Tag: Obamacare

Clinton Sums Up the Political Media

Buck Banks

If a policymaker is a political leader and is covered primarily by the political press, there is a craving that borders on addictive to have a storyline,” Clinton said. “And then once people settle on the storyline, there is a craving that borders on blindness to shoehorn every fact, every development, every thing that happens into the story line, even if it’s not the story.

— Bill Clinton, quoted by the Washington Post.

ACA Enrollment Tops 5 Million Mark

Buck Banks

5 million

People have signed up for private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration announced. The AP reports: “That still leaves about 1 million to go over the next two weeks for the White House to meet its latest goal of 6 million enrolled by March 31. That would work out to more than 70,000 people a day. And some independent analysts say that’s a stretch.”

Pres. Obama’s ‘Between Two Ferns’ Interview Has Upset Republicans – Because It’s Working

Jon Ponder

Republicans say they are agitated that Pres. Obama went on Zach Galifinakis’ fake interview show, “Between Two Ferns,” to promote the Affordable Care Act because he should be spending all of his time on the crisis in the Crimea — never mind that George H.W. Bush, who ordered the invasion of Kuwait, took his cigarette boat out for a spin during the Gulf War.

What they’re actually upset about is the fact that episodes of “Between Two Ferns” often get about 13 million page views and its viewers skew young, compared with the 2 million old folks who watch O’Reilly on Fox, the top rated cable news show, on a given night. And it appears that Obama’s appearance is working — USA Today: Healthcare.gov gets traffic boost after Obama’s ‘Funny or Die’ video:

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$27 Million Down the Drain? Doh!

Trish

Bad news for whoever is writing the checks at Americans for Prosperity (AFP). The Koch brothers’ political organization has spent $27 million since last August, with millions more planned, on ads attacking Senate Democrats who voted for healthcare reform and who are up for re-election this year.

A new poll shows they are likely wasting that cash.

Poll: Support for candidates who voted for the health-care law has improved dramatically

Support for candidates who voted for the health-care law has improved dramatically in recent months, a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday shows.

The survey found respondents almost exactly split on the question of whether they would be more or less likely to vote for a congressional candidate who supports the Affordable Care Act, with 34% saying they would be more likely to vote for the candidate and 36% saying they would be less likely to do so. Some 27% said it would not make a difference.

That’s a significant jump in support levels from November—a month after the troubled launch of HealthCare.gov, the federal insurance exchange that serves 36 states—when just 21% said a candidate’s support for the law would make them more likely to vote for them, compared to 37% who said it would make them less likely to do so. A much larger percentage—40%—were indifferent.

AFP’s ads are termed “misleading” by neutral fact-checkers, and “absolutely false” by Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

The organization put all its eggs in the “Obamacare will be hated” basket so if the public approves of the reforms and the costs of coverage decrease, the Kochs lose. Some Republicans have sniffed the wind and moved away from criticizing Pres. Obama over the Affordable Care Act to criticizing him over every other initiative instead.