2011

What is Mediscare?

ArchPundit June 1, 2011 No Comments

Mediscare is a tried and true campaign tactic since the 1960s to charge your opponent with wanting to cut Medicare.  Not do away with it, but make some cut–either significant or not.  For example, Republicans tried it out in 2010 because the Obama health care plan forced some cuts largely by reducing costs–it was still a cut.  It’s fair game and all, but it has made making some reforms hard to pull off at different times and Medicare does need to reduce the increas in costs to stay fully funded.

That said, the issues with Medicare are pretty much the same with all health insurance. If you don’t reduce the rate of increase in costs, everyone is going to go broke trying to pay for it. There are even 70 year old people that still pay a lot of money towards health insurance. If you are one of them, you should Get rates on life insurance for seniors over 70. This will help you pay less and less or even nothing. This insurance is great and everyone accepts this kind of insurance.

To make clear to the dunderheads in DC this isn’t what is happening with Paul Ryan’s ‘plan.’  Ryan is seeking to cut taxes on the wealthy, keep the deficit high, and end Medicare as we know it by instead providing a $14,000 subsidy for the elderly to go out and seek healthcare on their own.

The problem being that the elderly are far harder to insure because they are more likely to have higher costs.  The reason we started Medicare was because medical care was becoming more expensive and the elderly couldn’t realistically afford insurance because of the risks associated with age.  Insurance companies like to make money and they aren’t going to insure the elderly without a pretty expensive policy to cover likely costs.  $14,000 isn’t going to do it.

Ending the program and providing a too small subsidy for a group of people largely on fixed incomes is what the proposal is–it would end Medicare as we know it and not provide adequate resources for a population that cannot obtain reasonably priced insurance.  It’s not Mediscare, it’s reality.  And it’s very, very unpopular for very good reasons.  People understand this issue because they have older relatives and they understand they will eventually be in that position.

Medicare needs some reform on costs, and probably more revenue.  However, it’s continued existence shouldn’t be in question because that’s what the public wants and is willing to pay for as a country.  DC pundits who declare we need to fix Medicare and that Democrats are somehow obstructing the process miss the most basic element of reality in the discussion. One side isn’t trying to reform it, they are trying to end it for the benefit of tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy and not even balancing the budget.

Who would support this?  Complete cranks.

When One Throws His Soulmate Under the Bus

ArchPundit June 1, 2011 No Comments

Just to give full credit here, I’m mostly following Msjournalist AKA Susan Berger who is doing a great job on the trial.  Here’s the latest:

Blagojevich Tries To Introduce Evidence Judge Ruled Against

ArchPundit June 1, 2011 No Comments

And it isn’t going well for him…

Blagojevich has long thought:

A) The Rules Don’t Apply To HIm

B) He Can Talk Himself Out of Anything

Federal Judges tend to have a dim view of such characters and Zagel is not putting up with any of it. Zagel will tolerate a certain level of meandering , but he’s not tolerating violating his rulings which, as a lawyer, Blagojevich should understand.  At this point Zagel just told Blagojevich’s attorneys there is no more discussion because their client is going to obey him which one has to believe the next step is a warning for contempt and then contempt.

Analysis of New Districts at Kos

ArchPundit June 1, 2011 No Comments

They have put together analysis of the new Districts though a few spots are missing votes.  They use Obama 2008 numbers and then the 2010 numbers for Quinn, Giannoulias, and Kelly.  It’s a good job of describing the Districts and such, though I think they are overconfident in some of the downstate Districts like 17 where they wanted more Dems for 13.

Overall it illustrates that if you take 2008 as the best case scenario and 2010 as the worst, you see how the map makes sense and is about as good as it could be for Democrats.  I strengthens my contention that we see 12 reliably though not entirely safe Dem seats and another one that is a potential swing seat in Il 13.

18, 16, 15, 14, and 6 are Safe Republican.

Awesome

ArchPundit June 1, 2011 No Comments

When Prepubescent Boys Take Over the News

ArchPundit May 31, 2011 No Comments

Andrew Breitbart has turned a small hack into a Congressman’s account into a conspiracy theory being covered by actual news networks including CNN.  Go check the front page of Daily Caller or Breitbart’s sites and see the nonsense.  We can only assume  we will be subject to photoshop analysis of Weiner’s crotch and the crotch in the picture.  One might wonder what would cause someone to do such work….not that there’s anything wrong with that….unless you are a conservative hack.

You see, it’s funny because Weiner’s name is like you know Weiner and the picture  was of a weiner.
Back in the real world, we get the reaction from the woman the photo was directed at on Twitter and who is being harassed by prepubescent conservative hacks.

Friday evening I logged onto Twitter to find that I had about a dozen new mentions in less than an hour, which is a rare occurrence. When I checked one of the posts that I had been tagged in I saw that it was a picture that had supposedly been tweeted to me by Congressman Anthony Weiner.

The account that these tweets were sent from was familiar to me; this person had harassed me many times after the Congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago. Since I had dealt with this person and his cohorts before I assumed that the tweet and the picture were their latest attempts at defaming the Congressman and harassing his supporters.

Annoyed, I responded with something along the lines of “are you f***ing kidding me?” and “I’ve never seen this. You people are sick.” I blocked their accounts, made my page private, and let the matter drop, expecting them to eventually do the same.

Within about an hour, however, I realized that I had grossly underestimated the severity of the situation that I had somehow become a part of.

The last 36 hours have been the most confusing, anxiety-ridden hours of my life. I’ve watched in sheer disbelief as my name, age, location, links to any social networking site I’ve ever used, my old phone numbers and pictures have been passed along from stranger to stranger.

My friends have received phone calls from people claiming to be old friends of mine, attempting to obtain my contact information. My siblings have received tweets that are similar in nature. I began taking steps, though not quickly enough, to remove as much personal information from the Internet as possible.

Not because I “was exposed as Weiner’s mistress” or because I “was responsible for the hack,” as Gawker has suggested. I removed my information because I, believe it or not, do not enjoy being harassed or being the reason that my loved ones are targets of harassment.

I have seen myself labeled as the “Femme Fatale of Weinergate,” “Anthony Weiner’s 21-year-old coed mistress” and “the self-proclaimed girlfriend of Anthony Weiner.”

All of this is so outlandish that I don’t know whether to be pissed off or amused, quite frankly. This is the reality of sharing information online in the 21st century. Things that I never imagined people would care about are now being plastered all over blog sites, including pictures of me from when I was 17 and tweets that have been taken completely out of context. I tweeted once (it was reported that I said it twice) that “I wonder what my boyfriend @RepWeiner is up to.”

I am a 21-year-old college student from Seattle. I have never met Congressman Weiner, though I am a fan. I go to school in Bellingham where I spend all of my time; I’ve never been to New York or to DC. The point I am trying to make is that, contrary to the impression that I apparently gave from my tweet, I am not his girlfriend. Nor am I the wife, girlfriend or mistress of Barack Obama, Ray Allen or Cristiano Ronaldo, despite the fact that I have made similar assertions about them via Twitter.

There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which had apparently been deleted before it reached me. I cannot answer the questions that I do not have the answers to. I am not sure whether or not this letter will alleviate any future harassment. I also do not have a clear understanding as to how or why exactly I am involved in this fiasco. I do know that my life has been seriously impacted by speculation and faulty allegations. My reputation has been called into question by those who lack the character to report the facts.

Because He’s Known for Consistency?

ArchPundit May 31, 2011 No Comments

The Chicago News Cooperative has a good piece on why it’s so stupid and reckless for Blagojevich to take the stand:

“I am fascinated by the train wreck that is this trial,” said Lisa Noller, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago who now does criminal defense work. “He has been on the circuit so long he doesn’t realize the inconsistent statements he’s made. He doesn’t realize the admissions he’s made.”

But the prosecutors know them very well, Noller said, adding that they’ve studied his every public utterance, whether from the lobby of the federal courthouse, the pages of his book, speeches to college students or his television and newspaper interviews.

“If there’s an inconsistency to be found, they’ll know what it is,” she said. “It wouldn’t surprise me that in his heart of hearts, he doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong. It’s textbook narcissistic behavior. He winks and nods at the jurors. He says, ‘Hi, I used to be your governor.’ I think he believes he’s got a shot.”

====

“He’s the Charlie Sheen of criminal defendants,” said Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor turned defense lawyer. “He goes out and does what he does. Half the world is amused and half the world is appalled.”

What Blagojevich is betting on, Cotter said, is that just one person on the jury will be amused or impressed. No matter how solid the prosecution’s case is, if Blagojevich’s nice-guy polished narrative resonates emotionally with just one juror, the evidence may not matter.

“He’s a politician and he was a good politician. You have to respect that,” Cotter said. “Is it a high risk? The fact is, when you decide what is high risk and what is not, you have to ask yourself ‘compared to what’?

“To flap your arms and think you’re going to fly is ridiculous. But if you’re falling out of a window anyway, you might as well flap.”

Flap away.

Cook Predicts 5 Illinois pick-ups

ArchPundit May 27, 2011 No Comments

It’s behind their subscription wall so I won’t post most of it.

I think it might be slightly overly optimistic and I expect a pickup of 4 seats next cycle with one district being a swing.  Though Wasserman points out only four are safe Republican seats meaning a wave could lead to 14 Dem seats–I think 12 is more realistic.  As of right now they are using Obama’s 2008 numbers which are probably inflated over what his 2012 numbers will be and not a perfect proxy for Congressional races.

Daily Dolt: Soon to be Former Congressman Joe Walsh

ArchPundit May 27, 2011 No Comments

How did I survive without my daily crack of stupid politician tricks:

Yesterday, GOP Rep. Joe Walsh raged at Jewish Americans for not being sufficiently pro-Israel. Many Jews simply refuse to buy conservative falsehoods about Obama’s stance on the 1967 lines, and the good Congressman finds this wholly unacceptable.

Today, Dave Weigel has published an interview with Walsh, in which he claims that Obama was only elected president because he is a “black man who was articulate”:

“Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there’s nothing racist about this. It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn’t have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different. That, combined with the fact that your profession” — another friendly tap of the bumper sticker —”not you, but your profession, was just absolutely compliant. They made up their minds early that they were in love with him. They were in love with him because they thought he was a good liberal guy and they were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that.”

Steve Benen had the quote of the day yesterday regarding the comments on American Jews

It pains me to say this, but Rep. Joe Walsh is not smart. After today’s column, that should be clear. His argument that President Obama wants a peace agreement based on the 1967 borders is demonstrably ridiculous — Obama, like Netanyahu and all modern U.S. presidents, sees the borders with land swaps as a starting point for negotiations — should leave no doubt where Walsh stands. The argument the congressman presents entirely indefensible. Walsh is not pro-reality.

We could, I suppose, explore whether Walsh is deliberately trying to deceive the public or simply doesn’t understand the subject matter he’s writing about, but either way, the column is idiocy.

It doesn’t pain me at all to say Joe Walsh is a moron.  He is.

But the Illinois Republican really gets cooking when he goes after Jews who refuse to see the world as he does.

[W]here is the outrage from the American Jewish community? Don’t they understand that the president is not pro-Israel? … The short answer is that most American Jews are liberal, and most American liberals side with the Palestinians and vague notions of “peace” instead of with Israel’s wellbeing and security. Like the president, the U.N., and most of Europe, too many American Jews aren’t as pro-Israel as they should be and too many share his belief that the Palestinians are victims of Israeli occupation.

So, after getting President Obama’s policy position completely wrong, Walsh feels comfortable lecturing Jews about their need to support Israel the way he wants them to.

Walsh, of course, is Catholic.

What’s more, after 10 paragraphs, Walsh never quite gets around to explaining how his approach to foreign policy strengthens U.S. interests, improves Israeli interests, bolsters the peace process, or helps anyone in any way.

It’s almost a parody of what a right-wing reactionary foreign policy looks like, and serves as a reminder of why clowns like Joe Walsh are not to be taken seriously.

The only bad thing about Walsh is that he’ll be going away after 2012 and I’m pretty sure he has years of entertainment in him.

Initial Numbers from Cook’s Redistricting Guru

ArchPundit May 27, 2011 No Comments

He’s only using the Obama numbers because this is off the cuff.  Obviously, those are more Democratic than usual, but still interesting: