dagblog - Comments for ""VOUCHER" RHYMES WITH "OUCH" AND "SLOUCHER""

Quinn, right on. Boehner is

Oxy Mora — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:00:49 +0000

Quinn, right on. Boehner is already trying to run away from Ryan. All the more reason to nail Ryan now. Nail him and you nail this hapless Republican HR.

The Dems should spend money now, running ads in swing districts against the Republicans who voted for the Ryan bill, er, his blueprint, or was it a random suggestion worthy of consideration, or, you know, just a spitballin' idea involving coupons and premium support for seniors.

The Reid plan to vote on the Ryan bill is exactly the kind of chicken shite the public hates. Like you say, go for the kill.

Yesterday the Vermont state

Oxy Mora — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:50:25 +0000

In reply to "VOUCHER" RHYMES WITH "OUCH" AND "SLOUCHER"

Yesterday the Vermont state senate voted nearly overwhelmingly to institute the first state single payer health care plan. The governor will sign it and doubtless the Obama Administration will provide a waiver under the Affordable Health Care plan.

When you think about it, state single payer plans may be the ultimate solution to our health care problems. Think about it, a health care plan where almost no money goes to Insurance company overhead costs.

Here's an interesting thought. A state like Illinois passes a single payer plan. Suddenly businesses realize that this is a huge advantage. Businesses begin moving their operations from red states like Missouri and Oklahoma to Illinois. What happens next? Well, Missouri take your choice. Support medical insurance companies or support employment in your state. Fortunately for Vermont there are not the established corporate players to try and torpedo this plan, like there are, say, in Connecticut. But Connecticut is blue, so maybe there is a hybrid scheme which hasn't even been envisioned yet.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to Vermont in states like New Hampshire, a swing state. In a nexus like the "Upper Valley" where you're never sure which state you are in anyway, a worker without medical coverage, say at a small manufacturing company, could literally move across the road and become a Vermonter instead of a New Hampshire-ite.

Fascinating stuff, and may eventually make even the Medicare debate irrelevant.

The guy has over-reached.

quinn esq — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:43:09 +0000

In reply to "VOUCHER" RHYMES WITH "OUCH" AND "SLOUCHER"

The guy has over-reached. It'd be a great time for the Dems to drive them onto the back foot, and once there, just keep em backpedalling. What was it, now Reid wants to make the Senate vote on Ryan's Budget? The Dems need to invest some money and some political capital, NOW, not just in making this stick to the Republicans, but in mobilizing a bit of energy, get the base going. Because once Obama has budget negotiations with the GOP, and IF he begins trading off anything from SS or Medicare, then the Dems will own it.

Hit Ryan now.

Thanks, Artsy. I occasionally

Oxy Mora — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:29:35 +0000

In reply to ...."But the Republicans have

Thanks, Artsy. I occasionally listen to and enjoy Koch on Sirius radio.

The latest from Ryan is that

Oxy Mora — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:23:28 +0000

In reply to http://www.capitolhillblue.co

The latest from Ryan is that the voucher is not a voucher, it's a "coupon".

And, "There is a lot of distortion about his plan". Obviously he's been talkinhg to Luntz. In concept the statement reminds me of Luntz' work on climate change. "The science is inconclusive".

But at the same time Boehner has called the plan "an idea of worthy consideration, er, it was Paul's plan"

But where are Obama's speechwriters: " Paul Ryan has a message for seniors. I'm from the government, and I have a voucher for you".

...."But the Republicans have

artappraiser — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:48:42 +0000

In reply to "VOUCHER" RHYMES WITH "OUCH" AND "SLOUCHER"

...."But the Republicans have charted a radical course that I and numerous other Americans cannot support," he wrote. "For that, they will be punished. They have embraced the three third rails of American politics - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Their proposals effectively destroying them through privatization or substantially reducing funding are anathema to the American public, and they will pay the price: defeat."

from

Ed Koch, Reluctantly for Obama
By Reid Pillifant, New York Observer, April 25, 2011

http://www.capitolhillblue.co

Richard Day — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:45:14 +0000

In reply to "VOUCHER" RHYMES WITH "OUCH" AND "SLOUCHER"

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/40509

Peeps, including repub peeps are getting pretty pissed about all this. And not just in Ryan's home state!

This is backfiring like w bush's privatization plan for SS.

Thanks, point well taken.

Oxy Mora — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:19:18 +0000

In reply to Yeah, I'm also struck by the

Thanks, point well taken. After writing this I did a search on school "voucher" because that has always seemed to be a non-starter with the public. Recent polling shows it's more evenly divided than I would have thought, except when the proviso "even if it means cutting public school funding" is added, which turns the public decisively against vouchers. A couple of polls, Florida, and N.C., decisive states for Obama, show especially high opposition to school "vouchers". All of this being said, it suggests that Ryan overlooked the possible negative association of Medicare vouchers with school vouchers--which, I agree, is not a mistake Rove or Luntz would have made.

I don't know about "honest" or "not slick". Maybe "over-rated". Anyway, those 235 votes are finally something Democrats can work with, especially focusing in the swing districts.

Yeah, I'm also struck by the

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:53:31 +0000

In reply to "VOUCHER" RHYMES WITH "OUCH" AND "SLOUCHER"

Yeah, I'm also struck by the absence of the usual Republican linguistic tricks. It's too late to de-voucherize the Ryan plan now. Someone should have consulted Luntz before rolling it out.

You can call Ryan a sloucher, but I don't think its laziness. I just think he's more honest than your average Republican politician. That's a bit like being more healthy than your average deep-fried candybar, but it's all relative. Before anyone jumps down my throat, that doesn't make him right or reasonable or courageous or honorable. The point is just that Ryan is just not as slick as people like Luntz or Rove. Thankfully.