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● Obamacare In Motion: Obamacare’s failure just keeps getting uglier. New numbers being reported suggest that the states who actually got their websites to work have signed up. . . well, almost no one. According to a report from a consulting firm, the 12 states who are running their own healthcare portals (and actually have them up and running), have signed up a total of 49,100 people. That’s 3% of the 1.4 million people those states were expected to sign up.
Or is it? See, that 49,100 includes Medicaid signups in several of those states. Medicaid signups don’t count toward the solvency of Obamacare. So the numbers are even worse than that. And almost all of those signups are in California or New York, which is ominous for state market places in other states... not that anyone will miss them. People in North Dakota (30 people), the District of Columbia (5 people), North Carolina (1 person), Alaska (0 people), and Delaware (4 people) don’t seem to care.
At the same time, more than 15,000,000 people are expected to received policy cancellation notices in the next couple months. Ho ho ho! Merry Upyoursmas! Some speculate, however, that the real number could ultimately approach 50 million. Still, you’re talking about 305 people hurt for every one “helped.”
● Oregon Ducks and Covers: Oregon led the Obamacare bandwagon. They promised to build a website that would skool the nation and signup a gazillion smelly hippies to their plan... man. Ironically, but not coincidentally, their website remains down and not a single hippy has been able to sign up yet... man. Personally, I think Oregon needs to be punished by being pushed into the sea. But if you want something less drastic, how about we sell the Commune State to China and let the Chinese show them how a real commune works?
● Iran Intoproblems: Team Obama admitted this week that they’ve been talking to the Iranians since day one of his administration. Apparently, there was a deal most everyone was happy with in which Iran would stop enriching uranium in exchange for dropping some sanctions. But then the whole thing blew up (no pun intended) when France apparently demanded more concessions.
This is actually a difficult issue because the Iranians are crazier and less responsible than talk radio hosts. So you can’t really trust them. At the same time, there is no military solution unless we want to take over the whole country, which we don’t. Sanctions don’t really work... ask Cuba. So there’s really no good answer.
Even worse, there is a complex web of interests around this. The US just wants Iran to stop being a threat. Pakistan kind of likes Iran all tied up. Saudi Arabia wants them tied up too – Saudi Arabia is Iran’s mortal enemy in the region and is p*ssed that we’re talking to Iran. Israel is the rhetorical target of Iran and typically receives the brunt of Iran’s tantrums. They would like to see Iran bombed back into the pre-stone age. China sees Iran as an ally against the US. Europe’s goal is inactivity with dignity. The American public has no taste for war with Iran. Talk radio has no taste for anything but war with Iran... unless it happens. Good grief. This is unworkable.
Frankly, I’ve said this before, but the only solution is a sort of grand bargain with Iran. Offer Iran what it wants, which is respect, friendship and joint influence in the region, if they agree to stop all this stupidity. If they don’t,
● If A Moron Falls On Cable And No One’s Watching: Alec Baldwin is drawing about 150,000 people to his show on MSNBC. At least it’s more people than Obama got to sign up for Obamacare.
● Droning On and On: According to the CIA, 87 nations now possess drones. This makes me wonder what’s wrong with the rest? Building a drone isn’t like building a stealth fighter. All you need is balsa wood and a lawnmower engine. In fact, I suspect if you look hard enough online, there’s probably a drones.com somewhere. Commentarama should buy a drone and then send mocking letters to the countries that don’t have one.
● 2016 Shuffle: Arg. 2016 is starting to take shape and I’m not at all thrilled with what I’m seeing. On the left, there seems to be a push to oust Hillary with Elizabeth “Fake Injun” Warren. Warren has a couple of good ideas, but is otherwise cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Seriously, she’s the deep end of the dipsh*t pool and she could well become the nominee.
On our side, there seems to be an establishment push to make Chris Christie the guy. Arg. Listen to me very closely if your name is Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan or Bobby Jindal... get your timid butts out there into the news and start driving this party. You need to win over the establishment right now and the public at large. If you don’t, you will be crushed by Christiasaurus Rex.
Did Jesus really endorse your article? Cool. Next time you talk, ask Him if the Episcopalians are still allowed into heaven. :-)
ReplyDeleteIf Christie gets the nomination, I probably just won't vote. I've had that thought before, but this time I think I mean it.
T-Rav, He didn't un-endorse it! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI would struggle to vote for Christie. He's the wrong direction.
Somebody coming from left field (literally) and snatching the nomination from Hillary? It will never happen!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I think it would need to be someone more charismatic than Warren. Maybe I haven't seen the right speeches, but she doesn't seem to have the gift of gab.
I don't think Christie could survive the Republican nomination process. His anger would play well but his political positions wouldn't. His comments about the Second Amendment (that gun control could be part of the solution to violence) played well in NJ, but I doubt they went over well in the South (hell, a Guns and Ammo editor had to resign for saying something similar).
There are times that I feel like I'm living in the novel "After Things Fell Apart" by Ron Goulart. Everything is so fractured and the people that are supposed to be in charge are dumbasses. I don't think Christie can survive the cut, he's just too liberal. The Dems have already anointed Hillary as far as i can tell. Which might be good thing for the Republicans becasue I suspect a lot of people are tired of the Clintons. On the Republican side I can't decide a this point. I really can't. I do believe that Cruz may have some problems on being born in Canada...we need to tread carefully there. In the old days, a really smart president, say Reagan, and a really smart oppostiion leader, say Tip O'Neal would have worked some things out...we'll shut up about gays rights if you shut up about guns...then they would have drink and go to their respective parties and tell them how it works and then get to things that the people care about.. I know thats simplistic, but there needs to be a new straegy, the polar ends of the spectrum are running everyone nuts.
ReplyDeleteOregon puzzles me.
ReplyDeleteDidn't they have a defacto state single payer plan before Obamacare.
I seem to remember an Oregon state government agency sending an unsigned letter to a cancer patient who was requesting experimental medication.
The letter stated that no they could not give her the pills because they would only extend her life not cure the cancer but they would gladly pay for her assisted suicide.
Why would not everyone on Oregon's plan just be signed up?
Chris Christie vs. Hillary. Who would be considered "Hillary Lite?" R's need an agenda, and a good line to keep pounding her failings. E.g. remind people of all the records she destroyed, the "I'll take the blame but not the responsibility" the lies about being fired upon in Kosevo, the stealing of documents by Sandy Berger (remember, this would be co-president act 2.)
ReplyDeleteAnthony, I think Christie can and here's my reasoning. The Tea Party will pick their guy -- Ted "Nacho" Cruz. The Religious Right will pick their guy -- probably Ricky "Seriously Not Gay" Santorum (outside chance Rick Perry). They will split the 20%. They may draw more people, but they will split those as well.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the establishment will pick their guy and run with only the one.
In what is basically a three-way race, the Establishment guy will lose Iowa, lose Carolina, win New Hampshire, and win Florida. That will position the establishment guy to do what Romney did, survive the theological states long enough to win in the bigger states. Christie will sweep the Northeast, the West Coast, and probably the Rustbelt. Ricky will get the caucus states. El Cruzo will get the redneck states. The result will be a long march, but Christie will win by sheer numbers.
The best way to stop him would be for someone like Marco Rubio to replace him as the establishment candidate right now. Competing to the be third fringe candidate won't work. Unfortunately, Rubio proved to have no backbone when it came to standing up to the fringe. Paul is seen as an enemy of the establishment. Ryan might get the establishment vote. Jindal will be ignored. Other than them, that leaves Christie or Bush, which will make me homicidal.
Critch, I've spoken with many people about that very thing. Never before in my life has our society been less interested in working together and more concerned with just acting out of spite. We really have reached a point where the sole concern of most people in the political system (and observers) is to make sure the other guy gets nothing, no matter what the cost. It's shocking and it's disgusting, and yet these people pound their chests and call themselves heroes. I guess it's true that stupidity and evil can't recognize themselves.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, I don't think the public at large thinks this way. I see no evidence of that. They still focus on making their own lives better rather than making their neighbor's lives worse. They still go out of their way to help others. And they seem to vote to keep the government divided to stop any of these nasty a-holes from getting their way.
What we need is to figure out a way to tap into those people so they can push aside the hateful ones who are just screaming idiocy.
Indi, Oregon apparently envisioned a website that would handle all kinds of benefits, like a one-stop "get your government here" website. But like all governments, they proved incompetent in creating such a website.
ReplyDeleteWhat amazes me is that nothing they are doing is that complex. Yet, they are befuddled.
Jed, While attacking Hillary is definitely something they should be doing -- should be doing it already actually. The bigger thing is having an agenda. If the plan is, "I'm not Hillary," then Hillary will win.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: If this is correct, then the main Obamacare site signed up less than 50,000 people in October as well, with their goal having been to signup 500,000 people in that time period. This reeks of disaster.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, it probably depends on what Cruz does between now and then. I've heard talk from people more familiar with the subject than myself that Cruz personally isn't that interested in the Presidency, and likes where he is in the Senate. At this time, of course; constant talk of the White House has a way of turning one's head. But if he does decide to run, and makes the decision in time, I think he has enough goodwill with the hard-core Right to roll right over Santorum. He has made appearances in Iowa, and was very popular there, so if he were to run and get a decisive victory in the IA caucus, I could see it developing into a one-on-one between him and Christie early on. In which case the question becomes, What do you do?
ReplyDeletePersonally, of all the people mentioned, I would really like to see Jindal emerge, or a Ryan/Jindal ticket. But if it comes down to a Cruz/Christie matchup, I'll back Cruz without hesitation.
T-Rav, I would love to see Jindal emerge. He's a very competent leader with solid conservative instincts. I think he would make an excellent president.
ReplyDeleteWhat would I do between Christie and Cruz? No idea. Both are dead ends.
I would love to see us NOT talk about the 2016 Presidential campaign until after 2014 midterms. When did the non-stop campaigning start anyway? Heck , even Obama hasn't stopped running for President and he won and he can't run for anything anymore!
ReplyDeleteOh, by the way, they did reach their goal of signing up 500K, it's just that 450K of them were for Medicaid...so it's successful, right?
BTW, did you know that we also have to pay subsidies for small business owners so they can buy insurance for their employees?
Bev, Yep, we knew that. Small business gets a subsidy, poor people get a subsidy, big insurers get a subsidy, Big Business gets to dump their health plans without guilt. And the middle class get to pay for all of it! That's called "teamwork!"
ReplyDeleteOn not talking about 2016, sadly, no, that's not possible. If you snooze you lose and the race is already hot and heavy with all the likely candidates visiting key states and doing candidate things.
I hadn't heard they got that many medicaid people. Is that what Obama is claiming?
re: Medicaid signups. This is what is being reported at HuffPo
ReplyDeleteLink
Btw, Andrew, when I said "us, not tall about 2016" I meant that as the universal "us", not the Commentarama "us". But I see it as the whack-a-mole process that will have all of the early potential candidates with brain damage and probably out of the race before 2014 ends. If anyone makes it passed the media gauntlet, then the party puritans and complainers will kill the rest off for what ever trumped up charge of traitorous malfeasance and contempt of party. So, we will be left with..."A Random Republican" and Al Sharpton.
Bev, It sounds like this number is largely a guess that doesn't distinguish between the normal numbers signing up and the new people signing up. In any event, this doesn't help Obamacare because it's a different pool. This just hurts state budgets.
ReplyDeleteOn 2016, it would be nice if we could, but that's not the way life works. If you aren't out there early enough, then you end up way behind the curve as others gather votes, staff and nominations.
As for your prognostication, yeah, that sounds about right.
BTW, Folks, there's a very interesting cartoon article over at the Film site I urge everyone check out. LINK.
ReplyDeleteAndrew
ReplyDeleteI guess my understanding is an exchange site for Oregonians will be pointless.
"I need Healthcare insurance"
I go to the website to signup and see what my options are...
Oh I can sign up for the Oregon Single Payer system or I can sign up for the Oregon Single Payer system. Hmmm!
Darn Website doesn't work I guess I call the state of Oregon and tell them I need to keep the Oregon Single Payer system plan because the website won't allow me to sign up for the Oregon Single Payer system plan.
Funny when I do that they want me to spell Redundancy!
Indi, Oregon claims to have about a half-dozen providers.
ReplyDeleteBev, I just read more about the Medicaid signups. Most of these people pre-qualified because they were already getting other benefits (like welfare). So they were automatically extended Medicaid. This isn't some rush by people, it's more like a bureaucratic surge... one which won't repeat in many future months.
ReplyDeleteVis a vis, agenda being tantamount, vs. "destroy Hildabeast" no question we need to offer solutions, or at least improvements.
ReplyDeleteJed, It sounds like Billy Boy Clinton has started taking shots at Obama to try to position Hillary for a run.
ReplyDelete