Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

No one could have predicted…

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

You know he’s going to shit a cat.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

It’s possible to be a liberal firebrand without crapping on the party.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Let me file that under fuck it.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

You are here: Home / Anderson On Health Insurance / That’s it?

That’s it?

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That’s it?  That is all the Senate will do with Obamacare?  Give money to an industry that contributes pretty much to everyone and then continue to fuck the IRS chicken? 

The medical device tax was put in place to raise revenue to cover premium subsidies.  If there is a 1:1 revenue replacement and not a benefit cut or subsidy cut, I would be shocked if this did not pass the Senate with 85 votes.  If there was no replacement, I think it would pass the Senate with 72 or more votes. 

From a system point of view, it is a “So what” symbolic attack on Obamacare that does almost nothing besides deliver either no net stimulus if there are offsets to a zero-rate bound economy or inefficiently delivers a small stimulus to the economy if there are no offsets. 

 

Reader Interactions

59Comments

  2. 2.

    John S.

    I read “aggressive action to intensify oversight” as code for impeachment.

    There is a precedent to impeach Democratic presidents in their second term, so they would simply be continuing that fine tradition.

  3. 3.

    Alex S.

    Hmm, medical device tax… well, I guess the conservative establishment has accepted Obamacare and now listens to the lobbyists on how to get the most out of it.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    End the medical device tax… Let’s see here, tax break for powerful industry? check! Increase budget deficit? Check! One more reason to blame the poor for all that is wrong with America? Check!

    What’s not to like?

  5. 5.

    Chyron HR

    REPEAL OF OBAMACARE’s coughcoughmedicaldevicetaxcoughcough

    I’d swear the GOP has a lower opinion of the average Republican voter’s intelligence than we do.

  7. 7.

    shelley

    conservative legislation

    Ha-ha-ha-ha. Care to elaborate on exactly what that is?

    And how fitting. All the Newsmax headlines are blanked out, just the ‘own gold offshore.’

  9. 9.

    Alex S.

    @shelley:

    Hmm, I have all headlines, including ‘The One Thing Your Prostate Needs Every Morning’, ‘Are You an American Born Before 1965? Please Read’ and ‘Doctors Call This the Wrinkle Reducing Secret’

  11. 11.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Supreme Court nominations.

    Fat Tony and Ginsburg will be carried out of the building at some point soon. We’re already down 5-4. Make that 6-3 and you can stick a fork in your lives as you’ve known them.

  12. 12.

    dubo

    The Medical Device Tax has been a target of intense focus and criticism by the right wing media for quite a while now, not because of the Medical Device Tax itself, but because it became a keyword that lights up the lizard brains of the 27 percenters

  13. 13.

    eric

    So wait? Are they going to fuck the chicken or use it to pay for health care? I cant keep my GOP chickens straight. Not that there is anything wrong with gay chickens, they just cant have special rights.

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    The Republicans can block whatever nominations Obama makes, but they can’t force him to nominate anyone he doesn’t approve of. If he holds tough, the worst that would happen would be unfilled vacancies. I suggest we try to figure out how to stiffen his spine on that point starting today.

  15. 15.

    Tommy

    I hope that is all they do. I fear far more. My gut is they will want Obama to use the veto pen so they can run on it on the next Presidential election.

  18. 18.

    Tommy

    @eric: I think they will overstep. My parents are moderate Republicans. Well mom voted for Obama twice. Dad is on the fence. They are sane people. I keep telling them they need to reclaim their party from the crazies. That I am open to two parties. Debate is fine. But you can’t be crazy and you are not. Stand up and take back your party.

  19. 19.

    catclub

    @Tommy:

    I keep telling them they need to reclaim their party from the crazies.

    Look to Kansas! If that works out to maximum effect it would be marvelous.

  21. 21.

    Tone In DC

    @Amir Khalid:

    Two whole items? Gee, it sounds like the Republican party is getting ambitious.

    LULz.
    The last two Congresses (2010 – present) are the most do-nothing legislatures in history. Two might be too much for their four days per week schedule, with four months off.

  22. 22.

    piratedan

    What do you expect of a political party that has devolved into having zero ideas other than to act as “honest brokers” involved with continuing to bleed the 99% on behalf of the 1%? Everything else is window dressing, culture wars, military industrial complex, environmentalism, health care yada yada yada… if these fuckers can’t find a way to make a buck off it, they ain’t interested.

  23. 23.

    Tommy

    @catclub: My mother voted for Obama twice. First time in her 67 years she voted for a “liberal.” She is pro choice. She thinks violence against women is a reality. Equal pay for equal work. I don’t often tell my parents what to think but I was like mom you realize we are better on all these issues. Please ponder it. She did and changed her vote. I have to think there are a lot of other people, parents like my mom. I don’t think she is rare. She just had a default position to vote Republican. We need to change people like my mom.

  24. 24.

    gene108

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    Fat Tony and Ginsburg

    I’m more worried about Ginsburg and Brier. Both are getting up in years and Ginsburg has had health problems.

    One or both might decide to retire, if a Dem is still President. EDIT: One or more may kick the bucket, if a Republican wins the Presidency in 2016, 2020, or even 2024 and they have not retired, while a Democrat is in office.

    With the miracles of modern medicine, Tony’s going to stay in office till he dies, which will be a good long while yet.

    I honestly think it’ll be another ten years before Tony or Kennedy come close to kicking the bucket and the Democrats can flip the balance on the Supreme court.

    Also, Truman was the last Democrat to appoint a Chief Justice to the SCOTUS.

    It’s going to be another 40 years before we get an another opportunity, unless Roberts gets hit by a bus.

  25. 25.

    Hill Dweller

    I would love to believe wingnut overreach would benefit Dems, but even Bush nearly destroying the country only got us control of the White House and congress for 2 years. Despite going absolutely bat shit crazy, and engaging in a nullification strategy at both the federal and state level, for the past 6 years, Republicans are poised to take control of congress next year. It’s both discouraging and infuriating.

  26. 26.

    Botsplainer

    @Hill Dweller:

    I would love to believe wingnut overreach would benefit Dems, but even Bush nearly destroying the country only got us control of the White House and congress for 2 years. Despite going absolutely bat shit crazy, and engaging in a nullification strategy at both the federal and state level, for the past 6 years, Republicans are poised to take control of congress next year. It’s both discouraging and infuriating.

    White people.

    When the demographic shift fully hits, we have completely earned a Hutu/Tutsi powerplay.

    I can only hope for the sake of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren that the new majorities will be kind and forebearing on their very justified grievances.

  27. 27.

    James Hare

    Pretty sure they could get the medical device tax repeal tomorrow if they asked for it. It would not be hard to peel off a few Democrats for that. Probably wouldn’t even involve any compromise. Heck — both of these agenda items could probably happen if they were willing to compromise just a little bit. I’d be pretty pissed if I was a Republican voter and this was the offer.

    Of course, if I was a Republican voter I probably wouldn’t be paying much attention.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    @piratedan:

    What do you expect of a political party that has devolved into having zero ideas other than to act as “honest brokers” involved with continuing to bleed the 99% on behalf of the 1%?

    That is so unfair! They’re also the party of “No!” See, that’s two things!

  30. 30.

    srv

    Lawmakers voted 78-22 in favor of the bill, with 9 Democrats and 12 Republicans voting “no,” along with one independent.

    The “no” votes included several senators seen as prospective presidential candidates in both parties, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

    They should aim higher, “Destroying ISIS should be our No. 1 priority” Warren is playing for the wrong team.

  33. 33.

    boatboy_srq

    @Tommy:

    My gut is they will want Obama to use the veto pen so they can run on it on the next Presidential election impeach him promptly because TABMITWH.

    Much more like it.

    Sanity and the GOP parted ways a while back. I’ve begun to think that “reclaiming the party” would be a wasted effort, and that the moderates need a new organization so they can leave the b#tsh!t-crazy GOTea rump to wither and die on its own.

  34. 34.

    Patrick

    @dubo:

    The Medical Device Tax has been a target of intense focus and criticism by the right wing media for quite a while now, not because of the Medical Device Tax itself, but because it became a keyword that lights up the lizard brains of the 27 percenters

    Why stop there? A number of Democrats, such as Klobuchar or Duckworth agree with them.

  35. 35.

    boatboy_srq

    @Tommy: Mum was an old Maine Republican (think Margaret Chase Smith). Same as yours: pro-choice, pro-equality, pro-environment. Gave heavily to Nature Conservancy (among others). She finally got it when I told her “You do realize that you’re giving all this money just to fight the people you’re electing…” That year she took a look at the GOTea voting record – and while she never changed her party affiliation I don’t think she voted for a Teahadist again.

  37. 37.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @srv: Eh?

    The Hill:

    Warren agreed that “time is of the essence.”

    “We need to be working now, full-speed ahead, with other countries, to destroy ISIS. That should be our No. 1 priority,” she said in a wide-ranging interview promoting her latest book, A Fighting Chance.

    President Obama said earlier in the day from Estonia that the U.S. would “degrade and destroy” the terrorist group. But later he said the country should work with allies to “shrink” the group’s “sphere of influence,” effectively making it a “manageable problem.”

    Warren deflected a question on whether Obama has been too cautious in his strategy to combat the Islamic terrorist group and pushed back on potentially broader unilateral action.

    “We can’t get pulled into another war in the Middle East,” she said. “We need to be working with others to close ISIS down.”

    It seems very clear to me what she’s saying. She’s saying the number one priority is working with others. The number one priority isn’t to destroy ISIL on our own. I don’t think Obama and Kerry (and Hagel) disagree.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    Johnny B

    And the best part, these meager promises will be enough for the GOP to control the House and Senate in the upcoming election. But no worries, American, the Republicans will entertain you throughout 2015 with the impeachment of the President.

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    @mikefromArlington:

    Earmarks will make a raging comeback. You can bet on that.

    I’ll take that bet. Earmarks aren’t coming back because the wingnuts hate them. The ability to grant or withhold pork is a key way that party leadership controls the rank and file. Resisting earmarks has been a key way that the inmates have taken over the asylum, and they aren’t about to give up their new-found independence, especially when gerrymandering and wingnut sugar daddies like the Koch brothers have reinforced their ability to succeed without pork.

    ETA: “Wingnut Sugar Daddies” would make a great band name.

  41. 41.

    Mike J

    @Patrick:

    Why stop there? A number of Democrats, such as Klobuchar or Duckworth agree with them.

    Franken has always been one of the loudest voices against it.

  42. 42.

    Bobby Thomson

    The point is to cut the subsidies. The next war for the foreseeable future will be about the Republicans welfare queening subsidy recipients with their T-bone steaks and gold-plated artificial hips.

  43. 43.

    srv

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: So we work with others to fight by voting against support for them and Obama?

    Who’s going to fight these people if we don’t support/train rebels and there can’t be boots on the ground? Does Warren have a Unicorn army somewhere?

  46. 46.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @James Hare:

    Pretty sure they could get the medical device tax repeal tomorrow if they asked for it. It would not be hard to peel off a few Democrats for that.

    Both Minnesota senators would eagerly jump, because Medtronic is based in Minneapolis and had a massive hissyfit about it. Problem being that if every squillion-dollar corporation in the health sector has a hissyfit about making slightly smaller profits and can pull the string of their state’s senators, what’s the fucking point of trying to make healthcare affordable for actual people. Ultimately, Al Franken will put the big corporations of Minnesota first because that’s what happens to Democrats in states or districts with big corporations.

    This is why we can’t have nice things.

  47. 47.

    Mike J

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Al Franken will put the big corporations of Minnesota first because that’s what happens to Democrats in states or districts with big corporations.

    Both Murray and Cantwell will do anything Boeing tells them, and that’s exactly the way the tens of thousand of voters who work for Boeing want it. It’s less a matter of selling out to big business and more a matter of protecting local jobs and voters.

    Franken was elected by people in Minnesota to represent Minnesota. He’s not an at-large senator whose only thought is what is best for our great republic. I forget, who has that post now?

  48. 48.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @srv: So Obama wants boots on the ground? So Hagel wants boots on the ground? I don’t think so. Obama and the administration (as Hagel said quite clearly) want the locals to fight for their countries. He wants to help them do that.

    The LOC doesn’t have yesterday’s debate on-line yet (at least I haven’t been able to find it). You can read for yourself why she voted against it, if you’re interested. You can also read The Hill to see snippets of her reasoning, but one should beware of misinterpretation based on loss of context (see above for an example). She has legitimate concerns. They should be addressed, and if/when in the future additional support is needed, maybe she’ll be convinced.

    You seem to be running some sort of pro-Obama Purity Test here. Why?

    Warren wasn’t the deciding vote on the measure. Isn’t it good that she’s willing and able to vote against a measure that she disagrees with from a president that she clearly very strongly supports? Would you rather that she be a poodle for the president?

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    Patrick

    It’s less a matter of selling out to big business and more a matter of protecting local jobs and voters.

    That’s fine. But then Democrats shouldn’t complain when Republican politicians do the same thing, such as Republicans in coal producing states, or states with big defense contracting just to mention a couple.

    BTW – Has Franken/Klobuchar proposed where the offsetting revenue will come from? Or what they are going to cut?

  51. 51.

    cmorenc

    @Johnny B:

    But no worries, American, the Republicans will entertain you throughout 2015 with the impeachment of the President.

    For all their over-the-top harsh talk, all but the most insanely foaming-at-the-mouth crazy GOP members of Congress and the Senate realize that even if their wildest dreams of the numbers of pickups of Senate seats come true in 2014, they will still be well short of viable numbers to successfully convict and remove Obama from office. Furthermore, enough GOP house members recall that successfully being able to initiate impeachment proceedings in the House in 1998 against Clinton (without being able to follow through in the Senate) turned out poorly enough for them that had Al Gore not run such a flawed campaign, compounded by the narcissistic stupidity of Ralph Nader, it would have likely cost them the election of 2000 by enough votes that Kathleen Harris (Fla Secretary of State) and the corrupt SCOTUS 5 would not have been in any position to save the day for them.

    AND SO, THE FAR MORE LIKELY GOP STRATEGY (which we already see with the multitude of Bengazi! hearings) is that they will:
    a) attempt to smother the last two years of Obama’s Presidency with endless multiple investigations;
    b) though they realize that even with a majority in both houses, Obamacare is enough of a success that outright repeal of Obamacare is for the moment, a lost cause – they nevertheless will still attempt to sabotage it and throw sand into the gears to transform it into a failure. For example, trying to kill the reserve fund that compensates insurance companies who draw a disproportionate share of the sickest, most expensive patients. De-fund the subsidies and as much of the support structure for Obamacare as possible. And so on.

  52. 52.

    srv

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I’d rather she come up with a plan if she thinks ISIS is the #1 Priority and Obama is wrong.

    Or just stop harping the threat. Most of the pro-Obama but anti-Courtesy Bombing crowd here makes fun of Republicans when they shriek about ISIS/ISIL. That’s at least a legitimate argument someone could make.

    I guess decisive indecisiveness will play in MA. Talking to the right of Hillary and voting to the left of her may work in MA, but it isn’t going to work nationally when there’s no expectation the ME situation will get better soon.

    Yes, I would prefer democrats in the Senate be Obama’s poodles. I can’t imagine why anyone would want anything else in this environment.

  53. 53.

    jl

    uhhh…. whadabout ‘packthecourtspackthecourtspakthecouts all up!!!”

    Edit: clarification for those with ears who cannot hear: pack the courts with vicious ruthless reactionaries, who operate miles from any principle other than whatever is best for their political allies.

    Edit2: yes, I know, Obama still there, but the Senate will be ruthless in making incremental gains in an judiciary already polluted with ruthless reactionaries who act in bad faith. And they have a nice hack, in Roberts to rubber stamp or subtly shape crude work into fine arts of legal bad faith.

  54. 54.

    Mike J

    @Patrick:

    But then Democrats shouldn’t complain when Republican politicians do the same thing, such as Republicans in coal producing states, or states with big defense contracting just to mention a couple.

    I understand why elected officials in Kentucky and West Virginia defend coal (and Democrats in those places do it to). I don’t think that the coal companies or Boeing or the medical device companies should get everything they want. But you’ve got to convince the voters in Kentucky and Washington and Minnesota that your plan will be better for them and they won’t be paying the price for making some other state better. And sometimes the other states just need to outvote them and do something that’s bad for Kentucky or Washington or Minnesota for the good of the country.

  55. 55.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @srv:

    I’d rather she come up with a plan if she thinks ISIS is the #1 Priority and Obama is wrong.

    A couple of things.

    1) She didn’t say that. Carefully reread what she said in #37 above.

    2) It’s not her job to propose a military strategy. It’s Obama’s job to come up with one that she can support if he wants her vote on a particular topic.

    Let’s see what turns up on the LOC ( http://beta.congress.gov ) about her reasoning before putting more words in her mouth, ok?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    Patrick

    @Mike J:

    But that’s not how it currently works. Republicans will defend big business irregardless of the state. I wish I had as big of a voice with a senator like Franken/Klobuchar as apparently the medical companies seem to have. And that’s what’s wrong with politics in this country, irregardless of party obviously.

  58. 58.

    jl

    @rikyrah: The House will do the impeachment, the easy fun BS part. The Senate will be saddled with the trickier issue of how to conduct an unpopular trial with a known outcome (since the legal and constitutional grounds will be ridiculous and the GOP won’t have 2/3 to convict).

  59. 59.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Mike J:

    It’s less a matter of selling out to big business and more a matter of protecting local jobs and voters.

    And thus Joe Biden protected the Delaware credit card industry, and Mary Landrieu the Louisiana oil companies, and Chuck Schumer the NYC financial giants. Being elected to the Senate as a Democrat means that you will fuck over your state’s population at large if a policy offends a significant corporate presence.

    Is Medtronic’s impact on the Minnesota economy really greater than the impact of crappy healthcare? I don’t think so: it’s just that corporate-persons can speak with one voice and one large wallet, while the people who get gouged to fuel corporate profits are dispersed and can’t get the senator on the phone at five seconds’ notice. In the past, unions could offset that influence, but that kind of solidarity is harder to find these days.

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