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From The Reporter’s Notebook
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Monday distanced himself from Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) comment that “civilization” can’t be restored with “somebody else’s babies,” and said that he hoped the Iowa congressman “misspoke,” TPM’s Caitlin MacNeal reported. “I’d like to think––and I haven’t spoken to Steve about this––I’d like to think that he misspoke and it wasn’t really meant the way that that sounds, and hopefully he’s clarified that,” the speaker said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.
Agree or Disagree?
Josh Marshall: “Obamacare raised money and made various structural changes to insurance provision that lead to millions of people getting health insurance who didn’t have it before. Let’s be clear: who didn’t have it before and in most cases couldn’t get it before. There were some losers in the process. But this is greatly overstated. There were people who were purchasing extremely skimpy coverage who were forced to buy fuller coverage. There were also people high on the income scale who had their taxes raised. But by and large, the idea that people were hurt by Obamacare is mainly bogus. What Obamacare did do was add millions of people to the health care rolls. Getting rid of it leads to millions losing their care. Again, this is not a surprise.”
Say What?!
“Good morning from Washington, where, according to the CBO, it’s sunny and 75° this morning.”
– The director of the Office of Management and Budget responded to a pessimistic estimate from the Congressional Budget Office on Republicans’ health plan by dismissing the CBO itself as “terrible at counting coverage.”
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “What is the Democratic Partys’ industrial policy? What is its plan to reduce inequality? What is its plan to strengthen and expand the middle class? What is its plan to provide greater economic security to the working class? When you pitch your party as being the defender of the little guy, and you know that the little guy is feeling squeezed, you really do need a better policy message on those issues than,
‘I dunno… more of the same?’ Boosting the minimum wage is a step in the right direction but, as with perceptions about the PPACA, the group that you most need to reach believes that the policy is about helping other people who don’t work as hard as they do. When you effectively tell somebody who makes $29,000 per year in a factor that your goal is to raise the minimum wage to $12/hour, while some might recognize that the rising tide may also raise their boat, many are going to resent that high school students and unskilled workers may soon be making almost as much as they do. Meanwhile, they’re getting squeezed by health insurance and healthcare costs, but the principal focus of the PPACA is on others. So really, there is a branding issue involved, and the Democrats have spent a great many years allowing that brand to become tarnished. It also opens the door to effective populist attacks on the party, from both the left and the right.”
Related: Can The Democrats Get Organized? An Interview With Marshall Ganz
Have something to add? Become a Prime member and join the discussion here.
What We’re Reading
Here’s what happened when I asked every TD in Ireland if they liked Beyoncé (Daily Edge)
Most convicted terrorists are U.S. citizens. Why does the White House say otherwise? (PBS)
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