Oliver has finally found a Democratic candidate that he thinks will be a winner for 2006.
The candidate, of course, is John Doe.
Which, I guess, when you stop giggling, makes sense, considering an “unnamed Democrat” was running neck and neck with Bush in 2003.
In all seriousness, if Democrats want a path to victory, they should really be looking at people like the Democratic Governor of my state, Joe Manchin, who I will probably vote for again in 2008. I am a little upset about the cave in to the insurance industry, though.
*** Update ***
For those of you who do not know what the insurance cave-in was, our legislature just passed a bill (signed by Manchin) that ended third-party bad-faith lawsuits, which, I agree, are a problem because they lead to additional lawsuits, fraud, increased premiums. At the same time, there has to be some way to address comapnies who do deal in bad faith. A lose/lose all around.
Justin Faulkner
That’s funny because as soon as I saw the name Manchin, I was going to mention the third party bad faith lawsuits bill. It transferred the jurisdiction for grievances which would normally be heard in the private tort system into the hands of the WV Insurance Commission.
How effective will it be? Before you could sue someone else’s insurance company, the Commission never enforced the liability law once. Insurers see this lack of enforcement, and that’s why they want the Commission to handle these things.
We read a book this semester which I highly recommend: “Tort Law and the Public Interest: Competition, Innovation and Consumer Welfare” by Peter Schuck. Turns out that in the 80’s liability “crisis,” the only things which had a measurable effect on premiums were caps on noneconomic/punitive damages and limits on joint and several liability. Further, insurers did pass on some of the savings to consumers in the form of lower premiums, but not all of it by any means.
That said, at least this bill is a high-profile boon to wealthy defendants. I can’t say that CAFA–which simply federalizes many tort claims and undermines the market-like effect of having 50 separate judicial systems–has gotten the attention it deserves. I remember a time when conservatives were opposed to federalizing things and supported “states rights.” Ah, how I long for those days!
George T
It’s “faith-based” logic run amok. It’s the belief that ALL lawsuits are bad — except, of course, MY lawsuit which has merit (just look at how many Republicans, including George W. Bush, have used the courts to pursue what most others would call a frivolous claim). It’s the belief that faith is a valid and competent substitute for real science. It’s the belief that ALL tax cuts are inherently good and ALL tax increases are inherently bad/evil. It’s the belief that ALL actions which allow corporations to prosper are good despite the consequences to individuals, cities, states, and the environment. It’s the belief that electronic voting without a paper and audit trail are good, despite solid evidence of fraud and conflicts of interest in the machine vendors to the contrary.
We are swiftly becoming the joke of the world. We are addicted to soap opera-type news and idiotic reality shows. We are losing our ability to think for ourselves, and simply follow our “Leaders”, like Bush and Pat Robertson and James Dobson, right off the cliff to diaster, both personally and collectively.
In our bones, having been trained in the Golden Rule and an absolutely objective sense of right and wrong, we KNOW that cutting taxes for the super-rich (like killing the estate tax) is wrong; we KNOW that the bankruptcy bill that forces working people to keep paying debts that forced bankruptcy in the first place, without killing the estate trusts and millionaire mansion exemptions for the rich, is wrong; we KNOW that what Bush is trying to do to kill Social Security is wrong; we KNOW that 45 million Americans without health insurance is wrong; we KNOW that a $5.15 minimum age is wrong; we KNOW that 38 million people living in poverty is wrong; we KNOW that cooking the intelligence books to force a war of choice in Iraq is wrong; we KNOW that to not plan for the “peace” is both wrong and criminal; we KNOW that allowing corporations to operate with impunity to destroy competition, the environment, and people’s lives and livlihoods, is wrong.
I could go on, but it seems that the altuistic and fiduciary nature of government and public service has been replaced by the laws of the jungle: greed, power, and survival of the fittest are the only things that matter. The small guy is getting crushed and forgotten, because he is not a part of the “haves” and “have mores”.
And the media? They are as lost as the rest of us, because it is all about profits and the glammer of the powerful. What makes Paris Hilton famous? Her brains, or her scientific discoveries, or her service to the poor? No, it’s her money (that she inherited and will never have to pay taxes on — thanks, Congrss), and her ability to suck a c**k on the internet! And now she is a TV star! What a metaphor she is for the whores that the media have decided to become! CNN has become the People magazine of the TV airways, and morphed into a 24/7 Jennifer Wilkens network. But what of Iraq, the poor, the melting polar icecaps, Darfur? Nada, ziltch, zip and zero.
We are going to hell in a handbasket, and we are too stupid or lazy to realize it. It makes me sad that West Virginia caves in to the insurance industry, but they are certainly not alone. Michigan is the same. There is no malpractice insurance crisis, and it’s not the fault of lawyers that premiums are out of control. It is solely the fault of the insurance companies (who refused in the 1990s and 1980s and 1970s, when times were good, to adequately charge proper underwriting rates when they could make money in the stock market, but when the markets crashed had to raise rates to keep profits at the “correct” level) and the doctors and licensing boards who together refused to adequately sanction the bad docotors (when only 5% of the doctors are responsible for more than 50% of the malpractice payouts, the cause is obvious).
This is a long rant, but it goes to all that is wrong in this country, and it is killing both the middle class — which has been responsible for the sustained properity enjoyed in this country since the end of World War II — and the trend is for it to continue getting worse. Pay attention to what John Cole is saying: TANSTAAFL — There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. What Bush and his cohort are selling is exactly that, and for most Americans, especially those who vote against their economic interests, it’s a disasterous mirage. And just like those who drink sand while hallucinating from thirst in the desert, “drinking” what Bush and his cohort are selling us will surely kill us, too.