I’ll posit that Bob Dole wasn’t a bad guy, and neither (gasp) was GHWB. They were old school GOP. But had Dole been elected he would have been just as in thrall to the conservative forces as Poppy was. This is why the party matters more than the candidate.
We can’t forget the lesson of 2000., After 8 pretty good years of Clinton, true believer Liberals forgot how bad it could get, and equated Gore with Bush. We & the world paid a heavy price. Yeah, Bill gave up some ground (Glass-Steagal repeal among others), but he did a lot of good too.
The better way was not to push the AMA without the public option and thereby trap us in an eternal waste cycle with the insurance companies. The public option was always a viable option (it’s just allowing people to pay for medicare at medicare rates), and the only reason why we got one over the other is because Obama caved to the AMA.
The reason why the public option didn’t happen is because it would’ve forced for-profit insurance companies to compete with by far our most efficient insurer, Medicare (and they get all the expensive people that nobody else wants).
Now we’re trapped AND we have no momentum for the public option. Lose-lose.
This is why it didn’t really matter that Huntsman appeared to be a pretty reasonable candidate (working brain, human suit) I could never have supported him because of his party.
That said, I saw Dole was at the GOP convention last week. Think he was the only previous president/nominee who was.
I don’t really go for that analogy just because for all her flaws Clinton is not markedly worse than any other President in living memory. (Except Carter? Maybe?) So even if you resent her or her policies then a Clinton Presidency would be less like “contracting a horrible disease” than “exchanging an existing malady for a new one.”
No, it would be continuing the same malady of another imperfect Democratic administration. In a world where words are words rather than labels, this would be “conservatism”, staying with what you have, not changing.
You’re sure a limited public option, starting with people who would normally be part of the Medicaid population, wouldn’t have passed?
Because I disagree firmly there. That was a WAY easier sell than the ACA, and we could’ve expanded from there while reaping some major benefits by getting rid of disjointed care for our needy populations. I was doing analytic work (financials and clinicals) for the Wisconsin Medicaid programs at the time, and the people I respected were very strong on the subject.
If Obamacare got labeled Socialism, what do you think they’d call that? I’m not disagreeing that it was a preferable plan, just that it wasn’t passable.
Thatcher never ran for U.S. president. It’s the U.S. that has been exceedingly slow to accept women into positions of power. The rest of the world has accepted women into positions of power at a slightly faster rate.
What are your feelings on those who feel like they might die any minute and don’t want their last living act to be one of moral and ethical compromise?
Seriously, if the vitriol directed at people who’s primary desire was just for one time to vote cleanly without moral conflict had been aimed at the nominee then maybe her plank would shift until there is no longer a moral conflict.
Scream #1: You’re all white boys! No POC or Women share your views!
Scream #2: You’re all ignorant and uninformed. Obviously your concerns are invalid!
That’s all they have as an argument. Calling people sexists or bigots or trying to invalidate the stated concerns that actually do show people are paying attention.
Most of the people having a hard time with this are merely rejecting hypocrisy. We have a culture that claims to embrace idealism and holding on to moral virtue but we get mad when people actually believe that message.
Just come out and say bluntly “The reality is we all talk a good game but in reality we compromise our values to get stuff done. Sorry, you have been lied to but that’s reality.”
Were it limited enough to pass, it would have been extremely limited in the help it gave, no? You’re describing it as a foot in the door, but not much else. I’ve been a young freelancer trying to get health insurance, it would have done nothing for me.
Only the older “established” members of BLM count. The ones with book deals who do regular TV spots on major networks. The BLM members that scare old white people don’t count.
