I’m charging my iPad as I write this so I can be sure to follow every manic-depressive tweet during tonight’s second presidential debate. I’m not sure what to expect from Obama or Romney, but I’m reasonably certain that Andrew Sullivan will declare one candidate or the other as finished and an embarrassment to all humanity. I’m also expecting much snark from assorted fake Big Bird accounts. And I thought about creating a drinking game where a shot must be downed every time Romney smirks or Obama says “uh”, but I’d be on the floor by the 45-minute mark.
The Obama campaign is running this ad in several swing states highlighting Romney’s plans to gut Medicaid:
It would be nice if the ad featured some kids and adults with disabilities, but I get that most voters probably know or knew an elderly person living in a nursing home. The prospect of Grandma being thrown out on the street is more likely to provoke a reaction than the neighbor kid with cerebral palsy losing his attendant services. I’m just glad to see that the future of Medicaid is finally getting some attention as a campaign issue. Medicaid, more than any other major entitlement program, is vulnerable to devastating cuts if Republicans win the White House and Congress.
Should I ever attempt to run for office, my opponent will have plenty of ammunition to use against me. This blog alone is probably a goldmine for oppo researchers, what with my frequent mentions of fishnets and the like. But I never considered that my enthusiasm for gaming might be used to paint me as a social misfit. The Maine Republican Party recently attacked a woman running for the state legislature because she plays World of Warcraft, even going so far as to create a website that describes WoW with the same ominous yet clueless overtones that might have once been used to warn of the dangers of rock’n’roll.
More damning are the candidate’s poorly considered posts on Daily Kos, which are also featured on the website. But the fact that a major political party is, in 2012, willing to attack a candidate for playing an on-line game makes me yearn for the day when the mores of today’s boomers and senior citizens don’t have a deathgrip on our political culture.
Perhaps I should run for office just to see if conservatives start foaming at the mouth because of my rather comely Elementalist alter ego in Guild Wars 2 (a great game, by the way).
Obama’s flat performance wasn’t the only thing about last night’s debate that left me frustrated. When pressed about his plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, Romney claimed that people with pre-existing conditions would still have access to coverage. Except they wouldn’t. A Romney adviser later clarified that states would need to enact their own versions of Obama–sorry, ROMNEYcare–to guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
Let that sink in for a minute. Romney wants to scrap a federal law and replace it with fifty state laws that would essentially do the same thing. But he can’t say that during the debate because, you know, details.
That Romney will say anything to become president is not exactly news. But I’m a little surprised that conservatives don’t seem to be bothered by this.
I’ve already cast my ballot, so tonight’s debate comes too late for Romney to persuade me to join his Randian crusade. Then again, presidential debates probably don’t have a significant impact on the final outcome. It’s possible that Obama could contract a sudden case of foot-in-mouth disease, but it’s more likely that the dynamic of the race will continue on its present course. Unless Romney completely retools his campaign or external events intervene, the President simply has to play it cool for the next month until the clock runs out.
Democrats should be anything but complacent, but I didn’t expect to be writing the above paragraph a few months ago.
Romney in 2006: By law, emergency care cannot be withheld. Why pay for something you can get free? Of course, while it maybe free for them, everyone else ends up paying the bill, either in higher insurance premiums or taxes.
Romney on 60 Minutes a few days ago: If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance and take them to the hospital and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.
Romney seems to have experienced a dramatic change of heart regarding the cost-effectiveness of emergency rooms as primary care centers. Back in the Aughts, he made a sensible case for ensuring that people had other options for accessing medical care besides the ER. Now, he seems to be implying that going to the ER is better than nothing.
The 2006 version of Romney would probably be a much more formidable opponent than the current model.
Sarah Silverman has a few thoughts on voter ID laws that she would like to share with you.
Minnesota voters will be voting on a constitutional amendment to require voter identification. The latest polling indicates that it may pass. I may be preaching to the choir, but please vote NO on this amendment. It has nothing to do with voter fraud and everything to do with disenfranchising citizens. Don’t fall for false analogies. Voting is not like renting a car. Voting is a fundamental right. We Americans aren’t guaranteed much, but we do make a point of proclaiming that every citizen has equal access to the ballot box.
People have died to safeguard the right to vote. Soldiers and students and housewives. When we start restricting the right to vote, we shit on every ideal for which they fought and died. Don’t fall for the scare tactics of politicians struggling to remain in power. Don’t bring Jim Crow to Minnesota.
Mitt Romney doesn’t want to waste his time on me. As he makes clear in the video below (which was leaked to Mother Jones), I’m just one more moocher who will vote for Obama because I’m a lazy, no-good moocher with a sense of entitlement. And everyone knows that Obama has the moocher vote locked up.
“But Mark, he wasn’t talking about you. He was talking about those other people.”
Yeah? Well, fuck you. How dare you question my moocher status. I’ll show you my Medical Assistance claims if you don’t believe me. I cost way more than a year of pre-school for a low-income kid. Way more than a Pell grant. Way more than your annual mortgage deduction. Way, way more than your grandma’s annual Social Security benefit. Compared to me, the rest of you moochers are a bunch of amateurs.
For Romney, I’m a lost cause. No, he’s trying to get your vote. Because you’re not a moocher, right? You’ve never asked the government for a handout. You pay your taxes (just like me). you’re the apple of Romney’s soulless, cybernetic eye.
But if Romney is elected, he’s going to learn that plenty of moochers wear nice suits and drive expensive cars. So I’m in good company.
I didn’t give the Democratic National Convention much thought when it began last week. A three-day infomercial for Obama and the Democrats didn’t seem any more likely to budge the polls than the Republicans’ snoozer of a convention. But that was before the speeches from Michelle Obama, The Bill, and the President. Now, it looks as if the convention produced a real bounce for Obama. Nate Silver, my go-to guy for polling analysis, now gives Obama an 80% chance of winning reelection. The standard caveats still apply: bounces can diminish and news events or unforced errors could flip the numbers. But for the moment, it seems that voters aren’t following Mitt’s playbook of blaming the President for the fragile economy.
The President’s campaign team must be pleased with their position with less than two months to go before Election Day. Meanwhile, a few Romney advisors must be putting out feelers for consulting gigs.
It warms my wonkish heart to see the media give more attention to Medicaid as a campaign issue. Bill Clinton considered the topic important enough to include in his speech on Wednesday evening. The complexity of our publicly financed health care system doesn’t lend itself to concise explanations, but Democrats need to start pointing out that plenty of middle-class families rely on Medicaid to care for elderly and disabled relatives. And they need to point out how Republican plans to slash Medicaid spending would almost certainly shift more of the financial burden of providing such care to families. Obama’s DNC speech acknowledged this threat only in passing. Here’s hoping he follows Clinton’s lead and hits the issue hard during the debates.
