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PoliGAF 2014 |OT| Kay Hagan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad News

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Obamacare Is More Unpopular Than Ever, Poll Shows

A majority of Americans disapprove of Obamacare, the highest share since President Barack Obama's health care reforms became law more than four years ago, according to survey findings released Friday.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's health care tracking poll for July reveals that 53 percent of people view the Affordable Care Act unfavorably, a jump of 8 percentage points since June. July's results mark the fifth time since April 2010, and the first time since January, that at least half of Americans are not supportive of the health care reform law.

Good luck in November.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I wonder if the wise and infallible founding fathers foresaw this.

I don't think the issue is fundamentally with how Congress is set up here, it's the accumulation of crufty and transparency-shading bylaws and rules with how Congress conducts its own business. The whole committee method of rulemaking doesn't do much to actually make solid law.
 

Metaphoreus

This is semantics, and nothing more
So this is fun: "Doilyology: Predict Justice Ginsburg Opinions With Her Majority and Dissenting Jabots"

During an interview with Katie Couric, Justice Ginsburg gave us an insight into her jabot closet–but even more than that, she gave us a glimpse into the secret world of doilyology. Much like Kremlinology, we can now use the jabot draped around RBG’s punam to predict her authored opinions a given day. You see RBG wears different collars when she is reading a majority, or dissenting opinion. (An RBG clerk told me this some time ago, but I wasn’t able to make it public. Now I can).

There’s only one way to test this new theory of Doilyology. Compare her chosen jabots with our only window into the fortress of solitude at One First Street NE. Courtartist Art Lien!

First, we have the “majority collar.” RBG explains:
This one is my majority opinion collar. So when I’m announcing an opinion for the Court, this is the collar I wear. This was a gift from my clerks.

rbg-majority.png


So let’s check the archives. Here is Justice Ginsburg delivering the majority opinion in Wood v. Moss. That is most definitely the golden majority jabot!

rbg-wood.jpg
 

In wondering what's causing this. I would imagine people who've signed up are happy.

The ACA has been a double edged sword for me. I want it to help people. It's helped people I know too. I hate that it's a corporate handout though. It's also putting me in an awkward position next year. My insurance went up this year while my deductibles went up too. It wasn't terrible though. Next year my company is introducing High deductible health care saving account hoping to "persuade" as many people as possible to get off of normal insurance plan. They're saying that the ACA puts some of the burden on the company to pay my bills instead of the insurer. Basically my expenses become a shared burden between the insurer and the company if something catastrophic happens. They're warning us a year ahead of time to expect large increases if we stay on our normal plan ... If they're even available.

I don't know how accurate the things my company is telling are. What I do know is that if the average person is going through what I am going through, they'll have a hard time seeing the societal benefits due to their personal frustrations and increases.
 
Your tax dollars fund terrorism and dictators. How about you move to Canada or something instead of being a hypocrite. Reminds me of people who brag about not buying products made with slave labor while texting on their iPhone.

What on earth are you trying to prove here?

Your tax dollars fund the arrest of innocent african americans. Should I recommend you move to Canada if you dare speak against that policy?
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
So...nobody mentioned that we created 209,000 jobs last month?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the U.S. economy created 198,000 seasonally adjusted new private non-farm jobs in July and 11,000 public-sector jobs for a total of 209,000. Officially, the unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent. The consensus of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg in advance of the announcement was for 233,000 new jobs. This is the sixth month in a row that the BLS has reported more than 200,000 new jobs have been created. The last time there was a six-month run that high was in 1997.

...

The bureau revised the number of jobs originally reported in June from 288,000 to 298,000, and in May from 224,000 to 229,000.

“You now have six straight months of greater-than-200,000 job gains,” said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets LLC in New York, whose 210,000 estimate was among the closest in the Bloomberg payrolls survey. “The labor force rose, and the labor force rises typically when people are feeling better about the backdrop.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/...obs-created-in-July-slightly-below-expections
 
Repubs are going all in on the idea that the 2009 Congress legitimately wanted to create a federal exchange that couldn't issue subsidies. They're closing ranks on this and running with it.

The idea is so absurd that it's actually difficult to argue against.

I haven't heard of a single debate at the state level about whether to create an exchange or fall back on the federal exchange that included weighing the costs of not getting federal subsidies.

I don't see anything in the extensive coverage of the bill from 2009 and 2010 discussing the idea of some states getting subsidies while others didn't. Also nothing in the white papers I've read.

The CBO projections assume that there are subsidies in all 50 states. If Halbig was a feature and not a bug, you'd expect alternate scenarios forecasting costs if a number of states chose to turn down the subsidies by not creating an exchange. Those alternate forecasts don't exist.

To really buy into the feature not bug argument, you have to believe that:
1) Congress naively believed all 50 states would decide to build exchanges and settled on an enticement system to get them to do so.
2) They decided to build the federal exchange anyway, knowing that it couldn't actually do what it was supposedly intended to do
3) They kept their intentions hidden from everyone during this process
4) IMMEDIATELY after the ACA was signed, they decided to scrap the enticement plan and illegally distribute subsidies on the federal exchange. They didn't even make an effort to stick to the original plan, and not just with the red states. They left friendly liberal states like Oregon out to dry.

So you can either believe in this elaborate, nonsensical conspiracy, or you can believe it was a drafting error. Guess which version of history the right wing mediasphere is going with!
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Repubs are going all in on the idea that the 2009 Congress legitimately wanted to create a federal exchange that couldn't issue subsidies. They're closing ranks on this and running with it.

The idea is so absurd that it's actually difficult to argue against.

I haven't heard of a single debate at the state level about whether to create an exchange or fall back on the federal exchange that included weighing the costs of not getting federal subsidies.

I don't see anything in the extensive coverage of the bill from 2009 and 2010 discussing the idea of some states getting subsidies while others didn't. Also nothing in the white papers I've read.

The CBO projections assume that there are subsidies in all 50 states. If Halbig was a feature and not a bug, you'd expect alternate scenarios forecasting costs if a number of states chose to turn down the subsidies by not creating an exchange. Those alternate forecasts don't exist.

To really buy into the feature not bug argument, you have to believe that:
1) Congress naively believed all 50 states would decide to build exchanges and settled on an enticement system to get them to do so.
2) They decided to build the federal exchange anyway, knowing that it couldn't actually do what it was supposedly intended to do
3) They kept their intentions hidden from everyone during this process
4) IMMEDIATELY after the ACA was signed, they decided to scrap the enticement plan and illegally distribute subsidies on the federal exchange. They didn't even make an effort to stick to the original plan, and not just with the red states. They left friendly liberal states like Oregon out to dry.

So you can either believe in this elaborate, nonsensical conspiracy, or you can believe it was a drafting error. Guess which version of history the right wing mediasphere is going with!

And also, like I've asked before, if this is what Obama and the Dems really originally wanted, then why are they disputing the Halbig ruling? They should be cheering from the rooftops of that were the case.
 
Asinine question. What is Obama supposed to do about Russia, that he hasn't already done? What about Gaza? What does "lead" mean when you don't control events?

The American public wants nothing to do with the Middle East or Russia, yet the nonstop negative framing and concern trolling from the media leads to negative views on Obama (who is keeping us out of Russia and the Middle East). Likewise the lack of any economic coverage makes the economy look worse.
 
And also, like I've asked before, if this is what Obama and the Dems really originally wanted, then why are they disputing the Halbig ruling? They should be cheering from the rooftops of that were the case.

I've asked this question too. The answer I always get is that they didn't expect 36 brave, patriotic states to turn down their bribe, so they decided to scrap that plan and illegally distribute the subsidies anyway.

Doesn't explain why there's no evidence that they even attempted the original bribe plan at any point. They literally would have had to have decided to scrap it the day after the ACA became law while not telling anyone.

The answer I get to that is that there were a lot of closed door meetings that no one knew about.
 

Tamanon

Banned
And another question about "How can the Israelis accept a cease-fire without total destruction of Hamas stuff?"

The press is pretty unbiased today!
 
Boehner must really hate Ted Cruz at this point. Ted Cruz just made Boehner look like a fool.


Things are pretty tough right now, although the economy is doing well, international events are a mess. And although he can't control all that stuff, the president gets blamed. This would be a time where the GOP should really be surging . . . but they seem to flailing and fighting with themselves.
 
Asinine question. What is Obama supposed to do about Russia, that he hasn't already done? What about Gaza? What does "lead" mean when you don't control events?

The American public wants nothing to do with the Middle East or Russia, yet the nonstop negative framing and concern trolling from the media leads to negative views on Obama (who is keeping us out of Russia and the Middle East). Likewise the lack of any economic coverage makes the economy look worse.

Russia is a crazy situation. On Point with Tom Ashbrook did a good show on it that was eye-opening. Basically, the Russian press paints a picture that Russia is currently at war with Western Civilization at this point.
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/31/us-russia-obama-putin-ukraine

We think Russia is fighting with Ukraine . . . Russia thinks it is fighting against Western civilization. That is a strange situation. We are not trying to start a new cold war but Russia is. Putin was previously able to get support by providing economic growth in earlier years. But now, Putin gets support by fanning the flames of Nationalism and victim complex.
 
Russia is a crazy situation. On Point with Tom Ashbrook did a good show on it that was eye-opening. Basically, the Russian press paints a picture that Russia is currently at war with Western Civilization at this point.
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/07/31/us-russia-obama-putin-ukraine

We think Russia is fighting with Ukraine . . . Russia thinks it is fighting against Western civilization. That is a strange situation. We are not trying to start a new cold war but Russia is. Putin was previously able to get support by providing economic growth in earlier years. But now, Putin gets support by fanning the flames of Nationalism and victim complex.

Which is why Putin will not back down. He cannot afford to "surrender" anything to the west, and while he is clearly in a losing position now there is no telling what he'll do to alter that. I don't believe military attacks are on his or our table, but he can do a lot of tampering with US policy. Specifically Iran for instance.
 
Which is why Putin will not back down. He cannot afford to "surrender" anything to the west, and while he is clearly in a losing position now there is no telling what he'll do to alter that. I don't believe military attacks are on his or our table, but he can do a lot of tampering with US policy. Specifically Iran for instance.
Sure . . . but whatever. We still need to go ahead with sanctions that will put pressure on him. For now, they'll probably do nothing but hopefully, if Russia remains at least somewhat democratic, an opposition party will will grow and suggest improving relations with the west in order to help the economy.
 
Sure . . . but whatever. We still need to go ahead with sanctions that will put pressure on him. For now, they'll probably do nothing but hopefully, if Russia remains at least somewhat democratic, an opposition party will will grow and suggest improving relations with the west in order to help the economy.

Ask Garry Kasparov how that went.

edit: To be less of a drive-by post, I don't think an opposition party is going to be an option in Russia for a while, given his treatment and inability to mount any sort of challenge to Putin.
 
Sure . . . but whatever. We still need to go ahead with sanctions that will put pressure on him. For now, they'll probably do nothing but hopefully, if Russia remains at least somewhat democratic, an opposition party will will grow and suggest improving relations with the west in order to help the economy.

An opposition won't rise as long as Putin lives, let's be real.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do more with sanctions, although we are reaching the limit in that area. Just that we will be seeing a response from Putin soon, especially as their economy continues to falter.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
They don't break it out by people who don't think the law goes far enough, and people who think it should be repealed. The "unfavorable view" has always been kind of a strange metric to view the ACA on because it could definitely be weighted by liberals who want a public option, more money for subsidies, things like that.

Bad approval ratings only means you can't expect democrat politicians to make gains on the idea that things like the ACA or Obama is the best, because it both makes liberals more apathetic towards getting out to vote and motivates conservatives to vote against democrats.

Still a bad metric for gaging the public's position on policy, but a good metric for figuring out the environment of the election race.
 
I want to know . . . is Daily Caller so stupid that they don't get a joke or they just think (know) that their readers are so stupid that they won't get a joke?

DNC Chair Thinks Sen. Ted Cruz Is Speaker Of The House
The Daily Caller


DNC Chair Thinks Sen. Ted Cruz Is Speaker Of The House
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz believes that Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, instead of the actual speaker, John Boehner.

“Boehner has made it very clear he isn’t able to control his own conference. He isn’t really Speaker,” Wasserman Schultz told NBC reporter Chuck Todd, “Ted Cruz is Speaker!”

The leading Democrat and Florida congresswoman made her comments in response to accusations that her party is the only group discussing impeaching President Obama for fundraising purposes and how Cruz was supposedly responsible for the defeat of an immigration bill promoted by Boehner.
No link for those a-holes.
 
Ask Garry Kasparov how that went.

edit: To be less of a drive-by post, I don't think an opposition party is going to be an option in Russia for a while, given his treatment and inability to mount any sort of challenge to Putin.

An opposition won't rise as long as Putin lives, let's be real.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do more with sanctions, although we are reaching the limit in that area. Just that we will be seeing a response from Putin soon, especially as their economy continues to falter.

Yep, it is gonna be a long game. But who knows . . . no one thought there would be uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Syria either. The USSR fell once, Russia can fall again. If Russia is sanctioned, oil prices remain tepid, and they get mired in an asymmetrical war in Ukraine . . . things can go downhill there pretty fast.
 
Damn the IDF really has their internet astroturfing game down for this conflict. Look at the comments on any NY Times article about Gaza.
 
read any r/worldnews thread on this thing. it's insane

r/worldnews is a cesspool filled with astroturfers, anti-semites, neo-nazis, stormfronters and other disgusting and vile people. r/news is filled with snowden evangelists and other libertarian 12 year old know it alls. Both are terrible places.
 
If Hillary wins, this means Congress will do fuck all until at least 2020, with shutdown battles always on the horizon.

i'm digging the implicit assumption that the GOP will continue to hold onto the House ad infinitum after an election that's probably going to look more like 2008 than 2000

If you're gonna read r/worldnews you're gonna have a bad time.

if you're gonna read any highly-populated subreddit, you're generally gonna have a bad time
 
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