S.C. Senator Vincent Sheheen dealt his 2014 gubernatorial aspirations a serious (and entirely self-inflicted) blow earlier this year when he jumped on board the liberal bandwagon calling for the expansion of Medicaid in South Carolina as part of “Obamacare.”
You can read all about Sheheen’s colossal pooch screw in this post, but the bottom line is his mistake is a rare political “two-fer” which will accrue to the decisive benefit of his opponent, incumbent Gov. Nikki Haley (RINO-Lexington).
First – and most damaging for Sheheen – he has opened himself up to the predictable (yet incredibly effective) “Obamacare liberal” line of attack. In fact the S.C. Republican Party is already hard at work cranking out this narrative (here and here). But Sheheen’s choice has also deprived him of the opportunity to criticize Haley for her own reckless expansion of Medicaid (a.k.a. “Haleycare”).
Why did Sheheen make such a boneheaded move?
Democratic strategists claim to have poling showing the strategic soundness of Sheheen’s move – but these are the same strategists who have managed to produce one gubernatorial victory in South Carolina over the last quarter century (former Gov. Jim Hodges freak win over incumbent David Beasley in 1998).
A much more likely scenario? Sheheen was forced to endorse the Obamacare Medicaid expansion – or risk being cut off from national Democratic fundraising support. In fact two highly-placed Democratic operatives in Washington, D.C. tell FITS that’s exactly what happened.
One of these operatives explicitly referred to Sheheen’s embrace of the Obamacare expansion as “purely transactional.”
Wow …
We don’t understand that logic … at all. For staters Sheheen out-raised Haley in the most recent fundraising quarter (without an influx of national cash). Also it’s no secret that there is plenty of special interest money ready to be pumped into the race on his behalf from in-state donors.
Why does Sheheen need Obama’s money?
Also, in the event a Democratic candidate in South Carolina were on the verge of upsetting a “Republican” governor – which Sheheen appeared poised to do several months ago (prior to his Obamacare endorsement) – does anyone really believe the national party would sit the race out under any circumstance?
Of they wouldn’t …
The electoral impact of Sheheen’s Medicaid miscalculation is likely to be catastrophic. In fact despite Haley’s glaring problems – her crappy economic record, habitual hypocrisy/ dishonesty and total lack of legislative accomplishment – she is at this point the odds-on favorite to win a second term. The only real chance for Sheheen?
A third party candidate jumping into the fray …
70 comments
If only the skipper and Mr. Howell had been around to advise him
If only the skipper and Mr. Howell had been around to advise him
By not expanding Medicaid, all South Carolinians suffer. By opting out of Medicaid we stop the mandatory insurance enrollment thus causing increased premiums through less participation and less competition. We lose the 44,000 well paying jobs it would have created. And we foot the bill for those states which chose the expansion. So tell me again how it is that Sheheen was wrong.
Real journalist strive for integrity.
You should be ashamed for stealing from the mouths of your children and grandchildren.
Mine will eat but yours may die from disease.
Nah. I don’t mind working to pay my bills. Obviously OTHERS do not want the same for their children.
Walter, that is, barring the face-to-face interviewing of celebrities on television news, the dumbest thing I have ever read. Obamacare and Medicaid are the two most destructive programs in the history of America and South Carolina. Not only are the conclusions speculative at best, they violate the basic laws of economics. You cannot tax your way to a healthy populace any more than you can tax your way to a healthy economy.
Unless of course, it’s a “Fair Tax”.
I keeeeeeed!
;)
Any Tax! OK? ARE YA HAPPY??
Yes!
Kudos to you for making the transition.
I’ve never liked being screwed. just want to be kissed.
lol….that reminds me of something about some “libertarians” I read the other day that was pretty funny:
Definition of Goldilocks Libertarian:
“Don’t tread of me too little….or too much….tread on me jusssss right.”
:)
So you have nothing substantive.
You mean about the 44,000 jobs? That’s speculative at best. You can’t tax your way to good health and you can’t tax your way to a healthy economy. Keynes was wrong.
Keynesian economics will always fail…
Keynes was an anti-capitalist.
Govt’s are not capable of controlling their spending and the public sector is ALWAYS less efficient and more costly.
Yet you readily believe the speculation that insurance rates will double. SC gave Boeing a billion dollars for less than 3,000 jobs. 44,000 well paying jobs will change the economic landscape in SC like no other effort. 44,000 additional taxpayers.
These additional Medicaid recipients aren’t your stereotypical patient. These are people who work hard everyday at jobs so typical in SC, ie low paying jobs with no benefits.
Insurance rates are already going up; where have you been? The medicaid money will create NO JOBS. In fact, Hospital jobs will be LOST because the fund rate has already been factored into the cost figures. Medicaid recipients are already in the system.
Private rates are down. Of course if you’re sucking off your employer then you will pay more because of your employer. 44,000 new jobs. Thats the latest estimate for SC. You are simply regurgitating republican rhetoric. But in fairness lets discuss the republican plan. Oh wait, there is no republican plan.
The ACA was written by the Heritage Foundation and instituted by Mitt Romney in Mass. Republicans have no standing to oppose other than their inbred hatred of a black democrat President.
But keep up the fight, 2016 is coming soon.
Private rates are NOT down. Where do you get this stuff? Who is making the claim for the 44K SC jobs? The ACA as it stands today is not even completed, and as such could not possibly have been written by anybody. Again, where are you getting this stuff? Our President is not Black. I don’t hate him. You can’t hate someone who is mentally defective. And thank God 2016 is INDEED coming!
Walter, that is overt lying….
The cost of implementing O-care and insurance rates are up across the board – anywhere from 40%-200%.
This does not even factor in the loss of jobs – if you add in this additional cost/aspect, your talking multi track train – carnage as far as the eye can see…
Don’t forget the part where a family of five making less than $110,000 gets subsidized by the federal government… for awhile…
Boy oh boy, when that family making $109,000 gets a $0.75/hour raise, suddenly they pay an extra $9K for health insurance because they lost their subsidy – yeah, they’ll be really happy with their obamacare plan.
Neither do you…
By not expanding Medicaid, all South Carolinians suffer. By opting out of Medicaid we stop the mandatory insurance enrollment thus causing increased premiums through less participation and less competition. We lose the 44,000 well paying jobs it would have created. And we foot the bill for those states which chose the expansion. So tell me again how it is that Sheheen was wrong.
Real journalist strive for integrity.
You should be ashamed for stealing from the mouths of your children and grandchildren.
Mine will eat but yours may die from disease.
Nah. I don’t mind working to pay my bills. Obviously OTHERS do not want the same for their children.
Walter, that is, barring the face-to-face interviewing of celebrities on television news, the dumbest thing I have ever seen (or in your case, read.) Obamacare and Medicaid are the two most destructive programs in the history of America and South Carolina. Not only are your conclusions speculative at best, they violate the basic laws of economics. You cannot tax your way to a healthy populace any more than you can tax your way to a healthy economy.
Unless of course, it’s a “Fair Tax”.
I keeeeeeed!
;)
Any Tax! OK? ARE YA HAPPY??
Yes!
Kudos to you for making the transition.
I’ve never liked being screwed. just want to be kissed.
lol….that reminds me of something about some “libertarians” I read the other day that was pretty funny:
Definition of Goldilocks Libertarian:
“Don’t tread of me too little….or too much….tread on me jusssss right.”
:)
So you have nothing substantive.
You mean about the 44,000 jobs? That’s speculative at best. You can’t tax your way to good health and you can’t tax your way to a healthy economy. Keynes was wrong.
Keynesian economics will always fail…
Keynes was an anti-capitalist.
Govt’s are not capable of controlling their spending and the public sector is ALWAYS less efficient and more costly.
Yet you readily believe the speculation that insurance rates will double. SC gave Boeing a billion dollars for less than 3,000 jobs. 44,000 well paying jobs will change the economic landscape in SC like no other effort. 44,000 additional taxpayers.
These additional Medicaid recipients aren’t your stereotypical patient. These are people who work hard everyday at jobs so typical in SC, ie low paying jobs with no benefits.
Insurance rates are already going up; where have you been? The medicaid money will create NO JOBS. In fact, Hospital jobs will be LOST because the fund rate has already been factored into the cost figures. Medicaid recipients are already in the system.
Private rates are down. Of course if you’re sucking off your employer then you will pay more because of your employer. 44,000 new jobs. Thats the latest estimate for SC. You are simply regurgitating republican rhetoric. But in fairness lets discuss the republican plan. Oh wait, there is no republican plan.
The ACA was written by the Heritage Foundation and instituted by Mitt Romney in Mass. Republicans have no standing to oppose other than their inbred hatred of a black democrat President.
But keep up the fight, 2016 is coming soon.
Private rates are NOT down. Where do you get this stuff? Who is making the claim for the 44K SC jobs? The ACA as it stands today is not even completed, and as such could not possibly have been written by anybody. Again, where are you getting this stuff? Our President is not Black. I don’t hate him. You can’t hate someone who is mentally defective. And thank God 2016 is INDEED coming!
Walter, that is overt lying….
The cost of implementing O-care and insurance rates are up across the board – anywhere from 40%-200%.
This does not even factor in the loss of jobs – if you add in this additional cost/aspect, your talking multi track train – carnage as far as the eye can see…
Don’t forget the part where a family of five making less than $110,000 gets subsidized by the federal government… for awhile…
Boy oh boy, when that family making $109,000 gets a $0.75/hour raise, suddenly they pay an extra $9K for health insurance because they lost their subsidy – yeah, they’ll be really happy with their obamacare plan.
Neither do you…
Lady in the background on the right has some biceps.
DAAAAANNG. Them’s some guns son.
I saw that!! Damn!
WTH is she???
Lady in the background on the right has some biceps.
DAAAAANNG. Them’s some guns son.
I saw that!! Damn!
WTH is she???
He should probably just drop out the race now.
He should probably just drop out the race now.
You’ve miscalculated. More than 20% of South Carolinians don’t have health insurance. Many of them are minors, but if even a good percentage of those who are eligible to vote show up for Sheheen he’ll win in a landslide.
So let me get this straight, over 50% of the births in S.C. are Medciad births. S.C. is a very poor state where such benefits would help the state. This program would have brought in tens of millions of dollars to S.C. and created tens of thousands of jobs – and to boot would have created a “shortage of docotors” (doctors were against it by the way, what profession is against a law that creates a “shortage of them?” conservative know it alls the lot?).
Oh, and the money is being spent in other states whether we accept it or not. Sheheen was unwise to supppor this…how it that? This is as stupid as when Sanford didn’t want to accept the stimulous money out of “priciple.”
Oui vey.
I agree, Sheheen for South Carolina!
The actual drain on the TAXPAYERS of the state will INCREASE, as if you gave a damn about the baby-mommas, themselves OR the taxpayers. All you care about is CONTROLLING people and the rush you get from moving people around on the chessboard. “See?” you say, “I can fix stuff, mom!”
Well, you can’t. Keynes was wrong. You can’t fix things. Things have to fix themselves. It’s a terrible fact, but your plans and your dreams have already been tried and they failed, horribly, for the very best of reasons, with superhuman effort. IT WON”T WORK.
And we’re not going to let you screw South Carolina, ever, ever, again, trying another failed experiment.
“You can’t fix things. Things have to fix themselves.”
Okay, so next time you have an infected tooth just tie a string to a doorknob. And, should you wind up on a gurney in an ER after a traffic accident with a large portion of your guts lying nest to you in a stainless steel bowl, just pop up and tell the staff not to interfere with your body’s natural healing processes.
“No man is an island.”
You’ve miscalculated. More than 20% of South Carolinians don’t have health insurance. Many of them are minors, but if even a good percentage of those who are eligible to vote show up for Sheheen he’ll win in a landslide.
So let me get this straight, over 50% of the births in S.C. are Medciad births. S.C. is a very poor state where such benefits would help the state. This program would have brought in tens of millions of dollars to S.C. and created tens of thousands of jobs – and to boot would have created a “shortage of docotors” (doctors were against it by the way, what profession is against a law that creates a “shortage of them?” conservative know it alls the lot?).
Oh, and the money is being spent in other states whether we accept it or not. Sheheen was unwise to supppor this…how it that? This is as stupid as when Sanford didn’t want to accept the stimulous money out of “priciple.”
Oui vey.
I agree, Sheheen for South Carolina!
The actual drain on the TAXPAYERS of the state will INCREASE, as if you gave a damn about the baby-mommas, themselves OR the taxpayers. All you care about is CONTROLLING people and the rush you get from moving people around on the chessboard. “See?” you say, “I can fix stuff, mom!”
Well, you can’t. Keynes was wrong. You can’t fix things. Things have to fix themselves. It’s a terrible fact, but your plans and your dreams have already been tried and they failed, horribly, for the very best of reasons, with superhuman effort. IT WON”T WORK.
And we’re not going to let you screw South Carolina, ever, ever, again, trying another failed experiment.
“You can’t fix things. Things have to fix themselves.”
Okay, so next time you have an infected tooth just tie a string to a doorknob. And, should you wind up on a gurney in an ER after a traffic accident with a large portion of your guts lying nest to you in a stainless steel bowl, just pop up and tell the staff not to interfere with your body’s natural healing processes.
“No man is an island.”
I find it far more likely Sheheen just supports expanding Medicaid, regardless of what campaign funding it might earn him. He’s a Democrat. His constituents likely would benefit from a Medicaid expansion, and should he lose the election for governor (which he did last time and likely will this time, because, let’s face it, Republicans have a stranglehold over that office), it would just come back to bite him in the ass come time for him to stand for reelection into his current seat.
What you are doing is telling Sheheen to gamble, that somehow opposing the expansion would garner him thousands upon thousands of would-be Republican voters and tip the scales in his favor, despite the fact he lost by several percentage points. Of course, the obvious loss of this gamble would result in some ire from his Democrat supporters during the election for governor, not to mention some backlash during his subsequent reelection for his current seat, in which a competitor could use it against him in the Democratic primary.
It isn’t a miscalculation, error, mistake at all. Your argument is as silly as it is invalid. Besides that, Sheheen supported taking on the expansion on a temporary basis, as in we would only run the expansion while the federal government paid for 100% of it, meaning we wouldn’t pay one red cent towards it. Not taking that money is not saving taxpayers anything. The aid will be used elsewhere and we’ll all still pay for it in federal taxes and deficit spending.
I find it far more likely Sheheen just supports expanding Medicaid, regardless of what campaign funding it might earn him. He’s a Democrat. His constituents likely would benefit from a Medicaid expansion, and should he lose the election for governor (which he did last time and likely will this time, because, let’s face it, Republicans have a stranglehold over that office), it would just come back to bite him in the ass come time for him to stand for reelection into his current seat.
What you are doing is telling Sheheen to gamble, that somehow opposing the expansion would garner him thousands upon thousands of would-be Republican voters and tip the scales in his favor, despite the fact he lost by several percentage points. Of course, the obvious loss of this gamble would result in some ire from his Democrat supporters during the election for governor, not to mention some backlash during his subsequent reelection for his current seat, in which a competitor could use it against him in the Democratic primary.
It isn’t a miscalculation, error, mistake at all. Your argument is as silly as it is invalid. Besides that, Sheheen supported taking on the expansion on a temporary basis, as in we would only run the expansion while the federal government paid for 100% of it, meaning we wouldn’t pay one red cent towards it. Not taking that money is not saving taxpayers anything. The aid will be used elsewhere and we’ll all still pay for it in federal taxes and deficit spending.
The entire question really isn’t that difficult to grasp. Let’s call it Insurance 101: Insurance operates on the concept of pooled risk — the broader the pool, the lower the risk, the lower the cost. It’s about planning ahead. It’s the fundamental concept behind Obamacare. That concept is coupled with the belief that the richest nation in the history of mankind shouldn’t have millions of people without healthcare coverage — many thousands of them children. It’s just not right. Repubs oppose any challenge to the status quo. To them the status quo represents protection of moneyed interests. In the case of Obamacare, those interests are the billions of dollars harvested under the current dysfunctional system by insurance companies, hospital corporations, physicians, pharmaceutical firms, et al. I wish the argument really was about freedom, but this is America — it’s always about the money!
The entire question really isn’t that difficult to grasp. Let’s call it Insurance 101: Insurance operates on the concept of pooled risk — the broader the pool, the lower the risk, the lower the cost. It’s about planning ahead. It’s the fundamental concept behind Obamacare. That concept is coupled with the belief that the richest nation in the history of mankind shouldn’t have millions of people without healthcare coverage — many thousands of them children. It’s just not right. Repubs oppose any challenge to the status quo. To them the status quo represents protection of moneyed interests. In the case of Obamacare, those interests are the billions of dollars harvested under the current dysfunctional system by insurance companies, hospital corporations, physicians, pharmaceutical firms, et al. I wish the argument really was about freedom, but this is America — it’s always about the money!
Minors don’t give a crap about insurance, never have and I doubt they ever will.
Minors don’t give a crap about insurance, never have and I doubt they ever will.
Hodges’ win over Beasley was by no means a “freak”. Beasley MAJORLY screwed up on two different major issues. #1 was the Flag flip-flip, #2 was Hurricane Floyd fiasco.
Couple those two COLOSSAL fuck-ups with Hodges’ promise of bringing the lottery to the state, and Beasley didn’t stand a chance.
I just screwed the pooch myself. I swear to God I thought Floyd was under Beasley I mean, my wife and I were stuck in that traffic. Oh well. It Floyd that did Hodges in then. Beasley was done in by the Flag and the Lottery.
Hodges’ win over Beasley was by no means a “freak”. Beasley MAJORLY screwed up on two different major issues. #1 was the Flag flip-flip, #2 was Hurricane Floyd fiasco.
Couple those two COLOSSAL fuck-ups with Hodges’ promise of bringing the lottery to the state, and Beasley didn’t stand a chance.
I just screwed the pooch myself. I swear to God I thought Floyd was under Beasley I mean, my wife and I were stuck in that traffic. Oh well. It Floyd that did Hodges in then. Beasley was done in by the Flag and the Lottery.
These DAILY Sheheen/Obamacare posts scream how terrified the once GOP and its loony Libertarian cousins are at the thought that Obamacare is going to make absolutely clear to white working class (southern) voters just how hard the party they have blindly voted for for 45 years has been working against them is almost everything they do when they get elected.
It’s hilarious to see the squirming.
These DAILY Sheheen/Obamacare posts scream how terrified the once GOP and its loony Libertarian cousins are at the thought that Obamacare is going to make absolutely clear to white working class (southern) voters just how hard the party they have blindly voted for for 45 years has been working against them is almost everything they do when they get elected.
It’s hilarious to see the squirming.