Sunday Open Thread [11.3.13]

Filed in National, Open Thread by on November 3, 2013

Jonathan Cohn finds the Republian criticism this week about the 3% of health insurance policies being cancelled (so that the insured could be enrolled in better policies that comply with the law) very disingenuous, and hypocritical.

With Obamacare, a small number of people lose their current insurance but they end up with alternative, typically stronger coverage. Under the plans Republicans have endorsed, a larger number of people would lose their current insurance, as people migrated to a more volatile and less secure marketplace. Under Obamacare, the number of Americans without health insurance at all will come down, eventually by 30 or 40 million. Under most of the Republican plans, the number of Americans without insurance would rise.

Honest Republicans would justify their policies by arguing that Medicaid is a wasteful, inefficient program not worth keeping—and their changes, overall, would reduce health care spending while maximizing liberty. In other words, forcing people to give up their coverage is worth it. I don’t agree with those arguments, but they are honest. But they should stop pretending that it’s possible to address the problems of American health care without disrupting at least some people’s insurance arrangements—because, after all, they want to do the very same thing.

Jonathan Chait agrees, and thinks this is why there never was any “Replace” bill in the Republicans’ “Repeal and Replace” strategy over the last three years.

Every iteration of an alternative conservative health-care proposal would impose far more disruption on the status quo than would Obamacare. Most conservative plans involve drastically curtailing the tax deduction for employer-based insurance. That would create cancellation notices for many times the number of people currently seeing them. Even the more modest plans to scale back Obama’s regulation of the individual market would run the GOP into a political minefield. Which regulations do they want to strip away? Discrimination against people with preexisting conditions? Discrimination against potentially pregnant women? Mental-health parity? Every single one of those changes creates millions of angry potential victims.

This is exactly why the actual Republican Party health-care plan is not repeal and replace, but repeal and cackle. Republicans are on strong ground exploiting fear of change. They have understood perfectly well that they must avoid having to defend a different set of changes to the status quo. They have kept their various replace ideas safely to the side for exactly that reason.

And if you had any doubt that Republicans, at all levels, are just plain miserable assholes, there is this: Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey (R) presented HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a copy of Building a Website for Dummies during a state visit, the Memphis Daily News reports.

First Read: “Your party was blamed by most Americans for shutting down the federal government for 16 days, causing economic damage to the country. The last two NBC/WSJ polls taken during and after the shutdown show the same party at all-time lows, and with the American public angrier at Washington than it has ever been. Given this environment, it’s a bit surprising that Senate Republicans decided to go down the filibuster path again on presidential nominees. But they did.”

Time to go nuclear.

POLLING GOODNESS:

VIRGINIA–GOVERNOR–Zogby/Newsmax: Terry McAuliffe (D) 43, Ken Cuccinelli (R) 36, Robert Sarvis (L) 9
VIRGINIA–GOVERNOR–Christopher Newport University Poll: McAuliffe (D) 45, Cuccinelli (R) 38, Sarvis (L) 10
VIRGINIA–GOVERNOR–Emerson College: McAuliffe (D) 42, Cuccinelli (R) 40, Sarvis (L) 13
VIRGINIA–GOVERNOR–Hampton University: McAuliffe (D) 42, Cuccinelli (R) 36, Sarvis (L) 12
VIRGINIA–GOVERNOR–Quinnipiac : McAuliffe (D) 45, Cuccinelli (R) 41, Sarvis (L) 9
VIRGINIA–GOVERNOR–Rasmussen: McAuliffe (D) 43, Cuccinelli (R) 36, Sarvis (L) 12
VIRGINIA–GOVERNOR–Roanoke College: McAuliffe (D) 46, Cuccinelli 31, Sarvis (L) 9

MINNESOTA–US SENATE–Public Policy Polling: Sen. Al Franken (D) 49, Chris Dahlberg (R) 39, Franken (D) 49, Mike McFadden (R) 38, Franken (D) 50, Jim Abeler (R) 39, Franken (D) 49, Monti Moreno (R) 36.

SOUTH CAROLINA–US SENATE–Winthrop: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R)’s approval rating has collapsed among Republicans, going from 72% in February to just 45% today among Republicans and those independents who lean toward the GOP. Among all registered voters, his approval rating is just 37%. Doom. So who is the Dem running to take advantage of this one Graham gets O’Donnell-ed.

SOUTH CAROLINA–US SENATE–Harper Polling: Not so fast. While this poll confirms Graham’s 37% overall approval rating, it finds he still holds a commanding lead in a GOP primary, with 51% of the vote, just above the threshold he’d need to avoid a runoff against the second-place finisher. His closest competition is Lee Bright (R), who pulls in just 15%.

WISCONSIN–GOVERNOR–Marquette Law School: Gov. Scott Walker (R) 47, Mary Burke (D) 45, Walker (R) 47, Kathleen Vinehout (D) 44, Walker (R) 48, Peter Barca (D) 42

SOUTH CAROLINA–GOVERNOR–Harper Polling: Gov. Nikki Haley (R) 48, Vincent Sheheen (D) 39.

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  1. puck says:

    Markell sets his sights on another elected Democrat; calls Kowalko out by name with some bullshit logic about Kowalko’s data center power plant opposition. Kilroy shares the article and the outrage. .

    Is this what one-party rule is supposed to look like?

  2. jason330 says:

    “…it is sites like this, where almost 7 million vehicles were built, that need to continue to be economic catalysts in our communities.”

    He has a point. And yet according to Nancy Willing, this has been voted down by Newark City council. Tempest in a teapot ?

  3. PBaumbach says:

    The site used to be zoned industrial, when it manufactured cars. The site is now zoned Science and Technology Campus, for education and tech commercial, NOT for industrial.

    My property used to be zoned for farming, when horses and cows grazed there.
    My property is now zoned residential..I am not permitted to graze cows in my backyard, just because of past zoning.

    Jason, If the STAR campus was still zoned for industrial use, the Governor would have a valid point. It is not, and he does not.

  4. cassandra_m says:

    I’ve only had two exchanges on this Data Center thing, but (as someone who does not live in Newark) what bugs me is the business of calling this thing a state-of-the-art data center. What that bypasses is that firms like Google, Facebook, Apple and AT&T (among others) are moving to more power from renewable source and Bloom boxes for the normal power provisioning of their data centers and using dirty energy mainly for backup purposes. There’s more here too– like using building design to help reduce energy use and redesigning servers to use less energy. I don’t think that any of these companies are completely using renewable energy, but a couple of them have made commitments to get there. I strongly suspect that if the Newark Data Center was genuinely state-of-the-art (using renewables in the main), it wouldn’t have the kind of push back it is getting.

    What does interest me about the Governor’s piece in the NJ is that he doesn’t do anything to address the major concern of the Newark residents — and you’d think at this point that the Governor would be working at a fierce commitment to these residents that their environment and quality of life won’t be degraded by this plant, rather than just dissing John Kowalko.

  5. LeBay says:

    It amazes me that Delaware Democrats are quick to PUBLICLY put the screws to Kowalko (who actually has his constituents’ interests at heart) yet they embrace & glorify a piece of shit like Joe Biden. Biden has only his interests at heart & has screwed over many Delaware business owners who’ve worked for him.

    Think I’m talking out of my ass? Ask Joe how long Ashley was in braces because he failed to pay the orthodontist.

    Kowalko might resemble a Gene Shalit knock-off, but he’s the real deal and he works for his constituents.

    That said, I totally disagree w/ him RE: the Newark Data Center situation. The people pissing & moaning about it used to live next door to an auto manufacturing and parts distribution center.

    Newark residents need to study their history & be glad that the Curtis Paper Mill and AVF (later NVF, now Timothy’s) are no longer polluting their air and water.

  6. LeBay says:

    BTW, someone should do some digging under Timothy’s. Loads of bad stuff are buried under that building. I know a (now very old) guy who buried some of it.

  7. Tom McKenney says:

    This is not a debate about a data center. It sounds reasonable when you call the proposed plan a data center especially to people not familiar with the plans. This is about a power plant. I believe the community should use the term power plant when discussing the project.
    Le Bay “Kowalko (who actually has his constituents’ interests at heart)” I do believe that but, he also lives closer to the power plant than most of his constituents so it is also self interest.

  8. xyz says:

    The governor has a perfectly valid point. The power plant is clearly an accessory to the data center and as such is allowable under the current STAR zoning. There have been a pair of legal opinions to this effect already.

    Kowalko’s energy and enthusiasm is commendable but misguided.

    Hopefully City Council does not go off the deep end on this and embroil the City in another costly lawsuit. Look up “Newark Reservoir” and “Donald M. Durkin contracting” for details.

  9. Geezer says:

    Paul: I’m pretty sure you understand the difference between what industrial zoning leaves behind and what ag zoning leaves behind, making your analogy a bit disingenuous.

    The site’s remediation plan is minimal, aimed at making it suitable for further industrial use. Do you really suppose that Newark City Council intended to make such an obviously industrial-friendly site non-industrial permanently? If so, that was an incredibly irresponsible decision.

    The only legitimate issue here is the noise, and noise can be remediated. In 35 years of covering and observing zoning fights in this state, I have never seen one (with the possible exception of the NIMBYs around a former elementary school in Brandywine Hundred, who wouldn’t allow a white-collar office to move in) so obviously in need of someone to tell the NIMBYs to STFU.