I’ve written about Doctors for America before. They’re a group of physicians and medical students who are taking a bus tour to promote the PPACA.
This is their report from Tampa:
Having a fun, fulfilling, and raucous time here on the Patients Over Politics (a.k.a. Doctors Gone Wild) bus tour. On Monday, I arrived in Tampa in the mid-afternoon and attempted to take a taxi downtown. I got within a mile, but almost all of the streets headed towards the city center were blocked off by police. So, off I walked to meet up with the crew. The streets were eerily quiet yet there were police officers everywhere, wearing tan uniforms and riding mountain bikes in formation. Although the convention’s events had been postponed for the day due to the possible hurricane, the crowd control agents were out in force, so it had a strange police-state feel with 20 or so officers for every citizen I ran into. After a bit of a walk through occasional drizzle, I first found the Patients Over Politics RV.
Read the whole thing. They’re working really hard. Also, open thread.
eric
Perhaps they would happy if the US had socialized health care like Massachusetts.
Cassidy
I go home in 10 minutes. I’m thinking tonight might be a +6 or more night.
Hill Dweller
Somewhat OT, but still related to PPACA: I received another Willard mailer today, despite no registered Republicans in the house, accusing Obama of destroying Medicare. But the most vile part of the mailer was the back cover, which has a picture of two white, elderly, interlocked hands, with some pills and a glass of water on a counter in front of them. Underneath were the words “We placed our trust in Barack Obama”.
Willard and Ryan are vile human beings.
Mnemosyne
@eric:
That is their ultimate goal, yes, but they don’t see the point in returning to zero when instead we can build on the PPACA.
People who don’t think that the PPACA is designed to push the for-profits out of the health insurance business haven’t bothered to read it.
eric
@Mnemosyne: oh i agree. I was just being snarky
Honest Observations
Anyone else notice that neither side has talked much about healthcare since the law was upheld?
Villago Delenda Est
@Hill Dweller:
Objection, your Honor! Bolded section assumes facts not in evidence!
Hill Dweller
I see the Willard camp is out there blaming everything on Clint Eastwood. F’n amateurs.
Davis X. Machina
I wanna be there for the Doctors Gone Wild-Nuns On The Bus throwdown….
dr. bloor
By the time they’re through, there won’t be a stripper within 50 miles of Tampa with undetected breast cancer.
AlladinsLamp
Ryan, at a rally in Virginia, says there are 23 million unemployed.
So, if unemployemnt is at 8%, then…
287 million workers in this country???
Litlebritdifrnt
Doctor Who new season weekend! Wooooooot.
Suffern ACE
@AlladinsLamp: Yep. Count the retired and disabled, since under his plan, those are categories that won’t really matter anyway. Perhaps we can exclude children under 6 from the pool as a way of demonstrating the moderation and caring of the new plan.
Suffern ACE
@AlladinsLamp: Also, since they’re only pledging 12 million new jobs (and hoping those unemployed will be interested in taking 2 or more a apiece), there’s still a sticking problem not being addressed.
schrodinger's cat
I have lots of sage and I don’t know what to do with it. Any ideas. Also basil, I have already made pesto.
Violet
@Hill Dweller: Like they’re going to kill themselves or something? Despicable and creepy.
Heard someone on TV call the Eastwood bbit “Surrealist Dada Dinner Theater”. Heh.
Had some folks across the pond take a look at the Eastwood bit since Eastwood is such a global star. Complete bafflement, much laughter, and lots of “this is at a political event? Why? How did this happen?” comments.
Violet
@schrodinger’s cat: My friend dries her basil in the oven using the oven light. I think you can also make pesto and freeze it.
Davis X. Machina
@schrodinger’s cat: Sage is rolled up inside saltimboca
jl
@AlladinsLamp:
Bureau of labor statistics says about 12.8 million unemployed as of July 2012, peaked at around 15.4 million late 2009.
Maybe he is counting underemployed, or has some calc that includes discouraged workers out of labor force, or as commenter above says, thinks all kids of all ages should be working, or, I dunno, just saying stuff that sounds cool for the campaign, whatevs.
LanceThruster
@dr. bloor:
I prescribe regular doses of bronskis administered topically and applied liberally with internal alcohol saturation.
Repeat as often as needed.
Ask your doctor if Bronskis[tm] are right for you.
Side effects may include marital strain, priapism, skeletal xylophoning, glitter cheeks, and Lynyrd skinnards
Villago Delenda Est
@Hill Dweller:
Clint trolled them, but good.
MikeJ
@Violet:
Last night Ben LaBolt’s first tweet was, “Referring all questions on this to Salvador Dalí.”
If you follow one Dem on twitter, make it LaBolt.
Villago Delenda Est
Via Atrios via Krugthulu
Paul Ryan seems to have even more problems with telling the truth.
The comments are interesting as butthurt Rethugs attempt to defend the lying sack of shit and attack Runner’s World for daring to fact check.
Villago Delenda Est
Via Atrios via Krugthulu
Paul Ryan seems to have even more problems with telling the truth.
The comments are interesting as butthurt Rethugs attempt to defend the lying sack of shit and attack Runner’s World for daring to fact check.
jl
@schrodinger’s cat:
If there is any sage left after your recover from gorging on Saltimbocca, an action which I highly recommend, you can try up some Italian taters and sage. Basic recipe below. You can fancy it up with Italian sausage and/or some cabbage, which are variations.
http://recipesitalian.com/fried-potatoes
Villago Delenda Est
Via Atrios via Krugthulu
Paul Ryan seems to have even more problems with telling the truth.
The comments are interesting as butthurt Rethugs attempt to defend the lying sack of shit and attack Runner’s World for daring to fact check.
Villago Delenda Est
Via Atrios via Krugthulu
Paul Ryan seems to have even more problems with telling the truth.
The comments are interesting as butthurt Rethugs attempt to defend the lying sack of shit and attack Runner’s World for daring to fact check.
Villago Delenda Est
Via Atrios via Krugthulu
Paul Ryan seems to have even more problems with telling the truth.
The comments are interesting as butthurt Rethugs attempt to defend the lying sack of shit and attack Runner’s World for daring to fact check.
Mike E
@schrodinger’s cat: Sage goes well with chicken and stuffing, but I’m guessing you prolly know this already.
Villago Delenda Est
I swear I only sent “submit comment” once. Then WP hanged and sent me back an error message. Not right away, mind you. Five minutes or so later.
Violet
@MikeJ: Yeah, I think I was the first to post that LaBolt tweet here last night. Classic. So much good Eastwood stuff flying around, it’s almost hard to keep up.
Villago Delenda Est
I swear I only sent “submit comment” once. Then WP hanged and sent me back an error message. Not right away, mind you. Five minutes or so later.
Mnemosyne
@eric:
No! No snark!
I’m certainly not counting the minutes until they let us off work early for the holiday or anything …
Darkrose
I know there are folks here who play, so in case you haven’t heard, City of Heroes is shutting down as of November 30.
I’m kind of in shock.
Litlebritdifrnt
@schrodinger’s cat:
Sage and onion stuffing. Yum.
Ding dong
Paul Ryan sounds like he lied about his running time? Why would a politician lie about his running time? Why? Mitt and Paul need to get. Hillary drunk and give them pointers on how not to deal with Barack Obama the Politician.
slag
@Hill Dweller: I’m relieved to have finally figured out who Willard and Paul remind me of. Those two frat guys from Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Reptile Boy episode. Now all we have to do is find and kill their reptile and the world will be safe for humankind again.
elmo
@schrodinger’s cat:
It is actually possible to freeze herbs and have them come out mostly fresh and useful. Get one of those cheap plastic ice cube trays. Chop the sage (or basil, works for either) and fill the tray slots about half full with the chopped herb. Now fill the rest of the way with water, and freeze.
Later when you want to include fresh herbs, just drop the herbal ice cube in whatever you’re cooking. Works really well.
Bill Arnold
@Hill Dweller:
This is rich. The paranoid cynic in me fears that the Republican long-term plan for Medicare is to replace one or more left-side Supreme Court justices with radical strict originalists of the partisan Republican variety, then have some small set of proxies devise (or flesh-out) constitutionality arguments against Medicare and launch a set of lawsuits towards the Supreme court. (“Who could have known that Medicare was unconstitutional?”)
Same tactic against Social Security, Medicaid, etc.
Amir Khalid
@MikeJ:
Y’know, I still haven’t figured this one out. Is Eastwood, an actor and director still highly regarded at 82, showing the onset of Alzheimer’s disease? Did he, with over half a century of show business experience, somehow screw the pooch on this gig? Or did he, a lifelong Republican, deliberately sabotage his own party? None of these possibilities seems particularly likely to me.
Chris
@Bill Arnold:
Very possible. Now that Obamacare’s been upheld by the Supreme Court, it’s likely that they’ll really step up their vetting of future Supreme Court nominees to make absolutely sure that this sort of unpleasant incident never happens to them again.
But it’s also possible that they don’t want to actually face the voter backlash that would come from destroying Social Security and Medicare (or the PPACA, which I suspect will end up being similarly untouchable). And that they’ll continue to support Supreme Court justices who aren’t exactly in sync with them, so that they can turn to their base, throw up their hands and say “sorry guys, we tried. What can we say? The Supreme Court says these things are constitutional.”
Republican psychology isn’t exactly easy to read, and different Republicans will look at it in different ways, so there’s no way to tell for sure.
Violet
@Amir Khalid: Maybe he was doing a promo for his movie where he plays a guy starting to experience memory issues (from what I can tell from the promos).
arguingwithsignposts
@Villago Delenda Est: ha:
Omnes Omnibus
@Ding dong: Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
Why would you lie about anything at all?
First the window, then it’s to the wall
Lil’ Jon, he always told the truth.
sagesource
Someone has to do a skit where Obama teleports into the chair and answers Eastwood point by point. It could end with Obama giving Eastwood the chair, since after all Eastwood is much older and Obama’s a gentleman.
jl
@AlladinsLamp:
OK, took two or three minute on the ol’ intertubes, and this is the best I can do to make Ryan’s 24 million unemployed “truthy”.
About 250 million nonfarm civilian population age 16 or over, 131 million employed. Ccurrent employment population ratio: 0.585.
Add 24 million more people employed you get employment population ratio of about 69.2, which is quite a bit over the peak ratio of around 63.3 we had in late 2006 early 2007.
So, Ryan is adding 10 percent to peak employment in 2006/7 and saying the difference between then and now is all due to Nobama induced unemployment.
Or some one tried to make the correct calculation, and multiplied by 2 somehow.
Or Ryan is just saying stuff on the campaign trail, “for the greater good”.
You take your pick.
? Martin
That’s got to hurt. You’re running for leader of the free world, but everyone thinks you’re too dull to distract from a projection of a dead guy.
Perhaps if they projected it out of Romney’s torso with Reagan wearing a white cloak saying “Help me Paul Ryan, you’re my only hope…”
jl
@? Martin: I also see little quip making rounds that the GOP lost a debate to an empty chair. That’s gotta hurt too. I hope that little uncivil comment overshadows Mitt too.
? Martin
@jl:
Ryan is factoring in all of the middle class tax increases, and entitlement program changes he has in mind and determining that there’s 12 million seniors looting the system that are gonna have to get their sorry asses back in the workforce.
jl
@? Martin:
Or, a lot of them damn shiftless parasite kids under 16 should be punching a time clock on an official job.
Ash Can
@? Martin:
Instead, the officials brought in Clint Eastwood, who…overshadowed presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
The GOP didn’t need a hologram of Reagan at its confab. They needed a hologram of Casey Stengel, yelling “Can’t anybody here play this game?”
? Martin
@jl: True. Perhaps Gingrich convinced him that all of the K-12 students should be janitors.
Lojasmo
@Honest Observations:
Obama has been loudly touting PPACA since the SCOTUS decision.
Ash Can
@Ash Can: Apparently I stand corrected — someone at LGF just posted a tweet from Rachel Maddow saying that Romney himself asked Eastwood to appear at the convention.
Honest Observations
Speaking of healthcare, it looks like Republicans are winning big on Medicare. Democrats stupidly thought the discussion would be about Ryan, but instead its about ObamaCare’s decision to raid Medicare to fund his massive new government program.
Between the effective Medicare attacks, the welfare attacks, Romney’s speech, and the Super PAC flood which is about to be unleashed, we could be looking at the beginning of the end for Obambi.
Amir Khalid
@? Martin:
Remember, though, that Grover Norquist actually said he wanted a President Autopen, to do nothing but sign whatever laws a Republican Congress had passed. I guess the Republican party, having nominated a suitably pliable Candidate Autopen, will now spend the next couple of months finding out if — he? it? — has what it takes to win a presidential election.
jl
@Ash Can:
So, then it was Romney himself who pissed of Clint, who threw away a prepared speech and ad libbed his way through losing a debate with an empty chair?
Or one of Mitt’s officious flunkies wanted in on the act?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Honest Observations
BTW, if you look at the spending so far, DNC+Dem Super PACs+Obama has actually outspent RNC+Repub Super PACs+Romney. Romney and his army of Super PACs have decided to hold back until after the convention–now comes the motherfucking HURRICANE of pro-Romney, anti-Obama Super PAC ads.
Honest Observations
And that’s not even taking into account the new anti-Obama documentary “2016”, paid for by unlimited corporate contributions. It’s doing gangbusters in Ohio and Wisconsin.
mamayaga
@Honest Observations: Can you wait a minute while we figure out whose turn it is to feed the troll?
jl
@Honest Observations:
You got some polls to back that up?
How does that square with a GOP post convention of bounce of Obama rising to 302 expected electoral votes, and rising to 71.6 percent chance of winning election? According the Fivethirtyeight model.
Edit: Is “unlimited corporate cash will bury you” back?
Honest Observations
@jl:
Because it will take until Monday to really feel the full effect of the Romney convention bounce, moron. You never get a big bounce exactly the following day.
But mark my words: Romney will catapult into a lead outside the margin of error in the polls next week, both nationally and in Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Wisconsin, with Michigan and Colorado tied.
Xecky Gilchrist
Oh yay, another bombast troll with a would-be-reasonable monicker.
Honest Observations
BTW, some polls now even show Connecticut may be in play. Interesting to see if its TCTC in the Nutmeg State after the bounce…
Xecky Gilchrist
Because it will take until Monday to really feel the full effect of the Romney convention bounce, moron.
Bookmark it, libs.
Piefilter.
Hill Dweller
@Honest Observations: VICTORY!
Change your pseudonym all you want, but your ignorance will shine through every time.
Honest Observations
@jl:
“Edit: Is “unlimited corporate cash will bury you” back?”
You got it!
Honest Observations
@Hill Dweller:
I would keep my original screen names but the spam filter is programmed to block them. I must really piss off the blog owners!
jl
@Honest Observations:
I welcome ally my fellow morons to this blog.
I guess Obama rising all through the GOP convention was some effect of complicated lags and chains of cause and effect that only unlimited corporate cash can understand.
Anyway, welcome back, whether you are same person, or another of the type, who so far have been almost perfect inverse prediction machines.
I like the way your’e taking.
Honest Observations
@jl:
Romney has been surging in the national polls and swing states since the Olympics ended. Obambi blew his wad early by overspending in the Summer.
BTW, the Giants/Cowboys kickoff game is going to be broadcast exactly when Bill Clinton is speaking, lol. Fail on your part to reach out to white working class voters again! They’ll be watching the game.
jl
@Honest Observations:
Thanks for that info. You were an almost perfect inverse prediction machine your last time around. Thanks for the good news, then.
However, I would prefer you were out campaigning for your ticket, rather than wasting time with morons here.
Edit: On the other hand, I done fell for enough DougJ spoofs to be careful. Whoever you are, thanks for the comic relief.
Honest Observations
@jl:
I always said Romney would be the nominee. And we was.
Hill Dweller
@Honest Observations: As I said, it doesn’t matter if you change your handle. Your stupidity and desperate need for attention are distinguishing characteristics.
Ryan is well on his way to being branded an inveterate liar, like his running mate. If you think they can get away with attacking Medicare reforms that Ryan and nearly every Republican in congress voted for twice, you’re high.
The welfare lie is also losing steam. There is no better example than the Republican governors stammering and stuttering when asked if the work requirement has been eliminated.
jl
OK, definite spoof territory now.
Mnemosyne
@Honest Observations:
Yes, that’s why people block spammers like you from trying to send e-mails about Vlagra and pron into their e-mail boxes. It’s not because they’re repetitive and annoying, it’s because they’re afraid of DA TROOF!
Good one.
Honest Observations
@Hill Dweller:
The polls say the Medicare attacks are working and working beautifully.
Get ready to wine about “Rethuglican swiftboat liars” for the next four years.
feebog
It’s Friday. Trolls are not scheduled to be fed until Sunday. Please do not feed the Trolls as they become used to hanging around humans, rooting in garbage bins, and falling out of trees. Feeding Trolls also makes it extremely hard to return them to their native habitat, the jungle boogie.
LanceThruster
@Honest Observations:
While there are many worthwhile anagrams for “Honest Observations,” I like “A Boner Invests Hoots”
Mnemosyne
@Honest Observations:
Oh, yes? Which polls? Links, por favor.
That’s Spanish for “put up or shut up.”
Villago Delenda Est
@Honest Observations:
UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH is back again, I see…backing the lying sack of shit ticket.
Lojasmo
@Honest Observations:
Oh! Crazy motherfucker is back!
Villago Delenda Est
@Lojasmo:
Take it to the bank, libtards! Romney will win Minnesota and Colorado!
Roberta in MN
That is not true. The President talks about it all the time and so do his surrogates and some of the MSM. that is a disengeous remark.
gelfling545
@schrodinger’s cat: Tie it in bunches, hang it out of direct light until dry, & crumble it freely into all sorts of good things.
Ruckus
@gelfling545:
Are you talking about the herbs or the troll?
Cause crumbling it onto good things would make them much less good for sure.
rikyrah
@Honest Observations:
new name. same batshyt craziness.
S. Holland
@Litlebritdifrnt: Yes! Yes! Yes!
Yutsano
@schrodinger’s cat: Take two leaves of sage and three leaves of basil. Stick under the skin of a chicken breast. Rub outside with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minytes or until chicken is done. Tasty by itself or as a base for a whole bunch of other stuff.