DC on fire over anonymous writer's ramblings-Gibbs to respond possibly

[Politics_Guy25]

I saw this on Mark Halperin's The page Yesterday and dismissed it at first but apparently the anonymous note has set DC ablaze.

Any idea who wrote this? My first thought was Mark himself? ROFL. What a loser.

Anyway here it is:

http://www.thepage.time.com

ESSENTIAL READING: A Close Observer of the Health Care Debate Explains Why ObamaCare Is/Might be in Deep DoodooBy Anonymous:

(Note to readers: Google what you don't understand.)

Things bog down and all these deadlines continue to slip. CBO will need time to score the merge. Meanwhile, despite the sense of inevitability Democrats are far from unified on pay-fors. There is strong Labor opposition to the Cadillac plan tax. Plus, they are going to try and pass a quarter trillion doc fix by waiving paygo and then pretending that health care reform is deficit neutral, which people will see for the farce it is.

And as kumbaya fades, Business is getting increasingly antsy because they know they are paying the bill at the end of the day and there is positively nothing in the legislation that will bring down costs, and they know the main point of the PWC study is dead on. The insurance industry may not be isolated for long. The White House has very successfully wooed many name-brand CEOs with lots of face time, but rank-and-file business groups are returning home.

Plus a re-energized public plan debate is not the winner that liberals think it is. You dig below the surface of the meaningless "do you support giving consumers the choice of a public option" questions and you find strong sense that government is doing too much (TARP, AIG, stimulus, GM etc). People should remember that POTUS righted the ship on this by changing the emphasis from the public plan to how-reform-helps-people-who-already-have-insurance after the Democrats' August recess debacle.

Everyone is for "reform" but here is why this whole enterprise has always been bad politics: At a time when we have 10% unemployment and record deficits, Congress is going to 1) cut Medicare and 2) raise taxes to 3) pay for health care for the uninsured. None of these are popular.

And when McDonnell wins in Virginia despite his encyclical, Blue Dogs and moderates will get even more nervous about midterms. Likely Corzine win gets discounted because it's New Jersey and GOP nominated a hapless candidate.

Nothing final happens before Christmas at the very earliest. Most likely spills into next year. Which means economic numbers and POTUS approval ratings will be determinative. Odds are still clearly in favor of something big passing. But IF this thing goes into 2010, there are several more months of the "jobless recovery," unemployment goes above 10 and POTUS slips below 50, all bets are off.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Shit! I thought this was about Joe Gibbs! In my dreams....nt

[Politics_Guy25]

3. Note the freeper key words

Obamacare, developing, "Corzine win doesn't matter."

Perhaps it was written by Michael Steele? LOL.

[kenfrequed]

4. Moreover

There is nothing new in terms of revelatory material here. It is merely the extension of the same buzz words and nonsense that is made to sound "insider." It sounds as though it is a media counter to the CBO that rates the public option as Cheaper than the other options that the Blue Cross Doggies are baying about.

[Cha]

5. No, steele couldn't even manage

this.

But, it is from a fucking disinformationist that prevails all over the "media" and the internet.

[bluestateguy]

2. Anonymous sources are cowards not worthy of being taken seriously

nt

[leftynyc]

6. White House should ignore it

If they wont put their name to it, it ain't worth the hassle. If the WH does respond, all it will do is indicate they will swing at every pitch coming at them (sorry, I've got baseball on the brain - GO YANKEES!).

[ieoeja]

7. Why would DC be "on fire" over an anonymous blog repeating old RW talking points?

In the meantime DU is on fire over pictures that have no meaning whatsoever.

[struggle4progress]

8. That blather passes for insight inside the Beltway? Everybody undersrtands that

the various interest groups will jockey for position, and that meaningful healthcare reform will represent a mix of different ideological positions

It's time to face some realities and make some choices. We can't afford endless pointless wars: beyond being morally wrong, they do nothing helpful in the long-term for our economy; keeping people healthy, on the other hand, lets them stay productive. Similarly, we can't afford the stupidity of the drug wars against single users: it's just idiotic to lock people up at high cost for years, simply because they aren't smart in their recreational habits. War and drug war savings would make a huge difference in the budget, freeing dollars for better uses, like health care

And let's stop pretending that the medical insurance cost crisis is a matter of "tort reform" -- because it's not: it's a matter of the stupid investment choices of insurance companies in the under-regulated market that brought us the economic collapse we've been suffering since last fall. Better regulation of financial markets and the insurance industry would go a long way towards solving our problems

Since most people are currently dependent on their work-place for health care insurance, we ought to really be strengthening the hand of labor, too: that's currently where the rubber meets the road, and people in the workplace know their needs and are perfectly capable of expressing them clearly if given a fair opportunity to organize to do that

Let's craft some smart taxes to pay for healthcare and some smart tax credits to reward employers who acxt responsibly

And let's stop pretending that this is a short-term fight: it's not -- it's an ongoing multiyear fight that will require an motivated, educated, and organized citizenry to win. We're just shooting ourselves in the knee if we act like this whole thing will be won or lost in the next few months

[SteppingRazor]

9. Over at HuffPo, Jason Linkins has a laugh about the ridiculousness of the notion...

that this has set D.C. on fire:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/mark-halperin-really-irea_n_328864.html

"Anyway, that was yesterday. Today, Halperin is really, really, insistent that his ESSENTIAL READING is a must-read, for everybody! He tells THE PAGE's readers that Robert Gibbs "considers gaggle or pen reply," which basically means that the matter wasn't significant enough to Gibbs to warrant a reply when he was asked about it. Halperin goes on to insist: "Health care power missive by mystery scribe sets D.C. on fire." Why don't you hit up the ol' Google, dear readers, and see the INFERNO for yourself!

Wow! Three whole people are talking about this! One, of course, is Ben Smith, at Politico, where reporters are contractually obliged to blog about every goddamned piece of political detritus that births itself into the world, on pain of having Jim VandeHei bury a hatchet in their throats. Another one of the people chatting up this game-changing exclusive says, "Halperin's 'Essential Reading' Is Total Crap". And now, I'm the fourth person to talk about this. En fuego!"

[Blue_Tires]

10. you owe me four minutes of my life back...

why would D.C. be 'on fire' because of that shit? anonymous writer, very little hard fact (and a very loose interpretation of the few facts it DOES have), highly questionable conclusions and rife with teabagger memes (but to his credit he disguises them a little by running his spellcheck and not using all caps)...

I will say this: given the simple, straightforward writing style of the post, I'd bet even money that "anonymous" is a journalist/columnist, or used to be at some point....