News Nuggets 1344

DAYLEE PICTURE: A supercell storm near York, Nebraska.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT HEALTH CARE NUGGET!!
How To Sign Up For Obamacare (And Avoid What’s Left Of HealthCare.Gov’s Glitches) (Jason Sattler) from the National Memo
"You’re most likely to have problems using the site during peak times, which usually begin around lunchtime on the east coast and end around sundown on the west coast. But even when the site is busiest, you can browse for a new plan easily — if you don’t log in. Here’s how to shop for insurance at peak times without any glitches:..."
For those out there who support Obamacare: if you need healthcare yourself, enroll in the program. Either go on line or (as I did) go to one of the local "navigators", offices which will walk you through the process and answer all your questions.  You can find out where your local navigators are in your area by going to this website: https://localhelp.healthcare.gov/.  If you don't need to sign up or are already signed up, be a public advocate for the program!  What does that mean?  How many family, friends, or casual acquaintances do you know or who you meet who do not have health insurance!  Start asking why they haven't. If they need help, help them.  If they are against the program, inquire why.  It is my experience that people who do not sign up because they oppose the program are usually misinformed and are acting against their own self interest.  Set these people straight.  As I say, be a public advocate for the program.  View it as your form of pushing back against the ocean of BS that has surrounded this program since it was first proposed in 2009!!

The Best (And Worst) State Obamacare Websites from Talking Points Memo 
"It's an inexact science, but a look at the enrollment data they've released as well as the headlines that they've attracted is a useful starting point. Here are three of the best and three of the worst
performing state-run marketplaces."

Medicaid an Obamacare Success Story from National Journal
"A new report released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Tuesday shows that more than 1.46 million people were determined in October to be eligible to enroll in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. The number of applications for Medicaid has increased under the Affordable Care Act, although the difference has been more substantial in states that have decided to expand Medicaid."

Fire Your Team, Mr. President (Ron Fournier) from the National Journal 
"A White House shake-up can't stop with a sacrificial lamb. Obama needs to change the people around him to change how he governs."
While Fournier puts his usual anti-Obama spin on this column, fundamentally, I agree with him.  Obama's fifth year has stood out for any number of astonishing political, policy, and messaging debacles that are in stark contrast with what happened during the first four years.  What's different?  Axelrod, Plouffe, and Gibbs are all gone.  And who has taken their places?  See the following item:

Dems Admit Reboot Needs Stronger Team from The Hill
"Former administration officials and Democratic operatives say President Obama is ill-served by his current White House staff and must reboot his second term team following the disastrous ObamaCare rollout. ... In their place are a host of officials, including White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, senior adviser David Simas, Pfeiffer and Nabors, all of whom have been involved in trying to navigate a political storm first triggered by the launch of a website that was not ready."
While any personnel issues must be qualified by Obama's ability to actually get new nominees thru the confirmation (if they require confirmation) -- but on its face, some of these folks should be gone ... gone ... gone!

Speaking of people who should be gone, gone, gone:
For Roger Mahony, Clergy Abuse Cases were a Threat to Agenda from the Los Angeles Times
"... the nearly 23,000 pages maintained by the archdiocese and various religious orders suggest a man who was troubled over abuse but more worried about scandal — and how it might derail the agenda he had for himself and his church."

Republicans Nearing a Dead End on Obamacare (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"It's funny that Republicans don't believe their own propaganda. For years, they've been hellbent on repealing Obamacare because they knew that once it was fully implemented in 2014, it would have millions of beneficiaries who would fight to keep it. Once the benefits of a new program start flowing, it's very, very hard to turn them off. They were always right about that."

Obamacare Anger Fading Among Hill Dems from Politico
"While lawmakers and aides said little new information was relayed during the closed-door session, the tensions that have badly frayed the relationship between Capitol Hill and the White House recently seemed to decrease."

Poll: Americans More Concerned With Job Creation Than Obamacare Woes (Elissa Gomez) from the National Memo
"The poll finds that by more than a 3-1 margin, voters would be “very pleased” or “somewhat pleased,” if the president and Congress worked together to create more jobs, as opposed to “very disappointed” or “somewhat disappointed.” Surprisingly, voters expressed very little partisan variation on how they hope the president and lawmakers create more jobs..."

Why We Must Spy on Our Allies (Elbridge Colby) from the National Interest  
"Sometimes vital American interests are implicated in what our friends keep secret."

Rush Limbaugh Knows Nothing About Christianity (Andrew Sullivan) from the Dish
"... in the Church of Limbaugh, market capitalism is an unqualified, eternal good. It is the ever-lasting truth about human beings. It is inextricable from any concept of human freedom. The fewer restrictions on it, the better. In that cocooned, infallible context, of course, Pope Francis is indeed a commie."

On the heels of the CBS Lara Logan scandal, here's what Politico has been up to:
Politico Stonewalls Mike Allen Payola Scandal (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"Politico's Mike Allen is running a similar scam — accepting lucrative payments from advertisers and lending his editorial voice to hyping, and sometimes parroting, their agenda. Given the relative importance of national politics vis-à-vis rock music, this struck me as a potentially career-ending revelation. Instead, Politico has ignored the report and carried on as if nothing at all were amiss."
One of the things this story showcases is that so much of the public discourse on politics is shaped by a punditry that are not only exceptionally well paid -- but (as this story shows) for whom the
possibilities for making money "on the side" are equally extraordinary. I view it as one of the key drivers of the extremism on right-wing radio.  When your only commitment is to your own bottom line (masked of course as simply "entertainment"), why not stoke fear, racism, and anti-gov't nihilism?  The paydays are simply too good.

Lipstick on an Elephant: Deep behind a tangle of denial and rebranding initiatives, a GOP resuscitation plan emerges. (Frank Rich) from New York Magazine
"Strategies to work around the party’s entrenched liabilities have been proliferating since November 6, as Republicans desperately try to stave off the terminal Kübler-Ross stage of Acceptance. The Republican Plan A is simplicity itself..."

The GOP Might as Well be Dead (Jonathan Capehart) from the Washington Post 
"The Growth and Opportunity Project, aka “the autopsy,” was heralded as the Republican Party’s clear-eyed assessment of its 2012 presidential defeat. Autopsies are done on dead things, and ever since its March 2013 release, the GOP has done everything possible to stay dead."

Chris Christie Is Quickly Becoming The New Mitt Romney (Jason Sattler) from the National Memo
"Republicans spent most of 2011 pretending that Mitt Romney wouldn’t be their nominee for president. And when the 2012 primaries began, they did everything they could to damage their nominee before he could get to the general election. The race for the 2016 GOP nomination is starting to hint at a remarkably similar shape."
Problem with this analysis: by the time 2012 rolled around, Mitt Romney had been well vetted by the national media.  Christie has not been -- and if the stories about what the Romney folks dug up about Christie during the VP vetting are true, there could be a lot there to mull over!  You can bet Christie's opponents are paying attention -- as are the Clintons.