I'm banking on Mitt Romney winning the GOP nomination, as are most of the bettors at Intrade (Romney's chances this morning: 76.6%). Mealy-mouthed elitist corporate tool that he is, Romney is the only sane one left on the right, and given that President Obama doesn't have an absolute lock on victory in November, I'd like Republicans to promise us as little damage as possible.
I would also welcome the Romney nomination in that would bring us daily reminders that RomneyCare, which is much like ObamaCare, did not ring in the Apocalypse in Massachusetts. It's actually working reasonably well:
Likewise, the individual mandate has not met with nearly the resistance that many predicted.
"The sky did not fall," says Andrew Dreyfus, president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state's largest insurer. "And by the way, we have much stronger penalties around the individual mandate than the national law has, and despite that, the sky did not fall."
The penalty for not buying insurance can be on the order of $1,200 a year for a 37-year-old single person in Boston. But only about 1 percent of taxpayers end up paying any penalty.
Meanwhile, a new study in the journal Health Affairs shows that more Massachusetts citizens are seeing a doctor regularly, fewer are going to emergency rooms for care, and the percentage who rate their own health as "good" or "excellent" is going up [Richard Knox, "Health Care in Massachusetts: 'Abject Failure' or Work in Progress?" NPR, 2012.02.13].
Costs are still going up, and Massachusetts is turning to that. But none of the death panels or other tyrannical fantasies of Tea Party obsessors have materialized. By spotlighting the best example of the good things that happen under an Obama-esque health coverage plan, a Romney nomination may once and for all douse the irrational cries for ObamaCare repeal.
There you go again; you've probably jinxed the guy.
Now there will be a brokered convention. The convention will nominate Jeb Bush. Jeb will win because he knows where to hang all of the Florida chads. Jeb will go to war with Iran because his brother and father went to war in the Mid-East. There will be a nuclear conflagration and the treating all of the radiation victims through Obama's reforms will permantly tank whatever remains of the US economy.
I think my kids will write that up as a link story for a DA this weekend.
Extend the impacts: all those radiation treatments will require a nationalized response and rationing, which will lead to death panels, dehumanization, and another nuclear war.
Cory, thanks for pointing out that America will have no choice come November. We truly have a New Age Theocracy.
Get your name on the ballot, Steve, or talk some of the numbskulls woh peddle that garbage into putting their names on ballots. There are plenty of venues. It's not our fault that your idiotic ideas never get any traction.
My challenge to you, Steve, is to show us one contemporary instance where the alternatives you are proposing have been successful in improving the status quo. Point to one city, one state, and one nation who is doing it "right" as far as you are concerned, and enumerate for us, in clear language, how you would go about instituting those reforms into our current system on the local, state and national levels.
I won't vote for either if those are my options in November. I also would not be excited to vote for Santorum because he is W on steroids.
Viagra coverage means breeding more paying Catholics to settle Church sex abuse lawsuits: NPR>...Sheesh.
Larry, not sure the church-bashing is all that helpful? As per James Joyce, when you're talking about Catholics, you're basically saying "Here Comes Everybody."
Aren't you, yourself Catholic?
(...you don't get to quit, you know... they claim they can kick you out, but the truth is, you can't really stop being who you are, can you?)
Mike, ever hear of 'roid rage?
The priest I loved when I was considering seminary was decapitated in a car wreck, Bill: roman catholicism will suffer the same fate.
Here's the way ip sees it, Bill:
"We spend $4-5 to register voters & 25% of Americans aren't registered. Canada spends 34 cents or so, & has registered 93% of their ppl." @CelesteHeadlee
"Costs are still going up, and Massachusetts is turning to that."
Ha, ha!
In an interview with reporters from the Wall Street Journal, Mitt Romney refused to rule out a value-added tax (VAT).
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/01/05/Conservatives-Dont-Like-Romneys-Tax-Plan.aspx
In the virtual mindscape between my two ears, Romney might just as well have pulled out of the campaign. I will not vote for him -- even in the general election.