Sorry, BYE weekend for the Steelers and I forgot to put up a thread for you kids.
Archives for 2009
This Was Inevitable
Nothing surprising about this (via the GOS):
It is in this spirit that I am writing to let you know I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same.
It’s not in the cards for me to be your representative, but I strongly believe Bill is the only candidate who can build upon John McHugh’s lasting legacy in the U.S. Congress. John and I worked together on the expansion of Fort Drum and I know how important that base is to the economy of this region. I am confident that Bill will be able to provide the leadership and continuity of support to Drum Country just as John did during his tenure in Congress.
In Bill Owens, I see a sense of duty and integrity that will guide him beyond political partisanship. He will be an independent voice devoted to doing what is right for New York. Bill understands this district and its people, and when he represents us in Congress he will put our interests first.
Please join me in voting for Bill Owens on Tuesday. To address the tough challenges ahead, we must rise above partisanship and politics and work together. There’s too much at stake in this election to do otherwise.
We’ll see if the wingnut purge works out for them. In related news, it turns out that Hoffman is a Glenn Beck follower and has signed his pledge. This just gets more awesome with every day.
And this from Hoffman’s position page made me chuckle: “I was brought up to believe marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s how I feel. I don’t want to persecute anyone but that’s what I believe. Marriage ought to stay marriage. Period.”
Unless, of course, your name is Michael Schiavo, and then marriage is between a man, a woman, the wingnuts, and a Republican congress.
About the Public Option
This is kind of interesting:
What’s all the fuss about? After all the noise over Democrats’ push for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, coverage numbers are finally in: Two percent.
That’s the estimated share of Americans younger than 65 who’d sign up for the public option plan under the health care bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is steering toward House approval.
The underwhelming statistic is raising questions about whether the government plan will be the iron-fisted competitor that private insurers warn will shut them down or a niche operator that becomes a haven for patients with health insurance horror stories.
Some experts are wondering if lawmakers have wasted too much time arguing about the public plan, giving short shrift to basics such as ensuring that new coverage will be affordable.
I was actually thinking about this on the flight home yesterday- when did I first hear about the public option? I couldn’t decide, but I am thinking it had to be sometime this spring or this summer. I certainly know no one was using the phrase “the public option” during the campaign last year, so for me, at least, it was a recent development.
At any rate, it is kind of amusing that the public option, a part of the debate that was, to me, at least, a new part of the debate very recently, has become the bitterest battle, and when you look at it, it really is kind of not that big of a deal. We already offer public insurance for many things, but for some reason or another, this has been the line in the sand for the moderates. Just weird.
Or maybe the public option has been there all along and I just wasn’t paying attention.
About That Big Tent Party
You know the thing that I find most amusing about the NY race is that what they are basically telling every moderate Republican across the country is that it doesn’t matter if you’ve been a loyal Republican for decades, it doesn’t matter if you know the district and the people, it doesn’t matter if you fit the district, and it doesn’t matter that you have given decades to the party. It just doesn’t matter. If the teabagging wingnuts and the shrieking lunatics like Malkin don’t like you, high profile crackpots like Palin and Dick Armey and others are going to swoop in and back some clown who doesn’t even live in the district and then shit all over the area’s voters, telling them their interests are “parochial.”
Now that is how you build a sustainable party!
Open Thread
cdmarine, Learning to be Married.
Montysano, Kids.
Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.
CBS Sunday Morning
Happy Halloween
And no. That is not Tunch.
I’m off to bed- I can’t keep my eyes open.