OBAMACARE DEBACLE - Update 3/14/2014

[bsteadman]

Obama: You Might Lose Your Doctor Under Obamacare

The Weekly Standard
Daniel Halper
3/14/2014

Excerpt:

President Obama is warning Americans that they might have to change doctors because of Obamacare:

"For the average person, many folks who don't have health insurance initially, they're going to have to make some choices. And they might end up having to switch doctors, in part because they're saving money," said Obama in an interview with the medical website WebMD.

"But that’s true if your employer suddenly decides we think this network’s going to give a better deal, we think this is going to help keep premiums lower, you've got to use this doctor as opposed to that one, this hospital as opposed to that one. The good news is in most states people have more than one option and what they'll find, I think, is that their doctor or network or hospital that's conveniently located is probably in one of those networks. Now, you may find out that that network's more expensive than another network. And then you've got to make a choice in terms of what's right for your family."

This is different than what Obama said when he was selling Obamacare. "If you like the plan you have, you can keep it. If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too. The only change you’ll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold," said Obama in his weekly address on June 6, 2009.

View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...e_784941.html#

[bsteadman1]

Florida Loss Spells Doom for Democrats

FrontPage Mag
Matthew Vadum
3/14/2014

Excerpt:

The defeat of an Obamacare-loving Democrat in a closely watched special election in the Tampa area ought to give comfort to Republicans aiming to control both houses of Congress after the upcoming elections in November.

On Tuesday, Republican David W. Jolly had mainstream journalists across the nation popping Prozac as he polled 48.52 percent in the special election in Florida’s 13th congressional district, triumphing over Democrat Alex Sink who garnered 46.64 percent and over Libertarian Lucas Overby who received 4.84 percent of the votes, according to still-unofficial results.

No matter what they say publicly, Sink’s loss is terrifying to careerist Democrats. President Obama’s party desperately wants to talk about something other than Obamacare now that it’s becoming increasingly clear that they have no chance of retaking the House and are very likely to lose control of the Senate.

The FL-13 race was the Democrats’ to lose. “This wasn’t some random battle; the deck was stacked for Democrats, yet prevailing political fundamentals pushed the W into the Republican column,” notes Townhall political editor Guy Benson.

As even left-leaning Politico observes, the Democratic Party is in chaos right now:

A few Democrats are advocating a drastic rhetorical shift to the left, by criticizing their own party for not going far enough when it passed the law in 2010. Other Democrats plan to sharply criticize the Affordable Care Act when running for re-election. Many plan to stick to the simple message that Obamacare is flawed and needs to be fixed —a tactic that plainly didn’t work for Sink. Taken together, the Democratic Party is heading into an already tough election year divided — instead of united — on the very issue Republicans plan to make central to their campaigns.

Going into the FL-13 vote three days ago, Democrats already had a seemingly impossible task ahead as they lost control of the narrative.

Before Election Day this week, Republicans characterized the vote as a referendum on Obamacare, a program that Democrats across America have been scrambling to distance themselves from. Jolly promised to press for repeal. Sink, who had high name recognition with voters after running for governor in 2010, defended Obamacare in principle but said parts of the program needed to be fixed.

Sink also came across as callous and out-of-touch to left-wingers when she offered a one-percenter’s rationale for supporting so-called comprehensive immigration reform.

The reforms are important to America because “we have a lot of employers over on the beaches that rely upon workers and especially in this high-growth environment, where are you going to get people to work to clean our hotel rooms or do our landscaping?” she said, channeling her inner Ebenezer Scrooge. “We don’t need to put those employers in a position of hiring undocumented and illegal workers.”

Pundit Stuart Rothenberg previously declared the contest to be a must-win for President Obama’s party.

“Since most nonpartisan handicappers and analysts have for years expected this seat to go Democratic when it became open, a Republican victory would likely say something about the national political environment and the inclination of district voters to send a message of dissatisfaction about the president,” Rothenberg said. “And that possibility should worry the White House.”

Although a Republican replacing another Republican as a result of a special election shouldn’t necessarily be headline news, both parties “nationalized” the race and poured vast resources into it. When the GOP defined the contest as a referendum on Obamacare, the mainstream media did not object because in their cavernous echo chambers Obamacare is considered to be a great idea that is only running into trouble because of flawed implementation. Many journalists saw Sink as a shoo-in because they viewed the prospect of Obamacare repeal as an electoral non-starter.
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View the complete article at:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/mat...for-democrats/