The Exaction of Justice

Unfocused
Indecisiveness is the predominant characteristic of how Mr. Obama executes U.S. national-security policy. Undoubtedly there are other influences: ideological blinders; mistrust of America’s presence in the world; inadequate interest, knowledge, focus and resolve. But in implementing his policies, good or bad, the president has shown that equivocating is what he does best. (John Bolton, Wall Street Journal, 2/18/2015)

That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? There is almost no decision that Obama isn't willing to postpone.

Best line from Bolton? This one:
Colin Powell as secretary of state once advised British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that “if you want to bring the Iranians around, you have to hold an ax over their heads.” Instead, Mr. Obama is holding a selfie stick over his own.


Ending
CNN reports that “between 4.5 million and 7.5 million taxpayers received subsidies,” and an earlier CNN report cites an H&R Block estimate that 3.4 million of them will end up owing the IRS money on the deal. (Wall Street Journal, 2/18/2015)

OK, for the one-thousandth time: What would be the reaction to news like this if George Bush and Republicans had promulgated a policy like Obamacare? Answer: Rioting in the streets, egged on by MSNBC and the New York Times.


Error
About 800,000 taxpayers who enrolled in insurance policies through HealthCare.gov received erroneous tax information from the government, and were urged on Friday to hold off on filing tax returns until the error could be corrected. (New York Times, 2/20/2015)

Liberals prove - once again - that government cannot be trusted to do much of anything correctly. 

Liberal answer? Hire more government workers.


Avoidance
President Obama chooses his words with particular care when he addresses the volatile connections between religion and terrorism. He and his aides have avoided labeling acts of brutal violence by Al Qaeda, the so-called Islamic State and their allies as “Muslim” terrorism or describing their ideology as “Islamic” or “jihadist.”

With remarkable consistency — including at a high-profile White House meeting this week, “Countering Violent Extremism” — they have favored bland, generic terms over anything that explicitly connects attacks or plots to Islam. (New York Times, 2/19/2015)

In his ceaseless quest not to offend Muslims Obama is all-too-willing to offend just about everyone else - Christians, Jews, Americans, Europeans, etc.

In return for his delicacy, radical Muslims continue with the beheadings. We're guessing this is just another example of how Obama has been "set free to be himself" because he has no more elections. 

Best line from the WSJ on this topic:
Foreign policy is not a Harry Potter tale of good versus He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. (Wall Street Journal, 2/19/2015)


Argumentative
As he sought to rally the world behind a renewed attack on terrorism, President Obama argued on Thursday that force of arms was not enough and called on all nations to “put an end to the cycle of hate” by expanding human rights, religious tolerance and peaceful dialogue. (New York Times, 2/20/2015)

Because what the radical Islamists are really seeking is human rights, religious tolerance and peaceful dialogue....


Uniformed and Ignorant
The government should open a special enrollment period that lasts beyond April 15, the traditional filing time for most taxpayers. That would be fair to millions of consumers who remain uninformed about the health care law and ignorant about the subsidies it provides and the penalties for failing to enroll. And it would strengthen implementation of health care reform. (New York Times editorial, 2/19/2015)

New York Times editors apparently believe that there are still "millions of consumers" out there who do not know about the free health care available to them courtesy of Obamacare.


Endurance
Still, the country was treated to a level of detailed testimony on sexual indiscretion that surely surpassed what President Bill Clinton was made to endure over the liaison that eventually led to his impeachment in 1998. (New York Times, 2/20/2015)

In an article on French pervert Strauss-Kahn, the New York Times throws this line in. "What Bill Clinton was made to endure." Never mind what Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky and others endured.... In just a few short years, the Times will have reshaped Clintons travails from a sordid case of sexual abuse of an employee into a Republican hit job. 

Actually the Times has pretty much already done that, haven't they?


Supportive
He does not return phone calls. He does not ask for support. He arrives late for meetings. And he acts as if he has all the time in the world. The complaints have piled up for weeks, dismaying many longtime supporters of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and sending others into the arms of his rivals for the presidential nomination, according to interviews with more than two dozen Republican donors and strategists. (New York Times, 2/20/2015)

Jeb Bush. Chris Christie. Scott Walker. Jeb Bush. Jeb Bush. Scott Walker. Jeb Bush. Chris Christie. Scott Walker. 

What is it?

The New York Times rotation for hit pieces on potential Republican presidential contenders. 

The Overhanging Sky

If it Quacks Like a Duck
The Phil Robertson controversy follows a similar pattern, indeed it is engraved in the playbook of the Gay Thought Police (GTP). Find a Christian target. It could be a politician, a celebrity, a businessman, an athlete or some other public figure. Ask them what they think about homosexuality. Then express outrage when they give you an honest answer. It has happened so many times that it is predictably boring. The difference this time is that the non-gay public, and frankly some thoughtful gay people as well, have had enough. 

We again implore everyone to adopt the RedStateVT philosophy which goes like this: 

Everyone is entitled to love who they love.
Everyone should stop talking about their sexuality. 


Conspicuous
After the Newtown killings a year ago, state legislatures across the country debated measures that would have more strictly limited the gun rights of those with mental illness. But most of the bills failed amid resistance from both the gun lobby and mental health advocates concerned about unfairly stigmatizing people. In Washington, discussion of new mental health restrictions was conspicuously absent from the federal gun control debate. (New York Times, 12/22/2013)

Because, God forbid, we do not want to stigmatize mentally ill people who may become violent.

And if the gun lobby truly did resist efforts at restricting access to gun by the mentally ill then shame on them. 


The Democrat Philosophy
Democrats Work to Raise Number of Female Governors (New York Times headline, 12/22/2013)

Here it is in eight words. 

Not let's find competent governors. Not let's find qualified governors. Not let's find experienced governors. 

No, let's find women governors. Because it is all about identity politics with Democrats. Hence, Hillary Clinton is already a front-runner. Another box to be checked. 


Repetition
Union cash helps elect politicians who then reward the unions with higher pay and benefits. The cycle repeats until taxes become destructive and spending is unaffordable. Exhibit A is Detroit. But some 38 local governments have filed for bankruptcy since 2010, "largely because of out-of-control pension costs," Mr. Bloomberg said. (Wall Street Journal, 12/20/2013)

Well stated.


Slammin' It!
MSNBC hosts David Gregory and Chris Matthews slammed the nomination of Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) to Ambassador to China Friday afternoon.

Meet the Press host David Gregory characterized the choice as “curious” considering Baucus’s lack of foreign policy experience and the immense security challenges the United States faces with China. (Freebeacon.com, 12/20/2013)

And we know that Gregory and Matthews are sincere because they similarly criticized the choice of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Clinton who - like Baucus - had no foreign policy experience. 

Or are we remembering that wrong?


Significance
Suzy K. Johnson, who is president of Employee Benefit Advisors, an insurance brokerage firm in North Carolina, said HealthCare.gov had been working smoothly for her clients. “The website is working, and many are getting significant subsidies,” she said. By midday, she said, her office had helped six people sign up for coverage. (New York Times, 12/24/2013)

How exciting! Many are getting "significant subsidies." 

Question: Where do these subsidies come from?
Is it from a) The Magic Government Money Machine, or b) Money collected from taxpayers?


Lesser
The president opted for a bronze plan, one of the less expensive options on the HealthCare.gov site. (New York Times, 12/24/2013)

Curious that Obama shopped price. Which frankly is what most people will be forced to do given the sky high premiums. Most people that are not having their health insurance paid for through subsidies, i.e. from taxpayers. 


Snow Job
During more than 14 hours of interviews in Russia, the former NSA contractor reflected on the roots and repercussions of his decision to go public with caches of top secret documents. By his own terms, Snowden succeeded beyond plausible ambition. The NSA now faces scrutiny it has not endured since the 1970s, or perhaps ever.

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” Snowden told The Post’s Barton Gellman. “I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. (Washington Post, 12/23/2013)

Hey, Snowden. You know what isn't finished? Your life sentence once you step back on American soil!

Visions and Revisions

Ebb and Flow
A Westchester County (New York) attorney with a practice focused on estate planning for high net worth individuals tells us something fascinating: the high-end real estate market in the wealthier suburbs of Manhattan is booming. Why? Wealthy New Yorkers are fleeing Manhattan to get away from the city's mayor-elect, Comrade Bill de Blasio who makes absolutely no secret of his plan to tax the rich to pay for his universal pre-K socialist dream...among other schemes. Which proves once again that as long as we have some semblance of a capitalist economy money will flow to the areas where it can be used most efficiently by the individual...and not the government.


To Err
Insurers said that they had found many discrepancies and errors and that the government was overstating the improvements in HealthCare.gov. (NYT, 12/15/2013)

Insurance companies who chose to partner with Obamacare in the hopes of reaping the spoils are finding that they made a Faustian bargain. They will continue to be Obama's whipping boy when things go badly and they will be forced to deal with the mess that Healthcare.gov has made of the enrollment process. See the following as well:

The government’s overriding message to insurers is: Do whatever you have to do to maximize enrollment and to provide coverage by Jan. 1 to anyone who wants it. Federal health officials have told insurers that they can sort out the details and work out financial arrangements with the government later. (NYT, 12/15/2013)

Translation: make Obama look good on the enrollment numbers and Obama will make you whole. Insurers should believe it at their own risk.


Liberation
Events this week beg the question: where among the 1.56 billion Muslims is our Mandela? Where is our Mahatma? Where is our Mandiba? Where our liberator?

Instead of rearing a Mandela, someone who could bring people of different faiths together to build a more peaceful world, Muslims attempt to assassinate a Malala before maturity. We are undeserving of such great souls and yet the need has never been greater. (Qanta Ahmed, Foxnews.com, 12/13/2013)

Wonderful column which echoes a point that RedStateVT has made in the past. Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?


Rolling
In explaining the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, President Obama told Chris Matthews he had discovered that “we have these big agencies, some of which are outdated, some of which are not designed properly.”

An interesting discovery to make after having consigned the vast universe of American medicine, one-sixth of the U.S. economy, to the tender mercies of the agency bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 12/12/2013)

Nobody can dissect Obama quite like Krauthammer. This may be his best column yet on Obama's failures.

Speaking of Matthews, we were recalling his recent nauseating interview with the president. Recall that he said: "I'm going to put you on the spot now." One could see Obama visibly tighten thinking he might actually get a real question (in violation of the rules of engagement no doubt worked out in advance between MSNBC and the Obama press people). The question Matthews asked was this: "Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden?" There was NO way that Chris Matthews was going to ask a question which might jeopardize his invitation to the White House Christmas party. 


School Days
School property taxes may be going up even more than first expected.

The Vermont Department of Taxes warned lawmakers last month that they would need to raise the statewide property tax rate by 5 cents this coming year to meet rising school costs. (WCAX.com, 12/13/2013)

Just one of many tax increases that will be brought to you by Vermont Progressives (Motto: There is NO amount of social re-engineering that we cannot accomplish together ... with your tax dollars!)


Selective
Federal health officials announced on Wednesday that some 1.2 million people selected plans on federal or state exchanges during the months of October and November. That included 803,000 people who applied to the exchanges and were found eligible for Medicaid or a related Children’s Health Insurance Program that provide public insurance for the poor — in addition to nearly 365,000 people who chose private plans. (NYT, 12/16/2013)

It's Obamacaid.

Liberals blew up American health care for all citizens in order to provide free health care to some. A typical Liberal solution to a problem.

The Corners of the Evening

Hark the Herald
For months, the Obama administration has heralded the low premiums of medical insurance policies on sale in the insurance exchanges created by the new health law. But as consumers dig into the details, they are finding that the deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs are often much higher than what is typical in employer-sponsored health plans. (NYT, 12/8/2013)

Here is the bottom line on health insurance costs. If you were a responsible person, previously had health insurance and do not qualify for subsidies under Obamacare: YOU. WILL. PAY. MORE.


Bronze Age
The average individual deductible for what is called a bronze plan on the exchange—the lowest-priced coverage—is $5,081 a year, according to a new report on insurance offerings in 34 of the 36 states that rely on the federally run online marketplace.

That is 42% higher than the average deductible of $3,589 for an individually purchased plan in 2013 before much of the federal law took effect, according to HealthPocket Inc., a company that compares health-insurance plans for consumers. (WSJ, 12/8/2013)

Another Obamacare lie: If you like your deductible you can keep it.


The Plague
The technology troubles that plagued the HealthCare.gov website rollout may not have come as a shock to people who work for certain agencies of the government — especially those who still use floppy disks, the cutting-edge technology of the 1980s.
...
It turns out, however, that the Federal Register employees who take in the information for publication from across the government still receive some of it on the 3.5-inch plastic storage squares that have become all but obsolete in the United States. (NYT, 12/6/2013)

Obama administration officials offered two explanations as to why government agencies were still using floppy disks: 1) Republican budget cuts and, 2) it's George Bush's fault. 


Grand Larson-y
Last Monday, Mark Larson, commissioner of the state department overseeing the insurance website, had bad news for these employers. They would be unable to complete their transactions because of continuing problems with the premium processing and payment functions, he said. Instead, their current insurance carriers would automatically extend their 2013 plans for three months. This affects 3,500 workers, Lunge said.

“The small businesses I deal with are really upset at this latest state of affairs,” reported Cathy Lamberton, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors of Vermont. Those contractors who stuck with trying to sign up for insurance on the website devoted a lot of time — for nothing, she said. (BFP, 12/8/2013)

We are guessing that Mark Larson will give his stock excuse: All of these problems will disappear once Vermont enacts a single-payer system.

Music from a Farther Room

Random Thoughts
If you still do not believe that the Legitimate Media is biased (how is that possible after 5 years of RedStateVT?) watch the Chris Matthews interview with President Obama. It is embarrassing, fawning and cringe-inducing. 

Sample Liberal interview question for George Bush: "What do you have to say to the mothers of soldiers maimed and killed in Iraq?" Sample interview question for Barack Obama: "How do you stay focused on your transformative agenda given the ceaseless attacks by Republicans?"

So President Obama's uncle, in this country illegally for decades, is officially allowed to remain. That's fine, but where is the wall-to-wall coverage from the Legitimate Media? You know, like we got about Bristol Palin....


Drawn and Quartered
The Obama administration said Friday that the enrollment records for roughly a quarter of all the people who signed up for health insurance on its website in October and November could contain errors, raising questions about whether those consumers would get coverage in time to pay for their medical care next month. (NYT, 12/6/2013)

A White House spokesman said that the administration would undertake a "tech surge" and move with "private sector speed" to ensure that these "glitches" involving the enrollment records were corrected for "a vast majority" of website users by January 31st. The spokesman reminded the public that Obamacare is "more than a website."


Multiplicity
Multiple Democrats on Capitol Hill are worried that House Democratic leaders are close to joining with House GOP leaders to support a bipartisan measure that could undermine the White House’s efforts to reach a long term deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program... (Greg Sargent, Washington Post, 12/6/2013)

See, Republicans are perfectly willing to work with Democrats in a bi-partisan fashion. 


Chat It Up
The chattering class is conducting one of its periodic evaluations of Michelle Obama, and is, as usual, finding her wanting. Before, she was too outspoken; now, too demure. A month ago, the New York Times reported that she has been “derided by critics who hoped she would use her historic position to move more deeply into policy.” Then came Politico’s headline calling her a feminist nightmare. (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 12/6/2013)

Milbank's column is about feminist criticism of Michelle Obama. Such criticism which runs to Mrs. Obama should play a larger role in policy decision-making. Here is the sad truth and it is blunt and graphic:

Feminists would not be happy with Michelle Obama unless she were to volunteer her time by working in an abortion clinic. 


Bait and Tackle
Assisting is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose only planetary function these days is as left tackle for the White House. (Kimberley A. Strassel, WSJ, 12/5/2013)

Just quoting this because it is a killer line!

The Vast Majority

One Trick President
Now that Healthcare.gov has been fixed (you heard that it's fixed, didn't you?), Obama and his media sycophants can pivot to the next issue: economic inequality. Which was his issue for the past five years as well. Yes, class warfare is back. 


Staked Out
“Now that the website is working for the vast majority of people,” Mr. Obama added, “we need to make sure that folks refocus on what’s at stake here, which is the capacity for you or your families to be able to have the security of decent health insurance at a reasonable cost through choice and competition on this marketplace, and tax credits that you may be eligible for that can save you hundreds of dollars in premium costs every month, potentially.” (NYT, 12/5/2013)

Who would not want health insurance that is subsidized by other people?


Only You
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of Obamacare's architects and staunchest supporters, is also the only top congressional leader to exempt some of his staff from having to buy insurance through the law's new exchanges. (CNN.com, 12/4/2013)

Remember our last post? When we talked about the corruption surrounding Obamacare?


The Waiting
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed for reporters Monday that President Obama has yet to sign up for Obamacare, saying “I know he will and has said that he will… but I don’t have an update.”

When asked what the President was waiting for and whether the White House would announce when the President did sign up for Obamacare, Carney laughed uncomfortably and could only respond, “I’ll get back to you on that.” (Washington Free Beacon, 12/2/2013)

Actually, the truth is that Obama tried to sign up, but has been placed in one of those waiting queues...


Lesser
Most important, Mr. Dorn said, younger enrollees, who also tend to be less affluent, will receive tax subsidies. If premium prices spike, the government will absorb that cost, ensuring they do not flee the exchanges. (NYT, 12/5/2013)

So the young who are needed to enroll in Obamacare in great numbers to offset the high medical costs of the old and sickly will receive tax subsidies from the government to pay for their premiums...which are needed to offset the high medical costs of the old and sickly. Does any of this make sense to you?

Not to worry, if premiums go up the government will "absorb that cost." Government will absorb that cost in one of two ways: either through tax revenue collected from taxpayers or from the Magic Money Machine.


Entirely
A fellow very friendly to the administration, a longtime supporter, cornered me at a holiday party recently to ask, with true perplexity: “How could any president put his entire reputation on the line with a program and not be on the phone every day pushing people and making sure it will work? Do you know of any president who wouldn’t do that?” (Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 12/3/2013)

Certainly not George Bush and certainly not Bill Clinton. 


The Toker
More than 20 years after saying he "didn't inhale," Bill Clinton is setting the record straight about his youthful pot smoking. “I didn’t say I was holier than thou, I said I tried. I never denied that I used marijuana," Clinton told Fusion TV's Jorge Ramos in an interview aired Tuesday night.

Back in 1992, in the midst of his first presidential campaign, Clinton famously equivocated when asked about his drug use, saying that during his days as a Rhodes Scholar in England, "I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn’t like it, and didn’t inhale, and never tried it again." (Yahoo.com, 12/4/2013)

Permit RedStateVT to set the record straight:

Technically Clinton did not deny smoking dope (depending upon what the definition of "deny" is). 

He did, however, deny having an adulterous sexual relationship with an employee, a White House intern young enough to be his daughter. 


Imagined
Mr. Bush was more of a reader than many Americans imagined — he had reading contests with Karl Rove, his top political adviser, measured not just by the number of books finished, but the cumulative number of pages and even square inches of text. He was particularly drawn to Lincoln, reading 14 books about the Civil War president while in office. (NYT, 12/5/2013)

We are not sure what the average American thought about how many books George Bush read. The only thing we do know is that the Liberal media relentlessly depicted Bush as an intellectual lightweight. Bush who was America's first MBA president. 


Day in the Park
...Chicago parks workers, whose unfunded pension liability grew from $77 million in 2003 to $550 million in 2012, a 615 percent increase. (NYT, 12/5/2013)

Coverage shifts from Detroit to Chicago, now facing its own pension time bomb. What floored us here was the one-half billion dollar pension shortfall for park workers! Not for all Chicago public employees....for park workers alone! How many "park workers" can Chicago have? What kind of pension promises were made to them? One-half billion dollars...? We will say it again: this is what happens when Democrats buy votes from public sector unions. 

Regret and Abide

Stoned
“It is impractical to negotiate with a stone wall,” was how the judge referred to the unions’ reticence to make concessions on the pension issue. (NYT, 12/4/2013)

Will unions learn from the Detroit bankruptcy? Better yet will Democrats who have ruled the city for decades learn? (Answer below.)

No.


Imposition
The notice published on Monday includes proposals on several other issues. Certain health plans sponsored by labor unions would be exempted from new fees imposed on insurance companies and on many self-insured group health plans.

Labor unions have been lobbying for such an exemption, saying the fees could be “highly disruptive” to Taft-Hartley plans administered jointly by labor and management representatives in construction, entertainment and other industries. (NYT, 12/3/2013)

Why do Republicans hate Obamacare? Yes, it's the enlargement of the entitlement state, it's the top-down government control, it's the lies told to sell it. It's all those things. But it is also something else. It's the crass corruption that surrounds the entire endeavor, such as giving waivers to political supporters.


Tone Deaf
In the White House briefing room, too, there was a change in tone. The death watch for Obamacare had been suspended and the conversation turned to other possible problems: Will HealthCare.gov be ready for a surge in enrollments later this month? Why hasn’t the administration started a campaign to direct more people to the site? (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 12/2/2013)

Milbank - who is like a yo-yo on Obama, up one day, down the next - declares the problem solved. Now the only issue will be managing the wonderfulness that is Obamacare. (Oh, and never mind that 40% of the system isn't even built.)


Talk Around Town
'Private sector velocity and effectiveness." "An Amazon-like shopping experience." Suddenly Team Obama is talking up capitalist enterprise as the model for how Healthcare.gov ought to work. After five years of assailing "millionaires and billionaires" and extolling the virtues of "collective action," this is progress. (Bret Stephens, WSJ, 12/2/2013)

Good one from Stephens, but be forewarned: Team Obama will think nothing about bashing the capitalist model five minutes from now if it is convenient for them to do so. 

The Rule of Immobility

Metallurgy
In any case all four tiers are scrap-metal grade, because the rules ObamaCare imposes to create a supposedly superior insurance product are resulting in an objectively inferior medical product. The new mandates and rules raise costs, so insurers must compensate by offering narrow and less costly networks of doctors, hospitals and other providers in their ObamaCare products. Insurers thus restrict care and patient choice of physicians in exchange for discounted reimbursement rates, much as Medicaid does. (WSJ, 11/30/2013)

Others have already noted this, but get ready for the next Obamacare blow-up: "You can keep your doctor."


High Times
Vermont’s 2014 health insurance premiums are among the highest in the country. The rates are well above the national average, and health care economists link more expensive premiums to less competition.
...
HHS compared the premiums of the second-lowest cost silver plan, the lowest cost silver plan and the lowest cost bronze plan for every state in the country except for Massachusetts and Hawaii.  On all three levels, Vermont has the fifth-highest premium rates in the country. (VTDigger.com, 11/19/2013)

Not to worry, Vermont's Progressive thought-leaders have assured us that things will get a whole lot better once the state adopts a single-payer system. 


All the News
As RedStateVT readily admits, the New York Times will occasionally commit a random act of journalism (and whoever coined that phrase should be knighted!). 

Here are highlights from their November 30th investigative piece on Healthcare.gov: 

HealthCare.gov, the $630 million online insurance marketplace, was a disaster after it went live on Oct. 1...

Out of that tense Oval Office meeting grew a frantic effort aimed at rescuing not only the insurance portal and Mr. Obama’s credibility, but also the Democratic philosophy that an activist government can solve big, complex social problems. Today, that rescue effort is far from complete.

...it still suffers sporadic crashes, and large parts of the vital “back end” that processes enrollment data and transactions with insurers remain unbuilt.

..an insular White House that did not initially appreciate the magnitude of its self-inflicted wounds...

...a new accusation: that he had lied about whether people could keep their insurance.

...a deeply dysfunctional relationship between the Department of Health and Human Services and its technology contractors, and tensions between the White House chief of staff and senior health department officials. 

...errors in the software code written to stitch the Oracle product into the online system and improperly configured hardware trapped users in endless technological loops. It would take eight days to resolve just that one bottleneck.

...insurance executives were alarmed. Almost no one was buying their products.

The website had barely been tested before it went live, so a large number of software and hardware defects had not been uncovered.

“The extent of the problems is pretty enormous. At the end of our calls, people say, ‘It’s awful, just awful.’ ”

..a site Mr. Obama once promised would be as easy to shop on as Amazon.com — went dark for 10 to 12 hours, unheard of in the online business world.

During a trip to Tennessee by Ms. Sebelius on Nov. 1, a state senator would add insult to injury by presenting her with a copy of “Websites for Dummies.”

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, is trying to turn the page.

And finally, our two favorite quotes!

On the eve of the rollout, Ms. Sebelius, a onetime Kansas governor and former insurance commissioner who had logged countless miles promoting the health law, was ebullient.  “We’re about to make some history,” she said.

...the meeting was called, in part, to give Democrats a chance to publicly criticize the president — a message that Vice President Biden delivered to Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the Democratic whip, in a separate meeting with several freshman Democrats.

“Just attack us,” Mr. Biden said, according to one person present. “Blame us.”


Grade Inflation
The White House announced on Sunday that it had met its goal for improving HealthCare.gov so the website “will work smoothly for the vast majority of users.”

In effect, the administration gave itself a passing grade. (NYT, 12/2/2013)

Heck, Obama once gave himself a B+ for his first year in office. 

What intrepid journalist has the stones to ask Obama to grade Year 5?


Pushy
This task has taken on new urgency given the Democratic Party’s push to the left, away from the centrist politics with which the Clintons are identified. (NYT, 12/1/2013)

Inconceivable! The Democrat party has moved to the left? This is heresy. Only Republicans can move and then, only to the right. 

Human Concerns

Stated
White House officials acknowledged that each state had to make the decision that was best for its consumers.

“States have different populations with unique needs, and it is up to the insurance commissioner and health insurance companies to decide which insurance products can be offered to existing customers next year,” the administration said in a statement. (NYT, 11/21/2013)

Translation: It is now not Obama's fault if states choose not to allow insureds to keep their plans. 

Clarification: "White House officials acknowledged that each state had to make the decision that was best for its consumers on this temporary issue. On all other health care issues, President Obama will decide what is best for consumers."


Shared
Democrats have been sharing “Affordable Care Act success stories” of ailing constituents getting health coverage for the first time, people being allowed to keep their adult children on their insurance, or consumers finding markedly cheaper insurance plans on the exchanges. (NYT, 11/21/2013)

Let's be absolutely clear. The one and only reason that anyone is going to find "cheaper insurance plans on the exchanges" is because they will qualify for a subsidy. 

That is it. 

Period.


Bailed
After spending more than a decade behind bars for the murder of a teenage girl in Greenwich, Conn., Michael C. Skakel was ordered free on bail on Thursday. (NYT, 11/21/2013)

The (Kennedy) War on Women continues.....


Flowed
Ponder, though, a partial list of the public-policy decisions that have flowed steadily out of the Obama administration and directly into a job-starved U.S. economy:

The no-decision on the Keystone XL pipeline and its union jobs; the 2,000-page regulatory law draped in 2010 across the entire financial sector; the shutdown in 2010 and then the slow-walking of offshore oil drilling; siccing the EPA on the utilities industry and the National Labor Relations Board on all industry; a 2010 FCC decision to regulate Internet growth; a significant tax increase this year; support this month for jacking up the federal minimum wage to over $10, certain to smother new jobs; the Justice Department's $13 billion looting of J.P. Morgan JPM +1.43%  bank; and of course Hurricane ObamaCare.

Barack Obama has the U.S. economy on lockdown. It's the worst thing this president has done. (Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 11/20/2013)

Henninger reminds us that Obamacaid is only part of the story of this disastrous presidency. It's a good point. There is so very much more.


Charged
Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) has announced that he will take a leave of absence from office and will donate his salary to charity. Radel had pleaded guilty to a cocaine charge and was sentenced to one year of probation earlier Wednesday. (Washington Post, 11/21/2013)

Not good enough. Resign.

RedStateVT will not tolerate bad behavior from Democrats or Republicans. 

In Flux

Lines of Sand
Ms. Sebelius, who was in Florida on Tuesday, said the website would improve, but she appeared to lower expectations and to play down the significance of a Nov. 30 deadline set by the White House to fix it.

“The 30th of November is not a magic go, no-go date,” Ms. Sebelius told The Associated Press. “It is a work of constant improvement. We have some very specific things we know we need to complete by the 30th, and that punch list is getting knocked out every week.” (NYT, 11/20/2013)

First Obama did not set a "red line" in Syria. Now - apparently - he did not set a November 30th "deadline" for Healthcare.gov. 

Despite what everyone heard him say, that is. 


Profiles in Liberal Journalism
No responsible cable news host would call for defecating on a public figure. That’s just beyond the pale, right? But that’s exactly what Bashir did on his MSNBC show, while spewing venom at Sarah Palin.
...
MSNBC rightfully suspended Alec Baldwin for two weeks for hurling an anti-gay slur at a photographer.
...
MSNBC once suspended Ed Schultz for calling Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut.”
(Howard Kurtz, Foxnews.com, 11/18/2013)

Just another day at America's Liberal News Network.
(And we haven't even talked about Al Sharpton!)


Free to Be
President Barack Obama is bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on more than a dozen prominent Americans 50 years after the death of the award's founder, President John F. Kennedy.

Obama is honoring former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and leaders in sports, science and public service in a White House ceremony on Wednesday. (Huffington Post, 11/20/2013)

Yes, it is true. President Obama today gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former President Bill Clinton. Readers may recall that Bill Clinton conducted numerous extra-marital affairs during his time as governor of Arkansas. He went on to become president where he coerced a White House intern young enough to be his daughter to service him sexually. On multiple occasions. He then lied about his behavior under oath and impeachment proceedings were brought against him. His law license was eventually revoked.

Today we honor Bill Clinton - Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient - for his service to America. 

Ruminations

Two Friends
A friend who works in the field reminds us that underage use of alcohol and illicit drugs in Vermont is the highest in the nation. Focusing in on this problem Governor Peter Shumlin and fellow Progressives acted decisively...to legalize marijuana. There are no issues for which Liberals cannot find the wrong solution.

Another friend, one with European socialist leanings, tells us of a recent meeting with his accountant. Through incredibly hard work and perseverance, this individual has spent the past half dozen years building an enormously successful consulting practice. Now, as his efforts have begun to yield monetary rewards, his accountant gives him the news that the government is standing ready to collect their (large) share of his payday. "It's enough to make me a Republican," he says. 


The Sealer
To the Israeli government, the preliminary deal with Iran that the Obama administration is trying to seal this week is a giveaway to a government that has spent two decades building a vast nuclear program. It enshrines the status quo — at a time when the Iranians are within reach of the technical capability to build a bomb — and rewards some unproven leaders with cash and sanctions relief.

President Obama and his top aides see the same draft deal in sharply different terms. (NYT, 11/18/2013)

What you need to know about Obama and Iran:

--Having seen Obama sell out America's ally Poland on missile defense, the Iranians know that he will sell out Israel as well.

--Whatever deal is struck, Iran will cheat and continue its nuclear weapon development program.


At Risk Behavior
The McKinsey report found that the effort was at risk because of issues including “significant dependency on external parties/contractors,” as well as “insufficient time and scope of end-to-end testing,” and “parallel stacking of all phases,” all predictions that have turned out to be accurate. Briefings on the report were held in the spring at the White House and at the headquarters of the Health and Human Services Department and for leaders at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, congressional investigators said. (NYT, 11/19/2013)

So the White House knew "in the spring" that the Obamacaid website was a mess. Now does that mean that Obama lied when he says that if he had known there were problems he would have never gone out and touted it?


Are You (Positively) Experienced?
... specialists plowing through an initial list of more than 600 software and hardware defects remain worried about whether they can meet the administration’s goal of enabling four in five users to enroll through the online federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, by Nov. 30. One person said a more realistic goal was that four out of five people “have a positive experience,” which could include being redirected to customer service agents. (NYT, 11/19/2013)

This is so unintentionally funny that you will roar!


On the Clock
Within 24 hours of Timothy F. Geithner’s announcement on Saturday that he would join Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm, a parade of naysayers emerged, almost like clockwork, to criticize the former Treasury secretary’s move as a prime example of the evil of the government’s revolving door. (Andrew Ross Sorkin, NYT, 11/18/2013)

Sorkin takes those to task for criticizing Geithner's move to the private sector - something which we have no objection to. However, he ignores RedStateVT's point that Geithner heads to the very industry that Democrats spent one year and $1 billion smearing in their attacks on Mitt Romney. 

Remember?

Missing Colors

Ain't it Funny
Government screws up Healthcare.gov and the first call that goes out is to the private sector for help. Is there anything to be learned here?


Off to the Races
It seems that every time Obama gets into trouble (usually of his own making, we might add) one or more of his sycophants hauls out the race card. So Charles Blow of the New York Times writes one of his race-obsessed columns and Oprah, the wealthiest and most successful black woman ever, darkly hints of racism. The Tea Party did not sabotage Healthcare.gov, nor did it cause Obama to repeatedly lie about Americans keeping their insurance plans. Yet despite absolutely no tangible proof somehow there is racism in the hearts of those who oppose Obama. Meanwhile we remind readers of what two of Obama's biggest supporters said. Joe Biden called Obama "clean." Harry Reid said that Obama "does not speak with a negro dialect unless he wants." 

Now there's some racism for you!


Formerly
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, one of the architects of the federal government's rescue of the financial system, is joining private-equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC. (WSJ, 11/16/2013)

Democrats are aghast that Geithner is now going into private equity. "We just successfully exposed Mitt Romney as a vulture capitalist, willing to kick American workers to the curb in the quest for obscene wealth, now one of our own is going down this dark path," a prominent Democrat opined. "We would be hypocrites if we did not speak out and object loudly" another Democrat said.

(We made all that up. Democrats had nothing to say.)

Torrent of Darkness

Inferiority Complex
Ms. Tavenner said that existing insurance policies were, in many cases, inferior to the new policies they could get. In compliance with the health care law, she said, new policies will provide more benefits and pay a larger share of medical costs than many existing policies. (NYT, 10/30/2013)

Is a Hyundai inferior to a Mercedes? Well in many ways it probably is. And yet Hyundai sells millions of automobiles. Why? It is because educated consumers compare cost and features and make personal decisions as to which car they want to drive. Many people who can afford a Mercedes do not buy one. One of the great lies of Obamacare is that consumers will be able to get Mercedes healthcare insurance at Hyundai prices. 


Distortions
But in Massachusetts, Mr. Obama for the first time admitted that some people who have had what he called “substandard” insurance plans may have to choose another one now that the Affordable Care Act has gone into effect. He accused lawmakers in Washington of distorting that fact by failing to mention that the new plans they have will be more comprehensive and often come with cheaper premiums. (NYT, 10/31/2013)

This is the latest lie from Obama, that new plans will be cheaper. They will only be cheaper if you qualify for subsidies. Otherwise, premiums will double or triple. Obama can now be properly labeled a "serial liar."


Today's Funnies Brought to You by Healthcare.gov
Computer issues are not the only problem plaguing the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. A 228-page list of navigators — businesses and organizations that help people sign up for coverage — on New York State’s health exchange website has turned out to be littered with places whose owners and employees have no clue how to offer health insurance advice.

“I have no idea why I am in the list,” Patrick Wu, manager of the Bowery Pharmacy in Lower Manhattan, said on Tuesday. But he said he had received about 50 calls from people seeking insurance since the exchange went live on Oct. 1. 

Sa Sa Cosmetic and Skincare Spa, on East Broadway, is also listed, but a manager who answered the phone on Tuesday giggled as she explained the shop was “for skin,” not for insurance.

At the Style Management taxi garage on West 44th Street, a manager who gave her name only as Stephanie was asked why her employer was on the list. “I don’t even know, to be honest with you,” she said. (NYT, 10/30/2013)


The White House has issued a clarification. When the president said if you like your insurance plan you can keep it, what he meant was you can keep it if he likes it. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., WSJ, 10/29/2013)

RedStateVT has just had a mind-blowing revelation. Obamacare is really a way to improve the dismal employment numbers. If nothing else, it will put every wanna-be comedian back to work!

Ghostly Galleon

Lhota’s Years Working for the Dolans (New York Times headline, 10/29/2013)

Next up from the Times: de Blasio's Years Working for the Sandinistas

(Just kidding!)


Today's Funny Brought to You by Healthcare.gov 
However, insurers said they saw the problems as more significant, affecting 25 percent to 30 percent of enrollments. In some cases, they said, the government lists a dependent as the head of a household, with the result that a 10-year-old child is shown as having three or four dependents and is identified as the policyholder for a family. (NYT, 10/29/2013)

Which reminds us again that Saturday Night Live - that bastion of coastal Liberalism - is having a field day with Obamacare. 

Meanwhile over on MSNBC yesterday they were focused on ..... Dick Cheney. Yes, Dick Cheney. Some Liberal writer has written a book about Cheney and MSNBC convened a panel of Liberals to discuss. The majority of the time was spent snickering about the former Vice-President, a frail old man with severe health problems. They even managed to say "Darth Vader." This is the level of professionalism of MSNBC. 


Take Aways
Take away 620 jobs with an average salary of $100,000 at a company that pays $1.15 million a year in local taxes and it’s going to hurt.

Windham County needs help weathering that as the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant shuts down by the end of next year, several local leaders said Monday at a meeting with two legislative committees. (Burlington Free Press, 10/28/2013)

Vermont Progressives, politicians and the media, have just woken up to the economic realities of closing Vermont Yankee. 

OK geniuses, what's the plan?


Contrarians
House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer conceded to reporters today that Democrats knew people would not be able to keep their current health care plans under Obamacare and expressed qualified contrition for President Obama’s repeated vows to the contrary.

“We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage,” Hoyer said in response to a question from National Review.

Asked by another reporter how repeated statements by Obama to the contrary weren’t “misleading,” Hoyer said “I don’t think the message was wrong. I think the message was accurate. It was not precise enough…[it] should have been caveated with – ‘assuming you have a policy that in fact does do what the bill is designed to do.’” (Nationalreview.com, 10/29/2013)

Everybody satisfied with that explanation?

Anybody satisfied with that explanation?


Highlights from the Suddenly Engaged Liberal Media
President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years. (NBCnews.com, 10/29/2013)

...the Republicans understated the number of issues on which the president has claimed to be in the dark. A compilation by the Republican National Committee titled “The Bystander President” cited the NSA spying on Merkel, the Obamacare rollout and an investigation of the IRS’s targeting of political groups (the White House counsel knew of the inquiry but said she didn’t inform Obama). The RNC also mentioned the failure of clean-energy company Solyndra, which had received government funding (Carney had said Obama read about it in “news accounts”), and the attempts to go after reporters’ phone and e-mail records (which the president also found out about from reading the news, Carney said).

The RNC didn’t mention that Obama had allegedly known nothing about an FBI investigation of an affair involving David Petraeus that led him to resign as CIA director. Neither did it mention two other claims that conservatives often question: Obama’s ignorance of a guns-on-the-border sting operation called “Fast and Furious” that went awry, and his unawareness of requests for additional diplomatic security in Libya before a U.S. outpost in Benghazi was attacked. (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 10/28/2013)

Something went wrong. People could not sign up. Why? Not sure. Who’s at fault? Apparently no one. An act of God. Something that could never have been foreseen. Another president might have had someone in the White House calling every day — no, twice a day — to make sure the program was going to work. But no, it was a shock to everyone, and when the White House rolled out its gigantic cake — maestro, some music please — no one jumped out.

Pathetic. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 10/28/2013)

Occasionally journalism happens.