On Health Care, ‘Obstructionist’ Charge a Big Miss
The Democrats have seriously misjudged public opinion in calling Republicans insincere with their opposition to ObamaCare.
As ObamaCare’s prospects continue to sink, there’s a lot of blame going around. Although Democrats hold such huge majorities that votes from congressional Republicans shouldn’t be needed for the legislation’s passage, a few Republican “ayes” would certainly help — especially since the moderate wing of the Democratic Party has made it clear it can’t be counted on to vote in favor of the bill either.
But despite the obvious rifts among the Democrats, it seems to be better politics to blame the other party. As a result, much Democratic commentary involves the castigation of Republicans for what’s characterized as their stubborn rejection of the administration’s “bipartisan” outreach on the issue of health care reform.
Democratic Party leaders and Obama have an odd notion of legislative bipartisanship, however. The term used to mean the crafting of a bill with input from both sides and almost invariably involved concessions that would include the dropping of provisions either side found too extreme. But the new definition of bipartisanship seems to be: “We get to write a controversial bill exactly the way we want to, and you get to say ‘yes’ to it.”
ObamaCare as it currently stands — especially with the inclusion of the public option — is not just any old bill that Republicans are reflexively fighting just for the sake of throwing a monkey wrench into the Democrats’ works. It is far more radical than that; many of its proposals go against the basic principles for which the Republican Party stands. And even though in recent years that party hasn’t always acted as though those principles were at all important, they still do mean something.
But it’s rare to hear Democrats (with the exception of the more moderate Blue Dogs and their supporters) admit that there could be any valid principle at all behind the Republican opposition.
Typical of the Democrat Party line — expressed in this piece by Salon’s Thomas Schaller — is the characterization of Republican objections to ObamaCare as “the reflexive Republican biting of Obama’s extended hand.” It’s difficult to know how much of this simplistic picture of Republicans as purely and nakedly obstructionist is a deeply held belief on the part of liberals and the left, and how much is mere rhetoric to fire up the base.
Whichever it may be, Democrats are certainly fond of characterizing Republicans as being “the party of no,” a catchy phrase that has sometimes seemed true. The charge is correct on the subject of the public option on health care; Republicans have indeed voiced a loud and resounding “no” to it. At the same time, Republicans have hardly been united in offering the “yes” of a coherent alternative to ObamaCare, although various proposals have been floated.
But there’s a difference between a “no” for the sake of obstructionist opposition and one that happens to align with sincere conviction. Republicans are certainly political animals, and there’s no doubt that many of them are motivated at least in part by a strong desire to frustrate the plans of Obama and the Democrats. But in the case of their opposition to the current health care reform bill, their refusal to support it has the added characteristic of being ideologically consistent with their long-held and oft-stated belief in less government control, as well as being popular with their constituents and the majority of the American people.
Most people can see that. It is for this reason that Democrat accusations that Republican objections are merely obstructionist in nature don’t sound very convincing, except perhaps to the Democrat choir.
Page 1 of 2 Next ->
Neo-Neocon is a New England-based blogger.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
43 Comments
1. patmanshardt.blogspot.com:I think what’s going on here is Democrats projecting what they know to be true about themselves on Republicans. That is, principle means little to them, and power everything. So when they openly doubt Republican’s sincerely, they’re showing their own lack of it. (Remember their surprise when Bush did exactly what he said he’d do?) Likewise, we tie ourselves in knots trying to understand them, thinking they might be sincere because we know it to be largely true of ourselves.
Aug 28, 2009 - 1:06 am 2. Meryl:It’s downright helpful of the statists to assist in the education of the public, I guess.
They’ve been screaming at conservatives for years for being obstructionist. During the past 18 months, they’ve been protesting WAY too much against a Republican party whose leadership has actually been (for the most part) nonconservative and ineffective (as the pubs base about that). The dhims’ endless identifying of Republicans (with slopover to Independents, American Democrats and all conservatives) as “The ‘NO’ People” is really going to be quite useful in the months ahead.
Americans, in record numbers and speed, are thoughtfully and loudly (yes, the two can go together) declaring a proud agreement with “For the last time, I said, ‘NO!’”
The libs have given us a couple of other helpful mantras that can now be turned on them. “Get your hands off my body” comes to mind. Their abortion cry that “it’s between a woman and her doctor” has disappeared in the noise of “We are now partners with God in matters of life and death.” Yuck. (I wonder if the great I AM has gotten the memo on that yet?)
For decades they’ve been (every other year, like clockwork) claiming that “Republicans are going to cut your Medicare!!!!” and now, very helpfully, under their complete rule as they like to call it, guess what? They’re proposing cuts in medical services for seniors! (”Take a pain pill, grandma.”) Maybe the seniors will finally figure out that the democrats really are the bad man in the unfamiliar car offering candy to the children if they will help him find his dog.
The pushback they are facing today is not effective because Republicans have gotten smart. It’s effective because it’s made up of millions of Americans who call themselves Democrats, Independents, Republicans and Conservatives, who are responding as individuals in such large numbers that the statists are just SURE it’s a giant plot.
Their problem is that they just don’t recognize genuine, thought-based, political resistance. I believe they are starting to get acquainted with it.
patmanshardt: your comment re Bush–that was too funny when that happened! I remember they attributed his consistency to political posturing! As farm kids in Montana, siblings knew all aboutthat as they would taunt one another, “Fox always smells his own scent first!”
Aug 28, 2009 - 2:58 am 3. Ed Wallis:Here is an article in the Wall Street Journal of related interest
please take special note of the GRAPH:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574374463280098676.html
I add – with hesitation – a shocking addendum, it’s a comment from a German acquaintence:
Ezekiel Emmanuel (spelling?) would have been safe under Hitler because, although he is a Jew, he shares Hitler’s view/opinion on WORTHLESS LIVES (”unwertes Leben”)!
Aug 28, 2009 - 3:43 am 4. J Milam:There are a lot of people out there who don’t want to have to think this healthcare debate through to its logical conclusion. They first start with the premise that healthcare is a fundamental human right and end with the premise that the only way that right can be extended to all is to just give it to them. What’s in between? They’re not sure. What’s more, they don’t care. The Democrats have their plan. That’s all they know. And the Democrats have told them, over and over, (in fact, they flood the TV air waves and print paper and whatever other media they can with that same message) that the Republicans don’t have a plan. So many people just repeat it. Even though it’s not true. And in that, their conclusion is that we MUST go with the Democrat plan. We have to do SOMETHING!
The Republicans aren’t helping. They’re not getting their message out.
I’ve come to see Democrats much like the company Microsoft. They’re better marketers than they are developers.
Aug 28, 2009 - 4:11 am 5. LeighB:I’m a “Reagan democrat” who has voted Republican only three times in 32 years. The lefties have no one to blame but themselves for the mess they’ve made on health care and on the economy. If they can’t figure out how to get this done–on the merits–then they ought to stop announcing at every turn how absofreakinlutely brilliant they are.
Aug 28, 2009 - 4:17 am 6. RE:It seems that all the Dems know how to do is project, smear, and vilify. There’s never any logic or reason to their arguments – just vilification.
It’s really quite pathetic.
Aug 28, 2009 - 4:17 am 7. Steve Sampson:I am new to these pages and not aware of the local traditions of PJM, but if a writer is too cowardly to use their own name on a piece they shouldn’t have written it and I don’t need to waste my time reading their rambling.
We are under the shadow of a possible Totalitarian Marxist takeover, I fully realize that by using my own name, I leave myself open to the full wrath of Marxism gone insane if our efforts fail to expose this assault on our freedoms. The Wee Wee Messiah is more than ready to move against us if he can consolidate his power and make his move without fear of failure.
Using cute pen names shows fear and a willingness to bow down to the racially charged Marxist Front. Show weakness and the bully will be more than willing to exploit your weakness.
The men who signed the Declaration of Independence would have all been hung if the Revolution had failed, but they had the courage to sign their names to that sacred document. Your reluctance to sign your silly 800 words is contemptible. Having the strength of your convictions is important in these dangerous times.
Aug 28, 2009 - 5:16 am 8. Kazooskibum:The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise.
Aug 28, 2009 - 5:43 am 9. Steve Sampson:Neo must be an influential coward to have you censoring remarks that are so benign. I will try later.
Aug 28, 2009 - 5:57 am 10. NObama 2012:They don’t think we are stupid they know that we the unwashed peasants are stupid.
We are sheep and will follow their revolution for a New America.
President Obamas good friend and political mentor said it best.
Bill Ayers was so affected when Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) President Paul Potter, asked his audience, “How will you live your life so that it doesn’t make a mockery of your values?” Ayers later wrote in his memoir, Fugitive Days, that his reaction was: “You could not be a moral person with the means to act, and stand still. [...] To stand still was to choose indifference. Indifference was the opposite of moral”
Now these intellectuals over our unwashed protest are using the Ted Kennedy express to bomb us with a Reformed Insurance Health Care time bomb.
Sorry for ranting-
I feel so stupid
Aug 28, 2009 - 6:34 am 11. Jeff Weimer:7. Steve Sampson:
Here’s a blog at PJM more to your taste:
http://pajamasmedia.com/ronrosenbaum/2009/08/20/aw-bad-news-for-anonymous-abusive-commmenter-cowards/
Go there to commiserate.
Really, don’t talk about the issues brought up by the author, just blithely dismiss them in the act of rocking your hobbyhorse, which is quite beyond the topic of discussion, Steve.
Aug 28, 2009 - 6:47 am 12. The Toad:Better to kill the health care plan now than kill the health care recipients later.
Aug 28, 2009 - 6:58 am 13. goy:Ed – if we take Zeke at his word, he’s reduced either to a mental defective or a ham-handed leftist shill. Over-consumption of health care (the subject of his screed, as discussed in that WSJ ed.) is caused by an “insurance will cover it” mentality that pervades both health provider and health consumer, not by the factors he disingenuously (or stupidly) blames.
Because of tort liability, health care providers are far more likely to overtreat/overtest (since “insurance will cover it”), simply as a way of protecting themselves from the open-loop legal lottery staffed by ambulance chasers and the likes of lying liars like John Edwards.
Health care consumers are far more likely to run to a doctor with every little ailment, whether real or imagined (for instance, the litany of “symptoms’ they’re relentlessly warned about direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising) because “insurance will cover it”. And they’re more likely to run to an expensive ER rather than wait for an appointment with their GP for the same reason. This is in stark contrast to those who have high-deductible, low-premium catastrophic insurance, and who pay out-of-pocket for routine health care. Since the Rand Study, we’ve known that this latter group consumes far less health care with no difference in health outcomes.
For this and other reasons, the comprehensive aspect of health insurance is the biggest part of what’s contributing to skyrocketing costs. We need to stop “debating” over how best to provide “coverage” and start looking for ways to get BACK to a health care market that supports affordable, routine health care based on a direct relationship between health care provider and consumer. The proxy monopoly of insurance companies – which now controls not only the price of all health care, but virtually all transactions (read: cash flow) and access to it as well – is the heart of what’s causing the skyrocketing cost “crisis” now being exploited by the socialists.
On the left’s disingenuous blame game aimed at Republicans, as discussed in neo’s excellent article, it’s instructive to note that we’re saddled with the current inept and corrupt Legislature and Executive we have for one reason: the intentional misfeasance of the left’s entrenched, lying, Fifth Column media shills. As Bill Whittle has demonstrated, if you take away the influence of BHO’s sycophant media, last year’s electoral map would have looked more like 1984’s.
The Democrat sweep of Congress – which started the downturn in our economy – and the election of an inept, inexperienced community organizer to the office of POTUS were made possible by the leftist media’s relentless and incessant demonization of President Bush, everyone in his administration, and the Republican party, which were blamed daily for everything from attacks on the U.S. by islamist terrorists to acts of God in the form of city-destroying hurricanes. Anyone who didn’t recognize this as propaganda simply wasn’t paying attention or was too blinded by “it can’t happen here” mentality. It did happen here, and we have the corrupt, inept, wholly unaccountable government to prove it.
These shills and their directorate don’t have Bush to kick around anymore – at least not with any ready believability, since he’s no longer a visible public figure – so the only target left to effectively demonize is the Republican Party. On one level, they’re going with what has worked for them in the past. On another level, now that the left has effective control of the entire U.S. government, and there are no elections left to steal, the tactics have shifted.
In this particular case, especially, statement’s like Rahm’s are now intended just as much for media consumption – where they will sway whoever is easily misled – as they are intended to whip the left’s base into the next level of frenzy. Notably, the rank-and-file Obama supporter – in particular, the young who could care less about health care – has largely retired back to whatever world they normally inhabit (away from politics), waiting for the manna from heaven promised by BHO the Candidate. This leaves the hard-core leftist “street” to handle coercion of the masses.
The incident involving SEIU’s assault and battery of Ken Gladney and, prior to that, the ACORN attacks on AGI execs and Black Panther voter intimidation sanctioned by BHO’s AG, etc., all point to a methodology we’ve seen before in the form of the Squadristi, the SA and the Stalinists responsible for the genocide against the kulaks. Expect to see more of this as more onerous remainder of the left’s agenda (cap-and-tax, amnesty, etc.) hits inevitable roadblocks.
Leftist Democrats have never been interested in debating their case on the merits. Ultimately, their socially suicidal position has no merits, as has been demonstrated over and over again in history. Adolescents don’t operate based on merits, they operate based on feelings. Adult, moral adolescents use the deceitful pretense of debate aimed at endless compromise – a tactic which has successfully transformed America from a nation of opportunity to a nation of entitlement in a scant 75 years.
This phenomenon is one more in a long list of signs that the Republic will only be preserved by ceasing to compromise with the left. Stop taking the left seriously and start taking them to the woodshed to teach them the value of the other 3/5ths of morality that their morally adolescent psyche rejects . A holistic morality is necessary for a sustainable society; fail to reinstate respect for that and we guarantee one more confirmation of Santayana’s admonition.
Aug 28, 2009 - 7:00 am 14. Sebastian Shaw:The Democrats–who wrote the bills in isolation from the Republicans–are looking for political cover since they are now wide awake & aware that both House & Senate bills are disasters. The Democrats’ spin will not work. These bills are simply terrible idealogue Leftist nightmares for the United States of America to transform our wonderful country into Communist states such as Cuba, North Korea, China, & the former Soviet Union. These bills are antithetical to the fundamental fabric of America itself. The Democrats know this & try continually to deceive the public who is not so passive anymore. The blame is solely on the corrupt Socialist Democrats & Obama’s precious unconstitutional czars who wrote the bills. Why won’t the writers stand out from the shadows? Sunlight needs to be let in to wash away the mold of corrupt power hungry Democrats.
Aug 28, 2009 - 7:00 am 15. UsaBruce:I appreciate the analysis of the Lefts tactics, but they are not going to change. They have their Alinsky playbook, it worked to attain their current power. The only thing that remains is to vote them out of power and relegate them back to the whacko fringe where they belong. No more debating people who slander instead of discourse, no more defending against false charges of racism hurled by racists. DEFEAT THEM. That is what is left. DC 9/12 !!!
Aug 28, 2009 - 7:04 am 16. UsaBruce:#7, Steve Sampson : If we lose, and worst case scenario by the Govt occurs, they will simply confiscate all of the records of sites such as PJM. Thereby having a list of the names and all other info on the people of said site. Therefore, I will use any damn name that pleases ME when I post, with no concern for your thoughts on it. I am a former Forest Fire Fighter of The California Division of Forestry and do not appreciate the likes of you calling me a coward.
Aug 28, 2009 - 7:17 am 17. Anonymous:Most people can see that. It is for this reason that Democrat accusations that Republican objections are merely obstructionist in nature don’t sound very convincing, except perhaps to the Democrat choir….
The only problem is that it’s unlikely to persuade most moderate Americans, the very people Obama and Pelosi and Reid will need to convince of the wisdom of ObamaCare and the public option in order to gain the support of those moderate Democrats in Congress whose votes are required to pass the bill.
Any proof of this? Because most Americans aren’t Republicans to begin with. In fact, the vast majority, nearly seventy percent, disapprove of Republican actions on the health care debate. Your strategy of dragging down Obama’s numbers may work, but those numbers don’t seem to be accruing to the Republican party. If anything, you’re driving people away from politics, which I assume is the point, leaving fewer hardcore partisans who would, freed from the ideological constraints, naturally gravitate to the least wingnutty group. If anything, the Republican brand is so tarnished with hopped up crazy that no one but the most ardent nutball would ever want to be associated with them.
Aug 28, 2009 - 8:19 am 18. Victor:Only 20% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans.
72 percent of those questioned [in a York Times/CBS News poll] supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers. Twenty percent said they were opposed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html
Okay, So, 20% of Americans are Republicans.
And 20% of Americans oppose a public option.
I don’t have to spell out exactly what that means, do I?
Aug 28, 2009 - 8:36 am 19. Will Donnelly:A new study by SurveyUSA puts support for a public option at a robust 77 percent, one percentage point higher than where it stood in June.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=5ba17aa2-f1b9-4445-a6b8-62b9d1ba8693
Aug 28, 2009 - 8:38 am 20. Steve W:17. Anonymous: “Your strategy of dragging down Obama’s numbers may work, but those numbers don’t seem to be accruing to the Republican party. If anything, you’re driving people away from politics, which I assume is the point, leaving fewer hardcore partisans who would, freed from the ideological constraints, naturally gravitate to the least wingnutty group.”
Fully agree. The strategy of the bitter loser party these last few months has been to gin up bipartisan vitriol and hatred so that ordinary American will become cynical and will get turned off from getting involved with politics, activism and voting.
The GOP has literally nothing to lose at this point, so throwing out lies and smears, and constantly, ruthlessly attacking tehe opposition in order to mortify an entire generation of Americans to become apathetic and hate politics is really their only chance to level the playing field.
Aug 28, 2009 - 8:50 am 21. AdrianS:Obamacare … A Dead Duck!
A woman brought a very limp duck into a local veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m sorry, but your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.”
The distressed woman wailed, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am sure. The duck is dead,“replied the vet.
“How can you be so sure?” she protested. “I mean you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something.”
The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room.
A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck.”
The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman. The duck’s owner, still in shock, took the bill.
”$150!” she cried, “$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!?”
The vet shrugged, “I’m really sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20. But with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it’s now $150.”
From: http://www.kxmc.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=415743
Aug 28, 2009 - 10:28 am 22. JED:I am an independent who became an obstructionist when the phrase “Government Run” was first used. I do not have to read the whole bill,(any of five with yet to be written riders) to know that the bill would be an obstruction to real health care and the entire economy. I therefore vote to obstruct the obstruction.
Aug 28, 2009 - 10:30 am 23. UsaBruce:You Libs giving your astroturf poll numbers and bashing the Repub Party are missing one BIG point. The Tea Party movement is the real deal, it’s the silent majority, the middle class, standing up and saying ENOUGH! We think that DC is corrupt to the core, BOTH PARTYS, we are sick of the elites playing good cop, bad cop while together ignoring the wishes of the American people. We are sick of any oath breaking traitor who votes for their own or for special interests over what is best for America. We are sick of 50 years of a minority far Left violently demonstrating while we shook our heads, kept working, raised our kids, and paid taxes to finance everybody elses agenda but what WE believe in. You fools think you are seeing the GOP at those Town Halls? Look closely, that’s what the middle class,that everyone calls idiots, looks like. You malign US, the backbone of this country. The GOP is reaping temporary benefits from our awakening, but they are in for a big surprise come 2010. We are working day and night to replace EVERY Congressman who is part of the corruptness of DC. They will be replaced with Patriots who respect the Constitution. Your fight is not with the GOP, your fight is with US. We do not want a socialist country. We will not accept the tyranny of a Leftist rule. You can run your smarmy mouths all you want, but we vastly outnumber you.
Aug 28, 2009 - 10:43 am 24. Calvin Ball:Of course, they’re a bunch of angry, mean nuts. They don’t have any paper-mache heads! Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, as long as it’s done by a paper-mache head. Paper mache makes the protester racially ambiguous, and thus beyond criticism. When these angry whities show their white skin, that makes them racists.
Got it?
Aug 28, 2009 - 11:18 am 25. Steve DeMarcus:Sorry I am against this bill just because democrats and more especially because Obama wants this bill. I have read parts of the bill and an overview and find it horrific. Let this be a state issue.
If I have to I will go to the VA but try to not do that if at all possible. Just leave me and my family alone and I will do the same for you. I am not your responsibility and you are most certainly not mine.
Aug 28, 2009 - 11:33 am 26. myth buster:Victor, that poll you quote is worthless. Why? Because IT’S TWO MONTHS OLD! You’re deliberately obfuscating the collapse in support for the public option by quoting a poll that is two months out of date.
Aug 28, 2009 - 11:44 am 27. RE:25. Steve DeMarcus:
Just leave me and my family alone ….
That’s what most people want, but control freaks cannot help but be control freaks.
There is no ‘live and let live’ in the leftist world, no respect for freedom of choice, and no respect for America’s founding principles.
Control Freaks – a curse on humanity.
Aug 28, 2009 - 11:55 am 28. Scott:Its amusing how the trolls think that everyone who is opposed to President Wee-Wee’d Up’s (he’s soooo eloquent) policies is Republican. Yes many conservatives are registered as Republicans. What other major political party even comes close to Conservative positions? Sure there are much smaller parties, but half the time they can’t get anyone even on the ballot and the other half you end up voting for the Republican just to try to keep the Democrat from winning. The one thing Republican and Democrat politicians do agree on is that only there should only be R’s or D’s in power.
The Republicans aren’t gaining supporters because most of their base is disgusted with their Dem-Lite polices, however when the time comes in 2010 you’ll see a lot of Republicans get the votes just to kick the Democrats out of office. Unless of course Rahm’s Census power grab and the billions going to ACORN allow them to pull off massive and wide spread voter fraud on a grander scale than last election.
Aug 28, 2009 - 12:34 pm 29. Peg:Ever noticed that the people who are pushing socialized medicine the hardest are all far left liberals from California? What possible could explain that? The answer is obvious. First, the explosion in welfare roles caused by this will almost certainly guarantee their reelection. Second, it will heap the massive cost of providing free healthcare to all of their illegal aliens onto the rest of the nation.
Aug 28, 2009 - 2:09 pm 30. erik of dale:You have to wonder if the people who are so supportive of Obambi’s health bill have actually sat down and read it. I mean slowly, carefully, thoughtfully, analyzing the content and trying to understand the meaning. Cause only an idiot would support his monstrosity if he or she had actually read it.
Aug 28, 2009 - 2:57 pm 31. neo-neocon:About that poll with 77% of Americans favoring a choice between a public option and private insurance:
But the numbers tell another story, as well.
Earlier in the week, after pollsters for NBC dropped the word “choice” from their question on a public option, they found that only 43 percent of the public were in favor of “creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies.”
Aug 28, 2009 - 3:39 pm 32. zhombre:Bipartisanship to the Stepford Liberal Democrats has always meant that Republicans roll over and play dead while the progressive agenda is enacted.
Aug 28, 2009 - 3:59 pm 33. Sebastian Shaw:Besides Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd’s health is still in decline & has missed several important sessions; therefore, Byrd should be watched as well. The Democrats will not have 60 votes given Joe Lieberman has already said he would vote against Obamacare. I also do not see reconciliation will work in the Senate either given the Sleeping Giant uprising in August. The returning legislatures of both houses will return battered & their egos bruised; they will be torn about Obamacare, Cap & Trade, & Amnesty 2.0.
Aug 28, 2009 - 4:03 pm 34. Jason S:Ed #3 -
Excellent article – thanks for the link.
What a coincidence that the people who will receive the smallest allocation tend to be mostly conservative. The Harvard graduates among us can eliminate those pesky seniors and bring down health care costs while simultaneously securing a pretty advantageous demographic shift to a younger population. You know, kill two birds with one stone (liberals do have a newfound desire for more efficiency in this sense at least – hey, credit where credit is due).
I am 32 and still have a lot to learn, but I know enough to see that seniors actually have more to contribute to society in their wisdom and experience than many people my age. After all, they vote in droves and have kept liberals from driving us off a cliff on numerous occasions. If this plan had been implemented years ago, we might today be systematically euthanizing (they will no doubt select a different the very men and women who kept us, quite literally, from speaking German today. The health plan as it was written by Pelosi, Reid, and Co. actually infringes on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happyness – all three. That Pelosi can’t see the hypocrisy in calling opposition to this monstrosity unAmerican is absolutely mind boggling.
That graph is a worthless pile of liberal self-centered hogwash, and my graph would be a perfect inversion of it (I’m sure that makes me racist in some sort of convuluted roundabout way). Social engineers should feel free to experiment amongst themselves, but leave me and my family alone for God’s sake.
Aug 28, 2009 - 5:37 pm 35. Nolanimrod:“Emanuel may indeed be so deeply cynical about Republicans that he truly believes they have no principles other than their own selfish drive for power and the need to favor the special interest groups that reward them financially”
It is not cynicism. That might be open to discussion and debate. It is projection, and therefore unassailable. Any opposition just proves it.
Aug 28, 2009 - 5:46 pm 36. Andrew_M_Garland:There can be no debate because the Obama Team and the Democrat part of Congress has not released a readable document spelling out the policy that they want to implement.
The government demands detailed, researched Environmental Impact Statements before starting a building. We should have Official Policy Impact Statements before our representatives change our society.
We need proposed results, expected evolution, methods, justifications, comparative studies, past successes of similar policy, funding sources, expected difficulties, the works.
I hope people of all parties and positions could agree that this is fundamental. It is non-partisan to demand that the President and all politicians show how they have carefully researched their proposals.
It is not our job to read tea leaves and pick apart 1000 page bills written in Old English to figure out what the bills are really saying. The bills are not enough. They are implementation, not coherent policy. We have been directed to look only at the bills as a tactic to make the press and public scratch for the underlying ideas.
No company can run without books of account. No government can write legislation without a plan in the background. The plan is there. Let’s see it.
Did Obama (or any politician) start with such a policy study, or not?
If so, then where is it? If not, then he is a fool. And we are fools if we accept legislation without explanation.
Is Obama legislating from some scribbles on a cocktail napkin?
Does he want to pass just anything, then rearrange it later to do what he wants?
Where is the policy paper?
If they won’t answer:
OK, so where is the cocktail napkin?
No Legislation Without Explanation
A Few Words About Policy
Aug 28, 2009 - 7:50 pm 37. Mongoose:Mr Sampson:
Stop dictating behavior to other people. Spare us your pompous moralizing and sniveling, supercilious condescension. It churlish and rude. I can assure you that you are no one’s moral superior here. Take your huffy sense self-importance and go somewhere else if you cannot behave yourself. It is really none of your business how the author wishes to represent herself. She is a well know internet blogger. You appear to be a nonentity, no matter how high your own self-regard may be. You owe the people here an apology for you rude behavior, If you are not man enough to do so then leave.
Aug 29, 2009 - 5:13 pm 38. Tournefort:“There can be no debate because the Obama Team and the Democrat part of Congress has not released a readable document spelling out the policy that they want to implement.
The government demands detailed, researched Environmental Impact Statements before starting a building. We should have Official Policy Impact Statements before our representatives change our society. …”
Excellent.
Please send your complete statement to the White House and all members of Congress.
Aug 29, 2009 - 9:40 pm 39. Now and Then:3. Ed Wallis:
” . . . a comment from a German acquaintence”
What a coincidence, I have a few German friends, too. One of them said the other night, “Obama is such a refreshing change from the lack of intellect and vision we saw over the last eight years.”
Shocking, isn’t it? And not a word about Nazis! You conservatives should try that sometime, leaving Nazis out of the discussion.
Aug 30, 2009 - 6:16 pm 40. Now and Then:24. Calvin Ball:
Of course, they’re a bunch of angry, mean nuts. They don’t have any paper-mache heads!”
It’s not that they don’t have any. It’s that they don’t know how to make them. But they’ve made do.
http://www.mofopolitics.com/2009/07/28/rep-kratovil-d-md-hung-in-effigy-at-anti-obamacare-rally/
Get it?
Aug 30, 2009 - 6:23 pm 41. Tom Grey:Conservatives and thinking people oppose the ‘draft only’(?) big-gov’t will solve the problem bill.
But it is certainly a tragedy that Reps do NOT have agreement on a health-care insurance voucher system, or any other specific policy alternative.
The crux of the issue is the fact that if one is spending one’s own money, there’s a budget and folks do consider cost-benefits for their particular situation. If one is spending gov’t OR insurance company money, folks want to maximize the chance of living — and quite rightly, too.
A $6k / year health insurance voucher, good for treatment at an VA gov’t hospital, would be a good place to start. But there are too many other good places to start, the Rep party should choose one program and promote it as better than the Dem proposal, and push it instead.
And Steve Samson, do a little homework like look at neo’s own blog, before showing us all such breath taking pomposity. I write my name, but respect the ideas of those with good ideas even without knowing their name (tho maybe the apple can get even smaller now?)
Aug 30, 2009 - 6:41 pm 42. Poor Citizen:If you take away big insurance money, the AMA, lunatic fringe, most of the Neo-con (artists) you suddenly get a very smart, cogent opposition to the left wing. But hey, to the smart wing side of the republican party. Its only a suggestion.
Aug 31, 2009 - 10:29 am 43. deguello:POOR CITIZEN: If you take away George Soros,welfare dependent louts, ambulance chasers,illegal aliens,Dr. mengele wannabees,DMV employees, and marxoid syphillitics,you have one left to support Obama”care”.BTW: I appreciate the sincerityin your handle,but you forgot the rest of it, ie:AND EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN.
Aug 31, 2009 - 7:59 pm