Give Brooks His Paycheck

David Brooks earns a payday with his latest column on health care.  He recommends two articles for your stack of un-reading, and gives a cogent precis of the current conundrum created by Obama:

Several months ago, President Obama made a promise: People with health insurance would be able to keep exactly what they have.

We all understand why he made that promise. He wanted to reassure people who are happy with what they’ve got. He wanted to mollify the industries that have a vested interest in the status quo.

But Obama’s promise sent the reform effort off the rails. It meant that efforts to expand coverage marched ahead, but efforts to fundamentally reform the system got watered down.

Instead of true reform we got a series of bills that essentially cement the present system in place. The proposals do not fundamentally challenge the fee-for-service system. They don’t make Americans more accountable for their own health care spending. They don’t reduce costs. They just add more people into the mess we’ve got.

The president made this promise to ease passage. But it ended up hollowing out the substance of the reform. And the political benefits didn’t even materialize. Voters are still spooked by the costs, the centralization and the cuts they are sure will come.

The articles are David Goldhill's essay in The Atlantic (or see the Weekly Standard Cliff Notes), and "Bending The Curve" from the Brookings Institute.

In related news, the Teamsters aren't laying on the tracks for the public option.

There are no litmus tests when it comes to health-care legislation, [Teamster President] Hoffa said. Dropping the public option is “not a deal killer,” the leader of the 1.4 million-member Teamsters union said. “The goal is to go after those 50 million people that don’t have health care.”

Their goal is to jack up the cost of employing those 50 million uninsured in order to improve their own competitive situation in the labor market.  An employer "pay or play" payroll tax will meet that nicely.

Comments

[clarice]

Cynic, traducer of the working man!

[DebinNC]

(HotAir)Gallup: Union Support Lowest...ever

And that's with most folks unaware of the $10B for unions in HR 3200.

[PeterUK]

Health care was always about union power and bureaucratic empire building.
Whatever the altruistic reasons for establishing Britain's NHS,it now employs one million people,over half of whom are not medical staff,for a population of sixty one million.

[matt]

of course it will all change again on Tuesday

[bgates]

The proposals do not fundamentally challenge the fee-for-service system. They don’t make Americans more accountable for their own health care spending.

You know what would make Americans more accountable, is if their accounts were charged a fee each time they spent for a service.

This is what passes for earning a paycheck in NYC?

[sbw]

I challenge the 50 million number Brooks so brazenly bandies about. Okay, bucko, back up your stats by explaining who makes up the 50 million... or turn in your paycheck.

[Jack is Back!]

David Brooks reminds us all that a broken clock is right twice a day. To this day, I have never trusted someone born in the 20th century who wears a bowtie. My grandfather worn one all his life but he was born in 1874. Plus he paid for his house to be built with cash and didn't start building it until he had saved every penny necessary. That was 1913. He also help start a hospital and they did that with cold hard cash - no mortgage for those hardy breeds. My point is that he probably never heard of the word "entitlement" but he did keep a copy of the US Constitution on his body at all times. He was probably a right-wing domestic terrorist and didn't even know it.

[JM Hanes]

I think maybe Brooks should study the bills, not his "battle-tested experts" (AKA academics), if he thinks anything like the reforms he's looking for were ever on the table, and were somehow derailed by Obama's cynical politically expedient promises.

I'm also not sure how he earns a payday by imagining a magic hour in which he persuades the President to change course -- as though Obama didn't take the path that Brooks lays out because it just never occurred to him.

[bishop]

No, the point of the plan, is to erode and alter private insurance program, he's not even close to the truth

[David Gergen]

Yippee, yippee, I'll get my seat back at the CNN Round Table this weekend!

[Ric Locke]

Bishop has it right, whatever the actual intent might be on the part of anybody promoting it.

Once upon a time there were "fraternal societies". They had several functions, among which social interaction was important, but their main purpose was as mutual investment vehicles. Dues were invested, sometimes in stocks and bonds, other times in hospitals and retirement homes. A person who joined one, and paid dues during his working life, could look forward to an income in the retirement years.

The fraternal societies are almost irrelevant today, figures of fun, a bunch of old farts sitting around drinking beer and bitching about young people today. What happened? -- lots of things, including the Crash of '29 and people living longer, but the big thing was Social Security. Why invest in a fraternal society when the Government would do it for you, and wasn't subject to the stock market?

If you want to know what's going to happen to the private insurance system after Obamacare goes into action, you need look no farther than the local chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Regards,
Ric

[Melinda Romanoff]

A Hoffa quote: "Look, Free Money!!"

[Fresh Air]

If Brooks is claiming there are 50 million uninsured, he's even more ignorant than I thought--and I had him somewhere between the migrant strawberry picker and the average NBA player on the scale of ignorance. Another doofus editorialist who actually reads and believes (!) the rag he writes for.

[Fresh Air]

Ric--

Please come around more often. PW is kaput and we can always use more Ric(k)s.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

FYI: Doctors in the Cook County Public Health & Hospital System are now unionized under the representation of the SEIU. They were previously denied by the board because they were considered "managers and supervisors". You know, staff that actually knows for what reasons a hospital operates and stuff.

The agreement to drop opposition to forming a union is that the doctors make a pledge not to strike.

The Illinois Labor Relations Board has to approve the deal. Expect a swift approval just prior to the county negotiations for tax subsidy for the 2010 budget proposal. Fun times in the County of Lenin within the Land of Lincoln.

Anyone want to tell me again how exactly the SEIU is an actual union and not a human capital bank? They broker this same deal all the time. They get the laborers and the laborers don't get to strike, ever. Why do they need a union then?

[Neo]

Obama enters ... NOBODY expects Nationalized Health Care! Our chief weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise…. Our two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency…. Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to socialist ideology…. Our *four*…no… *Amongst* our weapons…. Amongst our weaponry…are such elements as fear, surprise…. I’ll come in again.

Shamelessly stolen from QandO

[pagar]

To appease SEIU over the closure of Howe, Gov. Quinn signed an executive order that allows SEIU to approach and attempt to organize people who live in their own homes and take care of family members. If they vote no, but the union drive is successful, these family members will be forced to pay the union dues anyway, taking away from the funds they desperately need to help pay for their loved ones’ care

Family members will be forced to pay the union dues

We are pay unions to destroy this nation. This is insane.

[pagar]

pay should be paying in my 06:48 post.

[Extraneus]

How are they proposing to collect the dues?

[Extraneus]

Don't they usually do this during Republican administrations?

Revised formula counts more Americans in poverty

Ah, I think I get it.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent level, according to a revision of a half-century-old formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living.

[snip]

The NAS figures could take on added significance at a time when the government is touting an overhaul of Medicare and Social Security as its best hope for reducing the ballooning federal debt.

[Fresh Air]

We are paying unions to destroy this nation. This is insane.

These people and the Democrats who enable them are absolutely rotten to the core. There can be no good that will ever come of this. My only hope is that it becomes such a major issue in the campaign that Quinn or his successor nominee is driven straight to hell.

[pagar]

How are they proposing to collect the dues?

I have no way of knowing for sure, but since it is the SEIU and the state of Illinois, I would expect that the state will cut a check to SEIU and reduce the checks to the people who are taking care of those unable to take care of them selves.

[Barry Dauphin]

Well of the 50 million, about 10 million are illegal immigrants, somewhere between 15-20 million earn $50,000+/yr (and could afford coverage), and several million already qualify for existing programs. That leaves a much smaller number of folks in the category that is meant to stir up all the sympathy.

So what does Brooks think about tort reform as part of this process? Or perhaps a panel of doctors can manage legal benefits for all members of society and can control costs by deciding acceptable defense strategies, what constitutes a billable hours, getting rid of billable hours altogether, etc.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

pagar: That story is about the SEIU and AFSCME competing with eachother to be the collective bargaining agent for home health care workers that take care of family members with conditions such as down syndrome.

It's a good story because some of these people are freaked out at the methods the SEIU and AFSCME are using to compete for their, er, dues.

These people were classified as home health care workers without even lifting a finger. They never asked for it. Lawmakers passed it without their consent.

It's the quid pro quo in Illinois and the press hardly questions it.

[bishop]

This is more from the 'thought experiment' thread, but considering the Steyn quote, there's all sorts of jackassery in the 9/11
denialist movement, to wit, Howard Zinn and
most recently Michael Lerner, the former SDS
and religious guru to Hillary, who was caught years ago, writing letters to his
own publication, Tikkun, in the LUN:

[pagar]

They never asked for it.

Sounds like a union dream to me. Just a way to get more people paying dues.
It's a mother taking care of her son. What is any union doing getting involved in the process?

[matt]

the union model you are describing is that of the unions in the Soviet Union. Trap the workers into a master agreement where all power devolves to the center.

I hate to say it, but there is a playbook for what we are seeing. Behind the scenes, Obama and his associates have the agenda and a timetable. It is looking more and more like a "velvet revolution" of the Left.

[matt]

pagar, that is already the case in California, and boy is the system corrupt.

You see, Arnold tried to introduce legislation to fingerprint caregivers and ID them in a central database because there is rampant fraud in the system. It is county based, and so family members can move the invalid from county to county, each of them getting the free paycheck.

The Dems wouldn't let it out of committee. This was nothing more than institutionalized fraud by the SEIU.

[Original MikeS]

I would like to suggest a pair of articles myself.

Regarding the 40 million or 47 million or 50 million uninsured I recommend Rove. The way Karl 'splains it, 47 million boils down to about 5 million U.S. citizens (less than 2%) who need some help getting health insurance, Not health care. That problem has already been solved in this country.

Regarding reform this piece is about a health care system with very little regulation or government involvement. The result? High quality and low cost medical care.

[Original MikeS]

Oh yeah! I had one other thing I wanted to say, "f_ck Hoffa!"

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Even left wing blogs when fact checking the 47 million figure will whittle it down to just 20 million.

It's quite the luxury when you can insure 27 million people merely by writing a blog post.

[clarice]

HEH,Gabriel--the power of the pen.

[Original MikeS]

The Dems are about to re-launch the "moral obligation" to provide health insurance argument. So, I expect to hear more about the 47 million.

I hope we hear the counter argument, after Obama's speech, that:

We've already made sure that people who need health care get it even if they have no insurance.

We have new information that that 47 million number is an extreme exaggeration. The true number is probably less that 2% of the population need help with insurance.

We would like to help those people get insurance after the recession is over.

We don't need a whole new health care system that costs $1 trillion more and requires a massive new government bureaucracy to manage.

We just need to fix a few of the things that are wrong with the system we have.

Common sense reform won't require massive spending or a massive bureaucracy to bring costs down.

[clarice]

And, Mike--for those looking for a tribute to Sen Kennedy we've set up a foundation which will take private tax deductible contributions to provide health insurance for the 2% who need and want it.

[Frau the Schnauzer]

"Common sense reform won't require massive spending or a massive bureaucracy to bring costs down."

How do we get the word out? Who's listening?

[Original MikeS]

...a tribute to Sen Kennedy...
Yes! That's perfect!

[Original MikeS]

How do we get the word out?

My own wishful thinking is that journalists will report on the Republican response to Obama's speech.

If the response is mostly positive and mostly about common sense alternatives to massive deficit spending it might get some ink.

And if you believe that, I can get you a deal on a bridge.

[Pofarmer]

Local, normally conservative talk radio guy was apparently on vacation today, and we got moderate day on the eagle.

Well, the first hour was the Editor and a reporter from the Columbia Tribune. They just couldn't, as in could not, believe, that anyone could believe that Barack Hussein just might be a socialist.

In the second hour we get Chris Kelley, local Dim rep, who wanted to admonish all of us to "Be civil" and the shouting people down at town halls was "Un American" He got a number of calls, including from yours truly, basically informing him that "being civil" hadn't been working that great, and it was time to turn up the volume. If that didn't work, it was going to continue to be ratcheted up.

I don't think that's what he wanted to hear.

[JM Hanes]

Oh man, is this going to be fun to watch or what?

The White House is preparing to rally wavering Democrats on health care by invoking a bitter memory most in the party would rather forget: Bill Clinton’s failed health reform effort in the 1990s.

White House officials are warning fellow Democrats that the party lost Congress in 1994 not by trying to do too much on Clinton-style health care but by failing to get any reforms done at all – drawing a parallel to the dangers of inaction this year.

“The lesson of 1994 is not that tackling health reform is politically perilous. It’s that failing to act could be devastating,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House deputy communications director.

Because people really wanted Hillarycare soooo much.

[Pofarmer]

I hate to say it, but there is a playbook for what we are seeing. Behind the scenes, Obama and his associates have the agenda and a timetable. It is looking more and more like a "velvet revolution" of the Left.

Hell, in MO we VOTED it in ??!!!!

Yes, we did.

[Original MikeS]

...could not, believe, that anyone could believe that Barack Hussein just might be a socialist.

Well I suppose it depends on what the word socialist means. If you think socialist means this...

Socialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating state, worker or public ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals...

or this...
Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation.

Then I can't believe that anyone could not believe that Obama is a socialist.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

The moral obligation will take the debate right to where Conservatives and Libertarians want it to go - Capitalism.

No system can ever sustain itself by stealing from the productive to support the unproductive. In an insurance model, it will only last as long as its strongest members. When those members are forced to stay in the model because their employer will not permit them to move to another model, or the state has regulated through limitations, the choices the most productive member has, the model operates on borrowed time.

The progressives are the worst salesman on the planet earth. The only substance that carries their plan is mythology sustained through time and circumstance. Time is against them as demonstrated by the more the individual learns about health care reform, the more the individual is inclined to go it alone or at the least enter partnerships with other individuals that share mutual risk.

In other words, we're returning to the garden of eden of insurance.

The progressives have discovered their oasis in Barack Obama. Unfortunately even he could not lead them out of the desert to a land of sustenance.

The constituent organized town halls are just incredible. These are just awful news for incumbents. Attacking mathematical risk and Whole Foods has created an a truly organic crop of Americans that need only conversation to add to their numbers.

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

A commenter at Ambinder's thinks Obama is getting the Clinton treatment regarding Jones..."vast right wing conspiracy." Doesn't a conspiracy theory involve something that is not really supported by evidence or very little evidence? Maybe I don't know the definition of conspiracy since the Jones' own words condemn him.

[clarice]

Gabriel, on one hand today's failure of the MSM to cover the Van Jones story (CBS finally filed something late this evening) makes me realize why my non-news junkie,msm only news source friends are so clueless. On the other hand watching these townhalls I realize how on some big things people figure stuff out on their own--regular people, not the urban elites. And jmh's note above is incredible--I cannot believe that congress critters for him re-election if their only goal, will fall for this carpola when they've seen with their own eyes this month the growing revolt at home.

[clarice]

** critters for WHOM re-election iS **

[bgates]

Maybe I don't know the definition of conspiracy since the Jones' own words condemn him.

Wasn't Hildog the first person to use the line "vast right wing conspiracy", in reference to the scoundrels who claimed her husband was unchaste outside the marital chamber?

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

bgates,

And we all know how little evidence...oh wait...just like then the vast right wing is correct again.

[ford prefect]

Clearly Sue, you are not supposed to use one's words against them, (Obama.Schakowsky,
Krugman)you're supposed to have that edited out, much like the positive statements of a center right politician, are too be trimmed
as to make no sense

[Pofarmer]

Maybe I don't know the definition of conspiracy since the Jones' own words condemn him.

In Liberal world, conspiracy amounts to believing anything the left doesn't' want you to believe, or, actually figuring out what the left is up to. It really tee's them off when people think. It's sort of like the opposite of "bi-partisanship"

[JM Hanes]

It just gets better and better

A coalition of liberal Democratic lawmakers came away from a conference call with President Obama this afternoon believing that the public option for health care is still very much in play.

Maybe the reason the Prez is doing a formal joint session gig is to avoid taking questions from one consitutent group and having to answer them in front of another. Congressionalconstituent group in front of the others.

[Original MikeS]

...failure of the MSM to cover the Van Jones story

Jones, who likely got his job over the objections of the Secret Service, is not a closet anti-capitalist. He is an outspoken anti-capitalist with a plan to turn this country into a socialist nation. It is a plan that he seems anxious to tell anyone who will listen.

There is one thing though that I have to agree with him on. He is an asshole.

[JM Hanes]

Ah, so that's where that last phrase went! About those competency tests, Clarice....

[Gabriel Sutherland]

clarice: The MSM failing to cover the Van Jones story is a win for Obama policy critics. The high priests of the progressive Temple are coming to the aid of Van Jones. By the time the MSM shows up the temple will be burning and they'll observe the progressives trying to extinguish it.

Obama and his Chicago team has already blown it. The foundation they laid with the stimulus set off the dynamite that's created the avalanche that has become questioning the President. Remember, very little questioning the Obama was demonstrated in the Presidential campaign. He faced a tougher press when matched against Hillary.

On Olbermann is hosting the progressive priests on a nightly basis repeating the same gospel verse - Mr. President, if you only pushed the agenda that got you elected, you know, the progressive one, all will be swell.

They don't get it. They couldn't see a tsunami coming right for them even with the tide washed a mile out to sea. They think the tide going out to see is freaking astroturf.

A realist would look at the trends right now and ask how badly do they want to lose. Do they want to lose marginal seats or a whole bunch that will take a decade to win back.

The GOP messed up real bad dealing with corrupt lifers like Jack Abramoff. Those were awful decisions that I thought would take 3-4 election cycles before the GOP would start winning seats back.

Here's how it works. When people ask me who is leader of the GOP I tell them it is Barack Obama. He's the best thing to happen to the GOP since Barry Goldwater.

[bishop]

Actually I was hearing the context of that last line, and Van Jones was paying the right, a backhanded compliment, in his own musings. He thinks the GOP. think Swift Boat
the Contract with America, is just ruthless,
whereas we see them as rather cautious in their public stance,sometimes unneccessarily
so.

[clarice]

Gabriel, I so value your opinion, and O hope you're right again.

Others whose opinion I also value and who study these things have been telling me for some time that O's trajectory is down and it isn't coming up. The polls show Congress is now also in the line of fire. I am afraid of over confidence and unforeseen events.

[Original MikeS]

I am afraid of over confidence and...

Me too! More specifically I'm afraid of any new agency with regulatory power and a budget that could be expanded by fiat, diktat, or stealth legislation buried in a defense or green jobs appropriation.

[JM Hanes]

OK, I guess I'd be amused by pretty much anything tonight, but this conjunction of story headlines really struck my funny bone:

• Unemployment jumps to 9.7 percent
• Food stamp use up by 28 percent since '08
• Gibbs: 'Trend' is right

Maybe someone over at Politico has a sense of humor.

[Except for Gates, I cannot think of an appointment of his that I like. Not one.]

Yeah, Mike, how can we reverse the damage already done, and I'm presuming we get neither Cap and Trade or a significant health bill? They've already warped government, and governing, terribly.
========================================

[JM Hanes]

This one's for you TM!

Paul Krugman asks: How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? And what, you ask, might be at the top of his list?

"MISTAKING BEAUTY FOR TRUTH."

That's about as far as I got, having fallen out of my chair laughing.

[clarice]

If that's a warped sense of humor, add me to the roll.

[clarice]

From the newly discovered Jones tape:
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/

Various Singers-Poets: The American way, manufactuered by these white folks in office. By these rich men here to mock us. The United States is a stolen land led by right-wing, war hungry, oil thirsty. And when it's all said and done they still can't clean their own place because they got people of color playing servant to do that sh*t for them... The true terrorists are made in the US, in this police state... The US is a crack-fiend for oil. And they're ready to rape, kill, assault, rob anybody and everybody...

Bombing babies in the night. Two wrongs don't make a right... The US needs to exit its colonies in Iraq, in the region and finally in Israel.

Van Jones: At this point. The end of the occupation. The right of return of the Palestinian people. These are critical dividing lines in human rights. We have to be here. No American would put up with an Israeli-style occupation of their hometown for 53 days let alone 54 years. US tax dollars are funding violence against people of color inside the US borders and outside the US borders.

[Original MikeS]

...reverse the damage already done...

I dunno. Republicans could make a show of trying to get about 1/3 (the ripoff third) of the 'stimulus' back. Specifying the ripoff portion might take away the Dems cover which is mentioning the 'good' portions of the bill.
Republicans could "pledge" to read every bill before they vote on it, and pledge to reign in insane deficit spending that will ultimately enslave our children and grandchildren.

[Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA )]

Those of us jonesing for a certain Friday afternoon document dump came away unsatisfied, but we now at least have a mention of Van Jones Trutherism in the WaPo.

[clarice]

They could introduce a bill cutting off all funds to the czars as an improper means of bypassing congressional confirmation and on the basis of Jones establishing that the Wh has abused the privilege by improperly failing to vet them.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

I still see a big weakness in pre-existing conditions, but I see huge strengths anytime a member of the Congress says they support Single Payer. Anytime a member says this they should immediately be questioned.

1) How does a Single Payer Model hurt me if I employ best practices to avoid higher risk?

2) How does a Single Payer Model recruit new medical practitioners and staff if I want to move to a new location?

3) How does a Single Payer Model protect itself from abuse if a patient is consistently damaging their own body inducing higher costs through more frequent use of the system?

4) How will a Single Payer Model retain existing medical practitioners and support staff?

5) Isn't a Single Payer Model just as prone to unnecessary testing or routine procedural work as a free enterprise model, Medicare, or Medicaid?

6) If we have a Single Payer Model, will it prohibit unionization of its employees as collective bargaining is written out of the equation replaced with a single collective bargaining for coverage?

[JM Hanes]

You know what else seems to be leaking these days? Candid scoop about the unbearable lightness of being Obama. On squandering "a good portion of the historic possibility that greeted his presidency:"

"They are super-touchy right now. And they should be. They f--ked up," one top strategist said of this White House, who asked that his name be withheld so that he could speak candidly.

And on healthcare:

“It’s so important to get a deal,” a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to be candid about strategy. “He will do almost anything it takes to get one.”

[clarice]

000000Hmm--they're still talking "reconciliation" per that article , jmh.

Maybe we ought to preempt that with a movement called YAIG (Your ass is grass) wherein we get people to promise to work to defeat any Congressperson who votes to pass Obaacare by this process.

[Original MikeS]

They could introduce a bill cutting off all funds to the czars

Yes. I like that one 'cause it includes spending cuts and Obama's impertinence, disregard, and seeming disrespect for the Constitution.

Republicans only power for the next couple years will be to take their case to the people. If they make the same mistakes as Obama (duplicity, mendacity, exaggeration) it may cost dearly.

[Pofarmer]

During the golden years, financial economists came to believe that markets were inherently stable — indeed, that stocks and other assets were always priced just right.

They got paid for this kind of crap?

what a bunch of Maroons.

[clarice]

http://www.collagefoundation.org/people/people-vanjones.html

Van Jones says he picked Yale Law School because they had no grades and once he got in he could just hell raise (which he did) and they could do nothing about it.

[bishop]

After the Blodgett and Mary (name escapes me)analyst scandals, not to mention the Spitzer vendetta against Langone &Greenberg,
he practically fisks himself

[Cecelia]

I think had the media dealt more forthrightly in the whole candidate Obama/Rev Wright brouhaha, that there might be less of the angst we now see at town-hall meetings and from some parents of school children.

Instead attributing racism to anyone who spoke of Wright, holding Pres. Obama's feet to fire back then, might have cleared up many of perceptions he must deal with now.

It certainly would have given him some benefit of doubt over the Van Jones pick.

[Cecelia]

I think had the media dealt more forthrightly in the whole candidate Obama/Rev Wright brouhaha, that there might be less of the angst we now see at town-hall meetings and from some parents of school children.

Instead attributing racism to anyone who spoke of Wright, holding Pres. Obama's feet to fire back then, might have cleared up many of the perceptions he must deal with now.

It certainly would have given him some benefit of doubt over the Van Jones pick.

[JM Hanes]

Cecelia,

Looking back, the treatment of the Rev. Wright issue in the press, and the fawning over Obama's subsequent Philadelphia speech, really does stand out as the first monumental shock of the campaign season. I'm not sure it actually was the first, but that's the way it seems now. It was like watching schizophrenics in an alternate universe, with media cynics suddenly falling head over heels for a teenage heartthrob.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

JMH says:

OK, I guess I'd be amused by pretty much anything tonight, but this conjunction of story headlines really struck my funny bone:

• Unemployment jumps to 9.7 percent
• Food stamp use up by 28 percent since '08
• Gibbs: 'Trend' is right
Maybe someone over at Politico has a sense of humor.

Either that or Rush is right, JMH. This WH is all about fostering enough dependence on the Government teat to make up a permanent majority of the voting population. It is the old spoils system writ large; the old "machine boss" paradigm transferred to a national program by the "master community organizer' a/k/a Teh Won.

Those statistics tend to support the proposition that so far, this tactic might be working like a charm.

[AL]

Gabriel, I am thinking that every second generation of Americans got to receive vaccine against socialism. Currently, Obama/Pelosy/Reid vaccine feels like pretty powerful shit.

Answers to your second post:

Single payer system is nothing to be afraid of. The thing to be afraid of is single-provider system, especially with unionized staff.

If “patient is consistently damaging their own body”, they will die sooner, and save Medicare truckload of money.

[daddy]

On a day when Drudge posts how every liberal rag and News org you can shake a stick at remains silent on the Van Jone's story, what do we get out of ">http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0909/Fox_will_not_show_Obamas_address_airs_on_sister_networks.html#comments"> Michael Calderone at Politico?

Snark about the FOX Network's announcement that it's only going to carry the President's upcoming Address to Congress on its Fox News and Fox Business Channels, not on it's regular FOX programming Channel. This gross instance of censorship by FOX is reason for criticism by Mister Calderone.

As for every other MSM outlet on the planet entirely censoring the Van Jones incident, Calderone censors it himself by contributing his silence to the issue. How these guys look at themselves in the mirror every morning is beyond me.

Oh, and just for the record, the byline beneath his headlined name at Poltico states as follows:

Michael Calderone
Reporting and Analysis of Political Media

[PeterUK]

"Oh yeah! I had one other thing I wanted to say, "f_ck Hoffa!"

They did!

[PeterUK]

"Wasn't Hildog the first person to use the line "vast right wing conspiracy", in reference to the scoundrels who claimed her husband was unchaste outside the marital chamber? "

That was because Bill was unchased in the marital chamber.

[daddy]

">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6131147/Sign-language-week-64.html?image=4"> Football Stealing Barmaids!

And while we're at it, is it too late to add another ">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6131147/Sign-language-week-64.html?image=2"> item or 2 to the JOM cookbook?

[daddy]

Haven't yet got all the Infrastructure problems worked out on JOM Island, but I'm ">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6131147/Sign-language-week-64.html?image=16"> getting closer!

[daddy]

Another Anti-Sarah Ethic's Complaint dismissed yesterday, ">http://www.adn.com/188/story/921737.html"> this one against a top aide. But the news to be pushed today will be ">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090904/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_resignation_cost"> this new hit piece alleging that she cost the State $40,000 by resigning. That supposedly was the cost of holding the replacement ceremony in Anchorage. Careful readers of previous links will recall that the Alaskan Legislature leadership, independent of Sarah, violated their own State Law when they mandated holding that replacement ceremony in Anchorage vice the State Capitol Juneau, without going through the mandated process of polling Legislative members for their opinions and permission, but somehow that violation of State Law resulting in this $40,000 cost didn't quite make today's ADN story. What a surprise. Goodnight.

[Rick Ballard]

"The progressives are the worst salesman on the planet earth."

Gabriel,

I'm unaware of any shade of lipstick which might improve the appearance of the pig of "progessivism" (socialism) to the point where it might win a beauty contest among any but the willfully blind. It wasn't poor salesmanship that scuppered the Edsel - the same marketing folks managed to move the T-Bird quite well.

I suppose I should apologize comparing socialism to the Edsel. The Edsel actually functioned.

[Jane]

Wake up everyone and hold tight to your 401K's. Obama has announced new help with retirement.

[Extraneus]

Clarice, thank you for the link to the Van Voorhees VII piece in the other thread. Great start to the day.

[clarice]

Either Van lied in the vetting process of Rahm himself viewed Van's record and approved his hire anyway says McCormick of the Weekly Standard. He also says Beckel tells him Van will be gone by Tuesday.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/09/who_cleared_van_jones.asp

[clarice]

Extraneus,I'm glad you enjoyed it. Iowahawk always makes me laugh.

[Janet]

((Those of us jonesing for a certain Friday afternoon document dump came away unsatisfied, but we now at least have a mention of Van Jones Trutherism in the WaPo.))

Dave @ 12:44 - Yep, the poor old WaPo. Behind the curve as usual. They tend to ignore the "story" if the main character is a Dem. ...then they finally cover the "last chapter" as the story is about to end.

They never covered the fishy email story, but finally wrote an article when the site was shut down.

[Janet]

and Clarice - ((Gabriel, on one hand today's failure of the MSM to cover the Van Jones story (CBS finally filed something late this evening) makes me realize why my non-news junkie,msm only news source friends are so clueless.))
Amen to this sentiment.

[peter]

Quinn Hillyers thinks that conservatives shouldn't be too complacent about Obama's bad August. I agree. LUN

[Jack is Back!]

I'm not complacent but I am as patient as an oyster.

But then you have that verbal sniper, Dr. Charles Krauthammer at the LUN.

Zing!

[boris]

So ... what kinda noise annoys an oyster?

[Rick Ballard]

JiB,

I'll take Krauthammer's analysis over Hillyer's. I don't believe that Hillyer understands the depths of Ogabean mediocrity that remain to be plumbed. Hillyer overstates the strength of a flimsy structure that is 98% painted plywood facade and 2% cracked 2x4 supports. The paint is already peeling and the cracks grwo wider with each passing day.

I'll go with patience - he's going to make Cadillac Deval look look competent before he's done.

[PeterUK]

JiB,
Only one quote in that I disagree with,"But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary."

No,Obama has gone from dazzling screen star to exhibiting the awkward,incoherent,arrogant actor beneath the facade that often manifests itself on late night TV shows.
Even suspension of disbelief won't reverse this.
He has become turkey.

[bishop]

Quinn, is really starting to tick me off, maybe it began his almost Shepherd Smith reaction to Katrina. The post Vietnam and
Nixon analogies fit better into an analogy, realizing the exceptions. What did he do to speak out against the stimulus, did he support Jindal, Perry, Palin, or even Sanford, in their efforts, for lack of three nailss, Specter, Snowe and Collins, this thing was passed. What was his view on the tea parties and the town halls. In retrospect, would he have counseled a failed
primary opponent like Reagan, to hold back and let Baker, Connally, & Anderson, handle
things, yeah that worked well.

[jimmyk]

Gibbs: 'Trend' is right

When they have the MSM shilling for them, they can get away with this. The economics team on the NYT editorial board has already concluded, regarding the 216,000 jobs lost in August:

The losses would have been worse had it not been for federal stimulus spending — proof that the government is indeed helping to ease the downturn in its role as the spender of last resort.

Note: Not "might" have been worse, not "evidence" that the stimulus is helping. Yes, it's an editorial, but even editorials aren't supposed to make statements of fact that aren't facts. Or so I thought.

Then we get these howlers:

The question, then, is how bad does it have to get before the Obama administration and Congress make job creation a priority. Will administration officials and lawmakers fight for new laws to make it easier to form unions, which are especially important in elevating and protecting the jobs of low-income workers? How will professed support for green jobs be translated into a manufacturing policy that promotes good jobs?

LUN

[clarice]

Right on jimmyk--

I have a thought --let the wizards of job creation in the Congress, led by the bright lights Reid and Pelosi, figure out a way to increase the number of jobs at the NYT--As you will recall, the papoer has shut down a number of its operations, largely that employed low income workers.

[PeterUK]

Clarice.

The NYT is probably "Hacking". It will never cut costs and increase productivity.
An old standby of government bureaucracies,the technique ensure the maximum damage to services caused by budget cuts.A classic NHS trick.

[clarice]

Yes--PUK--That's why the first thing the govt cuts when they've exceeded their budgets are cops and firefighters, not their staff of assclown aides .

[Janet]

PUK this is it exactly! - ((No,Obama has gone from dazzling screen star to exhibiting the awkward,incoherent,arrogant actor beneath the facade that often manifests itself on late night TV shows.
Even suspension of disbelief won't reverse this.
He has become turkey.))

Now to uncover, and inform the general American citizens about who the screenwriters are.