The Politics Thread

[Juliajms]

I find it frustrating that instead of talking about solutions to the problems with the ACA, the conversation is about Trump's trash talk. That's this election cycle in a nut shell.  I guess Bill Clinton was wrong for bringing the topic up right now the way he did, but he's right that there is a problem that needs to be fixed. My friend's husband just lost his job, so they lost medical coverage. She makes something like $30,000 and the best coverage she can find for her family of 3 is $700. I'm hoping that she's misunderstanding the amount of subsidy she's going to get, but if not she's seriously screwed.

[quartermainefan]

Bill Clinton was totally right, but his timing could be better.   I am not a fan of Obamacare and since they announced it I never saw the logic of "we know the insurance companies are crooks, so we will make it a law that everyone too smart to give the insurance companies money will now be penalized".    It doesn't make sense, and yes, there is a problem when it comes to people just outside the assistance level of income.   I know a lot of people who have seen their rates spike by a lot. 

As for the debate.   Kaine was too manic.  Pence is like a stepford candidate in some ways and I wish Pence used his energy to bring up what a hatemonger this guy is and why he was about to get run out of Indiana.  Pence turned in the better performance, and I have no idea who that moderator was but she sucked.

 

[dragonflies]

My understanding is it's supposed to be by income, since she doesn't have any right now she should be able to get something cheaper than that. Has she looked into Medicaid?

[Juliajms]

Well, she has her $30,000. Her husband is the one who lost his job and it was his job that came with insurance. I'll ask her about Medicaid. She lives in upstate NY, so I'm not sure if NY is one of the states that expanded Medicaid. I have to believe that once she has a chance to really dig deeper she'll find something at least a bit cheaper.

Late Shana Tova Q.

 

Totally agree about the timing and the way he said it. Damn. Why not just wait until she's elected and then start trying to push congress to do something?

[quartermainefan]

He probably was just riffing off the top of his head the way he likes to do.   People sometimes say he secretly doesn't want her to be president, but I find that a little hard to believe.    I do believe he is going to be pissed when Obama is out of office and takes his job as Elder Statesman of the party.  Jimmy Carter doesn't count really, and now Bill is going to no longer be the headliner at their conventions. 

 

Happy New Year to you too.

[DRW50]

I wouldn't be surprised if Obama leaves that to Bill. He never seemed to like that aspect of the party and at times has actively avoided it. 

[Vee]

The VP debate seems to have been greeted as an uninteresting draw at best, with some networks and pundits giving it to Kaine and others Pence, others calling it a tie. But one man is very unhappy with Pence - his running mate, who feels upstaged.

[quartermainefan]

Anyone who says Kaine won is just shilling for the democratic ticket.   It's why MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell is to be ignored because he is just the liberal version of a FOX commentator.   About Kaine:  any points he deserves for speaking truthfully about what Trump said is erased by his non-stop interrupting.   Maybe he was nervous.   Pence, despite having the ridiculous job of lying all the war through saying Trump didn't say all the things he said, kept his composure,    Kaine looked like he had one coffee too many.

[DRW50]

it's not hard to lie when you're a sociopath, and Pence is a sociopath. 

 

I haven't seen that many say Kaine won. I've seen more trying to hype Pence as their latest daddy figure. 

[quartermainefan]

I imagine republicans will glom onto him as the new republican hope.   It will work into their delusions that if only a real conservative would come along they'd win.  Let them pick Pence, because all that will happen is is first his Jesus BS will turn half the country off, and then his anti-gay policies will turn off young people.  He's damaged goods except  they don't see it yet.   It's 2016, you are not going to become president being openly anti-gay and trying to sell it as religious freedom.   Except for the religious whack jobs, nobody believes that.   That's why the NBA pulled out of whichever Carolina that was with the bathroom bill.   The conservatives lost the culture wars, they just can't admit it in the mirror yet.

[Vee]

 

Yes, yes, aren't we all, dear.

[DramatistDreamer]

A milquetoast debate at best where it whiny and lying versus overly-aggressive.  Winners in this debate?! Boredom and redundancy won the night. I highly doubt that either VP candidate moved the needle for their running mate.

[marceline]

In other VP news Libertarians Bill Weld seems to have come to his senses.

 

As for the debate, I haven't seen it yet but I really wish people would stop complaining that something that actually addresses issues is "boring." Politics is not a reality show and thinking of it as such is part of the reason we're in this insane position.

Edited October 5, 2016 by marceline

[JaneAusten]

 

The Koch brothers love him. That should tell anyone all they should know. The state of Indiana wants him gone. His smooth demeanor hasn't fooled anyone including those women forced by law to have funerals for their fetuses. And Indiana like Wisconsin is at the very bottom now with job creation. Wisconsin used to be in the top 10.

[DramatistDreamer]

When I mean boring, I mean this debate was in no way illuminating. It didn't offer any new insights that we hadn't already grasped from the Presidential debate. I'm not looking for gaffes or 'gotcha' moments, nor am I looking for sniping. What I was looking for, this debate simply did not offer and that was new insight into either the Presidential candidates themselves from their running mates (which, at this point was going to be near impossible, given the saturation of think pieces) or some new insight on the VP candidates on their actual take on policy- this debate offered none of that.

 

For example, no one asked about the water contamination in many of our American cities. Pence has a soil contamination issue unfolding in Indiana and that wasn't asked. In fact, no one asks about the lower income people of this country in any of these debates thus far.

 

I heard some people complaining that there was no word on LGBTQ issues.

 

This is my opinion but this debate was barren of insight. I didn't see it addressing any issues, just VPs parroting their running mates views, and in Pence's case, dodging them.