First Looks at the Delaware Health Insurance Exchange

First Looks at the Delaware Health Insurance Exchange

Under the ACA, each state is supposed to create and manage a medical insurance marketplace where people who aren't covered by insurance can buy plans. Delaware's Health Insurance Marketplace website went live this AM -- although the details of the exchange and the insurance options on offer are not yet available. I'm mildly surprised that California and NY got theirs up earlier -- I had thought at one time that Delaware was pretty far ahead of the planning curve for planning and implementing this. Which is probably a misconception on my part.
Wednesday Open Thread [7.17.13]

Wednesday Open Thread [7.17.13]

"Nobody in Wyoming likes a long campaign, and anybody from Wyoming would know that." -- Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), quoted by the Washington Examiner, taking a dig at primary rival Liz Cheney (R) who announced her bid yesterday. I am not going to attack Liz Cheney for being a carpetbagger, because Hillary Clinton was a carpetbagger and thus I would be a hypocrite. In my opinion, if a state's residency laws allow someone not currently living in the state to run, then that is the state's law. But New York is a different place than Wyoming. Many New Yorkers wanted Hillary to run, and she won in a landslide, twice. It doesn't sound like the Republican establishment in the state wants Cheney to run, and are quite offended about it, actually. It remains to be seen if the Republican primary voter will warm to someone like Liz Cheney. A reader at TPM makes a great point ....
ABC Is Wrong To Hire Jenny McCarthy For The View

ABC Is Wrong To Hire Jenny McCarthy For The View

I would really like to know ABC's thinking on this.  First, the only subject that Jenny McCarthy seems to have had an opinion on is vaccines cause autism.  I've actually spent the last half hour googling her to discover if her activism crosses into areas other than autism and came up empty handed.  So why would ABC select one issue McCarthy to co-host a show that covers a multitude of issues? And there's concern over giving Jenny McCarthy such a large platform.

Tuesday Open Thread [7.16.13]

LOLz. This is from Gallup. The only group that supports Republicans on the immigration issue is the old white people. Even young white people, like myself, support the Dems. Texas Governor Rick Perry is running for President again in 2016. Dan Balz asked him if his "lousy introduction to the national stage" during the 2012 presidential campagin would affect his chances if he were to run again.
Said Perry: "You mean in the way Bill Clinton's introduction was bad?," referring to Clinton's infamous nomination speech for Michael Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
So Rick Perry has just favorable compared himself to Bill Clinton. Governor, I worked with Bill Clinton. I knew Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton is a friend of mine. Governor, you're no Bill Clinton.

Limited Filibuster Reform Showdown Today

I say limited because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's proposed rule change is extremely limited to only eliminating the silent non speaking obstructive hold that is today incorrectly called the filibuster on only presidential appointees, meaning nominanees to executive agencies like the National Labor Relations Board or the Consumer Protection Board or the Secretary of State or Defense, and on and on. It does not include "filibusters" on judicial nominees or legislation. Well, the Senators all met in the Old Senate Chamber last night, and that must have been crowded, if you have ever been to the old Senate Chamber, you know what I mean. They met for three hours to discuss some insipid and downright insane "bipartisan" solutions to this crisis that is entirely of the Republicans' own making. One solution from John McCain was so outrageous that I could not write about it last night as I might have called for bodily harm to befall him. John McCain's solution to Republican obstruction was for the twice popularly elected (by overwhelmingly margins each time, once over John McCain himself) President of the United States to delegate his appointment powers to, get this, John McCain and the Republican Party.