With so many headlines renewing anxieties, the one that discouraged me this morning was: "For-profit firms taking over Medicare," written by Houston Chronicle's Chris Tomlinson. The first paragraph reads: "No one should be surprised the Trump administration hatched a plan to put private insurance companies in charge of Medicare. What's shocking is how Joe Biden is moving forward with it." Another paragraph: "Biden's decision to move forward with Direct Contracting reflects for-profit health companies and investors' power over both political parties. He's rejected a single-payer system like those found in Europe, and he parrots the demonstrably-untrue premise that private enterprise can do a better job than well-managed government employees." The article ends: "Next year, millions more Americans will find themselves in privatized Medicare, and most will never know what happened." As a longtime Democrat and supporter of President Biden, can anyone enlighten me why he would do this?
As a senior soon to turn 90, I have certainly noticed the "business-like" health care when I go for my annual exams.
Hi, Betty. I will look at this issue. I thought that the change to private companies serving as Medicare providers / payors was fairly well established. I see advertising for such companies al the time. I must be missing something.
Regarding CRT, you said, "the issue is more complex and nuanced than I suggested earlier—and far more complex and nuanced than Glenn Youngkin claimed in his campaign." It's important for all of us to remember that Republicans don't do nuance. They do head-on lies and they do a masterful job of labeling. We forget that to our peril.
Hi, Terry. I get that point. I was reacting to a couple of dozen emails from readers yesterday that said, "Democrats' problem is that they are too woke" or "the extremist on the left are forcing CRT on everyone, which is why we lost." People pointed to Andrew Sullivan's article as proof of those assertions. , Maureen Dowd did a similar article. When people read articles like that, they tend to believe them. I was trying to make the point that while there were some documents that used CRT language, they were provided by an outside consultant and related not to curriculum, but disparate suspension rates between White students and Black students.
I did get that point. It was well-taken. And the Dowd column infuriated me. I've been writing to the Times daily about their coverage of Biden and the Democrats. To read the Times, you'd think that negotiating is the worst, possible way to come to an agreement on legislation. They seem much to prefer the lockstep Republican way. And you'd think that Biden is a complete failure.
Thanks for the forward thinking and campaign guidance. We know what to do. Turnout, turnout, turnout. We need to ROAR a year from now. And even if Democrats were to accomplish nothing else between now and then, we already have a "war chest" of accomplishments. I am beginning my personal list. If anyone has one already composed, please share.
Re CRT in our schools as stated in campaigns, etc….recently a rant(s) was made at our local school board meeting about the CRT “curriculum destroying the minds of children…” I politely asked her to cite me a source in our district curriculum— furthermore, she could even cite/send me a link to any public schools said curriculum in the state and we’d certainly take that under advisement! She won’t because she can’t! It’s not there! And at the next Board meeting if, probably when, she gets up to rant about it again, I’ll remind/ask her for her info.
Northern Virginia Democrats gave away the Governor’s race by staying at home.. Over 90,000 voters in the Presidential race did not vote in the Governor’s race. Mr. McAuliffe lost by 80,000 votes.
Hi, Greg. You are right! I think the drop-off may have been bigger than 90,000. I believe that decline in voter turnout was in Fairfax County alone--a Democratic stronghold. Democrats could have easily won with higher turnout.
I read yesterday’s and today’s newsletters just now. One thing I’ve been seeing in everyone’s newsletters and media outlets is talk about the poll numbers and how they’re awful and here are the reasons why. I would always, always, always put the misinformation dark money background misinformation at the top of the list! Snake oil sales people, profiteers, and big companies who want to keep politicians in their pockets drive OANN, FOX NEWS, Facebook, and lots and lots of background training into how to promote and manipulate the public. It isn’t just our messaging that’s ineffective, it’s the supposed people who are on “our side” in the media who are making it more difficult to spread the truths. One thing I have seen that gives me hope is that Twitter messages to left leaning cable media people about how their words and behaviors (let them know you are watching and paying attention) probably made things worse and they were missing an opportunity to weave in a perspective that is hopeful and actually accurate! Many politicians would greatly benefit from having coaches and ethical, smart curators of their overall messages and messaging. I chuckle when I think of how my own children, when they were younger, were actually quite good at trimming and editing my “presentation.” If it makes your children cringe, there’s probably something to that!
With so many headlines renewing anxieties, the one that discouraged me this morning was: "For-profit firms taking over Medicare," written by Houston Chronicle's Chris Tomlinson. The first paragraph reads: "No one should be surprised the Trump administration hatched a plan to put private insurance companies in charge of Medicare. What's shocking is how Joe Biden is moving forward with it." Another paragraph: "Biden's decision to move forward with Direct Contracting reflects for-profit health companies and investors' power over both political parties. He's rejected a single-payer system like those found in Europe, and he parrots the demonstrably-untrue premise that private enterprise can do a better job than well-managed government employees." The article ends: "Next year, millions more Americans will find themselves in privatized Medicare, and most will never know what happened." As a longtime Democrat and supporter of President Biden, can anyone enlighten me why he would do this?
As a senior soon to turn 90, I have certainly noticed the "business-like" health care when I go for my annual exams.
Hi, Betty. I will look at this issue. I thought that the change to private companies serving as Medicare providers / payors was fairly well established. I see advertising for such companies al the time. I must be missing something.
Thank you, Robert. I may be experiencing what I didn't fully understand. But it was in today's paper that it caught my eye.
Yes, this is news to me and I’m not sure yet what I think of it.
Regarding CRT, you said, "the issue is more complex and nuanced than I suggested earlier—and far more complex and nuanced than Glenn Youngkin claimed in his campaign." It's important for all of us to remember that Republicans don't do nuance. They do head-on lies and they do a masterful job of labeling. We forget that to our peril.
Hi, Terry. I get that point. I was reacting to a couple of dozen emails from readers yesterday that said, "Democrats' problem is that they are too woke" or "the extremist on the left are forcing CRT on everyone, which is why we lost." People pointed to Andrew Sullivan's article as proof of those assertions. , Maureen Dowd did a similar article. When people read articles like that, they tend to believe them. I was trying to make the point that while there were some documents that used CRT language, they were provided by an outside consultant and related not to curriculum, but disparate suspension rates between White students and Black students.
I did get that point. It was well-taken. And the Dowd column infuriated me. I've been writing to the Times daily about their coverage of Biden and the Democrats. To read the Times, you'd think that negotiating is the worst, possible way to come to an agreement on legislation. They seem much to prefer the lockstep Republican way. And you'd think that Biden is a complete failure.
Thanks for the forward thinking and campaign guidance. We know what to do. Turnout, turnout, turnout. We need to ROAR a year from now. And even if Democrats were to accomplish nothing else between now and then, we already have a "war chest" of accomplishments. I am beginning my personal list. If anyone has one already composed, please share.
Great idea!!
Re CRT in our schools as stated in campaigns, etc….recently a rant(s) was made at our local school board meeting about the CRT “curriculum destroying the minds of children…” I politely asked her to cite me a source in our district curriculum— furthermore, she could even cite/send me a link to any public schools said curriculum in the state and we’d certainly take that under advisement! She won’t because she can’t! It’s not there! And at the next Board meeting if, probably when, she gets up to rant about it again, I’ll remind/ask her for her info.
“Facts are usually more complicated, nuanced, and pesky than the media narrative asserts.”
Exactly! Thank you, Robert.
Northern Virginia Democrats gave away the Governor’s race by staying at home.. Over 90,000 voters in the Presidential race did not vote in the Governor’s race. Mr. McAuliffe lost by 80,000 votes.
Hi, Greg. You are right! I think the drop-off may have been bigger than 90,000. I believe that decline in voter turnout was in Fairfax County alone--a Democratic stronghold. Democrats could have easily won with higher turnout.
I read yesterday’s and today’s newsletters just now. One thing I’ve been seeing in everyone’s newsletters and media outlets is talk about the poll numbers and how they’re awful and here are the reasons why. I would always, always, always put the misinformation dark money background misinformation at the top of the list! Snake oil sales people, profiteers, and big companies who want to keep politicians in their pockets drive OANN, FOX NEWS, Facebook, and lots and lots of background training into how to promote and manipulate the public. It isn’t just our messaging that’s ineffective, it’s the supposed people who are on “our side” in the media who are making it more difficult to spread the truths. One thing I have seen that gives me hope is that Twitter messages to left leaning cable media people about how their words and behaviors (let them know you are watching and paying attention) probably made things worse and they were missing an opportunity to weave in a perspective that is hopeful and actually accurate! Many politicians would greatly benefit from having coaches and ethical, smart curators of their overall messages and messaging. I chuckle when I think of how my own children, when they were younger, were actually quite good at trimming and editing my “presentation.” If it makes your children cringe, there’s probably something to that!