quigley

I spoke to my friend who runs a PAC (along with 6 others I learned tonight). His PAC does GOTV nationally and they had money left over. Learned some stuff that was news to me. Sorry if some or all is common knowledge here. Prior to June debate, internal polling had Biden with a small but consistent lead over Trump. The day after the debate, his PAC, including him, met with Biden campaign, and the campaign was insisting that everything was fine. The key data that convinced Biden to drop out was internal polling showing he was a huge drag on House races. Biden purposely waited to drop out to make sure Harris would be nominee. GOTV operation was underfunded in battlegrounds. He said only 1m was allocated to all GOTV in Philadelphia. He thinks Harris campaign spent too much on broadcast ads not enough on targeted ads and GOTV (not surprised by his bias re: GOTV). The counties he was personally responsible for in FL Harris mostly won or did better than expected. The difference between internal and public polling is huge according to him. Internal polling has voter lists that they use to target calls. Internals are in the field longer and more persistent with call backs. They ask better, more targeted questions. They have a much larger sample size. He was very disappointed, not a surprise. I was surprised by how much he wanted to talk.

You say you don't like it, but then it's ok cause everyone does it. Spoken like someone that's never had to have care denied or delayed. And bullshit quoting op-eds written by a FRAUD. OpEd was co-written by the CEO of Kaiser, someone who would directly benefit from expansion of Medicare Advantage. Oz is a snake oil salesman of the highest order. Did you buy his diet pills too? And more bullshit. You think the lobbyists are the ones who don't want RFK? The lobbyists LOVE THE GRIFTERS. The grifters will take their money and do their bidding. You think you're this contrarian thinker when you're the one who's been blinded.

The other thing is, health insurers NEVER LOSE MONEY. It's like is a utility...but of course it's not. And you're right about negotiating drug prices. I've commented IRL that I think this is going to be rolled back to because pharma will throw some coins Trumps away.

Medicare Advantage is a scam that enriches insurance companies at the expense of govt and patient care. Privatization of the Veterans Admin is a comparable scam. Trump would be smart to propose it because it's great marketing gimmick and would make him the messiah of the insurance industry. Trump will get huge kickbacks while the health of the country suffers. The poster you're responding to has either drunk the kool-aid or doesn't have experience with real-life the system and he's flooding the zone with bullshit. @956 Worldwide The big distinction is traditional medicare vs medicare advantage. The advantage program is just privatization of medicare.

Frequently you get a nurse who doesn't know shit about fuck and who just wants to talk for the 10 min they need so they can justify a denial. The overall cost to the system is increased because offices hire extra staff JUST TO COMPLETE PRIOR AUTHORIZATIONS. Doesn't even calculate the delay in patient care. Who cares about the patient anyway. Medicare Advantage = privatizing social security.

You're exactly right. It's all deflection and distraction. Assholes who spout bullshit, like someone with Jimi as their avatar and Oz, are stalking horses for really bad stuff. But I know firsthand that the impact of these stalking horses. Their greed and cruelty hurt real people. To see a poster here supporting the prior authorization process is infuriating because it adds to the cost of health care and suffering to enrich insurance companies. American life expectancy is lower than comparable countries already, and these idiots are only going to make it worse.

Let me google this for you: https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/higher-and-faster-growing-spending-per-medicare-advantage-enrollee-adds-to-medicares-solvency-and-affordability-challenges/#:~:text=Medicare spent $321 more per person for,in 2019 for beneficiaries in traditional Medicare. I work in this space you. Let me tell you how much people like having to change doctors because their advantage plan dictates it or if they like having meds rejected because prior authorizations. They don't. Hartford benefits from this people don't. It's marketing. You're right. He's wrong.

My cousin just bought a condo down there. Will recommend it to her.

Bullshit. It's more expensive and provides worse coverage. Fuck off.

My mistake on the ACA. You're right. Trump is going to expand Medicare... ADVANTAGE, which is just what Hartford wants.

I resemble that remark !!!

They're brown now, just like everywhere else out West.

Trump Admin expanding ObamaCare!!! Hartford will burn the WH down.

Yeah, listening to "Rest is History" podcast about the 1968 election, Nixon just about lost it to Humphreys because the Dem shitshow was apparently captivating that year. Kamala should have lit a blunt on the All the Smoke pod. (I was half expecting her to take a puff)

I've had a couple of Trump voters tell me they want him to be president because of the yucks. Assholes are measuring drapes for the White House and lapping up my progressive tears.

Marge taking it back to first principles.

My favorite country in the world. Paella, cafe, flan is a great baseline.

All the people I poured with in Oklahoma were White. I can still frame and smooth (not white though so okay to pay me less).

COMPLETELY agree with first part of this and will add that, when I was growing up in the 1970, it was OK to admit you were poor. At some point, being one of the "poors" became bad.

Grad school diet: arroz, frijoles in a crockpot y huevos. Lots of tomatoes, oranges and peanuts. Fiesta market in HTown on $42 dollars a week. Went to Whole Foods one time because it was new and was with a rich friend. More than 80. Embarrassed, I paid it and vowed never to go there again. Now I spent $40 buck for lunch a few times a month. I buy fresh squeezed OJ from Whole Foods and drink it while waiting in the checkout line. I'm embarrassed in the other direction.

@Biff Tannen - I don't surrender on the Cheney comment. @Incredulity is wrong. Watch the clip on Fox below. Trump clearly creates a scene with violence towards a rival. So 3 points: 1. Why is it that "the quote is a problem and not a line of thought for normal people"? Shouldn't we expect more from people who have a platform and the power to actually implement a firing squad? 2. Trump is a performer unlike most politicians. His words are spoken, not written so their effect and context changes because of speaking style. If you haven't seen the clip, it's worth looking at for context (below, starts at about 40 seconds). There's a pause between "Let’s put her with a rifle, standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Okay? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face." Then comes "You know they’re all war hawks..." The performance is worse than the words on the page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvPIQSom0UI 3. Now that he's in power. I'm going to stop listening to Trump's words. This is because now he has the power to do things. When he was out of power words were his weapons. Now he has like real weapons. That's what I'm going to be focused on.

So this is another elementary rhetorical technique called the Strawman Argument. Trump didn't say Nazis are fine people. I assume you know that. He said "you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides." Trump's words that day were SO BAD that this is one of the few times he's actually given something like an apology. If you want to die on this hill, bless your heart. https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116973/documents/HHRG-118-ED00-20240417-SD006.pdf

Cool. You didn't answer the question. When do you, in your personal life, tell people to have guns trained on people? If my child did that, they would be corrected. Adults don't use those words. I understand your point about Trumps words being mischaracterized. But his speaks is ripe for mischaracterization because it's so meandering and disjointed. Trump is evoking violence against a political rival. Why Cheney should be subjected to violence is besides the point. "Nine barrels," to me, means firing squad. Maybe I watched too many Hogans Heroes or something.

Deflect and distract. When do you actually defend his words? Do actually support those words or can you admit they're wrong?

@Brew Are we okay with "nine barrels shooting at her" ? I gave you the whole quote. When do you, in your personal life, tell people to have guns trained on people?