Two new polls out today from pretty respected pollsters showing fairly different pictures of the public mind on the President and his signature legislation, Obamacare. Pew shows both back to pre-rollout levels, while Quinnipiac shows some continued drop and the President’s unpopularity dragging down Congressional Democrats.
Today at TPM Cafe Reign of Error author Diane Ravitch has some harsh words for the legacy of former D.C. School Chancellor Michelle Rhee: “Many states and the federal government have invested hundreds of millions of dollars—perhaps even billions—on various incentive programs, hoping that teachers will work harder or better if they are promised a bonus or threatened with a loss of their job. But these incentive programs have failed again and again.”
We’re pleased to host a live author chat with Ravitch, as well as some other education policy folks on Friday at noon ET (TPM Prime sub. req.).
It’s the time of year you’ve all been waiting for: TPM’s annual homage to the year’s best purveyors of public corruption, outlandish behavior and The Crazy. (The awards are named in honor of Congressman-turned-inmate Randy “Duke” Cunningham.)
This is the seventh annual installment of the Golden Dukes, and this year it’s sponsored by Media Matters, which also gives out its own annual award, Misinformer of the Year, given for the biggest errors by a media figure/institution in 2013. Media Matters will announce Misinformer of the Year at the same time as the Dukes. (See last year’s winners here.)
Nominations are due no later than Monday, December 16, 2013. Submission details after the jump!
Very interesting discussion here at The Hive of what TPM Readers think of the group ‘Third Way’ (sub req). I think I’ll jump in myself. But just speaking for myself, it’s not so much that I disagree with most of the group’s positions (though I do) as I see them as sort of irrelevant to most current policy discussions.
The latest Obamacare enrollment figures are out. Things were better in November than October, but they were still bad.
But that doesn’t tell us much that is new.
The key will be December enrollment figures, which will benefit from HealthCare.gov finally being more or less fixed and the projected surge in enrollments ahead of the Dec. 23 deadline to sign up for coverage that begins Jan. 1.
Some great pics from aboard Air Force One en route to Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, including George W. Bush showing Hillary Clinton photos of his post-presidency paintings (above).
Greenwald attacks Time magazine for picking the Pope, rather than Edward Snowden, as Person of the Year.
“For the reasons which the New Yorker’s John Cassidy, the New York Times’ Margaret Sullivan, and the Washington Post’s Andrea Peterson all stated, Snowden is clearly, by far, the person who has most influenced this year’s news events. If it were a serious magazine with minimally brave editors, then of course Snowden would have been chosen, but I never expected him to be precisely because that’s not what TIME is.”
It’s flying under the radar a bit, but one of the early silver linings to Obamacare is that Medicaid enrollment is going up — not just because Obamacare expanded Medicaid eligibility but because the increased buzz around the new law has prompted previously eligible people who had never signed up for Medicaid to go ahead and enroll.
That success puts the failure of Republican-controlled states to expand Medicaid in even starker relief. The best example might be South Carolina, which is seeing a dramatic jump in Medicaid enrollment even without having expanded Medicaid.
So a big focus for advocates and the Obama White House going forward is how to get those remaining states on board. It might not be as hopeless a cause as you would guess. Here are the five states most likely to reverse course and expand Medicaid in the near future.
For John Boehner the Speakership has been one never-ending dignity loss as he’s been lead around by various high-dollar “Tea Party” groups who run the House in spite of him. Apparently the soul-crushing got too much for him this morning: “”You mean the groups that came out and opposed it before they ever saw it? They’re using our members and they’re using the American people for their own goals. This is ridiculous.” Watch.
Sen. Alexander (R-TN) just announced that his Chief of Staff’s personal residence is currently being searched as part of a child pornography investigation.