GOP candidates stuck on entertainment
The Republican debate on CNBC on last week drew 14 million viewers, the lowest showing in the presidential debates this year.
Might it be that we all know already what this very large but predictable group will say? Might it be that Hillary Clinton's tweet is right on money? "10 candidates, 0 ideas."
It seemed last week that pretty much all they could do was complain about the media, Hillary and the president - pretty much in that order.
Chris Christie called Hillary a "pessimist." Carly Fiorina called her a hypocrite. Mike Huckabee said she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Jeb Bush accused her of running for President Obama's "third term."
The previous two Republican debates, on Fox News in August and on CNN last month, each attracted more than 23 million viewers, with The Apprentice firer Donald Trump driving entertainment hopes. But apparently Trump's shtick - and that of the other GOPers - has wore thin, as even CNN's Democratic debate (widely expected to be "boring" as it would focus on actual issues) in mid-October brought in 15.8 million viewers.
But not to worry. The Republicans - especially Ben Carson - have a new plan as, in his words, the CNBC debate "clearly demonstrates the need for a change in format."
Hmmm. Maybe a debate with no questions would suit them.
State, VW also have a shtick
Eager to reassure Chattanooga that Volkswagen's 10,000 direct and indirect jobs here will remain despite the automaker's struggle to overcome the bad publicity of its emissions cheating scandal, the chief executive of the Chattanooga auto assembly plant said last week the company will honor its commitment to complete a $600 million SUV-line expansion and possibly include an SUV hybrid or electric-vehicle in that line.
The announcement came during a legislative hearing here in Chattanooga sought by state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, after the scandal made headlines. The state, city and county have committed to more than $800 million in incentives to VW for the original plant and VW's current expansion. Lawmakers - including some who called VW "un-American" last year with the automaker scheduled a union vote with the United Auto Workers in order to begin a works council - came away from the hearing with upbeat messages.
The very next day, Tennessee State Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, Randy Boyd, made a show of his vote of confidence by writing a $5,000 check to a as a VW dealership for a down payment on the first sport utility vehicle that comes off the new assembly line in late 2016.
Was it all political theater? Certainly.
But with 10,000 Chattanooga area jobs hanging in the balance, at these this theater felt a bit more hopeful.
ACA resistance: It's a morality play
Speaking of theater, there is still the an ongoing chant among the most right-wing of Republicans about the Affordable Care Act - aka Obamacare.
Most recently, their squawks involved the expected rise of penalties for uninsured folks who don't enroll as mandated. They of course the "mandated" part. Never mind that car insurance is mandated and drivers licenses are mandated and mortgage insurance, along with credit life insurance for borrowers.
The New York Times last week put numbers to the uninsured and ACA enrollment over the past three years.
"We mapped the uninsured. You'll notice a pattern," read the headline on Friday.
You guessed it. We in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama figure prominently. As a matter of fact, the entire South figures prominently. Predictably, two years into Obamacare, those working Americans still without health insurance tend to be poor and tend to be living in the Republican-leaning states where legislatures and governors didn't expand Medicaid as a political statement against the Obama administration.
The result is that more than 3 million people in 19 states remain stuck in a "Medicaid gap," too poor to qualify for subsidies in the new marketplaces, but unable to get into a government program.
Here's the kicker: 90 percent of those people are in the South.
Theater meets tragedy.