Re: Obama Care
 

Really it comes down to what is politically feasible. UHC, if it is ever to become real, has to be now. Strong liberal control of both legislative bodies, and a liberal president. If the Republicans gain in the midterm then the focus can shift back to SS/medicare, and paint the Republicans as cry babies. But right now is the time for the liberal base to push through as much dramatic underlying shift as possible. If they are able to, then as they say, to the victor goes the spoils.

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;569580]Really it comes down to what is politically feasible. UHC, if it is ever to become real, has to be now. Strong liberal control of both legislative bodies, and a liberal president. If the Republicans gain in the midterm then the focus can shift back to SS/medicare, and paint the Republicans as cry babies. But right now is the time for the liberal base to push through as much dramatic underlying shift as possible. If they are able to, then as they say, to the victor goes the spoils.[/quote]
They have to pass it now before people get a chance to read the thing and realize how bad of a bill is.

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;569580].....But right now is the time for the liberal base to push through as much dramatic underlying shift as possible. If they are able to, then as they say, to the victor goes the spoils.[/quote]
If they push through bad legislation, they will likely lose control of Congress in 2010, and possibly the White House in 2012.

Re: Obama Care
 

but the legislation will remain, hence my point. right now is the time for them to push radical changes through.

edit:
I don't know if i am really clear but once the republicans boost their representation the liberals will not be able to pass the extreme items of their agenda such as UHC, but they would certainly be able to argue for the salvation of existing programs. So even if this fight costs them seats, they want it because once it is law, no politician would be able to roll back medical care for the poor children that would be splashed across the tv screen.

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;569585]but the legislation will remain, hence my point. right now is the time for them to push radical changes through. [/quote]I understand your point, I just hope the American people keep screaming loud enough that the Blue Dogs in the House or enough moderate Senators stop this thing.

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;569593]I understand your point, I just hope the American people keep screaming loud enough that the Blue Dogs in the House or enough moderate Senators stop this thing.[/quote]

They probably will, but that is the real reason that this must be passed now, any talk of a crisis is just smoke to pacify the media/middle of the road voters.

Re: Obama Care
 

A local blogger in my area, I don't always agree with him but he always raises interesting points

[url=http://blog.timesunion.com/funiciello/we-have-talked-this-problem-to-death/337/]“We Have Talked The Problem To Death.” - Matt Funiciello - timesunion.com - Albany NY[/url]

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=Mattyk72;569607]A local blogger in my area, I don't always agree with him but he always raises interesting points

[URL="http://blog.timesunion.com/funiciello/we-have-talked-this-problem-to-death/337/"]“We Have Talked The Problem To Death.” - Matt Funiciello - timesunion.com - Albany NY[/URL][/quote]

Good read!

Re: Obama Care
 

In a way, Republicans share much of the blame for this legislation. Many of the arguments they are making right now against nationalized health care, are issues they could have addressed when they had complete power. Remember, for six years they had the House, they had the Senate, the Presidency, and they had a majority on the Supreme Court.

What did they do to address the issue of rising health care costs? Nothing. In fact, during the Bush Administration, I seem to [URL="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/executive/2003-12-23-canada-drugs_x.htm"]remember[/URL] the issue of "allowing" American citizens to buy prescription drugs from Canada because they are cheaper. The GOP stood in the way of this because they argued that without the protection of the FDA, the U.S. government couldn't guarantee the safety of Canadian drugs. This was nanny-statism at it's very finest, and the Republicans are guilty of this just as much as Democrats depending on the issue.

Granted, they didn't have that critical 100 seat majority in the Senate, which according to apologists for the GOP, was vital to be able to get anything done. At the very least, couldn't someone in the Republican Party introduced legislation to make health care costs for individuals tax deductable the way they are for employers? That's one of the best retorts against any argument for nationalized health care today. But why didn't anyone have the forsight to attempt this when they had the chance?

That's why I have no love for the Republicans. It's always a day late and a dollar short for these guys. Just like last year with skyrocketing gas prices, they had complete control of everything for six years to make a serious push for domestic gas drilling -- yet we heard nothing from them on that issue when they had the power to do something about it. We're seeing the same thing with health care. Didn't anyone realize that this was going to be a major issue for the Democrats when the gavel came back into their hands? Couldn't the Republicans have done [I]something[/I] to try to put out this fire before it got out of hand?

Re: Obama Care
 

John Stossel gives nationalized healthcare another [URL="http://www.reason.com/news/show/134987.html"]smackdown[/URL].

[quote]A handful of people who probably never even ran a small business actually think they can reinvent the health care system ... Politicians and bureaucrats clearly have no idea how complicated markets are. Every day people make countless tradeoffs, in all areas of life, based on subjective value judgments and personal information as they delicately balance their interests, needs and wants. Who is in a better position than they to tailor those choices to best serve their purposes? Yet the politicians believe they can plan the medical market the way you plan a birthday party.[/quote]

[quote]The administration estimates $1.5 trillion over 10 years with no increase in the deficit. But no one should take that seriously. When it comes to projecting future costs, these guys may as well be reading chicken entrails. In 1965, hospitalization coverage under Medicare was projected to cost $9 billion by 1990. The actual price tag was $66 billion.[/quote]

Re: Obama Care
 

Let me get this straight.

We're going to pass a health care plan
written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,
signed by a president that also hasn't read it, and who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,
overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and
financed by a country that's bankrupt.

What possibly could go wrong?

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=firstdown;609499]Let me get this straight.

We're going to pass a health care plan
written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,
signed by a president that also hasn't read it, and who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,
overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and
financed by a country that's bankrupt.

What possibly could go wrong?[/quote]

If it wasn't 3 paragraphs, I would add this to my sig! Classic

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=firstdown;609499]Let me get this straight.

We're going to pass a health care plan
written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,
signed by a president that also hasn't read it, and who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,
overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and
financed by a country that's bankrupt.

What possibly could go wrong?[/quote]

That should be a bumper sticker or a t-shirt at the least...then again, can't go against Obama, the cult would be in an uproar!
Why others can't see the problems with this makes me scratch my head.
Great post firstdown.

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;569583]If they push through bad legislation, they will likely lose control of Congress in 2010, and possibly [B]the White[/B] [B]House in 2012[/B].[/quote]
to steal a line from Saden, who do they have that could beat lord Obama?

Re: Obama Care
 

[quote=firstdown;609499]Let me get this straight.

We're going to pass a health care plan
written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,
signed by a president that also hasn't read it, and who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,
overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and
financed by a country that's bankrupt.

What possibly could go wrong?[/quote]

I should have know from the lack of spelling errors that this post was plagiarized:
[IMG]http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s274/gmscud/healthcare.jpg[/IMG]
[SIZE=5][COLOR=black][COLOR=black]Let me get this straight.. We're going to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, signed by a president that also hasn't read it, and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's nearly broke. [/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE]

[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=5]What possibly could go wrong[COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy]?[/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]