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Boehner’s Shutdown

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Now, less than two days after the government was shut down, more than 17 Republicans have said that they are ready to pass a “clean” funding bill — that is, one with no strings attached (in particular, no defunding of Obamacare, or other changes to health care reform).

Yes, that means that if Speaker John Boehner brought the latest Senate funding bill to a vote in the House, it would pass (presuming that all Democrats vote for it). After that it would easily pass the Senate and Obama would sign it, ending the shutdown.

So not only are a majority of Americans against forcing a shutdown unless Obama defunds Obamacare, but so are a majority of Congress critters. The only thing keeping the government shut down is John Boehner, who is kowtowing to a radical and dangerous faction in his own party, refusing to bring a clean funding bill to a vote.

Ironically, Boehner again blamed the shutdown on Obama, saying “They will not negotiate.” But the truth is that Democrats already compromised, lowering the funding amount to $988 billion as the Republicans demanded. But that was not enough. If the Republicans aren’t allowed to seriously harm health care reform, they just grab their toys and go home.

UPDATE: Obama has picked up this point.

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Nothing Left to Lose

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Tom Tomorrow
© Tom Tomorrow

I have a dream. A dream that one day (hopefully soon) this nation will wake up and realize that Obamacare is actually a pretty good deal. No, it is not single payer, but it is far better than what we had before.

In the second part of the dream, the same Republicans who voted to repeal Obamacare 43 times suddenly start claiming that they are the protectors of universal health care and remind everyone that they invented Romneycare, which was the model for Obamacare.

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Late Night Political Humor

Thursday, October 3, 2013

“Texas Senator Ted Cruz began a filibuster on the Senate floor. He’s trying to stop Obamacare and he vowed to keep speaking until he is no longer able to stand. And the good news: If he collapses from exhaustion he’ll be covered under Obamacare.” – Jay Leno

“I’ve got every Obamacare repeal vote on bootleg. I trade tapes with all the other fans. We call ourselves ‘Deadheads,’ because without health insurance a lot of people will die.” – Stephen Colbert

“Home Depot just announced that that it will cut health insurance for its part-time workers because of Obamacare. Home Depot’s CEO said he had a hard time breaking the news to employees. That’s because it took him three hours to find one.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Tomorrow night AMC will begin airing a ‘Breaking Bad’ marathon that will show every episode of the show leading up to Sunday’s series finale. This is how it ends: Walter White dies in a hospital waiting room while filling out all the paperwork for Obamacare.” – Jay Leno

“The U.N. General Assembly is here in New York City. Today, President Obama gave a big speech on the Middle East. The leaders from the Middle East said, ‘You have touched our hearts, and from now on we shall have peace.’ And Obama said, ‘Really?’ and they said, ‘No, but the look on your face was priceless.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Today’s the annual grand opening of the U.N. We have leaders from all over the world, and when they come here they have diplomatic immunity. They can do whatever they want, break any kind of laws. I saw a dictator today walking up Broadway carrying a 16-ounce soda.” – David Letterman

“The U.N. deals with a lot of important issues. Today they spent the entire day trying to deal with that Ben Affleck as Batman thing.” – David Letterman

“At every U.N. session there’s a special promotion. Tomorrow it’s Angela Merkel bobblehead day.” – David Letterman

“At the U.N. this week, President Obama met with the president of Nigeria, who advised President Obama to eliminate America’s debt by sending out fraudulent emails.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama is now making a case for raising the debt limit. He said that raising the debt limit does not increase debt. And, you know, I have to defer to the president on this one because when it comes to increasing the debt, Obama knows what he’s talking about.” – Jay Leno

“Being president is one of the most stressful jobs in the world. It’s right up there with being Paula Deen’s publicist.” – Craig Ferguson

“Bill Clinton gave the keynote address today at the Clinton Global Initiative, the charity he started in 2005. Sometimes when presidents retire, they take it easy. But they quickly realize that if you’re not the president, nobody cares about you or anything you have to say. It is a condition also known as ‘being vice president’.” – Craig Ferguson

“I wonder what President Obama will do when he retires. I bet it will involve giving back somehow. He’ll make sure those in the developing world have the most important things they need to succeed — like a fake Hawaiian birth certificate.” – Craig Ferguson

“At most companies the official retirement age is 65. Not in TV. In TV you can work as long as you want — as long as you don’t make the mistake of winning your time slot. That will cause NBC to throw you out. Sorry, Jay.” – Craig Ferguson

“Russian President Vladimir Putin just revealed he may run for a fourth term in 2018. In fact, he already came up with a few campaign posters. One says, ‘I will put middle-class families first — on bus to Siberia.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Another Putin poster said, ‘Putin in 2018, whether you vote or not.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he may seek a fourth term. Putin added, ‘But that’s up for the people to decide.’ Then he laughed for ten minutes.” – Conan O’Brien

“Evil Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin is in town. He’s here to steal a World Series ring.” – David Letterman

[Added bonus, go read this article by Bill Maher: “California: Tea Party Free Zone“. It is actually very funny and insightful.]

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Smackdown: Obamacare v. ACA

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Jimmy Kimmel asks people on the street whether they prefer Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. With hilarious results.

This is what we are up against when the Republicans claim that people don’t like Obamacare. Most people have no clue about it.

[Hat tip to Huff Post]

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Fox News Praises Obamacare!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

I am always willing to give credit where credit is due, so I will gladly point out that Fox News has one of the best, clearest, fact-filled articles on Obamacare that I have seen from any large media organization. Titled “Five reasons Americans already love ObamaCare — plus one reason why they’re gonna love it even more, soon” the article lists many of the major features of Obamacare, all of which are strongly supported by Democrats and Republicans alike.

These features are:

  1. ACA allows young Americans to stay on their parents’ insurance plans
  2. ACA bans insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions
  3. ACA offers tax credits to small businesses to buy insurance
  4. ACA requires companies with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance
  5. ACA provides subsidies to help individuals afford coverage
  6. State-based health insurance exchanges

Is it any wonder that polls show “that most Americans don’t know what’s in ObamaCare, but when told what the law actually includes, a strong majority support the law.”

My only nitpick is that Fox News had to put this into the opinion section, but I’ll overlook that.

If you have questions about Obamacare, or have developed a vague sense of unease or confusion about it because of all the media propaganda, I highly recommend that you read this article.

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Jon Stewart on the Shutdown

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Awesome quote: In response to the new Republican talking point that “the President will negotiate with the Iranians, but not with Republicans”. Jon responds “If it turns out that president Barack Obama can make a deal with the most intransigent, hard-line, unreasonable, totalitarian Mullahs in the world, but not with Republicans, maybe he’s not the problem.”

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The Obamacare Shutdown

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Matt Wuerker
© Matt Wuerker

Ironically, the rollout of Health Care Reform (AKA Obamacare) is one of the things that will not be affected much by a government shutdown.

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Voters Reject GOP Shutdown

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

In a new Quinnipiac poll released today, American voters overwhelmingly reject the Republican strategy of holding the government hostage in order to block implementation of Obamacare.

They oppose 72 to 22 percent Congress shutting down the federal government. Even self identified Republicans are divided on the issue, supporting the shutdown by 47 percent with 44 percent opposed. Democrats oppose the shutdown 74 to 19 percent, while independent voters (who will be critical in the upcoming elections) oppose it 74 to 19 percent.

Voters also oppose 64 to 27 percent blocking an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling to kill Obamacare.

They are divided on Obamacare itself, with 45 percent in favor and 47 percent opposed (within the margin of error), but they are opposed 58 to 34 percent to Congress cutting off funding in order to stop its implementation.

According to Quinnipiac, “Americans are certainly not in love with Obamacare, but they reject decisively the claim by Congressional Republicans that it is so bad that it’s worth closing down the government to stop it.”

In the same poll, voters were asked if they plan to vote for a Democrat or a Republican in the 2014 Congressional races, and Democrats were were up by 9 percentage points.

The corner Congressional Republicans have painted themselves into is getting smaller and smaller.

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The Cult of Congressional Republicanism

Tuesday, October 1, 2013


© Mark Fiore

Commentary by the cartoonist, Mark Fiore:

Sure, it seems extreme, but extreme times call for extreme cartoons. When you have the Republican Speaker of the House threatening a national default, food stamps being slashed while farm subsidies are increased and an attempt to defund a program that has been in existence for four years, things have gone to crazy-land.

Rejoice! The End is Near! The Shutdown has begun!

UPDATE: I don’t know why this won’t show. Fiore was asking people to repost this video. Oh well, I guess you will have to watch it on the Vimeo site or on Daily Kos.

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Shutdown?

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Adam Zyglis
© Adam Zyglis

Even some Republicans are standing up to Ted Cruz and his efforts to shut down the government. Which is difficult for them, since right-wing groups have punished severely any GOP politician who dares to vote the same way as Obama (even on a health care bill that was originally a conservative idea). The Republicans have painted themselves into a corner.

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If at first you don’t succeed, lie, lie again

Monday, September 30, 2013

The conservative propaganda machine is going full tilt trying to turn the American people against health care reform before it goes into effect on Tuesday and people have a chance to actually benefit from it. How desperate are they?

Pretty freaking desperate I’d say. This week, conservatives keep repeating the lie that Warren Buffett just said that we should scrap Obamacare and start over. Except that he didn’t.

It started on September 17 when a right-wing site called Money Morning took a three-year old quote from Buffett completely out of context. At the time, Buffett was talking about the the situation before health care reform, saying that costs were completely out of control. The only possibly negative thing he said about Obamacare was that it didn’t go far enough, but that he preferred it to the status quo.

Within hours, conservative media started saying that Buffett had just come out against Obamacare and said it should be scrapped.

In fact, Buffett immediately told the press that he didn’t know where these stories are coming from, saying “This is outrageous. It’s 100 percent wrong … totally false. I’ve never suggested nor thought Obamacare should be scrapped.”

Did that stop the lie? The next day after Buffett’s denial, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan said in the National Review “All the momentum is in our direction. Warren Buffett said yesterday, ‘Scrap the bill’.” Then Republican Congressman Tom Graves said on ABC’s This Week “Warren Buffett says stop it now and start over.” Then former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough said on his MSNBC show “Warren Buffett came out last week and said … Obamacare is not going to work. We need to start all over.” Other Republicans tweeted the same thing.

That’s right, one day after Buffett said it was a lie, Republicans said the exact opposite and repeated the lie. Over and over again. If you repeat something often enough, I guess Republicans think that will make it true.

Taking this one big step further, conservative sites then complained that the “liberal media” was suppressing this story.

Rachael Maddow sums it up nicely:

Soon, the “fact” that Buffett criticized the Affordable Care Act — even though he didn’t — will be one of the basic truths that conservatives “know” to be true, and they’ll assume the rest of the country is unaware because the darned “liberal media” refused to get the word out. All of this is necessary, of course, because of the right’s zeal to convince themselves that a moderate health care reform law built on ideas Republicans used to like is destroying America from within.

UPDATE: New Gallup poll shows that a wide majority of uninsured Americans say they will purchase health insurance because of Obamacare. No wonder the Republicans are desperate.

UPDATE 2: Good article by David Atkins explains why the Republicans are betraying all their own principles for political gain in opposing Obamacare.

Republicans have placed all their chips against the Affordable Care Act. Not for a generation or more will Republicans be able to credibly claim to voters that they want to “protect” Obamacare, after voting 42 times to repeal it. Nor for a generation or more will they be able to credibly praise President Obama compared to, say, a presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren if she promotes true single-payer healthcare. It’s hard, after all, to claim that there’s anyone worse than the Communist Kenyan AntiChrist. Nor again will it be possible to “rebrand” Obamacare as anything other than Democratic President Barack Hussein Obama’s healthcare plan.

No, the battle lines here are set. Either Republicans make the President’s signature healthcare plan a failure, or Republicans see their brand badly tarnished as voters are reminded daily of the positive effects of a healthcare plan Republicans opposed, enacted by a President Republicans despised, bearing that President’s own name.

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Temper Tantrum

Monday, September 30, 2013

Just a few months ago, in July, the Republican Deputy Whip in the House said the following:

It seems to me there’s appropriate ways to deal with the law, but shutting down the government to get your way over an unrelated piece of legislation is the political equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum, it is just not helpful. And I think it is the sort of thing that could create a backlash that could cost the Republicans the majority in the House, which is after all the last line of defense against the president, and could materially undercut the ability of the Republicans in the Senate to capture the majority in 2014 which I think they have a decent chance to do.

And yet, this same Congressman just voted to shut down the government if Obama doesn’t delay Obamacare for a year and allow businesses to opt out of contraception coverage. That’s right, the Republicans actually broadened their demands, and decided that reopening the long settled fight over contraception was the way to do it? They are simply crazy.

Adding to the irony, today Senator Ted Cruz called on Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid to call the Senate back into session on Sunday, instead of waiting until Monday when it is scheduled. Cruz says “The Senate needs to act”. Of course, just a few days ago, it was Cruz who mounted a faux filibuster on his own party’s bill in order to delay action in the Senate by days, which failed miserably. Then, on top of that, he delayed the Senate vote another day just so that — in the words of his own party members — he could get more publicity and raise additional money from conservative donors. Why is he in such a hurry now?

UPDATE: Speaking of temper tantrums, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has come out saying the Republicans should force the shutdown. That’s right, the same man who almost destroyed the Republican party in the 90s by forcing a shutdown didn’t learn from that experience at all. Even more ironic, Gingrich accuses Obama of refusing to negotiate, but offers no evidence for that claim at all. In fact, Obama said again today that he was “not only open to but eager” to negotiate. Unfortunately, the Republicans are not interested in negotiating, they are only interested in making demands while holding the threat of a shutdown like a gun up to the heads of the American people.

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Late Night Political Humor

Monday, September 30, 2013

“This is the 41st time that they have voted to repeal Obamacare. This is really not governing, this is more like a drinking game; every time they vote to defund, Boehner knocks back a Wild Turkey.” – Bill Maher

“The leader in this movement to defund Obamacare is Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas. He said, ‘I will do anything and everything possible to defund Obamacare.’ Really, how about lighting yourself on fire?” – Bill Maher

“Ted Cruz is half Canadian and half Cuban. The wit of Justin Bieber combined with the people skills of Scarface.” – Bill Maher

“It looks like the federal government could be shutting down. The legal definition of a government shutdown is when Congress continues not to work, but they do it from home.” – Jay Leno

“New Rule: If House Republicans succeed in cutting $40 billion from the Food Stamp program, Congressman James Sensenbrenner has to go to a food bank and donate at least two of his chins.” – Bill Maher

“Under the bill they voted for, states now have to require food stamp recipients to be drug-tested and work at least 20 hours a week – the same thing I was going to suggest for congressional Republicans.” – Bill Maher

“Chicago has now surpassed New York City as the murder capital of the United States. That’s really surprising since New York has twice as many NFL teams.” – Conan O’Brien

“The video game Grand Theft Auto 5 made 800 million dollars in one day. People say Americans can’t export on values anymore, this proves we can. Unfortunately, our values are car theft and mass shootings.” – Bill Maher

“Syrian President Assad told Fox News that if he were ever to talk to President Obama he would tell Obama to ‘listen to your people’. Is he the one to give advice about listening to his people? His people are shooting at him!” – Jay Leno

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said he may seek a fourth term but that’s up to the people to decide. Then he laughed for 10 minutes … shirtless.” – Conan O’Brien

“Pundits say President Obama is starting to lose support from his own party. To give you an idea how bad it’s gotten, today Jimmy Carter compared him to Jimmy Carter.” – Jay Leno

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Conservative Anarchy

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Well, it looks like the conservatives are going to get the government shutdown they want. In fact, they are already celebrating.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann says “We’re very excited. It’s exactly what we wanted, and we got it.” She believes that the GOP will be rewarded for standing firm in their demands. “People will be very grateful.”

Texas Congressman John Abney Culberson says “It’s wonderful. We’re 100% united!”

The national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots applauded Republicans “for their courage and their refusal to be cowed by the Senate and the president.”

They also refuse to learn from history. Even though House Speaker John Boehner warned his Republican colleagues about how a similar (but less severe) shutdown in the mid-1990s caused massive political damage to the Republicans, conservatives have dismissed it. Congressman Tim Huelskamp responded “He has an opinion. It’s an opinion based on experience in the last century.”

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A Health Care bill by any other name would not smell as sweet

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Further evidence that the fight over health care reform is more of a referendum on Obama, and not really about health care. CNBC did another poll asking people for their opinion of health care reform, but they did something interesting. “In CNBC’s third-quarter All-America Economic Survey, we asked half of the 812 poll respondents if they support Obamacare and the other half if they support the Affordable Care Act.”

And here is where it gets ironic. 46% of the respondents oppose Obamacare, while 37% oppose the ACA. Even though they are exactly the same thing. Likewise, 26% support Obamacare, but only 22% support the ACA.

Why?

Gender and partisanship are responsible for the differences. Men, independents and Republicans are more negative on Obamacare than ACA. Young people, Democrats, nonwhites and women are more positive on Obamacare.

Another factor is that 30% don’t even know what the ACA is, while fewer people — only 12% — say they don’t know about Obamacare.

Polls done in the past show that when asked about the separate provisions of the ACA, people are more supportive than if they are asked about the reform bill itself.

It seems like many people have no clue about health care reform, they are just expressing their opinion about Obama (both positive and negative). Even so, recent polls show that Americans are opposed to defunding Obamacare/ACA, especially if it means shutting down the government. According to one Republican pollster, Americans seem to be saying (whether they support it or not) “It’s the law of the land. Let’s give it a try.”

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