Gibbs Denies Reports that WH, Democrats Giving Up on Bipartisan Health Care Bill – “Absolutely Not”

“Asked about how the White House will keep control of the debate while the president is on vacation next week,”
They’ve been keeping control up to now? That’s news. The White House has been working hard, with only moderate success, to counter all the blatant lies (death panels! abortions! check ups for illegals! the NHS would’ve let Stephen Hawkings die! everyone forced into the public plan! fear, uncertainy, doubt!) – but saying they’ve been controlling the debate is rather generous.

Looks like Gibbs has his ‘marching orders’.

It is unrealistic to think a bi-partisan bill on health reform can happen. The Republican Party for the last 40 years has resisted it, and from their recent actions, they forcefully still are.
They honestly don’t seem to care that 47 million Americans don’t have health insurance, that millions more will be unable to afford it each year as the premiums for private plans keep rising faster than anyone’s income.
They don’t care that half of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills, and the majority of the folks had health insurance.
They don’t care that small businesses are crippled by health care costs.
They don’t care that our system is unsustainable as it stands.
They honestly don’t care.

MayBee:”If they could get they liberal Democrats to please Blue Dogs,”
Just like on the stimulus? They pleased the Blue Dogs, implemented Republican amendments (including one that shifted almost 10% of the total funding into a tax break for the upper middle class), responded to ‘respect’ issues (cutting funding for contraceptives, eliminating the National Mall park infrastructure work, etc), and got… Zero Republican votes.
Why waste time compromising with a group that will take all they can get and still, to the last person, spit in your face?
Democrats did not display such partisan bad faith with Welfare reform in the 90′s, or the Bush tax cuts (which also used the reconciliation process to avoid a Senate filibuster) earlier this decade. Why are Republicans so much more obstructionist as a minority party?

What is Robert Gibbs talking about? They don’t need to negotiate with the Republicans. They can use reconciliation to get through Obamacare.
Using reconciliation to pass this bill cannot be done. Reconciliation is for BUDGET issues. This would be illegal in this instance and the Dems know it.

White House to pass DeathCare alone?
Are they “disoriented and confused”?
Just can’t seem to pin Gibbs down can ya Jake?
Let Major Garrett of Fox do that work, you see how fast Gibbs and Obama Caved in on the email scandals and data collection

“What’s Going On?,” It’s interesting to see town hall protesters accusing others of slinging garbage. And namecalling? Way to accuse others of what you are so guilty of. But what can you expect from a bunch of people who call the President of the United States a nazi for trying to provide health care to the poor? Basically everything you say is 180 degrees from the truth. Get a clue!

No Common Sense in DC:”Using reconciliation to pass this bill cannot be done. Reconciliation is for BUDGET issues. This would be illegal in this instance and the Dems know it.”
The internet lawyer strikes again. The health care bill is indeed eligible for the reconciliation process – entirely legally. The carbon cap bill has not been granted the same status. This was widely reported (including the wall street journal and washington post) when it was settled back in March.
I doubt the Republicans are going to attack a clearly legal tactic frequently used by Republican presidents.

Why waste time compromising with a group that will take all they can get and still, to the last person, spit in your face?
=======
Right. That’s why I used the word “possibly”. They don’t need Republican votes.
The problem is, they need Blue Dog votes and they don’t have them. They don’t have the *voters* either right now. The *voters* don’t like what is being floated by the current Dem bills.
If they could get together a bill that pleases the Blue Dogs, they could probably also please independent *voters*.

Jenny:”Two recent polls (Rasmussen & Quinnipiac) show that only 34-35% of the American people think it is better to pass Obamacare”
Yup. But “while just 36 percent believe Obama’s efforts to reform the health system are a good idea, that number increases to 53 percent when respondents were read a paragraph describing Obama’s plans.”(WSJ/NBC polling)
The reason ‘Obamacare’ is losing is because the lies are currently being believed.
“Majorities in the poll believe the plans would give health insurance coverage to illegal immigrants; would lead to a government takeover of the health system; and would use taxpayer dollars to pay for women to have abortions — all claims that nonpartisan fact-checkers say are untrue about the legislation that has emerged so far from Congress.”

Only fools want the government to jump up taxes just they can controll health care and ration it. Absolutely nuts.

tri-partisan, between Left-Left, Left-Central & Left-Right will work….

Foghorn Leghorn:”Support Obamacare or you are a bad person. Hmmm, why doesn’t that message resonate?”
Perhaps because no-one has made it? Certainly not from the left camp, who mostly know that even claiming there is such a thing as an “Obamacare” proposal is a lie. There are several competing bills that are not all identical, and Obama has – to some significant criticism – been strictly non-committal on exactly what he really wants. But go ahead and make up a straw man. It’s a nice change from pushing lies.

Barb, you have obviously not followed this debate. Nearly everyone believes that some changes are needed to reform healthcare, however, that does not give Obama free license to force a government takeover nor does it give him support to unilaterally decide what the final system should look like. This affects the American people deeply and their concerns need to be taken into account. As of now, Obama has not made his case to the American people that what he is proposing will be an improvement. There is a great deal of skepticism over cost (the CBO has basically said Obama is full of it when he says his plan will reduce cost), there is great skepticism over the wisdom of getting the government more involved, and there is great skepticism over what will happen to private insurance plans and medicare. If Obama wants the American people to support him he needs to address these and many other issues.
By the way, it is not racist, hateful, mean-spirited, or any other adjective for the American people to voice their opinions. the fact that the Republicans are closer to the thoughts of most Americans on this issue is something the whitehouse will need to deal with.

Polling has shown the voters clearly do not know what is in the current Dem bills. The lies – from death panels to free checkups for illegal immigrants – are still widely believed. Once there actually *is* an ‘obamacare’ bill, as opposed to several in work options, I hope the truth will eventually get beaten home.
==============
OK.
I guess that shows that Obama isn’t doing as good a job at messaging as Sarah Palin’s facebook page is. That is a problem for him.
Aside from that, the Blue Dogs presumably know what is in the bill(s) and aren’t supporting it. If they can get something that pleases them, then they can most likely bring independent voters along with them.
Gibbs can say he wants bipartisanship all he wants, but in the end it is the Democrats who are having trouble coming up with something that pleases their members and voters.

Why is the White House paying ad firms $12 million to launch a national ad campaign advocating ObamaCare?
One of the firms, AKPD Message and Media, happens to owe David Axelrod more than a little pocket change, $2 million to be exact.
Any follow up on George Soros making a killing on Brazilian Petrobras stock just as President Obama promised to give them a $2 billion loan for off-shore drilling?

when you have solid majorities who needs republicans? if dems had the guts they would do it if the the public wanted it. THEY DONT AND THEY KNOW IT. PASS IT AND YOU WILL SEE A REPUBLICAN LANDSLIDE IN 2010. AMERICANS WANT THE GOVT OUT OF THEIR LIFE NOT IN IT.

“Yup. But “while just 36 percent believe Obama’s efforts to reform the health system are a good idea, that number increases to 53 percent when respondents were read a paragraph describing Obama’s plans.”(WSJ/NBC polling)” jhw539
So we are not to believe the overall poll itself, but we are to believe the push part of the poll where NBC pollsters(the most pure and ideologically free group out there) talk glowingly about a few provisions and use Obama speak to get the “right” answer. Lame, weak, and pathetic. If you want to convince the American people that healthcare is in their best interest you will need to do better than to cite NBC polls.

Why do we even want to drag republicans along – they are the party of no – have outlived their time. The party is full of old old men who are not part of the future. it is a new day and republicans are so yesterday. Let’s get health care done -with out republicans – after all they are all taking contributions from the health care industry – Grassley has taken $2.5 million so far – now tell me who controls his vote- and what that means for health care!

Gibbs must be a republican. We don’t want republican input. We might end up with lung default swaps. Vote it straight up or down and find another press secretary.

marco:”We can solve the health care problem by outlawing frivolous law suits, ”
This has been done in several states years ago. It did NOT solve the problem.
Posted by: jhw539 |
You trot that garbage out about once a day. Medical tort reform that did not solve the problem wasn’t really reform now was it?

If only President Obama had a place he could go to dispute misrepresentations of his plans, and discuss his ideas.
If only he had a chance to talk, everyone would understand what he wants and support him.

If the dems go it alone……they see many of their party voted the hell out—even Obama and aCorn won’t be able to get enuff fraudelent homeless voters to win many elections.

Jenny:”"…(WSJ/NBC polling)” jhw539
we are to believe the push part of the poll where NBC pollsters(the most pure and ideologically free group out there)”
Cute. Note that the “NBC pollsters” were also commissioned by the Wall Street Journal. But what’s a little convinent omitting of relevant facts when you have an opinion to push?
“Democratic pollster Jay Campbell of Hart Research Associates, which conducted this survey WITH REPUBLICAN pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.”
At least it saves me time to realize your intention is to deliberately mislead and lie, not share any honest opinions or supported arguments.

Your argument is typical of promoters of the status quo health care: Passionate, but based on obvious and easily verified as false lies.
Posted by: jhw539 |
Promoters of the status quo…The lord king of strawmen.
You do know that gov’t controls 40-50% of health insurance, don’t you?
You do know that many dems support a single payer system for the rest of us, don’t you?

Obama’s message doesn’t resonate. He makes the same lack luster speeches about bipartisanship, when those he wants to work with tell him absolutely not, all the while telling his supporters that he supports us with out conviction.
It isn’t getting it done.

Stop whining, Dems, and just do it!
Pass Obamacare, and watch the bloodbath at the polls in 2010 and 2012.

The persistent efforts to downplay tort reform on this blog are truly depressing.What expertise does the CBO have to evaluate the cost of defensive medicine?Eliminating costs of awards,legal fees and malpractice insurance rates only addresses a small percentage of the total cost of defensive medicine.That cost is billions.This bill does not address any of that cost; it will not go away.

Do you understand what tort reform is…?
Tort reform saves money, yes. Enough to make a dent in the trillions spent on healthcare, no.
Posted by: jhw539 |
According to your logic since we passed financial regulations in the 80′s then we don’t need any more financial regulations.
Do you understand what defensive medicine is? Do you have any idea what percentage of doctors practice it? Do you have any idea what percentage of medical care falls under the category of defensive medicine?

If the Obama healthcare plan is so good for us then why doesn’t congress demonstrate their faith in their plan by submitting themselves to it? Are their lives more important than mine or the lives of my children. Do the members of congress think they are special and deserve better care than their constituents? If the plan isn’t good enough for or congressmen then I don’t want to risk my childrens lives by being forced into the plan.
Even Obama admitted he would not rely on the public plan if his daughters were sick. As a parent I can respect that. As a potential forced conscript to this plan it scares the daylights out of me.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE IN THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE, THOSE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE AND APPRECIATE FREEDOM FROM GOVERNMENT AND WANT TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES AND THOSE WHO FEEL INCOMPETENT AND FEEL THEY CANNOT TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES AND WANT THEIR MOMMIES (GOVERNMENT) TO LOOK AFTER THEM.

MayBee — -Obama’s just lying to the people — there are at least FOUR big lies in his “standard presentation” EVERY time he speaks!!!

Guess the lobby system works…
Posted by: grampasimpson |
It’s worked for the tort attorneys. It’s worked for the unions. It’s worked for Big Pharma.

“The GOP is a front for the big corporations. Look at the last eight years.”
What big corporations? Halliburton? (as an FYI, 80%+ of contracts awarded to Halliburton during Iraq war have been done on a bid/competitive basis)
Are you familiar with the Obama administration’s cozy ties with “big corporations” such as Goldman Sachs and GE? Are you aware that the U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved $2B in loans (or loan guarantees) to Petrobras to fund OFFSHORE DRILLING IN BRAZIL? (BTW, Barack’s buddy George Soros “coincidentally” sold 22 million common shares of Petrobras stock and purchased close to 6 million shares of Petrobras preferred stock just before announcement of loan…). The hypocrisy seems to have no end…and the libs either continue to buy the tired story that Republicans are the “party of big business” and the Dems are for the “little guy” (or are flat-out lying).
Do some research, take a look at campaign donations (e.g., from Wall Street to Dem candidates) and cozy business relationships with Obama’s WH. Perhaps you’ll be surprised at what you see. Hopefully you will find these cozy relationships disturbing. I certainly do. This administration is as corrupt as any that have occupied 1600 Penn Ave. There is also a developing story of government-directed public advertising funds being routed to Axelrod’s former marketing agency (where Axelrod’s son is still employed). Unbelievable. It is unclear if the libs refuse to see, provides unapologetic cover for, or are just plain ignorant of what is going on behind the scenes with this corrupt administration.

One thing I believe everyone can agree on – Obama has been one of the most ineffectual presidents in modern history. How can any president be as inept at trying to sell his proposals? My guess is it’s because he knows they are crap and that he can’t step too far out of the box without drawing attention to controversial provisions.

The president’s spokesman said Mr. Obama would “orbit the moon” if he thought it would help bring progress in health care reform .
——————–
Can we just send him there?

The average household pays 21,616 in Federal taxes over an entire year. A single prosthetic limb can cost more than 60 thousand dollars for one person. It would take almost all the taxes paid from 3 households to pay for one of those limbs and they only take about 3 days to make. Most of it curing time for the resins. Bring on the vote for public health care. It’s the only way to bring the prices back into check. The health care system is looting this Great Nation. Bring on the vote for public health care!

As this health care issue progresses, I’m stunned that no one- neither Obama, the opposition, nor the media has really made any attempt to state in a simple way what the health care bills before Congress state in simple, clear point-by-pointlanguage. The story has been all about the rowdy town halls and some vague ideological showdown. The public needs to know in concrete terms what’s in the bills, why the health care system is broken and why it must be fixed now.

the only gulible people are those who actually believed that you could get a bunch of free stuff and pay no new taxes. how gulible could you be.change you can believe in…i knew better.

That’s funny, when the GOP votes in “lock-step” with the president – it’s called “discipline” as in much of the Bush first term … When the Dem’s do it, it’s called “going it alone” or “muzzling” the opposition” .. Also interesting is all the “warnings” of a Bloodbath” or “reckoning” at the polls in 2012 … time will tell, but if there is one – lets hope we can get in some people with real ideas.

I just figured out what these anti american democrats are about…they have enemies and those enemies are fellow Americans

The problem that Obama is having in selling his plan is that the American people no longer take him at his word. They have been lied to on too many occaisions. This is no different than Bush loosing the support of the American people over perceived lies.
This president has a real problem on his hands; unfortunately, our nation will suffer for the next 3.5 years because of his lack of candor.

And now to top everything off, our president heads off for vacation during a tornado of his own making. The Obama bubble has burst.

Democrats are messing this all up. Bi-partisanship is a joke on this… it means a watered down bill that won’t change a damn thing. Democrats better remember who put their sorry arses in office.

FACE IT — EVERYTHING the government runs is BANKRUPT —- Medicare, Medicaid, the Post Office, and Amtrak are all BROKE!!! — Social Security is a huge Ponzi scheme!!!

Peter, the repubs agree we need reform, but there’s no way we will sit back and let the Feds attempt to destroy this country………..

A very wise political strategist once said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Well, it’s still the economy, stupid.

hopesprings52: The bill was explained in simple English, republicans are still sore of bringing in a democrat for president…last time we had one, we had the best economy on earth, do you think they want to take that chance again?

I would much rather see tort control take the form of punishing a lawyer for bringing a frivolous law suit forward. As far as limits, set up guide lines based upon the damage done.
Posted by: Faurtz8
The dems are in control so you won’t see any tort reform.
Also note that Arlen Specter, whose son is a medical malpractice atty, has introduced a bill to allow attorneys to claim an up-front tax deduction on expenses they incur while building contingency fee cases.

Truth, you need to change your name to “hypnotized”. You seem to be drinking way too much Kool Aid!! Why don’t you get a job and pay your own way instead of depending on me to do it for you!

Perhaps our elected legislators are pulling a fast one on us, perhaps they truly want the status quo…by the special interest for the special interest…

I believe our healthcare system is broken. Most people would agree that it could use some fixing.
A previous commenter stated, “Two recent polls (Rasmussen & Quinnipiac) show that only 34-35% of the American people think it is better to pass Obamacare. Yup. But “while just 36 percent believe Obama’s efforts to reform the health system are a good idea, that number increases to 53 percent when respondents were read a paragraph describing Obama’s plans.”(WSJ/NBC polling) The reason ‘Obamacare’ is losing is because the lies are currently being believed. “
I work with companies on implementing successful change. These poll results reflect how Obama and his administration should have used a better approach to implementing this major change.
When Obama brought up healthcare reform, the major message was that it was going to be developed and had to pass by August 1. He would have had more success if his message focused on communicating to the public:
- what is broken in the current system
- why the changes need to occur (consequences of not changing)
- what he plans on tackling
- how he’s going to go about tackling it, and
- what positive results that all will experience as a result
Effective and thorough communication is key. THEN there needs to be an opportunity for people to digest the information and ask questions. This wasn’t even done with those who were supposed to vote on the bill! Big mistake.
When government officials are admitting that they haven’t read the material, including the President, how can one expect that the public will trust these public servants to have our best interests in mind? This is about a lack of accountability. The public has a reason to be skeptical. And where the officials cannot communicate data/information correctly and accurately, people will then make up their own stories, hence the inaccurate beliefs that have arisen. It happens in the workplace and it’s no different with this healthcare situation.
Obama and his administration, Democrats and Republicans, need to go back to the beginning and implement a communication plan. It may take longer to accomplish, but he’ll have more people willing to stand with him in moving forward with this healthcare reform.
It’s about communication and accountability.

Gibbs makes Scott McClellan look like Tony Snow.

Why would anyone with any brains want the government to control healthcare—the government doesn’t control anything with much success.

“Gibbs makes Scott McClellan look like Tony Snow.”
Gibbs makes Scott McClellan look like Walter Cronkite.

“I hate to see the Democratic Party backslide into this appeasement routine,” Dean said.

For those who oppose the public option keep up the fight! The President is losing on this battle and he knows it. The dems are divided and are ripe for defeat, but do not give up and become complacent just because there has been talk of dropping the public option – this is not over til the gavel is slammed, so keep going to town halls, rallies, and by all means please keep the pressure on your reps, many of whom will be up for reelection next year.

Health Care Amendment Requiring the Congress to be in The Plan: Congressman John Fleming (Louisiana physician) has proposed an amendment that would require congressmen and senators to take the same healthcare plan they force on us (under proposed legislation they are curiously exempt). Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go on his website and sign his petition (very simple – just first, last and email).

Faurtz8 — You said that tort reform in Texas didn’t work — could it be because inferior doctors who needed caps on their mistakes flooded TX? — If this were a national fix, this wouldn’t occur. — I like your suggestion of punishing a lawyer for bringing a frivolous law suit forward.

The US press is so odd. The Republicans gave up on bipartisan health care reform before the debate even started. Sen. Grassley says that even if the Democrats give him everything he wants, he’s still not going to vote for it.
What is the point of asking the Democrats if they’ve given up on bipartisanship?

This is getting unbeliveably out of control. They don’t know which way to manipulate this so every day they are throwing an idea out there just to deny it the next day. Is this the kind of leadership we need right now? I am so disgusted with ALL politicians right now. NO MORE INCUMBANTS – we need to hire new employees to work for and represent us.

Time for another B.O. vacation, already?! Where’s the outrage from the media? At least Bush didn’t shut down a city [when he went to Crawford].

HoosierMark:”So “reform” to you must be a total re-forming of the entire healthcare system — we must throw everything out and start over? Why????”
You do realize that NONE of the bills put forward anything close to a “total re-forming of the entire healthcare system.” Hospitals – still private. Doctors – still private. Insurance of workers – 90% private even after 10 years.
You seem to be ranting about some health care bill that in REALITY does not exist.

HoosierMark:”So “reform” to you must be a total re-forming of the entire healthcare system — we must throw everything out and start over? Why????”
You do realize that NONE of the bills put forward anything close to a “total re-forming of the entire healthcare system.” Hospitals – still private. Doctors – still private. Insurance of workers – 90% private even after 10 years.
You seem to be ranting about some health care bill that in REALITY does not exist.

if the democrats try (even if they don’t succeed) to ram this through unilaterally, heaven only knows how people will react. this administration looks like it’s drifting out to sea.

As usual Jake misses the point.
14,000 people lose ther healthcare every day. 200,000 people die each year of medical negligence. US Healthcare ranks 37th in industrialized countries. US healthcare patients pay twice as much for healthcare than any other country.
So although my employer takes the cost out of my paycheck, I’m suppose to be happy with the 37th worst care in the industrialized world. It’s my money so let me choose, if I can get the same care I got from the VA for 1/3 the cost, I’m all for it.
Last but not least, anyone that lies about killing my GrandMa is lower than the worst. I’d like to get my US Military trained hands on the Congressman or, Woman that started that viscious lie. After that I’m sure the rest of you might get a better Idea of who’s fooling who.

Do you understand what tort reform is…?
Tort reform saves money, yes. Enough to make a dent in the trillions spent on healthcare, no.
Posted by: jhw539 |
Do you understand what defensive medicine is? Do you have any idea what percentage of doctors practice it? Do you have any idea what percentage of medical care falls under the category of defensive medicine?

jhw539 — Don’t be condescending — Of course Obama is trying to set this up for eventual government takeover, no matter what he says NOW!! — Before he was quoted saying he wants “single-payor” (government) healthcare. Do you think he has just changed his mind??? — The architect of the base reform plan that both houses in congress are using to set up the “reform”, Berkeley Professor Jacob Hacker, actually JOKED to a sympathethic audience that there was NO HIDING that his was leading to “single-payor” system!!!!

Foghorn Leghorn:”Do you understand what tort reform is…?
Tort reform saves money, yes. Enough to make a dent in the trillions spent on healthcare, no.
Posted by: jhw539 |
Do you understand what defensive medicine is? Do you have any idea what percentage of doctors practice it? Do you have any idea what percentage of medical care falls under the category of defensive medicine?”
Tort reform HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED in many states. The savings available from reductions in defensive medicine and lower insurance premiums is known by comparison of these states to statistically similar states without tort reform. The CBO did exactly this, several times, under the Republican government earlier in the decade. WHY DO YOU NOT WANT TO DISCUSS ANY DOCUMENTED FACTS?

“He would get in a rocket and fly to the moon if that’s what it would take to get everyone together,”
It’s worth a try.

Tort reform HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED in many states. The savings available from reductions in defensive medicine and lower insurance premiums is known by comparison of these states to statistically similar states without tort reform. The CBO did exactly this, several times, under the Republican government earlier in the decade. WHY DO YOU NOT WANT TO DISCUSS ANY DOCUMENTED FACTS?
Posted by: jhw539 | Aug 19, 2009 1:48:59 PM
***
This is true. I’m with ya, jhw. I think there could be a way to negotiate “loser pays” but the big problem with medical malpractice issues is medical malpractice, no? Check out Hillary’s MEDiC bill form 2006 instead of bringing up the same tired points, tort reform parrots. Why don’t Republicans negotiate for something like that? Because they can’t fricking compromise, perhaps?
Sorry. I know I’m snippy, but I’m in a take no prisoners mood today. I’ve really had it. ( And now I’m repeating myself. Sigh.)

Bet Noir:”"President Bush is documented as having taken the most vacation of ay president in history….”
Not. any. more.”
Has someone hijacked this guy’s screen name to make him look stupid? Bush spent over a year on vacation in Crawford, and over another year on vacation with friends and family at Camp David. Obama hasn’t been president long enough to break Bush’s record for vacations.

jhw539 — Barack Obama, speaking to an AFL-CIO meeting: “A single-payor healthcare plan, universal health care.. that is what I would like to see! But as all of you know, we might not get there immediately… ” — Yeah, first we need to lie to the American public that they can KEEP their plans!!!!!

jhw the country now sees someone who flip flops more than john kerry. the trust factor is evaporating fast if it hasnt completely evaporated. most people are now seeing this administaration as arrogant inexperienced and out of touch with main stream america, alot of them sat home last election. it wont happen in 2010. liberals make up 20% of the population. most people just want to be left alone.

jhw539 — Google this video!! — Berkeley Professor Jacob Hacker created the basic healthcare reform design that both houses of congress are using to develop their proposal of healthcare reform. In a presentation to the TIDES organization, referring to his base reform design, he JOKED about the intention of his design, saying “Someone once said to me that this (design) is a “Trojan Horse” for a single-payor system. I said, well, it’s not a “Trojan” horse, (he turned, smiled and raised his voice) IT’S JUST RIGHT THERE!!!! (Laughter from the audience) I’m telling you we’re going to get there, over time, slowly, but we’ll move away from reliance on employer-based health insurance, as we should, but WE’LL DO IT IN A WAY that we’re not going to FRIGHTEN people into thinking that they are going to lose their private insurance!”

the trust factor is evaporating fast
Posted by: catman | Aug 19, 2009 2:06:39 PM
So, Republicans are touting poll findings (from NBC/WSJ) that only 41% of poll respondents approve of the way President Obama is handling health care reform. But what about this question?
“Do you generally approve or disapprove of the way that Republicans in Congress are handling the issue of health care reform?”
Just 21% approve, 62% disapprove.
Hmmm … trust. It’s pretty elusive all the way around, no?

Woody:” Primarily the Democrats were unwilling to compromise in ’93 and ’94. It was only after the ’94 election did they have a change of heart.”
And after the 2008 tidal wave election AGAINST Republicans, where is the Republican change of heart?

HoosierMark:”Google this video!! ”
Oh please, maybe there is some incriminating Twitter or an ex-girlfriend’s letter that is even more important than, you know, THE ACTUAL BILL FULLY DEFINED, WRITTEN AND AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW.
I don’t have time to play with a joker who breathlessly accuses the post office of raising postage rates at exactly the rate of inflation for the last 30 years.

jhw539 — The Consumer Price Index compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is based upon a 1982 Base of 100. A Consumer Price Index of 158 indicates 58% inflation since 1982. —– So where id you come up with the 300% the post office stamp has increased??????

“Woody:” Primarily the Democrats were unwilling to compromise in ’93 and ’94. It was only after the ’94 election did they have a change of heart.”
jhw539:”And after the 2008 tidal wave election AGAINST Republicans, where is the Republican change of heart?”
See my comments regarding marginalization. Obama isn’t one tenth the politician Bill Clinton was/is, and Pelosi couldn’t hold a candle to Gingrich as a negotiator. The Republicans have been told to go pound sand and that’s what they’re doing. Bipartisanship is a two-way street. It takes more than getting Olympia Snow to knuckle under to claim bipartisan participation in the legislative process.

HoosierMark:”The Consumer Price Index compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is based upon a 1982 Base of 100. A Consumer Price Index of 158 indicates 58% inflation since 1982. —– So where id you come up with the 300% the post office stamp has increased??????”
So when you said “30 years ago” you meant 1982? Cute. I grabbed the number from a calculate that compiled the data from the Census Bureau’s Annual Statistical Abstracts of the United States – you can run it down from the bls website also.

Woody:”The Republicans have been told to go pound sand and that’s what they’re doing.”
The FACT of the matter is that dozens of Republican amendments were put into the Stimulus package. The FACT of the matter is that almost 10% of the total funding was reallocated from state aid (a liberal stimulus favorite to save teachers, medicare, etc) into a tax break for upper middle income wage earners.
To say that Republicans were told to pound sand where the DOCUMENTED fact has Republican amendments clearly having significant impacts on the biggest bill passed to date is either ignorant or lying. They were given power, they were listened to, and they responded by a petulant tantrum. Not a single vote in the House. That makes it pretty clear where the bipartisanship road has run into a barricade.

Here is a fact — not an auumption —- At his town hall meeting on health care on 8-14-09 in Colorado, President Obama suggested that his health overhaul scheme would “bend the cost curve,”reducing “health care inflation”so much that the enormous long term deficit of Medicare (unfunded liability: $89 trillion) would be eliminated! — But the Congressional Budget Office (controlled by the Dem majority) has stated that Obama’s health plans will not reduce costs, but, rather, will increase federal spending by close to a TRILLION dollars.

Well Obama can forget orbiting the moon… seeing how his panel is telling us it will take 20 years to get there since NASA does not have a measly 3 billion a year to accomplish the task.
Hmm now where did the money go… oh yeah.. the so called ‘stimulus’
Nice comment Gibbs.

HoosierMark posted “Faurtz8 — You said that tort reform in Texas didn’t work —”
It did work, somewhat. They did bring cost down. They did get a large number of doctors to come to Texas. You might be correct about drawing some inferior doctors.
I see your point about how they (inferior doctors) would have the same tort control everywhere and therefore no need to move.
I just don’t like a “one size fits all” type of cap. Some of the horror stories about what happened to a patient from an inferior doctor are scary. The bad doctors could do something that effect a person for the rest of their lives and in cases like those I believe they deserve more. Texas caps at $250,000. Then the lawyers take their 1/3 leaving a little under $200,000. I say cap it at different levels based upon how bad the damage done was.
I feel they have to go after the lawyers who are bringing frivolous lawsuits to court. Behind every frivolous lawsuit there is a Mr. Lawyer. Maybe they should have a pretrial hearing to gauge the merit of a case.

JD, thanks for posting the dirty tricks the GOP is pulling on health care!
JD wrote:
Here are some of the Republican amendments to the stimulus bill rejected by the Democrats:
An amendment by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to cut $47 billion in wasteful spending.
*** After the GOP blackmailed Bush for $160 BILLION in pork added on to the $700B tarp bill before they’d pass it last Oct!
An amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) cut corporate and individual income taxes and repeal the AMT.
***And why not introduce this separately? Why attach it to this bill? Because: it would artificially make the CBO report the bill as more expensive because these tax cuts would be calculated as part of the cost! And that might help kill the bill.
Demint has gotten $236K from the health industries and $212K from insurance companies. Do you think they pay him to keep YOUR costs to them down?
An amendment by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) to require funding for all projects in the bill occur within one year.
***A parliamentary kill procedure! Why not do that for Iraq, Afghanistan, Medicaid, Public Schools, etc?
An amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to require spending cuts and a move to a balanced budget once the economy recovers.
***And didn’t McCain take part in the GOP’s “Contract With America” in 1994 that promised a balanced budget? So where was McCain and the rest of the GOP controlling congress when Bush doubled the national debt?
An amendment by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) to cut $5.2 billion in pet projects and replace it with the same amount of defense spending.
***But the “defense” spending he wants is something Bush, Colin Powell etc. tried to kill and the Pentagon says it doesn’t need!!!
An amendment by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to cut the tax rate for the lowest tax bracket in half.
*** A trick! If tied to a health care bill, it would serve to make the health care bill look more expensive since the loss of those taxes would be added on to the calculated cost.
An amendment by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) to repeal the 1993 Social Security tax increase.
***Same trick. Why not introduce this separately? Because, as in Cornyn’s amendment, it would make the health care bill artificially appear more expensive if it’s included with it.
And, a McCain amendment to strike the “Buy American” provision from the bill.
*** If a Dem. proposed this, the right-wing neocons would be screaming “traitor”!