News Roundup for 3/23/11

Happy Birthday, Obamacare!

-Headline of the day-
"Poll: One Year On, Most Favor Health Care Law or Wish It Was More Liberal."

Huzzah! The healthcare reform law is now one year old -- happy birthday, healthcare law!

Unfortunately, most Americans hate the law with the burning passion of a thousand hating suns -- boo, healthcare law!

Except, we don't. CNN ran a birthday poll and found that, yeah, it's not the most popular thing in the world. According to Dave Weigel, "There's never been a point when most people approved of the health care law in CNN's poll -- the closest they came was in December 2010, when 43 percent approved of it and 54 percent opposed it. The overall approval number has fallen to 37 percent, its lowest level, leaving it almost unchanged from the number at the time of passage."

However, through the magic of math, we learn that the big thing holding it back is that it didn't go far enough. If you break down the number of people opposed to the law, you see that 46% want it gone because it's too liberal, while 13% don't like it because it's not liberal enough. So, add that 13% to the 37% who think it's fine as it is and you've got 50% who either think healthcare reform is fine as it is or who think it should go farther, as opposed to 46% who don't like anything about it.

Shoulda went with that public option or even singlepayer. That's all I'm saying. (Weigel)


-Feel the love-
CNN's been on a polling bender today. In addition to getting a handle on how people feel about healthcare reform, they also took a look at how people feel about the words "President Trump." Long story short, healthcare reform is more popular. By a country mile.

According to the report, The Donald "would just barely crack double digits in the crowded field of potential GOP candidates," but -- good news! -- his run "could hurt former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin." Apparently, the stupid people are torn.

Trump scores an anemic 10%, while Sarah pulls a slightly less sickly 12%. But remove Trump from the equation and Palin shoots up to a towering 13%.

In other words, if the thought of a "Pres. Palin" or "Pres. Trump" is keeping you up at night, you can knock off the worrying and get some sleep. (CNN)


-Bonus HotD-
"Gingrich Criticized Obama For Not Intervening In Libya, But Now Criticizes Him For Intervening In Libya."

Of course he does... (ThinkProgress)