HALF-FULL REPORT 11/01/13

Reality was again the nemesis of Democrats.  Millions have received word that because of Obamacare, their health insurance policies will be cancelled.  Millions more soon will.  Most of those whose policies aren’t cancelled will have to pay more. Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini offers a succinct explanation why.

Reality belted Obamabot Sue Klinkhamer in the mouth. Her tale of woe, chronicled by the Chicago Sun-Times, is a must read for those who indulge in the guilty pleasure of schadenfreude.

A "senior Democratic consultant with strong ties to the White House and Capitol Hill" summarized the political impact of the policy cancellations – up to 900,000 in California alone – and premium hikes this way in an email to Ron Fournier of the National Journal: "Dem Party is F’d."

The White House and Democrats in Congress have known since 2010 as many as 93 million could lose their insurance, but kept lying about it.  Instapundit makes an excellent suggestion on how Republicans might capitalize on their mind-blowing mendacity:

"The GOP ought to be able to identify the people whose plans are being cancelled and mail/message them. They should be an angry group – and at 16 million, bigger than Obama’s winning margin."

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So many Americans are suffering so much harm the news media can’t ignore it, as evidenced by the fact that it was NBC – the most biased of the broadcast networks – that was the first to report Monday (10/28) Obama knew all along about the policy cancellations.

But Lisa Meyers, the NBC correspondent who broke the story, didn’t mention her own scoop in her 21-second report on the Evening News that night, which indicates many journalists are conflicted about reporting news that reflects poorly on the president.

When liberal journalists try to spin news they feel they must report, the results can be hilarious, as in this front page story in the Washington Post Wednesday:

"Notices are going out to hundreds of thousands of Americans informing them that their health insurance policies are being canceled as of Dec. 31.  The notices appear to contradict President Obama’s promise that despite the changes resulting from the law, Americans can keep their health insurance if they like it."

Appear to contradict. Ya think?

Mary Katherine Ham of Hot Air notes here the euphemisms liberal journalists and Democrats are offering for Obama’s big lie. This is my favorite.

Still, when an MSNBC talk show host describes Obama as a "deliberate, flagrant liar;" and NBC broadcasts in prime time an interview with a North Carolina man whose health insurance premium has jumped 400 percent, you know Zero and his minions are taking an unprecedented pounding in the "mainstream" media.

Discovering how much more they themselves must pay is accelerating attitude adjustment among journalists.

"President Obama’s credibility is cracking up with stunning rapidity, even among some ardent ‘journalist’ supporters and erstwhile human shields," says Ross Kaminski of the American Spectator.

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Speaking of journalists, Megyn Kelly is absolutely killing in her new show on the Fox News Channel.  If you haven’t tuned in yet, do so soon, before Democrats are too terrified to come on the program.

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The lying isn’t restricted to Obamacare, of course.  This may be the most astonishing fallout from the report on Benghazi broadcast on CBS’s "60 Minutes" program Sunday night.  If you haven’t watched it yet, do so now.  "Morgan Jones," who was featured in the broadcast, has a book coming out about "A Night of Sheer Hell."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said he’ll place a "hold" on all Executive Branch nominations until the questions raised in the "60 Minutes" report are answered.  The State Department is stonewalling him. So is Justice.

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In a column this week, I mocked Zero’s claim he knew nothing about NSA spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Comedians Jon Stewart and Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon mocked it, too.  Even Time Magazine’s Joe Klein – whose nose usually is pressed tightly against Mr. Obama’s buttocks – joined in.

The concerns Europeans have raised are grossly overwrought, more than a little hypocritical.  But Zero has handled it poorly. A consequence of his attempt to throw NSA under the bus may be more leaks about Benghazi and related matters.

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It’s doubtful the National Security Agency has gone rogue without the president’s knowledge.  But whistleblower Edward Snowden offered more evidence it is running amok.  A bipartisan bill has been introduced in both houses of Congress to rein in NSA.

Perhaps just in the nick of time. 

"Obama’s Justice Department has used the anti-espionage statutes to treat investigative journalism in the national-security field as akin to treason. The things the Founders put in place to allow us to self-correct are caught up in the trap," an expert told James Fallows of the Atlantic.

"The surveillance-state apparatus-which as you point out is the greater danger to democratic survival than the direct casualties from any act of terrorist violence-creates a chilling effect on the very sort of democratic activity that is prerequisite to its dismantling."

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Most world news this week ranges from bad, to very bad, to awful.  As long as Barack Obama is president, it’ll get worse. Most Americans have little knowledge of and less interest in foreign affairs, but it won’t be long before things get so bad they’ll notice.

In Forbes‘ annual ranking of "The World’s Most Powerful People," Vladimir Putin is 1, Zero is 2.

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If Obama blunders us into WWIII, our boys will be led into battle by the B Team. Zero has been purging the U.S. military of all senior officers brazen enough to challenge his policies.  The purge victims include Marine Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis, in my opinion the greatest American general since MacArthur and Patton.

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Here’s a smidgen of good news from abroad.  There are now more members of the Muslim Brotherhood in our government than in Egypt’s.

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Most signs indicate the weakest economic recovery ever is getting weaker. If we fall back into recession, Reality could bite the administration here, too. Our problems abroad and our economic troubles are mutually reinforcing.  As one gets worse, it makes the other worse.

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Bad news about the economy and from abroad will compound Zero’s problems, but Obamacare is by far the biggest threat to his administration, and to Democrats generally.

Normally Democrat-friendly New York magazine put together this brutal video of Zero’s repeated promises that if you like your health care plan, you can keep it.  Even Jimmy Carter is questioning his competence.

Shortly before HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday that the Healthcare.gov Web site had never crashed, it crashed again.  The New York exchange Web site is sending some who want to sign up to a cupcake shop.  A big security hole has been found in the federal Web site.  HHS knew about the risk, but went ahead anyway.

Insurers are backing away from Obamacare exchanges.  Doctors too. So are top hospitals. And insurance coops.  Investor/blogger Jeffrey Carter points out here another problem no one else has yet picked up on.

Al Jazeera interviewed an Obamacare "Navigator" in Colorado who hasn’t been able to sign anyone up because ""Thus far everybody has taken a look at the rates and they’ve walked out the door."

The administration’s frantic efforts to conceal information indicate more bad news is on the way.

The fact the White House threatens insurance companies which complain about Obamacare may be less important than that CNN reported it. 

In her testimony Tuesday, CMS Director Marilyn Tavenner in essence took the Fifth when asked how many people have actually signed up.  Most of the few who have signed up for Medicaid, which indicates the "death spiral" has begun.

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The administration has responded to the bad news – more specifically, to the fact the "mainstream" media is reporting the bad news – with breathtaking mendacity.  In the past, Obama’s been able to lie with impunity, confident the news media wouldn’t call him on it.  But "the foundation of this complacent mendacity in the White House echo chamber is crumbling," says Jonathan Tobin. 

The Obamunists are having difficulty adjusting. The White House is in a "bunker mentality," said NBC political editor Chuck Todd.

They ought to be, says Jim Geraghty of National Review, because "Obama and his team have finally encountered a problem that they can’t successfully spin, cover up, distract from, or blame on the opposition."

Zero is still wedded to the old formula. He flew to Boston Wednesday to say Obamacare’s woes are exaggerated, and, you know, it was a Republican idea.  But Mitt Romney wouldn’t play along. Obama arrived in time to snarl traffic when Bostonians were trying to get home, or to the World Series game.

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The president is in "great distress," says a body language expert. But Zero may be happier than HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She’s on "death watch," the Washington Post said before she testified to Congress. It’s a "suicide watch" now.

A "pathetic, horrible, mortifying performance," said Charles Krauthammer.  She sounded like a "frustrated teenager," said John Podhoretz. Arnold Ahlert and Guy Benson summarize her testimony here and here. 

"In Dante’s Inferno, the Eighth Circle of Hell is reserved for people who deliberately commit fraud," said David Catron. "If the expression on her face was any guide, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius felt that she had entered the Eighth Circle of Obamacare."

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In a Rasmussen poll published Tuesday, 42 percent of respondents said their views on major issues are closest to the president’s.  And 42 percent said their views were closer to those of the "average Tea Party Member."

This suggests reports in the "mainstream" media of the Tea Party’s demise may have been exaggerated a trifle.

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On Monday, a Washington Post poll showed Democrat Terry McAuliffe leading Republican Ken Cuccinelli, 51 percent to 39 percent, among likely voters in the Virginia gubernatorial race.  McAuliffe has increased his lead by 4 percentage points from the poll the Post took last month.

But a Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday showed McAuliffe leading by just 45 percent to 41 percent.  In Quinnipac’s poll the week before, McAuliffe had led, 46-39.

In the HFR last week, I noted McAuliffe had a 17 point lead in a Rasmussen survey released Oct. 22, but only a 1 point lead in a Wenzel Strategies poll taken a couple of days later.

What’s going on here?  Is Cuccinelli being crushed by a backlash against Republicans because of the government shut-down?  Or is that being overcome by blowback against Obamacare?  We’ll find out Tuesday night.

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Reality is the Democrats’ enemy.  But Reality will be our friend only if we embrace her.

It is delusional to argue, as some conservatives have, that the botched Obamacare rollout proves Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex, was right. He deserves no brownie points for wanting to repeal Obamacare.  Every Republican senator – even Susan Collins – wants that.  The unique contribution Sens. Cruz and Mike Lee made was to try to defund Obamacare this year, which failed spectacularly, and has caused Republicans great harm – at least in the short term.

During the shutdown, Republicans fell from a 40-40 tie with Democrats in Rasmussen’s generic congressional poll to a 43-36 deficit.  The harm should fade over time, but if Ken Cuccinelli loses because of a backlash from the shutdown, I doubt Ted Cruz will be on his Christmas card list.

The Cruz/Lee strategy was based on their assumption that once Obamacare began, it would prove too popular ever to repeal. This was absolutely, totally, completely wrong. Vindicated by the botched rollout are those Republicans who said all along the proper strategy was to delay implementation.

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I said last week the botched Obamacare rollout provides Republicans with a great opportunity – provided they don’t do in the future what made Americans so mad at them during the "shut-down."

Americans were furious about the shutdown because they want government to work. Their nerves are on edge because they know this isn’t happening.  According to this poll, they think zombies could run the government as well, or better, than the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington D.C.

Americans blamed Republicans most for the shutdown because the news media told them it was our fault. Media bias has given Democrats an 8 percentage point advantage in recent elections, estimates UCLA Prof. Tim Groseclose.

The most important takeaway from the shutdown debacle is Republicans should avoid when possible getting into fights where the news media set the goalposts, and can move them whenever they feel like it.

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So what should Republicans do?  There are some very good ideas in the excellent speech Mike Lee gave at the Heritage Foundation this week.  (We’d be wise to pay particular attention to Point 7.)  Lee and Ted Cruz have learned some hard lessons from the shutdown, Matt Lewis thinks.

Guy Benson offers here three strategies for how the GOP can take advantage of the Obamacare meltdown.

A superb strategy is that begun by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.  Proposing legislation to let people who like their health insurance plan keep it directly addresses the element of Obamacare that’s causing the most pain; sounds moderate, but would be fatal to Obamacare if enacted, and will prove irresistible to Democrats in tight races.

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Reality shed a lot of Democrat blood this week.  Dr. Jack has returned from his odyssey in China and the South Pacific.  Republicans in Washington showed signs of working together instead of tearing the party apart.  So I pronounce the glass way more than half full.  I’m going to fill mine with Maker’s Mark, and drink a toast or three to the heroine of the week, who once again is… Reality.