somibear's Blog

Hey, Look Y'all, I Tried: Health Care Fail Intentional?

2009-07-24T16:24:52Z

Watching Obama's unsuccessful press conference, I got the sense that the man's heart wasn't really in it. And I was thinking that from a personal standpoint Obama would actually benefit from having the Republicans successfully block health care reform.
I was struck by his response to the questioner from the Plain Dealer, who wanted to get Obama to say that a government-option would never deny anyone any type of care. Obama should have pounced on the question, channelling Peter Singer, pointing out that private insurance companies do that all the time in order to reap big profits, and that such a question was inane-- would you really want a government system to pay $1 million to extend the life of every elderly cancer victim, for example, for another six months? Instead, Obama spoke in vague terms about "making decisions," with little confidence.
Here's the problem with health care reform. Everyone knows the system is no good as a whole, but a slight majority are generally happy with their current benefits and are afraid of seeing them reduced. If health care goes down, Obama will be perceived as having tried nobly, but having been thwarted by the special interests and their political allies, the Republicans.
As the system gets worse, as premiums go up and more people are denied care, the situation only benefits the Democrats, since the Republican solution is essentially the status quo-- let the market determine things. If the reform is successful but adds to the deficit, as it surely will in the short term, the Republicans can portray Obama as fiscally irresponsible.
From a political standpoint, it seems that Obama wins by losing, especially if it's close. Thoughts?

CNN Fail....on purpose?

2009-06-16T11:34:03Z

CNN's coverage of the Iranian uprising has been spectacularly terrible, so much so that it can't be accidental or sheer incompetence. Take this, for example, from this morning's website:

"Ahmadinejad won Friday's race, surprising many experts who had expected Moussavi to put up a much stronger fight.

Moussavi, a former prime minister looked on as a reformist, enjoys tremendous support among the youth, who make up almost 60 percent of Iran's population of 70 million.

He tapped into their dissatisfaction with the faltering economy under Ahmadinejad and with an unemployment rate that tops 30 percent by some accounts. Watch how cyberspace is used by opposition »

But Kaveh Afrasiabi, a political scientist who supports Ahmadinejad, said the incumbent's widespread support in rural areas and small towns was the reason for his win with more than 62 percent of the vote."

Ahmedinejad won? Isn't that the whole issue? But luckily, CNN finds a Ahmadinejad supporter who can explain why, neglecting the vast evidence of fraud that has a million Iranians out on the streets and getting shot.

If anyone can find the article on Obama's response (I may be confusing CNN here with AP or Reuters), you will find that they have him decrying "the violent protests," rather than the violent response to the protests. Kind of a big difference.

Why is CNN doing this? They're betting that Ahmedinejad is going to crush Mousavi and the greens, and they don't want their reporters kicked out of the country for reporting the truth. They have admitted to self-censorship and distortion in the past in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, so why should Iran be any different?

Pat Buchanan Truly Lives in the 1960s

2009-05-30T04:25:57Z

While channel surfing tonight, caught a few minutes of "The MacLaughlin Group." Pat Buchanan was on and said something very close to "China doesn't want North Korea to collapse because they don't want South Korea to come up and then they'll have capitalism right on their border."

Yes, it's capitalism the Chinese are afraid of these days. And what will happen after Mao dies.

Time to Let Chrysler and GM Declare Bankruptcy

2009-02-18T03:58:08Z

They just don't get it. The restructuring plans today, especially Chrysler's, are not realistic. Can anyone imagine any infusion of cash into Chrysler that will allow it to make better cars than Honda and Toyota? Chrysler's big concession is that it will cut the gas-guzzling, slow-selling Aspen and Durango and the almost 10-year-old PT Cruiser (which is based on the even older Neon platform). Toyota and Honda come out with new fuel-efficient, super-reliable models every three years. It's over: Chrysler is like a cut-up, battered boxer gushing blood, with broken bones in each fist, staggering into the ninth round of a fifteen round fight. There's no chance of winning....it's just how much blood (money) will gush out before the final bell rings. The government would do much better to buy Honda stock and give the laid-off Chrysler workers the dividends. I live in Ohio and know how much this is going to impact the local economy, but even the most devout socialist has to acknowledge that most Chrysler and GM cars are not competitive and never will be, especially in a world of scarce gasoline. The promised GM electrics will never materialize, and if they do, they'll be unreliable crap, like GM's first small front-wheel-drive cars. Perhaps some private capital firm will be able to cobble together a viable company out of the good bits and pieces of the two.

Creepy Palin SNL Coda and Ohio Voting

2008-11-04T16:28:10Z

The coda to the election: This creepy, unfunny appearance by Palin on the Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash last night. Who thought that having Palin threaten NBC for their satire would be funny? Almost no one laughed, because no one thought she was joking.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/presidential-bash-gov-palin/807241/

BTW, I voted early and had no problems. Yes, it was a Diebold machine, but the tape printed the ballot record correctly. I will note that in 2006 there were much greater fears in Ohio, since Ken Blackwell, the Sec of State, was also running for Gov. The Republicans got clobbered, especially Blackwell and Mike DeWine, who was a fairly moderate Republican. Now the Gov and Sec of State and AG are all Dems, so any GOP fraud will be very hard to pull off. Obama won in my kids' elementary school (in a town that traditionally goes 60-40 Republican) by about 10%. I feel pretty comfortable that Ohio will go for Obama, by about 3-4%. His ground game here is awesome-- vastly better than Kerry's.

NBC's Brian Williams Calls Palin on Medical Records Promise

2008-11-01T18:26:51Z

Yesterday Brian Williams of NBC called Palin on the promise she made regarding her medical records.

Yes, there are nasty, probably untrue rumors out there in lefty-blogosphere. But there's also something called accountability.

Politicians are supposed to wait until AFTER the election to break their promises.

2008-11-01T18:22:57Z

Palin's Medical Records?

2008-11-01T01:48:44Z

Hmmm, doesn't look like we're going to get those medical records that Palin's campaign promised. I wonder why that is?

"ABC News Kate Snow reports: Governor Palin's campaign still has not released any information regarding her medical records despite frequent requests from the news media and the campaign's own assertion that they would release this information soon.

On Sunday morning, Palin spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt told ABC News that the campaign had planned to release information on her medical history early this week."

Yeah. You betcha!

And Katie's still waitin' for a Supreme Court decision Bible Spice disagrees with. (Brown vs. the Board of Education, perhaps?)

Medical Records?

2008-10-31T01:44:49Z

Didn't Sarah Palin say last week that she would release her medical records? Didn't her spokesperson promise them "early this week"? Why is Andrew Sullivan the only blogger calling them on this? I understand why so many people on this site and other are concerned with spreading false rumors that could cause a negative blowback, but certainly holding Palin to her stated promise-- and on something met by all the other candidates-- seems to be fair and legitimate. After all, what could be in the records of a healthy woman like Sarah that she might want to conceal? Right?

"He's a N***er!" Audible at Palin Rally

2008-10-27T21:59:59Z

Palin at Iowa rally-- it's quite audible at about 37 seconds in. Palin clearly hears it, stumbles in her speech, and keeps going. She must have some inkling at this point that she's become a horrible person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF5ZkgNNBQE

West Virginia Voting Machines GOP Fraud?

2008-10-20T01:17:01Z

Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week.
This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for "Barack Obama" kept flipping to "John McCain".

Shelba Ketchum, a 69-year-old nurse retired from Thomas Memorial Hospital, described what happened Friday at the Putnam County Courthouse in Winfield.

"I pushed buttons and they all came up Republican," she said. "I hit Obama and it switched to McCain. I am really concerned about that. If McCain wins, there was something wrong with the machines.

"I asked them for a printout of my votes," Ketchum said. "But they said it was in the machine and I could not get it. I did not feel right when I left the courthouse. My son felt the same way.

Whites must stop McKKKain

2008-10-19T18:57:01Z

Racism is un-American.

I am a white male who lives in exurban Ohio. Watching both McKKKain w/ Chris Wallace and the Powell endorsement on NBC, it became clear that white Obama surrogates and supporters need to step it up in calling out the racist politics of the Republican machine. By limiting the criticism to African-Americans such as Lewis and Powell, McCain is able to rile up his racist base even more. We need the Webbs and Murthas and the rest of us leading the charge. The best thing that Powell said was "So What?" about the Muslim charges. On Fox, McKKKain straightfacedly endorsed his robocall smear that ACORN is a terrorist plot hatched by Obama and Ayers to steal the election and destroy America. Every American, regardless of where you stand on things like tax policy, health care, or how long we should keep troops in Iraq, should be actively and aggressively condemning this. The George Wallace analogy is entirely an appropriate one at this point. ACORN offices have received racist threats, and it's only a matter of time until one of McKKain's unhinged supporters hurts someone. Shows like Letterman and SNL should not be giving cover to McKKKain or Palin while they are whipping up a racist frenzy at their rallies. At this point, a vote for McKKKain is a vote for racism; a McKKKain victory will be viewed by politicians who exploit racism as a validation of their strategy.

The Rain Falls Mainly on McCain

2008-10-08T13:13:27Z

McPaniac are scheduled for a rally today in Strongsville, Ohio. Guess what? It's gray and rainy here in Ohio-- all day long! Perhaps that will chill out the calls for blood from the crowd.