Water is wet, the sun rises in the East, and the President is still talking.
Those on the left worship him. He has no faults. His words are true simply because he says them. Appealing to those people to actually judge him on substance is a waste of time. For those actually capable of cutting through the fog, welcome to the world of our Spinal Tap in Chief.
Although the issue is health care reform, I am not referring to the medical procedure known as a spinal tap.
I am referring to the fictional rock band Spinal Tap, with Michael McKean of Laverne and Shirley playing Nigel Teufel.
The more I listen to President Obama, the more he reminds me of Spinal Tap. He sounds like he is saying lofty and groundbreaking things, but he is really saying absolutely nothing.
The song “The Majesty of Rock” is as hilarious as it is analogous.
“When we die…do we haunt the sky…do we lurk in the murk of the seas…
What then…are we born again…just to sit asking questions like these…
I know…for I told me so…and I’m sure each of you quite agrees…
The more it stays the same…the less it changes!”
(Even those who love Mr. Obama should find this song riotous.)
“That’s the majesty of rock…the fantasy of roll…
The ticking of the clock (or the crowing of the cock)…the scoring of the goal (or the running of the foal)…
The shepherd with his flock…the miner with his coal…
We’re in this together!”
I will get to the President’s remarks momentarily, but think of how the lyrics apply to him.
“I know, for I told me so, and I’m sure each of you quite agrees.”
If that does not perfectly encapsulate the mentality of this man, I don’t know what does.
Instead of “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” we get, “the more it stays the same, the less it changes.” It sounds so deep, but upon further analysis, is nonsense.
Barack Obama does not understand the economic concept of diminishing marginal returns. If every speech is a groundbreaking speech, then none of them are.
(In college, the 4th beer may have been better than the 3rd beer, but the 27th one might not be better than the 26th one. I was not a drinker, but the analogy is the same with barbecued ribs. It is a different type of physical pain that is self-inflicted.)
Now for Mr. Obama’s Spinal Tap remarks.
“The status quo is unacceptable. Doing nothing is not an option.”
Nobody is saying we should do nothing. Those are fictional arguments he keeps repeating.
He then tries to triangulate himself as a reasonable moderate between two extremes. On one side are those who want the single payer system. Mr. Obama yearns for this, but is honest enough to know it is not politically feasible at this time. Fair enough. Yet he claims that the Republican approach is solely to “loosen regulations on insurance companies. I disagree with that approach.”
No, it is not. I have not met a single Republican who said that letting insurance companies run wild is the only solution, and that everything will be fine if we do that.
He then stated where there was agreement.
1) Removing the ban on preexisting conditions (He cited the 39% Anthem Blue Cross increase in premiums).
2) Giving the people the same plan as Congress.
3) Bringing down costs
# 2 will not happen. Congress always finds a way to get special treatment. This is a bipartisan form of entitlement.
# 3 is a meaningless platitude. Everybody wants stuff to cost less.
# 1 makes sense. However, the reason why Anthem Blue Cross got away with what it did is because they lack competition. Does anybody in their right mind think that Coca Cola could charge $20 for a soda with Pepsi breathing down their neck?
Allowing insurance across state lines would absolutely prevent Anthem Blue Cross from engaging in such maneuvers.
President Obama kept saying that he “incorporated ideas from both sides.”
No he did not. He will not look at legal reform. Some call it tort reform, but we need wide ranging legal reform that balances reducing frivolous lawsuits without letting legitimate ones get buried.
He said that the CBO claims his plan will reduce the deficit by 2 trillion dollars. He neglects to mention that in the late years, it explodes again.
Anybody criticizing his numbers has their motives attacked as racist or unpatriotic or uncaring. I have one questions for these people.
How the heck can one reduce any deficit by spending more? It does not work that way.
“I took the best ideas from the Democrats and the GOP.”
No he did not.
“There is a disagreement over regulation of insurance companies.”
That is not the debate. That is a small slice of the debate.
“If Republicans feel that way, they should vote against my plan.”
Good. We will continue to vote against bad plans. It’s called being principled.
I have said that the president should take a piecemeal approach. The president feels that unless we get universal coverage (although his plan does not cover everybody), insurance companies will still deny those with preexisting conditions.
This is not the case. He claims that there is broad agreement, but insists on an all or nothing approach, disagreements be d@mned.”
He then complained that his bill “deserves an up or down vote.”
Again, Democrats are the ones that have had a year to have an up or down vote. 100% of the fault with failure has been because Democrats fought amongst themselves.
Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell as usual made sense.
“The President left out the medicare cuts and tax increases.”
“The only thing bipartisan about this bill is the opposition to it.”
“This is not an argument between Democrats and Republicans. It is an argument between Democrats and the people.”
If Barack Obama wants a bill passed now, then get one passed! It is intraparty fights between the center-left and the hard left.
He can attack Tea Party attendees, Republicans, insurance companies, and everybody else, but the fault lies inward.
The bigger picture is that his passionate speeches on health care should be replaced with passionate work on jobs. 85% of Americans are happy with their health care. 100% of Americans are worried about the economy and job creation.
Over and over again Americans have said that they want the economy dealt with first. He pretends to get the message, then continues charging forward on health care.
We keep being told that “the time for talk and debate is over,” and that “the time to act is now.”
All this president does is talk. His party is the party of inertia. If they want to act, then shut up and act. Just stop boring me.
“I know, for I told me so, and I’m sure each of you quite agrees…the more it stays the same, the less it changes.”
eric
Well, here we see yet more conservative projectionism. I’m a liberal. I know many liberals. None of us worship Obama nor find him faultless nor believe everything he says is true. This is one of the character traits that differentiates liberals from conservatives. Liberals do not automattically believe, trust or worship anyone. Conservative will believe, trust and worship anyone or anything they’re instructed.
The president has ackowledged that republicans do have ideas at the table of healthcare reform. The trouble is that republicans insist on scraping everything and starting over again, which obviously translates to “do nothing,” what reform ideas they do have are not substantively fleshed-out, and the ideas do little to bend the healthcare cost-curve, which is at the core of the need for healthcare reform.
“Legal reform,” as our good hosts slyly puts it, is in fact limiting rewards from lawsuits, or even limiting suits altogether. Our good host, like all republicans, has never acknowledged that most torts are state matters, or that this is an infringement of constutitional and states rights. The same goes for interstate insurance or coverage mandates.
Then, ironically after offering tiny bandaids like tort reform, our good host has the unmitigated audacity to say that regulation of the insurance industry is only a “small slice of the debate.” Amazing! It is at the heart of the problem, it encompasses almost all the other aspects of the debate, and it’s the main cause for opposition! I think our good host is belittling the subject because he knows that it is in fact the heart of the debate and that the republicans are solidly on the side of the insurance industry against Americans.
Then our good hosts blames the Democrats entirely for the stalling of the debate, even though he knows full well that the Senate GOP has made furtherance virtually impossible.
Then he says Mitch McConnell “as usual” makes sense, which is like saying Donald Trump “as usual” is not obnoxious.
This is the real problem, and this is why so many Americans have turned against healthcare reform: There is too much DISHONEST debate.
JMJ
‘None of us worship Obama nor find him faultless nor believe everything he says is true. ”
You need to get out more often. True, not all worship him like the messiah, and more and more of the left is becoming very unsatisfied with him, but to say “NONE” is absolutely ridiculous.
“Conservative will believe, trust and worship anyone or anything they’re instructed.”
This is just as ridiculous as the first comment of yours I quoted.
Its hard to continue a reasonable conversation with someone who categorically generalizes each of each party this way.
“most torts are state matters, or that this is an infringement of constutitional and states rights. The same goes for interstate insurance or coverage mandates.”
Well then lets have some more of these “louisiana purchase” deals or “corn husker ‘ applications drawn up.
The problem with frivilous law suits that have caused 3 of my doctors to leave the state because they cant afford the insurance is a problem that can be solved.
But the attorneys kissing Obamas a$$ dont want this happening.
Period
“our good host has the unmitigated audacity to say that regulation of the insurance industry is only a “small slice of the debate.” Amazing! It is at the heart of the problem, ”
It is a small part of the debate. The debate should be between the American people and the leftist who are trying to shove an over priced collectivist snare down our throats. This bill untimately is an entitlement designed to endure future democratic votes.
It will fail, pass or not
Personally, Micky, I think one has to be an idiot to think that the the health insurance we have now in this country is a good thing. It is PROBLEM #1. Yes, we need malpractice reform. But there’s a lot more to that than just limiting people’s rights. If we had a national, public malpractice pool, for instance, we could reduce costs significantly. But I just don;t see how the federal government is going to force the states to change their malpractice systems, let alone force them to accept out-of-state insurance that doesn’t meet their standards. I just think some of these ideas from the Right are pure and total bullsquat. You want to trample all over state and individual rights and NONE of you will be MAN enough to admit it. If you want the federal gov’t to step in and force the states to accept univeral tort reform and interstate insurance, or mandates as Mitt Romney and the Dems have offered, then you’re going to have to pass a Right to Healthacre amendment to the constitution. Otherwise, the federal gov’t doesn’t have the constitutional power to much of anything about these things. They could offer incentives with mandates, but you guys refuse eiother the incentives or the mandates…
So, you know what I think: Republicans and conservatives want to do NOTHING about healthcare in this country. They don’t care about millions of uninsured people. They don’t care that last year alone there were 114 MILLION visits to ERs because people have to use them like doctors offices. They don’t care about the overhead drag on our export economy. They don’t care about the unsustainable costs because that’s in the future and they are incapable of thinking about the future. All they care about is stopping the political “opposition.” That’s it. That’s all you, and Eric, and all the other partisans care about. It’s your ideology first – everything else second: family, friends, country… everything. It’s just a game to you. And all you care about is “winning.” Well, I got news for you guys. This isn’t a game. It’s real life. And if you keep screwing everything up, eventually Americans will come to hate you.
JMJ
Spinal taps cost money, lots of money, and are sometimes a waste of time. MRIs cost lots of money, and are sometimes frivilous tests, which
achieve nothing.
When Hillary tried years ago to get socialized medicine, and failed,
this should have been a forewarning to subsequent administrations, most definitely this one, to stop playing games with the American people, we are too smart for these childish pranks.
I am a Blue Dog Democrat, but will vote Republican on the national
ticket. for two reasons. I am against government intrusion in our lives
except when absolutely necessary, and for a strong defense ( or offense ).
I therefore want my own Senators, Boxer and Feinstein out of office
as quickly as possible. Heaven forbid I would vote for Jerry Brown and
his Berkeley ideals.
Sometimes admittedly the California candidates (Republican) are
too extreme for me, especially in local elections.
The John Birch types have no place in current politics. I like
Meg Whitman. She, like Sarah Palin, should be the benchmarks
for Republican politics, on the feminine side.
I literally hate Reid and Pelosi..the two biggest gonifs around (crooks).
Sometimes I get into debates with friends and acquaintenece., mostly
liberals, certainly left of center. When asked what Obama has accomplished, they nod their heads, become unfortable, and have no
answers, none, -0-, zilch, or as Hitler says in Inglorious Bastards, nein, nein, nein.
Speaking of “Bastards”, I understand most of my fellow Israelites
have not nor will they see the movie. They just cannot fathom
Jews fighting, it’s against their religion. Against their religion, maybe
that’s why 6.5 went like sheep to their deaths? Maybe that’s why
they don’t understand Bush/Cheney, McCain and Giulini’s attitude about
Islamic Fascism.
They just don’t get it, Reid and Pelosi. Now they bottled up two
anti-Iranian measures designed to increase sanctions, claiming
Obama wants time to “negotiate” at the UN.
One of the most devious TV news reporters is Charlie Rose. I have
been listening to this guy for years. He is something. He has been against
our involvement in Iraq..saying it is the worst mistake ever in US foreign policy. He likes troops in Afghanistan however. That’s fine. He
has inviewed Ahmad and other leaders of Iran, as well as Assad of Syria.
Now, he sort of goes along with our Chief of Staff who he interviewed last night on PBS. His questions were loaded to support the 5 star general.
Wow, what a switch. the thinking now being that Iran is not going along
with Obama’s hopeful and wishful thinking about our enemies.
Charlie Rose once said, “The Israel’s are paranoid over Iran”.
Paranoid? Gee, maybe there is something to paranoa.
Last week Ahmad said that Israel is “an insult” to the world”..it’s young Palestinian resistors will bring it down. Paranoid?
So back to Reid and Pelosi, who have stymied both the House
and Senate’s proposals to increase sanctions.
This all applies to Obamacare., the worst and most stupid
effort by the Democratic liberals to (Tikkun Olam), repair the world, in this case the USA.
You know where Tikkun Olam got the Hebrews…………..20 minutes
of Zykon B gas., if they were lucky.
Bottom line, if people cannot afford medical care, or don’t want it,
there are charities. If there are millions of illegals and their children
who demand care..let them go back where they came from and get
medical attention.
But little Israel, now fighting aparthaid week in the USA, still
allows thousands of Arabs to receive free medical beneifits
in Israel once they cross over the border. All this while
the Palestinian Authority is burning Jewish products in barnfires.
Hmmmmmmmm burning Jewish products, smacks to me
of the “burning of the books” by the SS and SA circa
1930s.
There is no debate. Obamacare is not about healthcare it is about control. Obama is following Lenin’s philosophy. Controlling medical care is imparitive to controlling a population, any population. Control is the intention.
“If we had a national, public malpractice pool, ”
yeah, in about a day and a half every freaking lawyer would be dipping into that sucker. Pooling resources for malpractice is going to come from one place only, except they’ll give it some PC bullsht label so it doesnt sound like the additional tax it will be.
precautionary investment” or some crap like that. Pelosis goodat coming up with these titles … “spending initiative” :-(
” I think one has to be an idiot to think that the the health insurance we have now in this country is a good thing. ‘
An even bigger idiot would think that after everything weve seen the government screw up that federally mandated insurance is a good idea.
Put some limits on frvilous law suits so doctors, clinics and hospitals dont have to pay these “OUTRAGEOUS” insurance premiums.
Let the markets compete cross state. individual state consitutional matters can be resolved a lot easier, specially if you can pull off Louisiana purchases etc…
The only reason the left is si insistent on this is for shoring up future votes, period.
None of them give a ratsa$$ about anyones health.
Hell, the enviros would love to see us eating less meat and populating the earth less.
You guys are nuts, I hope, sadly enough, that this bill passes so the country can see all that much quicker what it is you morons are up to so we can end this fiasco that much sooner