Blowhard-a-thon at Blair House: Health care summit open thread; Update: Alexander calls out Dems on reconciliation; Obama to McCain: “We’re not campaigning anymore;” Obama’s thin skin is showing; Slaughter bemoans dead lady’s dentures; Boehner: “Dangerous experiment”
Scroll down for liveblogging…
Six entire hours of President Obama pretending to listen to the Republicans talk about the health care reform alternatives his press shop denied existed…even as they linked to those proposals on their own website. Whatevs. Here’s the video embed in case you have an urgent need to watch Oba-kabuki during your busy work day:
This isn’t “transparency.” It’s political expediency.
Statement this morning from GOP House leader John Boehner:
For his part, President Obama comes to the table with the same massive government takeover of health care that the American people have already rejected. In effect, the president’s proposal actually takes the 2,733-page bill that the Senate passed on Christmas Eve and manages to make it worse. Even more Medicare cuts. Even more tax hikes. Plenty of special-interest deals still in place. A trillion-dollar price tag.
This latest Democrats-only backroom deal snuffed out any chance that this summit could serve as the starting point for a bipartisan consensus. Democrats are instead hoping that this media event can be the gateway to a final push that involves circumventing the will of the people and jamming a bill through using parliamentary tricks.
This is the same arrogance and overreaching that the American people are so fed up with. It’s why Massachusetts happened. It’s why Americans waited for hours in the August heat to get into town hall meetings and make sure their voices were heard.
Indeed, we’ve been here before. Shortly after Labor Day, the president gave an address to Congress designed to resuscitate his proposed government takeover of health care. That speech was followed by an all-out media blitz. It was described as a “last-ditch effort,” “an opportunity to take back the initiative.” Nearly six months later, still no health care bill has been signed into law, tens of thousands more have lost their jobs and unemployment is still near 10 percent.
All this uncertainty is hurting small businesses, the engine of job creation in our country, while Americans are rightly asking: “Where are the jobs?”
The president’s health care media blitz was based on the notion that the more the American people learn about his plan, the more they would come to like it. Now that just the opposite has occurred, the president has chosen to limit participation in the Thursday summit to administration officials and congressional leaders. America’s governors and state legislatures have been excluded. Their perspective from the front lines about the damage this massive government takeover of health care would do to cash-strapped states is apparently not welcome. That’s greatly disappointing, considering that measures have been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures opting out of a federal takeover of health care.
Also excluded from today’s summit is Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., co-author of a House-passed amendment barring federal funding of abortion. The Stupak-Pitts amendment — which reflects the will of the American people on the issue of federal funding of abortion — is supported by a bipartisan majority in the House, but was excluded from the president’s proposal. Pro-life Democrats in the House have already pledged to vote against this provision. Health care reform should be an opportunity to protect human life — not end it. This fundamental issue isn’t even listed as a topic for discussion at the summit.
The president can hold all the summits he wants, but the toothpaste is out of the tube: The American people don’t want this massive government takeover of health care. No summit or speech or sales pitch can fix a fundamentally flawed 2,000-plus-page health care bill that spends money we don’t have and kills the jobs we need to get our economy moving again.
Let’s listen to the American people and let’s start over.
***
Will Republicans raise the issue of what IBD calls the “raw hypocrisy of reconciliation?”
Nothing so far in the yearlong debate on health reform has exposed the Democrats’ rank hypocrisy as much as the viewing of these past statements condemning as an unconstitutional power grab what they now propose to do.
***
10:15am Eastern. In an opening statement/lecture, Obama drags his daughters into the health care reform debate. Rehashes questionable menigitis story. See background on that here: Leave Obama’s kids alone…except when POTUS & FLOTUS need them for Obamacare.
10:22am Eastern. Insert laugh track. Obama: “I hope this will not just be theater.” And if it is, Obama goes on, “I hope it’s an opportunity to clarify our positions.”
Sen. Lamar! Alexander is making the opening statement for the GOP. He points out that he is a former governor and hopes to represent views of other governors who were excluded from summit. Roasts backroom deals. Uses car show analogy. Demcare plans are models we can’t afford.
10:34am Eastern. Alexander calls out Obama/Dems on reconciliation. Asks O to renounce tactics, quotes Obama opposition to reconciliation tactics in prior Senate debates. “Renounce jamming it through.” Start over, work together, reduce health care costs. Make that the goal for now. “It means going step by step together to re-earn the trust of the American people.”
Alexander: “If we don’t take reconciliation off the table, the rest of the meeting meaningless and the only thing bipartisan will be opposition to the bill.”
***
Alexander finishes. Nancy Pelosi up next. Brags about bipartisan vote for empty gesture measure lifting antitrust exemption for health insurers. Several minutes of emoting and stammering conclude with multiple invocations of Teddy Kennedy and the left-wing mantra: “Health care is a right, not a privilege.”
Next up: Harry Reid’s Save My Backside speech.
Reid: “No one’s talking about reconciliation!” But, anyway, it’s been done before. Blah, blah, blah. Reid says Demcare bill has had “significant input from Republicans.”
Invokes a constituent named “Jesus” many times. “Jesus.” “Jesus.”
11:00am Eastern. Obama makes claims about lowering premiums in his Demcare bill. Alexander calls him out. Obama gets snippy.
11:34am Eastern. GOP Rep. Dave Camp provides cost reality checks – citing CMMS, PriceWaterhouseCooper, and illuminating restrictions on HSA/MSAs. Points out limits on out-of-pocket spending and coverage mandates that bend the cost curve upward. Obama cuts him off.
11:47am Eastern. McConnell notes that Dems have had 52 minutes. GOP has had 24. Obama snips: “There was an imbalance in the opening statements because I am the president.” In other words: I WON.
Obama remedies the partisan time imbalance by…launching into another long-winded insurance anecdote. HE WON.
And now…over to Charles Schumer!
12:10pm Eastern From the GOP Senate Conference:
Setting the Record Straight: President Obama Cut GOP Some Slack?
At the start of the White House summit on health care, President Obama suggested that he cut Republicans some slack and allowed Senator Alexander to give longer opening remarks. Democratic leadership and President Obama’s opening remarks totaled more than 30 minutes. Senator Alexander clocked in at 13 minutes and 10 seconds.
President Obama to Senator Alexander: “Lamar, both I and Lamar went a little bit over our original allocated time. I — not wanting to be a hypocrite — wanted to give you some slack.”
DEMOCRATS’ OPENING REMARKS REPUBLICAN OPENING REMARKS
President Obama 14 mins, 36 seconds Senator Alexander 13 mins, 10 seconds
Speaker Pelosi 7 mins, 57 seconds
Leader Reid 8 mins, 13 seconds
30 mins, 46 seconds
12:32pm Eastern. McCain talks about backroom deals. Irritable Obama snaps: “We’re not campaigning anymore.” (McCain: “I’m reminded of that every day.”) O flips papers. Jeers at GOP “talking points.” Gives the ball to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
12:47pm Eastern. Cantor has the massive Senate bill printout in front of him. Obama squirms and frowns. Calls it a “prop” and blames printouts for preventing “dialogue.”
1:00pm Eastern. Last speaker before the break: Democrat Rep. Louise Slaughter, who complains about women and minorities being excluded from clinical trials years ago and tells a sob story about a woman who was “forced” to wear her dead sister’s dentures. Or something.
Obama extols the “terrific conversation” so far.
Pray for the Republic, people.
2:08pm Eastern. MSNBC has now cut away from Act II of Oba-Kabuki and is broadcasting Olympic women’s hockey instead.
Crikey on steroids: Tom Harkin just likened health insurance risk pools to segregation.
3:28pm Eastern Boehner up and he’s got the massive legislation on his desk, too. “This is a dangerous experiment” with “the best health care system in the world.” Calls out Obama for not mentioning the government funding of abortion in Demcare. “Let’s scrap the bill. Start with a clean sheet of paper.”
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Obama Chief of Staff: No More Compromise on Contraceptive Mandate
February 12, 2012 04:26 PM by Doug Powers
114 Comments
Choosing Life and Beating the Odds
February 11, 2012 11:50 AM by Doug Powers
32 CommentsObama’s fraudulent abortion mandate “accommodation” Updated: Prez condemns “cynical” opposition
February 10, 2012 10:05 AM by Michelle Malkin
245 Comments‘To Stop the Multiplication of the Unfit’
February 10, 2012 09:06 AM by Michelle Malkin
199 CommentsFormer Democrat Rep. Regrets Vote for Obamacare Due to Contraceptive Coverage
February 7, 2012 03:40 PM by Doug Powers
75 Comments
How to Make a Liberal Politician Stand Up Against Intrusive Government
February 6, 2012 04:28 PM by Doug Powers
95 Comments
Your Friday IRS regulation dump: Obamacare’s job-killing medical device tax
February 3, 2012 04:21 PM by Michelle Malkin
58 Comments
The SIGA scandal: Calls for investigation mount
January 27, 2012 02:13 PM by Michelle Malkin
58 Comments
Categories: Health care
Pundit & Pundette
» Bishop Jenky, Nicki Minaj, and the "98%"Sister Toldjah
» Obama’s new budget is a bad jokeJustOneMinute
» We Hear From The Department Of Good Ideas And False Choices
Pompous Pelosi.
Nance, you dried up old crone, let me tell you waht shamefull is. Got a make-up mirror with you?
so florida got sweatheart deal for regional disparity lmaoooo
that was funny harry just moved his chair AWAY from san fran nan
Does Botox make you blink a lot, or is that an involultary response to lying?
Largely supported by the American people? You lie!
THen why not put an amendment in the bill to prohibit it out right so there is no doubt. I tell you why nancy because you are doing nothing but spin!
Obama is the master of lowered expectations, he will find away to make everyone feel good about doing with less everything..work, money, housing, etc..
professuh obambi is speaking remove your hats and bend over
Yeah, Obama keeps LYING about what the “American People” want. He’s a denier.
exactly!!! toss them out of the system and see what the savings are..my guess would be billions!! but few if any in congress will grow a spine and just do it!!!
Why should American tax payers pay for illegal alien healthcare, and anchor babies?
Marxism!
utoh unions will be miffed obambi citing WMT as legit biz model
Let Wal-Mart handle health care! Brilliant!
An observation.
Without regard to the topic, who is President, and who is in the majority, having the president of the U.S. on live TV have these kinds of “petty”" exchanges with legislators diminishes the office of the President.
I hope no President repeats this kind of format. It is unbecoming of the office.
What is the real topic? Is it health insurance for all? Is it affordable health insurance for all? Is it health care for all? Is it affordable health care for all?
Is it controlling health care costs or is it about improving the quality of heath care? Is it about fairness of heath care for the haves and have nots? Or is it really all about control of people and things? Read “power”.
The last time I looked, anybody in America can go to the emergency room and be treated including those with ” pre existing conditions”. That also includes those who can’t pay for it. Politicians conveniently slip between the various topics to make their point or to deflect criticism of their point. Its really disingenuous.
I am one of the whatever # of millions of people who is not insured I pay as I go and can assure anyone even those in rio linda nobody pays for me who has insurance. I am charged more and don’t mind paying as overall I have saved agreat deal of money and put it to active use a lil term called compounding.
If people who have insurance pay for those who don’t how come we hear about people who lose their homes for medical bills?
It is all moot the fact remains what obambi and the dems are proposing is UNCONSTITUTIONAL and any GOP that even mentions compromise needs to be FIRED.
Clean your voter rolls gang!
T Bone,
Can you get chemotherapy in an emergency room?
Obama doesn’t know when to shut up. He is hurting himself.
Employers are shedding employees from work.
Let solve that problem!
Were the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution “baby steps?”
fly,
it became diminished when this clown was sworn in and nodded his head while racist rants went on.
every moment since has been a very ugly joke.
oh goodie he is now using his ghetto speak talking down to Americans now.
C02 lololo great line
Name me one person that needed chemo, Chap, that could not get it.
The money goes to small business, taxpayers…don’t forget special interests and big unions.
Holy horse hockey! SHUT UP!
what a waste…referring to this health care bs and the head, boring bs’er, ol’ blu lips.
Well, there you go. Obama and his cronies wasted yet another precious day pushing this turd. Lecturing us about how we don’t know what’s good for us and laying on the sob stories thick and hard.
I am sick of these clowns threatening me and my family economically, and threatening millions of other Americans with this hostile takeover of American medicine.
Leave me the hell out of it, Obama!
I will continue to support those who are defending urgently against Obama’s threats against me, my family and my friends and millions of other Americans who actually want the actual health-care products we’re already currently paying for.
Hu-Mans should embrace their Kremulakian overlords.
Please Republicans embrace my proposals, Please…Please…Please…
He has talked for more than twenty minutes.
After this, let’s work on getting pre-existing conditions covered for my jeep and the double-wide…
Lets just say we are all entitled to food. Should the government take over our grocery business, make sure everyone eats? Then what do they decide we can eat? The cheapest food? Of course we could only eat what they think is healthy, because they are taking care of health care too. Aren’t we all ENTITLED to a good car? We need that to survive in this world. When do the ENTITLEMENTS stop for God’s sake???
enjoy the day/night.
Thanks to all who voted for this clown or didnt bother to vote. 3 more fun filled years come.
this clown has been talking for 1/2 hour and hasn’t said anything new…anyone surprised?
“if we saw movement, a significant movement, a bowel movement…we can go on”.
Chap, you harm yourself in the analogy of getting chemo in an emergency department. Come on.
I speak for my county in Florida: no one here is denied healthcare. No one. Mothers in poverty go on Medicaid. Their children have Medicaid and there are clinics who see them if they have chronic illnesses.
There are public clinics, working together with the hospitals, doctors and nurses who volunteer their time, grants, and donations that pay for this. Homeless people receive care. Illegals receive care.Give me a break.
The obvious answer is NO, you do not receive chemo in emergency departments. Fedral EMTALA law requires that you treat emergencies and turn no one away. If you are a physician on staff in the hospital you have to take ER call. This includes that you have to see in follow-up (if the patient desires follow-up—many don’t). These patients are then referred to free health clinics who will help them with their needs.
Stump speach. Practice for the next election cycle.
tanya,
psst they are trying to take over our food under the guise of gorebull warming and fat kids.
Chap – Tort Reform.
ObaMao – I am me. Me is great and wise.
Hear my voice. Choose my choice.
Amen.
Ooh!
Closing remark: RECONCILIATION THREAT!
How bipartisan.
heh.
It ends.
More tea for the Tea Partiers.
Somebody is doomed, I suspect it’s us!
A quick google of “no insurance died cancer chemotherapy” comes up with many people who were unable to get prompt chemo treatment. By the time they were, if at all, it was often too late. The American Cancer Society concluded that the uninsured cancer victims are twice as likely to die within 5 years as the insured. Is that simply a huge coincidence?
Do not resuccitate
scrape, scrape, scrape….I know i’ll find the bottom of that barrel anytime now.
can’t name me one.
I can list you a half dozen friends and family members without insurance that got medical care.
From chap…”A quick google of “no insurance died cancer chemotherapy” comes up with many people who were unable to get prompt chemo treatment.”
We’ve seen the videos of the folks that come from Canada dude. What else you got?
Is there a federal mandate that free health clinics exist at all or that they are 100% funded to cover all uninsured that would come to them?
No. There is not. And they turn away new sick patients all the time when their resources are expended. So you search for another. And another. And another. All the while, getting worse and worse.
But in any case, my point was simply that the “Emergency room” argument is silly. It doesn’t cover a million aspects of necessary health care.
He usurped Beck, now I just gotta tune in Mark Levin. Should be a classic!
Good for you. Sounds like you know a lot more people with cancer than I ever have. Tell me where you live so I can avoid it. Sounds like there might be something in the water.
Like I said, do The Google and read the many many stories and studies that show the other side of the coin.
We’ve pretended to listen, now let’s have some Wagyu. Barbecue’s on the lawn, and Blue Moons for everybody!
Um, If I had any notion as to what your point was, I may try to address it.
I’ve heard that people going to ER for breast enhancement have been turned away, too! Really.
Bend over America…
this won’t hurt a bit!
Beck re-airs at 1 a.m. (central)
DVR set? Check!!!
Our Whiny lecturer and chief has finally shut up. The bottom line is that he wants what he wants and the GOP and the rest of us better want that too. He gets the total arrogance award. Why didn’t he keep repeating “I won” in response to the GOP objections?
Chap – Tort Reform!
Favorite takeaway quote of the day:
Bozo Biden – “I’ve been here 37 years…I don’t know what the people think…I know what I think…I think.”
Close. I think.
chap, Google also touted “climate change”
Don’t believe every survey you read. We could all find something to refute your arguments, but what is the point?
Have been in medicine for 31 years in three states and have never seen needs denied.
In one of the poorest states in the US, my white brother (artist) received emergency Medicaid for throat cancer. Was treated and cured. He had no money and received SSI for 5 years (four years more than he should have due to the fraudulent system that the USA currently should fix before reform). I am grateful to GOD for his cure, but he milked the system after he was in remission. He got treatment and as quickly, I might add, as people I know with cancer who are insured and treated at MD Anderson.
How about calling 911 around noon, faking an illness, going to the E.R., all to be served a “free” lunch. (Almost daily in Houston!)
Do you really think it is unlikely that uninsured cancer patients may, on average, die quicker? Get real.
It is NOT just about whether one can ultimately find a free source of treatment. It is also about the speed with which one can secure that treatment.
chap, this is my last word, as you just want to argue…yes, many die quicker on your surveys because many are noncompliant with their treatment, or do not (even with Medicaid) get cancer screenings and it is too late for a cure. So you get real, missy.
Obama sounded kind of bitter at the end that voters are turning on him. Did I say bitter? I meant bitter.
Don’t be silly. My point is that the “Uninsured already have guaranteed health care! The Emergency Room!” line that I hear all the time is both pithy and totally devoid of reality. Emergency rooms provide only a limited amount of services. After that, you have no guarantees to anything.
As fast as USPS? As fast as, say, an act of congress? As fast as a FEMA response to a hurricane?
Your ability to compartmentalize reality and logic is astounding.
And why should you be guaranteed health care at my expense?
I didn’t say that. All I said was it is stupid and wrong to argue that we already are simply because we open up the ERs.
Obama=Dr. Jelly
fingerfist.Good point chap.
Maybe we should let all of the illegal aliens in Texas who are milking our system dry with out-patient treatments for TB (hugely expensive) and in hospital treatments for cancer (hugely expensive) know that there are no guarantees to care once they leave the emergency room. Hmmmm. But then….if we didn’t treat all of these illegals then the public at large would be at risk right? Now that is “defensive medicine” right there I tell ya!
It’s a bogus red herring argument from the git-go anyway, Lindsay: How could some uncited “study” even claim anyone had cancer unless the patients were being treated for cancer in the first place? I don’t care how rich, insured or important a person thinks s/he may be, when the Grim Reaper comes knocking, they ain’t got no choice in the matter. Perhaps a list of well known, well-to-do people, e.g. celebrities, who have died of cancer (e.g. Michael Landon) might help to educate Chappy.
Chap – So are you suggesting that long lines at the clinics, and months (or years) of delays for treatment (ala Canadacare) as a result of Obama care will improve the prospects of those who are presently uninsured? Please.
Tort Reform
Here you go.
But what are you talking about? Just because someone is diagnosed with a disease is not the same as treating it. And, in any case, I, nor the study, never said they were not getting ANY treatment. But certainly you have no doubt there could be large disparities in the speed and quality of treatment between the two groups, no?
I may be concerned with that if the current bill were putting forth anything like a Canadian system. But anyone with any honesty would admit that it is not.
For chap:
http://news.health.com/2009/05/22/many-black-women-refuse-breast-cancer-treatments/
I believe this is a newer study than your link. Again, you can find what you want on Google to always support an argument.
Bottom line: we have the best healthcare in the world. Try reading some information on the NIH in the UK to compare.
Been fun. Gotta go make tacos.
Not sure how you think that refutes my point. And not sure why the unescapable logic that the uninsured are at a disadvantage when it comes to health care would be so difficult for you to grasp.
If you truly believe that you can be treated just as well without insurance, I would encourage you to drop your coverage right now and save yourself some serious coin.
Not gonna? Hmmmm….somehow not surprised.
So we should definitely not make any effort to make it better. Gotcha.
Ah, forgive me please, I forgot your psychic gifts. Who knows what the current bill is – will be? Would it be the current Senate bill laying in the House? Or the one the House may send back to the Senate? Or Barry’s new version? Or the one they want to “Reconcile” with the public option stuffed back in? Please employ your clairvoyance and help us out.
BTW – Tort Reform!!
No clarivoyance needed. They all fall far short of anything approaching Canadacare.
I tried to watch and/or listen to this thing. What a bunch of bull!!!
Michelle hit it on the head. Obama didn’t have any patience for anything the Republicans had to say. HIs facial expressions said it all, especially when Boenher spoke.
And then you see Obama walking to the White House with his posse. They are going to pull the trigger on this and there isn’t anything that can be done.
What’s that saying? Fait Accompli!!
And please allow me to get this off my chest… You effin’ ignorant masses who believed in the Hope n’ Change crap…You put this man where he is. It’s all your fault….
/Spit and getting off soapbox.
I know 6 people that were treated without insurance and lived. (not all had cancer, by the way).
Chap cannot name me one that was not treated and died.
So goes the liberal argument.
BTW – When Barry was talking about when the GOP controlled Congress they still did not pass tort reform or insurance portability – Someone said “We didn’t have 60 votes, Mr President.”
Does anyone know who that Republican was? I would personally send that man a cigar!
Oops, I forgot. Please ammend former post to include:
Chap – Tort Reform
swede, I have diagnosed chap with:
coprophagia. It is a common problem with liberal Democrats. I feel badly for him, and I do not know if he can get treatment as he may be in the late stages of the illness and/or noncompliant.
Reading conservative comments on this blog is a first step to his cure.
I hardly think any doctor would diagnose a patient with cancer and not attempt to treat the condition.
But no matter, since the point I was making, Chap, is that your hypothesis just doesn’t work.
I named Michael Landon as one example: for your theory to be workable, he would have to have been uninsured to live a shorter amount of time than others. That is, your theory can’t explain – how any wealthy, extremely well-insured cancer patient would die at earlier age than an uninsured person with the same cancer.
I think what’s happening is that you’re perceiving a political-inspired paradolia on this matter, blocking out the myriad variables in real life.
I provided you with a source that has plenty of evidence to back up my contention.
You have a silly anecdote.
You are right. You are hardly thinking. Do you think the doctor that makes the diagnosis has much of any say in how the hospital will use its equipment?
There is sooo much wrong with this attempt at logic, I can hardly begin to explain it. Just because someone who is insured happens to die quickly does not mean that your chances overall aren’t a whole lot better if you are insured. I can’t believe I even have to explain what “average” means.
Again, I would encourage all of you that think insurance is worthless in terms of improving your survival chances with cancer to do yourself a big favor and negotiate with your company for a carve out and save yourself some money. I’ve no doubt they would be happy to oblige.
Man, Monster Thread 2.0
Well, chapo, yes. I have personally known at least four doctors on at least six occasions who have treated people in hospitals with no real prospect of being paid, or the hospital being reimbursed. It happens all the time.
Tort Reform
On balance…
a REALLY good showing by conservatives v. collectivists.
Even the Fabian McAnus provided some good moments.
On both substance and atmospherics, a net win for the good guys.
Rod-jor, Swede. Chaps is talking out his…eh…orifice. Not his pie-hole, either.
One reason that his earlier stat about uninsured cancer patients having a lower survival rate is that the population considered is, by definition, less likely to survive a serious illness. Period.
Think VA hospitals, Indian health-care, etc. Oh, yeah, government health-care really works…
Maybe. I think Krauthammer is onto the real deal. Barry will say well we tried and the dang nehilists wouldn’t budge…so now we gotta take drastic measures. Why else would they set it up like this? It will backfire, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it tried.
So either Barrycare dies now or the Despercrats try the nuclear option. Seems either way we win, no? Personally, I don’t think the congresscritters have the kahonas. They really like their jobs. (And health care)
Intrade has the odds of Obamacare passing by 30 June at 43%. Sell!
A funny thing hppened at the store. I had to pay for all the food I wanted, while I watched a rap star use food stamps to get what he did not work for.
Obamacare is medical stamps for those who will not work, and illegal aliens. It use to be called Marxism.
Sure.
But the people saw…and will be treated to on-going video clips…of the deal. It was a net win, I contend.
Your observation is like saying that N. Korea is going ahead with development of nuclear weapons, so why (say in 1998) try to get them to the table?
It was going to happen in any event, but now we have GREATER public support. Trial lawyers love depositions because they pin the opposition to a given position.
What you say, in other words, is there was no point to the exercise. If your object is to win at the summit, your point is well made. If your point is to make them push this to the point of self-immolation, it was just another milestone in…
OPERATION OVER-REACH.
Chappy, you’re getting desperate. You don’t think hospitals know how to use their own equipment??
I see – and we are in agreement, Chappy. Chance (Fate, Destiny, God’s will, whatever) does not care if a person has the most expensive, greatest comprehensive insurance package or if s/he is dirt poor & have no insurance.
Bu I am looking forward to your insider exposé on all the hospitals that are unaware of how to use their equipment or that refuse to use it to save and/or prolong lives.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/25/david-gergen-on-the-summit-republicans-had-their-best-day-in-years/
Ewww…
That’s gotta sting…
The main reason Obama failed so bad today was the performances of his own team. Right out of the gate, Pelosi and Reid stunk up the joint with their usual insane comments. Other than that, the Republicans kept Obama on the defense to the point that he had to resort to “it’s not my fault. It didn’t happen on my watch.”
The best performance by far was Paul Ryan with his devastating deconstruction of the CBO’s analysis to which Obama reacted with annoyance and a blanket rejection of Ryan’s numbers and logic. It was a big grown up moment for the Republicans.
The worse moments were anytime McCain spoke. He once again served a hanging curve ball right down the middle of the plate and Obama knocked it out of the park providing the MSM with the signature moment they were looking for. Bloomberg played over and over again all day long after cutting away from live coverage.
Today should show everyone that the Republicans DO have leaders coming up the ranks and it is time to move them up. The best thing we can do in November is to vote the corruptosaurs like McCain out of office.
Paul Ryan for President. He was awesome.
In the little I could bring myself to watch of this dog and pony show, all the Dems did was spew unresearched drivel about folks denied health care.Do they have proof these stories were true? I could send an email of fiction,too, to any of these dopes. Again, how many denture stories are real?
Now, that’s from Salon…
Think what the middle of the country saw…