memeorandum: Assclowns of the Week #96: Treat or Treat, Kiss My Ass edition (Jurassicpork/Welcome Back to Pottersville)

5:10 PM ET, October 31, 2013

Top Items:

Avik Roy / Forbes:

Obama Officials In 2010: 93 Million Americans Will Be Unable To Keep Their Health Plans Under Obamacare — On Wednesday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius testified before Congress about the continuing issues with the rollout of Obamacare's health insurance exchanges.

Ryan Lizza / News Desk:

Obamacare's Three Per Cent — While President Obama was in Boston on Wednesday to deliver a speech at Faneuil Hall, he was also scheduled to attend a private meeting with friends and supporters. One of the well-wishers in attendance was Jonathan Gruber, an M.I.T. economist and an architect …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Hot Air, Health Care Policy …, The Plum Line and ABC News

US News:

Top Hospitals Opt Out of Obamacare — Americans who sign up for insurance on the state exchanges may not have access to the nation's top hospitals, Watchdog.org reports. — The Obama Administration has been claiming that insurance companies will be competing for your dollars under the Affordable Care Act …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, National Review, The Right Scoop and Reuters

Igor Bobic / Talking Points Memo:

CHART: ‘Winners And Losers From Obamacare’ — University of Michigan professor and senior Brookings fellow Justin Wolfers on Thursday created a chart depicting the “winners and losers” under the Affordable Care Act, sourced to a Ryan Lizza article that used estimates from M.I.T. economist Jon Gruber, a former adviser to Mitt Romney.

Discussion: Liberaland and Washington Monthly

David Firestone / Taking Note:

The Uproar Over Insurance ‘Cancellation’ Letters — Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary, took a lot of grief Wednesday from Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee who were outraged that some people's individual insurance policies had been “cancelled” because of health care reform.

Discussion: The Impolitic, The Raw Story and Right Wing News

Kevin Diaz / Associated Press:
At least 140,000 Minnesotans will lose current health policies

Discussion: Hot Air and National Review

David Corn / Mother Jones:

WATCH: Ted Cruz's Dad Calls US a “Christian Nation,” Says Obama Should Go “Back to Kenya” — Want to understand where the tea party champion's hardcore views come from? Meet his father, Rafael. — In April, Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), spoke to the tea party of Hood County …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, Trail Blazers Blog, The Moderate Voice, CNN, The Raw Story, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, PoliticusUSA and Mock Paper Scissors

Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:
Reid: Cruz nomination would destroy GOP

Discussion: Hot Air, Sabato's Crystal Ball, Daily Kos, Politico, CNN, The Daily Caller, Connecting.the.Dots, Taegan Goddard's … and First Read

David Denby / Comment:
TED CRUZ: THE MASK OF SINCERITY

Discussion: Trail Blazers Blog, The PJ Tatler, Sky Dancing, No More Mister Nice Blog and DownWithTyranny!

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Ted Cruz's Dad: I'd Like To See Obama Go ‘Back To Kenya’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Pat Dollard

Paige Lavender / The Huffington Post:
Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz's Father, Told Tea Partiers Obama Should Go ‘Back To Kenya’

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and theGrio

ThinkProgress:

How To Spot A Fake Obamacare Horror Story — Since insurers have begun informing beneficiaries that their health care plans do not meet the new federal requirements of Obamacare, and will be either cancelled or significantly altered, the media has profiled countless middle class Americans …

Discussion: Liberaland and Washington Monthly

Townhall.com:
Debunking the Debunkers: Yes, Obamacare Rate Shock is Real

Discussion: protein wisdom, PoliticusUSA and NewsBusters blogs

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:
Another Obamacare horror story debunked

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The Week

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama voices ‘enormous frustration’ with GOP — President Obama told donors at a fundraiser Wednesday in Boston that he sometimes felt an “enormous frustration” with Republican efforts to block his legislative agenda. — “Sometimes people ask me, 'Man, how do you stay optimistic …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

Mike Lillis / TheHill:
Pelosi: No revenue, no deal

Discussion: Hit & Run and VodkaPundit

ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Senate Republicans Block Vote On Key Judicial Candidate, Daring Dems To Go Nuclear

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Liberaland

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Book: Obama asked Hillary Clinton to stay — President Barack Obama asked Hillary Clinton several times to stay on as his secretary of state during a Nov. 2012 ride aboard Air Force One, but she told him it was time for her to move on, a new book reveals. — “Would you reconsider, perhaps stay another year?

Discussion: The Hill, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, The Lead with Jake Tapper and CNN

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Hillary Clinton: I'm ‘minded to do it’

Discussion: TIME

Peter Nicholas / Washington Wire:
Hillary Clinton's Ratings Slip in New WSJ/NBC Poll

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

Kristie Greco / FAA:

Press Release - FAA to Allow Airlines to Expand Use of Personal Electronics — For Immediate Release — WASHINGTON- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta today announced that the FAA has determined that airlines …

Discussion: NBCNews, New York Times, Business Insider, Taking Note, iDownloadBlog.com, The Week, Wonkblog, Outside the Beltway, White House.gov Blog, The Switch, Gawker, Mashable, TechCrunch, GeekWire, CBS DC, Guardian and AllThingsD

Ezra Klein / Businessweek:

How the iPod President Crashed: Obama's Broken Technology Promise — In the 2008 election, President Obama's advisers talked of their boss's belief that it was time for an “iPod government.” Obama, a technology addict who tools around on his iPad before going to sleep and who fought …

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, Yahoo! News and Business Insider

Alex Pareene / Salon:

Obamacare is a mess, and liberals need to fix it — Democrats need to acknowledge that, and make it work for everyone — It has been a pretty lousy month for the idea that the American government is capable of expanding access to healthcare to the uninsured and underinsured.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, TalkLeft and The New Republic

The Hill:

Top Dems made same promises — Democratic leaders in Congress echoed President Obama's promise in 2009 that people would not lose their healthcare plans if they liked them. — Republicans have pounced on Obama's repeated pitch for the healthcare overhaul, especially after plans across …

Discussion: Hot Air

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi pushes back hard on dropped plans

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com and The Lonely Conservative

Norm Ornstein / NationalJournal.com:

The Right to Vote — It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, is leading to a new era of voter suppression that parallels the pre-1960s era—this time affecting not just African-Americans …

Discussion: Guardian, A plain blog about politics and Balloon Juice

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

Thursday: Cory Booker and Mel Watt in the Senate — The Senate starts at 10 a.m., and will debate the nomination of Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) to be the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. — Republicans see Watt as someone who is likely to favor ongoing government intervention in the housing market.

Discussion: Reuters, Politico, CNN and Daily Kos

John Stanton / BuzzFeed:
Senate Blocks Nomination Of Sitting Member Of Congress For First Time Since Reconstruction

Discussion: Colorlines and Daily Kos

Jurassicpork / Welcome Back to Pottersville:

Assclowns of the Week #96: Treat or Treat, Kiss My Ass edition — (Thanks to Tengrain linking to this during his turn on Mike's Blog Roll at Crooks and Liars, this posting will get some decent exposure. After making the rent on November 1st, Mrs. JP and I will be seriously wiped out.

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:

Darrell Issa on Obamacare: 'I've lost my patience' — House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa says he and his colleague are at the end of their rope when it comes to getting information on the launch of the Obamacare website. — “Sen. Lamar Alexander is a patient man, and he's a very moderate senator.

Investor's Business Daily:

The Biggest Lie? ‘Keep Your Plan’ — Deception: In the face of millions of cancellation notices, Democrats want to downplay the president's “keep your health plan” pledge as standard political hyperbole. It was, in fact, a calculated lie that got ObamaCare enacted.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, neo-neocon, americanthinker.com, VodkaPundit, TheBlaze.com and National Review

HHS.govStrategy:

More on the Tech Surge — Site Tags: — Julie Bataille, Director of Communications, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Thursday, October 31, 2013 — As part of the “Tech Surge,” we've added key personnel from the government and private sector, including expert engineers and technology managers.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Wire

Disclose.tv:

MASSIVE OIL DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA IS DEATHBLOW FOR SAUDIS — It is 6 times larger than the Bakken, 17 times the size of the Marcellus formation, and 80 times larger than the Eagle Ford shale. — All told the recent discovery outside a sleepy Australian town contains more black gold than in all of Iran, Iraq, Canada, or Venezuela.

Discussion: Israpundit and Israel Matzav