Republican shutdown pain may boost Dems in 2014

Unit 3

     The government has finally reopened.  People are very disappointed in the way the government has handled the whole shutdown issue.  Recent polls have shown that most of the blame is falling on the GOP.  Now other statistics show that it is going to be easier for the Democrats to take back the Senate in 2014.  Also, many of the Republican's main donors are skeptical about what is happening in the GOP.  This also helps the democrats in morale and funding.  The shutdown is finally over, but throughout the shutdown the majority of the blame was falling on the Republicans.  The shutdown began because of senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz of the Republican party, pushed the GOP to try to make significant changes to Obamacare before it was enacted.  This caused disagreement and eventually the shutdown.  Republicans from the House presented many new deals to the Senate and to the president which were repeatedly denied.  Republicans were eventually forced to settle for a more scaled back deal.  People saw this government shutdown as Republican stubbornness.  This helps the Democrats in future elections.  Another thing that is going to help Democrats is the rift in the Republican party between Republicans and their emboldened tea party colleagues.  Tea party groups are already devising a plan to take on the Republican party in upcoming elections.

     My opinion on this article is that Republicans' chances in elections are going to be hurt because of the government shutdown.  But I don't think that it is because of Republican stubbornness.  It is because of the public's general misunderstanding of what went on during the government shutdown.  The Republicans presented many deals for compromise so that they could end the shutdown, but Democrats would not budge.  They were being just as stubborn and their party should be just as hurt as the Republican party. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/politics/shutdown-republicans-2014/index.html?hpt=po_c2

5 things that have happened since Obamacare launched

  Unit 3

     It has been a long road for Obamacare.  It had to go through a Supreme Court appeal, a government shutdown, and continuing oppositions by many politicians before it was running.  Now it is running and every American must have health insurance or pay a fee.  The rollout of Obamacare hasn't been easy though.  5 main things have happened since the start of Obamacare.

1. Sign up on Healthcare.gov has been hard: There have been difficulties for the many Americans that have been trying to sign up for health insurance on the government website.  The number of people that are trying to access this website has contributed to the problem.  Technical workers have been working long hours to try to get the new website running better.  Obama said that the difficulties are unacceptable.

2. State sites seemed to fare better: 14 states are now using their own website for enrollment in health insurance.  The government website has not been doing well so many states have tried their own websites which are working a lot better.

3. Overall enrollment numbers are unclear: The government has not set a goal for monthly enrollment numbers yet.  They are expecting a lot of new enrollment in the upcoming weeks and months.  But it is still unclear how many people have signed up for health insurance.

4. The Cost of Care has become more clear: Before Obamacare, nobody really knew how much it was going to cost.  But now that is has been running for a couple of days, researchers are finding out how much it is going to cost.  It is affecting local and independent insurance companies a lot.

5. The Shutdown came and went-without changing much: The shutdown had no effect on users trying to sign up for Obamacare.  But the shutdown is the reason that Obamacare was delayed for so long.

     My opinion on this article is that they need to get Obamacare running better.  If this really is a great future for our country then we at least need to get it running well.  I personally don't think Obamacare is the right thing for this country.  All it is doing is forcing people to get health insurance, decreasing the quality of our healthcare, and ruining  private businesses that are trying to sell healthcare.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/19/health/obamacare-enrollment-launch-overview/index.html?hpt=us_c2

Shutdown polls: No winners, but a bigger loser

Unit 3
     As we near the deadline to raise the nation's debt ceiling, the apprehensions and attitudes are not good.  They are angry at the government for the job they have done during this government shutdown.  A new poll shows that Americans are blaming both the GOP and the Democrats now.  Sixty percent of people polled said that if they had the chance to defeat every member of Congress including their own representatives, they would.  The blame on the Democrats is starting to grow, but more blame is placed on the side of the GOP.  CNN polling director Holland said, "Depending on which question and which poll you look at, either the Republicans have fallen further than the Democrats or both parties have lost the same amount of ground but the Republicans started in a worse position."  According to the poll, 63% of people are angry with the Republicans on how they have handled the government shutdown.  Contrary to the Democrats and Obama who 57% and 53 % of pollers were unhappy with respectively.  These polls were about the situation with the government shutdown.  Other polls were conducted on the general opinion of the Republican and Democratic parties.  Now only 28% of pollers approved of the Republican party and the Democratic party has also slipped to 43% with a favorable rating.
     I think that this article is finally showing people that majorities are now disapproving of both parties. I think that a lot of people thought that the government shutdown was all the GOP's fault and that the Democrats were doing great.  This article shows that public opinion of the Democratic party is now falling also.  The fact that the Republicans have less of an approval rate is because of the media in my opinion.  The media is very Democratic and gives biases to the Democratic party.  That is why the public thinks less of the Republicans because they are always given information a little bit pro-Democratic.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/10/shutdown-polls-no-winners-but-a-bigger-loser/?hpt=po_c2

R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Conservatives say they need it in shutdown debate

  Unit 2
      The government shutdown has had many different things that have caused it, but House Republicans are calling it an issue of respect.  One Republican representative said that, "Republicans are in a position where they don't want to cave in because it sets a bad precedent that the Senate would be somewhat dictating how the House runs."  Another Republican House member expanded saying, "we're not going to be disrespected."  Republican House members think that the Senate is not being reasonable, while the Democratically-held Senate thinks the same of the House.  This issue of Obamacare was passed in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court last year.  The House is now trying to defund the program of Obamacare.  The House has proposed many compromises with this issue, but the Senate does not want to give in.  Obama and the Senate leader have rejected GOP efforts to use the government funding issue in seeking partisan goals.  Obama is saying that the GOP is getting this disrespect because of their attitude in trying to just defund Obamacare because they don't like it.
      This relates to our current unit because we are talking about reasons that people vote for certain candidates.  People are now forming opinions because of the government shutdown and will vote accordingly.  My personal opinion on the issue is that the GOP is getting too much of the blame for the government shutdown.  People are just saying that the GOP is unwilling to compromise.  But from this article, we see that both parties are unwilling to compromise.  I think that we should get rid of Obamacare, but I know we need to compromise somehow because of differentiating opinions.  We need to get this problem fixed quickly before there are drastic effects.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/politics/shutdown-gop-respect/index.html?hpt=po_c2