Drunkblogging the Big ObamaCare Speech
The Vodkapundit is listening to the president's address carefully to see if the public option will help save his liver.
4:45PM The first question is: Which cocktail? The answer is always: Vodka martini. The next question is: Which network? CNN means risking an Anderson Cooper sighting. Fox? Bill O’Reilly risk. On the other hand, you usually get Brit Hume on Fox. So Fox it is.
4:51PM One request: Please don’t refresh the page more than every two or three minutes. That’s as quickly as I can drunkblog one of these events, and the old Amiga 500 we use as a server can barely handle the load when I’m sober. Thanks!
4:53PM Forgive the double post. I swear I’m not (yet) drunk enough to see two of them.
4:55PM Brett Baier? I was hoping for Brit Hume.
4:56PM My sources tell me Fox’s Major Garrett is being groomed for Lt Col.
4:57PM Hey, Brit!
4:58PM A 40-45 minute speech for an issue we’ve been talking about since effing April? Who does this Obama guy think he is? Oh, wait…
5:01PM And away we go…
5:01PM The Speaker wore red.
5:02PM I usually love Michelle Obama’s wardrobe, but why did she murder Corky the Clown and steal his tie?
5:05PM The Republicans have chosen a Birther to deliver the rebuttal? Was Charlie Manson not available?
5:07PM Ah, there’s Kathleen Sebelius. I think she’s there to tag elderly Congresspersons for possible counseling and termination.
5:09PM Al Franken, during his career as a comic, was never known for his George Hamilton impersonation. Somebody needs to remind his colorist of that.
5:10PM We could be in for a long evening. My wife took one look at me and ordered a very large pizza.
5:12PM And here comes the President, running on Clinton Standard Time. Bush’s speeches were almost uniformly dreadful, but he was at least punctual.
5:13PM Judging by his reception, President Obama remains very popular with people who have no intention of voting for his proposals.
5:15PM I can’t look at Michelle without hearing,
“Caroline laughs and
It’s raining all day
She loves to be one of the girls…”
5:16PM You know why he’s getting such a good reception? These Congressional clowns will applaud ANYone getting them away from those dreadful Town Hells.
5:17PM OK, kids — brace yourselves for… content.
5:17PM Wait… he’s turning this into a State of the Union address?
5:18PM “I will not let up until those Americans who seek jobs can find them.” Translation: “The floggings will continue until morale improves.”
5:19PM “We have pulled this economy back from the brink.” Translation: “Inflation, taxes, and regulations haven’t kicked in yet.”
5:19PM “We came here to build a future.” Oh… crap.
5:20PM If this is the last president to speak about health care, I’ll give up drinking. Shall we meet in 2012 under a table?
5:21PM “The breaking point.” Translation: We need to act NOW to pass a bill no one understands that won’t go into effect until after I’m safely reelected.
5:22PM “We are the only wealthy nation…” without national health care. Dude. “We’re not France” ain’t gonna sell in the heartland, mmmkay?
5:23PM Heartbreaking insurance stories! And government will make bureaucracy better!
5:25PM Health care is putting an “unsustainable burden” on taxpayers. Solution: More! The solution is always more, isn’t it? Let’s try less for a while, and see how that works. Wow, I *must* be drunk.
5:26PM There are those who say we should be like Canada. Others say we should kill all the Jews. I say, take the middle route, and send some Jews to Canada!
5:27PM Telltale sign: Obama is positioning himself against his own Congress. I’m not so drunk I didn’t spot that.
5:29PM Yes, he really is running against Congress — both “extremes,” to be sure, as that’s his M.O. But still, he’s trying to go over their heads and to the people. That might have worked six months ago, but his own negatives might now be too high.
5:30PM “Nothing in this plan will REQUIRE you or your employer to change what you have.” Require is one of those weasel words.
5:31PM I think my cable company shouldn’t be allowed to drop my favorite channels ever. I want a law.
5:32PM Correction: Preventative care does save lives, but it costs more money, not less. Nothing costs less than a dead patient. Don’t forget that. Ever.
5:33PM These exchanges sound great. But how about we just repeal the cartel laws which prevent consumers from shopping nation-wide?
5:35PM John McCain has the look of a man who can’t wait to twist the knife. Or, rather, he would, if he couldn’t be bought off so cheaply. He’ll flip, given half a chance.
5:35PM “…unless everybody does their part…” My part consists of… the people under my roof. Now you go do your goddamn party. Mmmkay?
5:38PM “Misinformation.” Well, that’s a step up. Pelosi called protestors Nazis. The President thinks of you as mere liars.
5:39PM Eff me. The president is LECTURING people he needs to win over. How’s that gonna go over, you think?
5:40PM He’s trying to sell the Government Option as a “choice” still. But of course. The over/under on the Government Option crowding out everything else is about five years.
5:41PM “I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business.” True, dat. But like GM and the banks, he has complete interest in making them wards of the state.
5:42PM Profit = “Overhead”!!!
5:43PM Kids, profit is how we get MORE of stuff we like. This socialist President thinks it’s “overhead.”
5:44PM He’s still running against Congress. That alone should tell you where A) Congress is, and B) Obama is.
Neither place is good.
5:45PM Who defines affordable? Who defines choice?
5:46PM “Finally…” If he means it, I’ll drink to it.
5:47PM Obama promises not to “add a dime” to the deficit. I’m not supposed to drop the f-bomb here, but your about to get fucked on your taxes. I apologize.
5:47PM Obama, however, won’t apologize.
5:48PM Sorry if tonight’s drunkblog is crankier than usual. But I drank too much last night, and woke up in an ice-filled bathtub minus my tonsils and my feet.
5:50PM Seniors have to pay for their own drugs? Outrageous! Why, if I’d have known that kind of thing was going on, I’d have stopped shoplifting all those steaks.
5:51PM Oh. My. Effing. God. Yes, I do think the president is promising us that in the future, all plans will have costs that are “below average.” But he won’t get half the kicking around Gerald Ford did.
5:53PM And… BOOM! Obama is desperate enough, he’s willing to throw the Republicans a bone on malpractice reform. Now, here’s where we find out if Republicans have principles or can be bought off cheaply. The safe money will go on the latter.
5:54PM The rich will pay! And so will those nasty foreigners! Except the Chinese! We’ll be paying them for years and years!
5:55PM Government will save you money. In other news, Eliot Spitzer is spending one-tenth of one-percent fewer tax dollars on hookers.
5:56PM Give me my plan or people will DIE!
5:57PM Obama just praised the town hall protestors. You know, the Nazi liars? And now Ted Kennedy wants you to pass this bill that doesn’t exist yet, because he was quite popular and very large and had hardly killed anyone at all, personally, since 1969. Also, great hair for a dude who was like 107, right?
5:58PM Self-reliance! Love of freedom! Skepticism of government! And socialized medicine! Sing it with me now: One of these things is not like the other…
5:59PM Mr. President, A suggestion — don’t use “Kennedy” and “drive” in the same sentence. Just sayin’.
6:00PM I will lend my own helping hand, by performing breast exams for only $10, and to women who can afford it least, in the 19-23 year-old age bracket. I’m doing my part! To your parts!
6:03PM Kick the can? Mr President, your own plan kicks the can until after your reelection. Put up something you might possibly pay for your own damn self.
6:03PM “We can do great things.” Yes! We! Can! If you’d just, in the words of another patriot, “Get the hell out of my way!”
6:06PM For the record, I’m disgusted. And I need another drink. If I’m feeling up to it, I’ll post a little Oh I’m So Wise summary later tonight at VodkaPundit.com. Or possibly not. But here’s the short version: Obama will see a brief spike in the polls, but not enough. He delivered a divisive speech to a divided nation — and that’s no way to spur a divided Congress into action.
Stephen Green writes, broadcasts, and enjoys the occasional lovely adult beverage at the home he shares with his wife and son in Monument, Colorado.
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112 Comments
1. No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » Drunkblog – sloshing through the pitch for the Chappaquiddick Memorial ObamaCare bill:[...] (6:55 pm 9/9/2009) – And here they are… – Ace of Spades HQ – Vodkapundit – Hot Air (Part 1 run by Allahpundit/Part 2 run by Ed Morrissey [...]
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:55 pm 2. jaymaster:Well, he’s had like 4-5 weeks off to work on it. It better be good.
Sep 9, 2009 - 4:57 pm 3. deniseVB:test. Can’t wait to see JoeyB and Nancy jumping up and down….someone needs to count….lol.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:02 pm 4. The Lawyer Mom:Michelle’s broach is certainly pretty. And the two patients to her right look sincere.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:04 pm 5. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):I thought maybe that you’d have switched to Chivas in honor of my late senior Senator. Mtn Dew over here.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:06 pm 6. tahDeetz:Don’t forget the “Pop-Goes-The-Nancy” drinking game. . .
. . . That’s if you really wanna get trashed.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:09 pm 7. jeff:where do the czars sit?
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:10 pm 8. jeff:Obama late……too many bad racial jokes you can make here.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:11 pm 9. skye820:Sipping a Vesper Martini, while redesigning my website. Oh, the quisling in chief is muted in the background.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:11 pm 10. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):“Fellow Americans, I am here to talk about Dr. Barry’s prescription, a.k.a. ObamaRx.”
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:16 pm 11. PA BRED:Did Pelosi bow when she introduced him?
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:17 pm 12. Instapundit » Blog Archive » CATO HEALTH CARE EXPERTS will be live-blogging Obama’s speech. Plus, Republicans will unveil thei…:[...] UPDATE: Most importantly, Stephen Green is drunkblogging! [...]
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:18 pm 13. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):“Back from the brink” to give it a bigger shove.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:19 pm 14. The Lawyer Mom:That ovation was a little early. Why don’t they all kneel instead?
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:19 pm 15. jaymaster:I’m experimenting with a new gin. Pinnacle, or peanuckle or something like that.
I tried some at a party (where we played peanuckle, so maybe that’s not what’s its called) and it was pretty good. It came in a funny bottle and was kinda cheap, so what the hey.
So far, it’s going down my throat without much effort, and seems to be working!
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:20 pm 16. Nan G.:Did you know Obama spoke to some high schoolers before his big school speech?
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:23 pm 17. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):In that private meet he admitted he is only given a few messages from the public a day.
ALL of them are about losing it all due to health costs.
Never mind their relevance to the topic at hand, I’d like to see these anecdotes backed up with documented facts.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:23 pm 18. tree hugging sister:God bless you my son. You are my eyes and ears on the Presidency at these moments.
Because I just can’t bring myself to watch his mug on the tube one second longer than I have to.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:26 pm 19. John:I’m waiting for the big finish when he tells Congress to study hard and stay in school.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:26 pm 20. David Thomson:The speech will harm Barack Obama. Most Americans are getting tired of his repetitive and rambling rhetoric. But our narcissist president does not know what else to do. In many respects, Obama is a one trick pony. This has usually worked in the past. However, the current audience demands much more—and he won’t be able to deliver. Obama is now a marginalized elected leader. He has probably never experienced a major setback in his entire life. The Anointed One will not be able to handle this new status.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:26 pm 21. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):He should have put one of his Vero Possumus styrofoam columns in front of Pelosi.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:30 pm 22. deniseVB:Ok, who superglued Nancy to her seat? LOL.
Fun reading, but I’m too lazy to sign in every time.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:30 pm 23. Whit:This is great reading, I just muted to my t.v.
“catching” breast cancer?
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:33 pm 24. Nan G:1st he says only 80% is agreed to in ”the bill.”
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:33 pm 25. A.M. Mallett:But then he says ”this plan” is what he is going to sign and will do all of this or that.
I’m guessing he doesn’t plan to have a single Republican involved.
Barack the Liar is at it again … who are these 30 million people without any health care? As soon as we start enforcing our immigration laws, that number drops by two thirds.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:37 pm 26. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):Passage of any ObamaRx Plan could hinge on whether the MA legislature changes back the law that would allow the Democrat Governor to appoint a Democrat Senator to fill a Senate vacancy — the same law that they changed 5 years ago when there was inconvenient Republican in the Governor’s office.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:38 pm 27. jaymaster:If Obama was a stock, I’d be shorting him NOW!
Not good at all.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:38 pm 28. A.M. Mallett:“Ok, who superglued Nancy to her seat? LOL.”
er… thats just the effect of her natural sleaze.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:39 pm 29. Donna V.:I don’t have to watch it, listening to the commie who lives on the floor above me is enough. He’s clapping, a-hooting and a-hollering, crying out “yes!” and stamping his feet so hard the pictures on my wall are shaking. (Did the same thing when Duyba spoke except his yells and shouts were obscene.)
He’s an excitable boy.I think it might be mojo up there.
Oh, he just now yelled “F you.” The camera must have just panned to a Republican.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:40 pm 30. Whit:Your drunk-blogging is the next best thing to an MST3K-style overlay.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:40 pm 31. Nan G:Who was so loudly BOO’ing Obama when he spoke about not letting a penny of all this cash go to people here illegally?
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:44 pm 32. Whit:Dems, right?
It would be kinda cool if he could look straight ahead at the camera instead of the TOTUS all the time. (Ping…Pong…Ping…Pong…Ping….)
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:46 pm 33. Michael:“It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.” Sir Winston Churchill
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:46 pm 34. Nan G:I just realized why I didn’t get dizzy watching him read teleprompters this time.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:47 pm 35. EA:He added one!
He’s got three of those puppies this time!
The dreck that Obama is peddling appeals only to those that do not understand economics or morons.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:49 pm 36. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):My new hero, whoever it was.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:49 pm 37. jaymaster:He’s still preaching to the left!
I’m on the verge of calling epic fail.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:52 pm 38. Meryl:Whit/23–did he really make a reference to “catching” breast cancer? Totally believable (he thinks colonoscopies diagnose prostate cancer)…but want to be sure I’m understanding you.
I wish I could have watched it, but we bought both toilet paper and paper towels today and they had to be put away.
Sure do appreciate Mr. Green donating his liver to the cause to spare those of us who just can’t deal with it.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:53 pm 39. Nan G:He’s only NOW coming to a plan???
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:56 pm 40. Dave (in the People's Banana Republic of MA ):What about ”the plan” he’s been talking about all evening?
He wants a do-over?
I thought the time for debate was over?
He needs to fire this speechwriter.
Excuse me while I barf from the Kennedy dramatics.
Sep 9, 2009 - 5:57 pm 41. Nan G:Well, he’s winding down.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:03 pm 42. Delia:So much for specificity.
I still don’t know which ”plan” he was talking about when.
The House Bill 3200?
Or is it dead to be replaced with some new bill?
Is debate over?
Will illegals be sick in our streets, coughing all over us?
What will it really cost?
I got nothin’ out of that damned speech.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:04 pm 43. Fernando:Government Take over… enough said!!!
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:05 pm 44. Dwight:He gets rolling in the last ten minutes. Who knows if it will convince anyone, but he scored some points at the end. Seems impossible to believe that it will be revenue neutral, but no one really believes that anyway, do they?
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:05 pm 45. J Robertson:I’ve got some Iceburg Vodka from Canada…going to pop it open now, in honor of Vodkapundit and drink some socialized martini’s…gotta be more fun than listening to this rehashed B.S. from the head B.S.’r…can’t he think of anything new??
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:06 pm 46. jaymaster:Pass me the glass….gonna watch a John Wayne movie…
“A divisive speech to a divided nation”
YES! That sums it up well.
He still doesn’t get it….
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:11 pm 47. vanderleun:Standing ovulation for the fine brunk dloging.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:11 pm 48. The Coalition Of The Swilling » Quote of the Day:[...] of the Day 5:59PM Mr. President, A suggestion — don’t use “Kennedy” and “drive” in the same sentence. [...]
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:16 pm 49. Samizdat:Is it just me or are others deathly sick of the self serving clapping that these Republican and Democrat bufoons feel they need to display about once every 45 seconds.
And all the glad handing and backslaping with the opposition is vomit inducing. Just how stupid do you think we are? After a few “townhells” you shouldn’t think we are very stupid, but based upon your behavior you obviously do.
What a bunch of underperformers these Congress people are. Same for the President.
Can you sense my utter contempt and disgust?
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:26 pm 50. The UnPatriot:47. vanderleun:
“Standing ovulation for the fine brunk dloging.”
Chapeau to Steve!
The UnPatriot is only wishing that he had his martini in hand. Gin for me though – Boodles, Citadelle, or Hendricks.
–The UnPatriot
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:27 pm 51. Rexxous:Stephen – Great and witty observations. This is your oeuvre. Congratulations on job well done.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:27 pm 52. Sarge:Under a single payer system ie Government Control would the employees of such a Government company be UNION ? Aha !!!!!
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:27 pm 53. TexEd:You are missing where this is going! He can pay for everything very easily! He can simply reduce the annual US military budget by $400 billion. In ten years, that’s 4 trillion! And leaves us healthy and at the knife of the evil doers. THAT IS WHERE HE AND HIS PIMPS ARE GOING!!!
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:28 pm 54. WillDoMathForFood:Hey!! Dr. Evil’s on TV again! And he wants another TRILLLLION dollars!
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:33 pm 55. Anonymous:#39 Was the first post that had any indication that someone watched the speech. None of you care beyond an (R) or (D) in front of a name. Country can burn, no one cares. I’ll hurt, same as you. I don’t like any of the bills, but while every Republican will say change is needed, they all are willing to accept no change because the Dems will suffer.
This is more about party competition than the country doing well. The Dems suck, the Repubs suck. Not sure which is worse. The Dems trying to do the wrong thing by exerting their current power and ignoring everyone else, or the Repubs hoping the Dems ruin the country so they look good on the epitath.
We all deserve what’s going to happen to us.
As the Dems are in power now, I’d hope the Republicans would try to counter them in a meaningful way. Instead, they are willing to let the Dems be stupid and ruin our budget and ruin our health care so they can worry about the next election and claim victory over the ashes.
WTF people? Everyone knows our health care costs are going up (fast) and that more ppl are dropping out. Social Security is out of control. Medicare only has 7 years left. In the last 10 years we went from surplus to $20 Trillion of debt (projected…$10T now). Why are WE still fighting each other. It’s the political system that is broken.
Unfortunately, that is us. We are doing this stupid R vs D nonsense and we are all going down. Obama is bad, Repubs have been bad. We can keep pissing on each other, but that will just put us all in the grave together…and when that happens, trust me, the R’s will look as smug as the D’s…
End of the day, anyone who is financially smart will work things out…financially motivated = save the country. Everyone else will let the Dems kill us on things like Health Care or social security, or they will let they Repubs kill us on inflation and debt. Either way, we all balkanize like the former USSR.
The Soviet Union didn’t die because of an invasion, it died because of bad fiscal policy. Well, here we are (on both sides). If you are talking about an issue that isn’t $$ related, you are allowing yourselves to be distracted.
I’m ashamed of all of us.
Jack
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:41 pm 56. jvon:Thank you for your brave service, sir. I would have watched his speech myself, but I quit drinking a few years back.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:45 pm 57. steveegg:I simply bow to the master (or is that collapse drunk?). In either case, I hope you’re making it out to DC at the beginning of October; I owe you a few.
This was a rally-the-Left speech, nothing more.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:47 pm 58. Donna V.:Oh, I’m sure Chris Matthews, Gergen etc. are wee weeing all over themselves and pronouncing it the greatest speech since the Sermon on the Mount. That’s a foregone conclusion.
Let’s see what the poll numbers say on Friday and Saturday. I doubt they’ll move much.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:49 pm 59. Samizdat:Lawyer mom at 14, Meryl at 38,
Thank you both for your succinct responses. I needed a laugh and you both supplied it in spades.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:49 pm 60. Jack:#55 Anonymous – Sorry, this post was me, Jack. Not sure why PJMedia chose to forget me
Once again, me = Jack
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:51 pm 61. jsallison:A fine job and your liver has my deepest sympathies.
I chose to attend a church potluck this evening instead and am now rewarding myself with some good patriotic Jim Beam Rye on the rocks. The alcoholic equivalent of the f-bomb to the brits and their rum back in the day, Mt Vernon seemed to be a major producer of same…coincidence, I’m sure.
Sep 9, 2009 - 6:53 pm 62. Frossca:Quoting an earlier Obama speech:
“…you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig.”
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:07 pm 63. ath42:Obama says (paraphrasing) “The problem with private insurance is that they add too much administrative overhead”.
As if having the government run it will lessen the bureaucracy???
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:10 pm 64. Steve Sampson:Stephen, the Russians make Vodka that will make that stuff you are drinking taste like hair oil. Vodka that is so good, you would never mix it with anything; If you have access to one of their Embassies, ask them about their good Vodka. An Embassy will bring in a hundred cases at a time and they are proud of their national drink.
I drink red wine in moderation, but if you are going to drink you, should drink the best. Dong things half-assed is so Liberal.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:24 pm 65. The UnPatriot:55/60 Anonymous Jack.
I have to disagree with you. Everyone here pretty much knows what is going on and by whom.
Stephen’s post at 4:58PM pretty much sums up this point
“A 40-45 minute speech for an issue we’ve been talking about since effing April? Who does this Obama guy think he is? Oh, wait…”
You are correct, nonetheless. All of our congress critters have had a hand either through overt action or acquiescence. Impugning the integrity, however, of the overwhelming grassroots effort that is going to stop this thing I am sure (hopeful) is not what you meant to do.
–The UnPatriot
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:28 pm 66. David W. Lincoln:http://www.reuters.com/article/americasRegulatoryNews/idUSN0934632320090910?sp=true
not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:34 pm 67. AdrianS:Points of interest regarding Obama’s speech:
1. If that’s the best he has, the Obamacare “reform” plan is dead.
2. Obama has, no doubt, been practicing his lying skills. Those who know the truth and have read the various drafts of health care bills know that Obama is lying or at the very least obfuscating.
3. When Obama began to speak about malpractice, I and many in the audience were expecting Obama’s “new” ideas; I was expecting him to say that he would now consider tort reform to curb excessive waste in malpractice suits. But, during a lengthy pause, which I am sure he rehearsed, he mumbled and then said he would work for “safety features” for doctors in their practices. What a FOOL! We know that lawyers have contributed massive amounts of money to his campaigning and Obama is protecting them instead of protecting the public; the voters. So much for his sincerity and “heart-touching” Teddy moments. For Obama this issue had to be the lose-lose moment.
4. Why did Hillary Clinton, Barbara Feinstein and others stand up when Obama criticized the “wasteful” spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? These people voted for the spending on several occasions. The hypocrisy of it was very telling.
5. This one is as odd as they come. Obama said his door was open for those who wished to come to him to negotiate. If this is anything like his promise to be transparent, forget it. He’s lying through his teeth. This is the guy who has blocked any access to his birth certificate and other relevant information on his qualifications to be president. And, on several occasions has had to be sued using the Freedom of Information Act to pry information from him. And, Obama has then the gall to say he serves up the information voluntarily. Lies. Nothing but lies.
6. Obama also said he would not sign a bill that added one singe dime to taxes or the deficit. This is wordplay because he would add millions of dimes to the deficit and taxes.
7. Also, Obama mentioned the historical passage of Medicate and stated a) that there were areas where the government could save by enforcing some kind of efficiency. What I say is why hasn’t he started already; and b) Medicare is more of a subsidy than a wholesale government takeover of an entire system. We don’t need another AmTrak or Post Office with billions of dollars in losses. (see GROVER NORQUIST: We Don’t Need Another Post Office
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/09/09/grover-norquist-obama-health-care-817970110/).
8. After saying that the conservatives were using deplorable tactics in the healthcare debate, including scare tactics: Obama himself, when he said “if we don’t do anything”, began to try to scare with a string of lies and threats on what would happen if we did nothing.
Obama’s speech was a dodging of the main issues, lying. If you want to read about what Obama and his ultimate plans are, consider reading this article:
The Blogger Who Nailed Van Jones.
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-blogger-who-nailed-van-jones/. Van Jones, much like Obama, has an inherently malignant view of what our govenment should be – a socialist government.
Obama is NOT fooling anyone. If this is the best Obama has to offer, Obama is lost and the Obamacare “reform” is dead.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:38 pm 68. Anonymous:“… or they will let they Repubs kill us on inflation and debt.”
Anon -
Sorry, the republicans lost that crown and aren’t even in the running with this clown. Keep on with the, “one is as bad as the other”, but it doesn’t wash. The Dems are consistantley worse and much more difficult to tame. The fatalism behind that “all the same” crap is half of what got us here and the other half is people thinking that as long as they paid their taxes and voted now and then it would all work out without their being involved.
Well, welcome to just as bad and thank you for not being involved other than to bitch.
regards
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:42 pm 69. Leatherneck:I guess all of you did not hear that new Marxist rule about how you should all stop drinking on school nights, and eat a big bowl of Fiber1.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:42 pm 70. dan:Aside from the absurdity that curing waste & inefficiency with a major government intervention is going to contribute to budget neutrality, what about this new health insurance Nasdaq? The way he described it sounded incoherent to me if the “equities” include public option shares. Anyone have some way of making (objective) sense of this proposal? It seemed like the key to the whole thing to me.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:49 pm 71. E. O'Neal:Were any minds changed tonight? Barry proclaimed bi-partisanship as he angrily denounced and mischaracterized his opponents’ positions. His position — same “bill”, same public option, same costs that “won’t add a penny to the deficit”, same “savings from eliminating fraud, waste and abuse”, same huge Medicare cuts that won’t affect anyone’s health care. Same lies. All drearily predictable and, I hope, futile.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:50 pm 72. rachel peepers:President Barack Obama, to use a baseball metaphor, tried to really lay into one tonight, had visions of the ball disappearing high over the centerfield fence.
He took a mighty swing at softball straw men, but instead of hitting a home run, the annointed one did something else.
He laid an egg.
His strategy was so transparent.
Remember, there was a time when Obama said he’d run a transparent administration, then conducted a Presidency that was anything but. Republicans along with the American people have effectively been shut out of every key meeting, every bill writing, every single piece of big legislation.
“I won. You lost.” That was his rationale. Well, he was lying then. And he was telling whopper on whopper tonight.
Tonight he wove a web of, on the surface, nice sounding words. But they meant little or nothing to his end game. The Germans who changed the road signs on December 18, 1944 during the battle of the bulge in order to confuse the American troops would have given Obama a high five for his ability to mislead the American people this evening.
His testimonials were things of pathetic beauty.
Obama: “And then there was John Jones from Bonehead, Utah, whose insurance company took so much time approving necessary cancer treatments that John shot himself with an unregistered assault rifle.” Or something like that.
After the heart wrenching stories of insurance company screwed people, Obama pulled out some second amendment strategy.
Which means don’t go for the whole enchalata at once, get a little at a time.
Chip away.
Wait till the American people are distracted by the Russians or something else. Then let that little public option that more people “than we ever thought would want”, PacMan ( a verb) private insurance. Using the profits of private insurance companies to undercut private insurance.
Kind of like assisted suicide for our parents.
There were so many half truths in that speech that I got the feeling Obama thinks 99% of his audience are total A holes.
His was a strategy of “tell them what they want to hear”, and make sure you add a lot of wiggle room. Use present tense when your audience thinks you’re talking about the future. Dazzle them with weasel words.
Gain a beach head for ObmamaCare in the form of a bill, then move inland. Then when the people realize the details of the bill that’s signed sealed and delivered turn out to be a hundred and eighty degrees different from what the big speech sounded like, it’ll be plum too late.
“Sorry, America”, Obama’ll say, “is that what you thought I said. Possibly my language could have been more artful. I didn’t intend to mislead anyone.”
The part about how cost saving efficiencies would pay for this billion to the nth degree package was priceless.
When Obama gets in bed with Michelle tonight, his nose has to be two feet long.
What did he say?, “if something’s too costly, we’ll cut it out?” He must have been thinking about missile defense to have said that with a straight face. Obama, the biggest spend-a-holic in the history of the country paying lip service to cost efficiencies. LOL a thousand times over.
Trying to stop laughing.
So, what do we have here?
Obama and his merry men realizing socialized medicine has to be done a little at a time. Just like gun control is being done in increments. Patience, boys.
After all, the first weapons act was in 1934, then a stronger one in 1938 with regisration (names and addresses), then more guns were outlawed in 1968 when the times were ripe for gun hating and blaming. Then 1972, an entire government bureauracy devoted to gun control was born. Then 1986, stiffer gun penalties until we had the 1990 firearms act which made the gun-a-phobes exstatic when they outlawed a weapon, the semi-automatic rifle, that never in a million years should have happened.
So, to destroy the second amendment, they’re chipping away at it a little at a time.
Tonight’s Obama speech laid the ground work for precisely that strategy, only the new target is private doctors, hospitals and the doctor patient relationship.
His public option idea is the beach head. If we don’t kill it on the beach, it eventually will become full blown ObamaCare. Death panels called end of life transitioning care are still a deadly idea; bureaucrats elbowing in between doctor and familiy. Till Granda breathes her last.
A month ago in his quest for socialized medicine, Obama wanted everything in one big pacMan gulp. In the speech tonight, looking at it from a slightly longer perspective, Obama gave up nothing, and is still trying to get everything. But just at a slower speed.
The bridge to socialized medicine tonight was built on flowery, nice sounding words. About as well intentioned as Brutus the day he said, “Hi, Caesar, how’s the back feeling?
That snake oil selling Obama. Every suit he has must come with matching pairs of asbestos pants.
Obama, you made something perfectly clear to me, tonight. You’re the consummate liar.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:51 pm 73. Kevin S:The one thing we need to know is if ObamaCare, if ti passes, provides each and every one of us a jar of lube and time to prep for the uh… well see the first 5:47p post for the proper term.
Sep 9, 2009 - 7:57 pm 74. The UnPatriot:73. Kevin S:
Reminds me of a line in the movie “The Firm.”
–The UnPatriot
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:20 pm 75. David Thomson:“Obama will see a brief spike in the polls, but not enough.”
The exact opposite will occur. Obama blew it big time. His poll numbers will continue to drop. He has been a marginalized president for over two months. It just wasn’t that obvious. Obama’s presidency regarding domestic issues is effectively over. He will be incapable of ever again getting serious legislation passed in Congress. Obama is a sitting duck after only eight months in office. This may even be unprecedented in American history. I can’t think of anything like it occurring to a previous president.
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:30 pm 76. John:I will note that thanks to his backdown during the speech, Obama lowered the number of uninsured from 46 to 30 million, presumably in order to take the illegal alien total out so Rep. Joe Wilson will stop yelling at him.
Of course, that number would conflict with this quote from his Secretary of State in 2007:
“When I began the fight for universal coverage almost 15 years ago, there were 37 million people uninsured. It was an outrage then and with 10 million more people uninsured today, it is an even deeper outrage today. Yet, the uninsured have been invisible to this president.”
So unless Hillary wants to admit that her 1993-94 plan was designed to cover illegal aliens — or that her 47 million figure of two-years ago also included illegals — if you take the 37 million from 1993 and Obama’s number of 30 million tonight, that means the administration is now telling us there are seven million fewer uninsured people than there were in the early 1990s. Doesn’t sound like much of a health care crisis to me.
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:38 pm 77. David W. Lincoln:It looks like Joe Wilson has upstaged Agent Zero:
http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/58037-joe-wilson-top-trending-topic-on-twitter
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:41 pm 78. Bobbybb:My suspicion is that most folks on both sides could have written their response before the actually heard or read the speech. Our country is sooo divided. Right now, Obama has slightly more than half the country’s support, suspect it may go up a tiny bit, but in 3 weeks, he could have slightly less than half. Either way, we are very divided almost down the middle. Think it at all possible for the hatred that both sides spew will ever die down?
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:43 pm 79. steveg:This fraudster is the thin half-black/white version of Michael Moore. “Capitalism is evil”.
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:49 pm 80. AtheistConservative:Jack,
Even knowing who you are, everything you said is idiotic.
Nobody is hoping that he ruins the country so they can score political points, any more than Dick Cheney is ‘hoping we get attacked’ to prove him right.
The Republicans are out of power. Even so they have pitched numerous reasonable ideas for gradual reform, all of which have been ignored by the TOTUS and his posse. There’s only so much you can do.
Nobody wants this to pass to ‘prove a point’ because there’s no undoing it once it’s done. Medicare has been dragging us under since 65 and it will never go away.
The “oh it’s always partisan nonsense, we’re all doomed, it’s all the same” line has to go. The Republicans have the right idea now largely because they’re out of power and want to get back in. As a Conservative I rarely think Democrats have any idea what they’re doing, but when they’re out of power they’ll be a little better at their jobs. It’s how it works.
Realizing that the Democrats are idiots and drunk on their already-wasted power is not ‘partisan hackery’. It’s reality.
Sep 9, 2009 - 8:50 pm 81. David W. Lincoln:AtheistConservative, you sound like a male version of Orianna Fallaci. My compliments.
I am of the perspective that too much power given
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:19 pm 82. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:to government is unhealthy. Hence, the need to rein it in. (Which is something Agent Zero and his zombies should know. Because the Church needed to be reined in, for that was what precipitated the 30 years War. The ending being the Peace of Westphalia, which also laid the foundation of the modern nation state).
Umm…
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:30 pm 83. alex:“It looks like Joe Wilson has upstaged Agent Zero”
what Joe Wilson did was ignorant. He just handed the evening to the President by making a fool of himself, instead of letting the president
define , or not, the presentation. He took all the attention off of the Presidents speech and placed it squarely on himself, his disrespect of protocol and his shortcomings.
It never ceases to amaze that congressman and senators who should know enough to let someone risk their own necks, place their own in the noose and then wonder what went wrong.
Joe Wilson will be making apologies for weeks to come, and his own party will distance themselves from the train wreck heading his way.
Sep 9, 2009 - 9:39 pm 84. sayywhatt?:I’m sorry, but if anything at all changed tonight, please phone the White House. The Commander-in-Chief would like to know one way or another.
Sep 9, 2009 - 10:24 pm 85. David W. Lincoln:Here is what the politician who comes closest, on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, in credibility amongst English speaking lawmakers whose politics
Sep 9, 2009 - 10:30 pm 86. Moogie:are right of centre, to the trendsetter, Daniel Hannan, had to say about the speech: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=131081638434
I would have watched the speech tonight, but I’m not a big fan of projectile vomiting.
Sep 9, 2009 - 10:39 pm 87. eor:Obama and his minions have a two-fold purpose for putting our country at risk with all the deficit spending. They are up to their armpits grabbing the money–ACORN and their $8 billion are just the tip of the iceberg. Then they will finish off our country. Democrat, Socialist, Marxist, Facist, Islamist–what ever–he has been put in to destroy our country. If this health care plan is voted in it will be the last nail in our coffin. I for one am frightened.
Sep 9, 2009 - 10:51 pm 88. vivo:Good speech
Made the Reps look the wackos and liars they are
Good plan
Keep drinking, maybe they’ll take you to the Emergency room
Wash your hands
Dizzy? Don’t worry, it’s your preexisting condition
Treatable? No, it’s in your DNA
Sep 9, 2009 - 11:01 pm 89. Renascent:Here is a detailed moment of the Obama speech that deserves attention.
Aside from waste, fraud and abuse, “Much of the rest would be paid for with revenues from the very same drug and insurance companies that stand to benefit from tens of millions of new customers. And this reform will charge insurance companies a fee for their most expensive policies, which will encourage them to provide greater value for the money — an idea which has the support of Democratic and Republican experts. And according to these same experts, this modest change could help hold down the cost of health care for all of us in the long run.”
So how should this carefully phrased passage be interpreted? Will PPO policies subsidize HMO policies? Will those with pre-existing conditions subsidize those without? We need to focus on these and related issues, and bring their hidden assumptions into view.
Sep 10, 2009 - 12:38 am 90. Poor Citizen:President Obama is truly a gifted speaker. Its refreshing to hear a president that sounds like a president. However, his presidency must avoid becoming all about “breaking new ground” if he is to succeed. He must institute some of the “old politics” if he is to get the legislation passed he wants. As they say in washington, “if you want a friend in this town” buy a dog. As for health care? We need reform. A good health care system makes for a good country. And now is the time. Obama’s great speeches might be remembered, but what he delivers on, .. will be remembered.
Sep 10, 2009 - 1:03 am 91. The Infidel Alliance:A few good ideas, but overall this is just more of Actuary in Chief Barack O’bullsh*ts phoney baloney, plastic bannana, laws-of-economics-don’t-apply mystical magical voodoo.
Sep 10, 2009 - 1:21 am 92. Sharpshooter:Not a single word about Tort Reform.
Sep 10, 2009 - 2:43 am 93. Peter Buxton:Damned humorous, Steven. “I’m doing my part! To your parts!” Lovely gems like this abound. Thanks.
Sep 10, 2009 - 4:10 am 94. always right:Good speech
So? Did it serve its purpose?
Good plan
Plan? What plan? You mean to say Obama or his office is going to hand out yet another hundred pages of new ‘bill’ for us to fine comb through? Or it is the same old same old thousand pages long HR3200?
From Obama: More will die if we do nothing…
I beg to differ. MORE (MUCH MORE) will die if we do pass this bill.
Sep 10, 2009 - 4:29 am 95. Mary Grabar:Much needed!
Sep 10, 2009 - 4:32 am 96. always right:Good speech/good delivery
So? Did it serve its purpose?
Good plan
Plan? What plan?
You mean to say Obama and his office is going to hand out yet another hundred pages new ‘bill’ for us the comb through? Or it is just the same old same old thousand pages long HR3200 with add-ons and plug-ins?
Tonight from Obama: More will die if we do nothing…
Oh, I beg to differ big time. More and MUCH MORE will die if we DO pass the bill.
Sep 10, 2009 - 4:38 am 97. always right:Sorry for the double. I did not see it after I refresh a couple times.
Sep 10, 2009 - 4:39 am 98. Paul -Indiana:Obama gave his usual lecture.
Sep 10, 2009 - 5:06 am 99. ZRegime:I believe it was Silent Cal Coolidge who once said, paraphrasing: If you see ten boulders coming down the road at you, it’s highly likely that nine of them will roll into the ditch before they get to you. His point? Don’t build a whole bunch of stuff and spend a whole bunch of money on every little problem you see. Exactly, Cal.
And so it is with health care. I keep hearing all the commentators say: EVERYONE agrees that something needs to be done. Well, last time I checked, I still had a pulse. And I say, Nothing needs to be done in my world. I have a GREAT plan through my employer, that has taken care of me and my wife and two kids until they grew up. Stephen, you NAILED IT on that comment.
Prolly your best DBlog ever. You are Da Man!
Sep 10, 2009 - 5:16 am 100. M. Simon:The dreck that Obama is peddling appeals only to those that do not understand economics or morons.
Fortunately I understand both economics and morons.
Sep 10, 2009 - 6:10 am 101. Dave:All political theater with nothing new. Anyone gullible enough to be swayed by last nights speech is not informed enough to lick stamps.
What this extremist run administration and congress are pushing is not sustainable unless they turn to hard core rationing as other countries with socialized medicine are having to do. We need to be rid of these leftist statists so we can work on real solutions and not just repeat the same stupid failed programs of the past.
Sep 10, 2009 - 6:39 am 102. Anonymous:Big Thanks to Joe Wilson for shooting off his big fat ignorant southern maw last night. Every time the president needs a boost, there’s always seems to be a stupid Republican member of congress willing to do something pathetic or scandalous to take attention off the president and point it squarely at the Republicans.
You stay classy, GOP.
Sep 10, 2009 - 7:26 am 103. David W. Lincoln:Anonymous, what do you have against government being accountable to more than the citizens? Rachel Peepers, in her long comment @72 gave a long
Sep 10, 2009 - 8:01 am 104. The UnPatriot:list of the whoppers told by Barack the Liar, aka Adolf Obama. She accepts more than one entity holding Agent Zero and his zombies accountable. So, why are you so minimalist compared to her, and me?
102. Anonymous:
“…his big fat ignorant southern maw last night…”
Bit of an elitist bigot aren’t we?
–The UnPatriot
Sep 10, 2009 - 8:01 am 105. barbara:All I can say is it’s time for all of to go John Galt.
Sep 10, 2009 - 9:55 am 106. Calvin Ball:Obama has been more successful than any black politician in the past, because he talks like a white radical. People like Jackson and Sharpton, and Jones and Wright just come out and tell you to your face what they’re thinking. They’ll never get anywhere doing that. Obama plays his cards a lot closer to his vest, and talks in broad generalities and euphemisms, more like Ayers and Holdren.
What you’re hearing is radical doublespeak. It’s like Arafat’s nicey-sounding speeches, that mean something very different in Arabic. Obama is a lot more like Ayers than Jones. He’s learned the Alinskyite art of mumblemarxism.
It’s not very effective in presidential speechifying, however. And he’s (and Axlerod, etc.) not smart enough to adapt methods. What you heard was the banality of poorly encrypted new-age Marxism.
Sep 10, 2009 - 10:55 am 107. Meryl:Even those who want to pretend they are just so nice (so much nicer that the rest of us) that they are willing to talk it through, one more time, and keep talking to little barry until he wins….need to keep in mind: you can’t negotiate with a liar.
Joe Wilson was right.
Sep 10, 2009 - 12:11 pm 108. Scott E:Joe Wilson’s outburst will be forgotten by Friday afternoon.
Sep 10, 2009 - 1:07 pm 109. FREE:He’ll one day be remembered as a truthteller in this mess.
Thomas Douglas, the father of the communist healthcare system in Canada did the same thing as the “big 0″ to push his agenda thru. All “tommy the commie” did was to repeat the same thing over and over until the house of commons said yes just to shut him up. Does no one learn? Can’t anyone look at history and see where the usurper from Kenya is taking America? Everyday he is holds the reins of Americas government, changing freedom into serfdom, citizenry into subjugation is one more day in socialist HELL. How much MORE America, how much?
Oh and Joe is right he is a lying scumbag.
Sep 10, 2009 - 1:36 pm 110. FREE:200 years ago he would be swinging already.
Sep 10, 2009 - 1:41 pm 111. Vasio:Does anyone remember how America got started?
Its was started because of people like 0bama not for them.
This is what you people are fighting for– The Conflict theory which is based upon the view that the fundamental causes of crime are the social and economic forces operating within society. The criminal justice system and criminal law are thought to be operating on behalf of rich and powerful social elites, with resulting policies aimed at controlling the poor.
The criminal justice establishment aims at imposing standards of morality and good behavior created by the powerful on the whole of society. Focus is on separating the powerful from have nots who would steal from others and protecting themselves from physical attacks. In the process the legal rights of poor folks might be ignored.
The middle class are also co-opted; they side with the elites rather the poor, thinking they might themselves rise to the top by supporting the status quo. So you continue to support the status quo!!!
That is why small crimes, even minor monetary ones are routinely punished quite severely, while large scale financial and business crimes are treated much more leniently. Theft of a television might receive a longer sentence than stealing millions through illegal business practices.
Therefore modern capitalist societies were controlled by a wealthy few who controlled the means of production while everyone else was reduced to the lot of being wage laborers.
From this perspective, certain types of crime take on a different character. Stealing can be seen as an attempt to take away from the rich.
This gives us the materialist view of history starts from the premise that the most important determinant of social life is the work people are doing, especially work that results in provision of the basic necessities of life, food, clothing and shelter.
SO #100 M. SIMON you know economics???
_____________________________________
In America for ceturies there has been Economic exploitation which ultimately leads directly to political oppression, as owners make use of their economic power to gain control of the state and turn it into a servant of economic interests. Police power, for instance, is used to enforce property rights and guarantee unfair contracts between capitalist and worker. Oppression also takes more subtle forms: religion serves capitalist interests by pacifying the population; intellectuals, paid directly or indirectly by capitalists, spend their careers justifying and rationalizing the existing social and economic arrangements.
Finally, (my hands are tired) the economic structure of society molds the superstructure, including ideas and the social institutions that support the class structure of society for example–the state, the educational system, the family, and religious institutions–.
Because the dominant or ruling class controls the social relations of production, the dominant ideology in capitalist society is that of the ruling class. Ideology and social institutions, in turn, serve to reproduce and perpetuate the economic class structure.
So you have those capitalist then you have a Democracy. So thats Capitalism and Democracy.
You have “THE PEOPLE” yelling Democratic Principle to tackle issues, Then You have the Capitalist using democratic principle to solve capitalistic problems… Because Capitalist can never just be said to be capitalist!!
Hope this helps everyone…
Class Dismissed!.
Sep 10, 2009 - 2:16 pm 112. Bob Belvedere:Quoted from and linked to at:
Sep 10, 2009 - 4:15 pmhttp://www.thecampofthesaints.com/2009.09.06_arch.html#1252593923065