Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

This is mathematically accurate from my assessment of the House and Senate.

It appears (back of envelope again) stupidity and achievement in non-coastal GOP politics run almost 1:1.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

If you're voting based on What You Get, rich or poor, D or R, you're employing the same logic. You can argue that when you need something, that sort of voting is excusable. I'd agree. If you're fucked and you need the govt, you're excused in a manner the greedheaded affluent tax voter is not.

But both of these animals are acting in purely rational manners, and thinking almost exclusively about themselves.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Morons? Republican politicians care about cutting taxes for the wealthy and getting elected. They do those things well. They just don't need to drill down on your priorities.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Sorry, will get off your corner now.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

If you just assume that people are acting rationally in a self-interested way, then whatever they do must be the product of purely rational self-interest. That will get you through Econ 101, but it doesn't add much to any conversation.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I didn't assume that. I assumed an equal number of GOP and Democratic voters act purely in self-interest.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

I don't really want to get into the different reasons why people vote (not necessarily because of what they "get") or which group of people actively votes for people who deny science at every turn or whatever. And I don't want to get into some ridiculous argument about whether voting for people who want to hoard all wealth vs. voting for people who want to actually people is smarter or dumber. I'm sorry I responded at all.

I will say this: The dumbest people with the dumbest arguments with the dumbest sources for support for their positions are almost always right wing lunatics.

You can have the last word.

TM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Given that most of them probably do not know what benefits they are getting, much less have even a remote understanding as to the size and scope of the "entitlement state" (see, e.g., Dangerfield, Sebastian), yeah they are.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Last word: I agree with you there.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Darnit. It's completely unfair to have two people writing the same blog!

I have many issues with the post and cited it only for the narrow factual assertion that people do not value their medicaid anywhere near where what it costs. Which I do not think is an observation that has much meaning for the related policy decisions (Alex does, obvs), among other things for the reasons you mention.

Not scary, no, but one thing I heard a lot of excitement about when Obamacare was coming into force was women not having to pay out of pocket for contraception. That's some pretty weak evidence, I admit, but really, when people talk about the quality of their insurance they talk about how easy it is to use for the health care they consume, not how much peace of mind it gives them about something terrible that could happen.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Equally tautologically, but in a more complicated way.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Who would values a $35K BMW more? Person A, who owns a Tesla and a Maserati and is looking for something for his teenager to drive to school, or Person B, who has no car and takes a public bus across town to a low-paying job. If you go by willingness to pay, obviously Person A, but we all understand that Person B would value it more.

There, I think people are talking about the quality of their health care rather than the quality of their insurance, but because of the way the latter is structure, you often lose choice in where you can buy the latter, so the consumption decisions for separate products are bundled.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

If you consider the Great Lakes as a third coast, maybe. although we have had some very dumb D Govs and Senators.

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Ty, may I introduce you to Congressman Blake Farenthold, who recently challenged two Senators to a duel:

http://blakespajamas.com/wp-content/.../2010/10/2.jpg

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 

Gerrymandering is a bitch.