COVID-19 & Healthcare

Jan Brewer has a kindred spirit in John Kasich

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week, former FAUX News host anf Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, used a quirk in Ohio law to enact Medicaid expansion in his state, and to divide his party. Ohio will expand Medicaid after months-long battle between governor and legislature:

Ohio agreed Monday to offer Medicaid to about 300,000 more low-income
people, a major victory for Gov. John Kasich over fellow Republicans
who control the state legislature and oppose the expansion.
After nine months of battling with the state GOP’s conservative
wing, Kasich resorted to an uncommon maneuver in which he turned to a
relatively obscure state board with power over certain budget decisions.
The board voted to accept $2.55 billion in federal money to cover the
cost of expanding Medicaid in Ohio through July 2015.

The 5 to 2 vote by the Controlling Board, composed mainly of a small
group of lawmakers, is only a temporary answer to a question that has
been roiling politics in Ohio — and other states — for more than a year.
It does not spell out whether Ohio will provide money to keep Medicaid
more generous in future years, when the state would need to chip in a
small portion of the expense. And even before the board acted, some
conservative Republican lawmakers were threatening to go to court,
alleging the governor illegally bypassed the legislature.

Reaping the whirlwind: GOP pays the price for its governing-by-extortion strategy

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Two new polls out this week demonstrate that the Tea-Publican governing-by-extortion strategy of taking the country hostage and shutting down the federal government, coupled with threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the United States has been devastating to the GOP. Will they learn their lesson? Nah.

This new poll from CNN is devastating to the GOP.

While President Obama is under water on his approval rating at 44 percent to 52 percent disapprove, the approval of Congress remains in the ocean depths at 12 percent.

The CNN poll finds that Americans have more confidence in President Obama than the Republicans to deal with the major issues facing the country by
44-31. Among moderates, those numbers are 51-24; among indys they are
34-30; even 21 percent of Conservatives approve. Obama leads across all demographics by age, race, sex, education, income and region. Obama's lead among white (40-33) seniors (47-30), critical to the GOP in the midterm electorate, portends real trouble for the GOP.

Critically, the CNN poll finds that 54 percent of Americans think continued GOP control of the
House is bad for the country, including 59 percent of moderates and 53
percent of independents; even 32 percent of Conservatives say it is bad for the country. This negative view of the GOP holds across all demographics by age, race, sex, education, income and region. This negative view of the GOP among white (49-43) seniors (56-39) portends real trouble for the GOP. (Only the 65+ age group is evenly divided).

The CNN poll asked some granular questions about the Affordable Care Act aka "ObamaCare" that most polls do not. 41 percent approve and another 12 percent say ObamaCare is not liberal enough. Only 38 percent oppose ObamaCare as too liberal. By asking the granular questions rather than the error-prone approve or diapprove dichotomy that distorts results, the poll produced a more accurate result.

The TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, finds no love in this poll. 63 percent of poll respondents want to see him replaced as Speaker.

Tea-Publicans capitulate and surrender on the CR and debt ceiling (but will still vote no)

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Senator Ted "Calgary" Cruz and his 'Tortilla Coast Tea-Publicans', with an assist from the "Demented" Jim DeMint at the Heritage Fund (Heritage Action) and his Leadership PAC, the Senate Conservatives Fund, neutered the House GOP leadership last night and prevented any bill from coming to the floor.

The headlines this morning were deservedly unkind to the "Worst. Speaker. Ever.", the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner:


Screenshot-6New York Times: With
G.O.P. Badly Divided, Boehner Is Left ‘Herding Cats’

Washington Post: Who
controls the House GOP? No one.

Washington Post: The
Republican Party: A collection of tribes with no leader

Washington Post: Where
does John Boehner go from here?

There are lots more headlines like this elsewhere in the media today. It reminds me of that Charles Krauthammer opinion at the end of 2011 regarding The GOP's payroll tax debacle – Washington Post:

The GOP’s performance nicely reprises that scene in “Animal House” where
the marching band turns into a blind alley and row after row of plumed
morons plows into a brick wall, crumbling to the ground in an
unceremonious heap.

It's déjà vu all over again. "Boehner's Bunglers" led the Tea Party Animal House into the blind alley of complete failure.

The TanMan is ‘Tania’ – Tea-Publican economic terrorists to reject Senate plan

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In an earlier post, I posed the question:

Will the TanMan waive the so-called "Hastert Rule" and allow a vote
on the Senate bill in the House to fund the government and to raise the
federal debt ceiling to prevent an economic disaster and to do "what's
in the best interest of our country"?

Or will the TanMan continue to side with the Tea Party economic terrorists holding him hostage in a classic case of Stockholm syndrome?
Will "Tania" give the Tea Party economic terrorists what they want —
the destruction of the federal government and the U.S. and world
economy?

The question has now been answered by "Tania," who is siding with the radical Tea Party economic terrorists. Ed Kilgore reports at the Political Animal blog, House Wants More Obamacare Concessions:

WileyCoyoteEarly reports on what House Republicans might offer as a “new volley”
of demands as the debt limit breach approaches centered on a
reiteration of the very short-term debt limit and appropriations
extensions that were sent to the White House over the weekend only to be
rejected. But now it seems clear that a determination to obtain more
Obamacare concessions is the main difference between House and Senate GOP conferences, according to WaPo’s Montgomery and Helderman:

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif,) said the new House plan was
designed to be attractive to Democrats, because it would follow key
timelines that have been established in the Senate negotiations —
funding government agencies until Jan. 15, for example, and raising the
debt ceiling until Feb. 7.

Political polarization is a symptom of social disintegration

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By Karl Reiner

Political polarization is making America ungovernable.  Congress has become so deadlocked that a large part of the federal government has been shut down.  It has been unable to reach an agreement on the
Defaultfederal budget or on raising the debt ceiling.  THe U.S. now faces a danger of default.  Because the dollar is the world's reserve currency, the consequences would be unpredictable and quickly spread worldwide.

The U.S. has the world's most expensive healthcare system.  Healthcare is a $2.7 trillion part of the economy.  While America spends 18% of its GDP on healthcare, nearly 50 million people remain uninsured.  While the U.S. struggles to contain costs, other countries spending far less per capita on healthcare achieve better results.