Categories: World Tags: colleges, health care, health care insurance, insurance, ObamaCare, post, student, student health care
U.S. is bankrupt and we don’t even know it
Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills. What it can and must do is radically simplify its tax, health-care, retirement and financial systems, each of which is a complete mess. But this is the good news. It means they can each be [...]
Categories: Politics Tags: care retirement, economy, health care, legitimate purposes, News, process, retirement, tax
Video: The obligatory “Anthony Weiner goes berserk on House floor” clip
"You vote in favor of something if you believe it's the right thing!"
Categories: World Tags: Alternate, anthony weiner, berserk, care, congressmen, floor, headline, health care
Categories: World Tags: coverage, health care, health care coverage, incentivize, mandates, post, surprise
Categories: World Tags: deficit, draft, health care, hearing, Iran, nuclear weapons, plan, transparent administration
Gary Pfleider Shot In Iraq, Billed For Treatment By Army
Pfleider flew back to the states and recuperated at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where he was awarded the Purple Heart. One-third of the muscle in his leg is gone and he'll have to wear a brace for the rest of his life. And according to the gove...
Categories: World Tags: army, Billed, debts, health care, heart, mcchord, muscle, purple heart, recuperated, shot
Categories: World Tags: Canada, care model, Face, health care, model, post
Not vindicated
If this is accurate, then President Obama not only had to battle Republicans and conservative Democrats to pass health care reform, he had to battle his own chief of staff.
Rahm Emanuel spent nearly a week in the summer of 2009 aggressively trying to talk Obama out of moving foward with an ambitious version of health care reform, and by his own admission "begged" him not to do it, a book out next week reports.
The book, Jonathan Alter's The Promise, goes much further than previous accounts in documenting just how opposed Rahm was to proceeding with ambitious reform -- something that was widely suspected at the time but never proven in detail. Excerpts of the book were made available in advance of its release next Tuesday.
Heading into August, the Obama administration was still in good shape on health care reform. Americans trusted President Obama over Republicans in Congress by nearly 30 points, 55%-26%. Republicans had just unveiled a health care proposal that represented a dream come true for insurance companies.
Then came the town halls, and Republicans for the first time on health care went on the attack. Instead of keeping the initiative and firing back, using the newly introduced Republican plan (which would have deregulated insurance across the nation) to illustrate a narrative featuring Republicans and health insurers as the villains, the White House was virtually silent, except to focus on concerns that the town halls might turn violent.
By the middle of August, President Obama was backtracking on the public option, and while he made it clear he was pressing forward with a plan, the initiative had been lost -- along with the enthusiasm of a large chunk of the Democratic base.
Based on the relative quiet of the White House in early August, it seems likely that it is during that period that Rahm would been pushing against health care reform. So if Alter's account is accurate, right as the Republican attack machine was hitting its stride, the White House was stuck in neutral, with Rahm urging the President to throw things into reverse.
What's especially frustrating is that ultimately, President Obama did ultimately try to build a narrative in which Republicans were doing the bidding of insurance companies, but he did so very late in the game. Imagine how things might have been different if instead of battling Rahm, he'd been able to seize the opportunity Republicans gave him at the end of July.
Categories: Politics Tags: Alter, book, care, conservative democrats, Emanuel, health, health care, Health Care Reform, Jonathan Alter, President Obama, Rahm, Rahm Emanuel, reform, relative quiet, republican plan
AZ-Sen, Gov: 2010′s most competitive state?
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 5/3-5. Likely voters. MoE 4% (3/29-31 results)
GOP primary, Governor
Jan Brewer (R) 32
Buz Mills (R) 14
Dean Martin (R) 13
John Munger (R) 5
Undecided 36
GOP primary, Senate
John McCain (R) 48 (52)
J.D. Hayworth (R) 36 (37)
We didn't poll the governor's race last time, an oversight on my part. In the Senate primary, McCain is now under 50 percent. These numbers are actually quite similar to the polling average, though Rasmussen is the usual outlier with a much tighter race.
In the general election:
Senate
John McCain (R) 48 (52)
Rodney Glassman (D) 35 (33)
J.D. Hayworth (R) 43 (48)
Rodney Glassman (D) 42 (37)
Yup, start rooting for J.D. Note that McCain is only getting 10 percent of Latino support. He got 74 percent of Latinos in 2004, and 40 percent of them in his presidential bid in 2008.
And now he's down to 10 percent. The Arizona GOP has lost Latinos, virtually overnight. That will have an impact this year, and it'll have an impact on John Kyl's race in two years, and into the future.
Governor
Jan Brewer (R) 42
Terry Goddard (D) 48
Goddard has double-digit leads on the rest of the GOP field. Jan Brewer's support among Latinos is nine percent, while once upon a time Republicans routinely got at least 40 percent of the Latino vote In statewide races.
Arizona Republicans are about to learn the same lesson that California Republicans learned -- waking a sleeping giant is never a good idea.
One more nugget, we are now asking the Health Care Law repeal question in every state we poll. In our previous poll of Arizona, the repeals had the edge, 44-39, with independents choosing repeal 39-33. This week, it's a 42-42 split, with Independents also tied on the question 36-36.
The GOP is boxed into repeal. If the public continues to warm to the health care law, the GOP's fall strategy takes a serious blow.
Categories: Politics Tags: 2010, Arizona, AZ-Sen, Buz Mills, california, daily kos, Dean Martin, GOP, gop field, Governor Jan Brewer, health care, j d hayworth, J.D, J.D. Note, Jan Brewer, JD Hayworth, John Kyl, John McCain, John Munger, Mills, percent, primary, race, Rodney Glassman, Senate, terry goddard