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VP Biden: “I hear you had a meeting today with John ‘Tan Man’ Boehner.”
Pres. Obama: “Yes indeed.”
VP Biden smiles: “That look says it all.”
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VP Biden: “Did you see the new NBC/WSJ poll on ObamaCare and the Republican shutdown?”
Pres. Obama chuckles: “Carney might have mentioned something.”
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VP Biden: “So, what are you getting?”
Pres. Obama smiles: “Oh, I’m getting a big juicy delicious burger.”
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At a birthday celebration for the First Family’s dog, Bo, his brother Cappy sneaks a treat from a table in the Rose Garden of the White House, Oct. 9, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/388361181884194816
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Sy Mukherjee: After Facing Opposition From His Own Party, GOP Governor May Expand Medicaid By Executive Order
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has long been a proponent of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. Now, hamstrung by reticent state lawmakers in his own party, Kasich may take things into his own hands and expand the program through executive order.
There have been persistent rumors that Kasich may take this course of action. On Wednesday, Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols told reporters, “We continue to explore all our options and just want to get this done.”
Expanding Medicaid is projected to cut Ohio’s uninsurance rate by almost 61 percent while extending health insurance to 275,000 low-income Ohioans. The expansion would be fully funded by the federal government for the first three years, after which it would continue to cover 90 percent of the tab.
More here
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Ian Millhiser: On Eve Of Shutdown, House Republicans Rigged The House Rules To Prevent Democrats Reopening Government
Less than two hours before shutting down the government, House Republicans created a special rule to prevent Democrats from reopening the government. The House’s normal rules provide that “[w]hen the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or resolution with House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any amendment shall be privileged” — a provision that House Democrats believe would have enabled any member of the House to force a vote on a bill to fund the government that had already passed the Senate. Yet, as Dylan Scott reports, the Republican caucus thwarted the maneuver by enacting a special rule preventing this vote from taking place.
More here
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https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/388335143514931200
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Igor Volsky: GOP Governor To Congressional Republicans: Stop Trying To Defund Obamacare
A prominent Republican governor is calling on congressional Republicans to end their efforts to defund Obamacare, arguing that her state needs the money included in the law. Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) — who raised eyebrows for pushing her party into expanding Medicaid in June — told the Arizona Daily Star, “the bottom line is we need that money in our economy to save rural hospitals and jobs in the rural areas.” “It’s all about jobs and getting back federal dollars that our taxpayers have paid to the federal government, to bring them home,” she added.
Indeed, multiple studies have have shown that expanding Medicaid under Obamacare reduces states’ uninsurance rate and brings in more money to hospitals and doctors. In Arizona, hospitals will gain “$108 million in the first six months of 2014 under a Medicaid expansion plan” and increase the number of people with coverage by about 300,000. Overall, “expanded Medicaid coverage will boost that hospital’s bottom line by more than $749,000.”
More here
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/388330015865442304
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/388328700007419905
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/388325580305100800
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/388309047675731968
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/388008553661079552
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/387680116916367360
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/385597703205703680
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Back in a bit.
On This Day: The President walks into a hospital room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he presented a wounded warrior with a Purple Heart, Oct. 10, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Today (all times Eastern):
12:0: Press briefing by Jay Carney
1:45: The President and Vice President meet with the Senate Democratic Caucus, State Dining Room
4:35: Meet with the House Republican Leadership, Roosevelt Room
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What it’s all about:
Washington Post: Obamacare saved my family from financial ruin
House Speaker John Boehner and his tea party friends shut down the U.S. government because of people like me. I am the mother of an insurance hog, someone who could have blown through his lifetime limit of health coverage by the time he was 14. My son has managed to survive despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, and he wears his preexisting condition like a Super Bowl ring.
Mason, now 16, was probably born with his brain tumor. We discovered it six years ago …. Mason spent most of eighth grade in the hospital. In the six months he was hospitalized, he spent 65 days in the pediatric intensive care unit. He underwent four brain surgeries. Halfway through his hospitalization, the Affordable Care Act was passed, alleviating lifetime limits on coverage and saving us from the financial abyss….
…. what is wrong with allowing us to purchase a financial safety net? What’s so un-American about that?
If I could get John Boehner and Ted Cruz I would tell them that, while they were busy trying to derail the Affordable Care Act over the past two years, Mason has again learned to walk, talk, eat and shoot a three-point basket.
Full article here
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Steve Benen: GOP sets trap, falls in, seeks way out
Just a few weeks ago, congressional Republicans had high hopes about pending showdowns in Washington. They’d target an unpopular health care law; the public would rally behind them; Democrats would splinter; Republicans would unify; and President Obama would cave. It’d be … awesome.
We now know, of course, that none of these things actually happened. Indeed, yesterday seemed to mark a turning point – Republican leaders started moving away from their “Obamacare” demands; powerhouse conservative groups publicly distanced themselves from GOP strategies; and polls pointed to a flailing and failing party.
Last week, the consensus in Republican circles seemed to be, “We can win this thing.” Yesterday, party officials transitioned to, “We need to get out of this thing.”
More here
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James Poniewozik (Time): Not “Both Sides,” Now: Why False Equivalence Matters in the Shutdown Showdown
People can argue the rights and wrongs of the showdown, but pinning the crisis on a bipartisan failure of “Congress” is a media copout
….. One party (in fact, essentially one wing of the Republican party), seeking the elimination or delay of Obamacare, precipitated a government shutdown and threatened to force a default on U.S. debt. Period. There was no corresponding threat or demand on the Democratic or White House side; having gotten the Affordable Care Act into law three years ago, they are not in the situation of saying, “Pass Obamacare or we shut ‘er down.”
That’s the situation. To accurately describe it, as news coverage should, is not to endorse an ideology. It’s not to say that Obamacare is good or bad. It’s not to say that Republicans do or don’t have good reasons to oppose it. It’s not to say that Democrats have or haven’t sought political benefit in the aftermath. But it correctly places the impetus where it belongs.
More here
See video of Lawrence O’Donnell and Carl Bernstein discussing the ‘false equivalence’ – here
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The Atlantic: False Equivalence That Leans on Public Opinion Is Still False Equivalence
…. The last few weeks have seen a sort of media-insider debate about whether journalists are wrong to blame both parties for a shutdown that seems rather obviously to be a Republican creation….
In a piece for National Journal, Ron Fournier leans on public opinion to show that, no, in fact, both Republicans and Democrats deserve a big serving of blame for the shut-down government, because Americans think they’re both to blame….
Rather than free readers from the shackles of false equivalence, this sort of argument actually solidifies the worst kind of false equivalence. It holds up the misinformation of survey respondents — whose opinions have been shaped by both-parties-are-to-blame coverage….
Public polls are a fine gauge of public opinion, but they’re not to be treated as a barometer of reality. Pretending otherwise mixes up the regurgitated misinformation of readers with the careful analysis of people who are in the business of busting misinformation.
If that’s not serving up false equivalence, what is?
Full post here
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Charles Pierce: A Child’s Garden Of Politics
I mentioned earlier today that Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin, had come out with an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he postulated that the Reign Of The Morons could end if only we admitted that he and Mitt Romney really had won the election – and, therefore, the right to enact their economic plan – in 2012. I also speculated that there would be at least a few nominally sane people inside the Beltway who’d buy Ryan’s latest crock of beans as the act of a statesman.
Step right up, my man Chuck Todd. And friends…..
More here
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Paul Krugman: They Can’t Handle the Truth
It’s remarkable and scary to watch Republican leaders trying to extract themselves from the box they’re in. They have now figured out that Obama won’t eviscerate health reform under threat — although their base refuses to believe it. They still can’t face the reality that Obama won’t offer any concessions, of any kind, under threat….
I would say that Cantor and Ryan seem, gradually, to be edging toward facing reality. But we don’t have much time. Can they come to grips with the failure of extortion before it’s time to shoot the hostage? I wouldn’t bet on it.
Full post here
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MooooOOOOoooorning everyone! A bunch of stuff came up yesterday so I wasn’t able to be around at all, so MASSIVE thanks to UT for keeping everything going sooooo beautifully, and to LL and Zizi for their wonderful contributions. I like you people. A lot.
This was a bit of a rushed R&S, as you might possibly have noticed, have to look after a few bits and pieces, but will catch up later in the day.
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