Bernie!

[MatthewVett]

Not to mention if you live in an area that isn't the most perfect shade of purple you're vote really means fuck all.

I'm voting for Hillary Clinton ....because my zip code/state of residence says so. Why should I even bother?

A serious overhaul of our political process would deff help to get more folks to give a fuck.

I hate the electoral college. I have yet to live in a state where my vote is very meaningful. I really wish we just switched to a direct election of the president. Why should Wyoming get more voting power at the expense of California, New York, and Texas?

 

[Sean Renaud]

I hate the electoral college. I have yet to live in a state where my vote is very meaningful. I really wish we just switched to a direct election of the president. Why should Wyoming get more voting power at the expense of California, New York, and Texas?

In theory to keep us from bitching them around. As it stands we still do just not as much as we deserve to we got double fucked on that front and it still barely holds our pure awesome in check.

 

[Bonafide_Blonde]

I like reading this guy -- he has a good knowledge of computers, polling, statistics, intelligently analytical, writes well, and is astute politically. As we run up to a national election, I like to read him several times a week.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

 

[Sunshine]

Spent the day volunteering for the Bernie campaign. Great experience and I expect to be giving more time in the near future.

 

[JackLuis]

Calculating the Cost of Bernie Sanders' Single-Payer Health Program

In a front-page Wall Street Journal article a few days ago, the projection was made that a single-payer national health insurance program (NHI), as part of the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would cost $15 trillion over ten years. Accurate though that figure is, this under-researched article conveys disingenuous misinformation to a broad readership that might be inclined to dismiss such a program as too expensive to even consider.

Thanks to a landmark study in 2013 by Gerald Friedman, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, we have a solid financial analysis of the costs and benefits of a single-payer national health plan. With NHI, $592 billion would be saved annually by cutting the administrative waste of some 1,300 private health insurers ($476 billion) and reducing pharmaceutical prices to European levels ($116 billion). These savings would be enough to cover all of the 44 million uninsured (at the time of his study) and upgrade benefits for all other Americans, even including dental and long-term care. A single-payer public financing system would be established, similar to traditional (not privatized) Medicare, coupled with a private delivery system. Instead of having to pay the increasing costs of private health insurance, so often with unaffordable deductibles and other cost-sharing, patients would present their NHI cards at the point of service without cost-sharing or other out-of-pocket costs. Care would be based on medical need, not ability to pay. (2)

 

[Boxlicker101]

Calculating the Cost of Bernie Sanders' Single-Payer Health Program

Quote:

In a front-page Wall Street Journal article a few days ago, the projection was made that a single-payer national health insurance program (NHI), as part of the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would cost $15 trillion over ten years. Accurate though that figure is, this under-researched article conveys disingenuous misinformation to a broad readership that might be inclined to dismiss such a program as too expensive to even consider.


Quote:

Thanks to a landmark study in 2013 by Gerald Friedman, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, we have a solid financial analysis of the costs and benefits of a single-payer national health plan. With NHI, $592 billion would be saved annually by cutting the administrative waste of some 1,300 private health insurers ($476 billion) and reducing pharmaceutical prices to European levels ($116 billion). These savings would be enough to cover all of the 44 million uninsured (at the time of his study) and upgrade benefits for all other Americans, even including dental and long-term care. A single-payer public financing system would be established, similar to traditional (not privatized) Medicare, coupled with a private delivery system. Instead of having to pay the increasing costs of private health insurance, so often with unaffordable deductibles and other cost-sharing, patients would present their NHI cards at the point of service without cost-sharing or other out-of-pocket costs. Care would be based on medical need, not ability to pay. (2 [/quote]

I think I would prefer to believe a report from the Wall Street Journal rather than something compiled by one ivory tower professor, especially when the latter is reported in a source as biased as this one apparently is.

Would this single payer system cover the cost of abortions? Under current law, it could not.

The deductibles you mention and the copays only became unaffordable, if they are, under Obamacare.

 

[BotanyBoy]

The deductibles you mention and the copays only became unaffordable, if they are, under Obamacare.

LoL they were unaffordable long before obamacare showed up guy......

I love how you and the rest of the RW think the US was a land of milk and honey until O took office and then all the crap of the world just miraculously happened because Obama.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Despite the scary label of "socialist", which is only relative compared to most of our politicians, and would actually deemed fairly conservative in say, Canada, Bernie Sanders seems to have proposed real solutions. The majority of candidates are just using the same old talking points as before, spoon-fed to them by special interests and political machines. I don't agree with him on every issue, but Sanders at least plans to do something. It won't all get done, but if just some of his ideas get through, we could be a lot better country a decade from now, with a middle class back with a vengeance instead of shrinking to almost non-existence.

 

[lovecraft68]

LoL they were unaffordable long before obamacare showed up guy......

I love how you and the rest of the RW think the US was a land of milk and honey until O took office and then all the crap of the world just miraculously happened because Obama.

Equally annoying is how on the other side nothing at all is Obama's fault. He's like God...all the good, praise be to him, all the bad? Um, that was someone else.

 

[Boxlicker101]

LoL they were unaffordable long before obamacare showed up guy......

I love how you and the rest of the RW think the US was a land of milk and honey until O took office and then all the crap of the world just miraculously happened because Obama.

I do know medical insurance rates increased drastically in the fiscal year that began after the passage of Obamacare. Mine increased by about 80% and I heard of other people who started paying an even bigger increase. In my case, the copays and deductibles did not change because I was on Medicare at the time (still am) and my supplemental policy continued to pay them but they increased the rates they charged me in order to do it.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Despite the scary label of "socialist", which is only relative compared to most of our politicians, and would actually deemed fairly conservative in say, Canada, Bernie Sanders seems to have proposed real solutions. The majority of candidates are just using the same old talking points as before, spoon-fed to them by special interests and political machines. I don't agree with him on every issue, but Sanders at least plans to do something. It won't all get done, but if just some of his ideas get through, we could be a lot better country a decade from now, with a middle class back with a vengeance instead of shrinking to almost non-existence.

The solution he has proposed: Throw money at it and get the money from people who work and earn it.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Equally annoying is how on the other side nothing at all is Obama's fault. He's like God...all the good, praise be to him, all the bad? Um, that was someone else.

That does happen...but it's pretty rare.

Most of the time it's them just not buying your "OMG OBAMACARE IS GOING TO SEND KENYAN COMMIE NINJAS TO ASSASSINATE GRANDMA ANY SECOND!! BECAUSE SOCIALISM!!! IT'S EVIL I TELL YA EEEEEVIL!!!!" shit you RW loons try and demonize the DINO with.

I do know medical insurance rates increased drastically in the fiscal year that began after the passage of Obamacare. Mine increased by about 80% and I heard of other people who started paying an even bigger increase. In my case, the copays and deductibles did not change because I was on Medicare at the time (still am) and my supplemental policy continued to pay them but they increased the rates they charged me in order to do it.

Awwwwww himz haz to pay for that Reagan care.....30 years of personal responsibility catching up sucks doesn't it?

 

[Sean Renaud]

Equally annoying is how on the other side nothing at all is Obama's fault. He's like God...all the good, praise be to him, all the bad? Um, that was someone else.

Except very very few people say or think that. OBama has lots and lots to answer for.

That doesn't change the fact that the economy collapsed because Clinton and the Republican Congress deregulated the banking industry. Bush had most of eight years to unfuck it. Whether or not he didn't because he didn't see it coming (probable), didn't care (unlikely) or like a lot of people was just enjoying the economy and was willfully blind doesn't change things. The Stimulus Package and rescuing of the banks and car industry (which despite Republicans trying to foist it off on Obama because socialism were both started under Bush) were not only our only viable options but worked. We didn't regulate enough afterwards but hey shit happens.

Obamacare has yet to destroy the universe and what we had before was so much worse. Obama should have fought for Universal Health Care. He would have lost but he should have at least had it on the table if for no other reason than as a threat to use against the Republicans.

Obama DID NOT shut down Gitmo nor truly fight to get it done. Obama did little for immigration reform (though he's got some time left and seems to be bored.). Obama did very little fighting for the African American community as a whole. In fact he basically hides in his bunker until he's dragged out kicking and screaming forced to make a statement and then he dives back in the moment anybody takes their eye of him. He did not regulate the banks. He has continued to use drones. He's done little to get Israel in line. Overall he's been a coward on many issues if not most.

I do know medical insurance rates increased drastically in the fiscal year that began after the passage of Obamacare. Mine increased by about 80% and I heard of other people who started paying an even bigger increase. In my case, the copays and deductibles did not change because I was on Medicare at the time (still am) and my supplemental policy continued to pay them but they increased the rates they charged me in order to do it.

Congrats on being one of the few who make enough money to have lost on this.

The solution he has proposed: Throw money at it and get the money from people who work and earn it.

That is the most viable solution for many problems in the country.

 

[Boxlicker101]

That does happen...but it's pretty rare.

Most of the time it's them just not buying your "OMG OBAMACARE IS GOING TO SEND KENYAN COMMIE NINJAS TO ASSASSINATE GRANDMA ANY SECOND!! BECAUSE SOCIALISM!!! IT'S EVIL I TELL YA EEEEEVIL!!!!" shit you RW loons try and demonize the DINO with.

Awwwwww himz haz to pay for that Reagan care.....30 years of personal responsibility catching up sucks doesn't it?

What does Reagan have to do with it? My medical insurance predates his term as president. I retired months after W took office, and my employer continued to pay for my insurance. After Medicare kicked in, The only big increase I had was at the advent of Obamacare.

 

[Sean Renaud]

That a lot of our current medical issues can be traced back to Reagan. Some of them predate him as well and of the "government created" problems (if they are such. it's a complex issue) the majority of the rest seem traceable to WWII.

Given that we've seen what subsidies people get at what levels of income if you had an 80% increase you were making a stupid amount of money even in retirement and apparently had shit health insurance on top of it.

 

[JackLuis]

Bernie Sanders: It took Obama too long to fully appreciate how much Republicans hated him

Bernie Sanders has some fundamental differences with President Barack Obama and his approach to governing in a partisan government. If he were to become commander-in-chief, he would not be as naive as the current president has been about working with a Republican-controlled Congress, the Democratic presidential candidate told a former top Obama adviser this week.

Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont whose policies are left of mainstream liberals, told David Axelrod that Obama made a "mistake" by expecting he could easily charm the other party into negotiating with him. “He thought he could walk into Capitol Hill and the Oval Office and sit down with John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and the Republicans and say, ‘I can’t get it all. You can’t get it all. Let’s work out something that’s reasonable,’ because he’s a reasonable guy. He’s a pretty rational guy,” Sanders said on the debut episode of “The Axe Files with David Axelrod” podcast.

“These guys never had any intention of doing [serious] negotiating and compromising,” Sanders added, according to a Politico report. “I think it took the president too long to fully appreciate that.”

 

[PoppingTom]

The solution he has proposed: Throw money at it and get the money from people who work and earn it.

Thing is: it works.

 

[sr71plt]

I hate the electoral college. I have yet to live in a state where my vote is very meaningful. I really wish we just switched to a direct election of the president. Why should Wyoming get more voting power at the expense of California, New York, and Texas?

I agree that it could be done away with and go with a flat popularity vote on the national level. The electoral system was necessary "back then" when the relative size/population/clout of the states was so disparate that there was little reason other than being bullied into it that the smaller states would go with union. The deal was set up that states could withdraw if they wanted to. The electoral college system gave them some relief from the disadvantage of size/population. The size/population disparity hasn't changed all that much, but the Civil War tossed out the concept that "you can withdraw if you like," so the whole reason for the electoral college on the federal level seems outdated now.

 

[JackLuis]

Hillary Clinton’s support tumbles in California as Sanders surges: Field Poll

Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has seen a dramatic drop in support among likely California primary voters since May as rival Bernie Sanders has surged, a Field Poll released on Wednesday shows.
Less than half of likely Democratic voters in the June 2016 presidential primary in California, 47 percent, now say they will vote for Clinton, whose candidacy has been damaged by a scandal over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, according to the survey.

A Field Poll conducted in May found that 66 percent of likely primary voters supported Clinton, first lady during the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and later a U.S. senator from New York.

Meanwhile self-styled socialist Sanders, so far Clinton’s most prominent challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, has since May climbed from single-digit voter support among California voters to 35 percent, according to the poll.

Mark DiCamillo, the Field Poll’s director, said that California appeared to be in sync with voters nationally, where Clinton’s approval ratings have suffered

The poll also found less enthusiasm for Clinton as the party’s nominee and that 63 percent of likely voters believed it would be a good thing if Vice President Joe Biden were to enter the race.

However only 15 percent of likely voters said they would back Biden in the June primary if he were to enter the race, an apparent contradiction that DiCamillo said was explained by Democrats’ frustration over a primary season that had seen their candidates overshadowed by a larger, noisier Republican race.

Demo's can't make up their minds yet. A Wall Street shill, or a Socialist Reformer, or a experienced gaffer?

 

[werwolf]

Except very very few people say or think that. OBama has lots and lots to answer for.

The loudest people get the most attention these days, left or right wing. Still, I have met people who think that Obama has done nothing wrong and that racism (of course) is behind all criticism. I've been rather critical of Obama's foreign policy recently-particularly with Russia-and I've experienced this.

That doesn't change the fact that the economy collapsed because Clinton and the Republican Congress deregulated the banking industry. Bush had most of eight years to unfuck it. Whether or not he didn't because he didn't see it coming (probable), didn't care (unlikely) or like a lot of people was just enjoying the economy and was willfully blind doesn't change things. The Stimulus Package and rescuing of the banks and car industry (which despite Republicans trying to foist it off on Obama because socialism were both started under Bush) were not only our only viable options but worked. We didn't regulate enough afterwards but hey shit happens.

A combination of one and three. I also would mention that thanks to Iraq, the Bush II Administration didn't have its eye on the ball.

Obamacare has yet to destroy the universe and what we had before was so much worse. Obama should have fought for Universal Health Care. He would have lost but he should have at least had it on the table if for no other reason than as a threat to use against the Republicans.

I give credit to Obama for attempting to do *something*. However flawed, it was an attempt to rectify the long standing problems concerning health care in the USA. The GOP is not only truly off the boat on that issue, but hypocritical considering it helps private industry pretty well. That being said, it's nowhere near the radical step to justice that many Democrats portray it as either. It's a modest reform of the system that already manages to be heavily expensive and ramshackle in performance simultaneously.

It's worth noting that Obama's proposal is to the right of Mitt Romney's proposals in MA, which in turn is to the right of Bill Clinton in 1993, which in turn is to the right of Richard Nixon in the 70s on the issue.

Obama DID NOT shut down Gitmo nor truly fight to get it done. Obama did little for immigration reform (though he's got some time left and seems to be bored.). Obama did very little fighting for the African American community as a whole. In fact he basically hides in his bunker until he's dragged out kicking and screaming forced to make a statement and then he dives back in the moment anybody takes their eye of him. He did not regulate the banks. He has continued to use drones.

Maybe because a sizable portion of the American electorate doesn't want immigration reform, but border security. Dissonance on this issue is behind Trump's rise in the GOP-neither party establishment addresses it.

He's done little to get Israel in line. Overall he's been a coward on many issues if not most.

Obama's biggest weakness is that expansionist or otherwise "non-PC" powers neither respect or fear him, for rather valid reasons at this point. He's great when dealing with like minded leaders, such as Merkel(although not Germany as a whole after 2013). But he's really not the guy you want dealing with a resurgent ex-KGB officer who views the West as feminine and feeble, or an ex-Mossad commando who doesn't mind embarrassing him in front of Congress.

 

[werwolf]

Despite the scary label of "socialist", which is only relative compared to most of our politicians, and would actually deemed fairly conservative in say, Canada, Bernie Sanders seems to have proposed real solutions. The majority of candidates are just using the same old talking points as before, spoon-fed to them by special interests and political machines. I don't agree with him on every issue, but Sanders at least plans to do something. It won't all get done, but if just some of his ideas get through, we could be a lot better country a decade from now, with a middle class back with a vengeance instead of shrinking to almost non-existence.

He's more like an SPD or otherwise Social Democrat type in Europe-which is radical on the standards of the post-Clinton GOP, but not to the world as a whole. It's not a label I personally identify with, but it's one I can respect.

 

[BotanyBoy]

What does Reagan have to do with it?

In 1986 Reagan brought socialized HC to America but he never set up a way to fund it, because he wanted to keep republicans happy and god knows they don't want to pay for their goods and services. That would be evil socialism!!

Anyhow turned out to be a textbook definition of socialized HC but a very bad floundering model......So the cost of HC has been skyrocketing and after 30 years of this shit Obama finally laid some capitalism to it and wouldn't you know? The conservatives FREAKED THE FUCK OUT.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.....AHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!~!!

"WHUDDYA MEAN I HAVE TO PAY??"

My medical insurance predates his term as president. I retired months after W took office, and my employer continued to pay for my insurance. After Medicare kicked in, The only big increase I had was at the advent of Obamacare.

Well after St.Ronnie said "Fuck paying for HC!!" them billz started stacking up....now with Obamacare in an obscure sort of way youz going to have to pay down some 30 years of Republican lack of responsibility with some Crony Capitalism, Democrat style.

Obamacare would have NEVER happened if Regancare (fuck paying !! Just ER that shit!!) haden't been such a socialist clusterfuck....so when you pay those new ACA premiums, thank St.Ronnie and the GOP because Obama couldn't have done it without them.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

only a non American would want Bernie

carry on socialist party as working and having a job is just too damn hard

 

[JackLuis]

Bernie Sanders opposes Obama’s FDA nominee over his ties to Big Pharma

S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said on Friday he will vote against Dr. Robert Califf as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, citing the nominee’s close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

“Instead of listening to the demands of the pharmaceutical industry and their 1,400 lobbyists, it is about time that the FDA and Congress started listening to the overwhelming majority of the American people, who believe that medicine is too expensive,” Sanders said in a news release announcing his intention to vote against Califf.

President Barack Obama nominated Califf, a prominent cardiologist and researcher at Duke University who joined the FDA in January as a deputy commissioner, on Sept. 15.

Opposition by the Vermont senator, at a time when soaring U.S. prices for prescription medicines have come under fire by politicians, payers and patient advocacy groups, could signal a rockier-than-expected road for Califf at upcoming Senate confirmation hearings. Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has also made reining in healthcare costs a centerpiece of her campaign.

 

[JackLuis]

Bernie Sanders gains ground on Hillary Clinton as first Democratic debate approaches

Just days before she will take the stage in the first Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton’s lead over rival Bernie Sanders has narrowed, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Clinton’s support among Democratic voters fell 10 points within less than a week.

From October 4 to October 9, Clinton saw her support tumble from 51 percent of Democratic support to just 41 percent.

Her nearest competitors, Vermont Senator Sanders and Vice President of the U.S. Joe Biden, who has yet to decide whether he will run, both made gains. Support for Sanders jumped from just over 24 percent to 28 percent, and Biden rose from 16 percent to a even 20 percent in the same time period.

This is not the first time that Clinton’s support has taken a steep nosedive. Just last month, Sanders edged within eight points of the former secretary of state — Clinton at 39 percent; Sanders at 31.

A long way to go yet, but let's see what the Debate does to the polls?