Meet your new thread, same as the old thread.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
So if we allege you misuse torture, you'll drop that too? Cool.

2. don't ask. don't tell.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Gattigap
It's a bit inside baseball, but still I found this WaPo article on the genesis and subsequent sputtering of the Fred Thompson campaign pretty interesting. It's not really an epitaph, but it feels like one, and it's odd to be seeing it a month and a half before the first caucus.

The good news for Fred: In two weeks, this'll be old news, and he can make a comeback.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Not Bob
Dude, McGovern lost, and hasn't been seen since. Even Jimmy Carter increased defense spending. The "anti-American brigade" you are talking about -- led by regular posters on Kos, I assume -- is nowhere near the levers of power. Who among the leading candidates for president do they support? Kuccinich? They certainly don't seem to like either Hillary or Obama.

This "hate America" crowd apparently is the 15% of voters who don't want to see the country defended.

[SlaveNoMore]

Gattigap
It's a bit inside baseball, but still I found this WaPo article on the genesis and subsequent sputtering of the Fred Thompson campaign pretty interesting. It's not really an epitaph, but it feels like one, and it's odd to be seeing it a month and a half before the first caucus.

Gattigap

An interesting parallel would be the slow, dripping death of the Law and Order franchise.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
This "hate America" crowd apparently is the 15% of voters who don't want to see the country defended.

Too bad he didn't mention the number of lefties who want to the country attacked.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Too bad he didn't mention the number of lefties who want to the country attacked.

2

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
2

Which is to say, I believe the number is 2, more or less.

[LessinSF]

Originally posted by Gattigap
It's a bit inside baseball, but still I found this WaPo article on the genesis and subsequent sputtering of the Fred Thompson campaign pretty interesting. It's not really an epitaph, but it feels like one, and it's odd to be seeing it a month and a half before the first caucus.

Gattigap

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Which is to say, I believe the number is 2, more or less.

you mean of the libs that post here regularly?

[LessinSF]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
They didn't invent it. But they have routinized and legalized it. We prosecuted Japanese as war criminals for waterboarding POWs. It's hard to imagine that we could ever do that again, now that we've told the world that we're OK with it.

The army won't - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21773960/

[Replaced_Texan]

Interesting press release from the AMA.

Problem: the Republicans like private plans called Medicare Advantage plans. They're essentially privately run HMOs. Medicare pays the plans a certain amount of money to provide care to seniors. Those plans get 112 percent of what an average senior's care per Medicare. Republicans like them because free market, yada yada yada. The 2008 physician fee schedule for regular Medicare came out, and it cuts Medicare reimbursement to physicians by 10.1% (average, depends on specialty and location, some actually get a bit of a boost, but it's definitely more of a loss than a gain for physicians).

The AMA and every other specialy group (except maybe anestheiologists, like they already don't make money hand over fist...) is not particularly anxious to let the cut happen.

There was a fix in the both SCHIP bills, but they got scrapped in an effort to meet a veto proof majority in the Senate. The fix was to take some money away from the Advantage plans and redistrubute over the rest of Medicare.

'Twill be interesting to see how this plays out in an already complicated (and hotly contested) healthcare arena.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Mark Foley plans a come-back. I trust all you Rs who have defeneded him are going to be there for him now. (Spree - includes another story about a former R Congressman going to jail - those of you sticking your head in the sand shouldn't click on the click).

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

In the last couple of days, I have heard or read reports about how Republican candidates were all jockeying to be the purest candidate on immigration, taxes, and abortion, and it struck me that the Republicans are now very much in the position Dems were in back in the 70s, where their primaries really are run by some pretty hard-core ideologues.

So right now, pretty every Republican is trying to take a hard right position on abortion, immigration, and taxes, while the Dems are making clear in debates that they're not going to withdraw from Iraq right away, that they aren't going to push any budget busters, and that they have thoughtful, mixed positions on almost every issue (except Choice - that's still the D litmus test issue).

I'm sure you've already noticed this, and I'm not mentioning anything new, but it really struck me listening to the last couple of days news on the primaries. So what the hell are you Rs going to do about it?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Mark Foley plans a come-back. I trust all you Rs who have defeneded him are going to be there for him now. (Spree - includes another story about a former R Congressman going to jail - those of you sticking your head in the sand shouldn't click on the click).

so. Democrat Presidets Jackson, Van Buren and Polk all OWNED SLAVES! http://www.nas.com/~lopresti/ps.htm

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
so. Democrat Presidets Jackson, Van Buren and Polk all OWNED SLAVES! http://www.nas.com/~lopresti/ps.htm

How do you do that without getting sand in your mouth?