "more or less"

Posted by: wooga at December 03, 2013 01:18 PM (szP/x)

30 I still don't think the public is going to demand single payer after this disaster. Just don't see it.

Posted by: parteagirl at December 03, 2013 01:19 PM (Plx/u)

31 It's and its are interchangeable. More or less.

Posted by: wooga at December 03, 2013 01:19 PM (szP/x)

32 I have met a fair number of politicians, and trust me....they ain't that smart.

So if it's too complicated for most of America, it's too complicated for most of congress.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 01:19 PM (oJ5Fd)

33 23 What color are you and how do you vote?



Do you have verification and/or means testing capabilities?

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 05:17 PM (xZxMD)

Next fucker that says 'genderqueer' gets two to the chest and one to the (I was going to say nuts... but...)  The junk.

Posted by: tangonine at December 03, 2013 01:19 PM (x3YFz)

34 You are just too stupid to understand.

Posted by: Your Betters at December 03, 2013 01:19 PM (BrrWI)

35
Politico declares "Just the Tip" Half True.

Posted by: No Bias Evah at December 03, 2013 01:19 PM (bkTIc)

36 The media is too busy ignoring a MA judge's ruling that Choom Boy's drunk-driving Uncle Onyango, who has lived illegally in this country for 50 years and has had deportation orders issued against him (none after President Historic First© took power) is a Nice Guy, and should be allowed to stay in this country. Just like sweet old Auntie Zeituni, whom the same judge allowed to stay.

But I'm absolutely certain the Mocha Messiah had nothing to do with the ruling. Nuh-uh.

I am so sick of lawbreaking, America-hating Choom Boy and his criminal family....

Posted by: MrScribbler at December 03, 2013 01:19 PM (csjXD)

37 Thank you, DangerGirl. The worst part is the dread. The fact that we have seen it coming for months and months. Merry Christmas to us.

Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 01:20 PM (hFL/3)

38 Do you have verification and/or means testing capabilities? - I figure they'll have Sheriff Joe make sure there is no funny business.

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 03, 2013 01:20 PM (2RYsC)

39 This must be taught in J School by now, this two step where:
1) Ignore story and denigrate anyone talking about it
2) Years after it's relevant say, "Our bad! We missed this story, but here are some flattering reasons why. We've learned our lesson. Promise."

Repeat in every situation where the story harms a Democrat or Lefty cause.

Posted by: Lizzy at December 03, 2013 01:20 PM (JRmiD)

40 Cicero, I'm more willing to bet not that the media was incurious about Obamacare, but that they knew somewhere deep down that it was an insidious bunch of bullshit so they deliberately, knowingly and willingly ignored everything bad said about it and told falsehoods to preserve Obama and Democrats' integrity.

Fuck them all with a rusty chainsaw.

Posted by: DangerGirl, home sweet home at December 03, 2013 01:20 PM (GrtrJ)

41 It's and its are interchangeable. More or less.

Posted by: wooga at December 03, 2013 05:19 PM (szP/x)

I think that their are grammar rules that govern when they should be used, but their to complicated, so I am waiting for a bill from congress and a Columbia J-school grad to explain it too me.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 01:21 PM (oJ5Fd)

42 Pathetic.

Posted by: Y-not at December 03, 2013 01:21 PM (zDsvJ)

43 The worst part is the dread. The fact that we have seen it coming for months and months. Merry Christmas to us.

Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 05:20 PM (hFL/3)

 

 

have you looked into

Concierge Care?

Posted by: Fred Q. at December 03, 2013 01:21 PM (W6iIX)

44


You simply cannot tell me that these asshole DON'T collude.

THEY SURE AS HELL DO.

The entire media industry s a spin machine for these Democrats, all of it...TV shows, of course, hard news, of course...sports...of course.

This is Soviet stuff. Creepy as all hell.



Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz Bunnies at December 03, 2013 01:22 PM (xggaJ)

45 "There was a uniformity of Republican messaging that was disconnected from facts," Blumenauer said. "The sheer discipline . . . was breathtaking."

Posted by: Lies are the best guys at December 03, 2013 01:22 PM (rCS6C)

46 Cicero, I'm more willing to bet not that the media was incurious about Obamacare, but that they knew somewhere deep down that it was an insidious bunch of bullshit so they deliberately, knowingly and willingly ignored everything bad said about it and told falsehoods to preserve Obama and Democrats' integrity. Fuck them all with a rusty chainsaw. Set to puree.

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 01:22 PM (xZxMD)

47 And the sickest part of all of this, is that yes the law was cobbled together and at this point, it may be too late for anyone to stop it.

I mean hey, I'm sure if they repealed the ACA tomorrow, I'd get to go back to my old insurance, right?  And they wouldn't raise my rates astronomically, right?

Posted by: DangerGirl, home sweet home at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (GrtrJ)

48 I can't tell you how awful it is to see the train wreck coming and not be able to do a damn thing to stop it. On Jan. 1st, our insurance is gone. We can't get replacement coverage, and as an added slap in the face we will actually be fined for not having a product that they took away from us and then prevented us from buying. Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 05:14 PM (hFL/3) Grounds for a class action law suit?

Posted by: parteagirl at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (Plx/u)

49
Politico Magazine ... Never Considers Pro-Obama Bias as a Factor

by Trudy Lieberman

Trudy Lieberman ‏@Trudy_Lieberman 6 Nov

Enough is enough no more anecdotes about insurance cancellations http://bit.ly/19Cf0cV  #obamacare @The Second Opinion


Biased? Moi?


Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (kdS6q)

50 Then there is also the hard hitting Matthews interview tomorrow.
Spits or swallows? I'm going with the latter for Chrissy.

Posted by: Bosk at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (n2K+4)

51 Posted by: tangonine at December 03, 2013 05:19 PM (x3YFz)

Is that like "two in the pink and one in the stink?"

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (oJ5Fd)

52 Wowsah! We here at Uck-Mp sure are glad the rough patch is over and done with in our love affair with progressivism and King Barack I. Tough fucking stuff these last few weeks! Now we can return to lecturing the great herd of unwashed tax cattle out there in properly deferential regard for their betters.

Posted by: Union of Concerned Media Personalities at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (xCh2P)

53

And they roll out the "experts" to assure us...from where is she funded? How is it that just by happenstance this person says mistakes were made???

"Trudy Lieberman, a journalist for 40 years, is a fellow at the Center for Advancing Health."

Oh, ok...



Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz Bunnies at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (xggaJ)

54 It's and its are interchangeable. More or less. Posted by: wooga at December 03, 2013 05:19 PM (szP/x) I think that their are grammar rules that govern when they should be used, but their to complicated, so I am waiting for a bill from congress and a Columbia J-school grad to explain it too me. Me to.

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (xZxMD)

55 Ace, fix your html.  You're bleeding all over the place.

Posted by: DangerGirl, home sweet home at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (GrtrJ)

56 Someone take away my CAPS LOCK.  I've become a danger to myself and others.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 03, 2013 01:23 PM (8ZskC)

57 The signature legislation of the Obama administration wasn't even vetted by the media, what a joke, and it's mostly the republican's fault for pointing that out with facts and figures the left didn't like.

Posted by: Dr Spank at December 03, 2013 01:24 PM (xlX1p)

58 Everything one sees on TeeVee is stupid, but few things are as stupid, and in fact, as brain-damagingly stupid, as teh news.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:24 PM (M8OWQ)

59 Its all one big mystery...

Posted by: Doug at December 03, 2013 01:24 PM (7NE77)

60 Did the SOB appear at the press conference? Did he say anything of intelligence?

Posted by: Penis Love Vagina at December 03, 2013 01:24 PM (kkbgQ)

61 "have you looked into Concierge Care?" Just a bit. I think that could work for everyday illnesses but not my for my husband. The fact that he was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disorder a month before the announcement came that we were losing our insurance fucked things up royally in terms of our options.

Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 01:24 PM (hFL/3)

62 'It's not us, it's you.'

Posted by: garrett at December 03, 2013 01:24 PM (tJ9q0)

63




Go look at her twitter to see how the lefties are mobilizing to stop the bloodshed.

Just sickening.

https://twitter.com/Trudy_Lieberman



Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz Bunnies at December 03, 2013 01:24 PM (xggaJ)

64 Shorter version -- Fuck Politico in the squeakhole with a flaming pineapple.
 
Sideways.

Posted by: GnuBreed at December 03, 2013 01:25 PM (wNF3N)

65 There is no such thing as independent media. 90% are just left-wing activists.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 01:25 PM (ZPrif)

66 Owner of the Abilene, TX Schlotzsky's shuts the place down to put the workers through 'attitude readjustment.' This guy needs to be put in charge of the near Sisyphean task of sorting out 404Care.

http://tinyurl.com/ml7fgr8

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at December 03, 2013 01:25 PM (B9up3)

67 Trudy Lieberman ‏@Trudy_Lieberman 6 Nov

Enough is enough no more anecdotes about insurance cancellations http://bit.ly/19Cf0cV #obamacare @The Second Opinion



Yeah, I'm sure she said the same to the Democrats and all their sob stories prior to passing the law, right?

Fucking shitfucker.

Posted by: DangerGirl, home sweet home at December 03, 2013 01:25 PM (GrtrJ)

68 Sure, we will fuck them up the ass with ObamaCare but they will still respect us in the morning.

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 03, 2013 01:26 PM (2RYsC)

69 67 Shorter version -- Fuck Politico in the squeakhole with a flaming pineapple. Sideways. Or Nancy Pelosis giant fuck you gavel she wagged in our faces...

Posted by: hello, it's me also a creep-assed cracka.. at December 03, 2013 01:26 PM (9+ccr)

70 I continue to laugh in a morbid sort of way at how the left deems us Tea Party folks as both too stupid to breathe but yet so diabolically genius.

We can barely rut, but we can develop complex plots to overthrow the planet.

How much does it hurt to be a liberal?  It has to be a constant tirade of mental discontent and hypocrisy.

Posted by: tangonine at December 03, 2013 01:26 PM (x3YFz)

71 The worst part is the dread. The fact that we have seen it coming for months and months. Merry Christmas to us. Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 05:20 PM (hFL/3) Hide posts from (hFL/3) I wish we could do something, a lot of us are only a matter of schedules away from where you are now. Refusal to comply should be the answer, but the big entities (particularly pharmaceutical companies) were "bought off," and that complicates things. People need to re-learn the ability to say no. This is Soviet stuff. Creepy as all hell. Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz Bunnies at December 03, 2013 05:22 PM (xggaJ) Hide posts from (xggaJ) And so here we are again, new bat time, new bat channel, same cartoon villains - except they *really* think they're the good guys - I guess that hasn't changed either.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i] [/b] [/s] [/u] at December 03, 2013 01:26 PM (qyfb5)

72 "Enough is enough no more anecdotes about insurance cancellations " SO MUCH RAGE. Oh my fucking god. So. MUCH. RAGE. Oh, I'm sorry, princess, that you don't like hearing about icky stories like mine. I know that they make it uncomfortable for you and your God king. Ick. It's so much easier if we all just shut up and think of England. Well tough shit. I'm about a day away from trotting out all 4 of my kids and standing on the fucking lawn of the white house with signs that say "Why do you want my daddy to be in pain?" Be thankful that it's not pitchforks.

Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 01:27 PM (hFL/3)

73 psycho-phants, all of them.

Posted by: california red at December 03, 2013 01:27 PM (7jrCM)

74 The "big lie" only works when people, reporters in this case, willfully and purposefully repeat and propagate it.

We wondered how authoritarian systems quietly overtake classically liberal-democratic institutions, well, now we know.

Thanks a lot, assholes.

Posted by: 13times at December 03, 2013 01:27 PM (fGPLK)

75 The outcome of any inquiry or debate is almost always determined at the very onset of the endeavor -- quite often before the inquiry or debate commences at all -- usually being derived deterministically from the manner in which the central subject matter and the various arguments surrounding it are framed and contextualized. The Media is very good at framing, and this skill translates to the manner in which it frames questions of its own bias.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:27 PM (M8OWQ)

76 politico, slate, saloon, huffpost ... things to avoid ... like the neighborhood crack house.

Posted by: mrp at December 03, 2013 01:28 PM (HjPtV)

77 As I said earlier, someone forgot to give CNBC the memo, and they are ramping up their negative 404Care coverage and not cutting it back. Today, for example, they went on and one for seven or eight paragraphs (and their usual is about two). http://cnb.cx/1dO9MyP

Posted by: MTF at December 03, 2013 01:28 PM (xCh2P)

78
Old and in the way: If you like your plan. you can keep your plan.

New throbbing hotness: If you like your crusty catheter, you can keep your crusty catheter.

Posted by: Webfoot MD at December 03, 2013 01:28 PM (bkTIc)

79 "There was a uniformity of Republican messaging that was disconnected
from facts," Blumenauer said. "The sheer discipline . . . was
breathtaking."

Posted by: Lies are the best guys at December 03, 2013 05:22 PM (rCS6C)

 

 

 

"There was a uniformity of Democratic messaging  and  talking points fed to the media  that was disconnected from facts as stated by Conservatives," Palin  said. "The sheer discipline . . . was to be expected."

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 01:28 PM (ToMJU)

80 Our media now resembles the old Soviet joke about the two main newspapers during the Communist times. 

In Izvestia (roughly translated as news), there is no news. 

In Pravda (translation truth), there is no truth. 

The genius Politico reporter combined both of these sayings to author her article which was so artfully fisked above by Ace. 

Posted by: wg at December 03, 2013 01:28 PM (aqJ8x)

81 Owner of the Abilene, TX Schlotzsky's shuts the place down to put the workers through 'attitude readjustment.' This guy needs to be put in charge of the near Sisyphean task of sorting out 404Care. Wish I was closer to Abilene. I'd go. Just for the support of his actions.

Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 01:29 PM (xZxMD)

82 19 Horde consensus? After this movie review, should we go see it? Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 05:16 PM (xZxMD) SPOILER/b] . . . . . . Everyone dies in the end. Now whether they die with a boot on their neck or standing as free citizens of these United States remain to be seen.

Posted by: Hanoverfist at December 03, 2013 01:29 PM (ecN6u)

83 Wait! Are we at war with Eastasia still?

Posted by: Winston Smith at December 03, 2013 01:29 PM (xCh2P)

84 ok I'm off to GTA V to knock over liquor stores. 

VotiveRain633

Look me up if you want to go criminal.

Otherwise:  Stay safe, keep your kids close, check your ammo, clean your weapons, hug your critters.

T9 Out

Posted by: tangonine at December 03, 2013 01:29 PM (x3YFz)

85 Rotting interest Or rooting interest

Posted by: Thunderb at December 03, 2013 01:30 PM (zOTsN)

86 I trust Politico's self-assessment and reportage exactly as much as I trust any number or metric from The Obamanation.

Credibility, meet Toilet. Toilet, Credibility.

Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at December 03, 2013 01:30 PM (eHIJJ)

87

I think about this every time you take on one of  these leftist  media sites, and what I've concluded is that I understand why you, Ace, care about  what these people are saying.

 

I  understand equally well though, that I don't care, and I understand why I don't need to care what leftist media types have to say. 

Posted by: BurtTC at December 03, 2013 01:30 PM (TOk1P)

88 Remember when Breitbart walked up and took over the microphone at a news conference and told the MFM how bad they were at their phony baloney jobs? Good times, good times.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i] [/b] [/s] [/u] at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (qyfb5)

89 They're still swallowing the jiz......

Posted by: © Sponge at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (xmcEQ)

90 ESPN featuring open racist Jason Whitlock today.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (ZPrif)

91 Is there one thing in ACA that works as advertised?

Posted by: Thunderb at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (zOTsN)

92 Totally OT but where the heck is NCJ? This won't last long. http://bit.ly/1hwCmoY

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (DmNpO)

93

A Politico reporter walked into a bar  right in the middle of the bar being robbed.  Afterwards she was interviewed by the police.  When  asked exactly what she saw  she said 

 

 "  There  was  this  big ,  intimidating  guy  behind  the  bar who scared the crap out of me and I thought  really  might  harm  me as he  stared  at me while grabbing the money out of the register.  He then handed to this sweet looking man who ran out  of the bar, who may or may not have been holding something metallic in his hand.   I don't want to say something I'm not sure about.  It wouldn't  be fair"

Posted by: polynikes self proclaimed king of walked into a bar jokes at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (m2CN7)

94 Credibility, meet Toilet. Toilet, Credibility.

Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at December 03, 2013 05:30 PM (eHIJJ)

 

one that works or the kind Billy Jeff and the Goracle forced upon us?

Posted by: Fred Q. at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (W6iIX)

95 I'll believe they (the MSM) cares so darn much when they actually act somewhat and like Jesus submit themselves to a tortuous death for the sake of humanity. The faux messiah Obama allows them to sacrifice nothing.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 01:31 PM (BC6cY)

96
it was the lawÂ’s messy tradeoffs, its power to create new classes of winners and losers as it tried to bring insurance to more Americans.

That one line particularly makes cartoon smoke come out my ears, the media did nothing to talk about messy tradeoffs and did mock anybody who made criticisms.   Winners and losers?  no talk of that from the obama sucking media either. 

And oh yeah, less people now have insurance.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 03, 2013 01:32 PM (caCiW)

97 Beckel wants a 20$ an hour minimum wage. Idiot

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 01:32 PM (t3UFN)

98 Wish I was closer to Abilene. I'd go. Just for the support of his actions. Posted by: rickb223 at December 03, 2013 05:29 PM (xZxMD) I grew up there. Can't beat Abilene's sunsets and the PEOPLE! Salt of the earth.

Posted by: parteagirl at December 03, 2013 01:32 PM (Plx/u)

99 Not listed is fact media really enjoys their kneepads and jamming choad into their throats with gleeful abandon

Posted by: fastfreefall at December 03, 2013 01:32 PM (Tz35j)

100 From the perspective of philosophy, the idea that any person or institution or collection of corporations/cartel could exist and function without any sort of bias is quite risible. But fortunately, the Media has gone to such great lengths to dumb everyone down, and attained so much success in this most Noble endeavor, that the average person is simply incapable of doing anything more complex than parroting the latest memes, most of which, coincidentally, tend to come from the Media, and be quite self flattering. Because Altruism.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:32 PM (M8OWQ)

101 Beckel wants a 20$ an hour minimum wage. Idiot

I don't think he's worth it either.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 03, 2013 01:33 PM (caCiW)

102 "There was a uniformity of Republican messaging that was disconnected from facts," Blumenauer said. "The sheer discipline . . . was breathtaking."
-
That wasn't discipline.  That was truth.

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 03, 2013 01:33 PM (Hx5uv)

103 Of course, the reason there was/is a "patchwork" system is because of all the government diddling in the first place, going back to FDR and wage controls. Dumb shits.

Posted by: RS at December 03, 2013 01:33 PM (YAGV/)

104 From it's inception has there ever been one poll that had obamacare in the favorable category?

Posted by: hello, it's me also a creep-assed cracka.. at December 03, 2013 01:34 PM (9+ccr)

105 Just found this little gem: Nancy Pelosi was riding down the road in her chauffeur driven car, when suddenly a cow jumps out into the road. The car hits it full on and comes to a stop. Nancy, in her usual charming manner, says to the chauffeur, "You get out and check--you were driving." So the chauffeur gets out, checks, and reports that the animal is dead but it was old.. "You were driving, so you go and tell the farmer," says Nancy . Two hours later the chauffeur returns totally plastered, hair ruffled with a big grin on his face. "My God, what happened to you?" asks Nancy . The chauffeur replies, "When I got there, the farmer opened his best bottle of malt whisky, the wife gave me a wonderful meal, and the daughter made love to me." "What on earth did you say?" asks Nancy . "I just knocked on the door and when it opened I said to them, "I'm Nancy Pelosi's chauffeur, and I've just killed the old cow.." (HL)

Posted by: Ma Bell at December 03, 2013 01:34 PM (RLdcX)

106 it was the lawÂ’s messy tradeoffs, its power to create new classes of winners and losers as it tried to bring insurance to more Americans. If they had just given subsidies to those who needed subsidies to buy already existing Insurance and also introduced Tort reform and other reforms, this would have cost 1/4 as much and been so much less destructive, but NOOOOOO

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 01:34 PM (t3UFN)

107 100 Beckel wants a 20$ an hour minimum wage. Idiot Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 05:32 PM (t3UFN) Soon it will be back to 20$ a day.

Posted by: Hanoverfist at December 03, 2013 01:35 PM (ecN6u)

108 Ma Bell that was funny!

Posted by: Thunderb at December 03, 2013 01:35 PM (zOTsN)

109 a strong rotting interest

Did you mean rotten?  Either way -  golf clap.

Posted by: DaveA[/i][/b][/s] at December 03, 2013 01:35 PM (DL2i+)

110 If they had just given subsidies to those who needed subsidies to buy already existing Insurance and also introduced Tort reform and other reforms, this would have cost 1/4 as much and been so much less destructive, but NOOOOOO --- Do your part to control the lawyer population... Spay or neuter your lawyer today!

Posted by: Bob Barker at December 03, 2013 01:36 PM (/Crba)

111 Get with it people, the Fourth Estate is my place in the Hamptons

Posted by: George Soros at December 03, 2013 01:36 PM (4eNxd)

112 “weave them into a quilt.”

Is the cumguzzler who wrote that not a native English speaker, or are they so fucking ignorant of the world around them they can't even employ a metaphor correctly?

Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 01:36 PM (/kI1Q)

113 Is the cumguzzler who wrote that not a native English speaker, or are they so fucking ignorant of the world around them they can't even employ a metaphor correctly? --- Yes.

Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at December 03, 2013 01:37 PM (/Crba)

114

Let's face it - if most journalists were good at math/analytics/reasoning/logic, they probably wouldn't BE in journalism in the first place.

Not a lot of hard science and/or math in the J-School curriculum last time I checked.....

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, TX (@Teresa_Koch) at December 03, 2013 01:37 PM (PZ6/M)

115

Ace I appreciate your diligence and masochism (no joking here) in continuing to dissect the idiotic self-exoneration or excuse-making of the "press" and mock their lack of professionalism, pride, or non-authoritarian values. 

 

But let's not continue to ignore the foundational lie that is at the very heart of all of this:  that there is a significant number of involuntarily uninsured Americans, or a significant number of people dumped from existing insurance plans, or a significant number of pre-existing condition types, and that all of the actual members of all three groups cannot be easily helped by a fairly tiny (by federal standards), sensible, targeted safety-net intervention.

 

THAT is the key here.  Sure, the law was probably the most unconstitutional (in content, and in process of adoption) major law in US history.  Sure, the SCOTUS confirmed for the dim-witted or recently arrived extra-terrestrial visitors that it is not a serious institution, but in fact a tyrannical, lawless, unaccountable super-legislature for dummies.  Sure, the societal collapse in terms of integrity and responsibility made manifest by the collusion/rent-seeking of big insurance and big pharma pretty much confirms our regression into some sort of Third World status.

 

But leave all that aside.  The stunning, unavoidable, damning reality is that all of the (vastly, vastly, VASTLY) exaggerated "problems" with the existing health insurance situation were niggling issues, easily dealt with tweaking a few existing programs, and legislation that probably wouldn't fill 20 pages.

 

(oh, and we're leaving aside here that the existing health insurance situation could itself be vastly, vastly, vastly improved - meaning dramatically lowered costs to the point that no one would even think of it as an issue to be addressed - if federal and state distortion/cartelization/mis-regulation/mangling of the situation were removed)

 

Posted by: non-purist at December 03, 2013 01:37 PM (afQnV)

116 The 10 Least and 10 Most corrupt countries.  The US clocks in at #19.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/03/idUS95815491020131203

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at December 03, 2013 01:38 PM (B9up3)

117 How hard is it to answer one fucking question: DID OBAMA APPEAR AT HIS PRESS CONFERENCE OR NOT? YES OR NO.

Posted by: Penis Love Vagina at December 03, 2013 01:38 PM (kkbgQ)

118 The media is as into narcissistic buck-passing as their Messiah is.

Posted by: --- at December 03, 2013 01:38 PM (MMC8r)

119 Philosophy and history, and for that matter Theology are all real things, and it is quite difficult to understand all that much while being completely ignorant of at least the first two. Fortunately, Leftism has succeeded in abolishing all three in favor of Cultural Marxism. As such, the average person is transformed into an obedient serf, forced to regurgitate the sophisticated memes du jour and submit to the hegemony of Cultural Marxism in all sorts of other ways while being presented with no alternative points of view, and therefore "choice," whatsoever.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:38 PM (M8OWQ)

120 have you looked into Concierge Care? Posted by: Fred Q. at December 03, 2013 05:21 PM (W6iIX) The Concierge docs I know charge a flat fee to join, which gives you 24/hr a day 365 access to them. However, if/when they treat you, they still bill your insurance or you if you are self-pay. So I'm not certain this would help Lauren much.

Posted by: Ragamuffin at December 03, 2013 01:38 PM (fzFF6)

121 Forget it. Found my answer on Townhall.

Posted by: Penis Love Vagina at December 03, 2013 01:39 PM (kkbgQ)

122 How hard is it to answer one fucking question: DID OBAMA APPEAR AT HIS PRESS CONFERENCE OR NOT? YES OR NO. Posted by: Penis Love Vagina at December 03, 2013 05:3 Yes...

Posted by: hello, it's me also a creep-assed cracka.. at December 03, 2013 01:39 PM (9+ccr)

123 Pro Media Bias? That would be Chris Mathews with a tent in his pants while interviewing the object' of his affliction.

Posted by: 7 Days in May at December 03, 2013 01:39 PM (j6DTo)

124 122 The media is as into narcissistic buck-passing as their Messiah is. --- OK, that's just ignorant. How can someone get a male deer up their ass to begin with, let alone pass it?!?

Posted by: Media Cum Guzzlers at December 03, 2013 01:39 PM (/Crba)

125 I can't tell you how awful it is to see the train wreck coming and not be able to do a damn thing to stop it. On Jan. 1st, our insurance is gone. We can't get replacement coverage, and as an added slap in the face we will actually be fined for not having a product that they took away from us and then prevented us from buying.

Posted by: Lauren
............
Unless you qualify for a subsidy, you do not need to use the healthcare.gov portal.  Simply call up Blue Cross or Aetna or whoever does business in your state directly for a quote.

Repeat: You do NOT need healthcare.gov unless you want a subsidy.

Also - there are health insurance agents in almost every area of the country who can help you find the best policy.

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 03, 2013 01:39 PM (f9c2L)

126 "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" is simply not included in the communications syllabus.

Posted by: Profesor Alphonse DeClueless Phd MA BA MS MK KZ AM and FM at December 03, 2013 01:39 PM (O7OxF)

127 Journalism is dead, there is no more Journalism. Everyone has picked a side and it's war. Except some on the right, or more the middle right, are to stupid to see that.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 01:40 PM (t3UFN)

128

I read this article early this morning and was hoping for a good fisking of it by Ace.  I am not disappointed!

 

My issue with the media is that they are STILL not even questioning the fundamental premises of Obamacare.  This was an easy thing to do and does nopt require getting into the tall weeds of how the exchanges work and such:

 

1) Will Americans in large numbers EVER willingly - or even under a threat of a significant fine - buy a financial product they don't need and cannot afford?

 

2) Will the coverage of more Americans -assuming the program ever actually gets to be working the way it was supposed to -  really improve overall health in America?  The huge Oregon Medicaid study which came out right aas Obamacare was going through Congress indicated that it won't.  That study should have thrown about 50 million gallons of water on this whole process, but it didn't.

 

I think our progressive do-gooder media generally bought the Democrat line that America is too advanced and wealthy a nation to keep allowing 30 million people to go uninsured.  As long as the goal was to fix that, they never ever questioned the methods or the assumptions underlying the program.   And they automatically reported that any opposition to the methods meant the opponents do not support the goal and want people to die. 

Posted by: rockmom at December 03, 2013 01:40 PM (aBlZ1)

129 The Media functions as a singular organism, completely synchronized and bereft of any cognitive diversity. Thereby, cognitive freedom is abolished in favor of top-down group think.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:40 PM (M8OWQ)

130 Well It would be too short to be an article to write journalists are stupid and biased

Posted by: Thunderb at December 03, 2013 01:41 PM (zOTsN)

131 How come the MFM never called health insurance a 'third-rail of politics', even though HillaryCare clearly demonstrated it was???

Posted by: phreshone at December 03, 2013 01:41 PM (Pr6hk)

132 Fuck espn

Posted by: Chavez the Hugo at December 03, 2013 01:42 PM (dVYkj)

133 @53 Then there is also the hard hitting Matthews interview tomorrow. Spits or swallows? I'm going with the latter for Chrissy. I hope Chrissy uses hair gel.

Posted by: teh Wind at December 03, 2013 01:42 PM (B3WUC)

134 For Lauren - Sorry about the NYT link, but this kinda explains what I was talking about above...

http://tinyurl.com/km36umt

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 03, 2013 01:43 PM (f9c2L)

135 I hope he wears pants

Posted by: Thunderb at December 03, 2013 01:43 PM (zOTsN)

136 If this whole house of cards does indeed fall, will John Roberts be viewed differently? It may not have been his intent, but it may lead to an outcome favorable to us in the long run.

"The Socialists will collect the rope with which we will hang them."

Posted by: 13times at December 03, 2013 01:43 PM (fGPLK)

137 see the update, which is important, I think.

Posted by: ace at December 03, 2013 01:44 PM (/FnUH)

138 Aw, Jeez... Looks like Robert Sarvis, the "libertarian" that helped spoil the VA. governor race now wants to run against Mark Warner for Senator. I don't even know if anyone has expressed interest in challenging Warner yet, but Sarvis is going to be sand in the vaseline again, it appears.

Posted by: shredded chi at December 03, 2013 01:44 PM (tJGHm)

139 Which is quite impressive given how profoundly cognitively mediocre the average journalist tends to be. But one does not need to be all that intelligent to always be in lock step. Although there does seem to be a higher degree of coordination than that in play. Perhaps some sort of List of Journalists which aids journalists in their brain damaged and intentionally brain damaging synchronized messaging.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:46 PM (M8OWQ)

140 42 The fine is $95 per adult or 1% AGI (adjusted gross income)....whatever is less. Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO President for Life at December 03, 2013 05:21 PM (OWjjx) ------------------------------ Alas, I think it is whatever is MORE. And the fines go up every year.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at December 03, 2013 01:47 PM (dfYL9)

141

rockmom, well said.  The fundamental premise of the whole damn thing - that there are a significant number of involuntarily uninsured - is absurd.  There aren't.  Recall how this disastrous, pathetic, uninteresting, clueless affirmative action non-entity of a "president" would change the lies in his droning ineffective inarticulate speeches when he was pushing this?  One day "30 million" then after push-back and challenge, "15 million" etc.?

 

Sort of a clue there that the central, foundational fact underlying the entire discussion was no fact at all.

 

OK, let's be real smart, ya know, smarter than an Ivy League seminar, and stipulate that, in fact, there ARE a significant number of involuntarily uninsured.  What do we do about it?

 

Well, when people need food or nutritional help, we transfer income so they can buy food (SNAP, WIC, etc.).  When people need rent help, we transfer income so they can afford rent (Title Eight).  When people need college loans, we transfer income in the form of concessionary student loans.

 

So when a very small cohort, tail of the bell curve, needs help with health insurance (affordability, pre-existing condition, etc.) - we blow up the fucking universe? 

Posted by: non-purist at December 03, 2013 01:47 PM (afQnV)

142 The best one might say about journalists would be that they are incredibly stupid.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:47 PM (M8OWQ)

143 131 Journalism is dead, there is no more Journalism. Everyone has picked a side and it's war. Except some on the right, or more the middle right, are to stupid to see that. Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 05:40 PM (t3UFN) This.

Posted by: D-Lamp at December 03, 2013 01:47 PM (bb5+k)

144 The "Journalists" ( and I use that term loosely) all go to the same schools, and the same bars, and the same parties. Group think.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 01:48 PM (t3UFN)

145 As much as I hate to see what Lauren is going through trying to get insurance, it makes a really good point about how f*cked this administration is in handling the rollout of O'Care.

They have concentrated all of their PR stuff on the website - implying that it is the one and ONLY place you can get health insurance.  It isn't.  If you don't qualify for a subsidy, you just buy insurance the old fashioned way - from a broker or directly from the insurer.

But Obama and his cronies are causing themselves even more grief than they deserve because they are not even telling anyone about this option!  Eff'n fucktards.  I can't think of a more deserving bunch.  A collection of academics and political theorists who have never rolled out a real product in their collective lives.

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 03, 2013 01:48 PM (f9c2L)

146 But their incredible stupidity does seem to be spiced with premeditated, intentional malice and self interest.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:49 PM (M8OWQ)

147 122 The media is as into narcissistic buck-passing as their Messiah is.

---

OK, that's just ignorant. How can someone get a male deer up their ass to begin with, let alone pass it?!?

Posted by: Media Cum Guzzlers at December 03, 2013 05:39 PM (/Crba)

 

Clff Clavin trivia time

 

The buck passing or buck stop here originates from poker where they used a  knife with buckhorn handle to indicate the  position  whose turn was to deal.  Eventually they changed to  a silver dollar but continued to call it a buck and thus the term for a dollar  became a buck. 

Posted by: polynikes self proclaimed king of walked into a bar jokes at December 03, 2013 01:49 PM (m2CN7)

148 Which does make some sense. Stupid people are also often quite immoral.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:49 PM (M8OWQ)

149 At least he has started owning it. "His" website and all that. That he built. With our money.

Posted by: akula51[/b][/i][/s] at December 03, 2013 01:50 PM (sjuby)

150 142 Aw, Jeez...
Looks like Robert Sarvis, the "libertarian" that helped spoil the VA. governor race now wants to run against Mark Warner for Senator.
I don't even know if anyone has expressed interest in challenging Warner yet, but Sarvis is going to be sand in the vaseline again, it appears.

Posted by: shredded chi at December 03, 2013 05:44 PM (tJGHm)

 

 

 

Sooner or later, this kind of crap is going to be  addressed with the violent, racist, hate-filled actions of a Tea Party activist with a gun.

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 01:50 PM (ToMJU)

151 119 NP PCIP

Posted by: speedster1 on the iPad at December 03, 2013 01:50 PM (noB3y)

152 And prone to playing all sorts of stupid social games, which they tend to find quite captivating due to their reduced cognitive abilities.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:51 PM (M8OWQ)

153 131 Journalism is dead, there is no more Journalism. Everyone has picked a side and it's war. Except some on the right, or more the middle right, are to stupid to see that.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 05:40 PM (t3UFN)

Some on the right, or more the middle right, are in on the scam and
are Lucy snatching the football up, cycle after cycle.

Posted by: Mr. Wizard at December 03, 2013 01:51 PM (S5LPT)

154 There IS a good number of involuntarily uninsured.  But mostly they are sick and old and health insurance was out of their reach financially.  They will flock to O'Care.  But since they are the only ones, it seems, those insurers will bite the dust in a year or two.

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 03, 2013 01:51 PM (f9c2L)

155
This Oscar season is gonna SUCK. Teh Ewok hasn't given us one good movie review yet. He's hated everything.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at December 03, 2013 01:52 PM (TIIx5)

156 They have concentrated all of their PR stuff on the website - implying that it is the one and ONLY place you can get health insurance. It isn't. If you don't qualify for a subsidy, you just buy insurance the old fashioned way - from a broker or directly from the insurer. But Obama and his cronies are causing themselves even more grief than they deserve because they are not even telling anyone about this option! Eff'n fucktards. I can't think of a more deserving bunch. A collection of academics and political theorists who have never rolled out a real product in their collective lives. Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 03, 2013 05:48 PM (f9c2L) Because they want the stupid and truly stupid to think until the last second that they to might get a subsidy. Sticker shock and all

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 01:52 PM (t3UFN)

157 WTF is that at 154?

Posted by: shredded chi at December 03, 2013 01:53 PM (tJGHm)

158 But mostly they are sick and old and health insurance was out of their reach financially. They will flock to O'Care. But since they are the only ones, it seems, those insurers will bite the dust in a year or two. Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 03, 2013 05:51 PM (f9c2L) And those people are being put into Medicaid for the most part, meaning you and me are paying for them.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 01:54 PM (t3UFN)

159 161 WTF is that at 154? Odd. Definitely odd. And out of place.

Posted by: akula51[/b][/i][/s] at December 03, 2013 01:54 PM (sjuby)

160 Stupid people are also often quite immoral.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 05:49 PM (M8OWQ)

And intelligent people are often quite immoral.

What's your point?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 01:54 PM (oJ5Fd)

161 161 WTF is that at 154?

Posted by: shredded chi at December 03, 2013 05:53 PM (tJGHm)

 

 

 

Attempted sarcastic humor.  Must have been a fail.

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 01:54 PM (ToMJU)

162 This Oscar season is gonna SUCK. Teh Ewok hasn't given us one good movie review yet. He's hated everything.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at December 03, 2013 05:52 PM (TIIx5)

 

Not  Oscar worthy but Two Guns was  very enjoyable.   If you overlook that the CIA were the villians again. 

Posted by: polynikes self proclaimed king of walked into a bar jokes at December 03, 2013 01:55 PM (m2CN7)

163 Contemporary society is thus organized that the Media determines the range of "the masses'" thoughts. And the Media always makes sure that that range is quite narrow. And between parts of the political spectrum which tend to be counterproductive in the long run, and always shifting Leftward.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:56 PM (M8OWQ)

164 Ace, the end of this essay is delicious. It's almost an O Henry story! Great, fun read.

Posted by: Jazz at December 03, 2013 01:57 PM (roO4n)

165 Wasn't this post a movie review of "All the President's Men"?

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 01:58 PM (ToMJU)

166

Dear Leader, his regime, and their willing propaganda arm (the MFM) have placed this country  in tyranny.  Now, that's honest.

 

Print that, motherfuckers!

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 01:58 PM (9sMM9)

167 Just doubled checked with 2 references I keep handy. It is the lesser. Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO President for Life at December 03, 2013 05:57 PM (OWjjx) Not sure what references you are using... Law says more...

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 01:58 PM (lZBBB)

168 And, of course, "expertocracy"/elitism is quite Undemocratic. As such, it follows that the Democrat Party and its Communist running dogs would be quite in favor of it.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 01:59 PM (M8OWQ)

169 ObamaÂ’s Kenyan-born uncle allowed to remain in US: court Onyango Obama was ordered to leave the U.S. in 1992 but did not comply. His immigration status became public after a 2011 drunk driving arrest. I know I will sleep well tonight

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 01:59 PM (t3UFN)

170 There IS a good number of involuntarily uninsured. But mostly they are sick and old and health insurance was out of their reach financially.

Did we repeal Medicare?

Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 01:59 PM (/kI1Q)

171

No, Chi-Town, pay attention, there is not a SIGNIFICANT number of involuntarily uninsured.  There are shark attacks and houses hit by meteorites, but they're not systemic problems.

 

Take you pick - CBO or Census numbers - and analyze them rigorously (ya know, like serious topics should be treated).  There are a number of involuntarily uninsured.  It's a small number by national standards (10 million or less, mostly likely).  And even many of THOSE qualify for medicaid or other programs, depending where they live.

 

As I said, let's rise above Ivy League/NPR intellectual levels here and actually do intelligent analysis.  There's a small number of involuntarily uninsured.  Find them, means-test them, see if they fit into existing safety-net schemes, and when you've got your final number, provide them direct aid (vouchers) to buy private insurance.

 

Done.  There is no interesting or sensible alternative to that approach.  None.  Anyone want to volunteer some dissent on that?  Let's hear your plan.

 

Oh - and wrecking the already frankenstein-distorted existing insurance market completely in a 2,400-page unconstitutional grab-bag of stupid and baseless ideas is not an option in this test.

 

Posted by: non-purist at December 03, 2013 02:00 PM (afQnV)

172 172 Just doubled checked with 2 references I keep handy. It is the lesser. Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO President for Life at December 03, 2013 05:57 PM (OWjjx) Not sure what references you are using... Law says more... Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 05:58 PM (lZBBB) -------------------------------- I hope he's right for my daughter's sake, but I fear that "more" is correct. *sigh*

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at December 03, 2013 02:00 PM (dfYL9)

173 >>Just doubled checked with 2 references I keep handy. It is the lesser So you did a discount double check?

Posted by: JackStraw at December 03, 2013 02:00 PM (g1DWB)

174 I don't want to endorse a particular carrier but if you are in TX. Lauren, call Wellspring Insurance. They are based in Texas. They must be nationwide. I am only suggesting them because they have been heavily advertised on conservative talk radio. Maybe they can offer some suggestions. Perhaps you've already checked into everything. I am so sorry it is so damn difficult for you and your family. I am another person here praying for you.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 02:01 PM (BC6cY)

175 There IS a good number of involuntarily uninsured. But mostly they are sick and old and health insurance was out of their reach financially. Did we repeal Medicare? Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 05:59 PM (/kI1Q) Medicare they have to pay for. Medicaid, as in on you and me, is where most of these people will go.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 02:01 PM (t3UFN)

176 was ordered to leave the U.S. in 1992 but did not comply.

Orbitz indicates daily flights from Boston to Nairobi.

Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 02:01 PM (/kI1Q)

177 ObamaÂ’s Kenyan-born uncle allowed to remain in US: court
Onyango Obama was ordered to leave the U.S. in 1992 but did not comply. His immigration status became public after a 2011 drunk driving arrest.



I know I will sleep well tonight

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 05:59 PM (t3UFN)

 

Especially since the Obama administration is fighting asylum for the home schooled German family.  

Posted by: polynikes self proclaimed king of walked into a bar jokes at December 03, 2013 02:01 PM (m2CN7)

178 Under the final rule, individuals will be required to report on their fiscal year 2015 tax returns whether they had health insurance in 2014. Nonexempt individuals who failed to purchase insurance will be required to pay a fine of $95 or 1% of the household income, whichever is greater. California Health Line....

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 02:02 PM (lZBBB)

179 One would think that given the ever-increasing quantity of experts in all sorts of matters, and the ever-increasing quantity of their superb and superfluous expertise, things would go quite well. Always Progressing toward perfection. And yet. Later, all. God bless. :-)

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at December 03, 2013 02:02 PM (M8OWQ)

180

So let me get this right..... The same people who didn't vet the candidate Obama also did not vet his signature legislation?  This is my shocked face.

:0

Posted by: Truck Monkey, Gruntled New Business Owner at December 03, 2013 02:03 PM (jucos)

181 Medicare they have to pay for.

What's this Medicare tax on my paychecks?

Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 02:03 PM (/kI1Q)

182
I saw Ace Movie Review open for Brian Setzer at the Hollywood Bowl back in '98.


Posted by: IllTemperedCur at December 03, 2013 02:04 PM (TIIx5)

183 For Christ's sake,  it's politicrap; an organization that has been sucking soc/comm dick for as long as it/they have been around.  And they swallow.  (If they didn't they would soon drown.)

Posted by: emdfl at December 03, 2013 02:04 PM (kRrjP)

184

New requirement:  all those pretending to believe that anything resembling the absurd unconstitutional, factually baseless, economically illiterate nonsense known as the ACA has any role in addressing the needs of the small number of involuntarily uninsured will begin by listing the addresses of the Food Stamp Stores, Cabrini-Green style public housing, and Student Loan Banks in their zip codes.

 

Operators standing by ......

 

Posted by: non-purist at December 03, 2013 02:04 PM (afQnV)

185 "Except the Problem Is Mostly With the Political Reporters, Not the Subject Matter Expert Reporters, Like Me, Who Got It Pretty Much All Right."

No no no. I'm tired of hearing this whole "we wonks said that this would happen, but no one was listening" from Klein and Yglesias types. First of all, you jackholes aren't wonks. You don't have enough education, experience, or expertise to call yourself wonks. But I digress.

It was the wonk crowd - most famously Yglesias - who said that the Obamacare rollout would be great and people would love it.  If they really predicted problems on this scale, they'd be able to show us columns where they made those predictions. They can't. They're stuck with their hilariously wrong predictions and the occasional vague statement that they try to shoehorn into accuracy.

I actually admire Paul Krugman in that respect: he's all-in, a real dead-ender. He's not trying to tell us that he predicted Obamacare problems. He's convinced himself that it's going great, just as he predicted.

Posted by: Masturbatin' Pete at December 03, 2013 02:04 PM (xN1DB)

186 I saw Ace Movie Review open for Brian Setzer at the Hollywood Bowl back in '98.


Posted by: IllTemperedCur at December 03, 2013 06:04 PM (TIIx5)

 

You must have been there  until morning. 

Posted by: polynikes self proclaimed king of walked into a bar jokes at December 03, 2013 02:05 PM (m2CN7)

187 What's this Medicare tax on my paychecks? Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 06:03 PM (/kI1Q) That? just a bit of wealth redistribution... Question soon becomes... when will the US Taxpayer figure out how much the Government IS redistributing.

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 02:05 PM (lZBBB)

188 Different solutions? Why, that's rather vague.

I have a "Different Solution" to the Jewish Question



Posted by: A. Hitler at December 03, 2013 02:06 PM (aTXUx)

189
I think that German family was already deported and they subsequently had their kids taken away by the Germy Govt.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 03, 2013 02:06 PM (caCiW)

190 O/T We criticized Obama for this in 2012 -- really boneheaded of Walker:
Gov. Walker Urges Parents to Skip Toys and Send the Christmas Money to Him

http://tinyurl.com/kjgptkj

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 02:06 PM (KL49F)

191 I actually admire Paul Krugman in that respect: he's all-in, a real dead-ender. He's not trying to tell us that he predicted Obamacare problems. He's convinced himself that it's going great, just as he predicted.

Hence his name, Krugtron the Invincible.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 03, 2013 02:08 PM (xm1A1)

192 Season V of the Walking Dead Zombies. On water-skis. Jumping sharks. Because you know you will still watch despite by story writers being all crapped out. My fabulous pension funds are counting on you!

Posted by: Robert Kirkman at December 03, 2013 02:08 PM (gQC+X)

193 Question soon becomes... when will the US Taxpayer figure out how much the Government IS redistributing.

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 06:05 PM (lZBBB)

_____________________

We are doing our best to obfuscate and confuse.  Bamboozle even....

Posted by: Your Feral Gubmint at December 03, 2013 02:08 PM (jucos)

194 "on't want to endorse a particular carrier but if you are in TX. Lauren, call Wellspring Insurance." The name sounds familiar, but I haven't gotten a quote from them. I've tried buying directly from several other companies and they've all eventually just funneled us into the exchange because we qualify for a small subsidy and apparently (according to those we spoke with) if you qualify then you have to go through healthcare.gov. Ridiculous, I know. I will definitely check wellspring though, especially if they're local to Texas...maybe they have bit of common sense. Thank you everyone for all of the prayers. It really does help.

Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 02:08 PM (hFL/3)

195
I saw Ace Movie Review open for Brian Setzer at the Hollywood Bowl back in '98.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at December 03, 2013 06:04 PM (TIIx5)

You must have been there until morning.

Posted by: polynikes self proclaimed king of walked into a bar jokes at December 03, 2013 06:05 PM (m2CN7)









Could have been worse. Could have seen Ace Movie Review open for Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at December 03, 2013 02:08 PM (TIIx5)

196 What's this Medicare tax on my paychecks? Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 06:03 PM (/kI1Q) Your gonna get a real shitty bunk at the re-education camp if you keep asking questions!

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 02:08 PM (t3UFN)

197 There is a damning indictment of the media. They were SO FUCKING INCURIOUS about a law that would effect the takeover of one-sixth of the economy in an area that literally affects the LIFE OR DEATH of its citizens subjects that THEY DIDN'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO IT UNTIL IT WAS A "POLITICAL" STORY. Just what the hell is the media there for in the first place???? They are sports reporters. They report on the winners and losers and a few human interest stories.

Posted by: AmishDude at December 03, 2013 02:09 PM (xSegX)

198

Posted by: non-purist at December 03, 2013 06:00 PM (afQnV)

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

One can discuss or pontificate on the pros and cons of all the specific elements that led up to the clusterfuck we have now, but we need to realize one thing and one thing only:

 

Ocare is not about healthcare or medicine.  It's about wealth redistribution, and total control  of the the American population  by a small group of self-described elitist intellectuals and politicians.  This is marxism/facism writ large.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 02:09 PM (9sMM9)

199 Sorry; I made a mistake. It's Wellspring Benefits Group which was advertised on Talk radio.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 02:09 PM (BC6cY)

200 Number of Americans On Disability Hits New Record High In November, Now Larger Than The Population of GreeceÂ… You should see the number of people with handicap parking stickers near where I work. And some of them look like they could run a marathon tomorrow

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 02:10 PM (t3UFN)

201 Posted by: Masturbatin' Pete at December 03, 2013 06:04 PM (xN1DB) The problem is that the day of the Wonk is over.... everywhere but in the MSM. I don't need some wonk lawyer to tell me what the supreme court says... I can go read their damn writings myself... When I have a question about something my Doctor prescribes? I ask him... but then go to the Net to primary source material. It used to be we needed to listen to experts, because we did not have time to dig out primary information ourselves.... but with the Internet, that is no longer true... Hell.... I wish EVERY show had a Redeye type 'Halftime Report'.... where for 5 minutes every half hour, everything said was FACT CHECKED for accuracy.... not on opinion... but on FACT....

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 02:10 PM (lZBBB)

202 @190 Masturbatin' Pete "He's convinced himself that it's going great, just as he predicted." As the sound of soviet artillery is heard faintly in the background.

Posted by: Buckeye Abroad at December 03, 2013 02:11 PM (gQC+X)

203 Your gonna get a real shitty bunk at the re-education camp if you keep asking questions!

I kind of figure they'll take one look at me and send me directly from the train to the showers.

Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at December 03, 2013 02:12 PM (/kI1Q)

204 The stupidity is strong in the Trudy one. The key comment is ...Stupid people who believe they are clever do the most damage. Go to the mirror ..Girl!

Posted by: Spook at December 03, 2013 02:12 PM (pEkqu)

205 OT Anyone see or hear Cavuto lose his shit this afternoon? He was arguing with some congressman from, I think, Oregan about the gas tax.

Posted by: EC at December 03, 2013 02:13 PM (doBIb)

206 The MSM is nothing but a propaganda organ of the Democrat Party. Their lies and fabrications are out there in the nether world for historical reference and nothing they say or do will remove the stain they have brought upon their profession, their respective 'institutions', or themselves as individuals. Cfuk them all. Every. single. one. of them. And their advertising sponsors.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at December 03, 2013 02:14 PM (60Vyp)

207 195 O/T We criticized Obama for this in 2012 -- really boneheaded of Walker:
Gov. Walker Urges Parents to Skip Toys and Send the Christmas Money to Him

http://tinyurl.com/kjgptkj

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 06:06 PM (KL49F)

 

 

 

If Walker vetted this email request for donations, then he deserves the trash heap.  If he didn't vet it, then the staffers who were involved need to be fired immediately, and Walker needs to be smacked upside the head for not vetting it. 

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 02:14 PM (ToMJU)

208 >>He was arguing with some congressman from, I think, Oregan about the gas tax. Earl Blumenauer. Far, far, far left wing loon. Cavuto looked like he wanted to punch him in the dick.

Posted by: JackStraw at December 03, 2013 02:15 PM (g1DWB)

209 Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 06:08 PM (hFL/3)

Lie about your income (on the high side so you aren't seen as exchange-worthy) to the insurance salesman.

Then tell him that you could work a bit less to decrease your taxable income, and ask if that would that change anything.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 02:16 PM (oJ5Fd)

210 But there is a Wellspring Insurance in TX too.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 02:16 PM (BC6cY)

211 I'm on Scott Walker's mailing list and I didn't receive that email.

Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 02:17 PM (P6QsQ)

212

No, soona, you're missing the point entirely.  I wasn't rambling on about pros and cons.  I was pointing out that the fundamental premise of the whole thing is false, and obviously so.

 

So you're 65,000-ft view about a power grab is true, but only because MY analysis is true.

 

Gun control is about control, not guns, but that's just a baseless gut-instinct reaction without understanding the practical realities.

 

 

Posted by: non-purist at December 03, 2013 02:17 PM (afQnV)

213 And some of them look like they could run a marathon tomorrow

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 03, 2013 06:10 PM (t3UFN)

Ah...fuck!

I hate those lying, slimy little cocksuckers. But then I think that handicapped anything is a scam.

I don't give a fuck whether you are "handicapped." Why should you get a reserved space? Just wait for a close space to open up, and then waddle your fat ass into the store.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 02:18 PM (oJ5Fd)

214 I don't think we have to worry about Ace ever getting that high-paying job in big media.

Posted by: Jean at December 03, 2013 02:18 PM (cLM8I)

215 216 I'm on Scott Walker's mailing list and I didn't receive that email.

Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 06:17 PM (P6QsQ)

 

 

 

Does the plot thicken just a bit?  hmmmm

Posted by: Havedash at December 03, 2013 02:19 PM (ToMJU)

216

I'm on Scott Walker's mailing list and I didn't receive that email.

Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 06:17 PM (P6QsQ)

 

 

------------------------------------------------

 

 

Me thinks  someone is spreading intertube poop. 

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 02:20 PM (9sMM9)

217 Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 06:18 PM (oJ5Fd) I have no problem with close parking for old folks... or the truly handicapped.... But FAT is not a handicap.... its a lifestyle. THEY are the ones that piss me off.

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 02:21 PM (lZBBB)

218 Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 03, 2013 06:18 PM (oJ5Fd) Yes, some of it's a scam, but there are legitimate people with handicapped stickers. My mother who weighed about 110 pounds never had a fat ass and used a walker. The handicapped sticker was a benefit to her because of severe breathing problems

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 02:22 PM (BC6cY)

219 Ace will be surprised to hear that the President ("get this") lied today at his press conference. http://bit.ly/18kBDyR

Posted by: Jim Geraghty at December 03, 2013 02:23 PM (qCtp4)

220 169 Mutt More.

Posted by: speedster1 on the iPad at December 03, 2013 02:23 PM (noB3y)

221 If Obamacare is still offering free screening, I just need to know where to send my stool sample.

Posted by: Fritz at December 03, 2013 02:23 PM (UzPAd)

222 So we're all doddering old fools who delete our Outlook icon at least once a day and "can't open our emails anymore! It was right here!" is that it?

Just too stupid to navigate these complicated series of tubes commonly known as the internet?

We need the media experts to teach us "right-click--No!--the other mouse button!" how to work the website?

As I said this morning, does she offer any specifics as to which parts of the website need explained? Which parts does she explain how to navigate?

None?

Gee, that's a surprise. She's out there "raising awareness" over this issue. Her work is done. Other, less important people, once made aware of the situation will surely do what needs done.

Posted by: RoyalOil at December 03, 2013 02:24 PM (VjL9S)

223 Ah.  I missed it.  FNC just did a report on what's happening in the Ukraine.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 02:25 PM (9sMM9)

224 >>It was the wonk crowd - most famously Yglesias - who said that the Obamacare rollout would be great and people would love it. If they really predicted problems on this scale, they'd be able to show us columns where they made those predictions. They can't. They're stuck with their hilariously wrong predictions and the occasional vague statement that they try to shoehorn into accuracy. If you haven't read it, Sean Davis did an excellent take down of Yglesias and his alleged claim to being a financial wonk. Its over at Real Clear Politics.

Posted by: JackStraw at December 03, 2013 02:25 PM (g1DWB)

225 If Obamacare is still offering free screening, I just need to know where to send my stool sample.>>

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20006

Posted by: Buzzsaw at December 03, 2013 02:26 PM (tf9Ne)

226 199 Lauren No, you don't. Recommend hooking up with an agent (FFM certified) who can help you. The email addy in my nic is bogus, click on the link instead, drop an email and perhaps I can refer you to one.

Posted by: speedster1 on the iPad at December 03, 2013 02:27 PM (noB3y)

227

The buck passing or buck stop here originates from poker where they used a knife with buckhorn handle to indicate the position whose turn was to deal. Eventually they changed to a silver dollar but continued to call it a buck and thus the term for a dollar became a buck

 

Actually, I believe that a dollar was called a buck because a "half-dressed" deerskin was worth a shilling a pound, which translated into 2 and 1/2 shillings or a Spanish mill dollar for the average deerskin. Since the southern colonies were producing something like 15 million hides a year (mostly from the Indians - yes, they were happy to kill a deer for the hide alone), deerskins were big business at the time, while the mill dollar was used so commonly in the Americas it eventually became the standard for our currency after the Revolution.

Posted by: Grey Fox at December 03, 2013 02:28 PM (VdOTu)

228 I've seen several folks question the authenticity of the alleged Walker Christmas solicitation. Lotsa folks who are on Walker's mailing list say they never got it (like mama winger, above). I saw some blogger tweet last night that he was reaching out to Walker's people to get the skinny, but I never saw how it played out.

Posted by: Jazz at December 03, 2013 02:28 PM (roO4n)

229 Posted by: RoyalOil at December 03, 2013 06:24 PM (VjL9S) One thing my company does, is design and support websites... Rule 1: If you need directions on a website, then the site is not properly designed.... it MUST be written so Grandma can do it...

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 02:29 PM (lZBBB)

230 I'm on Scott Walker's mailing list and I didn't receive that email.
Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 06:17 PM (P6QsQ)


------------------------------------------------


Me thinks someone is spreading intertube poop.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 06:20 PM (9sMM9)


I hope that's the case.


It's one thing to suggest parents forego presents for each other in favor of donating to a political campaign. There is atleast an element of self-interest in seeing a guy who they support win. To suggest they forego buying presents for their kids smacks of greed and makes me want to ask Walker if he's walking the talk and skipping presents for his own kids, especially this year when I expect a lot of people may cut the Christmas budget for various reasons, not least  is the increased cost of health insurance in 2014.

Posted by: Retread at December 03, 2013 02:30 PM (IiAs3)

231 Reporters are by and large imbeciles. They couldn't explain what Obamacare is because they don't understand it themselves. These are the people who still use health care and health insurance as synonyms.

Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 03, 2013 02:30 PM (QI9SE)

232 Eff all the naysayers! We had to pass it to find out what's in it!!11!

Posted by: Teh Most Interesting Man at December 03, 2013 02:32 PM (6RwsK)

233 I'm on Scott Walker's mailing list and I didn't receive that email.

I just drilled down to the blog that supposedly instigated this and their screen shot "proof" of the claimed email was WITHOUT full email header information, so its worthless as actual proof-proof.  It could have just as well have been some crap whipped up with MS Word.

If they provide full headers, then I'll listen.  Until then, I'm declaring tentative bullshit on it.


Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/s] at December 03, 2013 02:34 PM (L0b3J)

234 "No, you don't. Recommend hooking up with an agent (FFM certified) who can help you. The email addy in my nic is bogus, click on the link instead, drop an email and perhaps I can refer you to one." That would be great. The agents I've spoken with have all been more than clueless "we don't know either, call back in December" Uh...thanks? I'll shoot you an email.

Posted by: Lauren at December 03, 2013 02:34 PM (hFL/3)

235 And stop making fun of Britney!!!

Posted by: Teh Most Interesting Man at December 03, 2013 02:34 PM (6RwsK)

236 Geez.  Just saw a blurb of  John F'n Kerry.  His face is a monstrosity.   I mean it could be a model for a John Carpenter film.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 02:35 PM (9sMM9)

237 WalkerGate -- The fakening begins

Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/s] at December 03, 2013 02:36 PM (L0b3J)

238 'This was a "modest" step?' If you want to go full socialist then you consider socialist lite a modest step. Fuck these people and our Lying Rat Bastard President who lies in the ass with a presto log soaked in Tabasco sauce.

Posted by: Mr. Feverhead at December 03, 2013 02:37 PM (6ahup)

239 Good thing NASA's out of the rocket launching business.

Imagine what Falcon 9 launch would've looked like if Obama or one of his minions was in charge. (that's if it launched at all).

Privatize, privatize privatize Space, the Fed, Amtrak, Health Insurance, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Unexpurgated Edition) at December 03, 2013 02:41 PM (LSDdO)

240 WalkerGate -- The fakening begins

Posted by: Purp at December 03, 2013 06:36 PM (L0b3J)


--------------------



I'm not testifying to its being fake or real, all I know is I didn't receive it and I get something from the campaign nearly every day. 


In general though, I take everything written in the media about Walker with a grain of salt until its been verified twice over.  Remember - these are the same people that "uncovered Scott Walker's forced abortion on his college girlfriend" the week before the recall.  And worse .


Also, the Hillary!!2016 campaign has made no secret of the fact that they are targeting Scott Walker.  They hope to prevent him from entering the Presidential race.  Clearing the field preemptively, so to speak.



Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 02:41 PM (P6QsQ)

241 @237 Mr. Moo Moo "Reporters are by and large imbeciles." From those that I met, I would agree. Not that it matters, but I recall a social experiment of an IQ averaging by college majors across a pool of over 100 US universities and journalism students were 2nd from the bottom. The honor of bottom rung belonged to education majors.

Posted by: Buckeye Abroad at December 03, 2013 02:41 PM (gQC+X)

242 Even if Walker sent the email....what's so awful about it? Him asking for $50 that would have been spent on a useless toy that will be played with for 30 minutes....WRONG!! Obama going to $50K a plate dinner in Hollywood....it's all good man. Give me a fucking break. It's not like he showed up to people's houses and demanded money. He asked. People could have said fuck you or sent him a donation.

Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 03, 2013 02:42 PM (QI9SE)

243 Re: Walker's non-e-mail, maybe someone on his e-mail list could forward the link to him, Purp. Atleast he would be aware of it and consider a response.

Posted by: Retread at December 03, 2013 02:44 PM (IiAs3)

244 So you got Krugman, Nobel Laureate, and then you got your typical couple in Ohio or Louisiana or wherever, and the couple understands you can't KEEP ON spending a lot more than you take in or eventually you're going to be in trouble. Which is "smarter"?

Posted by: Caliban at December 03, 2013 02:44 PM (2ArJQ)

245 From those that I met, I would agree. Not that it matters, but I recall a social experiment of an IQ averaging by college majors across a pool of over 100 US universities and journalism students were 2nd from the bottom. The honor of bottom rung belonged to education majors. Posted by: Buckeye Abroad at December 03, 2013 06:41 PM (gQC+X) ____________ Sounds about right. if you want further proof google "Jeopardy Wolf Blizter"

Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at December 03, 2013 02:44 PM (QI9SE)

246 I just received my 2nd request from the V.A. to join some Million Veteran thing where I'm asked to come in and give my DNA to "help" all vets somehow. Anyone know about this?...sounds and smells fishy.

Posted by: dumbartist at December 03, 2013 02:45 PM (ahBY0)

247 Fantastic post, Ace. It feels good being so incredibly right on something.

Posted by: HoboJerky, now with 56% more DOOM! at December 03, 2013 02:45 PM (qIeI4)

248 So you got Krugman, Nobel Laureate, and then you got your typical couple in Ohio or Louisiana or wherever, and the couple understands you can't KEEP ON spending a lot more than you take in or eventually you're going to be in trouble.

----

A concept so simple it hovers around 2nd grade, yet curiously escapes Krugtron.

Posted by: Lady in Black at December 03, 2013 02:46 PM (XB5Ak)

249 Reading a hysterical takedown of Matt Yglesias at The Federalist.

Posted by: NCKate at December 03, 2013 02:47 PM (X/4E9)

250 Obama's DUI uncle says Obama lived with him for 3 weeks in the 80s. Obama has said on several occasions that he's never even met his DUI uncle.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 02:47 PM (ZPrif)

251 "Lying whores" seems to sum the media up just fine.

Posted by: acethepug at December 03, 2013 02:48 PM (S1AAL)

252 Politico-zombie commies, illegal aliens, and the LIV droolers sure know how to tear down a repubic.

Posted by: Angel with a sword at December 03, 2013 02:48 PM (hpgw1)

253 255 Reading a hysterical takedown of Matt Yglesias at The Federalist. Posted by: NCKate at December 03, 2013 06:47 PM (X/4E9) Damn youuuuu, CAC!!!!

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at December 03, 2013 02:48 PM (oFCZn)

254 The most successful journalist I know was fairly smart, but he was weeded out of pre-med. Wanted to be a doctor. Couldn't handle organic chem. Became a journalist instead.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 02:49 PM (ZPrif)

255 253 Fantastic post, Ace. It feels good being so incredibly right on something. Posted by: HoboJerky, now with 56% more DOOM! at December 03, 2013 06:45 PM (qIeI4) I don't feel right. I figured it would be a disaster, but more long-term than short term. The website flaming out was more than I could have dreamed of. And the best (worst) is yet to come when the "grandfathered" plans start to get cancelled.

Posted by: AmishDude at December 03, 2013 02:50 PM (xSegX)

256 Obama has said on several occasions that he's never even met his DUI uncle.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 06:47 PM (ZPrif)


---------------------



For someone so enamored with his "father", it seems quite odd that Obama would not want to meet or get to know his father's brother.

Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 02:50 PM (P6QsQ)

257 So Obama's DUI uncle gets to live here for 40 years illegally. No penalty.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 02:50 PM (ZPrif)

258 Better start thickening the skin cause the "media" is going to be all out racism and sexism and any other ism they can think of to smear the GOP.

Frankly let's stop jumping on the bandwagon and quit acting as if it's the most heinous thing anyone's ever done and just ignore it.

We'll know who the real bigots and real racists are and we shouldn't use any tweets, twits or snits by the media to guide us.

Frankly let's call a spade a spade and a spic a greaser and be done with it.

We'll labeled and smeared as if we did anyway, might as well get some jollies out of it.

I loves watching hearing about Al Sharpton having a hissy fit over some perceived racial slight. Or any liberal calling the GOP H8ters all the while spewing the most vile stuff imaginable at them and having no push back.

All you who think we can "win" by sweet talking those who think they're victims, haven't been paying attention.

Who wants to win by lying and contorting ones principles anyway?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Unexpurgated Edition) at December 03, 2013 02:50 PM (LSDdO)

259

We should start calling them...'Media Mufties'.

 

Because, just like the muslim muftis, they require that people believe them simply on faith.

 

Great post, Ace, as ever.

Posted by: wheatie at December 03, 2013 02:51 PM (HEPHf)

260 Obama's drunk uncle testified in court that Obama lived with him for 3 weeks in the 80s when Obama was a Harvard.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 02:51 PM (ZPrif)

261 Krugman has a simple, childlike faith in the power of the faux messiah and the doctrine of the government.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 02:51 PM (BC6cY)

262 And what's the deal with Obama's mother-in-law?  Why does she get to live in the White House?  Did any of you get a vote on that one?

Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 02:53 PM (P6QsQ)

263 My favorite literary allusion to spade" Cecily: When I see a spade I call it a spade. Gwendolen: I am glad to say I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different. --Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 02:55 PM (BC6cY)

264

Alternatively, does anyone actually give heed to charges of racism and sexism anymore when it comes to politics?  I know I don't.

Posted by: Truck Monkey, Gruntled New Business Owner at December 03, 2013 02:55 PM (jucos)

265 And there you have it. Straight from Prince Reebus' mouth: -- Republicans want to repair obamacare, not repeal. -- Republicans wholeheartedly support the pre-existing cond clause in the law and will not take it away.

Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 02:56 PM (vTw62)

266 271 And there you have it. Straight from Prince Reebus' mouth: -- Republicans want to repair obamacare, not repeal. -- Republicans wholeheartedly support the pre-existing cond clause in the law and will not take it away. Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 06:56 PM (vTw62) i'm going to vomit

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl at December 03, 2013 02:57 PM (8JJ6O)

267 Obama's DUI uncle says Obama lived with him for 3 weeks in the 80s. Obama has said on several occasions that he's never even met his DUI uncle. I find it astounding how little we still know of Barack Obama.

Posted by: AmishDude at December 03, 2013 02:57 PM (xSegX)

268  Krugman has a simple, childlike faith in the power of the faux messiah and the doctrine of the government.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 06:51 PM (BC6cY)

 

 

-------------------------------------------

 

 

He really is their messiah.  He is a god to them.  Chocolate Jesus.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 02:58 PM (9sMM9)

269 Repubs support the pre-existing condition law because Americans do like 90%, even though that basically breaks the existing model of how insurance works.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 02:58 PM (ZPrif)

270 Between that comment by Rinse and the amnesty crap we are going to doomed if we don't take the Senate next year.

Posted by: Infidel at December 03, 2013 02:58 PM (O/fK8)

271 Posted by: dumbartist at December 03, 2013 06:45 PM (ahBY0) Just did a quick search... its a valid program... BUT... This is Obama's VA... not the VA of our Father's. They say its for research but I sure don't buy that.... because for any research to be valid, they have to be able to follow your case... ergo it must be identified... and stored... and your health info then collated with the DNA info... Andddd.... since we already KNOW that Government does not care about crossing Privacy lines (NSA giving info to the FBI and such).... I sure won't participate if asked...

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 02:58 PM (lZBBB)

272 It would seem of huge media interest if the President said he's never met a man who claims Obama used to live with him. That would seem to be a big deal.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 02:59 PM (ZPrif)

273 Krugman has a simple, childlike faith in the power of the faux messiah and the doctrine of the government.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 06:51 PM (BC6cY)

 

Like all true believers, Paul Krugman thinks of himself as a Big Picture kind of guy.  I'm sure Krugman is well aware of Obama's shortcomings as a man, as an intellect, and as a leader, but I'm also sure Krugman views the President as a kind of glittery giftwrap around the package.  And if by 'doctrine of government' you mean 'authoritarian socialist superstate', then yes, he believes in it. That's the package.

 

There's nothing simple or child-like about Paul Krugman. He worked for Enron. Enron didn't do simple or child-like.

Posted by: troyriser at December 03, 2013 03:01 PM (2jF2B)

274 To be more accurate, Prince Reebus is saying 'repeal' but he's also saying Republicans will 'replace' it. So, what, then? obamacare-lite?

Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 03:01 PM (vTw62)

275 For someone so enamored with his "father", it seems quite odd that Obama would not want to meet or get to know his father's brother. Not really. He liked his father good and dead. Dead men make no errors.

Posted by: AmishDude at December 03, 2013 03:02 PM (xSegX)

276

And there you have it. Straight from Prince Reebus' mouth:

-- Republicans want to repair obamacare, not repeal.

-- Republicans wholeheartedly support the pre-existing cond clause in the law and will not take it away.

Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 06:56 PM (vTw62)

 

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

 

The Old Guard will die hard.  But they will die.  I'm praying that it will be in time to save this country.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 03:02 PM (9sMM9)

277 And there you have it. Straight from Prince Reebus' mouth:

-- Republicans want to repair obamacare, not repeal.

-- Republicans wholeheartedly support the pre-existing cond clause in the law and will not take it away.

Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 06:56 PM (vTw62)


--------------------



Where are you seeing this, soothie?  Is he on TV?

Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 03:02 PM (P6QsQ)

278 Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 06:58 PM (ZPrif) UH.... there already WERE Laws on the books about pre existing condition.... some State, some passed by the Feds in 1997.... HIPAA also has some stuff about it... Them using this as a reason to completely take over the Health insurance market is a LIE....

Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 03:02 PM (lZBBB)

279 Not really. He liked his father good and dead. Dead men make no errors.

Posted by: AmishDude at December 03, 2013 07:02 PM (xSegX)

 

 

---------------------------------------------

 

 

And they tell no tales.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 03:03 PM (9sMM9)

280 Even if Repubs won back all branches and a supermajority in 2016, they still won't repeal the ban on pre-existing conditions. It's hugely popular.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 03:04 PM (ZPrif)

281 To be more accurate, Prince Reebus is saying 'repeal' but he's also saying Republicans will 'replace' it.

So, what, then? obamacare-lite?

Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 07:01 PM (vTw62)


--------------



I think in the past he has suggested transparent pricing of medical services, insurance across state lines, and larger high risk pools. 

Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 03:05 PM (P6QsQ)

282 Reebus and Wasaman Schultz were just on CNN Crossfire. Wasaman went up one side of Priebus and down the other. Like a serpent. A lying shameless unaccountable serpent.

Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 03:05 PM (vTw62)

283 uthoritarian socialist superstate' Yes, that's what I meant. I should have stated it more clearly, Thanks. The "simple and childlike" was used facetiously although his politics are his religion.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 03, 2013 03:06 PM (BC6cY)

284 153 At least he has started owning it. "His" website and all that. That he built. With our money. Posted by: akula51 at December 03, 2013 05:50 PM (sjuby) =============================== I scoff: he didn't build that.

Posted by: Barack Obama circa 2010 at December 03, 2013 03:06 PM (qCtp4)

285 No, the last insurance I had wouldn't pay out on my pre-existing condition for the first year. That was just a few years ago. It was a real thing. The lie was that insurance wouldn't accept you. In my case there just was a year long period where my insurance wouldn't cover treatments for my pre-existing conditions. But that's a real thing. Luckily my condition wasn't hugely expensive to pay for out of pocket for a year.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 03:06 PM (ZPrif)

286 there already WERE Laws on the books about pre existing condition.... some State, some passed by the Feds in 1997.... HIPAA also has some stuff about it... Them using this as a reason to completely take over the Health insurance market is a LIE.... Posted by: Romeo13 at December 03, 2013 07:02 PM (lZBBB) Thank you. I thought so. Younger twin was born with severe heart defects and as long as he's had coverage for the 6 months preceding a change in insurance, we've been told he cannot be denied insurance.

Posted by: Ragamuffin at December 03, 2013 03:07 PM (fzFF6)

287 Excellent piece, really first-rate. A very clear take on a pseudo-explanation of the Obamacare debacle that attempts to re-write history under the guise of simply explaining it. Not on Ace's watch. Gawd, I hate leftists.

Posted by: shoeless hunter at December 03, 2013 03:07 PM (FFFRn)

288 Posted by: troyriser at December 03, 2013 07:01 PM (2jF2B) ~ Paul Krugman is batshit crazy. He's traded any credibility he once had for partisan ends and its driven him mad.

Posted by: Mr. Feverhead at December 03, 2013 03:07 PM (6ahup)

289 To be more accurate, Prince Reebus is saying 'repeal' but he's also saying Republicans will 'replace' it. So, what, then? obamacare-lite? It doesn't matter, really. Obama's doubling down, so you can promise all sorts of impossible things. But I guess if you want to get the American people on board for repeal, you have to tell them all sorts of economic lies.

Posted by: AmishDude at December 03, 2013 03:08 PM (xSegX)

290 Right, but many people did have gaps in coverage. Or were afraid they might. Which is why banning restrictions on pre-existing conditions was so overwhelmingly popular.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 03:09 PM (ZPrif)

291 Even if Repubs won back all branches and a supermajority in 2016, they still won't repeal the ban on pre-existing conditions. It's hugely popular.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 07:04 PM (ZPrif)

 

 

---------------------------------------------

 

 

And it could be done with a very small fraction of the cost that Ocare is costing everyone now.  The free-market ideas I've read are simple  and very doable.  We just need the government to step out of the way.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 03:09 PM (9sMM9)

292 "I'm on Scott Walker's mailing list and I didn't receive that email.
Posted by: mama winger at December 03, 2013 06:17 PM (P6QsQ) "

Well, that's interesting! It was the top story at Yahoo and it was a link to ABC news.


"Me thinks someone is spreading intertube poop.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 06:20 PM (9sMM9)"


I hope you aren't referring to me, I'm linking ABC news not spreading "poop".

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 03:12 PM (KL49F)

293 Guaranteed issue and community rating are both very popular. And together they pretty much destroy modern insurance. Which is why it only can work when it's also mandatory. There's no cheap way to do guaranteed issue.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at December 03, 2013 03:12 PM (ZPrif)

294 I hope you aren't referring to me, I'm linking ABC news not spreading "poop".

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 07:12 PM (KL49F)

 

 

-----------------------------------------

 

 

Nope.  Not you.  The original source.  Walker's got a target on his back.  The dems are out to ruin him any way they can.  Especially if there's rumors he may run for president.  They must destroy him.

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 03:15 PM (9sMM9)

295 239
I'm on Scott Walker's mailing list and I didn't receive that email.

I just drilled down to the blog that supposedly instigated this and their screen shot "proof" of the claimed email was WITHOUT full email header information, so its worthless as actual proof-proof. It could have just as well have been some crap whipped up with MS Word.

If they provide full headers, then I'll listen. Until then, I'm declaring tentative bullshit on it.


Posted by: Purp at December 03, 2013 06:34 PM (L0b3J)


Thanks, Purp; I hope Walker addresses this if it's a lie because it's on ABC so it'll propbably spread quick.

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 03:16 PM (KL49F)

296 277...obama's V.A....damn...database of potential killers and terrorists...lol...got asked a lot of questions they normally don't ask from check-in, the girl who takes vitals and the doc herself. Normally last name and last 4 of yr ss# is all they need but they made me give full name, address, phone, serial, where I served, if I had a living will, brothers, sisters, etc...nothing about weapons tho...might be a heads up.

Posted by: dumbartist at December 03, 2013 03:17 PM (ahBY0)

297 Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 07:15 PM (9sMM9)

Sorry. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if ABC is running with an unverified story, but Walker needs to address it.

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 03:17 PM (KL49F)

298 @299 Guaranteed issue and community rating are both very popular. ~ Community rating is only popular because people don't really understand what it means. If you explain to people that they are going to get to pay more for others really bad life decisions it becomes much less popular.

Posted by: Mr. Feverhead at December 03, 2013 03:19 PM (6ahup)

299 "280
To be more accurate, Prince Reebus is saying 'repeal' but he's also saying Republicans will 'replace' it.

So, what, then? obamacare-lite?

Posted by: soothsayer at December 03, 2013 07:01 PM (vTw62)"


There is a bill in the House called "AHCRA" that has 100 sponsors ready to sign on, at least according to this:


http://po.st/94fPfS



Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 03:20 PM (KL49F)

300 Yikes Ace! (he says moving warily backward) Just remember to wipe the blood, skull fragments and brain matter off your rhetorical bat before you put it away. Mkay?

Posted by: Brian at December 03, 2013 03:20 PM (JzC3c)

301 304 @299 Guaranteed issue and community rating are both very popular. ~ One more thing - Community rating is one of the things leading to the ObamaCare rate shock. There may not be much explaining to do since folks are getting to see what it means up close and personal.

Posted by: Mr. Feverhead at December 03, 2013 03:23 PM (6ahup)

302 Sorry. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if ABC is running with an unverified story, but Walker needs to address it.

Posted by: Aslan's Girl at December 03, 2013 07:17 PM (KL49F)

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

My guess.  He doesn't even watch ABC.  And if this was revealed on the evening news (on purpose), he  probably won't   have a chance to address this one way or the other until  tomorrow. 

 

If it's not true, we won't hear anything about his redress unless it's on the blogosphere.  You think ABC  (or any of the MFM)  is going to run anything to the contrary of their "story"?

Posted by: Soona at December 03, 2013 03:23 PM (9sMM9)

303 The donate vs. toy thing could make a good gag ad.  But it'd have to be so over the top that nobody didn't get the joke.

Posted by: DaveA[/i][/b][/s] at December 03, 2013 03:32 PM (DL2i+)

304

"a strong rotting interest"

I may have went with "strong rooting interest"

I would have gone with "a strong rutting interest."

Posted by: Northernlurker at December 03, 2013 04:18 PM (Xmw9g)

305 If I remember correctly, during the days leading up to the passage of Obamacare the national press was too busy reporting on (still) unproven claims of a Tea Party protester spitting on a Democrat congressman.

Posted by: MidGeorgiaConservative at December 03, 2013 05:33 PM (qBGUl)

306 But I'm pretty sure that 95% of reporters didn't understand Obamacare either. The problem wasn't just with the public, and their lack of expertise and inability to grasp difficult, complex systems. Reporters are, frankly, just as dumb, if not more dumb, than the average American citizen. (It's the stupid people who believe they're clever who do all the damage, after all.) Reporters are like teachers. Almost all people who major in "education" or "journalism" in college are NOT remotely the best and the brightest. these majors attract people who think they are smart, but who are incapable of tackling serious majors. These are people who have, at best, average intelligence. they are solid B- students. They score in the 70% or so on their SATs. Not idiots, but not really incredibly smart either. think about it. What journalist is remembered as a genius? What journalist invented something important? Or came up with a new way of thinking about something? They don't do those things because they cannot. Most journalists have no education in higher math, economics, or other areas that would give them the ability to truly comprehend the things they are covering. That is why they don't understand it and settle for the easy answers given to them by the people they trust (other liberals). The problem is, because journalists are reporting on a subject and because people read what they write, journalists believe they are experts on the subject and believe they are extremely intelligent. Just watch various news shows. Who do they get to comment on something - other journalists. Or the Sunday talk shows - a bunch of journalists sitting around discussing issues that they probably have no deeper understanding of than you or I do. Anyone who has ever been involved in any news story knows this to be true as to that story - the reporter doesn't understand the issues, the facts and the reporters analysis is way off. Yet if you ever talk to a reporter - they think they understand everything completely. They over-value their own intelligence tenfold. Teachers fall into the same boat. Everyone knows people they went to high school or college with who are now teachers. I'm not saying these people are all idiots, but does anyone know a single one who they would consider to have above-average intelligence? And, on top of that, they did not major in learning about anything - they majored in "education" which is a farce of a major. Every new teaching fad that comes down the pike is taught as gospel, but actually learning subject matter - history, chemistry, English literature, etc.? Not important. And, of course, the "profession" protects itself by requiring an "education" masters rather than a degree in a discipline that is being taught. So, someone with a B.S. in Math cannot be a teacher to teach math - but a person with a degree in "education" can teach math. Makes perfect sense.

Posted by: monkeytoe at December 04, 2013 04:12 AM (sOx93)

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