The Obama Timeline – Part II The Doomed Presidency August 2012 On August 1 an ObamaCare regulation takes effect that requires all health insurance carriers to provide free “contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.” (The requirement is the result of a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine for the Department of Health and Human Services that stated, “The elimination of cost sharing for contraception …could greatly increase its use, including the use of the more effective long-acting methods [that is, sterilization], especially among poor and low-income women more at risk for unintended pregnancy.” In other words, the government is eager to sterilize young poor women. ObamaCare does not call for free sterilization procedures for men.) Employers that refuse to provide free contraceptive, abortifacient, and sterilization coverage can be fined up to $100 per employee per day—enough to put them out of business if they choose not to violate their religious principles. If businesses cancel employee insurance, they will be fined $2,000 per employee per year. According to DailyCaller.com, the regulations also “require all insurance companies to cover well- woman visits, gestational diabetes screenings, domestic and interpersonal violence counseling, FDA-approved contraception, breastfeeding supplies, HPV DNA testing, sexually transmitted infection counseling, and HIV testing without additional co-pays. The rules take effect at the following insurance renewal date on or after Wednesday.” (All those “free” benefits will of course be paid for through higher premiums.) [34237, 34924, 34927, 34946, 34951, 34967, 34968] In praising the ObamaCare rules, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen “no fetus left alive” Sebelius states, “…Obama is moving our country forward by giving women control over their health care. This law puts women and their doctors, not insurance companies or the government, in charge of health care decisions.” Laughably, HHS states, “The Obama administration will continue to work with all employers to give them the flexibility and resources they need to implement the health care law in a way that protects women’s health while making common-sense accommodations for values like religious liberty.” [34237, 34924, 34927] Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) justifies the ObamaCare rules and their infringement on religious freedom, saying, “I think we also have to keep in mind, a lot of times we talk about birth control or contraception, many times for many young women of child bearing age, it’s not just to prevent a birth, or prevent a pregnancy. There are many women who take birth control pills, for example, because they have terrible menstrual cramps once a month, some of them almost incapacitated, can’t work. I know of young women myself who, because of this, aren’t able to work and be productive, and it’s prescribed by their doctor.” Harkin claims, “…I do believe that we have carved out, the Obama administration carved out, a viable exception for religious organizations, churches.” 1 (Harkin is incorrect. The exception is merely a one-year waiver of the rule for churches and some organizations. After one year they must comply with the rule. Additionally, the waiver applies only if everyone involved in the group warrants the temporary religious exemption. For example, a Catholic charity is not eligible for the exemption unless every poor person it serves is also Catholic. In other words, the exemption will apply to almost no organization.) [34945] Congressman Billy Long (R-MO) responds to the implementation of the ObamaCare regulations with the comment, “We’re still home of the brave, but we’re not the land of the free anymore. And we need to get that straight. When you’re not free to practice religious freedom in this country, what in the world have we come to? Seriously, goodness gracious.” Congressman Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) says, “It’s outrageous that this administration believes it’s within their power to force people to violate their right of religion if it interferes with this administration’s agenda. It should disturb people of all faiths, or for that matter people of no faith at all, that …Obama has such a low opinion of the First Amendment that he would trample on these rights.” [35013] According to the Media Research Center, “CBS didn’t file one report or news brief on the controversial federal abortifacient/contraception mandate going into effect. …ABC’s Diane Sawyer heralded the mandate taking effect as ‘an important day for women’s health’ on Wednesday’s World News , and forwarded the White House’s talking points on the regulation: ‘Religious employers, like Catholic charities and hospitals, do not have to directly include free birth control under their health plans.’ On NBC Nightly News , Brian Williams lamented that ‘simply by taking effect, it started up the health care fight all over again.’” (Sawyer is incorrect. Religious employers will have to comply with the regulations effective August 1, 2013. They received a one-year waiver, not a permanent exemption from the requirements.) [35028] NationalJournal.com reports that “…Obama holds significant leads over Mitt Romney in three crucial battleground states, hitting the critical 50 percent threshold in each, according to new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times polls released early Wednesday that show [Obama] performing virtually equally among the key groups that will determine his prospects for earning a second term. Obama leads Romney by 6 percentage points in both Florida and Ohio, while in Pennsylvania, traditionally a more Democratic-leaning state, he leads by a robust 11 points.” HotAir.com casts doubt on the results of the polls, noting that they over-sampled Democrats. The Florida poll’s D/R/I weighting is 36/27/32, giving the Democrats a +9 tilt even though exit polls in 2008 and 2010 reflected only 2 and 3-point Democrat advantages. (That is, Obama has a 6-point lead in Florida only because the poll surveyed 9 percent more Democrats than Republicans.) Ohio’s sample has an 8-point Democrat advantage, even though 2010 exit polls showed Republicans with a 1-point advantage. in turnout. “Pennsylvania’s numbers (D+6) come closest to a rational predictive model, somewhere between 2008’s D+7 and 2010’s D+3, but still [appear] mighty optimistic for Democratic turnout [in November 2012]. In other words, these polls are entirely predictive if one believes that Democrats will outperform their turnout models from the 2008 election in Florida and Ohio. That would require a huge boost in Democratic enthusiasm and a sharp drop-off in Republican 2 enthusiasm—which is exactly the opposite that Gallup found last week.” (Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt later interviews Quinnipiac assistant director Peter Brown, and asks him to explain why they gave a 9-point edge to Obama in Florida in the survey. Brown’s answer leaves Hewitt—and probably most of his audience—unimpressed.) [34914, 34915, 34916, 34961, 34962, 35067, 35087] As noted previously in this Timeline , polls are no more accurate than their weighting. If, for example, a poll samples Americans across the nation it may find only a small percentage who enjoy watching hockey games. But if the poll is conducted at a hockey game the results would certainly reflect a much higher percentage of hockey fans. Roughly 30 percent of Americans consider themselves to be Democrats and about 30 percent consider themselves to be Republicans. It is therefore absurd to assume that Democrats will outnumber Republicans by 9 points on election day—especially when polls show that GOP voters are far more enthusiastic about voting Obama out of office than Democrat voters are about keeping him in the White House. According to a July 16– 26 Pew Research Center poll, Obama leads Romney by an astounding 10 points, 51–41. But the survey uses an even more astounding D/R/I weighting of 43.5/24.5/32. That is, Pew surveyed 19 percent more Democrats than Republicans in order to get the 10 percent advantage for Obama. There is no possible way election day turnout will favor Democrats by 19 percent. Even in 2008, when Obama was riding his “hope and change” wave, the Democrat turnout advantage was only 7 points. Veteran pollster Douglas Schoen, a Democrat, calls the Pew poll “ridiculous. There’s systemic bias in the Pew poll.” (Some might suspect that polls are being rigged to make it appear as though Obama is ahead so that after the election, if Romney wins, the Obama administration can claim there was massive voter fraud in Romney’s favor. That would spark race riots and give Obama an excuse to declare martial law and stay in power while the claims of fraud are “investigated” by Attorney General Eric Holder.) [35068, 35069, 35087] Across the nation, Chick-fil-A restaurants see a massive surge in business from customers expressing support in response to threats from the mayors of Boston and Chicago (former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel) to deny operating licenses simply because the corporation’s owner happens to oppose gay marriage. Several locations run out of food and the company sets sales records. HotAir.com comments, “Somewhere, a Burger King ad man’s toying with the idea of having ‘The King’ declare himself ‘100% pro-life.’” (Rush Limbaugh quips, “I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen on November 6th, Obama’s gonna get Chick-fil-A’d himself.”) Gay rights activists plan to “protest” by engaging in a “Same-sex kiss day” at the restaurants on August 3. (The “kiss-in” turns out to be a monumental failure, but the mainstream media covers it more than the restaurant chain’s record-setting customer appreciation day.) [34918, 34957, 34958, 34960, 34972, 34981, 34982, 34985, 34986, 34990, 35005, 35095] NYTimes.com notes the desperation of the Obama campaign for cash, writing, “Each plea for money from …Obama and his allies has become more urgent and desperate than the last.