AP-GfK Poll: Obamacare's Rollout Is a Big Flop With the Public

The startup of the new health insurance marketplaces is a big flop with the public, according to an AP-GfK poll that found 40 percent of Americans said the launch of the insurance markets hasn't gone well, 20 percent said it's gone somewhat well and 30 percent didn't know what to say. 

Just 7 percent said the launch had gone "very well" or "somewhat well."

Among those who actually tested out the system, three-quarters of those polled said they've experienced problems trying to sign up. Only about 1 in 10 succeeded in buying health insurance, according to The Associated Press.

Editor's Note: ObamaCare Is Here. Are You Prepared?

Even among those who support the president's health care overhaul law, just 19 percent think the rollout has gone extremely well or very well. Forty percent say it's gone somewhat well, and 18 percent think not too well or not well at all.

The same poll also found that most Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling his job, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it.

On the new health insurance marketplaces, seven percent of Americans report that somebody in their household has tried to sign up for insurance through the health care exchanges, according to the poll. While that's a small percentage, it could represent more than 20 million people.

George Spinner, 60, a retired government worker from Ruther Glen, Va., said he managed to create an online account and password before he got stuck.

"It kept telling me there was an error," he said.

Reynol Rodriguez, a computer technician from San Antonio, said he was able to do some comparison shopping online but computer glitches kept him from signing up.

"I was very much looking forward to it," said Rodriguez, 51. "That's what this country needs - affordable health care."

Via: Newsmax

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[VIDEO] Obama offers to fairly negotiate with nuclear-armed GOP terrorists

Republican legislators in the House are akin to arsonists, kidnappers, deadbeats, butchers, lunatics and extortionists, President Barack Obama declared on Wednesday.

They’re also acting like obsessives, out-of-touch hostage-takers, nuclear-armed bombers, and unserious irresponsible extremists, he said, and are determined to deny health-care to Americans.

Obama also told the American public that he’s so fair-minded, calm and reasonable, and so determined to make government work against for citizens, that he’s willing to negotiate with the supposed group of elected blackmailing, kidnapping deadbeats.

“I don’t believe any party has a monopoly on good ideas,” he said generously.

“I’ve shown myself willing to go more than halfway in these conversations,” he announced, presumably referring to the GOP’s caucus of obsessive, unserious deadbeat butchers.

“I will not eliminate any topic of conversation… I’ve shown myself willing to engage all the parties involved, every leader, on any issue,” he said, by implication, even if they continue to act like lunatic nuclear-armed arsonists.

Via: The Daily Caller

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Obama's Shutdown and Public Choice Theory

More and more, as we Americans trudge through the mire of the Obama years, we have to ask if the president is just plain ignorant. He doesn't seem to have bothered to study the political classics that tell a political leader why he should avoid dividing his people and avoid creating scapegoats.

And now, in an interview on NPR, the president has said that "I shouldn't have to offer anything."

Fortunately, for those people that give no credit to the thought of ancient dead white males, there is the modern settled science of just-dead white males to show the error of the president's ways. I am thinking of public choice theory and in particular the public choice bible The Calculus of Consent written by James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock.

After hundreds of pages analyzing all the various kinds of government voting systems and the logrolling that each allows, Buchanan and Tullock come to a fairly simple conclusion. The only kind of voting that prevents the loser from getting screwed is unanimous consent.

Why is that? It's because only voting by unanimous consent forces the majority to pay the costs that a new law will impose on the minority.

Here's how it works. If you want to build a new road in the county, the people that won't benefit won't want to pay for it. But if you offer them enough money, then you can get them to agree to vote for your road project. How much money will it take for them to change their minds? Who knows? That's what negotiation is for.

Via: American Thinker

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ONE YEAR LATER: CAMP BASTION FAMILIES STILL FIGHTING FOR TRUTH By: Michelle Malkin

Next week, “never forget” will resound across America as citizens mark a dozen years since the 9/11 terrorist attack and one year since the bloody disaster in Benghazi. But who will remember the American heroes who came under siege at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan on 9/14/12?

Two heroic U.S. Marines — Lt. Col. Christopher Raible and Sgt. Bradley Atwell — perished in the monstrous battle last year, and nearly a dozen others were injured. What happened at Camp Bastion and whether the Obama administration has learned from the deadly incident are timely questions as Washington prepares for war again in a jihadi-infested region.

And as military families know, there is no such thing as “no boots on the ground.”

The families of the fallen at Camp Bastion are still waiting for the results of an official CENTCOM probe into last year’s attack. They hear that members of Congress will get briefed on the investigation before the families themselves get the details about what happened to their loved ones — and who bears responsibility for the security lapses that enabled the attack.

Atwell’s aunt, Deborah Hatheway, told me: “We are hoping for the best, and that _the attack will always be remembered as one of the most horrific attacks by the Taliban, and that they will never be able to do this again.” A Capitol Hill source tells me the report could be ready by the end of the month.

Via: Human Events

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The Educators' War on the Working Class

They say that capitalism is the deadliest threat to poor Americans.  But that's not true -- it's actually Big Education.

We are constantly told that educators are "dedicated" to improving the lives of students and that a good education opens the door to a good career and financial success.   But while this rhetoric may have been true at one time, in the last ten years the economic reality of property taxes and student loan debt are starting to overcome the positives.  Educators may now be the greatest source of financial hardship faced by middle-class and poor working Americans. 

The public education system of America is a vast, efficiently organized network reaching from the largest cities to the smallest rural areas.  The bonds that hold this network together include membership in the two largest education unions -- the American Federal of Teachers and the National Education association -- and the bonds they have to the National Democratic Party.  The bonds to the DNC are made of money.

The size of these unions is impressive: the American Federation of Teachers has 1.5 million members in over 3,000 local affiliates nationwide.  The Center for Responsive Politics records that they give campaign money primarily, and almost exclusively, to Democrats.   They give zero percent to Republicans.  The National Education Association is twice as large and is the number-four all-time contributor to national campaigns.   It gives only four percent of its campaign money to support Republicans.  It has nearly three million members in more than 14,000 school districts nationwide.

So it's fair to say that American educators overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party.  In return, Democrats in all major states pass extremely lucrative salary and pension plans for educators. 

Via: American Thinker

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Poll: President Obama nears all-time low

President Barack Obama’s approval numbers are approaching their lowest levels ever in a new poll.

Just 45 percent of those surveyed in the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll said they approved of the job the president was doing, a drop of 3 points from June. Fifty percent said they disapproved.

That’s close to the lowest numbers registered for Obama in the poll, a 44 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval rating registered in November 2011.

(PHOTOS: Obama going gray)

The poll’s numbers reflect Americans’ assessment of how Obama is handling the economy: Forty-four percent said they approved and 51 percent said they disapproved.

Pollsters also pointed to a drop in support among African-Americans as a possible explanation for Obama’s falling numbers, as 78 percent approve of Obama’s work, a 10 point drop since June and 15 point drop since April.

Obama’s approval rating is the same as George W. Bush's was at this point in his second term, while Bill Clinton’s approval rating was significantly higher, at 56 percent, during this point in his second term, The Journal said.

Congress fared poorly in the poll as well, registering a new low approval number. Only 12 percent of those polled said they approved of the job Congress was doing; 83 percent disapproved. That’s tied for Congress’s lowest approval ever in the poll and the highest disapproval registered.

Via: Politico

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ALGERIA: 32 MILITANTS KILLED, WITH 23 HOSTAGES

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- In a bloody finale, Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with Islamist extremists that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.

With few details emerging from the remote site in eastern Algeria, it was unclear whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on Saturday - seven - was how many the militants had said that morning they still had. The government described the toll as provisional and some foreigners remained unaccounted for.

The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists linked to al-Qaida stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape.

Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent mediation - first on Thursday, then on Saturday.

Via: AP

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EDITORIAL: Obamacare’s costly new year Taxpayers to start feeling law’s unhealthy effects

The re-election of President Obama means Uncle Sam is only going to grow larger. As the new year arrives, Americans are likely to see with their own eyes the consequence of their choice of chief executive as health care costs escalate thanks to Obamacare.

Provisions of the law that take effect in the new year will reveal the true price tag of the president’s signature health care system in the form of five new taxes. Starting Jan. 1, a 2.3 percent medical device tax will be imposed on the miracles of modern medicine such as heart pacemakers, stents, prosthetic joints and diagnostic scanners. The levy will apply to sales, not profits, so startup firms that might be just breaking even could be pushed into the red by Obamacare. With 80 percent of medical device companies employing fewer than 50 people, the tax is a disincentive for small firms to stay in business — exactly the opposite of the effect needed to jump-start the nation’s flagging economy.

Obamacare will raise the threshold for the tax deductibility of medical bills from 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income to 10 percent, making it harder to write off the cost of health care. Pre-tax flexible spending accounts, which 24 million consumers rely on to pay for medical bills and currently have no federally imposed limit, will be capped at $2,500. These two provisions mean a greater share of families’ income must be devoted to health care, contrary to the promises Democrats made when selling the plan to the public in 2010.

Via: Washington Times

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OPINION: Why Boehner's Plan B Is Conservatives' Best Hope

After President Obama was re-elected on Nov. 6, Americans faced a reality on Nov. 7: Taxes are going up. The only question facing conservatives now is how much of that tax hike they can prevent while also preserving as much of the hard-fought spending cuts they won in 2011.

Here are the facts: If nothing happens by Jan. 1, taxes will automatically rise by about $4.6 trillion over 10 years. Every working American would be hit. However, thanks to the August 2011 debt-limit deal, spending is also set to be cut by $1.2 trillion. Conservatives often forget about this little piece of leverage.

Obama's top priority is to raise taxes as high as he possibly can. A $1.3 trillion tax hike was his latest offer. But undoing the $1.2 trillion spending cut in the debt-limit deal is also important to him. His latest offer not only rescinds the scheduled spending cut, but it also calls for $80 billion in new stimulus spending. Obama did also offer to cut Social Security by $120 billion over 10 years and make $800 billion more in other unspecified spending cuts, but he has flat out refused to entertain any serious entitlement reform proposals.

Boehner's last offer to Obama wasn't much better. It only raised taxes by $1 trillion and undid the $1.2 trillion spending cut from the debt-limit deal. Boehner did call for a new $1 trillion spending cut to replace the sequester, but no meaningful structural entitlement reforms were included.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Opinion: Why A Budget Deal Could Push Unemployment Above 10 Percent

Friday, forecasters expect the Labor Department to report the economy added 80,000 jobs in November—substantially less than the 171,000 added the prior month. As budgets talks are progressing disappointing jobs reports could likely continue into the New Year.

Factors contributing to a slowdown in jobs creation include temporary displacements caused by Hurricane Sandy and business worries that President Obama and Congressional Republicans will not reach a compromise to avert the fiscal cliff. However, looming larger has been a slowdown in growth of consumer spending in recent months, and the continuing nagging effects of the trade deficit on economic activity.

The economy must add more than 349,000 jobs each month for three years to lower unemployment to 6 percent and that is not likely with current policies.

Convincing millions of American adults they don’t need or want a job has been Washington’s most effective jobs program.

Most analysts see the unemployment rate inching up to 8.0 percent, while a few see it remaining steady. The wildcard is the number of adults actually working or seeking jobs—the measure of the labor force used to calculate the unemployment rate.

Labor force participation is lower today than when President Obama took office and the recovery began, and factoring in discouraged adults and others working part-time that would prefer full time work, the unemployment rate is 14.6 percent.

Convincing millions more adults they don’t need or want a job has been Washington’s most effective jobs program, despite trillions in new stimulus spending, industrial policies, targeted tax cuts, and social programs intended to boost demand.

Via Fox News

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ObamaCare's Insurance Exchange Nightmare

When the Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare as a tax last summer, President Obama may have thought he could breathe a little easier. But now with the implementation of the law, Obama is just beginning his war with the states that refuse to implement ObamaCare exchanges needed for the legislation to work properly or at least, quickly.

The Obama administration faces major logistical and financial challenges in creating health insurance exchanges for states that have declined to set up their own systems.

The exchanges were designed as the centerpiece of President Obama’s signature law, and are intended to make buying health insurance comparable to booking a flight or finding a compatible partner on Match.com.

Sixteen states — most of them governed by Republicans — have said they will not set up their own systems, forcing the federal government to come up with one instead.

Another five states said they want a federal-state partnership, while four others are considering partnerships.

It's a situation no one anticipated when the Affordable Care Act was written. The law assumed states would create and operate their own exchanges, and set aside billions in grants for that purpose.

Essentially, states denying the exchanges forces the feds to do the work, as they should considering it is a federal law that balloons state budgets.

The work of beginning to implement the exchanges comes just in time for the fiscal cliff. Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have hinted ObamaCare may be on the table as a negotiating piece for a deal.

The president’s health care law adds a massive, expensive, unworkable government program at a time when our national debt already exceeds the size of our country’s entire economy. We can’t afford it, and we can’t afford to leave it intact. That’s why I’ve been clear that the law has to stay on the table as both parties discuss ways to solve our nation’s massive debt challenge.

Meanwhile, the majority of Americans still despise ObamaCare and want it repealed.

Fifty percent (50%) of Likely U.S. Voters favor repeal of President Obama’s national health care law, while 44% are opposed to repeal, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Via: TownHall

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Report: Obama Has Begun Suggesting To Field Organizers In Florida Their Time Would Be Better Spent In Ohio…

Does Mitt-Mentum Signal a Surge to a Romney Win?

At this stage of a tight presidential race, a refreshing transparency reveals itself to even the casual observer. How campaigns actually view the state of the race emerges in plain sight from the long-cloaked inner sanctum of polling, focus groups, and micro-targeting of voter preferences.

When President Obama suddenly rolls out a 20-page pamphlet summarizing his second-term agenda, voters know it was because the campaign discovered a hole in its data dug by GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s monthlong criticism. Presidents don’t dance to a challenger’s tune unless the polling data dictate they must. The same can be said for Obama’s aggressive, zinger-filled performance in the third debate. He needed to challenge Romney on facts and energize the slackers in his base.

Similarly during the last debate, Romney ran away from previous confrontations with Obama over the terrorist attack in Libya that killed four Americans—the reddest of red meat for conservatives right now. Instead, he spoke plaintively of “peace” and of war with Iran being the absolute “last resort,” because he knew he needed votes from nonaligned suburbanites—especially women. Romney also ignored Obama’s taunts because one-on-one jousting cost him in the second debate.

In short, Obama is acting like a slightly irked incumbent who needs to make up ground on a challenger he thought he had put away last summer. Romney is acting like a challenger who can’t afford to risk losing what he gained in the first debate, trying to siphon off voters still loosely attached to Obama.

The central question is whether Romney is surging to victory or merely merging into a lane of GOP support observable in previous presidential elections but insufficient to overcome Obama’s built-in demographic and ground-game advantages. The Romney campaign knows it will outperform John McCain’s turnout averages in all the vital swing states. Romney also knows that Republican voters outperformed Democratic voters in 10 swing states in 2004 (50.7 percent turnout to 48.3 percent). Republicans were competitive with Democrats in 2000 (47.9 percent to 48.4 percent). The blowout year was 2008, when Republicans lost the turnout contest to Democrats 45.6 percent to 52.9 percent,

Via: National Journal

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MONSTER HAUL: ROMNEY RAKES IN $112M IN FIRST 17 DAYS OF OCTOBER

Rising enthusiasm for Mitt Romney’s surging presidential candidacy has driven Americans to the donation box: Romney’s campaign raised a whopping $112 million in 17 days of October, according to the Republican National Committee. Much of that giving was obviously driven by Romney’s stellar performance in the first debate.

Romney needed a good showing after incumbent President Barack Obama defeated him in fundraising for September, $181 million to $170 million. The Romney campaign has approximately $169 million to spend over the final two weeks of this campaign. Approximately $38 million of the money raised in October came in donations of $250 or under, suggesting burgeoning grassroots appeal for Romney.

Via: Breitbart

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Paul Ryan: How Conservatism Helps the Poor

When it comes to explaining how their policies would help the poor and the disadvantaged, conservatives can all too often be likened to a football team that drives all the way to the one-yard line and then just kneels down. Rock-solid principles and policies drive them forward, but they fail to take that last extra little step and explain how these policies would help all Americans—especially those at the bottom who most need a hand up and a way out.

And because of this, the left’s grotesque claims that capitalism allows the 1 percent to fleece the 99 percent or that conservatism is a ploy to justify government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich are left standing.

How exciting and invigorating, then, to see a prominent conservative clearly explain how conservative policies sustain the American Dream for all Americans. Yesterday in Cleveland, Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) delivered one of the best speeches in recent memory that articulated the conservative vision of an America where prosperity and opportunity flourish and the “engines of upward mobility” are on full throttle.

It’s a must-read for those who want to learn how to make a compelling case for conservatism.

Via: The Foundry

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Bill Clinton: “Impatient” Americans Haven’t Recognized How Awesome A Job Obama Has Done Yet…

GREEN BAY, Wis.  –  Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that President Barack Obama is facing a tough re-election race because "impatient" Americans haven't fully recognized an economy on the mend.

Campaigning for Obama in Green Bay, Wis., Clinton urged voters to stay the course as more signs of a recovery sink in. Clinton said voters should judge Obama on the past three years, in which private sector job growth has made up for lost ground.

"This shouldn't be a race," Clinton said. "The only reason it is, is because Americans are impatient on things not made before yesterday and they don't understand why the economy is not totally hunky-dory again."

The former president said Obama's difficulty in his race with Republican challenger Mitt Romney is that "people don't feel it yet" even as the unemployment rate ticks down and the manufacturing sector perks up. Clinton said Obama deserves credit for stabilizing a situation that saw the country hemorrhage jobs well into his first year.

"Gov. Romney acts like from the minute the president took his hand off the Bible he was responsible for every lost job," Clinton said.

Everywhere he goes, Romney argues that the tepid recovery is grounds for a change. The shape of the economy consistently tops lists of voter concerns.

A local police official said 2,200 turned out to hear Clinton at a college fieldhouse. Clinton won Wisconsin in both of his presidential campaigns.

Republicans think they can flip the state, which hasn't gone to them since 1984. Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is on Romney's ticket and has campaigned heavily in the state in the past few months.

Via: Fox News

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Mitt proved himself at the Alfred E. Smith dinner

Now, this Mitt Romney is a guy I would love to have in my living room for the next 8 years.  He has amazing poise, timing and grace...without a teleprompter.  A pleasant, warm and engaging voice, which amply shows real feeling; you know there is a human soul in him.    

Romney is aptly serious about serious things, but without taking himself so seriously that he pretends to be a god.  Perhaps this man, as president, could even restore to our public life a nearly forgotten virtue:  genuine humility.  One senses that President Mitt Romney would serve Americans, rather than expecting Americans to serve him.  What a refreshing change that would be!

And, from the female perspective, this guy, Mitt Romney, is very easy on the eyes, with charm and a rather mischievous glint in his eye that belies the picture of him as the out-of-touch plutocrat with ice water in his veins, a portrait guilefully painted by Obama and his media shills.

Via: American Thinker

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Iacocca: America needs a turnaround, which is why I'm voting Romney

I've seen a lot of situations that needed a turnaround in my time, and I know one when I see one. Trust me, America needs a turnaround.

America is in deep trouble. After four years, economic growth is still anemic, our annual deficits were not cut in half as promised, and our staggering $16 trillion federal debt hangs over us and our kids like the plague. Our people are hurting, they can't find jobs, they have lost a major part of their net worth, the number of Americans living in poverty is at unacceptable levels, and we just aren't doing the things that would get our country back on the right track.

Like any turnaround it must begin by honestly facing our problems; hope and speeches won't get our people back to work. It will require experienced leadership that can create and lead policy change that will enable a more robust and competitive America. We need leadership that understands that government, just like American families, can't continue to spend beyond its means. We must find leadership that won't pander to the people, but rather will speak honestly to them about our situation, explaining in simple terms what we have to do to get back on the right track. And we need leadership that can bring us together in a sense of shared responsibility so that we can move forward as a team. All of us. As Americans.

America needs new leadership

Mitt Romney has successfully led both public and private sector turnarounds. He is a bright and successful man; he is a good man, a caring man, a man of integrity, family and faith. Importantly, he recognizes we are in a tough situation. With dozens of years of real world experience in the public and private sectors, he knows what he's talking about. His policies will enable a stronger America, one in which all Americans can share. He was groomed and trained for this moment.

Via: The Detroit News

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Welfare spending jumps 32% during Obama’s presidency

Federal welfare spending has grown by 32 percent over the past four years, fattened by President Obama’s stimulus spending and swelled by a growing number of Americans whose recession-depleted incomes now qualify them for public assistance, according to numbers released Thursday.

Federal spending on more than 80 low-income assistance programs reached $746 billion in 2011, and state spending on those programs brought the total to $1.03 trillion, according to figures from the Congressional Research Service and the Senate Budget Committee.

That makes welfare the single biggest chunk of federal spending — topping Social Security and basic defense spending.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee who requested the Congressional Research Service report, said the numbers underscore a fundamental shift in welfare, which he said has moved from being a Band-Aid and toward a more permanent crutch.

“No longer should we measure compassion by how much money the government spends but by how many people we help to rise out of poverty,” the Alabama conservative said. “Welfare assistance should be seen as temporary whenever possible, and the goal must be to help more of our fellow citizens attain gainful employment and financial independence.”

Via: Washington Times

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