GOP’s ‘Repeal and replace’ slogan has no grounding in reality
AJC editors and columnists just finished a pretty wide-ranging 80-minute interview with Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and I took the opportunity to ask a question that had been nagging at me for a while.
Both men stressed that on health care, “repeal and replace” would remain the GOP message into the fall elections. However, both also acknowledged that they would like to retain some aspects of the Democrats’ plan, such as coverage of pre-existing conditions.
I’ve seen that goal expressed repeatedly by Republicans, but I’ve never seen an explanation of how they would accomplish it. Hated as it is, the “pre-existing condition” exclusion often serves a legitimate purpose. Insurance companies use it to discourage “free riders” who would otherwise choose to go without coverage for years, buying a policy only when they come down with a serious illness or injury.
If you somehow tell companies they can no longer deny coverage of pre-existing conditions, you need to provide them another way to eliminate free riders. Under the new law, individual mandates are that tool. As long as everyone is required to have coverage, nobody can game the system and there’s no longer any justification to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
So if the GOP plan is going to ensure that pre-existing conditions are covered, as Chambliss and McConnell suggested, how would they do it without individual mandates? What mechanism would they use?
Chambliss and McConnell had no answer. Literally.
After Chambliss fumbled an initial response, McConnell broke in with a long and familiar condemnation of the Democratic plan, including its failure to include tort reform. After a few minutes, I interrupted and brought him back to the question: OK, but how are the Republicans going to cover pre-existing conditions?
“The premiums are going up either way,” he said.
OK, I responded, a little stunned. That doesn’t explain how the Republicans intend to cover pre-existing conditions.
“The premiums are going up either way,” he repeated.
That was that. We moved on, and I still don’t have my answer.
Actually, I guess I do. Republicans clearly understand that the American people want the problem of pre-existing conditions to be solved; it’s also pretty clear that they have no idea how to achieve that goal. In fact, while they campaign on “repeal and replace,” they intend to keep that whole “replace” thing as vague and ill-defined as possible. In response to another question, McConnell said explicitly that the Republicans would not be drafting a specific plan on how they intend to replace ObamaCare. Instead, he said, individual GOP candidates would each be offering their own ideas of what a good replacement might look like.
Those ideas will no doubt include pledges to address pre-existing conditions, even if they don’t have the vaguest idea how.
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472 comments Add your comment
josef nix
April 6th, 2010
11:21 pm
DUSTY
I’ve got a few for him, too, but they’re on hold…he’s been costing me money…
Bruno–
I agree very much with what you say…as AmVet put it one night…just looking up at the stars and contemplating the immensity of it all…awesome in the truest meaning of the word. As for what I say when asked if I believe in G-d, I answer as Granddaddy taught me. “I’m far more concerned about whether or not G-d believes in me.”
josef nix
April 6th, 2010
11:25 pm
Well, now, ain’t just another one for the top of the page…maybe I’d better call it a night myself…
Bruno
April 6th, 2010
11:26 pm
AmVet–I’m not sure how familiar you are with Winwood’s first solo effort, but here’s a smooth track from it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1osn_COoC4
“I’m far more concerned about whether or not G-d believes in me.”
Good point, josef. Every gambler I know has a close, personal relationship with the Lord (and Satan, as well).
josef nix
April 6th, 2010
11:30 pm
Bruno—
With that in mind, g’night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNnrTNFWcsg
Bruno
April 6th, 2010
11:42 pm
I guess this will be my swan song tonight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXf2PbEPQ-Y
Every night I say a prayer
In the hopes that there’s a Heaven
And everyday I’m more confused
As the saints turn into sinners
All the heroes and legends
I knew as a child have fallen to idols of clay
And I feel this empty place inside
So afraid that I’ve lost my faith
Show me the way, show me the way
Take me tonight to the river
And wash my illusions away
Please show me the way
Thogwummpy
April 7th, 2010
12:07 am
Gee, Jay…now try something new and level a critical question towards a Democrat! OOOPS, that would be heresy in your pea headed mind, wouldn’t it?
FinnMcCool
April 7th, 2010
12:08 am
Putting the wingnuts away, one nutjob at a time:
Charles Alan Wilson Charged With Threatening Sen. Patty Murray’s Life
SEATTLE — A Washington state man has been charged with threatening to kill Democratic Sen. Patty Murray over her support for health care reform, leaving voicemail messages at her office saying she had a target on her back and “it only takes one piece of lead.”
TnGelding
April 7th, 2010
4:27 am
Taxing problem:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/ge-exxon-walmart-business-washington-corporate-taxes.html
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
5:34 am
good morning 24-hour party people! TnG – you’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning!
happy belated Easter – I hope everyone is coming down from their chocolate and Peep highs without crashing too hard!!
Joel Edge
April 7th, 2010
5:40 am
We’ll see next year won’t we?
Normal
April 7th, 2010
6:07 am
Here’s a morning thought for y’all…
Courage.
You’re a 19 year old kid.
You’re critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam.
It’s November 11, 1967.
LZ (landing zone) X-ray.
Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards
away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you’re not getting out..
Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then – over the machine gun noise – you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But … It doesn’t seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.
He’s not MedEvac so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered
not to come. He’s coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you
at a time on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses
and safety.
And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!
Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs
and left arm.
He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho .
May God Bless and Rest His Soul.
I bet you didn’t hear about this hero’s passing, but we’ve sure seen a whole bunch about Michael Jackson, Jesse James and Tiger Woods.
Medal of Honor
Winner Captain Ed Freeman
Shame on the American media !!!
Normal
April 7th, 2010
6:12 am
These men and their deeds have been reduced to one paragraph in Middle School history books. How do kids learn about this kind of man with only a single paragraph?
I Report :-) You Whine :-( Impeach Drunken Fool obozo! Just sayin...
April 7th, 2010
6:15 am
A recent study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania estimated that over-$250,000 households earn 24.1 percent of all U.S. income and pay 43.6 percent of all personal federal income taxes.-AmSpec
And the libs want to suck on them some more, eewwwwww, just sayin….
bobfromacworth
April 7th, 2010
6:18 am
Jay, I would think you were a real journalist if you were asking these pointed questions of both parties politicians. But since you can’t nail down anything Obama, Pelosi, or Reid say either, then I would say you are just biased.
Tee
April 7th, 2010
6:25 am
Jay, great article. The Republicans have been masterful at distorting the facts about health care and scaring the guts out of people. Now some, such as John Kyl, are asking people to tone down. Well, that’s like un-ringing the bell. The genie is out of the bottle, and as evident by some of the comments on this page, no matter what they say now, many of the gullible will continue to believe that the President is not American and is a socialist!
Furthermore, the Republicans are good at neutralizing the media by labeling them as Obama sympathizers. As a result, we all suffer through interviews from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN where reporters seldom challenge the lies being spewed by their Republican guests. Since when did being objective mean that you can’t follow-up a question when you know the answer contradicts a position held earlier by the individual being questioned?
When Michael Steele was elected to head the RNC, I decided that as an African American I would be open-minded, discard my previous doubts about this RN party, and wanted him to convince me that the Republican Party deserved and wanted the support of this minority. I am still waiting, but not so much.
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
6:30 am
g’morning, Normal –
thanks for the fantastic obit – talk about a hero!
as for your question: “How do kids learn about this kind of man with only a single paragraph?” not just VN, but all the wars are boiled down to names of treaties and dates – that’s always been the way. That’s what happens when you have to cover a couple of hundred years of history in 30 weeks – you lose the detail, you lose the humanity, you lose the scope.
jt
April 7th, 2010
6:42 am
Also about Ed “Too Tall” Freeman-
“He served in World War II[2] and reached the rank of first sergeant by the time of the Korean War. Although he was in the Corps of Engineers, he fought as an infantry soldier in Korea. He participated in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and won a battlefield commission as one of only 14 survivors out of 257 men who made it through the opening stages of the battle.”
What a life. And a great American.
RIP. You deserve it.
How do kids learn about this kind of man with only a single paragraph?
Don’t rely on the state to do it. YOU teach your kids.
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
6:48 am
jt and Normal – the History Channel … the Military Channel … books … museums … your own family history – they’re all good places to start.
Normal
April 7th, 2010
7:04 am
USinUK and jt,
Y’all are hight, of course. While I find it hard to talk to my Grand Kids about my personal experiences, we do talk about these things in general, but with enough emphasis on the times, political atmosphere, etc.
I have been talking with a friend about revisionist history and its impact on future generations who may never find out the truth.
But as long as we have “Harolds” to share the truth, there is still hope.
But still, Michael Jackson? Get real…
Normal
April 7th, 2010
7:11 am
I wonder if Jesus Christ and Michael Jackson had died on the same day, who would have received the most press?
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
7:16 am
Normal –
“I have been talking with a friend about revisionist history and its impact on future generations who may never find out the truth”
that’s why things like the Shoah project are so important – first-hand reports about what really happened, what things were really like help the truth from being buried.
as for history and how it’s taught, I feel sorry for teachers – they have to cover so much in so little time … they have to make sure their kids are ready for too danged many standardized tests (that really don’t measure knowledge, they only measure retention of factoids) … they are basically put in a position to force-feed snippets of history and literature without teaching them context. They teach that the Brits raised taxes on America without teaching WHY … they teach about Hitler and WWII, but skip over WWI … they barely even talk about Korea and Viet Nam … they don’t explain the middle east at all despite the fact that it’s one of the key drivers in the US’s current situation …
DITTOHEAD:AJC Truth Detector
April 7th, 2010
7:33 am
YOU LIBERALs R so…so BIG on “Freedom to Choose” where abortions are concerned……..now you are for taking away that freedom in this HEALTH CARE MANDATE…….JAY….YOU ARE SUCH A HYPOCRIT….A HYPOCRIT……
DITTOHEAD:AJC Truth Detector
April 7th, 2010
7:36 am
AMAZING,,,,,,,Obama’s Atlanta-Journal don’t care what the people want……YOU know better what the people want………you tell the people what to think..
Tammi
April 7th, 2010
7:37 am
Why not repeal and replace. The majority of the voters opposed Obamacare. It was jammed down our throat by arrogant condecending democrats who think they know what is best for the rest of us who by thier lights are just too stupid to know better. Why not repeal and replace? This is the only piece of major social legislation passed on a strictly party line vote. Why not repeal and replace? Massive bribes and parlmentary tricks were required to round up the necessary votes even among the democrats.
Northern Songs, LTD
April 7th, 2010
7:42 am
repeal and replace will happen when there are 218 votes in the House, 60 in the Senate, and a republican president. so it will be 2013 at the earliest. and with the attention span of most amuricans, by 2013 the health care imbroglio will be long forgotten.
Doggone/GA
April 7th, 2010
7:43 am
“This is the only piece of major social legislation passed on a strictly party line vote”
And your point is? According to reports there were “hundreds” of GOP initiated amendements…so why did they then vote against it? If they weren’t going to bother to vote FOR it – which they didn’t – they why bother to propose amendments?
stands for decibels
April 7th, 2010
7:46 am
thanks for the fantastic obit – talk about a hero!
um, UnU, did you see the last line?
Shame on the American media !!!
Didn’t that maybe make your BS detector go off?
more here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/freeman.asp
Yes, he was a hero. Yes, he deserved more attention than [fill-in-the-blank/missing-white-woman/celeb-scandal-you-hated-at-the-time].
But please, do not encourage the copy/pasters, the guys who get an email forward from their “buddy” that they just had to pass along, that they were too damn lazy to check out to see if it was even remotely current.
Which it wasn’t.
BMan35
April 7th, 2010
7:50 am
You expected to get a straight answer out of a politician? Call me, I have some swamp land you may be interested in…
jt
April 7th, 2010
7:55 am
Good bust dB.
Drudge would be proud.
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
7:55 am
dB – meh – I don’t care about the relative column inches battle – there are plenty of worthwhile things that don’t make the news everyday, trumped by things that are more timely or controversial – that’s just the nature of the beast.
the guy was a real guy – that’s all that matters.
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
7:58 am
Bman – “You expected to get a straight answer out of a politician?”
I think he expected AN answer out of a politician – these guys had nuttin’
stands for decibels
April 7th, 2010
7:59 am
the guy was a real guy – that’s all that matters.
Well no. That’s not all that matters. It doesn’t honor his service to couch it in a generic wingnut-based attack on people who do not deserve it.
These blanket condemnations of the “media” serve to denigrate people who are doing legitimate work, some of them risking their damn lives to do so. One can lob legitimate shots at sloppy corporate media priorities — I do it all the time, myself — without going full wingnut and using this to set up your latest missive about why Katie Couric is a commie.
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
8:02 am
dB – “These blanket condemnations of the “media” serve to denigrate people who are doing legitimate work, some of them risking their damn lives to do so.”
I understand and agree with you – however, we really weren’t engaged in that discussion – it was more about education and how to make sure guys like these don’t get lost in the mist of history
Normal
April 7th, 2010
8:02 am
stands for decibels
April 7th, 2010
7:46 am
Did YOU read what you posted? Ed Snopes story is even more fantastic than I thought.
Belittle me all you want for “Copy and Pasting” something I thought worth sharing, don’t belittle a true American Hero in your efforts to
belittle me. Start drinking decaf, dude.
Tommy
April 7th, 2010
8:03 am
For the gullible liberal fool who did not believe that the IRS woudl be hiring people to enforce Obmamacare’s mandates on us as individuals:
The IRS yesterday announced its plans to enforce fines against individuals who don’t buy health insurance up to 2% of their income.
Bet our medical records will never leak too.
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
8:09 am
ooooo … you mean they’re actually going to ENFORCE a law that they PASSED … wow … whatta concept
as far as medica records – you do realize that records already ARE being leaked on an all-too-frequent basis, don’t you???
stands for decibels
April 7th, 2010
8:10 am
UnU, I get it. And I like “Normal,” generally.
But sometimes you gotta point out that someone peed in the punchbowl.
This man was feted at the White House with the Medal of Honor. He has a post office named after him. That is honoring the man’s service.
Screaming about the media attention given to “some Hip-Hop coward beating the crap out of his girlfriend” SIX MONTHS AFTER the man’s passing, and using it to stir crap up in Feb. 2009–gosh, what had just happened, then? Whatever could a guy screaming about a “Hip-Hop coward” be upset about, right about then? think think think…
–well, that’s something else. Certainly not honoring his service. And when an otherwise decent guy like Normal gets sucked into it, and you enable that behavior, frankly, it pisses me off.
Sorry to be such a douchebag about it, it’s what I am sometimes.
jt
April 7th, 2010
8:11 am
Tommy -
Actually, the 16,000 more IRS agents COULD be a myth. The health-care scam/law just increased the IRS budget by 10 Billion dollars. No where did it say 16,000 more agents. The media just averaged out how many agents 10 billion would buy.
Regardless, it is sickening. 10 Billion could have payed for alot of insurance or medical help.
Mick
April 7th, 2010
8:11 am
Normal
Thanks for the story about Captain Ed Freeman, something positive and reinforcing to start another day in paradise..
stands for decibels
April 7th, 2010
8:11 am
Ed Snopes story is even more fantastic than I thought.
Normal, that’s great, that you have taken it upon yourself to learn about this man’s contribution. I just wish you’d done that before you had blindly copy/pasted propaganda. That’s all.
Morrus
April 7th, 2010
8:12 am
Vote out the incumbents and start over
jt
April 7th, 2010
8:12 am
I thought the db stood for decibels.
My bad.
stands for decibels
April 7th, 2010
8:16 am
I thought the db stood for decibels.
har.
Normal
April 7th, 2010
8:18 am
You know Stands, I nearly took that media line out but I didn’t, and now I’m sorry for that. I remember the story personally because I was in ‘Nam on my first tour at the time learning the trade of a river rat.
He was talked about all through ‘Nam, and became a superhero, and a live one at that. A friend did send the post to me and I didn’t check it out because I remembered my little piece of him.
I’m sorry I upset you, fair enough?
stands for decibels
April 7th, 2010
8:24 am
I’m sorry I upset you, fair enough?
more than fair. (Hey, I’m the douchebag, here, remember?)
jt
April 7th, 2010
8:26 am
Who is John Galt?
Unfortunantly, the federalies will probably get cracking on that border fence now, if this trend continues. From the WSJ————————
The number of American citizens and green-card holders severing their ties with the U.S. soared in the latter part of 2009, amid looming U.S. tax increases and a more aggressive posture by the Internal Revenue Service toward Americans living overseas.
According to public records, just over 500 people world-wide renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009, the most recent period for which data are available. That is more people than have cut ties with the U.S. during all of 2007, and more than double the total expatriations in 2008.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304017404575166211517964090.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy
We all lose
April 7th, 2010
8:27 am
How about “repeal and reform,” but after we address the issues that are really affecting the majority of Americans right now. And no serious health-care discussion can begin without tort reform at the top of the agenda.
USinUK
April 7th, 2010
8:30 am
“just over 500 people world-wide renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009″
500 people??? seriously???
there were more people than that at my high school
Audrey in Georgia
April 7th, 2010
8:31 am
Replace republicans.
Doggone/GA
April 7th, 2010
8:32 am
“just over 500 people world-wide renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009″
Now give us the number of immigrants who took their oath of citizenship in the same year.
Very Afraid
April 7th, 2010
8:34 am
So the “Birthers” argument is that Obama isn’t really the President because he hasn’t shown sufficient evidence that he is a U.S. citizen. So answer me this question – How is it Obama, running for office against a Republican candidate, under a Republican administration headed by Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, (who’s father H.W. was the former head of the CIA), was so skillfully able to hide his “true” origins from the CIA, FBI, INS, ICE, Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service,Interpol and pretty much every law enforcement agency in the free world? Either Obama actually IS a U.S. Citizen, or, the agencies that we entrust the security of the nation to are so inept that we should all be VERY AFRAID!
BugintheirEar
April 7th, 2010
8:34 am
Obozo is just one lying sock of $hit, “I will not raise taxes on anybody making under $250, 000 a year, what a lie. By not letting companies right off the benefits that they give me, and adding that on to my pay IS RAISING MY TAXES. Better yet here is what Obozo advisers have to say;+
Volcker: Taxes likely to rise eventually to tame deficit
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.
Volcker, answering a question from the audience at a New York Historical Society event, said the value-added tax “was not as toxic an idea” as it has been in the past and also said a carbon or other energy-related tax may become necessary.
Though he acknowledged that both were still unpopular ideas, he said getting entitlement costs and the U.S. budget deficit under control may require such moves. “If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes,” he said.
We need to repeal and replace….. By the way how come you liberals never mention HR3400 that has the GOP answer to reform, it has been in the hands of the dimacrats for over a year?
BugintheirEar
April 7th, 2010
8:35 am
sack
jt
April 7th, 2010
8:37 am
“Now give us the number of immigrants who took their oath of citizenship in the same year.”
As per the progressives, this is no longer necessary.
UK-
500 is lower than I would expect, but it could be the start of a trend.
A trickle in a dike if you would.
Dr Strangelove
April 7th, 2010
8:38 am
You have to understand politics. If you are a Repudlickan, then you must necessarily disagree with a Democratic president. Period. You must call him a moron, and draw caricatures of his likeness to der Heetler. You must show how he’s really just a voodoo witch doctor. It’s the law. It’s a rule, like stepping on cracks makes your father brokeback (the gay rat).
In world war two, when the Marines engaged the japanese on all those islands, the japs would yell, “Fook Babe Ruth”, at night. They had to yell that, even if they liked Babe Ruth. It was rule of war, and that law is unbreakable. I wonder how many Marines cared. That’s how many democrats care that the pea-tards in the tea party are rascist secessionists. That’s how many peetards know what they’re saying. It doesn’t matter. They’ll parrot any slogan. it’s the law. it’s a rule. We’ve known that ignorance forms a new face every generation. . There is no question that the Tea Party is the new KKK. It just is. It’s part of the metamorphosis of hate.
It’s the law. Haters will persist in blaming those they hate no matter what the cost, because it’s all they know. Bookman asked the question, and these sophisticated politicians, the best and the brightest of the hillbilly right, had nothing to offer, and yet they still have careers? Yes! Because a nod is as good as a wink in a party of blind horse’s rear ends.
Born-again, flat-earther birther racist-secessionists are here to smear. (how queer).
jt
April 7th, 2010
8:39 am
The “sock” is better. And apt.
you betcha
April 7th, 2010
8:41 am
Tax problems:
Would no more tax holiday for GE really end up helping Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer? Doubtful. “The average Joe should be in favor of lower corporate taxes,” says Hodge, “because ultimately they are paying the corporate income tax. Either as workers, getting lower wages and fewer jobs, or as consumers, paying higher prices, or as retirees, getting lower dividends and earnings on their investments.”
In the same vein, JPMorgan Chase ( JPM – news – people ) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has spoken out against an Obama proposal to levy a special tax on banks to recoup bailout costs. “Using tax policy to punish people is a bad idea,” said Dimon. “All businesses tend to pass costs on to customers.”
how will the prez solve the dilemma? why does the prez hate americans?
middler and so tired of all the rhetoric :
April 7th, 2010
9:05 am
From the beginning when it was “Just Say No” the GOP has consistently touted their plan as better, less governmental, and financially superior. However, in over a year there has not been a single plan offered and no details. We get plenty of sound bites and superficial critiques. As the old saying goes “where’s the beef?” This legislation is not perfect. It needs to be tweaked. As with anything it will never be perfect and will never be at an end as change in everything never stops. But the fighting and meanness and threats have to stop. The Dems finally got together enough on something to pass it. Now all our legislators, federal and state, need to find ways to implement it and improve it and make it work for us. This silly and expensive states suit, when so much is wrong, is another smokescreen to make people look they are doing something when they aren’t and that they are helping “the people” which they aren’t. Many of us are sick, sick, sick, of the disconnect with reality and the real world in which the legislators exist and want them to remember they are not a select exalted class but “servants of the people.”
josef nix
April 7th, 2010
9:15 am
Since I’m off today on the taxpayers’ dime (thank you, taxpayers!) I’ll take a minute here and address the question of teaching history. It’s not as hard as you might think, all you have to do is remember the biblical (in public schools? Ssh DADT) “and a child shall lead them,” Forget the textbook beyond it’s menu of terms/dates/key figures they’ll be tested on. Tell the students to memorize those, pop test ‘em on them daily and their scores on the standardized test of standardized humanity will keep the overseers at bay and you can get on with the task at hand. Then spend your time letting them run free in research, reading and written commentary. “What do you think and can you back that up.” You’d be surprized at just how many of the little b*ggers watch the learning channels, what they’ll find on internet, in the library, talking to granma and how excited they are to share that with others. “I was watching so and so and granma told me that and I found this on internet…” Then, the most important question you ask them, “why wasn’t that in the textbook?” Get ready…you’ll get an earful…
Those of us who have a love of history all remember that teacher who stepped outside the box and told us to look beyond the textbook and to look at our own stories from our own families, our own traditions and compare and contrast those with others and, when we said, “I’m confused…” told us, “good, Your’re supposed to be. History is confusing.”
Exchequer
April 7th, 2010
9:17 am
Entitlement programs are not financially sustainable. The refusal to admit this nationally makes it no less true. The attempt to force the country into a quasi-entitlement social benefits model relying upon heavily accelerated taxes years before benefit expenses begin is financial foolery.
Neither party is truly willing to come clean with the American people because they realize that the resulting “truth serum” will make the “Intolerable Acts” look like childs play. Government’s only interest is the perpetuation and expansion of its own power – nothing more. We the People have bought into the idea of “letting somebody else handle the problem”. This has spawned a governance model that feeds on the premise of Security rather than liberty and accountability. Polls drive professional political opinion; the fear of offending someone is so severe that it has become impossible to get any politician from either party to give a straight answer on any issue of relevance to the nation.
Chew on these tidbits:
Medicare and Medicaid should be repealed because the nation can’t afford the programs. This statement is offensive to anyone receiving this entitlement but doesn’t change the truth of the statement.
Elimination of all existing entitlement forced wealth redistribution programs, while wildly unpopular, and considered to be political suicide by both parties, is fiscally responsible.
Any legislation that creates a private army for the President should be repealed because it violates the intent of the Seperation of Powers clause which defines the accountability of the Executive branch and the President’s use of force internationally or domestically only with congressional review and consent. Not to mention the defacto violation of The Posse Comitatus Act, a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement.
Members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order” on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.
The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress.
Creation of a “non-uniformed” 6,000 member private army that will be trained by the US Military for use at the President’s discretion on domestic issues neither enhances our collective freedom or improves our collective healthcare.
Land of the Free?
wyldbyllhyltnyr
April 7th, 2010
9:20 am
Jay, read Paul Ryan’s roadmap – GOP leadership will have to adopt that eventually.
budman
April 7th, 2010
11:43 am
NORMAL…thanks a ton for sharing that part of American history. I have quest lectured and power pointed presented at Southern Tech. for the past 5 years for a history professor. The youth of America are so serious about the truth about Vietnam, they are teaching the subject in school at undergraduate level. It has been taught in college at a graduate level subject in more places and it has been going on longer. There are only 11 colleges in the US that bother with the controversial subject. War is very debatable..I am from Charleston, SC and we will tell you that some colonist didn’t want to break away from mother England. Most people don’t know about that..its not popular.
My point is that most people invent history. They think that watching the History channel is deep research. Real research is difficult at best, no matter how trite the subject appears. It is only preserved when people like your self preserve it and use written history too enrich our lives.
theyeshaveit
April 7th, 2010
12:13 pm
Doggone/GA said, ” ‘This is the only piece of major social legislation passed on a strictly party line vote’
And your point is? According to reports there were “hundreds” of GOP initiated amendements…so why did they then vote against it? If they weren’t going to bother to vote FOR it – which they didn’t – they why bother to propose amendments?”
Doggone, Republican ideas were included in the form of about 200 amendments. Wonder why the Republicans voted against it? The answer goes back to what Boehner said long before the vote. Republicans wanted to kill the bill (at the expense of the American people) because they wanted to make HCR Obama’s “Waterloo”. Politics anyone?
Brett
April 7th, 2010
12:49 pm
They are the very scum of the Earth.
Repeal This Monstrosity! - US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum
April 8th, 2010
2:18 pm
[...] [...]
The GOP today « Later On
April 8th, 2010
2:21 pm
[...] can appreciate why the premise seems implausible, but consider a classic example from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jay [...]
Vail Beach
April 8th, 2010
6:14 pm
Just curious, Jay…Were you as hard on candidate Barack Obama when he espoused basically the same position that Chambliss and McConnell are espousing now — no pre-existing conditions, no individual mandate?
It is a tough issue, and that’s probably why Obama campaigned deceptively about it. The Republicans are doing the same and they get (deserved) jeers. But Obama’s evasions inspired worship and got him elected.
Morally, ethically, journalistically, explain the difference.
Governing « Just Above Sunset
April 9th, 2010
4:32 am
[...] says he appreciate why his premise seems implausible, but he asks us to consider this example from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jay Bookman. Bookman and other Atlanta [...]
Congress Links | The Peoples People
April 9th, 2010
3:19 pm
[...] Top Senate Republicans struggle with the logistics of repealing the individual mandate form the Affordable Care Act. (The Atlanta Journal Constitution) [...]
Republicans asked what they would do if given control of Congress; Answer: they don’t have a clue
April 12th, 2010
1:20 am
[...] carry insurance or face a fine. What would Republicans do in the alternative, if not a mandate? According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, which interviewed Saxby and McConnell, Republicans have no idea. They haven’t thought that [...]
GOP: Repeal. Replace. Repeat empty rhetoric. | Cynthia Tucker
April 12th, 2010
5:07 pm
[...] both houses of Congress (which is quite unlikely.) And replace? That’s fantasy, too, as my colleague Jay Bookman has explained: So if the GOP plan is going to ensure that pre-existing conditions are covered, as Chambliss and [...]
Enter the Magic Circle « Sabino Canyon
April 25th, 2010
5:28 pm
[...] third, these same GOP leaders have no idea how to cover pre-existing conditions without a mandate. That’s because of the well known “free rider” problem. If pre-existing [...]