• Twitter
  • Facebook
News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

The great divide

Lots of interesting stuff in the latest Gallup poll, including this bit on health care:

And on Obama's proudest achievement, his signature healthcare legislation, only 13% like the idea of keeping it as is. Everyone else favors minor changes, major changes or tossing out the entire thing.

Weren't we supposed to like Obamacare more and more as we got used to it? The poll also found that most Americans: want to expand domestic oil exploration and drilling; oppose a "path to legal status" for illegal immigrants; oppose more stimulus spending, even if it's called "investment" to "win the future"; and favor revising No Child Left Behind rather than tossing it. They also think the economy is still worsening and think tea party positions should be taken into account.

That 13 percent number makes it sound as if the whole country has suddenly turned against Big Government. That's a libertarian's fondest dream, of course, but I kind of doubt it's happened, so I looked around for a breakdown of the opposition:

The poll number that really matters, though, is from the latest Gallup/USA Today survey. It shows only 13 percent of Americans like the law as it is written.

The plurality in today's poll (32 percent) want the law repealed entirely. Twenty five percent want the law scaled back and 24 percent want it to be more liberal. So that's 57 percent who want less of the law compared to 37 percent who don't want any rollbacks.

That makes a little more sense and shows how basically divided we still are. I can understand the 24 percent who want the law to be even more liberal; they're idiots who still think the government is merely redistributing money and believe that the hollowing out of our load-bearing walls can continue forever, but I do understand them. And I ceretainly understand the 32 percent who want to dump the law, since I am a part of that group. But I can't fathom the 13 percent who like the law just fine "as it is written." Is there a single person in this country who even knows what the law is like "as it is written"?

Comments

Harl Delos
Mon, 01/31/2011 - 2:10pm

If 32% who want the bill repealed completely is a plurality, what do you call the 68% who don't?

I would like to see George Gallop take the poll a step further. If only 13% like the bill "as written", what changes do the other 87% want? I suspect that if you asked them a fairly simple question - for instance, how many pages are there in the bill, presented as a multiple-choice question - most people would get it wrong. I still run into references that claim the bill is 2000 pages long, and that never was true. It's only a third that long.

Or ask them about the provision that the bill would add 13,000 IRS agents to enforce it. Ain't nothing like that in the bill, and there never was. In fact, the bill specifically forbids the IRS from enforcing the bill.

A lot of the people who don't like the bill think it doesn't go far enough. Instead of requiring us to buy insurance from insurance companies, they want everybody included in a government-run single-payor program, preferably the one called Medicare. Repealing HCR en masse is not going to satisfy them.

tim zank
Mon, 01/31/2011 - 7:07pm

In r/e the length of the bill, there have been many versions which eventually wound their way through the house and senate prior to the reconciliation process (that version being 2309 pages)...Suffice to say it was absurdly large in any of it's incarnations.

That's ridiculous enough, what happens next is truly government doing what it does best.

March 22nd to December 31st: Over 6,000 Pages of ObamaCare Requirements Added to Federal Register.

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-14488.pdf

john b. kalb
Tue, 02/01/2011 - 12:20am

And, with a very thorough comparison and analysis, the Circuit Judge in 78 pages threw it ALL out! See <www.foxnews.com for the entire judgement.

Kevin Knuth
Tue, 02/01/2011 - 8:18am

And other judges have upheld it!

Polls are polls- there are several that show a plurality wanting to KEEP or EXPAND the Affordable Care Act. The recent CBS poll showed 48% favor KEEPING the law, 40% for repeal.

You should all check out this site- they find all the polls for you!

http://pollingreport.com/health.htm#K

tim zank
Tue, 02/01/2011 - 9:31am

Regardless your political affiliation, would it be safe to say any bill over 100 pages is completely unnecessary?

john b. kalb
Tue, 02/01/2011 - 2:57pm

Keven - Take a look at the Michigan judge's decision, a 20 pager, at www.politico.com/static/PPM110_101007_michigan.html and compare it with Judge Vinson's decision. Vinson's can be followed but the one from Michigan is a farce.

tim zank
Tue, 02/01/2011 - 4:04pm

Here's our constitutional scholar in 2008 offering a wonderful comparison!

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=hdqGnz6UqG

Yep, Ol' Hopey Changey is the smartest man elected evah.

Kevin Knuth
Wed, 02/02/2011 - 7:25am

Kalb- maybe you should read this- Vinson is charting NEW territory in his ruling:
""This is a decision that has such radical implications that I'm confident it will be overturned," said former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/heavy-hitters-rip-florida-federal-judge-opinion-striking-health-care-law.php

john b. kalb
Wed, 02/02/2011 - 12:54pm

It figures that Kevin would pull up a comment by a guy who was an ACTING solicitor general under Bill Clinton - Dellinger was the guy who argued AND LOST the District of Columbia's gun ban case in SCOTUS! We really want to pay attention to this guy! Kevin, are you losing your senses??

tim zank
Wed, 02/02/2011 - 1:40pm

Kalb sez "We really want to pay attention to this guy! Kevin, are you losing your senses??"

No John, instead he's grasping at straws! The true disciples of Obumblecare will go down swinging, trust me.

William Larsen
Wed, 02/02/2011 - 1:46pm

I spent a lot of time reading the bill. The main thrust of the decision appears to have been missed.

"In addition, a spending condition cannot be

Quantcast