How many Democrats of good will would agree to endorse Chris Christie if he just agreed to stop driving?
“No wonder Americans are scared” about health care reform, say the Republicans — which makes a lot of sense, since the GOP are the ones who have scared people. That and other political news in today’s TPMDC Saturday Roundup.
I found Ted Kennedy’s funeral and all the events and memorials surrounding it very moving. But at the time and since it’s been this passage from Ted Kennedy, Jr.’s remarks at the funeral that I find most moving and most emblematic of the man …
During the summer months, when I was growing up, my father would arrive late in the afternoon from Washington on Fridays and as soon as he got to Cape Cod he would want to go straight out and practice sailing maneuvers on the Victura in anticipation of that weekend’s races. And we’d be out late and the sun would be setting and family dinner would be getting cold and we’d still be out there practicing our jibes and our spinnaker sets long after everyone else had gone ashore.
Well, one night, not another boat in sight on the summer sea and I asked him, ‘Why are we always the last ones on the water?’
‘Teddy,’ he said, ‘You see, most of the other sailors that we race against are smarter and more talented than we are, but the reason that we are going to win is that we will work harder than them and we will be better prepared.’ And he just wasn’t talking about boating. My father admired perseverance. My father believed that to do a job effectively required a tremendous amount of time and effort.
Howard Dean says that Dems should be strong on health care: “If you don’t use your majorities, you lose your majorities.” That and other political news in today’s TPMDC Sunday Roundup.
Obama to meet with key union leaders on Labor Day — who could potentially pressure him to go left on health care. That and other political news in today’s TPMDC Morning Roundup.
Am I the only one who thinks that if the Dems pass a bill with mandates and subsidies for poor and moderate income people to purchase it but no public option or competition with the insurers, that it will be pretty much a catastrophe for the Democrats in political terms?
You ‘solve’ the problem of the uninsured by passing a law forcing them to buy health insurance which, by definition, most a) cannot afford or b) are gambling they won’t need because they’re young and healthy. Either you end up with low subsidies which still leave it onerous to buy, thus creating a lot of disgruntled people, or you get generous subsidies, which cost a lot of money.
It’s sort of like reform with all the cool political downsides but none of the reform.
Of course, political terms are not the only calculus on which to evaluate these questions. And the model I’m describing sounds more or less like the system they have in Switzerland and Massachusetts, which many health care experts I have a lot of respect for still believe would be a big improvement over the current situation. But I do wonder whether, if the details are not thought through carefully, you might not end up with a system less effective at driving down costs than driving down the number of Democrats serving in Congress.
In honor of Labor Day, we’d like to see your home pics. Not the family and personal ones. We’re interested in your pictures from political events, some of your favorites. Close up of a favorite or least favorite politician, an important rally, a speech. Share the best with us and we’ll share the best with your fellow readers. The only rule is that it be a picture you took.
David Vitter (R-LA), the Christian conservative senator disgraced for frequenting prostitutes, tells Louisiana voters: “Character is displayed in a variety of different ways.”