That's a quote in The Daily Beast from an unnamed "Wisconsin Republican political operative" in "Republicans Left Ron Johnson for Dead Last Year, Now He Could Kill Their Health Care Bill/Months after they left him cold and alone on the campaign trail, Sen. Ron Johnson is enjoying his newfound freedom from leadership."
ADDED: I'm skeptical of this story, so let me front-page something I wrote in the comments:
Ron Johnson has such a modest, low-key Wisconsinite demeanor that it seems funny to me to picture him seething and cursing, just burning up and ready to go wild and break things.
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That's a quote in The Daily Beast from an unnamed "Wisconsin Republican political operative"
Who goes by the name "Jon Rohnson" perhaps?
Ron Johnson is pissed! He's so mad at the party and he's out for payback. He might hold up the entire healthcare bill in response. Won't they be sorry how they treated him then? Oh boy they really messed with the wrong guy.
And then there it is right in paragraph 17.
Still, in the meantime, there are indications he won’t hold up the bill indefinitely and is looking for ways to get to “yes” on the legislation.
And why is this? Because the CBO estimates didn't even use the latest baseline.
A Johnson aide told The Daily Beast this issue came up on Tuesday when Republican senators gathered for lunch to talk about the bill. They discussed the fact that the CBO’s estimate of how many people on the individual market who would lose health insurance is based on the number of people who were insured as individuals in March of 2016: 26 million people. But there’s new CBO data available calculating the number of people who have insurance through the individual markets in January of 2017: just 19 million.
It's as if the reporter was sent to write an article about how the wrong baseline was used, and instead of making that the focus, she buried it in a personal piece on Ron Johnson so few people would read it.
Nah. That couldn't be it.
Maybe more fake news?
Once you have an entitlement program, you can never kill it.
Any program the Republicans come up with, no matter who much better it is than Obamacare, the other side will find a group who is not coming out ahead and hammer and hammer and hammer that point.
By the way....I was buying my own insurance for 3 years. Obamacare caused my premiums to go from $215 a month to $462 a month. It forced me to purchase a cadillac plan that covered tons of items I did not need (pregnancy coverage, free birth control pills, in home care, mental health coverage). This caused me to rack up a lot of credit card debt as it made it harder for me to pay other bills.
Ron Johnson has such a modest, low-key Wisconsinite demeanor that it seems funny to me to picture him seething and cursing, just burning up and ready to go wild and break things.
"opleaseopleaseoplease!", said every leftie everywhere.
The January 2017 data would reflect people who signed up, but may not have paid for January, or people who dropped after having their medical needs addressed after the open enrollment, which is not unheard of with the costly plans.
I am not going to re-research and re-write this Daily Beast article, but I read it and it immediately rang untrue to me. I follow these things pretty closely. What I recall from last summer and early fall was that the NRSC pulled money from Wisconsin, because we were so worried about North Carolina some others. BUT THAT WE PUT MONEY BACK INTO WISCONSIN, LATE IN THE RACE. I have never thought of Johnson and McConnell being estranged, and I know that Mitch has his own fundraising PAC; didn't Mitch steer some of his own PAC's money into Wisconsin?
I have serious doubts about the veracity of the narrative in this Daily Beast story.
...So I did a quick search of stories about the Wisconsin race, focusing on the later time period of Oct./Nov. of 2016. This story popped up quickly; from Politico, dated early November and clearly reflective of the late portion of the Wisconsin U.S. Senate election.
Pretty much everything I wrote above is fleshed out in the detail I hoped for; and it is as if the "Daily Beast" and "Politico" stories were about two different campaigns.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/ron-johnson-russ-feingold-wisconsin-2016-230730
@Althouse, I agree. I don't believe a word of the story. Johnson seething? No.
How nice to create a story line that will get clicks. One unidentified source who is probably speculating about Johnson's motives.
I have heard the words from Johnson's mouth. It doesn't match this story line. He, like several other R's, take issue with the details of the bill. The narrative is now far different than when the D's had Obamacare rammed down their throats in the Senate. If you recall, the Senate had to pass the House version with absolutely no changes to avoid going to committee. Senate Dems were figuratively beaten into submission. Now, somehow it is wrong for Republican senators to question details of the bill.
@Dave - I had a good high deductible family plan for $1,200/month and it was going to go to $3,000+. With more out-of-pocket.
This was one of the reasons I took a job and moved - that is a lot of scratch to pay post-tax every month.
On the upside, I now live six miles from the beach in Florida, so silver lining and all that.
Good luck!
-XC
Ron Johnson has such a modest, low-key Wisconsinite demeanor that it seems funny to me to picture him seething and cursing, just burning up and ready to go wild and break things.
I love Senator Johnson. His Joseph Project work is great. He understands how businesses work and how jobs are created. In many ways, he reminds me of North Dakota Governor Burgum, another non-politician office holder.
Last fall, there were TONS of Ron Johnson signs front of small businesses in western Wisconsin, especially light manufacturers.
Compare him (and Governor Burgum) to professional politicians who are always angry. Yes, I am looking at you Al Frankin and Kathleen Vinehout.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
Expat....I still work independently (which is why I can visit Althouse) but am structured as a regular employee, so now I have insurance through an employer.
How can anyone write this pretty long article and leave out the identity of election challenger. Russ Feingold. I had to look it up.
Ann Althouse said...
Ron Johnson has such a modest, low-key Wisconsinite demeanor that it seems funny to me to picture him seething and cursing, just burning up and ready to go wild and break things."
He's also a very short, slight man. Not that short men don't get angry of course, but Ron Johnson running around breaking stuff would not be like, say, Eric Thames smashing up a room.
I forgot how much I hate the Daily Beast's graphics until I clicked over. Do young Millennials really like that crap? Bloomberg tried that same style a few years ago. They've ended that dumb experiment, mercifully.
If it comes from the media - you know it's probably a lie.
RE: "modest, low-key Wisconsinite demeanor"-- that's really a thing, eh? Scott Walker seems similar. Johnson, Walker, and our hostess share that, and I think it comes down to two main traits: not interrupting other people much, and not acting angry in discussion. I like to think that if someone threw a jab (not a cross) at Scott Walker, he'd block it and deck the guy, and then smile slightly and continue his speech.
I've only been through Wisconsin, never staying for more than a day, but the beauty of the state overwhelmed me. Nobody outside of Wisconsin talks about that much.
I don't know that one would follow from the other--the national party pulling out ad spending for him so he sinks their health care bill. Anyone sinking the bill likely either thinks it's bad policy or fears that their voters will think it's bad policy. Why risk your own career out of spite?
I wouldn't completely count out a deal being struck in the next few weeks though--maybe they'll leave the taxes in there, do more modest spending cuts and frame the whole thing as a deficit reduction plan (or shift money from Medicaid to exchange subsidies, accomplishing the same thing but also shifting more resources to private insurance from federal coverage).
But if they completely drop ACA repeal and actually work with Dems to shore up the law (as McConnell suggested) it's hard to see how their base won't nail them for it.
By the way, "deck the guy", for you women reading, means to put the guy on the deck (the floor). I'm typing this slowly so that you can read and understand it.
Rene Saunce said...
If it comes from the media - you know it's probably a lie.
Let me know if these people are part of "the media":
Sean Hannity
Lou Dobbs
Laura Ingraham
Eric Bolling
Rush Limbaugh
Jeffrey Lord
Mark Levin
Does "media that cannot be trusted" include the Fox News Channel? Breitbart? The New York Post? Sinclair Broadcasting? The American Spectator?
You notice I've left out a whole world of conservative media, that has alternately praised many Trump initiatives and positions and nominations, even as they offer criticism of Trump on other matters. That would include the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard and the National Review, all of which have been unremitting in their criticism of Democrats, and often supportive of Trump, even on some of the most contentious personal aspects of Trumpism.
I don't think the Wisconsin GOP is as corrupt as the Illinois GOP, which refused to support their incumbent Senator and gave us Obama.
I don't believe the story. The Media has pretty much crapped in their own nest and now will have to live with it for many years,.
Let me know if these people are part of "the media"
Sure thing, Chief. . .
"Does "media that cannot be trusted" include the Fox News Channel? Breitbart? The New York Post? Sinclair Broadcasting? The American Spectator?"
A good rule of thumb is to be skeptical of all of it and look for independent verification, but not fall into that trap of "news that I disagree with is fake!" crap that's flying around a lot these days (Trump's a prime example--just yells "fake" regardless--but by no means the only one). It also applies to non-political news, as mistakes and biases can affect any sort of reporting.
This is an attempt to shore up Johnson for the coming health care vote, and as such it is simply a bit too transparent. I would guess this story is a complete fabrication.
Where's your "I'm skeptical" tag?
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