Last updated on 2013.03.23
I encourage candidates to ignore the polls and run as if they were five points behind. Rep. Kristi Noem appears to be taking me seriously. Despite all of her advantages of incumbency, money, and horsewomanship, she keeps advertising as if Matt Varilek has her on the ropes.
Today's exhibit: the latest Noem postcard to clutter our mailboxes:
Let's parse this attack card lie by lie:
- Government take-over of health care: The Affordable Care Act does not put government in charge of your health care. It doesn't even put government in charge of your health coverage. The Democrats bent over backward to keep private insurers central to our health coverage system in order to produce a politically viable bill.
- $716 billion cut from Medicare: Those $716 billion in cost-savings extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund to the 12 years that Rep. Noem cites. Those savings do not cut benefits for a single senior citizen. The Paul Ryan budget that Noem supports assumes those same budget savings (though realizing what an idiot he sounds like, Ryan is backing away from that budget position in order to preserve his campaign attack point).
- 15 unelected bureaucrats: This was a lie when Pat Boone broadcast it last winter:
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act creates the 15-member Independent Payment Advisory Board to suggest ways to limit Medicare's spending growth. It can be overruled by Congress. Its appointments will be done in public. It will not make decisions on individual cases.
The board can reduce how much the government pays health care providers for services, reduce payments to hospitals with very high rates of readmissions or recommend innovations that cut wasteful spending. It may not raise premiums for Medicare beneficiaries or increase deductibles, co-insurance or co-payments. The IPAB also cannot change who is eligible for Medicare, restrict benefits or make recommendations that would raise revenue.
...The board's members won't be "bureaucrats," as the ad states. The health care law requires they will be doctors and medical professionals, economists and health care management experts, and representatives for consumers and seniors.
...Experts agreed that the board has no say in whether any individual receives dialysis, chemotherapy or any other treatment. It is barred by Section 3403 of the health care law from making policy recommendations that would block patients from needed care ["Pat Boone says health care advisory board can ration care and deny Medicare treatments," Politifact.com, March 11, 2012].
- 7 million seniors lose their current coverage: When Noem helps Paul Ryan voucherize Medicare, every senior will lose his or her current coverage. There is no evidence that seniors lose coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
- Kristi Noem will protect Medicare: No, the Noem-Ryan privatization of Medicare will end the program as we know it.
- Kristi supports... restoring the more than $700 billion in cuts: Kristi has proposed no funding mechanism for offsetting that costly vote.
- ...rely on the promise of Social Security and Medicare: The Medicare policies she's talking about have nothing to do with Social Security. But Noem supports Ryan's plan to privatize (read, kill) Social Security, too.
Rep. Kristi Noem is lying about Medicare, the same way she's lying about farm regulations on child labor and cap and trade policies.
Even if Kristi is taking my advice and campaigning as if she's the underdog, she shouldn't have to lie to pull her opponent down. But with no record of her own to run on, lies are all Kristi has left. Swing voters, don't fall for it.
Mitt had another "Let them eat cake!" moment last night on 60 Minutes.
"Look, it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility, particularly if they are people who have sufficient means to pay their own way," he said.
No he is not worried about the poor because they have safety nets. He is not worried about the 47%, that will not vote for him, as they just feel What is next, advocating the infamous Sarah Palin DEATH PANELS, as living and breathing will just be another entitlement?
That first paragraph "It can be overruled by Congress" says all I need to know about the panel. Why does Congress have to overrule anyone who isn't elected. If the panel was for advice or recomendations that's ok but an unelected groups decisions shouldn't have to be overruled.
But it doesn't surprise me that Noem is lying. She'll say whatever she needs to to get elected. (I still don't like Obamacare)
Noticing Matt's picture on that mailer I wonder if Noem will have anti Ryan plan postcards mailed out against her from a 3rd party group?
Noem is clawing like a crazed honey badger. Obviously, more credible polling shows this race much closer than last week's NBP report.
Nancy Pelosi sure looks confident these days in all her congressional appearances. I wonder if she knows some good insider polling data that we don't know about and that it contains information that the Democrats are going to make some unexpected gains in this next round of Congressional Elections. Bill Clinton has hinted that after this election he forsees a breaking of the "log Jam" in Congress. Yep, something they know or believe and they are not telling us. :)
Mike, I sure hope someone has some Paul Ryan pix planned for mailings on the Congresswoman. Add Boehner, too... preferably Boehner crying.
G, maybe Pelosi got a chance to talk to Matt last week and sees that SD-At Large has a better chance of flipping back to the Blue column than she might have thought.
Has anyone else wondered what has happened to the House GOP? They are dead silent these past few weeks. I would think they would want to make some noise and go after the Dems instead of just going silent. Paul Ryan is there pick for VP.
The infamous Sarah Palin DEATH PANELS are living and breathing. For our nine states they're just hiding in a cubicle-panel rooms in Bellingham Washington. Just have someone on Medicare go to the hospital after breaking their back. The doctors (remember them?) know there is a non-evasive surgery available to repair the back, relieve the pain and allow the patient to return home the same day. The doctors ask a cubicle bound clerk in Bellingham Washington to authorize the procedure. This clerk with no medical degree says NO, the patient must go home with the broken vertebrae for 3 to 4 weeks and suffer. Only after thousands of dollars are wasted on home health care, drugs and trips to doctors for the set period of time, the doctors can request the surgery and will be able to do it.
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This actually happened this summer in Sioux Falls and it continues to happen daily. This system contributed to the death of the spouse of 63 years. The greed of the Sanford and Avera system management work in collusion with the Bellingham clerk's employer to pay for their bloated home health care systems. By subsidizing this current system, with due thanks to Noem and the rest of the corporatist congress they will take away more of our vaunted healthcare.