Discussion: Medicaid Directors From Red And Blue States Reject Graham-Cassidy Repeal

[yskov]

In case you see this, good luck and I’m glad you’re going. You’ve probably already edited this, but if you want your point to come across clearly and just as importantly to be heard by other constituents as well as your Senator, you’ll need to rework it so they don’t shut down on the third sentence.

Something like,

I have two questions, one for you and one for Chuck Grassley. But he hasn’t done a public meeting in this county in 6 years. Thank you for giving your constituents this opportunity to discuss this issue with you, one many of our lives depend on.

I wrote a lot of letters for Amnesty International in my younger years. I’d almost always write two drafts, the “what I think and feel” version and the “getting results” version, lol. Basically I’d edit out anything that I thought would shut them down and replace it with an appeal to their better nature, whether or not I privately thought it existed. Lot’s of “I’m sure that now that you know this prisoner that was arrested in your jurisdiction is missing, you will do everything you can to locate him and facilitate contact with his lawyers and his family”, knowing full well that this dude was almost certainly responsible for the disappearance. Amazingly, this kind of thing can work.

I’m not saying don’t be angry, I’m saying that sometimes it’s more effective to direct the anger just sideways of the actual target so they don’t just throw up their defenses and not hear you.

Anyway, your story is compelling and I hope you get a chance to tell it.

[thunderclapnewman]

Could you explain to me why Kamala Harris didn’t seek to prosecute Steve Mnuchin when she was CA DA for illegally foreclosing on as many as 80,000 homes?

“Look at the actual charge the Consumer Law Section wanted Harris to file in the OneWest case: a civil enforcement action. Though he was OneWest’s chairman, Mnuchin was never at risk of indictment or conviction. At best, California would have extracted a decent-sized fine from the company—paid for by shareholders.”

[charliedontsurf]

That’s a good edit. It was an extreme struggle for me to write that without lashing out (much).

[yskov]

As I said, at least two versions! I envy people who can do this automatically. I’m not one of them.

[maxie]

Really? We havent’ been close enough to power to do anything. We’ve been forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. Kept at arms length…the dirty fucking hippies.

Hows that working out? And you want more of the same. You are the definition of insanity.

Good luck with Cory fucking Booker and his Wall St cabal.

[thunderclapnewman]

Your “anyway” and “lesser of two evils” gives you away as someone who, wittingly or unwittingly, helps the Republicans defeat Democrats.

Your smug, self-satisfied and morally superior attitude of resentment, outrage and grievance has never gotten a liberal elected, has never helped pass a piece of helpful legislation, and has never prevented the reactionaries from advancing their agenda.

Your comment deserves to be repeated—and regularly—for being the absolute Dog’s Honest Truth.

I wish I could like it a bazillion times.

[randyabraham]

From 2009 - 2010 we had Congress and the White House. We did a lot. I want more of that.

Maybe you disagree.

I don’t know what you think I want, and at this point I don’t care. You’re commenting on a page about opposition to the latest ACA repeal bill with rants about hippies and moderate Dems.

[fargo116]

Look at Cassidy’s face. He must have just heard what McCain was going to do.

[charliedontsurf]

Anyway, your story is compelling and I hope you get a chance to tell it.

Oh that’s not the half of it. But of course, I did not have a chance to tell my story. The Town Hall was only 90 minutes long, it started with a bunch of angry comments on Graham-Cassidy, which Ernst deflected for about 30 minutes by saying it was a moot point, it won’t come up for a vote now. She didn’t mention McCain opposing, and the audience still pressed her to commit to voting against it, or any similar bill. She said she had to represent ALL her constituents, with the clear implication that my Liberal town was outvoted by all the other rural Republican counties. Some one yelled "we’re constituents too!, she said she heard from this group and that group and this other group, and at this point I had enough and yelled, “But were you LISTENING?” This got a positive response from the audience, more positive than Ernst’s prevarications.

Then there was the obligatory rambling 15 minute question by an old guy dressed in a T shirt with military slogans. He rambled on forever about military benefits, and of course Ernst indulged his question with an equally pointless rambling monologue about how she is a vet and she understands the problem.

Then there were shouts about DACA from student groups, and a mass walkout chanting something about DACA. This was another pointless exercise. I was much more amused by the Robot Protester. Wow I haven’t seen him since the days leading up to the Caucus, where he made a scene carrying a sign “Robot Rubio.”

Of course he was roughly escorted out by police.

There were a smattering of questions about ending the AUMF, cutting the military budget, funding Iowa’s schools, and other questions that she was completely unresponsive to. Of course I expected her to avoid answering any questions, but this was a masterful performance.

However there was one thing that troubled me. On the way in, a lady was handing out signs, red printed with Disagree, and green printed with Agree. But people do not know how to use them. They hold up both signs, one behind the other. They face the Green Agree side towards the stage, but they’re holding the Red behind it, so to the audience behind her, it looks like she’s DIS-agreeing. Would you people all please get with the program, and hold up only ONE sign at a time? The press in attendance is looking for shots of a sea of green or red signs. But everyone blows it so it’s impossible to tell if you are for or against. Half of the reason we have the signs is to show your support to others in the audience. But you’re not supporting them if they don’t know which sign you’re holding up. So just hold up ONE damn sign. Is that really so difficult? Apparently it is.

[yskov]

Wow, that was a fantastic write-up.

1. What a coward to pin defeat on McCain.
2. “But were you LISTENING?” was a perfect response. Yelling out of turn is usually counterproductive but that’s exactly the right time to do it, isn’t it.
3. DACA folks are threatened and angry, and rightly so. I don’t know what it’s like in Iowa but here in Texas I’ve been really impressed with their organization and unflappability at protests I’ve been to. Multiple groups so I have no idea who should get credit. It’s clear this is deeply personal and not a political fashion statement for them. Sometimes tactics like walkouts work. Sometimes not.
4. The signs, aghhh. That’s where education really works, isn’t it? Agitate, educate, organize.

Thanks for the write up!

[charliedontsurf]

Hey I was surprised to see video from this Town Hall just now on Chris Matthews show. She was making the announcement that Graham-Cassidy was dead for all practical purposes. End of clip. Nothing showing the huge response from the audience, the shot didn’t even SHOW the audience.
Matthews was saying that the only reason why this bill to kill the ACA is coming up again is because big donors are furious that the GOP was unsuccessful at repeal. And that is why Republicans won’t publicly say they won’t vote for a bill that won’t pass anyway, their donors would desert them.

I don’t think the students here have any particular investment in DACA except as a philosophical ideal. This town is whiter than snow. The largest minority population is foreign students from China, they’re not in peril of expulsion. There are larger Latino populations in rural areas, but they’re nowhere near here. Most Iowans recognized after the Postville raid that immigrants were restoring the economies of rural areas that were rapidly decreasing in population.

[daveminnj]

The ‘Repeal and Replace’ catchphrase has a similar rhythm to ‘catch and release’. Makes it feel more humane on a subliminal level.

[charliedontsurf]

I kind of like this description:

‘Repeal and Go Fuck Yourself’ Is in Full Effect

[cgrantt57]

I must say, doctor, the reason I hate America is because of assholes like Trump, McConnell, the Dick, um, Koch brothers, etc.

Love the people and the landscape, though. Nice foliage, too.

[cgrantt57]

Ahem…should be “my siblings and I.”

Others first, then you.

[neal_anderthal]

The Red State goons know who is an um-mutual and will send you in for ‘Instant Social Conversion’.

[ericaz]

Graham-Cassidy is a health care plan in the same way that Bridgegate was a transportation plan. Throw up plastic orange cones to block lanes into health care for Americans. Why is this the best Republicans can come up with? They do have some think tanks with some fairly bright people. They invented Obamacare, of course. But their approach to government now seems more like the Vandals in the sack of Rome. Just make sure everything is destroyed.
Bridgegate isn’t working out for Christie. People realized he tried to use government power to screw things up, and they don’t like it. He is the least popular governor in New Jersey history. In fact, he is the least popular governor north of Oxaca.
The Republican Vandals behind Graham-Cassidy should expect the same fate.

[mtblaze]

Take a trip down memory lane and revisit the 400 bills that were passed by Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic House during Obama’s first term. Of course, Mitch McConnell was able to filibuster most of them, but I think even you would appreciate the Liberalism behind Pelosi’s bills.