In New Hampshire, Rand Paul Reimagines Government Off the Top of His Head

[jct74]

In New Hampshire, Rand Paul Reimagines Government Off the Top of His Head
Privatize the VA? Boycott Saudi Arabia? The GOP candidate of ideas can't stop coming up with them.

by David Weigel
Mar 24, 2015 5:45 AM EDT

ROCHESTER, N.H.—Eight questions into his meet-and-greet at the Pink Cadillac Diner Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul made his first accidental policy. One of the Stafford County Republicans who’d shown up for breakfast asked Paul about the heart-rending crises in the Veterans Affairs administration. Was it time, she asked, to “overhaul the VA and let it go to the private sector?”

“Yes,” said Paul. Three dozen Republicans put down their coffee and applauded. Then the senator explained himself. “In Kentucky, we’re building an $800 million new VA hospital,” he said. “That would buy a lot of insurance just to go to the doctor, any doctor… I think the care is for the most part good, but the distribution’s bad. When you think VA, think single payer system.”

That seemed clear enough. Ninety minutes later, after another Q&A, in Exeter, I asked Paul if he’d thought more about what privatizing the VA would look like.

“No, I don’t really have a big plan or anything,” he said. “I’m not even sure I’d use the word privatize.” He did want vouchers—a policy endorsed by Concerned Veterans for America, which is connected to the libertarian Koch network—but he was not ready to throw the whole system into the Hayekian laboratory. “I’m not for eliminating the VA, or getting rid of the VA hospitals. In fact, a lot of veterans like the VA hospitals even better than the other hospitals. I’d tend more toward getting insurance vouchers to go to the community.”

In two and a half weeks, Paul is expected to launch a presidential campaign. Texas Senator Ted Cruz beat him to the starting line with a Monday morning speech at Liberty University; the two men will speak within an hour of each other in Monday night Fox News interviews. Paul’s network is all but ready for him, and the Republicans who attended many of his events this past weekend were given flyers advertising a “Stand with Rand rally” in New Hampshire on April 8.

...

read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/f...reimagines-government-off-the-top-of-his-head

 

[phill4paul]

The VA seems to be addressing some of it's failings with the new "Veteran's Choice Cards" which will allow some vets to see a local doctor.
Here is a write up on it...
http://militaryadvantage.military.c...-card-and-15-billion-will-help-vets-get-care/

I recently had a hernia operation and went through the VA. First time I have ever used them other than the required yearly check up to stay in the system.
The hospital was the old one in Salisbury, N.C. (I had hoped I would get to see the new one in Asheville, NC).
This place looked it's age. Walking into it I felt I was on the set of the 'Walking Dead'. Seriously. Didn't really give me a good feeling.
However, the care was exceptional. The pre-op, pre-op anesthesiology and post-op exams went efficiently.
They asked me to show 30 minutes early and I was out the door before or at the original appointment time. From the
doctors to the 'visitor information' helpers, everyone all, were polite and helpful.
And while the hospital itself was in disrepair the operating rooms seemed modern and sterile.
I really was impressed by the level of care. So was the ole lady as they kept her informed as to what stage in the process I was in while she was waiting.
About the only thing that stuck in my craw was a new program or something where everyone must tell you "Thank's for your service." It came off as contrived and truthfully fulfilling the contracted medical care is thanks enough.
And at the Hickory clinic my new doctor got right on the hernia op. Within a month of seeing him I was recuperating. Interestingly, he had just quit his private practice of 17 years to join the VA. Said he got tired of all the paperwork and just wanted to treat people.

 

[radiofriendly]

If anyone here goes out on the road to support Rand, you are going to eventually meet David Weigel - and you may see him everywhere you go. It's hard not to be friendly with him and he may come across as a supporter. He's not - he's a talented writer looking for a juicy story.

He's a nice guy. Hi, David! I'm almost 100% sure he's here reading this. I always enjoy seeing him, but beware...

 

[RonPaulGeorge&Ringo]

Here's Wiesel trying to catch Rand in a gotcha --

I was experimenting with the livestream video app Meerkat. The senator’s eyes caught the cameras a few times, with visible displeasure. He’d just used Meerkat at South by Southwest, but he worried about what streaming video could do to the interactions between a senator with endless portfolios, and voters with endless and unpredictable obsessions. His staff later made it clear that he preferred that one-one-one voter interactions not be subjected to livestreaming.

“It is hard,” Paul said in the Exeter interview. “The main thing about it is that these people didn’t really agree to be on national TV. Also, I think some of them will be sorry that they said something, or if they say something, and joke, and I respond with a joke, does anybody get it? The interesting thing about jokes and humor is that when you print the transcript, it’s not very funny a lot of the time. It’s taken as serious that you said this about that. That takes a little fun out of things, if there’s scrutiny every moment of your life. People do worry about that, public or private. If we know that every interaction with every voter is going to be filmed, it’ll mean that you have plastic candidates saying nothing. No response, no nodding of the head, because you know everything will be filmed.”

 

[erowe1]

I don't quite get the tone of the OP. Was there supposed to be a blunder in there?

 

[r3volution 3.0]

I don't quite get the tone of the OP. Was there supposed to be a blunder in there?

Ditto

 

[eleganz]

Sounds very attackish. I didn't catch it at first glance but definitely not sharing.