I hate it when quiet Sundays are interrupted by political nonsense.
He came down from Mount Olympus to grace us with his divine presence. He enraptured us with his eloquence and his mere being. It was the greatest speech in the history of speeches.
Just kidding. I wrote that before he began speaking. The Jayson Blair Times and MSNBC probably wrote it as well.
I have been saying from the very beginning that Democrats will ram this bill through. They have had the votes since the day after the 2008 election.
For those playing the “platitude alert” game, get ready to drink heavily.
Harry Reid called Nany Pelosi “the greatest speaker the house has ever had, Nancy Pelosi.”
Now that is funny. I am sure Democrats liked Sam Rayburn and Tip O’Neill better than this San Francisco dingbat (no disrespect to Edith Bunker).
Anyway, every time Barack Obama speaks in a passionate voice while saying absolutely nothing, the rule is to drink a shot. I decided to count them for fun.
The following phrases are worth double points:
Doing nothing is not an option.
The time for talk is over.
We must all come together (while reminding us that his predecessor was evil and that those disagreeing with him should just shut up because he won the election).
“…worst recession since the Great Depression…”
Right off the bat, ladies and gentlemen. He is still attacking his predecessor.
“This Congress has taken on some of the most toughest votes and toughest decisions in the history of congress.”
Yeah, that decision to join World War II was no biggie.
This congress is useless. It has done nothing. There is nothing that this congress has had to deal with and actually dealt with that comes close to anything past congresses have had to deal with. When you stand for nothing, you do nothing. If this congress was worth anything, the American people would no hold them in such low esteem.
This man actually praised congress for stabilizing the stock market. Actually, it dropped like a rock on his watch, and bargain hunters stepped in. If it drops again, will that be his predecessor’s fault? Can we at least admit that he and congress have nothing to do with the stock market, other than scaring the daylights out of it through various increases in regulation?
“There are signs that people are going to start hiring again.”
What signs? What planet is he on?
I am not even angry at this guy. He is genuinely hilarious. I think he truly does believe his own aroma.
He then attacked Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and Karl Rove. Karl Rove? Are you kidding me? Is he that desperate for a bogeyman? His thinly veiled jab at Fox News without saying the words shows that his “final” speech was just another temper tantrum.
“This year small businesses will be getting tax credits so that small businesses can begin ofering health care to employees who don’t have it.”
Small businesses don’t want the tax credits, which are a drop in the bucket compared to the costs. Small businesses hate this bill. He should just admit that he is going to pass it without giving a d@mn about people because he feels like it and he can. At least that is honest.
He declared that Bob Dole and Howard Baker support his bill. No, they don’t. Then he attacked Republicans again.
“What is the essence of this legislation?”
He looked like he was about to almost say something consequential. Don’t worry. He didn’t.
He cited the CBO, not mentioning that the numbers were manipulated before ever getting to the CBO.
This guy is not going to answer basic questions.
1) How can you provide more and better stuff for more people while doing so at a lower cost?
2) If you provide more stuff for more people, doesn’t that increase the risk that you run out of stuff?
3) If young people refuse to buy coverage, will they be put in jail or fined? If not, how can you force them to buy coverage if they don’t want to?
4) What will you do if your cost projections are understated, as they often turn out to be with big bills?
“Is this a vast improvement over the status quo? Absolutely.”
There we go, drink up, doing nothing is not an option. Of course, he answered his own question, which means he is right because he said so.
He tried to acknowledge that others in their heart of hearts might disagree with him for noble reasons, before disparaging those people as uncaring. His message was that if you support the status quo, vote no.
Drink up and hug a straw man.
He refuses to see that others may agree that the system needs improvement but have a vastly different approach.
He then offered a sob story. I could offer a counter sob story about workers who lost their jobs because the government cares more about trees and animals than people. Everybody has a sob story.
“Don’t do it for me or the Democratic Party. Do it for the people.”
The people don’t want it.
To be sure I understand, supporters are for America and those opposed are against America and Americans. Now that I am anti-American, we should all come together and stop partisanship.
There was nothing in this speech that broke any new ground. He must be in favor of environmental measures because this speech was recycled.
“I know what it is like to take a tough vote.”
Yes, voting “present” as a state legislator was agonizing. Watching members of congress risk their own seats for him in 2010 must truly hurt him, if he knew their names.
He then compared passing this bill to the Civil Rights acts in the 1960s. Remember, all Republicans are racists who hate America. If you are against this bill, you have to be somebody who would have fought civil rights. If this is not his message, why even bring it up?
He told us that we should be neighborly and help those around us. He confuses we the people with we the government. It is not his job to make me love my neighbor.
“The very people you thought you were trying to help may be angry at you…”
Well then listen to them, for once. Stop talking, and just listen. Stop lecturing. Stop the pompousness. Drop the arrogance. Stop treating ordinary Americans with contempt. You don’t have to agree with them, but at least acknowledge that the people know what is best for their own households.
His passion is matched by his lack of substance.
His pep rally was described as his last ditch effort. No, it is not. He will ignore every single other issue to pass this because he deeply believes in it. Nobody is criticizing his sincere conviction. The problem is his ignoring everything and everybody around him.
The left could have passed this bill a year ago. No amount of speeches can change that.
Time for a midday nap. He should be coming on television any moment now for his next groundbreaking speech on the most important issue of our lifetime since the history of civilization.
zzzzz
eric
Update: 1:10pm PST…Bart Stupak announces that he is a sucker. The abortion issue is not my fight. Yet Stupak gave a speech about how he stood on principles, and then justified why he sold his vote not for hundreds of millions of dollars, but for a promise that will be broken.
He will vote yes on the health care bill. Only after the vote, President Obama will promise to issue an executive order containing abortion restrictions. If Stupak believes this will happen he is out of his mind. Obama will take heat from the Pelosiraptor and Barbara Boxer, and reverse the order, assuming he actually ever issues it to begin with.
In short, Stupak gave his vote for a verbal assurance. Sucker.
I knew the “holdouts” would do an el foldo. The only solution is to punish them in November.
eric