*sigh*

"It’s time that normal Joe six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency."

I need sleep. More tomorrow I'm sure.

This Could Be The Best One Yet

John's been posting the Palin excerpts as soon as they're up on CBS so I'm snagging them from him. This isn't a VP candidate question. This is a basic job interview question (at least I've been asked it before). What magazines or newspapers do you read regularly? Who can't whip that one out off the top of her head? Unless of course you don't read the paper, go online, or watch the news:

And We're Back

You're on Ms. Palin. Tell us about the choice voters are going to have to make between Joe Biden and all his experience and you and your newness. No, no. Nevermind the old guy on the top of your ticket. This is about you, love. Go to town:

Dumbass.

Street Crime

I can't be the only person who's had enough of the Wall Street/Main Street routine.

How do we get everyone to stop and pick a new catch phrase?

Ok, You Got Me

What exactly is gotcha journalism?

Gov. Sarah Palin said Monday that her comment about attacking terrorist targets in Pakistan, which appeared to contradict the position of GOP presidential nominee John McCain, was a response to a "gotcha" question from a voter.

(...)

McCain, who sat with Palin, said in Monday's interview that he understands "the day and age of 'gotcha' journalism. ... In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation. Grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country."

(...)

Asked what she learned from the experience, Palin said: "That this is all about "gotcha" journalism. A lot of it is. But that's OK, too."

Want to know what I've learned? That there really is no end to the excuses...and Thursday night can't come soon enough.

The $300+ Mole

It's no secret I've had a brush with the most common form of skin cancer. The sucker's gone now, but I've got to be diligent about getting checked out every 6 months and keeping an eye on anything that looks unusual.

That said, when a new little mole brought itself to my attention last week, I made an appointment to go see my doctor. Now, even though he doesn't accept my current health insurance plan, I know he's one of DC's best and I'm not about to go shopping around for someone new. I figure I will just pay up front, submit my bills, and see what comes back.

Today's adventure ran me $300. To remove a mole and ship it off to the lab. Chances are it's benign - no one's worried - but I am fully aware that having the sucker analyzed is going to run me even more out-of-pocket cash.

How much? I even hesitate to guess.

But this all got me thinking. John McCain's health care plan is based around the concept that people would be less inclined to spend so much money on health care if they knew how much health care cost. (stop laughing) McCain thinks I would actually look at the mole, think it could be cancer, go to the doctor, find out how much it would cost to take it off, and opt out? I would make the decision in that moment $300 was better spent elsewhere? Or better yet, that I would choose not to go get myself checked out in the first place because taking the risk is more fiscally responsible than protecting myself and my health?

This comes from Mister Melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer, btw) who just hops off to his dermatologist "frequently" and never sees a bill because the government takes care of his coverage.

My boss wrote a post today called "Ten Things You Should Know about John McCain's Health Care Plan." If you're still confused about what McCain's proposing, it's worth reading. Here's the executive summary:

TEN THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN’S HEALTH CARE PLAN

1. John McCain will tax your health care benefits at work
   
2. And give you a tax credit for five months of health care. After 5 months,you are on your own.
   
3. You may be one of 20 million people who will lose your health benefits
   
4. And be forced to buy health insurance on your own
   
5. You won’t be covered for pre-existing conditions and may not be able to get coverage at all.
   
6. But you will pay higher premiums as you get older or sicker or if you’re a woman.
   
7. You may have deductibles as high as $11,200 a year
   
8. With barebones benefits and no consumer protections.
   
9. McCain protects health insurance profits by passing the cost on to taxpayers and the sick
   
10. Of course, John McCain won’t have to worry about any of this for his health care. He gets his health insurance through the federal government.

Plan for the Worst

Ezra's got this great ability to sum it all up and then break it all down in an extremely palatable fashion:

McCain has put forward a radical plan to reform the American health care system, and the mechanism by which he'll do that is a $3.6 trillion tax increase meant to make employer-based insurance unaffordable and necessitate that tens of millions seek an alternative option. Just as a carbon tax raises the price of carbon so people use less of it and a gas tax raises the price of fuel so people use less of it, McCain's tax raises the price of employer-based health care so employers offer less of it. And employees will feel the effect of that in full.

I'm reposting out of order, but here's another nugget:

The individual insurance market is not the same as the employer-based insurance market. It sacrifices the bargaining powers of numbers for the cost-effectiveness of comparison shopping. It is fractured. It has higher administrative costs. Insurers can discriminate on the basis of preexisting conditions, geography, age, gender, and even simple whim. The risk pools are smaller. The deductibles are higher, as are the co-pays, and the spending caps are lower. And the individual insurance market is much more expensive...

Read the whole thing here.

Monday Stuff

Morning campers. It's shaping up to be a busy week. I'll probably have some new, substantive content for you later on, but in the meantime, here's last night's AMERICAblog post on, you guessed it, John McCain's health care plan.

Little side note. We tested some ads about McCain's plan and ran into an interesting snag. His plan is so crappy that people don't believe it could be true. How about that one?

Other housekeeping notes. John won his fantasy baseball league so congratulations are in order on that front. HCAN's launched a new sports-themed website called InsuranceCompanyRules which you should go visit and explore (Yes, it's a play off the hysterical video). My favorite part is the Insure-Rants section. It's like the Post Secret of health insurance frustration. And finally, 4 days and counting until the big one. Thursday's a two-fer. It's my birthday AND the VP debate.

Most excellent timing.

Far and Wide

In the interest of helping this one make the rounds, I'm reposting from AMERICAblog:



Pssst. Pay attention to Jed's work. He's a political video rockstar.

He Who Wore The Flag Pin Won

I was going to title my debate reaction post "Storm" as in "the calm before the...", but it's been 15 hours, and I'm more mellow now.

I think Obama did well. Very well. I would have liked to have seen him nail McCain on a few more specifics (such as McCain's having voted against the veterans he swears he'll help and the fact that McCain's $5000 tax credit for family health insurance won't buy diddly-squat in the individual market when family premiums are now up to more than $12,500). But all in all, I was pleased.

I'm clearly biased, but I thought McCain came across as cranky and surly, and I couldn't help but think, "Ok, Grandpa, enough with the stories of the olden days." I don't think the references to the past did him any favors. All it did was remind me of his age over and over again.

And he can't really play the experience card now that he's got Palin on the ticket.

Speaking of my favorite joke of a VP candidate, rumor online is that McCain's camp is freaking out about Palin and the VP debate Thursday:

McCain Camp insiders say Palin "clueless"

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin.

The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."

October 2nd also happens to be my birthday.

How awesome a birthday present is that night going to be?

image AP photo

He Did It Right

Thank you for being one of the good guys.

Calm

Poem of the week now updated here.

John's column online Sunday here.

Truth Be Told

Via Josh, CNN's Cafferty on Palin on CBS:



Want to know the worst part of this clip for me? The fact that Wolf tried to make excuses for Palin. When did the media get afraid of telling the truth? This isn't subjective. The woman is grossly - GROSSLY - unqualified. At some point, it's not cute to pretend you don't know this. It doesn't help to attempt to appear objective. Not when the future of our nation is at stake. Facts are facts. When a woman reads off note cards to answer a question about our nation's horrific economic situation and can't even manage to do that coherently, the press has an obligation to acknowledge it. People still pretending Palin "is just flustered" or "is being tortured by reporters" are dumber than she is.

I'm sorry. No more excuses. No more. Stop pretending it's all equal and balanced here. All you do is give cover to the ignorant who think she's just swell. Well, if Wolf says she's ok, she must be ok.

I know Wolf. He's a smart guy. Mind like a steel trap. He knows better. Jack's right. He and the rest of 'em should start acting like it.

And So It Begins...

Finally. A conservative woman has come around:

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

Conservatives should understand there is no shame in admitting the obvious. I wish more would do it. Palin's dangerous, and perpetuating the myth that she is any way qualified to be President is insane. Anyone looks better not backing her up at this point. Trust me.

We can only hope this is the start of something good.

Now, This is How It's Done

Crowd protests Anthem profits

Inside Anthem Ohio headquarters:




(photo by The Enquirer/Cara Owsley)

Best Find Ever

Via kos diarist Walt starr. Just skip ahead to :53 in.

"Sarah says she wants to prepare for a career in television broadcasting by majoring in telecommunications and political science" (as she prances around on stage in a bathing suit and high heels to cheesy faux jazz). The woman's a joke. Period.

UPDATE: The video's been pulled from YouTube. Watch it on HuffPo here.

Freaky Friday

It's windy and cold. Washington Mutual collapsed overnight. House Republicans on TV can barely defend McCain with a straight face anymore. And I'm watching images of Lieberman following McCain around the Capitol like a lost puppy.

Obama is so cool and calm and collected. He knows what's up. I hope he shows up in Oxford tonight and rocks the house - even if it's all by himself.

The MSNBC lower third says it all:

Obama heads to Mississippi for debate; McCain heads for Capitol Hill.

The stunt's on track to backfire horribly tonight. Either McCain fails to show and looks like a coward, or he shows and exposes the childish game of chicken he tried to play and lost. It's a no win unless we get a bipartisan deal by end of day, and that's looking increasingly unlikely.

In HCAN news, take a sneak peek at our new sports-themed website today. It's called Insurance Company Rules (like the wildly popular video), and it gives you all you need to know about the health insurance industry's worst offenders and how you can fight back. My favorite part of the new site is Insure-Rants - a spot where you can vent your frustration online anonymously. It's like a Post Secret for why we should fix the health care system once and for all.

Finally, AHIP's got a stop on its "listening tour" today. They'll be pretending to care in Rhode Island. Our HCAN affiliates will be there - inside and outside the meeting - exposing the sham for what it is and asking the tough questions we've learned the health insurance industry's thoroughly unprepared to answer.

It's bound to be an interesting day.

Note Bad

Piling on to Chez' observation, who brings notes to an interview with Katie Couric? Who brings notes to an interview, period? You're interviewed on television because you're considered knowledgeable about the topic in question. You don't get asked to be on TV to read from a cheat sheet.

Someone please point out this woman wants to lead our country. Please! She wants to be in charge of the most powerful nation in the world, and she can't handle a sit down interview without notes? (Remember, something happens to John McCain, and you don't get to take it back. She gets the job by default.)

There are no words. (Well, there may be words. Let me check my notes...)

I Give Up

My head hurts. Listening to Sarah Palin speak is sheer agony.

My computer's slow, but this clip from Palin on the CBS Evening News explaining her "Russia is close to Alaska" foreign policy credentials is excruciating. If you care to read the torture instead, be my guest:

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.

Monday night I DVRed "Gossip Girl" and "The Hills" and watched them back-to-back in one mind-numbing stretch. I felt a little dumber after the fact but was fully aware of the risk of brain cell death and was still willing to sacrifice one teeny one.

Clips of Palin, on the other hand, take all my happy little brain cells and - without pre-authorization - twist them into painful little knots until they scream altogether in a deafening chorus of "uncle!" and "mercy!"

If Palin were a character in a sitcom pilot, the producers would go back to the writers and tell them to make her more believable (i.e. less dumb).

Let's Make a Deal

Joe's morning post asks the media to wake up and pay attention to the details. He notes McCain didn't actually suspend his campaign yesterday. He just announced he was going to suspend his campaign today... after addressing the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

I've got another suggestion for reporters. STOP FOLLOWING PALIN AROUND. Don't just posture and throw mini-tantrums when her handlers refuse access. Stop going to these bogus events altogether. If the McCain campaign notices she's not getting coverage, they may be forced to reconsider their strategy. Right now, they own you. You show up. They shuttle Palin around, pose her for pretty pictures, and then shuttle you right out the door. Stop worrying about getting scooped. No one's expecting her to finally take spontaneous questions from the press. You won't miss anything.

Plus, all the good screw-ups are turning up in the pre-approved interviews anyway. Just hold out for those.

I'll Get Back to You on That

Discovered via Duncan, here's a gem from Katie Couric's exclusive (exclusive today?) interview with Sarah Palin:

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Wow

CNN just reported that the McCain campaign wants to move the first Presidential debate to Oct 2nd and postpone the VP debate scheduled for that night until a later time.

Wow. What a stunt!

I'm just amazed at the lengths the McCain campaign's willing to go to sneak Palin by the public. How much you want to bet this is all a very intentional strategy to try and wipe out the VP debate altogether?

Wow. Seriously shady and then some.

Smells Like Fear

McCain's suspending his campaign and calling to delay the debate reeks of desperation to me. I don't see how discussing major issues on a Friday night would have any effect on our current economic crisis.

This is ridiculous. Utterly absurd. Sounds to me like McCain's not ready and dodging.

Just my 2 cents.

LOL Candidate

(brilliant idea courtesy Joe & lol help courtesy John)

In today's installment of news that is SO not news, Clay Aiken's come out:

The cover of the latest People magazine shows Aiken holding his infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, with the headline: "Yes, I'm Gay." The cover also has the quote: "I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things."

Whew. Thank goodness that mystery's solved.

Pailing Out Again

Palin still doesn't want to take real questions? Fine. Just ask her to repeat the names of the people she met today:

On Wednesday, McCain and Palin were expected to meet jointly with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko. Palin was then to meet separately with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The mispronounciation alone should give 'em plenty to report.

Facts on Facts

So FactCheck.org says that Obama's ad using the McCain quote from Contingencies is misleading and that the quote was taken out of context:

The ad relies on a single phrase from a journal article under McCain's byline, in which he said he would reduce regulation of health insurance "as we have done over the last decade in banking." But the full context reveals that McCain was referring narrowly to his proposal to allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines.

FactCheck insinuates this would not be the same as deregulating the banking industry. They're wrong.

His comparison with banking regulation was limited to "opening up the insurance market" to "nationwide" competition to "provide more choices" to consumers.

Allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines isn't beneficial to you. It's dangerous. It strips away consumer protections. It lets companies set up shop in states with the loosest of rules. It means less oversight, less accountability, more denials, more dropped coverage, and more so-called pre-existing conditions.

FactCheck.org should do a little more work to get its facts straight.

UPDATE: Here's a great Slate write explaining the issue:

Today, insurance companies need to follow the laws of the states where they sell individual insurance plans, just as credit-card companies did before 1978. If an insurer wants to sell policies in New York, the insurer has to obey New York's laws. Many states pretty much let companies sell the policies they wish, but others set a floor of protections. New York laws, for example, require that companies issue coverage to all new customers and not set higher rates for people who are already sick.

Under McCain's approach - also "championed by McCain's Arizona colleague John Shadegg":

An insurance company that chose to be regulated under Arizona law could sell policies in New York without following New York rules. Arizona, like most states, lets companies charge what they want to people who are sick—or simply deny them coverage altogether. Under Shadegg's bill, insurers wouldn't even need to pick up and move their operations; it would be enough to file some paperwork with a state insurance commissioner and pay that state's relevant taxes.

(...)

What makes no sense is to neuter state regulations while putting nothing in their place. That will leave the sickest people, who drive the sickness of our health system, in more trouble than then are in now. Letting South Dakota regulate America's credit-card industry hasn't worked out so well. Letting Arizona do the same for health insurance would be worse.

Desperately Seeking Substance

I know. I know. I had a really busy day today and totally neglected to contribute anything significant. Apologies.

What'd I miss? Anything good?

In health care reform news, the Senate Finance Committee's holding a hearing tomorrow called "Covering the Uninsured," but take a look at the witness list:

John Bertko, FSA, MAAA, Adjunct Staff, The RAND Corporation, Former Chief Actuary, Humana Inc, Flagstaff, AZ

Andrew Dreyfuss, Executive Vice President, Health Care Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Boston, MA

Pam MacEwan, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs and Governance, Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Kim Holland, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner, Oklahoma City, OK

We really going to let the insurance industry tell us how to fix health care? Really? What a waste of time. We'll have something to say about that in the morning. (I know because I wrote it). Also, our friends at AHIP are planning to stop off in Rhode Island on Friday and pretend to care about the needs of the people. Look for a little HCAN love to head thatta way as well.

More tomorrow. I promise.

It Resonates

Front of kos this am:





As expected, Obama turned it into an ad.

Taxing

Via Ezra, will Obama raise your taxes?

OK, I Lied

It's not Palin. It's better. Here's Krugman on McCain's plan to deregulate the health insurance industry. Here's the source for the quote (top right corner page 30) . Here's the quote:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

Here's the story on the front page of the HuffPo:



I'm not religious, but it's like a gift from G-d.

Drive Time

Don't expect a ton of weekend blogging 'round these parts. We're heading to a wedding tomorrow, and I'll be offline for a solid chunk of time.

In the meantime, you'll have a new poem of the week to keep you occupied, and John's column will pop up here on Sunday.

Have a great couple of days, and I'll catch you back here Monday.*

*unless Palin spontaneously combusts or does something equally entertaining

Who Me?

I do believe Sarah Palin's self-absorbed and somewhat calculating (albeit not terribly bright).

However, I'd guess this faux pas is more likely the result of ignorance than anything particularly sinister.

What McCain's Not Saying about Health Care

My mom's right.* $6000 for health insurance sounds like a great deal. But here's the rest of McCain's health care plan he's not detailing in these speeches:

1. The average health care plan for a family costs $12,000. You get $6000 to buy coverage. Where does the other $6000 come from? You.

2. McCain wants to get rid of the tax-exemption for employer-based coverage. Not even business thinks that's a good idea. From Business Week today:

The Washington law firm Miller & Chevalier Chartered, together with the American Benefits Council, a trade association, surveyed 187 benefits officers this summer at large U.S. companies to determine their views on the direction of health-care policy in 2009. The respondents were asked their opinion of several health-care reform proposals, without identifying the reforms with any candidate or political party. When asked about "pay or play," the position favored by Obama that would require employers to either provide health care for employees (play) or pay a tax to the government, 46% of respondents said it would have a strong negative effect on their workforce. But 74% said a repeal of the employee tax exemption for employer-based health coverage—McCain's proposal—would have a strong negative effect.

3. McCain will tax your employer-based benefits as if they were salary. So let's say your company pays $7200/yr for your health insurance coverage. Under McCain's plan, that money is taxed as if it were money you were just getting. So more money comes out of your paycheck, and you see nothing in return.

4. McCain claims you can choose your own doctor. Not true. Under his plan, the insurance companies still call the shots. They get to tell you who you can or can't see. That doesn't change under McCain's plan.

5. McCain would allow you to buy health insurance across state lines. That means all the regulations in place to protect you... gone!

I cannot emphasize this enough. Please don't be fooled by the stump promise of more money up front. It will buy you nothing and do nothing to help fix our health care problems in this country. It will only make them much, much worse.

*She's right about a lot of things.

Snark: On

Caffeine's kicking in.

Anyone else get the impression Sarah Palin only says Fannie and Freddie because she can't remember which is the Mae and which is the Mac? Either that, or she still thinks they're people.

McCain's giving a speech right now in Green Bay, and I find it extraordinary he's trying to blame Obama for our current financial crisis. He says lobbyists and Washington are at fault, and Obama was right in the middle of it. Really, John? And where were you?

Last I checked, you've been in Congress since '82. You're no DC outsider. Let's stop pretending you just popped onto the scene.

Btw, how does McCain reconcile calling for regulation and oversight in the financial industry when his health care plan calls for deregulation and no oversight in the health insurance industry? Think about who benefits in both instances. Unless you've got McCain-level money...not you.

UPDATE: He just launched into his health care plans. "I'll give every family in America a $5000 refundable tax credit to buy their own health insurance policy and let them choose their own doctor. This will make insurance affordable to every American. We'll double the child exception from $3500 to $7000 to help families pay for the rising cost of living. Under my plan, a married couple with two children making $35,000 will get $5000 to pay for health insurance and additional medical expenses. This family would get another$1050 from my child exemption. That adds up to over $6000. That's a lot more than what any hard-working middle class family gets under the Obama plan."

When the average family health insurance plan runs $12000/year, how does Senator McCain suggest the family of 4 earning $35,000/yr pay the remainder of that balance? With no regulation of the health insurance industry- and the removal of what state regulations protect us now - how does he expect health insurance to become more affordable?

His plan is a sham. But he wouldn't understand that because he's been on government-sponsored health care almost his entire adult life.

Happy Friday

Morning. The coffee's still brewing. This says it all until I can read the news, absorb the news, and get sufficiently caffeinated to coherently comment on the news:

How many times do we have to hear:

We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Social Security.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Medicare.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to provide health care to ALL Americans.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help out Americans losing their homes.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help all our veterans returning from war.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to rescue "no child left behind".

BUT...

We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Bears Stearns.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out AIG.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to pay for an unnecessary TRILLION DOLLAR war.

When the LITTLE GUY needs help, they scornfully say, "GET A JOB!"
But when one of their BIG GUY CRONIES need a bailout, what do they say? SURE, NO PROBLEM. Where's the checkbook?

Oh, and read this one too:

In the financial markets, conservatives aggressively deregulated and created incentives for the financial industry to make all the money it could on risky investments, knowing the government would bail them out if they failed. This is exactly what conservatives want to do to health care - create a system where business can make as much money as possible while leaving working people out in the cold.

It didn't work with the financial industry and it won't work for health care.

Spacing Out

I know Slate produces original video content, but it's not often I seek it out. For some reason, I've watched two videos on Slate V today. The first was a take-off on MTV's Cribs called Cubez which uses the same format to profile a start-up's workspace in San Francisco. It was surprisingly entertaining in an uber-predictable sort of way. The second was a couple's experiment at spending the day never venturing farther than 15 feet apart. Again, doesn't sound particularly engaging and yet somehow, it was. And I learned a new word. Mundanity:

"The hardest part, I think, is the recognition of the mundanity of you own life. It's all very well to have a mundane life when you're just living it yourself. The fact that you want to get up and Xerox something; the fact that want to go grab another cup of coffee, and that's fine when you're doing it in your own mind. But when someone else is observing you doing it, you realize, what a waste."

Just so you know, the videos have pre-roll ads which I despise almost as much as - if not more than - Sarah Palin.

But Wait, There's More

An update on the Biden/Clinton webcast in the previous post. A great health care clip starts at 6:34 (goes to 8:42). Biden asks about Obama’s plan and pre-existing conditions. Clinton’s answer follows:

Clinton:...One thing insurance companies love to do is to deny coverage whether because of some pre-existing condition, whether it’s cancer or sinus infections or yes, pregnancy. And in the individual market, if you’re pregnant and trying to get insurance, they can deny you coverage. We know that’s wrong, and Senator Obama believes the insurance companies should not be allowed to only cover people who have never been sick, never been pregnant, never had a child. He certainly believes insurance companies should not be allowed to deny coverage based on these pre-existing conditions like pregnancy, for goodness sake. So his plan would prohibit insurance companies from denying people coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and he would create new affordable options for people who have to get their insurance in the individual market. That is a very important difference between Senator Obama’s plan and Senator McCain's. Senator McCain’s plan would actually make health care harder to reach for more people. His plan would not only do away with group insurance, which is the way most people get insurance today, he would give people a tax credit to purchase insurance that wouldn't even cover the most basic cost of insurance. His message is, "You're on your own" when it comes to health insurance.

Biden: By the way, John does do one thing. He wants to tax - he wants to tax as income - the health care benefits you get through your employer.

Clinton: Yes. Right. Which would just destroy the employer-based system

Sounding Off

Morning. I've been contributing to AMERICAblog a lot less recently (ever since I picked up this thing called a job), but I got so frustrated yesterday, I felt the need to share in a spot I hear the Obama camp actually reads. Here's that post.

In contrast, I did get some good news last night. Seems the Women Against Sarah Palin movement is picking up some serious steam, and at least one contingent (It appears there are several, and I not sure yet which is the biggest. It's a good problem to have.) will be getting help from a stellar web development/organizing team and experts in pushing progressive causes into the spotlight. I'm looking forward to seeing what emerges.

There's a lot of McCain/Palin news online today, including McCain's ability to piss off Spain in one fell swoop. Sarah Palin told Sean Hannity she thought the Tina Fey skit was hilarious. Didn't hear a word of it (not kidding), but thought it was just spot on (emphases mine):

HANNITY: One last question that I didn't ask you: Did you watch Tina Fey on "Saturday Night Live"?

PALIN: I watched with the volume all the way down and I thought it was hilarious, she was spot on.

HANNITY: Do you think you could play her one day?

PALIN: Oh absolutely. It was hilarious. Again, I didn't hear a word she said, but the visual was spot on.

HANNITY: Has anyone ever said that before? There's a similarity...

PALIN: They've been saying that for years up in Alaska. In fact, I dressed up as Tina Fey once for Halloween. We've been doing that before Tina Fey's being doing that.

Now for the sorbet. If you're half as smitten with Biden as I am, here's what John jokingly refers to as "Joe Porn." It's Biden and Clinton talking about how important this election is for women.

Don't pull a Palin. Watch it with sound:

Context

Take a moment and think about how ridiculous this is.

A vice presidential candidate takes an impromtu question, and it's news.

One question merits a story?

How screwed up is that?

HCAN News Blurb

Congressman John Conyers has signed on to HCAN's Statement of Common Purpose. This is a little "inside baseball" for most, but it's an important step in getting the single-payer advocates to appreciate we're all on the same side. Here is Conyers' statement:

“I am proud to join HCAN’s broad progressive campaign to raise awareness about the need for true universal health care reform. The HCAN coalition and I are united by our belief that the current non-system of health care run by profit hungry insurance companies is unsustainable and inhumane,” said Representative Conyers. “It will take a monumental effort to defeat the entrenched special interests that benefit from the status quo. I remain firmly committed to the passage of my single-payer universal health care bill, H.R. 676, and believe that private insurance will never provide the kind of guaranteed affordable health care America needs. However, I agree with HCAN that a true policy debate in the Congress can only begin when there is broad consensus that the sham reform trumpeted by the industry is off the table.”

We're happy to have him.

Meanwhile, conversation's underway here. Kind of unrelated, but my favorite comments so far are the following McCain slogan suggestions:

Change You Can "Make Believe" In

and

"I Can't Believe It's Not Change"

Taking a Bow

Who called it? Who?

"This campaign source said Fiorina would be discouraged from additional media interviews.

Another top campaign adviser was far less diplomatic.

"Carly will now disappear," this source said. "Senator McCain was furious." Asked to define "disappear," this source said, adding that she would be off TV for a while - but remain at the Republican National Committee and keep her role as head of the party's joint fundraising committee with the McCain campaign.

Fiorina was booked for several TV interviews over the next few days, including one on CNN. Those interviews have been canceled.

Buh-bye Carly.

OMG, So Totally Sexist*

Lynn Spears on the Today Show:

"A mother is only as happy as her most unhappy child. It's a balancing act. Any mother with more than one child knows that."

When Britney's mom sounds more rational and realistic than our Republican VP candidate seems... ooooo, trouble.

Just a reminder, here's Palin to Gibson on her balancing act:

PALIN: Sure. And I understand what that struggle is, what those internal questions are. I've gone through the same thing over these 19 years from having my first born to today having a newborn.

In these 19 years, a lot of circumstances have changed. I stayed home with my son until he was seven years old, had just worked part-time, until I got into full-time employment again when he was seven. I had that choice then and I've had choices, of course, along the way.

A lot of I in here. Not a heck of a lot of them.

*I know. I totally went there. That makes me even more sexist today than I was yesterday.

Cliffs Ezra's Notes

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll link to someone besides Ezra today, I promise. But when you're good, you're good. Simplifying the talking points:

For McCain:

• McCain's health care plan will increase taxes on employer-based insurance, and kick 20 million people off the rolls.

• McCain's plan will throw you into the individual market, where the same plan your employer offered will cost $2,000 more, and you can be refused care because you were sick 10 years ago.

• McCain's plan will shift costs onto the sick.

For Obama:

• Obama's plan will cover tens of millions of Americans and reform the insurance industry such that everyone gets a fair deal and no one can be discriminated against because they were once sick or unlucky.

• It will create a group market that businesses can buy their employees into so that a small business that paints homes doesn't have to run a tiny insurance company on the side and an entrepreneur can pursue his idea without having to learn about health coverage regulations.

• It will cover all children. And Christ almighty, isn't it time we did at least that?

Call Me Sexist

but Sarah Palin's screechy voice makes me cringe.*

I'm so addicted. I really really want to turn off the TV and turn away from all things Sarah, and yet I can't.

Speaking of things that piss me off, CNN just ran a ridiculous hit piece on Biden. Absolutely absurd. It suggested people don't know much about Biden (nevermind he's been a Senator for more than 30 years), and it used the always reliable "some even suggest..." set-up to wonder aloud if Obama should dump Biden from the ticket.

Knowing how the sausage is made, I'm guessing the idea for the report was ripped from a write elsewhere and regurgitated for TV.

Maybe here or here or here.

It's amazing the crap CNN picks up from the Internet when there's real news online worth reporting.



*Commenting on the tone of a woman's voice is totally sexist. If you think it's not sexist, you're extra sexist for denying the sexism.

Balancing Act

Here's my boss on HuffPo responding to comparisons of the presidential candidates' health care plans. The general theme:

While the Health Affairs editors may be bending over backwards to look balanced - and falling off their perches in the process - the American public understands the choice between government guaranteeing access to affordable coverage with good benefits from a choice of regulated private or public health insurance and being forced into an unregulated, private health insurance market. Health Care for America Now's campaign in 2008 is very simple. We are asking America, with a focus on the next Congress, to decide between those two courses and working at the grassroots level to make certain that quality, affordable health care for all is the first order of business for the next President and Congress.

Executive Expedience

According to Sam Stein, Carly Fiorina - current McCain economic advisor and former Hewlett-Packard CEO - told a St Louis radio host today that Sarah Palin is not qualified to run a major corporation:

"Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?" asked the host.

"No, I don't," responded Fiorina. "But you know what? That's not what she's running for."

Nope. She's running to be the Leader of the Free World. Fiorina can argue "It's only VP, not President" all she wants, but as I've said before, there are no do-overs. G-d forbid something happens to 72-yr-old, 4-time cancer survivor McCain, we get President Palin by default.

She's not qualified to run a company, Carly, but you want her to run your country?

p.s. I actually get the impression Carly Fiorina thinks so highly of her own accomplishment that she would rather call Palin inexperienced and then argue why that doesn't matter for someone wanting to be Vice President than say Palin could run a company and subsequently belittle her own executive experience by comparison.

UPDATE: Via TPM, Carly shoves her foot down her throat on MSNBC:

To run a business, you have to have a lifetime of experience in business. But that's not what Sarah Palin, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Barack Obama are doing.

How long before they yank her from the circuit?