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The Commentariat -- Nov. 14, 2013
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President Obama's presser. Well worth watching:
Ashley Parker & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Facing dissent from his own party and growing pressure from anxious Congressional Democrats, President Obama is to propose on Thursday an administrative fix to a central element of his signature health care law, allowing Americans who are losing their health insurance coverage because of the Affordable Care Act to retain it." ...
... Amy Goldstein & William Branigin of the Washington Post: "President Obama is preparing to announce Thursday morning a change in one of the bedrock ideas of his health-care law by allowing people with individual insurance policies to keep them for another year, even if they do not comply with the law's rules for minimum benefits." ...
... Parker & Shear: "Anxious congressional Democrats are threatening to abandon President Obama on a central element of his signature health care law, voicing increasing support for proposals that would allow Americans to retain the health insurance coverage they are losing because of the Affordable Care Act. The dissent comes as the Obama administration released enrollment figures Wednesday that fell far short of expectations, and as House Republicans continued their sharp criticism of administration officials at congressional hearings examining the performance of the health care website and possible security risks of the online insurance exchanges." ...
... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday will convene a special meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus and senior White Officials to discuss the troubled rollout of ObamaCare. Reid on Wednesday told reporters he would not answer questions about the hundreds of thousands of insurance policy cancellations or other issues until he has further discussions with the White House." ...
... ** Ezra Klein: "The Affordable Care Act's political position has deteriorated dramatically over the last week. President Bill Clinton's statement that the law should be reopened to ensure everyone who likes their health plans can keep them was a signal event. It gives congressional Democrats cover to begin breaking with the Obama administration." CW: Read the whole post. Klein is exactly right. ...
... CW: Klein left out one thing, though. If the ACA falters, it's fair to blame Bill Clinton as much as anyone. Clinton's remarks, linked in yesterday's Commentariat, were no accident. He made a purposeful decision to undermine the law. Whether he did this (1) to make Obama's presidency no more successful than his, or (2) to somehow help Hillary Clinton 2016, I haven't figured out. But his first concern was not those unlucky duckies who are going to have to pay more for (usually) better policies. ...
... CW: Charles Pierce sees Clinton's ploy, plausibly, as another application of Clinton triangulation. I continue to see more sinister motives. Thanks to contributor Diane for the lead. ...
... BUT that genius Mark Halperin -- via Steve M. -- thinks Clinton is pulling a fast one on Republicans. Steve M. half-buys Halperin's theory. Steve also notes that Landrieu's bill isn't the worst bill in the world. CW: Landrieu/Steve are right as long as people who keep their junk policies never get sick! More on Landrieu's bill & the competing House bill below.
... Ed Kilgore: "... the political environment surrounding implementation of the Affordable Care Act is in danger of going totally toxic. The panic among people with non-group health insurance policies getting cancellation notices is made immeasurably worse by their fear that the Obamacare exchanges won't be functional by January (it's a fear of having no insurance, not just of facing higher premiums or being forced to buy policies with more extensive coverage than they want)." ...
... Digby makes a compelling case that "Democrats cannot run away from this.... If they're worried about keeping their seats they need to convince their constituents to hang in there and explain to them how the reforms will end up being a net plus for them in the long run. Every Democrat in the country has Obamacare wrapped around them very tightly whether they like it or not." ...
... Steve M. adds, "Republicans would love to have Democrats' fingerprints on this, the same way they want Democrats' fingerprints on a budget 'grand bargain' that guts Social Security and Medicare, because it would really undermine the perception that Democrats care for ordinary people." CW: I'm already hearing reporters calling even the House "Keep Your Health Plan" bill "bipartisan." ...
... Sahil Kapur of TPM: "Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said the [House bill proposed by Fred Upton (R-Mich.)' would 'allow anyone with a health care plan they like to keep it.' That's not exactly right. While it would permit insurance companies to continue existing policies -- plans that were in effect as of Jan. 1 of this year -- into 2014 even if they don't meet Obamacare's essential benefits standard, it would not require them to do so. Insurers would still be able to cancel or replace those policies." ...
... AND this, from Danny Vinik of Business Insider: "... if [the House bill] did have any potential of passing, you would quickly see an outpouring of opposition from insurers who wouldn't be ready for such a change and would fear the higher costs of it. In fact, this bill is much more dangerous than repealing Obamacare altogether. Repeal would force insurers to go back to the status quo, but it would not skew the risk pools like this legislation would. Once again, House Republicans are not offering a fix to Obamacare, but instead are proposing a bill for political purposes that would be a disaster if implemented. Lather, rinse, repeat." Thanks to From-the-Heartland for the link. ...
... CW: So how does Congress really, absolutely, definitely, fershur, fershur "allow anyone with a health plan they like to keep it"? Comes now Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-thru-2014-La.):
... Josh Barro of Business Insider, a not-so-crazy Republican, sounds the alarm: Sen. Mary Landrieu's proposed ACA "fix" represents "the real government takeover of health care.... Her bill would obligate insurers to continue offering all the plans they offer today unless they entirely exit the health insurance business in a state. What will Republicans do with this proposal? Do they really want a federal law that says health insurers can't enter or exit specific lines of business." ...
... Erick Erickson of Red State, an extremely obnoxious, crazy Republican: "It's a trap! ... In one fell swoop, the Democrats will have the GOP on record saving Mary Landrieu's re-election in Louisiana by casting her as the one who saved Americans' health care plans, and also getting on record as really being in favor of fixing Obamacare with the use of mandates." CW: Thank you, Erick, you goat-fucking child molester, for giving me something to smile about during this serious crisis. ...
... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Although several centrist Democrats have already endorsed the Republican measure, sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Democratic leaders are digging in behind President Obama, who is adamantly opposed to the GOP bill." ...
... Freakout! Jonathan Chait: "Democrats in Congress appear so convulsed with bug-eyed fright that they refuse to listen to any kind of measured weighing of cost and benefits. They are saying things that sound like stock quotes from movie scenes featuring ignorant, terror-stricken townspeople forming a lynch mob." ...
... Ed Kilgore takes a stab at outlining what Democrats should have promised about ObamaCare. CW: I think I've heard the President say some of this stuff. ...
... William Branigin, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration reported Wednesday that slightly more than 106,000 people were able to enroll in new health-insurance plans during the first month of the troubled Internet marketplace under the new health-care law. Approximately 27,000 of those sign-ups came from 36 states where the federal government is running the health-insurance exchange, which has been beset with technical difficulties. The remaining 79,000 came through the 15 marketplaces run by states and the District of Columbia. The numbers represent a fraction of the half-million health-plan enrollees that the Obama administration had initially projected...." ...
... Richard Mayhew in Balloon Juice: "Obamacare Exchange enrollment pace is matching Massachusetts' enrollment pace for private insurance during the Bay State's 2006 open enrollment period.... Additionally, Obamacare, even with the Supreme Court and the reactionary assholes neutering Medicaid expansion in half the country is signing people up for Medicaid expansion at a rate that surpasses Massachusetts' experience in 2006." Mayhew also highlights some anecdotal indications that the pace of policy enrollment is picking up.
... ** Matthew Yglesias of Slate: "Obama ought to be sorry" he promised people they could keep the healthcare plans they liked. But "the idea of actually trying to make it a policy goal is insane.... Dial back to the salad days of 2008, long before Kathleen Sebelius and her jackbooted thugs were stomping on the American health insurance market. Back then, most Americans had health insurance plans. Most of them were pretty happy with the plans they had. And most of them had no guarantee whatsoever that they would be able to keep their plans next year. Of course, if you take it literally, almost nobody did keep the exact same health plans from year to year: Premiums would go up, or deductibles or copayments would rise, or the precise list of in-network doctors would change. Or if you had an employer-provided plan, perhaps nothing employee-facing would change, but your company would need to cough up more money for health plans, thus depressing earnings indirectly." ...
... AND another from John Harwood of the New York Times: "Underlying fierce Republican efforts to stop President Obama's health care law and the White House drive to save it is a simple historical reality: Once major entitlement programs get underway, they quickly become embedded in American life. And then they grow. That makes the battle over the Affordable Care Act more consequential than most Washington political fights." CW: Ah, yes. It would be a terrible thing if all Americans had access to affordable health care. Thanks to contributor MAG for sending a link along two days when the Times published it. Sorry for the delay.
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "Janet L. Yellen, President Obama's choice to lead the Federal Reserve for the next four years, plans to tell senators at her confirmation hearing on Thursday that continuing the Fed's enormous stimulus campaign is the best way to revive the economy and hasten the program's end. Ms. Yellen's prepared remarks, as expected, amount to an affirmation of the Fed's current course, which she has helped create over the last four years as a crucial supporter of ... Ben S. Bernanke."
David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "In a case that could narrow legal protections against police searches, a majority of Supreme Court justices sounded ready Wednesday to reject an appeal from an imprisoned Los Angeles gang member who contended that after he objected to a search and was then taken away under arrest, police unconstitutionally entered his apartment." ...
… Noah Feldman, writing for Bloomberg News, explains the history behind Fernandez v. California and why rejecting the appeal is not a good thing.
So far they have shut down the government, they have filibustered people [President Obama] has nominated to fill out his administration and they are now filibustering judges to block him from filling any of the vacancies with highly qualified people: We need to call out these filibusters for what they are: Naked attempts to nullify the results of the last election.... If Republicans continue to filibuster these highly qualified nominees for no reason other than to nullify the president's constitutional authority, then senators not only have the right to change the filibuster, senators have a duty to change the filibuster rules. We cannot turn our backs on the Constitution. We cannot abdicate our oath of office. -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ...
... Alexander Bolton: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is short of the 50 votes he would need to advance President Obama's stalled judicial nominees via the 'nuclear option,' according to sources who have advocated for filibuster reform."
Gail Collins: "'Where are the Benghazi survivors? I'm going to block every appointment in the U.S. Senate until they are made available to Congress,' [Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)] twittered recently. So much for Janet Yellen. Also the president's nominee to be head of homeland security. God help the guy who's up for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and has been cooling his heels since last December."
"Kangaroo Court"/Runaway Bulldozer. Dana Milbank: "On Wednesday, the topic [of the House Oversight Committee] was Obamacare, but [Darrell Issa (R-Sleazy-Calif.)] followed the script he used when investigating 'Fast and Furious' gun-running, the Benghazi attack, and IRS targeting: make inflammatory allegations of high-level skullduggery, release selective information that appears to support the case while withholding exculpatory details, then use his chairman's privileges to turn hearings into episodes of 'The Darrell Issa Show.'" ...
... Annals of the Liberal Media. Charles Pierce is worth reading on CBS' "New"'s Darrell Issa connection. Pierce well remembers Sharyl Atkisson, the crack stenographer for Issa, or a winger of any other name. ...
... Creative Writing. Nancy Youssef of McClatchy News pokes numerous holes in Lara Logan's CBS "News" "60 Minutes" report on the September 11, 2011, attack in Benghazi. Logan's story -- which supposedly took CBS "News" a year to report -- was riddled with inaccuracies & unsupported assertions, all in addition to the bogus war story told by Dylan Davies for which Logan (sort of) apologized. Thanks to James S. for the link. ...
... Frank Rich: "Lara Logan's story was not a mere journalistic mistake, but a hoax comparable to such legendary frauds asLife magazine's purchase of the billionaire Howard Hughes's nonexistent 'autobiography' in the seventies and Rupert Murdoch's similarly extravagant embrace of the bogus Hitler 'diaries' in the eighties. In Logan's case, she perpetrated an out-and-out fictional character...." Also, Bill Clinton, windbag. And 2016 horse race, media-style.
CW: I'll say this for the Secret Service. They certainly know how to engage in scandals everyone can understand. This one involves a top member of the President's security detail. Carol Leonnig & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: The agent Ignacio "Zamora was off duty when he met a woman at the [Hay-Adams H]otel's ... bar [near the White House] and later joined her in her room.... Zamora had removed ammunition from the chamber of his government-issued handgun during his stay in the room and then left behind a single bullet. He returned to the room when he realized his mistake. The guest refused to let him back in.... The incident led to an investigation that included a routine search of Zamora's government-issued BlackBerry, which contained sexually charged messages to [a] female agent." Another agent "also sent inappropriate and suggestive messages to the female agent."
November 2013 Election
Washington Post Editors: In the extremely close race for Virginia attorney general, "GOP lawyers are suggesting that they may challenge some provisional ballots that were painstakingly vetted by Fairfax County over the past few days, in many cases based on interviews with the voters themselves.... For the good of the state, the candidates and the parties should refrain from endless partisan combat and agree to let things be settled by the official recount." Read the whole editorial for an explanation of the "reason" for the GOP's potential challenge.
Canadian News
CW: I've assiduously avoided Rob Ford stories. We've got enough problems in this country without worrying about what a colossal dick the mayor of Toronto is. But Dan Amira of New York runs down Ford's greatest hits. Wherever you live, your mayor (or your former mayor, even if you live in Wasilla, Alaska, but maybe not if you live in Detroit) is better than Toronto's mayor.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Members of a union representing thousands of Boeing employees voted late Wednesday to reject a controversial labor deal that would have cut compensation but have kept assembly of the company's new 777X jets in Washington State, raising the chance that Boeing will move more production away from its traditional manufacturing base in the Seattle area."
Washington Post: An Air Force colonel accused of assaulting a young woman outside a Crystal City, [Virginia,] bar this past spring has been acquitted by an Arlington jury. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, 42, was head of the Air Force's sexual assault prevention branch when he was arrested after the May encounter outside a Crystal City bar."
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