Democrats in Denial Over Obamacare

National Journal ^ | 2/18/14 | Josh Kraushaar

[Libloather]

For nearly three years, the Democratic approach to the political unpopularity of President Obama's health care law was denial. Deny it played a significant role in the party's historic midterm losses in 2010. Insist, in the face of contradictory evidence, that as more voters experienced the benefits of the law, the more popular it would become. Deny it would be a major issue at all in the 2014 midterms.

The latest version of the argument points to polling showing that voters don't want to repeal the law but prefer to see it fixed—perfectly in line with the newly adopted positions of vulnerable Democratic officeholders. In a memo leaked to the press, Democrats argue they can neutralize their health care vulnerabilities by promoting their desire to fix the law and blaming Republicans for intransigence in seeking a full repeal. But dig a bit deeper past the talking points, and it's unclear what they want to fix—beyond their broken poll numbers.

Indeed, in a sign that Democrats are stuck in neutral on their Obamacare messaging, the "news" from the memo is months old. The strategy devised by the sharpest party operatives has already been in effect in numerous ads across the country and was promoted by the party's top strategists two months ago. In those targeted races, public polling has shown Democratic standing worsening where the on-air Obamacare debate has already begun. (See: Landrieu, Mary; Hagan, Kay.)

[Libloather]

Hoax deniers are everywhere.

[pepsionice]

There’s around a hundred million Democrats, independents, and Republicans who lost their personal doctor, pay more than ever for healthcare, and can’t handle the deductible game. It’s a personal thing now...and folks don’t accept double-talking commercials or political ads to make up for internal frustrations. If you ask me....it’s a pretty tough loss for the Democrats in November, and they will focus the blame afterwards...strictly on the President and his staff.

[Pollster1]

All politics are local, and there is nothing more local that a voter’s individual wallet, a voter’s individual loss of insurance/doctor, and a voter’s individual anger at a national disgrace like ObamaCare.

Barring monumental stupidity (reckless spending, amnesty for criminals in our country illegally, etc.) from John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, anger over ObamaCare will cost the Democrats far more than they imagine. In other words, this election is a tossup.

[98ZJ USMC]

don't want to see it repealed, want to see it fixed

And therein, the problem.

[Liz]

Democrats may be in denial but, history will not be as blind to reality:
Obamacare is a blunder of Ceausescuian proportions.

==================================================

Some of the deluded Democrats are going to great lengths to hide their involvement with the O/Care debacle, thinking they will not have to face the music.....(the lovely sounds of a funeral dirge on election day).

Chances are, we can safely make the funeral arrangements for vote-crazed Sen. Mark Udall (Dem-Colo)

Facing a tough reelection this year, Udall was nailed on tape echoing the "keep your plan" Big Lie, b/c some 330,000 Coloradans received cancelation notices....cancellations sap-happy Udall promised they wouldn’t.

Udall’s crazed response was to lean on state insurance regulators to change their numbers by changing their vocabulary. He argued plans shouldn’t be counted as canceled if a person was eligible to buy a pricier ACA compliant plan.

The insurance regulator resisted Udall’s psychotic arguments.

Then things got interesting. CompleteColorado.com obtained and reported on internal state emails of insurance official, Jo Donlin, stating the deranged Udall wanted to “trash” the state’s numbers....

Fearing he'd lose his seat, vote-crazed Udall contacted her repeatedly, and when she refused to bend, she received a “very hostile” call from Udall’s chief of staff (maybe more like a "threat"?).

Udall’s obsessed interference prompted demands for more information and for an investigation into his twisted conduct.

Almost instantly, Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Affairs, which oversees the Division of Insurance, issued a statement claiming a "neutral and objective panel" investigated the matter and determined "Udall’s office did nothing improper and there was no intimidation."

(waiting for hysterical laughter to die down)

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS Absolving deranged Senator Udall of culpability is the exact same MO used right before NJ Sen Torricelli was forced out of office.

[Son House]

Economy, health care among topics for Walz’ visit
http://mankatofreepress.com/local/x535472508/Economy-health-care-among-topics-for-Walz-visit

Congressman Tim Walz D-Mn “The more people find out what’s in there, the happier they are”

[Son House]

110th Congress, Majority Democrats, passed the health care law that needs so many “fixes”, yet media never ask why it was so awful in the first place...

[Paul R.]

The latest version of the argument points to polling showing that voters don't want to repeal the law but prefer to see it fixed—perfectly in line with the newly adopted positions of vulnerable Democratic officeholders. In a memo leaked to the press, Democrats argue they can neutralize their health care vulnerabilities by promoting their desire to fix the law and blaming Republicans for intransigence in seeking a full repeal. But dig a bit deeper past the talking points, and it's unclear what they want to fix—beyond their broken poll numbers.

Well, of course it's unclear: It can't be fixed.

First, a huge gov't bureaucracy has been added to the US health care system, part of it on a State level, part of it on the Federal level, and this says nothing about the compliance costs to insurers and health care providers. The result is increased costs to consumers and taxpayers.

Then, even if the system worked as advertised originally, "we" are insuring (subsidizing) larger numbers of previously uninsured people who as a group are high risk / unhealthy, and transferring the costs to healthy people. When this hits healthy people's wallets hard, especially in a time of declining real-world family incomes, it is not going to go over well with any but the most self-guilt ridden libs, or dedicated socialists.

Plus, you have decreases in the performance of the health care system itself, characteristic of just about any socialized health care system I know of: The more socialism, the poorer the care, OR the costs show up somewhere else. (There's a reason why almost everything in Germany or Norway, to take 2 examples I am fairly familiar with, is "crazy" expensive.)

The Dems' best bet would probably be to try to transfer the costs to future debt., but in the economy's current state, that would probably crash it hard, and then they'd be in even more trouble.

[Soul of the South]

We know that Democrats are going to run a campaign of “good intentions”, saying they’ll fix Obamacare. The Republicans need an effective response.

Every time a Democrat candidate for reelection insists the bill can be fixed the Republican should ask for a copy of the specific piece of legislation the Democrat has introduced or cosponsored to “fix” Obamacare. When there is no document, the response is - “people are suffering. We need action, not talk. Where is the action?”

[Liz]

BACKSTORY The botched October healthcare rollout was giving Democrats so much agita, they could hardly keep track of their vast offshore holdings. Millions could have been lost into the pockets of snarky investment counselors "aggregating the numbers," but Democrats were so besieged by falling poll numbers, they would never even know it.

So the White House graciously sent chief of staff Denis McDonough to hold an unpublicized meeting with Sen. Michael Bennet (DIM-Colo), chairman of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.

It was not pretty---Denis was met w/ Democrats' anger and anxiety that O/Care’s costly train wreck rollout could actually cost their party its majority at midterms.

Denis and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Bennet discussed what the White House could possibly do to help vulnerable Senate Democrats.

Talk revolved around Democrats developing a "stronger relationship" with the White House. But this cockamamie idea was quickly discarded. After all, Democrats reasoned, who would believe a ditzy story like that...other than the brain dead MSM.

Democrats whined that Obama was not sympathetic enough to their plight. After the Republican-led government shutdown, Dems had been super-confident they would retain the Senate, maybe even regain the House......but, alas, that optimism vanished as O/Care problems kept mounting and multiplying.

Speaker wannabe Nancy Pelosi disconsolately went back to sucking-up everything in sight.

COS Denis valiantly tried to calm ballistic Senators, saying off-the-record: “I know these guys are nervous as hell. I mean, all of their jobs are on the line, because Obamacare is the only thing making the biggest political waves. It’s a nightmare.”

================================================

WHEW---DEMOCRATS COME UP WITH THE ONLY WORKABLE SOLUTION Obama recently announced the White House's 2014 Senate strategy: "Keep Obama away." The extensive midterm campaign strategy is built around one unavoidable fact: Hardly any candidates in the most competitive states want President Barack Obama anywhere near them on the campaign trail.

======================================================

Poster cackles---hums theme from "Jaws."

[lowbridge]

Bump

[Jacquerie]

The health, employment and freedom of 320+ million Americans is of no consequence to a few hundred rats, whose first and last purpose in life is to retain their offices.

Marx is beating Madison. What to do?

[Liz]

The health, employment, freedom, and diminished finances of 320+ million Americans is of no consequence to a few hundred self-serving elected 'rats, whose only purpose in life is to stay in office......in order to to increase their offshore holdings.

You nailed it but good.

===============================================

AS FREEPER GOPJ INSIGHTFULLY POSTED: Obamacare was designed to benefit Democrat pols; and hand-picked Democrat voting blocs---blocs that fulfill Obama's plans for a permanent Democratic majority):

<><> Blacks, browns, minorities, the melanin-underclass, benefit because of low, or no, income,

<><> Gays benefit for preexisting conditions, like HIV, and other STD's.

<><> State-dependent women benefit - Dems work hard to undermine marriage, thus qualifying a slew of state-dependent voting blocs.

<><> Union lefties were given exemptions.

Last but not least.... "Liberal Elites" get the best doctors - their offices cleared of us middle-class riff-raff. The Elites don't have to wait to see a doctor as Republican riff-raff are sent to the slaughterhouse.

===========================================

SUMMING UP: Dem liberal elites get the gold. Republicans, conservatives, patriots, tea partiers, job-holders, the middle class, small business owners, etc....all of us got the shaft.

==========================================

What's that? You say you don't vote Democrat?

Then, you get to pay for everything.

[Flintlock]

And just why SHOULDN’T they continue to deny?

It has worked up ‘till now, after all.

It’s not as if there were any OPPOSITION to what they do—just a couple of lickspittle RINOS “a-goin’ along to get along”.

[Flintlock]

I fergot to mention—HE’S BLACK. End of story.

[MrB]

While they’re at it, I want them to fix my perpetual motion machine... it keeps stopping.

[P.O.E.]

Their denials will become more brutal as time goes on. It’s the inevitable path for tyrants.

[randita]

The Republicans need an effective response.

Republicans have had free market based proposals regarding health care ever since Hillarycare burst on the scene. They were entirely shut out of the health care reform process because Rats had enough votes to cram what they wanted through without GOP help.

It would be very helpful to the 2014 election if Republicans developed three or four points (free market based) on how to improve health insurance and delivery and pound those points home in a nationally unified way. If they don't pound the points day in and day out, the DBM won't allow their message to get through.

[justiceseeker93]

Yes, I heard of the Udall story a couple of months ago.

Aside from the 'Rat candidates' strategy of claiming that Obamacare just needs a little fixing as opposed to "evil" Republicans' calls for repeal, they will also make the bogus charge that Republicans have offered no alternatives to Obamacare. They'll also say that we can't go back to "the bad old days" of "the health care crisis."

Although 'rat candidates may be losing on the issues, Republican campaigns can't take winning for granted. The article points out the 'rats superior "Get Out the Vote" efforts, which oftentimes translates into stealing elections via cheating and fraud. It's probably too much to expect, but GOP campaigns have to be prepared to push back against against the 'Rats' election lawlessness in order to win close races.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping/post. Another big picture, specific incidents, totalitarian tactics, LOL posts better than the narrow focused article. BUMP for every poster.