A cup of coffee raised in tribute to Speaker Pelosi
In the wake of Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts, health-insurance reform was widely proclaimed as a hopeless cause. As recently as January, to cite just one example of many, Washington überhack Fred Barnes was chortling that “the health care bill, ObamaCare, is dead with not the slightest prospect of resurrection.”
Nancy Pelosi accepts the speaker's gavel from John Boehner in 2007, becoming the first woman ever to hold that post.
Reading through various accounts of its resurrection, I’ve been struck by the importance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. After the loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat, it was Pelosi who blew off White House suggestions to “go small” and seek small victories. And it was the speaker from San Francisco who instilled discipline into a notoriously undisciplined Democratic caucus and rounded up the votes needed for Sunday’s unlikely triumph.
“Just think,” she said from the House floor Sunday night, once success was assured, “we will be joining those who have established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, health care for all Americans.”
My favorite quote about Pelosi’s impact, culled from the New York Daily News, came from Democratic political strategist Mark Siegel:
“She’s Lyndon Johnson in a skirt. She was patient, tireless, persistent and cajoling – and she pulled off what no one else could.”
Pelosi has long been a designated “Object of Hate” for those on the right, for reasons that frankly escape me. All you had to do was flash a picture of her on the screen at a conservative political gathering and you could feel the room recoil. This historic success will no doubt cement that standing. And while the Republicans certainly will try to use health care as a lever to pry Pelosi from the speaker’s podium, they will find it almost impossible to undo the legislation itself.
So in this, National Women’s History Month, let’s raise a cup of morning coffee to Speaker Pelosi: She got it done. Let’s also take a sip in the hope that years from now, we may read about some hard-nosed male legislative leader who, fresh off a major success, is labeled “Pelosi in long pants.”
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618 comments Add your comment
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
11:53 am
I DO NOT WANT THE IRS POLICING MY TAXES.
Firstly, our tax system is pernicious and criminal in its needless complexity.
Secondly, it is entirely contrived to heavily tax human labor and necessities such as food, clothing, furniture, appliances, etc.
And it not only fails to tax speculators and money-hiders, it actually rewards them.
Remember in 2000 when GWB said he was “Going to crack down on wall Street?”
(NO? Of course not. Some of you conveniently forget a great many things.)
One of his very first acts as POTUS was to REDUCE the raises set for the SEC’s Corporate Oversight and Policing Board.
Which was already insanely undermanned and underfunded.
Which explains why indictments for corporate fraud and other crimes dropped dramatically during those years.
Even though corporate crime was exploding.
And that is why I have asked repeated, when did the GOP become the Anti-Law & Order Party?
Bruno
March 23rd, 2010
11:53 am
“Chris Hedges put it this way: “This bill is not about fiscal responsibility or the common good.” “The bill is about increasing corporate profit at taxpayer expense,” Hedges wrote. “It lavishes hundreds of billions in government subsidies on insurance and drug companies.”
So once again, what are you Libs cheering about? I thought you despised the insurance and drug companies? Your exalted leaders just handed our collective financial futures over to them.
I know, I know, you fell for that BS from Obama about compassion and fairness.
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
11:54 am
“Hi..HITLER”
Hi Hitler???
I mean, I’ve seen historically ignorant on this blog many times, but this takes the biscuit.
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
11:56 am
“I DO NOT WANT THE IRS POLICING MY TAXES”
um. ???
that’s what they, you know … DO. and, frankly, it’s one of the reasons the US is a more reliable country to invest in than, say, GREECE.
but, if we’re going to play that game … I do not want the police monitoring my speed!
Dave R.
March 23rd, 2010
11:57 am
Personally, I can’t wait for the GOP man that replaces her in 2011.
Just as long as we can toss her into the ash heap of history – soonest.
History is a long-term study, and history will ultimately show her to be one of the worst Speakers ever to wield a gavel.
NowReally
March 23rd, 2010
11:58 am
A true statesman, VP Joe Biden, brought the young man whose mother passed away closer to the President, as he signed the healthcare bill. It was a beautiful moment.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:59 am
“Obama says Nancy is one of the speakers we ever had”
Based on the rest of your post…I think you left a word out of this.
JDW
March 23rd, 2010
11:59 am
Swampy you are blowing smoke and FUD. No one has been “made a criminal” at the worst you might have to pay a fine. Not exactly a crminal now is it? Second if you go read the bill you will find that provisions have been made to subsidize lower income people so no one will ever have to chose between food and health insurance. Get a new argument these don’t hold water.
John Birch
March 23rd, 2010
11:59 am
Forcing people to buy health insurance as a means of keeping the rates lower may not be unconstitutional, but it used to be considered un-American because it is so obviously socialist. Of course there were quite a few American socialists, but mostly before WW I or after 2009!
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:00 pm
What’s wrong with Isackson?
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
12:00 pm
“Don’t know how long ago you lived in Jax. but its slightly different these days. High crime area. reminds me of the murder capital Atlanta was of my youth and teen years”
Well, long enough ago that I had to be careful where I went and when, in order to avoid the riots!
TaxPayer
March 23rd, 2010
12:01 pm
Oh Noes! I just looked out the window and it is raining frogs and then a volcano popped up out of nowhere and fire and brimstone began to rain down. It’s the end of the world as we know it. But, I feel fine.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
12:02 pm
B, I presume your “demonizing of liberals” (to paraphrase a good friend of mine!) is NOT directed at me…
For the record I do not despise drug companies. Especially while taking Warfarin (good old rat poisoning!) everyday to prevent further blood clots.
I do not despise corporations. I own one.
I simply DEMAND that the multi-nationals once again be held accountable – FULLY accountable – to the rule of law.
And that they pay their fair share.
Do you not agree that Washington DC is corporate owned territory?
This current situation of faux capitalism in America directly violates the Three Laws of Capitalism.
It is unacceptable and it must change…
JDW
March 23rd, 2010
12:03 pm
Hi Bosch
“What’s wrong with Isackson”
He would have made a great kid in the 20’s since he is occasionally seen but never heard.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
March 23rd, 2010
12:03 pm
Well, I’m with that guy that don’t want the IRS policing his taxes. Let’s just get rid of the IRS. We don’t need them.
I’ll be honest—honest.
HMOBama!!!!
March 23rd, 2010
12:04 pm
It’s not fair that Bookman gets access to der umlaut on his keyboard when none of us can use der umlaut.
If I coulda had der umlaut all these years, the AJC online would be mine, and mein alone. Mit der umlaut, I could have taken over der cyberverlde unt been king kraut!!!
Ich vants ein UMLAUT!!!
I Report :-) You Whine :-( Have A Drink On Us, obozo!
March 23rd, 2010
12:05 pm
President Obozo signs historic health care bill-Urinal
#@!$ him, just sayin…
@@
March 23rd, 2010
12:06 pm
I can’t help but recall when Nancy, Speaker of the House, claimed we had lost 500,000,000 jobs a month since the economic crisis hit. The entire population is 305,000,000 +/- but jay thinks Palin is full of bumbling blather.
jay’s double standard?
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
12:06 pm
ama says Nancy is one of the speakers we ever had”
Based on the rest of your post…I think you left a word out of this.
I did, just bring myself to connect that word with Nancy! In fact it was a mistake!
chuck
March 23rd, 2010
12:06 pm
Jay, just one question for you: Given what we know, not just about the process but what ended up in the bill BECASE of the process, do you think this Healthcare Bill is good for America?
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:06 pm
JDW,
That’s true, but I saw a banner up top that read he was in the hospital. I always kind of like Isakson – don’t agree with anything he does, but he always seemed rather decent – unlike the other Senator from GA who makes me think of a used car salesman.
Normal
March 23rd, 2010
12:08 pm
Just got back from my first Obamacare check up. It was free, but I have to ask, when checking my prostate, were both of this hands supposed to be on my shoulders?
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:09 pm
OK, Isakson’s in intensive care for a bacterial infection. Glad he has good insurance.
HMOBama!!!!
March 23rd, 2010
12:10 pm
“LBJ in a skirt….. Nancy P. in a jock strap”.
The umlaut obviously went to Bookman’s head.
Outhouse GoKart
March 23rd, 2010
12:10 pm
“A true statesman, VP Joe Biden, brought the young man whose mother passed away closer to the President, as he signed the healthcare bill. It was a beautiful moment.”
Joe Biden…
All flash no substance
Styling and Profiling
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 23rd, 2010
12:11 pm
@@
I’m amazed that they love Pelosi and hate Sara Palin. Compared to Pelosi, Palen is a Rhodes Scholar.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
12:11 pm
chuck, a valid question.
But to all my friends on the right, I simply ask two questions.
If you had a better plan why wasn’t it implemented in the many, many years when you controlled both the WH and Congress? (And by proxy, why didn’t you even attempt to fix this clusterf&ck?)
And secondly, if it is because you had no superior alternative to the present and totally unacceptable situation, do you have one now?
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:11 pm
Dear Johnny Isakson,
Believe in karma much? Just asking.
Matilda
March 23rd, 2010
12:11 pm
Bruno, “So once again, what are you Libs cheering about? I thought you despised the insurance and drug companies?”
You’re right! I do despise them, and this bill falls way short of what I wanted to see. (Put me in Kucinich’s corner, he speaks for me.) I’m not exactly jumping up and down, but my appreciation of this signing stems from the feeling that FINALLY we are moving in the right direction. That feels good, kind of like when the tooth finally stops throbbing after the crown is placed. Call me corny, but a lil’ dab o’ hope tastes good on top of a plate full of bills and responsibilities.
Note my use of the word “feeling.” I always reserve a space in my head for the possibility that no matter what happens in Washington, and no matter who’s in charge, I (and the rest of the American middle class) will still be the one getting scrooo’ed over.
The Bush Crime Family
March 23rd, 2010
12:11 pm
We are the good guys!!
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
12:12 pm
John Birch,
“We are #1 in the world for survival rates for all five of the most common cancers!”
And infant mortality?
Outhouse GoKart
March 23rd, 2010
12:13 pm
I prefer HCare just the way it was I mean is or will be or perhaps was gonna be or was…
@@
March 23rd, 2010
12:14 pm
Come on now, NIF…..among Pelosi’s many “assets” there’s that vineyard worth $25mil.
(ISH)
John Birch
March 23rd, 2010
12:14 pm
AmVet – Better to ask why O hasn’t stopped too horrendous wars. Or why didn’t Clinton fix health care back when he said he was going to?
Dave R.
March 23rd, 2010
12:14 pm
“If you had a better plan why wasn’t it implemented in the many, many years when you controlled both the WH and Congress? (And by proxy, why didn’t you even attempt to fix this clusterf&ck?)”
How many times does this have to be answered before the dumb masses stop asking it?
Hint: Some people recognize and respect the rules of the Senate on major legislation.
Outhouse GoKart
March 23rd, 2010
12:14 pm
“And infant mortality?”
Well ya cant win em all and somebody has got to die.
REPUBLICANS ARE SORRY
March 23rd, 2010
12:15 pm
Nancy Pelosi is the greatest Speaker of the “Peoples’ House” ever ! God bless Nancy Pelosi,Harry Reid, President Obama and every one who fought the good fight, knocked on doors, made phone calls and COMMUNITY ORGANIZED ! YES WE CAN !!!! AND WE WILL !!!!!!!!!
getalife
March 23rd, 2010
12:15 pm
The eleven year old that the cons attacked is in the historic picture of the President signing the bill.
Karma.
j,uh
March 23rd, 2010
12:15 pm
every barn needs a lightning rod
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:15 pm
jewcowboy,
Silly jewcowboy, the babies are already born!!!!!! Then it’s up to their parents to work and get insurance and if they are too stupid and lazy to do that, then it’s their fault if their kid gets sick. D’uh!!!
Matilda
March 23rd, 2010
12:15 pm
@@, I apologize if I was wrong, and Nancy Pelosi really did “have” you before she “lost” you on the sexism thing. FWIW, I don’t care for her, and still have a problem with the way she let Bush hide behind her skirts too. Is that when you liked her? When she became Bush’s bestest friend in 2007? If so, I’ll eat the sammich.
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
12:15 pm
jewcowboy – you’re kidding right? you know the only kind of child they care about is the one that’s still in utero … after that, they’re on their own …
getalife
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
fox news today is what Waterloo looks like.
Horrible day for their party.
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
getalife – 12:15 – are you talking about the kid Malkin stalked???
REPUBLICANS ARE SORRY
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
I’m loving this “hopey, changey” !!!!!! YES WE CAN !!!!!!!
FIRED UP!!!!!!! READY TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!! FIRED UP!!!!!!!!!!! READY TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fly-On-The-Wall
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
JB,
I believe Clinton couldn’t fix healthcare back when he wanted to because the Party of No was in the way and has been until now.
Southern Comfort (Warum Amerikaner so böse die ganze Zeit sind?)
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
Normal
I don’t think that’s part of the procedure.
Just Sayin…
j,uh
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
amvet – the repub control was never bullet proof like the dems have
getalife
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
USinUK ,
Yes, he is famous.
Dave R.
March 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
Not so USinUK, we all know it takes a village idiot to raise a liberal.
Swami Dave
March 23rd, 2010
12:18 pm
Congratulations M Percy!
Your 11:17 highlighted the absurdity that is the collectivist liberal theology. At core, the ever-burgeoning demands of the dependency class expecting producers and achievers to provide benefits and services that they will not earn for themselves. Essentially, using a democratic action (vote) to legislate theft because they are unwilling to provide for themselves.
The unfortuate consequence for America being that so long as collectivists continue allowing more and more dependents to “hook onto” the producers instead of requiring that they become economic engines for themselves, the overall productivity and opportunity to excel will continue to diminish.
America needs more engines in our economic train; not more cabooses looking to get pulled along for a free ride complaining and clamouring for the elected benefactors to make the engines pull harder.
-SD
George Herbert Walker Bush
March 23rd, 2010
12:18 pm
Huuhhh, today Im promoting Jeb-Bo to the position of Grand Cyclops. His new duties will include the overseeing our entire eastern seaboard crime operation. I like all of you wish Jeb-Bo the best of luck in his new endeavors.
What about me Daddy-man…I wanna be a cyclops two…
Settle down W.
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:18 pm
“are you talking about the kid Malkin stalked???”
I have to say, that was one of the worst blog days ever.
Bruno
March 23rd, 2010
12:18 pm
“B, I presume your “demonizing of liberals” (to paraphrase a good friend of mine!) is NOT directed at me…”
Only if you support this bill, which I would have to believe you don’t since it is corporate welfare at the highest level.
My derision is reserved for the idiot Libs here who somehow think this bill is going to do anything but raise costs higher than they already are. They’re counting on some new pool of money from the uninsured which doesn’t exist. They fail to realize that the main reason for the hyper-inflated costs in our system is the third party billing system itself. Rather than reducing the role of the insurance company in our lives, it raises that role, with the enforcement of the IRS to now back them up.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
March 23rd, 2010
12:18 pm
Oh, and Hi Hitler to the rest of you too.
Fly-On-The-Wall
March 23rd, 2010
12:20 pm
Jay,
Time for a new thread. This one is old and going nowhere.
Dave R.
March 23rd, 2010
12:21 pm
Great article on how to bribe elected Democrat officials. Not that they needed any coaching . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703775504575136133814210008.html
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
12:21 pm
Bosch – “I have to say, that was one of the worst blog days ever”
mmm … I dunno … I think it was highly illuminating just how low some people will stoop and scrape …
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:21 pm
Bruno,
“idiot Libs here ”
Why I neveh! That is just plain rude Mr. Bruno.
REPUBLICANS ARE SORRY
March 23rd, 2010
12:21 pm
Fired up !!!!! Ready to go !!!!!!
jt
March 23rd, 2010
12:21 pm
“Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes.” — Dave Barry
Dummy
RAMBLE ON!!!
March 23rd, 2010
12:21 pm
IDIOT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY0ve87vQMs
Umm, 3000%, I’ve got at least a Million Dollar raise coming.
jt
March 23rd, 2010
12:22 pm
“If they don’t close these [nuclear] reactors down, we’ll have civil war in five years.” — Ralph Nader in 1977
REPUBLICANS ARE SORRY
March 23rd, 2010
12:22 pm
Yes we can !!!
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
12:22 pm
Joe MCarthy, nice red herrings.
And thanks for the cogent responses to those legitimate questions. Cat got your tongue on this one?
You know the answer to your first spin-a-rama. When it comes to the war machine and taking his marching orders from his corporate masters, Obama is a de facto Republican.
Ditto with the NAFTA loving, pro-corporatist de facto Republican Clinton in the early 90s…
But at least he wasn’t a complete f’up on foreign policy like the two men who followed him…
Rita
March 23rd, 2010
12:22 pm
David Frum, President Bush’s former speechwriter, is one of the few remaining coherent writers/thinkers in the Republican party. Read what he said about the “strategy” of being the Party of No:
“Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.
It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections.
No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?
We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.
…it is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.”
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:22 pm
Bruno,
Actually, that’s my biggest complaint with the bill – that is doesn’t address costs – and if it does, I don’t buy it. Single payer!
Hi Hitler
March 23rd, 2010
12:23 pm
Well hello there my little schnitzengoober…how good of you to drop by.
YOU WILL CONFESS…YOU ARE A WORTHLESS DOG, AM EMBARRASSMENT TO DUH THIRD REICH, SIGN YOUR CONFESSION SHEET SO WE MAY FEED YOUR ROTTING CORPSE TO YOUR FAMILY…PIG DAWG…SIGN.
Joe (gimme a second, I'll say something reeeeally stupid) Biden
March 23rd, 2010
12:24 pm
“This is a BIG f**kin’ deal!!!”
jt
March 23rd, 2010
12:24 pm
Ralph talks big about democracy and even unions. But when his own workers at one of his magazines, Multinational Monitor, got fed up with cruel working conditions and started agitating for a union of their own, Nader busted the union with all of the hardball techniques used by corporate owners across America. Workers at Public Citizen, another Nader group, also tried to form a union because of 60 to 80 hour work weeks, salaries that ranged from $13,000 down, and other difficult working conditions and were blocked by Nader, who remains unapologetic to this day.
Nader says “I don’t think there is a role for unions in small nonprofit ’cause’ organizations any more than … within a monastery or within a union.”
John Birch
March 23rd, 2010
12:25 pm
jewcowboy – I have to disprove both of your reasons, disproving one isn’t good enough for you? If socialized healthcare (the European model) is so fine why do we have better cancer survival rates than every single one of them? I don’t know why our infant mortality is so high, do you? I guess it’s because we don’t do well providing pre-natal care to lower socioeconomic groups and illegal immigrants, since they’re having all the babies. But it might be that as an affluent society even out lower socioeconomic groups have more access to crack during their pregnancies and they eat poorly and don’t exercise.
Drew
March 23rd, 2010
12:25 pm
“A doctor simply can refuse to accept patients who cannot pay. Try it: go to a doctor (other than the emergency room), and before he treats you, tell him that you have no way to pay his bill.”
Well, for one, “other than the emergency room” is more or less a concession that yes, the insured do pay for the uninsured, because they receive emergency care and the insured pay for it. But outside the emergency room, it’s still true: plenty of patients go to a doctor, receive the bill, and can’t pay some part of it; the doctor can’t repossess the treatment, so they have to distribute the cost to future patients.
It’s simply wrong to say that the insured don’t pay for the uninsured even now. They do; it’s merely a question of how. The law changes that by ensuring that everyone who can pay, does. I really don’t see why conservatives are outraged over that; they should be happy that the uninsured can contribute something to the cost of their care.
Let freedom ring
March 23rd, 2010
12:25 pm
I am a proud American today. This shows that, NO MATTER WHAT IS SAID, your vote counts.
All the hard work I did, in states that are not last in education and clueless, PAID OFF.
jt
March 23rd, 2010
12:26 pm
http://www.realchange.org/nader.htm
for above. Anyone that would vote for this guy is as swift as a Republocrat.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
12:26 pm
“amvet – the repub control was never bullet proof like the dems have.”
j’uh, on the surface this seems nonsensical. Would you please expound?
jt, fwiw, I very much disagree with Ralph on the nuclear thing.
And I suppose that should command me to abandon him in spite of the many, many, many brilliant ideas, propositions, recommendations and his proven track record as a champion of we the people…
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 23rd, 2010
12:26 pm
**I’m loving this “hopey, changey” !!!!!! YES WE CAN !!!!!!!
FIRED UP!!!!!!! READY TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!! FIRED UP!!!!!!!!!!! READY TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**
And this is the extent of the intelligent debate offered by Democrats on why the government should take over our economy.
Faux outrage
March 23rd, 2010
12:27 pm
Who cares what Biden said? Big f*cking deal… grasp at some more straws. That’s all you sore losers have.
ImaMOOCHER/LOOTER
March 23rd, 2010
12:27 pm
YIIIIIPPPEEE!!!! I LOOOOOOVE THIS BILL!!!!!
Jehovah Fitness
March 23rd, 2010
12:28 pm
…now lets try a few deep knee bends, ready? And a One and two and a three…
Levi Johnston
March 23rd, 2010
12:28 pm
Hey, Sarah Palin. I think they like the “hopey changey stuff”
TaxPayer
March 23rd, 2010
12:29 pm
Did someone say Waterloo!
Joe (gimme a second, I'll say something reeeeally stupid) Biden
March 23rd, 2010
12:29 pm
Hey! Why do ya’ll still make fun of Sarah Palin? I’M THE REAL IDIOT!!!
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 23rd, 2010
12:30 pm
AmVet
Ralph was a big champion for Ford Motor Company when he was paid off to trash the Corvair.
Road and Track ran tests and was unable to even come close to what he claimed would happen in a hard left turn in the car. They also took the films and was able to see the drivers doing thing that they claimed they didn’t do to cause the car to flip.
Sorry. Nader is a corporate stooge of the worst kind. And he uses his credibility to help whomever has the most money.
RAMBLE ON!!!
March 23rd, 2010
12:30 pm
LIAR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJNOHnFZnWQ
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
12:31 pm
“Sorry. Nader is a corporate stooge of the worst kind. And he uses his credibility to help whomever has the most money.”
NIF – SAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-LUTE!
Bruno
March 23rd, 2010
12:31 pm
“You’re right! I do despise them, and this bill falls way short of what I wanted to see. (Put me in Kucinich’s corner, he speaks for me.) I’m not exactly jumping up and down, but my appreciation of this signing stems from the feeling that FINALLY we are moving in the right direction.”
Matilda–It’s this simple: Health care expenses have to be either a shared cost, or an individual cost. If you believe they should be a cost shared by all of society–a valid option IMO–then the only system which makes sense is socialized medicine, which is what virtually all of the other industrialized nations have chosen to do.
Instead of following the example of the other nations, Obama and the Dems have tried to cobble together a system which makes health care a shared expense, only in a way which costs 2 to 3 times higher than socialized medicine would. If you want to consider that a victory, then I guess we have different ideas about what constitutes success.
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:31 pm
John Birch,
“why do we have better cancer survival rates than every single one of them?”
Just curious, but can you give me the numbers of cancer survival rates for those who are uninsured. I’d really like to know since my uncle was diagnosed yesterday with cancer and has no insurance. Thanks in advance.
Dave R.
March 23rd, 2010
12:32 pm
And for all you dumb masses out there who think that Hope & Change’s tactic of running around drumming up support for this bill for the next few months is going to turn the perception of the bill around, remember a few things:
First, he only speaks to the faithful on his trips, and they’re not the ones that need convincing.
Next, every time he’s away speaking, he’s doing less to fix a broken economy beginning to plunge into it’s second dip (see housing sales).
Next, those people who do watch him on TV will see that he’s not doing anything to fix the economy; instead he’s out there touting something that didn’t affect 80% of the people watching, and something they didn’t want.
Finally, they’ll see the deficit numbers growing ever higher (which is the second thing they really hate – after not having a job), and want to vote against his party even more.
All the while the Republicans will be out there hammering the economy, deficits and health care when the party in power is doing nothing to fix them.
NJ
March 23rd, 2010
12:32 pm
Republicans, conservative and tea party members are basically attempting to deny the people what they want by misrepresenting what the polls are actually saying. The majority of Americans oppose the health reform act because it is too conservative, rather than too liberal. If Congress voted to give the public what they wanted, it would basically be a “private option”.
Anyone who can READ the full data from these polls knows this. Republicans are putting their own spin on it, by merely reading the “59 percent of Americans do not support this health reform bill” without going to the next step…WHY do they not support it. And they do not support it because it is NOT a government take over of health care, but rather, a set of regulations that still keep health care largely in the hands of the private sector.
The answer is clear in another section of the poll:
The poll also showed that despite the nominal majority opposition to the bill, in theory President Obama and the Democrats were still rated as being superior to the Republicans on the overall issue of health care.
Respondents were also asked: “Who do you trust more to handle major changes in the country’s health care system – Barack Obama or the Republicans in Congress?” The answer was Obama 51%, Republicans 39%
Another question: “Who do you trust more to handle major changes in the country’s health care system — the Democrats in Congress or the Republicans in Congress?” Here the answer was Democrats 45%, Republicans 39%.
Another poll taken about the same time as the CNN Poll:
Poll: More Think Health Care Reform Isn’t Ambitious Enough
This is from a CBS poll the results are:
Does not go far enough in:
Covering Americans – 35%
Controlling costs – 39%
Regulating Insurance Companies – 43%
Goes too far in:
Covering Americans 32%
Controlling Costs 24%
Regulating Insurance Companies – 27%
About Right in:
Covering Americans – 22%
Controlling Costs – 21%
Regulating Insurance Companies – 18 %
So far, the conservatives are ranting and raving that the Health Reform Bill is OPPOSED by a majority of Americans, but when you actually get the FULL data from the polls, you find that they oppose the CONSERVATIVE position of leaving things as they are, and the largest position is that the bill should be made MORE liberal rather than more conservative.
In the last 24 hours, as the public find out the DETAILS of the bill:
Poll: Democrats Recover Some of Their Health Care Polling Lead Over the GOP
The Democrats have seen their lead over Republicans over the issue of health care start to increase again. The CNN poll recently taken shows that 45 percent of Americans trust Democrats over the issue of health reform, with 39 percent trusting Republicans. This is up from January where 42 percent trusted Democrats and 40 percent trusted Republicans.
What is also seen is that Obama’s approval ratings are starting to rise again. Republican strategists expect:
GOP strategist Patrick Ruffini, in a bit of expectation-setting, predicts that President Obama’s approval numbers will soon rise to 58 or 59 percent.
Largely over a basic approval of the process of getting health reform finished.
Another analysis:
Almost 60% Of Americans Oppose Health Care Bill – But For Different Reasons
…And yet the same poll harbours a warning for Republicans, too. Many people who opposed the bill did so because they said it was not liberal enough, having jettisoned an earlier public insurance option…
..The risk for Republicans is that they have locked themselves into abject opposition. As William Saletan noted on Salon.com: ”If the public hates the program, [the Republicans] will be rewarded at the polls. But if the public likes it, they’re in for trouble.”..
http://www.smh.com.au/world/obamas-headache-healthcare-reform-is-no-prescription-for-second-term-20100323-qu1g.html
The problem Republicans are going to have at the polls are directly related to them using the polls to suggest the OPPOSITE of what they say. They do not say this 59 percent oppose the poll because it is too liberal, but rather, because it is too conservative. When you remove the LIBERALS from this 59 percent who oppose the bill, you get a number that indicates that the largest single group, the 39 percent who support the bill” as being the major indicator.
John Birch
March 23rd, 2010
12:32 pm
AmVet – I agree with most of your foreign policy assessments. I don’t like the lib bottom line of Bush the straw man everytine they can’t defend something O does. We (me included, I’m no lover of Bush) slammed Bush for his screwups, but now we’re slamming O for his. Suggesting this rotten piece of legislation is the result of Bush and the Dems not passing better legislation when they had the chance is a pretty poor, largely irrelevant argument in my opinion.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
12:32 pm
Sorry. Nader is a corporate stooge of the worst kind.
Lets see your proof. Show me the big picture analysis to support that claim.
For every case you can make, I can make twenty showing you wrong.
But go for it…
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
12:33 pm
Bosch – “I’d really like to know since my uncle was diagnosed yesterday with cancer and has no insurance”
( HUGS ) – I’m so sorry to hear about your uncle … mine has been in and out of the hospital for the last year + … old age ain’t pretty …
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
12:34 pm
AmVet – sorry, but I lost all respect for Nader in 2000, when he said there was no difference between the parties …
Bruno
March 23rd, 2010
12:35 pm
“The law changes that by ensuring that everyone who can pay, does.”
Drew–Apparently facts don’t inform your opinions. Of the 15% or so uninsured in our nation, the vast majority are poor, and will still be contributing nothing to their own care.
http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/Reports/05/uninsured-cps/index.htm#fig2
So what are you cheering about?
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
12:36 pm
“Suggesting this rotten piece of legislation is the result of Bush and the Dems not passing better legislation when they had the chance is a pretty poor, largely irrelevant argument in my opinion.”
JB, that is your opinion, but I vehemently disagree.
The duopoly has a longstanding, irrefutable track record of completely abdicating their responsibilities to the American people.
I cannot just sit back and pretend otherwise…
jt
March 23rd, 2010
12:37 pm
AmVet-
You could always abandon him on the principle of liberty….in which you fight.
You are better than the unprincipled progressive/liberals.
Joe (gimme a second, I'll say something reeeeally stupid) Biden
March 23rd, 2010
12:37 pm
Yes Sir, Barry, more “control” of the Looters and Moochers of our Society!! They’re dumber than I am!!!
Dave R.
March 23rd, 2010
12:37 pm
NJ: “they oppose the CONSERVATIVE position of leaving things as they are”
And once again you show your vast reserves of ignorance on this subject (as with EVERY subject, NJ)
The conservative position was never, ever to leave things as they are. People with reading comprehension skills actually know that.
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
12:38 pm
USinUK,
Thanks! (hug back). Sad thing, he’s not old. This is a different uncle than the one we have living with us. Just between jobs, and too young for Medicare (he’s 59).
John Birch
March 23rd, 2010
12:39 pm
Bosch – I’m sorry for his troubles. In general they’re signficantly lower because they tend to get later diagnoses and inferior treatment. Was your unfortuante uncle a victim of evil insurance company recission or did he make bad decisions resulting in him being uninsured?