[The Technomancer]

it's usually not that specific. I recently left a job that gave full health and dental at $75 a month (for a single, unmarried man). If I wanted to add my daughter it would have been $130 or so. when interviewing for new positions, I found that benefit costs could have gone as high as $400 a month out of pocket for an individual- for worse coverage. Some companies offered health but no dental benefits. some were straight Healthcare savings accounts with hefty out of pocket costs before the insurance company pays anything at all. Healthcare benefits isn't just minutiae on what's covered and what isn't, it's a very tangible issue that's as important as salary.

Sure, but the example was about a hypothetical employer who doesn't cover specific things such as cancer or birth control. Not very realistic but I was arguing within the parameters I was given.

And I don't think that health-care benefits being as or near as important as salary is a good thing.

[Aaron Strife]

Check mate, libruls. :smug

Conservative humor is terrible because it always has the agenda attached to it.

GET IT? IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST AND HATES THE CONSTITUTION

Jokes aren't political statements.

[CHEEZMO™]

Conservative humour is never ever funny. In fact it's lack of funny makes me feel awkward on behalf of the "joke"-maker.

[Manmademan]

Sure, but the example was about a hypothetical employer who doesn't cover specific things such as cancer or birth control. Not very realistic but I was arguing within the parameters I was given. And I don't think that health-care benefits being as or near as important as salary is a good thing.

me neither. It SHOULD be an afterthought.

But bottom line is that not having coverage (especially if you have kids) isn't an option, and most employers don't have a buffet of health care options to pick and choose from- its simply "this is what we have." An otherwise great job that offers terrible benefits may simply not be an option, depending on what one's situation is.

[XMonkey]

But bottom line is that not having coverage (especially if you have kids) isn't an option, and most employers don't have a buffet of health care options to pick and choose from- its simply "this is what we have." An otherwise great job that offers terrible benefits may simply not be an option, depending on what one's situation is.

It's just a terrible system all around. Bad for employers, bad for employees, bad for the country. How anyone can advocate for it is mind-boggling.

[Fox318]

[Manmademan]

It's just a terrible system all around. Bad for employers, bad for employees, bad for the country. How anyone can advocate for it is mind-boggling.

Combine misguided American exceptionalism (whatever we have MUST be the best, because America Fuck Yeah) with those who profit from the status quo, and ideologues who oppose anything the government does as a matter of principle and there's your answer.

[tranciful]

Mitch McConnell thinks the filthy poor have it too easy: http://dailykos.com/story/2012/06/19...share-of-taxes

Why link to the daily kos article when you could link to the original source (that even includes the video)..?

[TacticalFox88]

WTF is this shit.

[Chumly]

Oh shit, context: Assuming you are willing to argue within our current system and not go "BAHHHH MEDICARE FOR ALL!!!!" what do you think a small employer should be able to do? Say I employ 10 people in a modest $3M revenue a year business. I want to offer my employees full health insurance, but if one of them gets cancer and hits me with a $600K bill, the business is sunk. Fortunately, this is all a moot point, since small businesses almost exclusively buy HMO products, not PPO.

Wouldn't you just tell the business "tough shit" since they weren't smart enough to buy stop loss coverage?

[Copernicus]

Rubio is going to be in the daily show tonight fyi.

[Plinko]

WTF is this shit.

"Fox Nation" is the area of foxnews.com where people can write/post their own stories.

It attracts all kinds of crazies.

[Measley]

Check mate, libruls. :smug

Dear conservatives,

Please stop being stupid.

Sincerely,

The people of the United States of America

[Al-ibn Kermit]

Subject change: Obama's ground game is freaking surging. Anybody else notice over the past few days?

Is there like a graph or what?

[Milabrega]

Rubio is going to be in the daily show tonight fyi.

Nope seems he canceled. Luckily tomorrow's guest Denis Leary is one of John's on call fill in guys so he's on tonight to promote spiderman a day early. Would be hilarious if he brought him back tomorrow night when he was already slotted too.

[Copernicus]

Oops Rubio cancelled his daily show appearance
....I guess he was watching as they taped.

Rubio....smh.

[zargle]

Oops Rubio cancelled his daily show appearance ....I guess he was watching as they taped. Rubio....smh.

I believe they said Rubio rescheduled for next week.

[Averon]

Conservative humor is terrible because it always has the agenda attached to it. GET IT? IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST AND HATES THE CONSTITUTION Jokes aren't political statements.

This is why I rarely find conservative humor funny. The partisanship of the joke often overwhelms the humor it intends to carry out. Because of that, conservative humor often comes off as mean-spirited and snarky, not humorous.

[cartoon_soldier]

I believe they said Rubio rescheduled for next week.

Must be pretty tough with the VP leak and all

[zargle]

Must be pretty tough with the VP leak and all

Stewart said it was because of Senate votes, so he blamed Harry Reid.

[PantherLotus]

And now they're saying women are off the shortlist of Romney VP candidates. Guess that means Sarah Palin is a no-go this time around. :|

[Aaron Strife]

And now they're saying women are off the shortlist of Romney VP candidates. Guess that means Sarah Palin is a no-go this time around. :|

What a shame.

Stewart said it was because of Senate votes, so he blamed Harry Reid.

Senator Rubio's got a pretty busy schedule, you know, filibustering and obstructing progress.

[Dude Abides]

Check mate, libruls. :smug

Except for Art.1, Sec. 8.

For movement conservatives the Constitution is like the Bible. Often invoked, rarely read.

[Copernicus]

So maddow was telling me a few minutes ago about helicopters being sent to syria on the behalf of russia, and superobama apparently intercepted.

Was she lying again? How come I didn't see anything here in poli gaf.

[PantherLotus]

Optics 101

Here's what Romney did today:




the apron is a nice touch


Here's what Obama did today and yesterday:




Oh, that's just a few of most powerful people in the world.

[cartoon_soldier]

So maddow was telling me a few minutes ago about helicopters being sent to syria on the behalf of russia, and superobama apparently intercepted. Was she lying again? How come I didn't see anything here in poli gaf.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85I0Q520120619

A cargo ship off the British coast carrying weapons bound for Syria has apparently turned back towards Russia, Britain's Foreign Secretary said on Tuesday, calling again for a halt to arms shipments to President Bashar al-Assad.

[Al-ibn Kermit]

Well having a female VP defend lack of birth control wouldn't be any better than having Rubio justify not having the (real) DREAM Act, as far as getting the non white male votes.

Romney will just pick a safe, normal white guy and hope that some external factors close up Obama's lead.

[PantherLotus]

So maddow was telling me a few minutes ago about helicopters being sent to syria on the behalf of russia, and superobama apparently intercepted. Was she lying again? How come I didn't see anything here in poli gaf.

Were you watching? She said it was just a coincidence that hours after meeting with Putin, the boat has been turned around. Not sure what con-goggles you're wearing.

[DasRaven]

So maddow was telling me a few minutes ago about helicopters being sent to syria on the behalf of russia, and superobama apparently intercepted. Was she lying again? How come I didn't see anything here in poli gaf.

Because its election season and no one is ever that interested in affairs of the Dept of State except war.
This was Sec. Clinton giving a heads up to the British Navy that materials were going to be moving soon and then those materials being successfully intercepted.

It was on the BBC by the time the West coast woke up. It was in my RSS then at least.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...lands-18503421

[empty vessel]

Check mate, libruls. :smug

Burn Madison in effigy!

If need be.

[quadriplegicjon]

Rubio is going to be in the daily show tonight fyi.

I had tickets.... But I decided that I'd rather play with my friends babies all afternoon instead.


[EDIT]

Doh, missed Denis Leary, oh well.

[Officerrob]

I had tickets.... But I decided that I'd rather play with my friends babies all afternoon instead.

He rescheduled

[PantherLotus]

This should be its own thread:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...an.php?ref=fpa

“I used to think that all of Wall Street was on the level, that it facilitated investing, that it allowed people and institutions to put their money into something that they believed in and believed would be helpful and beneficial and grow and make money and especially help the economy and on the side create a lot of jobs and be good for our country and good for America,” Ackerman said. “Now a lot of what we’re doing with this hedging — and you can call it protecting your investment or whatever, but it is basically gambling — you’re just betting that you might have been wrong. It doesn’t help anything succeed anymore, doesn’t encourage anything anymore. It creates the possibility that people say, ‘do these guys really know what they’re doing if they’re now betting against their initial bet and if you go and hedge against your hedge — which means you’re betting against your bet against your first bet — it seems to me you’re throwing darts at a dart board and putting a lot of money at risk just in case you were wrong the first time. I don’t see how that creates one job in America.”

[PhoenixPause]

Check mate, libruls. :smug

I'm pretty sure Madison never referred to a black man as sir

[PantherLotus]

I'm pretty sure Madison never referred to a black man as sir

He was also barely 5'-4" and would struggle to come up to Obama's nipples.

[DasRaven]

"Please don't kill me Romneybot!"

[Cyan]

There we go. A fifteen year old movie reference. Much funnier.

[Ecotic]

Pardon my ignorance, but can somebody give me a brief, but good description of Eric Holder's tenure as Attorney General? Is he just a victim of coordinated right-wing demonizing (think Paul Krugman or Nancy Pelosi), or is he bad at his job or maybe even just a genuine dick who has the contempt vote coming?

[ToxicAdam]

I think AG is one of those jobs where it's hard to go unscathed. Reno, Ashcroft, Gonzales have all been lightening rods of criticism during their tenures.

[PantherLotus]

^That too. And they're somewhat beholden to predecessor's policies while being unable to disclose very much at all.

Pardon my ignorance, but can somebody give me a brief, but good description of Eric Holder's tenure as Attorney General? Is he just a victim of coordinated right-wing demonizing (think Paul Krugman or Nancy Pelosi), or is he bad at his job or maybe even just a genuine dick who has the contempt vote coming?

It's a right-wing smear job with no hope of success. They're trying to get Obama to drop him like he did everyone else they challenged, attempting to make it look like he has a single scandal during his tenure. He doesn't.

Which is really astounding, if you think about it.

[cartoon_soldier]

Pardon my ignorance, but can somebody give me a brief, but good description of Eric Holder's tenure as Attorney General? Is he just a victim of coordinated right-wing demonizing (think Paul Krugman or Nancy Pelosi), or is he bad at his job or maybe even just a genuine dick who has the contempt vote coming?

They are holding a contempt vote for sting operations that were started in 2006

[Aaron Strife]

Here's what Obama did today and yesterday: Oh, that's just a few of most powerful people in the world.

The thing about Obama is that he seems to always be doing something important and presidential. He'll be at foreign conferences, meet with leaders of other countries, hash out treaties and agreements, etc. I suppose that's kind of what I'd expect from the President.

And here's Mitt Romney recanting a funny anecdote about how one time, his dad was running for Governor of Michigan after laying off Michigan workers in favor of Wisconsin workers and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz GET CHARISMA

[cartoon_soldier]

The thing about Obama is that he seems to always be doing something important and presidential. He'll be at foreign conferences, meet with leaders of other countries, hash out treaties and agreements, etc. And here's Mitt Romney recanting a funny anecdote about how one time, his dad was running for Governor of Michigan after laying off Michigan workers in favor of Wisconsin workers and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz GET CHARISMA

Problem for Obama is people won't care, economy is all that matters.

[Aaron Strife]

Problem for Obama is people won't care, economy is all that matters.

I think it's easier for people to cast Obama as a president than Romney. If Romney were elected in 08 and had the same situation on his hands, he'd be behind in the polls by double digits because of how unlikable and out-of-touch he is. Perception matters - it's not the only thing, but it's more important than you'd think.

[ToxicAdam]

[empty vessel]

Pardon my ignorance, but can somebody give me a brief, but good description of Eric Holder's tenure as Attorney General? Is he just a victim of coordinated right-wing demonizing (think Paul Krugman or Nancy Pelosi), or is he bad at his job or maybe even just a genuine dick who has the contempt vote coming?

An AG is a prosecutor. Ultimately, they're all assholes. The institutional role requires it.

[PhoenixPause]

The thing about Obama is that he seems to always be doing something important and presidential. He'll be at foreign conferences, meet with leaders of other countries, hash out treaties and agreements, etc. I suppose that's kind of what I'd expect from the President. And here's Mitt Romney recanting a funny anecdote about how one time, his dad was running for Governor of Michigan after laying off Michigan workers in favor of Wisconsin workers and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz GET CHARISMA

except when he's playing golf and watching Mad Men?

He's president, he does presidential stuff. The incumbent is always going to win the optics war unless he's just severely outmatched (HW Bush v Clinton). I'm not sure that matters against Romney, who looks like a president and passes the "qualified" test in most people's eyes. If Obama were running against Santorum or Perry (perhaps even Christie given his weight and temperament) this might be a big deal, but not in Romney's case.

At the end of the day this is going to be about the economy, and Obama is running out of distractions. Expect another horrible jobs reports in a couple weeks.

[Oblivion]

Republican Strategist: "Romney ran a business and a large state, but Obama's only run one measly country"

[GaimeGuy]

Republican Strategist: "Romney ran a business and a large state, but Obama's only run one measly country"

I think it sounded better in his head.

[Hitokage]

I left for the evening thinking PoliGAF was holding free and fair elections, but then I return to find something very different. :(