Friday Open Thread [4.24.15]

Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone examines the GOP in disarray:

The Republican Party is a paradox. It has enjoyed tremendous success at the local level in recent years, but that success has come at a time of historically low voter turnout. With the demographic picture changing so fast in this country and the party’s own youth rapidly changing their minds on key social issues, the Republicans seemingly have a choice to make.

The first choice would be to embrace a different future right now, and start a long-term rebuild based around the changing consensus on these social issues. The other plan would be to forestall the passage of time for a few more election cycles, and try to squeeze a few more White House runs out of the party’s aging, Fox-devouring, ideologically anachronistic base.

Neither strategy offers too much long-term excitement politically.

Notice he said a few more White House runs, not wins. If the GOP were smart, it would endure the pain of the transition now during an election they cannot possibly win, just like they did in 1964.

Eric Holder is free!

The Senate confirmed Loretta Lynch yesterday in a 56-43 roll call after a long delay necessitated by Republican racism. The Republican senators who voted for Lynch are Susan Collins of Maine, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Rob Portman of Ohio and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Johnson, Kirk, Portman, and Ayotte all face tough reelection battles in blue states, and a no vote would have guaranteed their immediate defeat in a presidential year. Flake, Graham, and Hatch had approved her previously, in their roles as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. So a no vote now would have made them look like fools. More so than normal. Collins is a Maine “Moderate.” The enduring mysteries are Cochran and McConnell. Cochran is an old school Senate hand, so that may explain his vote. McConnell’s vote is, I suppose, an apology.

The Washington Post:

SENATORS VOTED Thursday to confirm Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general by an embarrassingly thin margin of 56 to 43. It was embarrassing not to Ms. Lynch, who clearly deserved confirmation, but to the Republicans who voted against a nominee who should have breezed through.

“I usually tell a bunch of jokes at these events, but with the Patriots in town, I was worried that 11 out of 12 of them would fall flat.”

— President Obama, welcoming the Super Bowl winners to the White House

Damn.

Amy Walter: “At the end of the day, when you put all the assets and liabilities on the table, it’s hard to see anyone but Rubio, Bush or Walker as the ultimate nominee. Sure, one of them could stumble or come up short in a key early state. It’s also highly likely that someone like Huckabee, Paul, Cruz and even Perry could win in Iowa. But, when you look at the candidate vulnerabilities instead of just their assets, these are the three who are the most likely to win over the largest share of the GOP electorate. Winning the ‘Evangelical’ or the ‘Establishment’ or the ‘Tea Party’ lane isn’t how you win the nomination. Cobbling together the broadest coalition is the key.”

True. But the problem is there are too many candidates and only one pool of voters. You slice up the pie enough, and what once was just a regular size slice of pie now appears monstrous against other tiny slices. Rubio, Bush and Walker all would be in the Establishment lane right, with Walker doing the best to attract Tea Party votes.

Customer satisfaction with Obamacare has skyrocketed to the where it is now more popular than all other insurance options. According to a new J.D Power survey, customer satisfaction has jumped 55 points in the last year:

Satisfaction with the Health Insurance Marketplace exchange enrollment process among new enrollees has significantly increased from 2014, and health plans obtained through the Marketplace exchange generate levels of member satisfaction equal to or higher than plans not obtained through the Marketplace exchange, according to the J.D. Power 2015 Health Insurance Marketplace Exchange Shopper and Re-Enrollment (HIX) StudySM released today. […]

According to the study, enrollment satisfaction among new enrollees has increased by a significant 55 points to 670 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 615 in 2014, when all enrollees were new to the Marketplace. Satisfaction with enrollment among new enrollees is driven by the variety of information available. Among members who re-enrolled, satisfaction with the enrollment processis 731, higher than new enrollees. Satisfaction with the re-enrollment process is higher among those who auto re-enrolled (744) than among those who did not (724). […]

“Marketplace shoppers are very cost-sensitive,” said Rick Johnson, senior director of the healthcare practice at J.D. Power. “Unlike many traditional health plan members, who are often tied to a single employer benefit offering, Marketplace members have an option to switch plans annually, allowing them to shop for either the most affordable or the most valuable plan. Plan providers need to demonstrate the value of their plan by clearly communicating coverage and benefits. Additionally, auto re-enrollment is a great way to both ease the re-enrollment process and increase member retention.”

One of the reasons Republicans worked so hard to kill Obamacare before it was implemented was their fear that once consumers got a taste of Obamacare, they would never want to let it go. And now their nightmare has come true.

Salon: “What do Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal all have in common? They’re all sitting governors who’d like to be president, sure. But what else?”

“How about being embarrassingly bad at job creation? That’s right. From January 2011 through January 2015, Louisiana under Jindal ranked 32nd in job creation with 5.4 percent growth over four years. Wisconsin under Walker ranked 35th, with 4.85 percent growth. New Jersey under Christie ranked 40th, with 4.15 percent growth. This compares with a national average of 8.21 percent.”

Geoffrey Skelley: “Should Clinton and one of the younger Republicans in the field win their respective parties’ nominations, age will become an issue in the 2016 campaign, at least in context. The obvious generational difference will be an unavoidable topic, and the Republican nominee in that situation will almost certainly seek to be a ‘change’ candidate, as many, including the current president, have sought to be before.”

“The irony, however, is that even if Republicans choose a youthful standard bearer, it will be Clinton who receives more support from younger voters than the GOP nominee. Pew recently reported its latest findings on trends in party identification, and the youngest cohort of voters continues to be solidly Democratic, despite some reports to the contrary.”

Bertrand Olotara: “Every day, I serve food to some of the most powerful people on earth – including many of the senators who are running for president: I’m a cook for the federal contractor that runs the US Senate cafeteria. But today, they’ll have to get their meals from someone else’s hands, because I’m on strike. I am walking off my job because I want the presidential hopefuls to know that I live in poverty. Many senators canvas the country giving speeches about creating ‘opportunity’ for workers and helping our kids achieve the ‘American dream’ – most don’t seem to notice or care that workers in their own building are struggling to survive.”

“I’m a single father and I only make $12 an hour; I had to take a second job at a grocery store to make ends meet. But even though I work seven days a week – putting in 70 hours between my two jobs – I can’t manage to pay the rent, buy school supplies for my kids or even put food on the table. I hate to admit it, but I have to use food stamps so that my kids don’t go to bed hungry.”