The Ridiculous Health Care Summit

Is there anything more worthless than politicians talking about a real issue in front of a camera? I have no idea why President Obama complains; not only was he given massive majorities in the House and for a good while a filibuster-proof Senate, but he was given a feckless opposition. The Republicans don't have the stones to call Obama and the Democrats out for this shitpile of a bill.

Here's a live blog with an accompanying video: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/02/24/cato-experts-live-blogging-health-care-summit/

 

Jesus H., President Obama is playing fucking judge and jury. He let Hoyer and Baucus ramble on like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, but has now cut off two Republicans when they begin to demonstrate why this bill won't make anything better.

At some point, the Republicans just need to walk out.

 

Did anyone expect 'change' or 'fairness'?

 

But there's not even the appearance of if. Worse yet, the opponents of this bill aren't even calling "bullshit". When did the Executive Branch become royalty? The last I checked it was equal with the Legislative and the Judicial. We revolted over the idea of having a King acting against the interest of his people 234 years ago; we may need another.

 

The policy wonk in me would go down on Rep. Paul Ryan.

 

Ah, we get to the crux of the problem. President Obama bought shitty auto insurance out of law school that didn't cover him every way he wanted. Ergo, all insurance is evil.

IIRC, he was a Harvard Law School graduate. Couldn't he read and understand his policy? I think the problem is him, not the insurance company.

 

The whole thing is a joke.

 

The feed stopped from the WH. Here's the one from C-SPAN: http://www.c-span.org/Topics/Health-Care-Insurance-Reform-Legislation-Town-Hall.aspx

 

Okay, he's finally come clean on his position. He doesn't believe catastrophic health care insurance is insurance. He thinks people should pay more to have full health care insurance so you don't pay much out of pocket.

The overwhelming concern of taxpayers is that: a) health insurance is too expensive; and b) they're afraid of a health care incident bankrupting them. Catastrophic health insurance is dramatically cheaper than comprehensive insurance and keeps people from having a health care incident from bankrupting them. In other words, what he states his goals are for his bill aren't something he really wants to accomplish.

This is about control, not coverage. And that position is Un-American. As I was reminded by a Canadian, My Body, My Choice.

 

So far the debate has gone like this:

President Obama: I'm dictating what is and isn't a good argument.

Faceless Republican: These are areas where the bill sucks.

President Obama: We're running out of time and we have a lot to cover, besides a faceless Democrat wants to speak.

Faceless Democrat: I'm going to drone on about individual sob stories and try not to talk about the bill.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

awesome

 

I don't know guys, I don't think I can finish first and I really don't want to eat the cracker/bisquit in this circle jerk.

 

So how did the health care summit go? Good?

 

How odd, he is leading them to consensus like a leader does. Why doesn't he try Bush's royal method--open dozens of torture centers to get everyone to "agree."

It just ended on C-Span 3, on one of the anonymous high-numbered channels. The programmers have kept it off of C-Spans 1 and 2, which are among the mainstream channels. That way no one will see it.

 

Ruh roh. It looks like the previous Administration was more bi-partisan than this one.

http://keithhennessey.com/2010/02/23/bipartisan-successes/

 

you mean the dems were willing to give in more to republicans than republicans are willing to given in to dems?

 

Gee, and why do Pelosi and Reed come to mind, as well?

 

This thing seemed a no-win situation for Republicans. If they didn't show up, they'd appear obstinate and callous. By showing up they got to let Obama look very presidential and like a leader on this issue. Once again, he didn't come across as the socialist wingnut as he's always portrayed by the right.

I know it's supposed to be a post-racial society and everything, and it's not the point at all, but the most powerful visual that stuck with me from the few minutes I saw was a large group of really powerful white people in a big meeting organized by a black guy. (Kind of like most NFL teams, only the exact opposite.)

I wonder if there's some poor African American kid living in some project somewhere whose mom will make him watch it. Pretty cool to think about if you throw all the policy issues aside for just a minute.