Archive for affordable care act
Sometimes I get so frustrated and/or disheartened and/or annoyed by some of the news stories of the day that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that made my blood pressure hit the roof. I am avoiding delving into them at length out of concern for my physical and mental health.
- Gun Protesters Plan March On Washington With Loaded Rifles To ‘Put The Government On Notice’– “We are truly saying in the SUBTLEST way possible that we would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.” You’re batcrap nuts, you f’ing loon. And I meant that in the SUBTLEST way possible.
- NRA’s LaPierre: ‘We will never surrender our guns’– You’ve already surrendered your sanity.
- Cuccinelli Grabs Early Lead in Virginia– We really didn’t need another WTF Moment, but here it is. This is the same guy who wants sodomy outlawed and failed to disclose gift vacations.
- Chris Christie Brags About Saving ‘School Children From Spider’– What else would he have to brag about with his record?
- House GOP Eyes Another Obamacare Repeal Vote ‘Soon’– Because the previous 36 that went nowhere just weren’t enough. Besides, jobs bills are so, you know, boring and pointless.
See what I mean? So who’s up for a couple of Margs or a trough of wine?
According to Think Progress and this chart from Kaiser Health, more than 40% of Americans still do not know that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is the law of the land. 4-0. Forty. Even though it’s been around for three years and counting.
We can see the talking heads on the right have done their job well, because 12% thought Congress repealed Obamacare. They must be Michele Bachmann fans. And 7% think the Supreme Court overturned it, even though their decision was so well-publicized, although maybe they hung on to CNN getting that so embarrassingly wrong too (“too” referring to how they mangled the Boston Marathon bombing story).
So, despite all the endless media coverage to the contrary, America doesn’t get it. Or hear it. Or see it. Or read it:
Kaiser found that Americans’ education gaps fall along class lines, as wealthier Americans are more likely to have heard something about health care reform from newspapers, radio, or online sources. Just 30 percent of those with lower incomes reported that they had received information about Obamacare from those sources. [...]
The good news, as Wonkblog’s Sarah Kliff points out, is that there’s still some time to change the tide. Obamacare’s new health care options still won’t be available for another seven months, and some health care advocates point out that it might be confusing to tout a product that isn’t accessible yet.
House Republican leaders couldn’t muster up enough votes to revamp part of the Affordable Care Act this week, a proposal Democrats opposed. Republicans had to pull the bill.
One veteran Republican lawmaker said this about putting it to a vote in the first place:
“They’ve lost their minds.”
Took him this long to figure that out?
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) were at odds over the bill, and yes, they lost their minds years ago.
A number of high-ranking Republican lawmakers close to the whip operation told The Hill, on the condition of anonymity, that there has been a “disconnect” with leadership lately.
Unless rectified, that disconnect could hamper Republican efforts to go toe-to-toe with President Obama on raising the debt ceiling. [...]
When House GOP leaders schedule floor votes on legislation and then are forced to retreat, the party loses political leverage. That happened when Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) couldn’t pass his “Plan B” bill during the so-called fiscal cliff negotiations late last year.
Boehner’s fingerprints aren’t on the GOP ObamaCare measure, which some critics on the right have dubbed “CantorCare.”
CantorCare. Now that’s funny.
Cantor has been thinking nationally, but many conservatives in gerrymandered districts are thinking locally. They don’t want to get primaried, so they do everything they can to please voters back home.
But back to that pesky “disconnect”:
“[Cantor and Boehner] didn’t listen to the whip who [has] said they didn’t have the votes for this. They brought it up, then they whipped it, then they lost. This is like the fourth time they’ve done this where they underestimate when the whip’s said, ‘We don’t have the votes for this,’ ” a senior GOP lawmaker told The Hill.
Gee, Republicans failed to listen? Who’da thunk it?
Sometimes I get so frustrated and/or disheartened and/or annoyed by some of the news stories of the day that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that made my blood pressure hit the roof. I am avoiding delving into them at length out of concern for my physical and mental health.
- FBI Warns People To Be Wary Of Marathon Bombing-Related Online Fraud– Good lord. No seriously, just… good lord. Exploiting a tragedy like this is just– good f’ing lord.
- How The Media Invented The Latest Obamacare Controversy– Your librul media at work.
- WATCH: Top Five Reasons Republicans Think It Should Be Legal To Fire Someone For Being Gay– Watch: Top five reasons I think it should be legal to fire Republicans.
- 13 Reasons To Be Glad Bush Is No Longer President– And even more reasons to be furious that he was president in the first place.
- Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Financial Scandal Ever– “Libor may have a twin brother.” “The world’s largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.” *Assuming fetal position*
- ‘Thanks W!’: RNC Asks Supporters To Sign Thank You Card For Bush– Reince Priebus is so grateful for GW Bush that he’s circulating a thank you card. Thanks for what? Ignoring a daily brief that reported that an al-Qaeda strike could be “imminent”? Allowing thousands to be killed by terrorists? For getting us into a fraudulent war so that thousands more would die? For sinking our economy? For war crimes such as torturing other human beings? For being an all-around dick?
See what I mean? So who’s up for a couple of Margs or a trough of wine?
Sometimes I get so frustrated and/or disheartened and/or annoyed by some of the news stories of the day that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that made my blood pressure hit the roof. I am avoiding delving into them at length out of concern for my physical and mental health.
Actually, I did write about one of them: Gun background check plan fails in Senate 54-46. Here are statements from NRA, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and VIDEO: #Newtown parent, Obama on failure to pass gun violence law: “Gun lobby & its allies willfully lied about the bill.”
Here are the others that drove me to drink:
- Oklahoma Congressman: ExxonMobil ‘Should Be Patted On The Back’ For Arkansas Oil Spill– I'm sure Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) was paid well to come up with that one.
- The George Zimmerman Right-To-Carry Amendment– Because what we need now more than EVER are more trigger-happy concealed gun carriers, especially crossing state lines.
- High Court Squelches Ability To Hold Anyone Accountable For Human Rights Violations Abroad– Human what again?
-
After Company Executives Get Massive Bonuses, Regal Theater Chain Cuts Employees’ Hours To Avoid Obamacare– Hey, fair is fair! Everyone know how hard those executives work for their bonuses, while
the Takerstheir employees have to learn once and for all to never get sick.
See what I mean? So who’s up for a couple of Margs or a trough of wine?
“Help the rich get richer. Soak the middle class and seniors.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is launching online ads that slam 17 GOP lawmakers for supporting and voting for Paul Ryan’s insane budget. How insane? Via the wonderful Heather at C and L:
Rep. Alan Grayson: Paul Ryan wants sick poor people to die. This is why Grayson was elected… again. He sticks up for the 99% and has no qualms about being blunt about it.
“Republicans say this budget is the best way to communicate their ‘governing philosophy,’ so we’re telling the people what that means: more for millionaires and corporate special interests, less for the middle class and seniors,” DCCC spokesperson Emily Bittner said in a statement. “That might be the Republican Congress’ governing philosophy – but it certainly isn’t the right philosophy for America’s middle class.”
Catering to their wealthy corporate buddies and trying to kill Medicare are what sank the GOP previously, so of course, they’re repeating the effort, and then some. All those claims of an Extreme Makeover (extremist makeover?) and showing how much they “care” about us are just words on paper that they have been ordered to read. They say ‘em but they sure don’t believe ‘em. They need votes.
Maybe it was all one big April Fools joke, like the party itself.
How’s that reachy-outy thing workin’ for ya, GOP?
Kudos to the DCCC for drawing attention to the 2014 elections rather than speculating about a Hillary Clinton presidential run. Happy April Republicans’ Day!
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