Is The Public Option Back?
Mar 16, 2010 Political
The public option was dead and had a stake through its heart but now, like Jason, it appears to be back. The Democrats have passed a shell bill and will insert items into it. Pam Geller of Atlas Shrugs reports that this language is now part of the bill:
Subtitle B—Public Health Insurance Option
SEC. 221. ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF A PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE OPTION AS AN EXCHANGE-QUALIFIED HEALTH BENEFITS PLAN.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—For years beginning with Y1, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this subtitle referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall provide for the offering of an Exchange-participating health benefits plan (in this subdivision referred to as the ‘‘public health insurance option’’) that ensures choice, competition, and stability of affordable, high quality coverage throughout the United States in accordance with this subtitle. In designing the option, the Secretary’s primary responsibility is to create a low-cost plan without compromising quality or access to care.
I have no idea if this was ever in the Senate Bill but I am pretty sure the title of Public Health Insurance Option and the the last sentence that states it is the Secretary’s PRIMARY responsibility to create a low-cost plan pretty much means that this is a public option.
The Democrats are using unconstitutional methods to pass the bill, are using sleight of hand to get things in the bill and are lying to the American public. This is how they roll and we cannot trust them. We cannot trust anyone who would usurp the Constitution in order to impose his will on us.
This bill must be defeated and it must be defeated badly.
I am not sure about all of this but I think tomorrow at 10 am we might have a better idea. Dennis Kucinich is scheduled to announce how he will vote on the bill. He has been a firm NO vote all along because there was NO public option. He has been courted and, at the same time, shamed by Obama and now the once adamant Congressman is silent about his plan.
If he announces that he will vote YES then we will know for sure that the public option is back in play.
Never, ever, trust a Democrat.
Big Dog Salute to Jasmine
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Tags: constitution, kucinich, lies, Obama, pam geller, public option
Gibbs Gets One Right (Almost)
Oct 27, 2009 Political
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made a statement today that is almost completely correct though he probably thought it was more of a veiled threat. The statement came after someone asked about Senator Joe Lieberman, who vowed to filibuster the Reid plan (or any plan) if it contains a government option. This is how the exchange was reported:
Asked about Lieberman’s threat to filibuster a final vote on the Reid plan, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said: “I haven’t seen the report from Sen. Lieberman or why he’s saying what he’s saying. I think Democrats and Republicans alike will be held accountable by their constituents who want to see health care reform enacted this year.” [emphasis mine] Politico
It is difficult to gauge what support for the public option is because various polls report drastically different results. An ABC/WaPo poll shows 57-40 in favor of (up 5 points from August) but Rasmussen says support is soft:
Polling on the health care topic by many firms has created some confusion. In particular, polls on the “public option” show a wide variety of results. A recent poll in The Washington Post found that 57% support a government-run health insurance company to compete with private insurers, but our polling shows that support is very soft. In fact, people are strongly opposed to a public option if they think it could lead employers to drop the existing coverage they provide employees. The fact that results are so subject to change based upon minor differences in question wording suggests that voters do not have firm opinions on the public option.
The issue is all over the place and that probably reflects confusion on the part of the public because the issue changes almost hourly. The polling to date suggests that those under 30 (the me generation) are in favor of the reform and the public option while those over 65 are not.
Back to Gibbs’ statement, he is right about paying at the polls but in all elections, and particularly midterm elections, the most reliable voting block is the elderly. Senior citizens show up in very large numbers on election day. The young do not generally show up and it is highly unlikely that they will turn out like they did during the last presidential election when they were excited about voting for ObaMao.
Those who are pushing this health care takeover will pay for it at the polls. Harry Reid is down to 41% in his home state and the last time I looked he lost to the generic Republican. Reid is digging his grave deeper but a lot of things can happen in the next 12 months. The economy will be a big drag if it stays bad but any improvement would help Democrats. There is some easing of the downturn but I think that is temporary. The recovery will be a W and we are on that first uptick. When inflation hits next year and we head back down the Democrats will have hell to pay.
So will any other politician deemed to have had a hand in this. This would include any that voted for the stimulus and those who decide to vote for the health care takeover.
The public is upset and politicians will have a hard time this go round. They usually rely on the short memories of the electorate who only remember the last thing that was done for them but this time it appears as if a lot of people have very good memories. The Tea Parties are still going strong and a lot of people are angry at government. ObaMao’s base is upset with him because he did not go all Commie fast enough and has not done enough damage to the country in their eyes.
The moderates, Independents, and Republicans are upset with out of control spending, a stimulus that has not worked, the abandonment of our troops in Afghanistan and the pettiness of the Rookie in Chief. Barring a major event that turns this country around in a good direction, next November will be a bloodbath at the polls.
Robert Gibbs might have thought he was issuing a veiled threat to Lieberman and others who oppose this health care takeover but he really accurately predicted the fate of many in government who have abandoned the Constitution and have spent like there is no tomorrow.
If Gibbs still has his job the day after the election, it would be funny to play his words back for him and tell him how he was almost correct. The thing he will get wrong?
The politicians will be held accountable by their constituents who do NOT want this health care takeover to go through.
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Tags: election, Gibbs, health care, lieberman, Obama, public option, seniors
A Rose By Any Other Name
Oct 26, 2009 Political
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo laments over identity with regard to the love of his life, whose family name is the sworn enemy of his own. In Act II, Scene II Romeo asks:
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet
With regard to the health care takeover that the Democrats are working feverishly to accomplish, the question might be; “What’s in a name? That which we call a turd would still smell as foul.”
Nancy Pelosi is trying to repackage the turd known as the public option by giving it another name. She was in Florida with Yenta Debbie Wasserman to discuss what we know as the public option. Only now, the smelly turd is called the “competitive option” or the “consumer option.” Yes, the Democrats want to package the public option under a different name in order to sell it to America.
During the campaign a phrase was over used but it applies so well in this case that I must use it again. You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig.
Pelosi and Obama are hell bent on getting a public option. Obama is playing it cool and acting like it is no big deal but he wants it and he will get it, if not now then after they pass any kind of health care bill. Once the camel’s nose is under the tent it will not be long before the entire camel is in there messing things up.
The Democrats are approaching November and they believe that the uproar of August is sufficiently behind them so they can ram things that people do not want down our collective throats. They are sadly mistaken if they think that this will not hurt them in the 2010 election. But they have to do something because Obama believes failure to get health care legislation will make his tenure a failure. This, according to Dick Morris, is why Olympia Snowe voted to get the bill out of committee. If she voted to help save his legacy then she definitely needs to go.
It looks like the Senate has joined in the public option carnival as Harry Reid announced that the bill coming out of the Senate will have a public option in it. The bill will supposedly allow states to opt out. If they do, will they still pay the same taxes as everyone else? Will states that opt out still pay for the states that do not? At what point will the federal government decide that states may no longer opt out? Why does someone have to opt out as opposed to opting in?
Harry Reid just hammered a few more nails into his political coffin. That brain damaged moron will lose the next election and we can finally be rid of him. He is helping the Republican party gain seats in the next election.
Obama, Reid, Pelosi and many other Democrats want a public option despite the objections of the public at large. They will force this on us no matter what we want because they believe that they know better what you need than you do. The Democrats have opposition in their own ranks (despite Reid’s claim to have nearly the 60 votes he needs) because some of them come from states that McCain won by huge margins and their jobs are in jeopardy. They do not want to lose. He might get Republicans to vote for it but any Republicans who vote for this will do so at their own peril.
This option, by any other name, is nothing more than a turd and while I know that the liberals believe that it is possible to pick up a turd by the clean end, that cannot happen. No matter what they call it, it is still a turd and it still smells the same.
We need to oppose this and we need to be on the phone with all the elected people from our states. They need to know that we will fire them if they vote for this.
As far as I am concerned, I want them all replaced no matter what but they still think they will hold on to their jobs. We need to let them know they will be unemployed if they push this through.
Every seat in the House is up for reelection next November. America, it is time to do some House cleaning.
Or to quote Shakespeare one more time:
“Now is the winter of our discontent” [King Richard III, Act I, Scene I]
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Tags: Obama, Pelosi, public option, Reid, rose, shakespeare, turd