January 2010 archive

Open Thread

I like to reach into the Wisdom of the Past to try and illuminate the times in which we live.

This little clip illustrates, I believe, the psyche of the American voter in the New Millennium:

Or perhaps it’s just that I’ll use any excuse to post a video of The Producers.

Hee.

Beltway smartguy Nate Silver has posted a chart of results from the latest Kaiser Health tracking poll (PDF).

Nate uses this chart to argue that the lack of support for HCR is due to people not knowing how great it really is.

What we see is that most individual components of the bill are popular — in some cases, quite popular. But awareness lags behind. Only 61 percent are aware that the bill bans denials of coverage for pre-existing conditions. Only 42 percent know that it bans lifetime coverage limits. Only 58 percent are aware that it set up insurance exchanges. Just 44 percent know that it closes the Medicare donut hole — and so on and so forth.

Nate says that the Dems should pass HCR, teabaggers be damned, because once passed, the program’s benefits will become apparent.

Obviously, it’s not as though this is going to do much to help the bill’s popularity in the immediate term. But in the long term, once people actually see the go bill into effect, their perceptions are liable to improve, in ways that might help the Democratic party. Although there are a few things like the individual mandate which the public obviously does not like, most of the other components of the bill are things they are liable to be quite pleased with and to find quite reasonable.

Now, everybody knows Nate’s a smart guy, so one would think he would apply his vaunted statistical sense to make the obvious case that HCR stands a far better chance of being a popular program if the individual mandate is jettisoned.

After all, under Nate’s logic, if the individual mandate is already at minus 40% net favorability  (62% against: 22% for), just wait until the bill passes and everyone not only knows about it, but is forced, under pain of IRS audit, to buy overpriced, underperforming, for-profit health insurance.

But Nate won’t go that far.  Instead of advising Dems to fold on the mandate, he’d rather them take a blind gamble that the popularity of the benefits of HCR will outweigh the unpopularity of the individual mandate – and thus essentially repeat a strategy that has already contributed to the loss of Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat to a teabagger.

Truly, the establishment Dems’ studied denial of the individual mandate’s political liabilities, even by its most respected analysts, borders on the absurd.

(x-post @ Big O)

Dennis Kucinich gave an exclusive interview to The Raw Story”, where he provided analysis on the MA Election, and the state of the Democratic Party, and President Obama.

An allegory in four parts

Part I: The Warning of the Dirty Fucking Hippies

The power of the Enemy is growing.  The corporations will use their puppets, the Republicans, the media, and the Blue Dog corporatists and centrists, to enslave the people of America.  Fascism has been unleashed.  The eye of the corporations now turn to the last free people of America.  Their war on this country will come swiftly.  They sense the ring is close.  The strength of the Democrats is failing.  In their hearts, progressives being to understand, the quest will claim their freedom — all their freedom.  It was the risk we all took.

In the gathering dark the will of the Ring grows strong.  It works hard now to find its way back into the hands of Congressmen.  Congressmen who are so easily seduced by its power.  The young Captain of America has now but to extend his hand, take the Ring for his own, and the world will fall.

It is close, now, so close to achieving its goal.  For the corporations will have dominion over all life in America, even unto the ending of the world.

Do we leave America to its fate?  Do we let them stand alone?