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This week on the Ricochet Podcast: ObamaCare crashes and Haley Barbour advises on how the GOP should react (and why governors generally rock). Later, Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint on the think tank’s mission, an alternative to ObamaCare, why health care’s tanking is a teachable moment (and and opportunity for the GOP), and whether there could be a 2016 convention in Detroit. Finally, a lesson from Lileks on gas station economics.
Music from this week’s episode:
Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones
The Ricochet Podcast opening theme was composed and produced by James Lileks.
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Jim DeMint and Haley Barbour, two dramatically different visions for the future of the movement.
I know it’s not a hostile interview, but I’d be curious to know why Barbour is on the board of Mark Zuckerberg’s conservative front group pushing amnesty.
3.04$ for gas?
Last time I filled up I paid 2.79$
Friendly correction for Mr. Robinson. Sen. Stevens was not indicted but, rather, convicted (unjustly, in my opinion) by the time of the election. He had insisted on a speedy trial in order to clear his name before the election, to no avail.
I won’t believe it’s over until it’s actually gone.
I totally enjoy the gloating, but I think Laura Ingraham had a good point on O’Reilly. The American middle and lower classes are feeling tremendous anxiety right now because this has very real and potentially dangerous implications. The message that conservatives might want to convey is protective outrage that Obama’s arrogance, reckless presumption, and incompetency has thrown the very people his health care system was depending on under the bus. If conservatives want to take the message of compassion away from liberals, we need to do it by showing that we are more compassionate because our ideas don’t do this kind of thing to people, the nation, or critical industries. Righteous indignation is in order.
All great posts. I would like to point out again that what truly stuns me the most in all of this is the President, knowing he had a roll out problem that no one else seem to know about, did not negotiate a one year delay in the individual mandate with the Republicans during the shutdown. Despite what Mr. Barbour would say, the Republicans would have jumped on it in a New York second and the President might have dodged a bullet and looked like a true hero and leader. Is the President that arrogant, ill-informed, or did he think the insurance industry seeing their stock prices getting crushed threat to out the problems?
The drop in gas prices is due to the cheaper price for the winter mix. The higher price in California is due to stricter environmental standards. Y’all need to refine your message, so to speak.
Thanks, Paul. I do indeed stand corrected.
If you hold the GOP convention in Detroit, for the express purpose of pointing a finger at the failure of Detroit … I doubt you’ll get many cab rides to the correct address.
The hall will be empty when they nominate the candidate. The delegates will be scattered all across southern Michigan.
On this day of all days Barbour spent the bulk of his time on Ricochet shooting at Ted Cruz. Wonderful. So, what is the damage done by Cruz? Actual damage. Bruised egos do not count.
Also, Barbour is, what, envious of Dem voting discipline? That discipline which had them marching on the path to today’s cliff diving.
Good train wreck, but where are the teeny Hill depictions of our genial hosts as engineer, passenger, conductor (or guys standing around watching)?
listeningin, I agree with your main point. Yes, compasion is needed, and a coherent, workable fix (as opposed to The Fix) is required. But it’s still too early to be proposing fixes that will take pressure off the Democrats. I wouldn’t be proposing anything other than full repeal for a while, maybe until after the Web site deadline (December 1?) is reached. Eventually, some emergency legislation to bridge to permanent sane legislation might make sense. But not yet. The Democrats, office holders and voters need to be shamed, and they haven’t yet. That’s not vindictive, it’s just the way things get better.
Also, the media Praetorian Guard to hasn’t turned on the Democrats yet. When the MSM starts providing positive, or even just “neutral” coverage to GOP reform ideas, get back to me.
Third, any “fix” cannot be a band-aid that saves this monstrosity. The fix might even cost additional money as well as tax breaks, credits, I don’t know what–but it has to be a rejection of what got us here.
So, at least for a while, keep popping the popcorn.
Ugh! Can’t we quit listening to Haley Barbour? He is a charming person, speaks with the multi-syllabic southern drawl, and sounds like a great guy to have a beer with. But his GOP old boy line is tiresome.
Ted Cruz is the best thing to happen to the GOP in decades. He might not change the party, but he gives hope to those of us who want it seized by conservatives, or replaced by a meaningful opposition party.
Thanks, Paul. I do indeed stand corrected. ·14 hours ago
I think it is even worse. Sen. Stevens conviction was overturned on appeal and several of the AUSAs were sanctioned for prosecutorial misconduct if my memory serves me.
The funky smell generated by the ACA mess that’s simmering on the stove is strangely delightful. But your question of the governor about what we’re going to do about this stew is very important. There’s no doubt we’ll need to dump it in the garbage or bury it in the back yard. But we’ll still need to feed the family. So let’s enjoy this for the moment, but let’s figure out what’s for dinner too.
I hope we have something better than that.
Haley Barbour will now be Mona Charen-ed.
Peter thinks Hill is over one…
Ted Cruz is the best thing to happen to the GOP in decades. He might not change the party, but he gives hope to those of us who want it seized by conservatives, or replaced by a meaningful opposition party. ·1 hour ago
Wasn’t he a very good governor of Mississippi?
Nice closing music by the Blue Yeti, but I would suggest another early Stones song – It’s All Over Now. Change the pronouns in the song and it is a perfect for the left. ” Because I used to love him, but it’s all over now”
Is the lower sound quality of the podcast also due to Mr. Lilek’s computer problems?
I liked the tone of the podcast, until it started reminding me of the last week before the election in 2012 when we were all convinced that Obama was going to lose…
It needs to be said, again and again, that what Gov. Barbour says is wrong. The Shutdown did not “take the American people’s attention away from the collapsing Obamacare scheme” because very few were paying attention at the time. The Shutdown did the precise opposite! It heightened awareness of the issue hugely, and branded the GOP as The Opposition to Obamacare. It was the prologue/opening bell/metaphor of your choice to heighten things.
The worst thing that can be said about the Shutdown is that it raised the stakes for opposition to Obamacare, because had the rollout not been such a failure, and the dynamics a catastrophe from Day 1, the GOP would have looked bad. But that’s not the argument being made by people such as Gov. Barbour, and we do not live in a parallel universe.
As for a default, it never got closer than a week to being a serious risk–assuming it would have ever been one.
Paris: you may be right about the sound issues related to working on an old computer I press-ganged into active duty. By no means blame the Yeti. For a while it sounded to me like Barbour was the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons run through a fuzz pedal.
As for your take on Barbour, I agree; without the shutdown fracas to focus the attention on Obamacare, the rollout problems may have become just another “process” story.
No one cared much about the debt ceiling or the possible default, because everyone has seen this play out over and over again, and Lucy always puts the football back at the last moment. The contempt people feel for Congress, I suspect, has more to do with the stork-dance that precedes the inevitable deal.
In general, I am a fan of Gov. Barbour’s, but not here.
A few facts:
1) Thanks to Ted Cruz, each Democratic senator up for reelection next year just voted multiple times to prevent any delay or change to Obamacare, blunting the efficacy of the inevitable faux-moderate schtick.
2) The Cruz filibuster detailed Republican opposition to Obamacare and explained that the law would prove a disaster for the American people; mere days later, the American people discovered that Cruz was right.
3) Hitting the debt ceiling would not result in a calamitous default on US debt. The Treasury takes in more than enough revenue each month to meet these obligations. A precipitous temporary decline in federal spending is not “default.”
“A precipitous temporary decline in federal spending is not ‘default..'”
(Hey, I still can’t do quotes here...)
The effect might not completely offset a ‘default’ (which was never more than the risk of not being able to borrow still MORE), but what about the positive effect on markets of “the Americans having actually stopped increasing their government borrowing”?
Mr. Barbour, with all due respect, I’m sure you’re a fine husband, father, friend, mentor, etc. You won some elections in Mississippi. Your net worth is probably more than mine will ever be. But let me make this clear:
You. Are. Still. A. Loser.
Since you became one of the leading voices in the Republican Party 20 years ago, it has done nothing but give ground to the liberal march in this country. We’ve tried it your way. We gave it a shot. We played the game you wanted to play it and we’re worse off. You know why?
Your. Ideas. Are. Losers. As. Well.
If you were a football coach, you would’ve been fired years ago. You’re arguing for continuing to use the single wing while the rest of us are ready for the Spread Offense. It’s obvious to any adult that the reason you despise Ted Cruz is because he is stealing yours and other archaic Republican leaders’ spotlight. You’re the Bee Gees in about 1981.
Please, exit stage left. I’d say, “stage right,” but I’m sure you don’t wanna be so close to us new people.
“Even Barack Obama knows she’s a delusional lunatic.”- Rob, your faith in our chief executive is touching, but lamentably displaced.
Good idea!
Also, Barbour is, what, envious of Dem voting discipline? That discipline which had them marching on the path to today’s cliff diving.
Yeah, that Haley Barbour, bad-mouthing Cruz like all of the other liberal northeastern RINO squishes.