Posted on 05/29/2011 5:14:16 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
The Talk Shows
May 29th, 2011
Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:
FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Reps. Allen West, R-Fla., and Donna Edwards, D-Md.
MEET THE PRESS (NBC): . Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y.
FACE THE NATION (CBS): Reps. Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
THIS WEEK (ABC): Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind.
STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff; Tim Tetz, legislative director, The American Legion; Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Dale Beatty, co-founder, Purple Heart Homes.
That is just a flesh wound. To stick the knife in and turn requires a quick reference to "Obamacare plus Socialistcare or Commiecare" in the same sentence...
Million, billion, trillion......
Sheesh, any one of the three is more than anyone can comprehend or understand. I thought the figure was million but it could be billion. Either is more than I’ll make this year.
“tax cuts for the rich that aren’t paid for.”
West tried to bring up a point (before Wallace and Edwards talked over him) that isn’t brought up enough. That point is that 47 percent of Americans pay no taxes. IMO, it’s time that we ask the question: as long as we’re for everyone paying their fair share, isn’t it time those 47 percent chip in?
I’m not saying we should soak the poor. I’m just saying let’s put the libs to the test and see how much fairness they really believe in. It’s surprising how many people are unaware of the large percentage of people who pay nothing.
One other thing we need to bring up is regarding Medicare. Juan Williams asked who would trust the insurance companies. I guess Juan is unaware that Medicare denies more claims than any of the insurance companies, bar none.
Once again we’re seeing so many Republicans (not West) go on the defensive rather that ripping apart the pathetic stale arguments put forth by the libs.
I heard that.
I like "Obama's DeathCare" too.
The hardest thing for the GOP is that the democrats aren’t the only political opponent they face.
I am referring to the driveby media, of course.
Perhaps the Republicans do have talking points they’d like to slip into the collective unconscious. But when you have a media that leaves those talking points on the cutting room floor, and actually WRITES the talking points for the democrats (google Politico’s Ben Smith and the Journ-O-Lists) and participates in those focus groups, well, you can see how the GOP is in deep trouble.
Now that’s not to say the GOP shouldn’t still shout it.
Why they don’t fight harder, imho, points to how much they like being Washington insiders, even if it means playing back fiddle. I guess they’re just happy to be in the band.
We just don’t need Republicans in office, we need anti-Federalist/Washingtonians... As Hall and Oates sang “Sarah Smile”!
"At a press conference on Friday, CNSNews.com asked Gingrich, “You were a prominent supporter of the Medicare prescription drug plan that President Bush signed into law in 2003. The Medicare trustees now say that plan is $7.2 trillion in unfunded liabilities over the next 75 years. Do you regret your support for the plan looking back?”
"“No," said Gingrich. "I think that we--I mean, I am for dramatic reform of Medicare. I chaired the Medicare reform task force which saved it in 1996 when the trustees said it was going to go broke, and we passed changes which enabled them to say that we had postponed any problem for well over a decade."
You are on to them! And Amen on God Bless The Troops
No, it was passed by Reps who wrote the bill, voted for it, and was signed into law by a Rep President. We own it. To say that the Dems made us do it is just plain wrong.
There are plenty of ways to solve the problem. I prefer in most cases to get the government out of the business of insurance and pensions and use market forces to make this programs solvent.
Thanks for the input and response.
Great post.
Conservatives NEED to learn economic TALKING POINTS!!!
Allen West fell into the same trap regarding “Tax the Rich” discussions.
Ask the liberal:
“Do you want more federal revenue or do you simply want to punish the so called “rich”?
“Federal revenue is only ever maximized at these reduced tax rates.”
“The spending side of the equation is always ignored as the factor creating the deficits.”
Howdy everyone! Guess who is finally back from Afghanistan!
Welcome back! (Hope you showered.)
I’m glad you asked, MID...in that both husband and I recently got involved with the prescription plan...Part D.
It’s a bit convoluted how it’s configured but with my accounting background, I understand it. I sure can understand why seniors don’t understand.
It’s set up on a two level type of system. For those who don’t use too many prescription druges it has an initial layout that has the user paying for low-cost drugs like antibiotics and stuff. Usually it’s some kind of deductible that varies by plan, generally around $150. So if you’re not on some sort of constant drug usage you are essentially paying for drugs you might need in the course of living...like I said, antibiotics, decongestant, temporary allergy relief.
Then the plans pay around 65% of drugs...leaving the user to pay for 35-40%, a not too difficult price to pay.
After the “cost” of drugs in a calendar equals $2800....you then enter what they call a donut hole. This is tricky but again, as it was originally conceived, there’s a logic to it.
Husband and I both take drugs that we must take all the time and will probably have to forever. We both are just going to miss that donut hole, or if we enter it won’t be much.
Once in the donut hole, the user pays 100% of the cost of the drugs until the user has paid $4500 in a calendar year. You then enter what is called “catastrophic coverage”. At this point the cost of drugs drops dramatically...mere pennies a day in many cases.
This scenario covers someone who may have, say, a serious cancer. Medicines that are very expensive are needed for this and the setup provides for this.
The most a user must pay is $4500 a year, besides the snippets during catastrophic coverage. Now $4500 is a lot of money but it’s kind of rare when one gets to that point. I must take Crestor, Tricor, ....kind of expensive drugs to keep my arteries from clogging. Husband must take lots of Keppra, anti-seizure medication from his brain infection.
We both fit exactly into the mold of a Medicare user that will probably need drugs the rest of their lives and after the deductible, we mostly are limited to 35% of the cost of our meds. If we go into the donut hole at all it’s briefly before another calendar year begins.
Bottom line, we each pay about...oh maybe $1500 a year each for our druges but hey, they keep us alive and healthy and that amount includes the monthly fee.
So the way it’s set up does make sense in that there is a brief time when the cost of drugs goes way high but there’s a cap to protect those in need of a temporary need of expensive medicine. Again, it really can be confusing.
Also, last year I think, congress did something to abate the pain of that “donut hole”, an agreement with the drug companies to reduce the cost of their meds when a user is in that donut hole.
The drug companies recoup the cost of their research and development costs, the biggest cost of producing a drug because the bark of a tree doesn’t cost all that much. The trials and tests to figure how much tree bark to prescribe, how to harvest it, to test it over a long period of time as the lawyers are out there.
After a user uses a drug product for a while, why dang, they get a discount....like folks using larger quanities of a product do.
The gubmint picks up the cost of the drug once a user is in a situation where the cost of the drug is very high.
I heard Schumer talking about the drug plan this morn and I wanted to shoot him dead. Either he don’t know what he’s talking about or he’s deliberately deceiving.
Ryan’s plan would likely be loosely based on Medicare Part D and by me it’s a good plan.
But hey, you gotta get perfectly coiffed pubs out and splaining things much like I just did but they don’t want to muss head hairs, they’re not as smart as me, they don’t want to miss cocktail party invites or....ALL OF THE ABOVE.
I know Ryan’s plan will work much like Medicare Part D works because those insurance companies do want your business and the price of the Part D plan has now gone down two years in a row for me and husband.
CAUSE THEY’RE COMPETING...that’s why.
The pubs...they gotta do their jobs or serious folks, we simply HAVE to throw them outta there.
Appears to be true. And it’s a model for what Paul Ryan proposes to do with the rest of Medicare...which explains why Dems are terrified of it.
In 2010, average monthly premiums will be $30, just $2 above the 2009 level and lower than previously anticipated. Overall, the program’s costs this year have been $35 billion lower than forecast. Indeed, the program has cost less than anticipated four years in a row, making Part D a rare budgetary success story among federal programs.
These cost savings are largely driven by competition. In September, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported that more than 2,000 prescription drug plans will be available nationwide to the 26 million seniors enrolled in Part D.
Welcome back and Happy Memorial Day to you!
I’d also throw in the following talking points:
Letting people keep their own money is not a CUT!
Taxing the most productive in the economy hurts the economy.
Who spends their money wiser; the people or the government?
The government has a spending problem, not a “getting enough of the peoples’ money” problem.
Government is not the solution, it’s the problem! (hat tip to RWR)
Letting the government run your health care is like letting the foxes run the chicken coops. You’re lunch!
The people said NO to Obamacare. The democrats said Yes, screw the people!
Keep ‘em coming....
“(Hope you showered.)”
LOL! Yes...several times!
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