• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PoliGAF Interim Thread of cunning stunts and desperate punts

Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Going up to something Incog posted earlier:

ABSTRACT:

Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) health plan would eliminate the current tax exclusion of employer payments for health coverage, replace the exclusion with a refundable tax credit for those who purchase coverage, and encourage Americans to move to a national market for nongroup insurance. Middle-range estimates suggest that initially this change will have little impact on the number of uninsured people, although within five years this number will likely grow as the value of the tax credit falls relative to rising health care costs. Moving toward a relatively unregulated nongroup market will tend to raise costs, reduce the generosity of benefits, and leave people with fewer consumer protections.
Click to expand...

McCain's health care plan is really crazy, and obviously written by conservatives without too much of his input. The Obama campaign is almost assuredly hanging on to this as an October issue if they want to forcefully close the sale with middle class white voters and older people worried about their health insurance.

The reality is, of course, that the McCain plan would never get out of committee, so if he was elected it would be a status quo situation. But McCain's plan is just so bizzare in its inability to address the basic problems with the health care system and is so anti-consumer that beating him to a pulp with it will be dirt easy.

Keep in mind that, for anyone without health insurance, health insurance is the #1 issue in this campaign. It's hard to worry about national security when you are worried that you are one accident away from bankruptcy and lifelong medical debt.
 
M

MightyHedgehog

Member
stressboy said:
My faith will not be truly restored until I hear John McCain giving his concession speech.
Click to expand...
Just to save his future political relevancy, and restore some reality to his reputation for 'straight talk' and championing of 'country first', you'd think it would be made before the actual election and directly after he saw Palin off on a one-way ticket back to Alaska.
 
B

BrokenFiction

Member
EMBee99 said:
"I'll need ten nickels, a 9-volt battery, some molasses, and a spare tire from a Datsun."
Click to expand...

macgruber-2.jpg
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Evenflow said:
So I get my healthcare through work (a nationwide corporation so it's pretty good and cheap). Would McCain's "plan" basically fuck me over?
Click to expand...

It would make it weirder. Possibly worse, depending on the value of your plan. I'm probably not understanding it right, but it seems to make your health plan taxable, but then give you a $5k tax credit for having one.....it's just odd.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Tamanon said:
It would make it weirder. Possibly worse, depending on the value of your plan. I'm probably not understanding it right, but it seems to make your health plan taxable, but then give you a $5k tax credit for having one.....it's just odd.
Click to expand...
Yup. And the tax credit is indexed to the general inflation rate. But since health care costs are going up at several times the rate of inflation, in a few years the credit would not offset the added cost of the tax + cost increase.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Amir0x said:
So what's new today guys
Click to expand...

- Carly proves she can run more than just HP into the ground.
- Obama goes on the attack in Colorado and speaks to the current economic issues with precision and knowledge.
- Tracking polls all are trending Obama.
- McCain copies another one of Obama's lines.
- Palin's approval numbers are cratering, if the GOP bunkered her down any more she'd be doing fundraisers from a undisclosed location.

Another bad, bad day for McCain. They can't seem to stay on message and no one is paying attention to their ads.

Obama has a fundraiser in CA tonight and McCain and Palin are back together in Ohio.
 
E

Evenflow

Member
Tamanon said:
It would make it weirder. Possibly worse, depending on the value of your plan. I'm probably not understanding it right, but it seems to make your health plan taxable, but then give you a $5k tax credit for having one.....it's just odd.
Click to expand...

Ya, I read through that like 3 times and I'm still like WTF. Why not just leave whats good enough alone and focus on people that don't have it/can't afford it for fuck sakes
 
S

speculawyer

Member
Hold me accountable . . . no, wait . . . don't .. . . whaaa! This investigation that HAS NOT CHANGED AT ALL is 'tainted' . . . whaaa!

Oh . . . BTW, I'm a REFORMER!

GOP lawmakers sue to stop Palin investigation
By STEVE QUINN, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago
JUNEAU, Alaska - Five Republican state lawmakers filed suit Tuesday to end the bipartisan investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of the public safety commissioner even though the vice presidential candidate once said she welcomed the probe into allegations of abuse of power.

The lawsuit called the investigation "unlawful, biased, partial and partisan." None of the lawmakers who filed the suit in Anchorage Superior Court serves on the bipartisan Legislative Council that unanimously approved the investigation.

The scandal known as "Troopergate" gained national attention after Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose Palin as his running mate. Since then, Palin and the McCain campaign have sought to distance Palin from the controversy and have taken actions that could slow its resolution until after the November election.

Palin fired public safety commissioner Walt Monegan in July. Weeks later, it emerged that Palin, her husband, Todd, and several high-level staffers had contacted Monegan about state trooper Mike Wooten, who had gone through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister before Palin became governor. While Monegan says no one from the administration ever told him directly to fire Wooten, he says their repeated contacts made it clear they wanted Wooten gone.

Palin maintains that she fired Monegan over budget disagreements, not because he wouldn't dismiss her ex-brother-in-law. Still, she said in July that she'd welcome and cooperate with the investigation ordered by the Legislative Council. "Hold me accountable," said had said.

McCain campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan now calls the investigation "tainted."

Alaska's House Speaker, a Republican who voted to authorize the review two months ago, on Tuesday questioning its impartiality.

Rep. John Harris wrote that what "started as a bipartisan and impartial effort is becoming overshadowed by public comments from individuals at both ends of the political spectrum." His comments were in a letter to the Democratic state Sen. Kim Elton, the committee chairman.

On Tuesday, three state representatives and two state senators sued Democratic Sen. Hollis French, who is overseeing the investigation; Juneau Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, who heads the Legislative Council; independent investigator Steve Branchflower; and the Legislative Council itself.

The lawsuit seeks to either delay the investigation until after the Nov. 4 general election or remove French and Elton.

"There is no nonpartisan reason to complete this investigation until after the election," [Spec: WTF?!?! How about the reason of giving the voters some information about this person that is supposed to be a 'reformer'?!?!]said Anchorage attorney Kevin G. Clarkson. "We just want to take the politics out of it and bring fairness back into it."

Clarkson said he and a nonprofit legal firm in Texas, Liberty Legal Institute, were donating their work on the suit. A phone message for French was not immediately returned.

The Legislative Council, made up of four Democrats and eight Republican, voted unanimously to investigate the circumstances of Monegan's dismissal. Although Monegan was an at-will employee who could be fired for almost any reason, lawmakers wanted to see whether Palin tried to use her office to settle a personal score with Wooten.

Last week the state Senate Judiciary Committee voted to issue subpoenas for Todd Palin as well as nearly a dozen others and to gain phone records of a top aide to the governor. The subpoenas seek to compel their cooperation in the investigation.

O'Callaghan said Monday that Sarah Palin, who was not subpoenaed, was unlikely to speak to Branchflower and that he didn't know if Todd Palin would challenge his subpoena. At the same time, the campaign released e-mails it claimed supported Sarah Palin's assertion that disagreements over budget were behind Monegan's firing.

Among the e-mails released was a farewell note by Monegan. In it, he suggested the governor had reason to believe she had lost his support, and he urged his former colleagues to communicate better with her.

"For anyone to lead effectively they must have the support of their team, and I had waited too long outside her door for her to believe that I supported her," he wrote. "Please, choose a different path."

Palin's lawyer has sought to have the three-member state Personnel Board take over to investigation, [Spec: Note, this would be a board appointed by Palin herself!]alleging that public statements made by French indicated the probe was politically motivated. French had said the results of the investigation could constitute an "October surprise" for the McCain campaign, and he later apologized.
Click to expand...
Schmucks.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080916/ap_on_el_pr/palin_troopergate
 
T

thekad

Banned
Fragamemnon said:
McCain's health care plan is really crazy, and obviously written by conservatives without too much of his input. The Obama campaign is almost assuredly hanging on to this as an October issue if they want to forcefully close the sale with middle class white voters and older people worried about their health insurance.
Click to expand...

Good point. I remember McCain proposing the plan back in April and wondering why no one was talking about.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Evenflow said:
So I get my healthcare through work (a nationwide corporation so it's pretty good and cheap). Would McCain's "plan" basically fuck me over?
Click to expand...

Are you young, single, and healthy? You probably would come out ahead for a few years, then the fixed cost of the tax credit would eventually cause you to be worse off.

Are you married, have kids, are older, or have a history of health problems? You're totally, completely, 100% boned under McCain's plan.
 
S

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
has Obama or any of his surrogates made any linkage between the equity markets and how McCain's in favor of SS privatization? should make for some lively debate.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Having Carly around during the current Wall Street crisis when she represents everything wrong with executive compensation is a really bad idea. They should have told her to go back to California for a week.

Of course, then they would probably have to ask Phil Gramm to speak for them on economic matters. :lol :lol
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
scorcho said:
has Obama or any of his surrogates made any linkage between the equity markets and how McCain's in favor of SS privatization? should make for some lively debate.
Click to expand...

That's one for the final push actually. Going after the senior vote.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Tamanon said:
That's one for the final push actually. Going after the senior vote.
Click to expand...

Heath Care and Social Security stability and solvency are two things that any American age 50 (not necessarily "senior") should be seriously worried about. These are the PB&J of economic winner issues for Democrats, expect stuff on this is to drop in October nationwide.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
I don't think we'll hear a new speech from Palin until that anti-Iran rally. That should be interesting because maybe we'll figure out how she saw Iran. I'm thinking from her Kuwait visit.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
I told that investigator "Thanks But No Thanks!" and then fired him.

Regarding gas prices-it's interesting to note that between the downtick of speculation in the oil market and the concerns of reduced US demand, oil prices have fallen sharply. If anything, this shows that Obama's plan for higher fuel efficiency and better market regulation serve as superior short-term solutions for high fuel prices.
 
S

Son of Godzilla

Banned
Tamanon said:
I don't think we'll hear a new speech from Palin until that anti-Iran rally. That should be interesting because maybe we'll figure out how she saw Iran. I'm thinking from her Kuwait visit.
Click to expand...
She stood on her tippy-toes.
 
E

Evenflow

Member
Fragamemnon said:
Are you young, single, and healthy? You probably would come out ahead for a few years, then the fixed cost of the tax credit would eventually cause you to be worse off.

Are you married, have kids, are older, or have a history of health problems? You're totally, completely, 100% boned under McCain's plan.
Click to expand...


I'm young/single but have had a lot of health problems this year including a surgery that without insurance my costs would be around 40-45K of which of the top of my head my out of pocket is like 4-5k(my premium is like $60 a month), but I could be off(havn't really been on top of those bills:lol ) .

So the gist I get is that pretty much either way, the plan hurts you. WTF is this pricks problem man, this is just insane. We have a national healthcare crisis so why don't we make it tougher on people. He needs to be stopped.
 
S

StopMakingSense

Member
Fragamemnon said:
Heath Care and Social Security stability and solvency are two things that any American age 50 (not necessarily "senior") should be seriously worried about. These are the PB&J of economic winner issues for Democrats, expect stuff on this is to drop in October nationwide.
Click to expand...

Yeah it really is the 900 lb hammer the Dems seem to be sitting on till the right moment late in the game, to end it all.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Keylime

Keylime

ÏÎ¯Î»Ï á¼Î¾ÎµÏÎγλοÏÏον καί ÏεÏδολÏγον οá½Îº εἰÏÏν
...this shit is so god damned embarrassing for Palin.

"Let me tell you about the experience I've gained...as a mom"

What the fuck man...
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Tamanon said:
I don't think we'll hear a new speech from Palin until that anti-Iran rally. That should be interesting because maybe we'll figure out how she saw Iran. I'm thinking from her Kuwait visit.
Click to expand...

You know, there is something really fucking alarming about the possible next vice president getting their foreign policy education from people deemed too neoconservative for even the Bush administration.
 
M

MightyHedgehog

Member
RubxQub said:
...this shit is so god damned embarrassing for Palin.

"Let me tell you about the experience I've gained...as a mom"

What the fuck man...
Click to expand...
Another Palin experience advantage that no one else on either ticket can match?
 
C

CharlieDigital

Banned
DrEvil said:
She's talking about her natural gas pipeline at the moment... then the $4 gas.
Click to expand...

BTW, regarding Alaska, ANWR, and DRILL, BABY, DRILL!

There was an interesting op-ed piece in Time this week. I'm sure some points of it need to be fact checked, but it was enlightening.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839724,00.html

Kinsley said:
Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and has never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John McCain in her acceptance speech as a man who puts the good of his country ahead of partisan politics, McCain pretty much proved the opposite with his selection of a running mate whose main asset is her ability to reignite the culture wars. So maybe Governor Palin does represent everything that is good and fine about America, as she herself maintains. But spare us, please, any talk about how she is a tough fiscal conservative.

Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said "No, thanks" to the famous "bridge to nowhere" (McCain's favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said "Yes, please" until the project became a symbol and political albatross.

Back to reality. Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.

Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC. It has four different taxes on oil, which produce more than 89% of the state's unrestricted revenue. On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices. Any sympathy the governor of Alaska expresses for folks in the lower 48 who are suffering from high gas prices or can't afford to heat their homes is strictly crocodile tears.

As if it couldn't support itself, Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. In 2005 (the most recent figures), according to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.

Under the state constitution, the governor of Alaska has unusually strong powers to shape the state budget. At the Republican National Convention, Palin bragged that she had vetoed "nearly $500 million" in state spending during her two years as governor. This amounts to less than 2% of the proposed budget. That's how much this warrior for you (the people) against it (the government) could find in wasteful spending under her control.

One thing Barack Obama and McCain disagree on is an oil windfall–profits tax. McCain is against it, on the theory that it is a tax and therefore bad, and also that it would discourage domestic production. Obama is for it, on the theory that if oil companies can make a nice profit when oil sells for $50 per bbl., they can still make a nice profit when it sells for more than $100, even if the government takes a bit and spreads the money around to those who are hurting from higher oil prices.

Although Palin's words side with McCain in this dispute, her actions side with Obama. Her major legislative accomplishment has been to revamp Alaska's windfall-profits tax in order to increase the state's take. Alaska calls it a "clear and equitable share" tax. The state assumes that extracting oil from the tundra costs about $25 per bbl. and takes as much as 75% of the difference between that and the sale price.

Why is a windfall-profits tax good for Alaska but not for the U.S.? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? People in Alaska are better than people in the rest of the U.S. They're more American. Although there are small towns and farms and high school hockey teams in the lower 48, there are fewer down here, per capita, than in Alaska. And there are many more journalists and pollsters and city dwellers and other undesirables who might benefit if every American had the same right to leech off the government as do the good citizens of Sarah Palin's Alaska.
Click to expand...

Of course, the more crude costs, the more they make in taxes while still sucking from the teats of the federal government.
 
Keylime

Keylime

ÏÎ¯Î»Ï á¼Î¾ÎµÏÎγλοÏÏον καί ÏεÏδολÏγον οá½Îº εἰÏÏν
McCain just sounded like an absolute bumbling moron for a second there.

It's like he decided he was going to say "Old Boys Network" somewhere in the sentence, but couldn't figure out where to put it so he put it in about 3 places in the same sentence :lol
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
RNC suspending GOP Feb '16 debate with NBC (Because lol CNBC)
2 3 4 5
212
19K
OuterLimits replied
  • Locked
The Democratic National Committee Chair Debate |OT| - Dem One: A Politics Story
2
79
8K
kirblar replied
  • Locked
NYT: G.O.P. Urges Donald Trump to Broaden Outreach to Black Voters
2 3 4
178
21K
mckmas8808 replied
  • Locked
Hillary Clinton retweets Slate voter guide calling her most corrupt candidate
3
4K
ModBot replied
  • Locked
NYT: "Trump-Size Idea for a New President: Build Something Inspiring"
2
74
9K
jerry113 replied
Top Bottom