"The announcement of Cleveland as the recommended site for the 2016 convention came on Tuesday. Assuming the party apparatus ratifies the choice—and everybody seems to think it will—the problem won't be the choice of city per se. The issue will be the state and the debate about Obamacare and Medicaid that's played out there for the last year-and-a-half.
Under the Affordable Care Act, states can make Medicaid available to anybody whose household income is less than 133 percent of the poverty line, which for a family of three works out to about $31,700 a year. It's how Obamcare's architects envisioned the poorest people without insurance would get coverage under the new law. But conservative state officials have resisted taking that step, arguing that the expansion would place too great a burden on state treasuries, build on a flawed model for insurance, prop up a big government program, and so on.
Conservative Republicans in Ohio were among them and, because they control the state legislature, they were able to block expansion for a while. But one Ohio Republican [Gov. John Kasich] saw things differently. While a bona fide conservative who opposed Obamacare, he figured that Medicaid expansion was still a good deal for his state. He knew that hundreds of thousands uninsured residents would eventually get coverage and the federal government would be picking up most of the additional cost, thereby infusing billions of dollars into the state economy. This Republican also realized that most of that money would go directly to hospitals and health care providers, whose growth had been a major factor in Ohio’s recovery from the recession. And this Republican understood that Medicaid expansion had strong support from Ohio’s business community.
...Here's the problem for Republicans. Whether or not they intend to make Obamacare a central focus of the 2016 presidential campaign, they’re going to talk about it at their convention. The conservative base would have it no other way. But if Kasich wins reelection this year, then the host state governor, a well-regarded conservative and model Republican in almost every other respect, will also be the state’s most outspoken and eloquent spokesman for why the right’s absolutist opposition to the Medicaid expansion is so wrong."
Under the Affordable Care Act, states can make Medicaid available to anybody whose household income is less than 133 percent of the poverty line, which for a family of three works out to about $31,700 a year. It's how Obamcare's architects envisioned the poorest people without insurance would get coverage under the new law. But conservative state officials have resisted taking that step, arguing that the expansion would place too great a burden on state treasuries, build on a flawed model for insurance, prop up a big government program, and so on.
Conservative Republicans in Ohio were among them and, because they control the state legislature, they were able to block expansion for a while. But one Ohio Republican [Gov. John Kasich] saw things differently. While a bona fide conservative who opposed Obamacare, he figured that Medicaid expansion was still a good deal for his state. He knew that hundreds of thousands uninsured residents would eventually get coverage and the federal government would be picking up most of the additional cost, thereby infusing billions of dollars into the state economy. This Republican also realized that most of that money would go directly to hospitals and health care providers, whose growth had been a major factor in Ohio’s recovery from the recession. And this Republican understood that Medicaid expansion had strong support from Ohio’s business community.
...Here's the problem for Republicans. Whether or not they intend to make Obamacare a central focus of the 2016 presidential campaign, they’re going to talk about it at their convention. The conservative base would have it no other way. But if Kasich wins reelection this year, then the host state governor, a well-regarded conservative and model Republican in almost every other respect, will also be the state’s most outspoken and eloquent spokesman for why the right’s absolutist opposition to the Medicaid expansion is so wrong."
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What is the logic behind the RNC's choice of Cleveland? I suppose the benefit of Ohio's status as a swing state outweighs what appears as rewarding Gov. Kasich for bucking his state's Republican legislature.
22 comments:
Cleveland is the poorest big city in the country, run by corrupt Democrats who are run by even more corrupt unions.
And there's no logic to holding it here.
Of course, by that time, the Demos may have a hard time finding enough people who will trust them enough to vote for them.
One never knows, do one?
Cleveland could not have been a cavalier choice.
A return to greatness... a breaking with 'leading from behind'.
What an argument from nothing, the money (or printing of same) still comes from the taxpayers pocket, no matter state or federal. I'd more look at who in Cleveland is going to make the most money out of this event.
Good thought, X. Follow da money; it took a lot of brown-nosing.
Thing is they now have one of four(?) STATE casinos there, but have lost an airline hub...United?
Brown-nosing is the least of it I suspect.
They lost a hub... though who, given a choice, flies into Cleveland. A once great city, with the obvious left unsaid.
What is the logic behind the RNC's choice of Cleveland?
What logic? The stupid party is still stupid. I'm with Pogo. I have cast my last vote.
I smell a Romney-Bush ticket.
I blame Lebron.
Cleveland.
Cleveland has been on my list of places to visit. I'll have to see it next year, before The Convention.
Whaddoikno about Cleveland that makes me want to visit?
Harvey Pekar.
The legendary Ford 351 cid "Cleveland" engine was built there. Best small-block engine Ford ever built.
Michael Symon's restaurants.
Drew Carey's movie about fixing the place.
Tony Bourdain's show about Harvey Pekar, Michael Symon, and urban failure.
The Rock and a Roll Museum.
That big art museum - I forget it's name - that has art from everyone who was ever anyone.
Beer.
Do you remember the movie Major a League? The movie was set in Milwaukee, but most of it was filmed in Cleveland because the director thought that Cleveland looked more like Milwaukee than Milwaukee.
Juuuuust a little outside!
Can't you just feel the excitement?
lol great Eucker impression, Haz.
(Friggin' Lebron.)
This must have been what cinched the deal
Thanks for making me look like a bad researcher, amp.
Haz, is there an estimate of how many Ford 351s there are still around/restorable?
My dad thought this was great:
Catch 5
Haz, Some good Polish food in Cleveland. The ballpark ain't bad.
Make the Reps and Dems both hold their conventions in concentration camps on the border full of underage illegals with drug resistant TB. That's what they're inflicting on the test of the country, they should be forced to spend a fee days with them up close and in person.
You just know the camps will still be there in this era of permanent government-manufactured crisis.
Deborah, the Cleveland 351s are still available for suppliers of crate engines.
The problem with the supply is that most hot rod builders buy GM crate engines because they cost less, so there isn't a strong market for Ford engines, hence the supply is weak.
The exception would be the Roush engines, which are freaking awesome, but cost an arm and a leg.
Thanks, Haz. I experience intense nostalgia when I see an old GTO. My uncle loved them. Being the daughter of a mechanic, I know a little more about cars than most women, but wish I knew more!
Ice, it's manufactured crises all the way down.
Nick:
"Haz, Some good Polish food in Cleveland. The ballpark ain't bad."
I can attest to both. My uncle's wife is a superb cook and a wonderful, dear, sweet, woman.
edutcher said:
Cleveland is the poorest big city in the country, run by corrupt Democrats who are run by even more corrupt unions.
And there's no logic to holding it here.
Exactly. It is mystifying why they are holding it in the enemy camp.
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