Donahue: So Much More above Partisan Politics than You

She is a shameless liar. (4.00 / 3)

"What if Obama has determined that health care has to be done incrementally?" She knows full well that Obama has endorsed a public option. She also knows that the public option is itself an incremental compromise, versus the single payer model that many believe would provide greater care at less cost.

But it doesn't appear to bother her in the slightest, that she spouts these lies.

There is a place for this behavior - in a lobbying organization, perhaps. Not in academia.

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by: elwood @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 05:39:11 AM CDT

Do I understand the timeline correctly? (4.00 / 2)

1. Democrats introduce health insurance reform  bill in attempt to solve long standing systemic problems.
2. Public supports reform
3. GOP goes nuts, making insane claims about death panels, free medical care for illegal immigrants,  and waiting lines at the emergency room
4. Democrats factually explain why GOP talking points are incorrect, media ignores them
5. GOP gets nuttier and nastier
6. Democrats respond and point out the nuttiness of GOP and their talking points
7. Pundits get vapors over Democrats' loss of civility; decry lack of bi-partisanship.

Where have we seen this before? Oh yeah, over energy policy. And global warming policy. And defense policy. And just about every other major policy issue facing the country.
1. Democrats introduce X bill in attempt to solve long standing systemic problems.
2. Public supports reform
3. GOP goes nuts, making insane claims about X, Y,  and Z
4. Democrats factually explain why GOP talking points are incorrect, media ignores them
5. GOP gets nuttier and nastier
6. Democrats respond and point out the nuttiness of GOP and their talking points
7. Pundits get vapors over Democrats' loss of civility; decry lack of bi-partisanship.

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by: Michael Marsh @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 06:43:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Falling back on independents and the reference to the (0.00 / 0)

"silent majority" seems to be the strategy of the week.  I've run across it elsewhere.  It seems to be a last-ditch effort to slow down the train and/or derail it.

Why is there hesitancy?  Well, we're considering a program that currently costs $2.4 trillion.  This is a number that's not mentioned often.  Republicans do mention an increase of $1 trillion, but conveniently leave out that's over ten years.  Meanwhile, the insurance study they're nattering about is talking about a 111% increase over ten years.  In other words, they're talking about the total health care budget being $5 trillion in 2019, which means that an annual increase of $100 billion, adding up to $3.4 trillion in 2019, is considerably less.  The increase over the last ten years has been 119%--i.e. what was $1 trillion in 1999 is now $2.4 trillion.

Whenever an issue is discussed in both dollars and percentages, it's wise to be suspicious.  Why don't our political leaders point out these discrepancies?  Mainly, I think, because the magnitude of the numbers scares them.  110% is something they like talking about; $5 trillion, not so much.  After all, I think our total current federal budget is only around $10 trillion.

We need to remember that a steady 7% annual increase results in the original amount being doubled in ten years.  Percentages are wicked things.  Also keep in mind that investors have been schooled to consider an 8% annual return to be modest.  

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by: hannah @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 06:50:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Public Option is the Compromise (0.00 / 0)

I think someone (maybe The Someone") from FDL said in some interview thing I saw.

Meaning the Public Option is the compromise to a full single payer system

Hope > Fear



Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 07:22:07 AM CDT

Yes, in part because absorbing 47 million people (0.00 / 0)

into a program is a time-consuming process.  Howard Dean originally suggested that as people show up in emergency rooms, whether for "routine" care or a real emergency, they be enrolled in medicare at that point--or medicaid, depending on their assets.

I have to admit to not watching all the segments of Grayson's town hall, but he did go into specifics and other people commented on how easy to understand he is.

Grayson did say that there are now 100 million in various public programs (VA, Tricare, Medicare, Medicaid, etc).  So, we're looking at increasing the population served by about 50%.  Republicans keep arguing that only about ten of the 47 should actually be a concern because they want to exclude non-citizens and young people between 18 and 34 who don't need health care.  I suppose that's consistent with the perception that pregnancy is an option and needn't be covered.

Some people are very self-centered.  

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by: hannah @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 09:28:36 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hey, majority! (4.00 / 1)

Speak up!

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by: JimC @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 09:33:46 AM CDT

Most of the GOP is silent (0.00 / 0)

Send in the Irish.

The shell I'm talking about is more like a veneer, a facade.

After Bush/Cheney, conservative America is diminished and demoralized. They went home to lick their wounds and think about the future. This is the silent majority of the conservative movement.

Well, the GOP can't call in sick. Frickin' Obama is in the WH and a shit load of Americans want him there. What is a GOPer to do?

Rally the fringe, those that are considered the "crazy Uncle" or the "red headed step child" of the GOP when things are going well. These whack-a-doos are willing to fill the void while their more stable comrades figure it out.

Hence, the ugly facade of a party that we see, as of late.

Folks. Please don't get caught up in the birthers, deathers, tenthers and teabaggers. Deal with them, YES. But don't delude yourselves into defining the long term future of the GOP by these hordes. THEY ARE CANNON FODDER!

Most of the Dems are up in arms. And this ain't your "Move On dot org" crowd, either.

So, Ginnyfur Dunahowze is wrong!


www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 09:59:43 AM CDT

A pox on both houses! (0.00 / 0)

There's nothing sacred about finding the midpoint between each party's talking heads.

There's no truism behind pretending both parties are equally responsible for any ill.

There's nothing virtuous in equating a pursuit of balance with a pursuit of truth.

There's nothing honorable about letting punditry dominate with self-fulfilling prophecies.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 11:16:39 AM CDT

READ THIS ARTICLE (0.00 / 0)

Apologies for the all caps.

But you really must read the entirety of Ms. Donahue's article.

Dean focused on its political content, for which he is to be commended.  Personally, I couldn't get that far, due to the blinding glare of fundamental and permeating suck.

This is a C- essay for a high school sophomore.  With a sympathetic teacher.  Who can overlook little things like punctuation errors, confusion between "effects" and "affects," "in to" and "into" and "has" and "had," missing verbs, misused pronouns and monstrosities like this sentence:

The visceral reaction towards the ideas of others is, if not the worst, high, as we approach 2010.

No one so incapable of expressing coherent concepts belongs in any position of implied respectability with a major national newsblog, let alone with an Institute of Politics (a field quite sufficiently supplied with vacuous fluffery as it is, thank you very much).

Perhaps this is why Brooks Kochvar, Kelly Ayotte's campaign manager, quit his gig as Michelle Bachmann's chief of staff.

He wanted to vacate the space for someone whose talents perfectly fit those of his then employer.

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by: Tim C. @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 12:39:55 PM CDT

Some of us are not masochists. (0.00 / 0)

That said, although it was well covered when Kochvar arrived on the scene, it's probably worth recalling that, in addition to Bachmann, he's got the turned-out Smith of Oregon and the incarcerated Randy Cunningham in his resume.

If there were a coterie of people who make decisions for the Republican party, one might think that they'd determined the New Hampshire Senate seat is already in their loss column.

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by: hannah @ Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 13:28:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]