2009: Palin - 1; Obama - 0

Call it charisma, lucky, or perhaps perfect timing, some straight-talk that was needed, or a Facebook posting from Obama's vision of hell, but one fast ball over the plate from Sarah Palin and the just now mighty pasty looking black fellow from Chicago has struck out.

He was rumored to have been spotted roaming the White House in a stupor late last night searching for his faux-Greecian, paper mache columns cursing, my kingdom for a Facebook account! Woe is me, oh woe....

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A key Senate negotiator said Sunday that President Barack Obama should drop his push for a government-funded public health insurance option because the Senate will never pass it.

Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota said it was futile to continue to "chase that rabbit" due to the lack of 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

And then there was Lady Michelle - repulsive bloggers and all: 

Out, damn'd spot (from Wasilla come)! out, I say!—One; two: why, then 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky.—Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our pow'r to accompt?—Yet who would have thought the old man young woman to have had so much blood in him her?

Comments

[Dave C]

Like the MacBeth nod.

[Lisa Graas]

Oh, gosh, Dan, quoting Shakespeare!! I love it!!! That's one of my own favorite methods....although I've never used it in political talk before.....just in apologetics. WHAT FUN!! More please. ;-)

[louis c]

I always liked the image of Captain Queeg in the Caine Mutiny, looking for the key for the strawberries, trying to recapture old victories.

On the other hand,dropping the single payer option is scary. You go into negotiations to buy a house. Each side makes ridiculous demands. As the negotiations carry on, they drop them one by one. Then each party winds up with what he really wanted in the first place confident that he has taken his opponent. Obama, not having a plane, threw everything in there. He'll take whatever is left which is a lot and something we don't want.

I am also fear the inducements to the unemployed congressman: "Vote for this crap and you will lose your election. Don't worry about that though we'll set you up."

[Lisa Graas]

I think Obama is floating the trial balloon of "no public option" just to tick off liberals enough to get more of them to townhall meetings. Just a theory.

[Granny]

I think they just changed the name - or intend to add that public option back in when the House and Senate versions are reconciled.

I wouldn't believe this garbage for one half of a millisecond.

[Ran]

Even w/o "public option" this entire bill is a vampire... and the entire thing needs a stake in its heart.

Kill the Bill... all 1400 pages . Kill it all.

We need the opposite of this Bill... We need Gov't to get the fvck out of our insurance. Completely, if possible.

Time for ROLL-BACK.

[WBestPresidentEver]

Liked your post. MEANWHILE..get a load of this.

Obama Uses Op-Ed to Criticize Health Insurance Industry
The president took aim at the health insurance industry Sunday, using an op-ed to accuse the insurance companies of discriminating against millions.

Hmmm..Obama works for the New York Times now ? Wish he's take that job FULL TIME and give up the White House !! We know that nothing the New York Times says these days is nothing more than BS. No wonder it has gone down the tubes !

Op-Ed Contributor
BARACK OBAMA
Why We Need Health Care Reform
Published: August 15, 2009
comments (1338)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16obama.html?_r=2

[rwisher]

It is all about getting the nose of the camel under the tent. I argue the we are loosing because the starting point of the argument. Our side is agreeing with the argument that we accept some government control, it is just how much is question. That's a win for the other side. The argument should be, "Is government control over healthcare necessary in the first place?" Could we ask "Is the level we have now is too much?" "Are there better options?" "Did the involvement so far create more problems than solutions?"

As we consider whether we are winning or loosing, remember the government (liberals in government) will do what they have to in order to control our lives, because that is where the money is. I picked this up over at Redstate.

http://www.redstate.com/california_yankee/2009/08/16/does-a-death-panel-equivalent-already-exist/

I comment more on this issue at my website. Come over and visit.
RW

[Ad rem]

rwisher,

Nice blog! Share your sentiments entirely. Wasn't the SPLC started by one of Obama's czars..... whose whole purpose is to screem "racism" any time someone or thing questions Dear Leader? (Van Jones?)

[Aye Chihuahua]

Be very, very cautious in thinking that the "public option" has gone away.

Very, very cautious.

All they've done is performed a little sleight of hand routine for you.

The new buzz word on the table is "co-op" which, surprise, surprise is remarkably identical to the "public option".

Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer told us back in July that they didn't care what it was called, the terms all pointed to the same plan.

[Dan Riehl]

A victory is a victory. But I'd agree that the fight is far from over. It isn't as though I trust any of them. The entire plan was designed as a trojan horse to begin with. They knew if they got it passed, the future of health care would be all but assured. That's why the Death Panel quote was accurate in the first place. Still, they have buckled, putting them on the defensive. The key is keeping the preesure on and not allowing them to fool the public at large.

[torabora]

I've been to enough CSEA gatherings to know that they mean 'healthcare for all'.

That means every wino, heroin addict, alcoholic, and illegal alien gets the same health care YOU do...without paying for it.

They won't give up.

They mean to destroy America.

They're sick. Liberalism is a mental disorder. People better wake up to the danger.

[L.N. Smithee]

****Call it charisma, lucky, or perhaps perfect timing, some straight-talk that was needed, or a Facebook posting from Obama's vision of hell, but one fast ball over the plate from Sarah Palin and the just now mighty pasty looking black fellow from Chicago has struck out.****

Strange that you should speak of this using baseball metaphors, because I have also. I was surprised last year that I was not the first to refer to Governor Palin as the political equivalent of David Clyde, a '70s-era outstanding high school pitcher whose chances for an equally remarkable professional career were ruined by greedy Texas Rangers executives rushing him to the Major Leagues too early. Clyde had an outstanding fastball, but that alone will only get you so far in the bigs, and his progress was slowed when MLB players and scouts figured out how to hit him. He developed arm troubles and had a short, ignominious career that has made him the poster child for not staking your team's fortunes on raw, unrefined talent.

This is the problem with Palin: She was brought too far too fast. It's difficult to imagine that she would have been the focus of malice and ridicule she is now had she been passed over for McCain's VP slot. She'd probably still be Alaska Governor today, being ignored by the MSM but spoken of as on the short list for 2012 in conservative circles, and would have had a successful term under her belt should she decided it was time to run.

That doesn't mean she has lost the ability to zip one over the heart of the plate past the cleanup hitter. And that's just what she's done to Obama with the "death panel" comments. As Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow says, "Grab some pine, meat!"

[DORIS]

RAN , YOU MUST BE AN INSURANCE SALESMAN , IM SURE YOU HAVE A JOB THAT HAS INSURANCE BENEFITS , UNLIKE MILLIONS OF OTHER HARD WORKING AMERICANS , WHO CAN BARELY PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE , MUST LESS PAY FOR HEALTH CARE OUT THEIR OWN POCKETS, BUT I IMAGINE IM WASTING MY TIME ON YOU AND OTHERS WHO CARE ONLY ABOUT THEMSELVES. I WOULD SAY " GOD BLESS YOU " BUT I DOUBT HE WILL, I WILL SAY THAT I PRAY THAT ALL OF YOU WHO ARENT CONCERNED ABOUT OTHERS WILL SEE THE LIGHT , IN JESUS NAME , AMEN

[Dan Riehl]

"the short list for 2012"

Going to have to disagree, LN. She would need more than a fastball to be relevant in 2012 if she went the way you suggest. Without playing in 2010, you're at an incredible disadvantage in 2012. She'd be facing multiple talents with infrastucture and friendships built out in 2010. We're she a Giv in the lower 48, she could do both. Doing it effectively from AK would be all but impossible. And given that the AK giv is very powerful, they don't like one spending too much time down here.

The mistake was in the McCain camp's handling. They expected CBS and others to give her the John McCain treatment of old - at least be fair to her. The idiots walked her right into a trap because they wanted desperately to capitalize on her to revive a stinky campaign and bad candidate.

It didn't work, only made it worse. The beltw ay types don't even get people from the rest of the coutry, or they would hve known better. McCain had one of the worst teams I've ever seen. One of his idiots even announced early how he would leave if they went at Obama too hard.

McCain is an ass and he assembled asses around him. Big surprise. That's what happens when the GOP annoints the next guy in line, even when he was long past his prime and never much good in the first place. Bush ate his lunch in 2000. And someone has every time he stepped out. He never had what it takes to win the presidency. It was a wasted year except for Palin, though itleft her with much to prove, as well.

[Dan Riehl]

"AN INSURANCE SALESMAN"

Nice preaching, Doris. Unfortunately, in my case, I'm self-employed, have no one covering my back and I'm against a public plan even if it would save me big and reduce any stress from being on my own dime. I'm more interested in what's for the greater good. Sounds like you're the selfish one here to me.

[Neo]

An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "misspoke" when she told CNN this morning that a government run health insurance option "is not an essential part" of reform.

Now exactly how do you have a debate when the "authors" of the bill can't even get the program straight among themselves ?

[jann]

Doris this is not about health care, period. It's about power. Even if this passes you won't get what you think you're going to get, you will just become a slave like the rest of us will. This is all about control and you are helping them gain it without knowing the truth. If you truly want insurance get on einsurance.com and shop for a plan. They have thousands of affordable plans. If you have a precondition they will help you find something. You have to do that extra step and you will find what you need. This is the greatest country in the world and it's all at your finger tips. Seek and you shall find. Obama is a sham and a crook, more and more info will come out about just how awful he is very soon. Since you pray and I assume it's to the same God as I do, ask him to open your eyes to the truth. When that happens come back and we'll be here for you.

[DORIS]

REALLY DAN , IM CERTAIN YOU ARE DOING WELL , YOU CAN AFFORD TO PAY OUT OF POCKET FOR YOUR MEDICAL CARE , GOD FORBID YOU GET SERIOUSLY ILL AND LOSE EVERYTHING YOU OWN BECAUSE OF MEDICAL BILLS.
YOU CAN SAY YOUR FOR THE GREATER GOOD, WHAT IS WORSE , NO MEDICAL CARE OR SLOW MEDICAL CARE ? ASK THOSE IN NEED OF MEDICAL CARE WHICH THEY PREFER. IM SICK OF THE FAT CATS WHO CAN AFFORD IT RANTING AGAIN IT ,
I TRULY HOPE THE BILL PASSES AND RELIEVE THESE POOR PEOPLE OF THE STRESS OF MAYBE GETTING ILL AND NOT BEING ABLE TO GO TO A DR.

[DORIS]

TOROBORA, THE WINEOS, DRUG ADDICTS , ETC ARE ALREADY GETTING HEALTH CARE, ITS CALLED MEDICAID , BECAUSE THESE PEOPLE ARE USUALLY UNEMPLOYED .
THE PEOPLE SUFFERING ARE THE LOWER MIDDLE CLASS , NOT POOR ENOUGH FOR MEDICAID BUT NOT RICH ENOUGH TO PAY OUT OF POCKET FOR MEDICAL.
ARE YOU ONLY CONCERNED ABOUT YOURSELF , NO SYMPATHY FOR YOUR FELLOW MAN ?

[geoffb]

I need caps lock relief. Gotta be in one of those 1000 page monsters somewhere.

If Obama and company get their way there will be only two kinds of people in the USA, hell in the world, the Fat Cats(them) and the desperate poor(everyone else). Forever and ever. That is what the world has been most of the history of humans. They are the progressive-regressives. Back to to the twentieth century BC.

Healthcare reform is a means, not an end. Everything the Left says it is for, is a means. All of it, every single bit. Everyone and everything goes under the bus eventually. Only the insatiable lust for power remains because that is the bus.

[jc]

Nice try at grabbing the moral high ground DORIS, but no go.

Most of us would be much more impressed if Democrats weren't so tight with their personal charity and if the Democrats in the administration and congress were not so likely to be tax cheaters.

You can be condescending all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that you are supporting the confiscation of other people's life spans to pay your bills. The word for that is slavery, but most people are just too polite to tell you.

So let me be blunt. No matter how you try to spin this, you don't have the moral high ground because you simply don't deserve it. You have no right to the production of my lifespan. Your attempt to confiscate my life's production without my approval is an act of brutality. I will not submit, but I will take comfort in the fact that I am fighting for your freedom as well as mine.

[Sharon]

Sarah Palin's "death panels" was indeed a a two pointer but it was her advancement of Laffer's proposals that scored the three pointer...no rim. Incredible sums saved by enrolling Medicaids into this style of plan. Incredible savings on paper passing, too. And any "reform" without tort reform is non at all.
From Facebook-

The economist Arthur Laffer has taken the lead in pushing for a patient-center health care reform policy. He noted in a Wall Street Journal article earlier this month:

“A patient-centered health-care reform begins with individual ownership of insurance policies and leverages Health Savings Accounts, a low-premium, high-deductible alternative to traditional insurance that includes a tax-advantaged savings account. It allows people to purchase insurance policies across state lines and reduces the number of mandated benefits insurers are required to cover. It reallocates the majority of Medicaid spending into a simple voucher for low-income individuals to purchase their own insurance. And it reduces the cost of medical procedures by reforming tort liability laws.” [8]

Jann I totally agree this is not about health care. The lightbulb even went on in my lifelong 84 yo Democrat mother who is staying with us. She is astonished, very angry and betrayed.

Excellent article about the genesis and cost of Medicare/caid
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/manufactured_healthcare_crisis.html

DORIS-Have you no sympathy for those who pay for others all the time? You are not entitled to the fruits of my labor. And please lay off the CAPS.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Actually, I fully support a public plan -- for Obama Party members, funded solely by a 100% tax on all income above $75k for all Obama Party members.

Since Barack Obama wants to pay for his voters, let him do so -- out of his own pocket.

And if Barack Obama and the leftists here don't want to do that, then they are hypocrites.

[Meadow]

All the talk about 'the' health care reform plan, when there isn't one set in stone yet. Sending the folks from the hill out to perform the magic hat trick during their break was just for show. They had NO plan to tout.

I agree, tort reform must happen before anything else. That alone will cut many of the costs, and allow practitioners (who currently do not take at-risk OB patients or neonatal patients due to the extremely high insurance costs) to return to patient care.

I want to see public vote on any plan decided on by the folks on the hill, and I want those who represent me to make sure the plan they endorse for my vote will be in my best interest, as decided by me.

I employ them, I will fire them if they continue to ignore my wishes.

(WOW that feels good!)

http://www.thepalination.com/2009/08/dear-politicians-youre-fired.html

[reg]

one would expect to see another facebook comment in the next day or two.

[joyMc]

I was pleased to see the public option was off the table, first from the bloggers of course then from the evening news. Not surprisingly the spin I heard from the evening news was that the dems just could not quite muster the votes and there never were quite enough votes(in the legislature). No mention at all of the American people going APE**** on the Dems. Well, it is a step in the right direction. Let's see if the whole damn thing can be scrapped along with the democrat majority.

[Aye Chihuahua]

Folks, I cannot stress enough that the "public option" is NOT gone.

It's still there.

They just changed the name to "co-ops".

Same pile o'dog squeeze, different title.

Now, this morning, I'm reading that Sebelius "mis-spoke" and that the public option IS still alive in its' original form.

Do not, do not, do not be fooled.

These conniving people WILL get what they are aiming for whatever they title it.

Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer have already told us that they don't care what it's called, just get the "public option".

http://congress.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/07/09/reid-says-co-ops-might-be-public-option/

Again, I cannot stress enough, NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

We the People have not won a victory here, we have not even won a battle in the larger war YET.

Stay vigilant. Stay aware. Keep fighting.

[syn]

"UNLIKE MILLIONS OF OTHER HARD WORKING AMERICANS , WHO CAN BARELY PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE "

Really? The really smart Ivy-league Harvardite intellectuals tell us that America is a nation suffering under the heavy weight of obesity which is why we need free health care and food czars to fix our obesity problem.

Are we an obese nation or a starving nation?

Perhaps if you stop moving goal post every time you are on the losing side you would not be so irrational.

[syn]

"ARE YOU ONLY CONCERNED ABOUT YOURSELF , NO SYMPATHY FOR YOUR FELLOW MAN ?"

Doris, I take it you are one who sits smug and self-righteous in your church demanding God make the government do your charity work for you; then you pride yourself for all your good intentions in getting the government to perform acts of charity so you don't have to.

[VinceP1974]

Doris is only concerned about other people if she could compel other people to be her charity wage-slaves and she could dole out their money to other people.

Wow Doris.. you're so damned compassionate. What a heart!

Surely it's compassion to force people into hours of forced labor every day to earn the money you want to confiscate and then pass out like you're Robin Hood.

The contempt I have for people like you grows hourly. You spit on the sacrifice of centuries of Americans who created the most charitable society on earth.. charity that didn't need a government.

Well when Government runs charity, that means people like you won.. and no one in the land will be personally charitable towards anyone.

You offensive imbecile. Immoral tryant.

[Ran]

Kill the Bill.

If one has the least concern for one's fellow man, then let the Government retire in shame. It can't run Medicare; It fails miserably with Medicaid. Government can't run the Post Office well. Can't even run the silly Clunker program.

Doris, because we are indeed concerned for the welfare of our fellow citizens, we MUST Kill the Bill. All of it.

A new bill is needed - something that frees the market so that the MARKETS can create the solutions. Government's elite committees are no match for the cumulative intelligence of a distributed market.

Drive a stake through the "Insurance Reform" vampire's heart. Just as we did with "comprehensive" immigration "reform."

[unseen]

Well since cap and trade is pretty much dead in the Senate it is really Palin 2 Obama 1 since he did get the stimulus passed. So major bills. Palin has been against all 3 the anti-obama and i'll take that no matter the record.

[Hyman Roth]

0bama wants to restrict medical access to seniors because they are at the end of their lives and not productive.

Maybe we should do something to stop welfare payments to young able-bodied people. Saving 50+ years of payouts to unproductive losers will save more money than stopping medical care for seniors who worked hard their whole lives and paid taxes.

We have to spend our tax dollars wisely, and get the most return for our investment.

If Doris the all-caps queen feels so strongly about helping people, she should take in welfare recipients and feed/clothe them too. Be as generous as you want with your money, Doris. But don't presume to spend mine without my consent.

[Nishner]

The Death Panel is complete BS. Essentially the exact same language was in the Medicare bill passed in 2003. How many Death Panels has the government convened under it? A big fat 0.

Too we can't have a real discussion about health care reform based on the facts, rather than BS disinformation spread by insurance companies and their brain-washed shills. But they'd lose that debate, and they know it.

[Hyman Roth]

Poor Knishner,

So blissfully ignorant of the powerful trial lawyers lobby that wants to prevent meaningful tort law reform that would lower medical costs and insurance premiums for doctors and for consumers.

I guess in his world, the B.S. disinformation spread by the trial lawyers and their brain-washed shills is A-Ok!

[Fishner]

" Essentially the exact same language was in the Medicare bill passed in 2003. "

There was no such language in that bill. More fishy disinformation being spread by Nishner.

[13yankeebravo]

We need Tort reform, roll back of government mandates that are unfunded, allow interstate buying of insurance, and a portability of insurance.
Start with 1 or 2 of these ideas and see how they work before wrecking the whole system.

[Nupek]

nepal-indiaPrime Minister Manmohan Singh is one among the prime ministers who have ruled India to have travelled extensively world-wide. History reveals that only three of the Indian Prime ministers have visited Nepal so far. The incumbent prime minister also has not visited the nation in his six year term.
http://nupek.com/world/why-do-our-prime-ministers-show-reluctance-to-visit-nepal/

[North Dallas Thirty]

Also, the reason Barack Obama is doing this is simple; by slashing Medicare, he gets the money to pay off his younger voters like Nishner and accelerates the decline of people who are likely to vote against him.

It's a win-win from a liberal standpoint; he supports those like Nishner who are convinced that any criticism of him is racist and that they must obey him in every respect to stay in their welfare cocoons and be dependent on him, and he eliminates -- literally -- those who would dare criticize or vote against him.