Betsy's Page: Mark Twain's autobiography will be published this year. He wanted his personal account delayed for a hundred years. He got his wish, but now we will read about his "electric vibrating sex toy."

Canary in the coal mine

Betsy's Page points out that Massachusetts already knows what the rest of us are just getting into: skyrocketing costs in their state-run health-care system. This will play into the election tomorrow.

Byron York thinks the election will be decided by two factors, the state's health care system and one party government. Neither one is working well.

Betsy's Page has some interesting material taken from the new Mark Halperin book, Game Change. She comments that "campaign gossip sure can be fun." This is the book that is the source for the Harry Reid quote on Obama.

Politico: Parker Griffith, Democrat of Alabama, announced that he is switching parties, "saying he can no longer align himself 'with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy and drives us further and further into debt.'"

His district is 5th congressional district located in the Huntsville area, among the most conservative in the country. A radiation oncologist, he cited the health care bill as the major reason for his switch.

Betsy's Page has some comments. 

So we need health care reform to control soaring costs? It turns out it won't save a dime. It would be far cheaper to do nothing, according to the LA Times. Well, then, do nothing.

UPDATE: See also Betsy's Page on bogus cost savings.

We all know that many adopted children grow up and search for their natural parents. Never a good idea in my judgment. Here is an extreme example of what can go wrong.

Election reactions

Glenn Reynolds: Obama has lost his magic.

The truth is, Obama wasn’t ready to be president when he ran in 2008. When he started, he probably thought he had no real chance — he himself admitted upon entering the Senate that he wasn’t qualified to be president — and that his first run would simply be a PR effort that would lift him to the top ranks of Senate Democrats.

Betsy's Page: "Toto, I don't think we're in 2008 anymore."

Steve Chapman:

If Medicare were a bank, federal regulators would be closing its doors, selling its operations and sacking its managers. Thanks to soaring costs, the program is fast running out of money -- even though it pays such low fees that many doctors refuse to take Medicare patients. Meanwhile, Medicare fraud costs taxpayers some $60 billion a year, according to a report by CBS's "60 Minutes," making it among the most profitable fields for felons.
That's our experience with government-run health insurance for the elderly. So what do congressional Democrats propose to do? Offer government-run health insurance to everyone else.

Betsy's Page has some good comments on the public option.

Recent reports say that Harry Reid is reviving the public option. What is really going on? Reason has this summary.

Betsy's Page thinks it's just a political ploy: 

Reid got his announcement and one-day story in the media. The liberal bloggers are happy. But don't be so quick to assume that this was anything more than an appeasement of the left while Reid knows very well that he doesn't have the votes to pass what he's announcing that he'll introduce. In fact, if this plays out as expected, he'll introduce the public option and fail to get the votes and then he can tell the lefty bloggers that he tried, he really tried, but it was those darn moderates in his own caucus who blocked the public option. And he crosses his fingers that they don't realize how they've been played.

The Baucus bill is based on cuts in Medicare to keep its projected budget in balance. But I don't believe the Democrats will ever make such cuts to Medicare. They can't even let a year go by without increasing Social Security's COLA when inflation has been neutral. Betsy's Page takes a look at this situation.

Betsy notes that Harry Reid, who is up for re-election next year, is running scared. He has 100 percent name recognition among voters but half of them just don't like him.

Betsy's Page has a post that includes a YouTube link to Roger Mudd's interview with Ted Kennedy in 1980. Kennedy was gearing up to run for president against the incumbent Jimmy Carter. He failed of course, and the interview is one reason why.

Mudd caught Kennedy flatfooted: Why do you want to be president? "Well, I... uhmm...." Do you think that anyone will ever fully believe your explanation of Chappaquiddick?



I had forgotten all about the interview. Maybe I didn't see it.