Howard Dean appears to be digging in his heels over the senate version of the health care bill being watered down. If I follow Dean's logic, he's got a problem with mandating coverage when it comes to premiums going to insurance companies but likely views things quite differently if the individual mandate involved premimus going toward a public option.
Improvements can still be made in the Senate, and I hope that Senate Democrats will work on this bill as it moves to conference. If lawmakers are interested in ensuring that government affordability credits are spent on health-care benefits rather than insurers' salaries, they need to require state-based exchanges, which act as prudent purchasers and select only the most efficient insurers. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) offered this amendment during the Finance Committee markup, and Democrats should include it in the final legislation. A stripped-down version of the current bill that included these provisions would be worth passing.
Next, I realize what I'm about to do risks taking Dean's words out of context but there's something inherently funny about a far left whack job like Dean using the following statement to make an argument.
Yet Washington has decided, once again, that the American people cannot be trusted to choose for themselves. Your money goes to insurers, whether or not you want it to.
Is this really all that surprising? Conservatives were asked to pin their hopes on Joe Lieberman sticking to his guns? That's like taking the Japanese High School All-stars of American-style football in a straight up bet against the 2009 New Orleans Saints. Did anyone really think Joe Lieberman was going to go to the mat against the Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and SEIU machine?
Yes, it's easy for me to sit here and point fingers at Lieberman for not exhibiting leadership or courage but isn't that what he's there for? Oh, sorry. Forgive that momentarily lapse. I am still chuckling at the notion.
THE HILL reports that not only has Lieberman caved to the Democrats but he is now groveling after the fact:
Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) told Democratic colleagues at the White House this afternoon that he regretted creating tension within their conference during the healthcare debate.
Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-Independent who still caucuses with his former party, stopped short of apologizing. But he told colleagues that he is empathetic to the heartburn he caused.
Yes, the far left bloggers went after Lieberman's wife but at what point does fear in the face of intimidation take a back seat to principle?
For some reason, this video of Van Jones from February 11, 2009 came to mind. WARNING: the word A**hole is used with reckless abandon. Shortly after where this video cuts off, Jones makes reference to determining which "two or three" Senators need to have "really bad days".
John Hawkins at Right Wing News has some interesting information via an inside source behind the scenes of the healthcare debate taking place on Capitol Hill this week. It's looking more and more like Harry Reid was simply trying to portray optimism in the hopes it would actually rub off and give his diabolical plot a boost.
Here is the exchange:
John: Hey, if this latest Medicare/healthcare bill goes down in flames, will Reid go for reconciliation? Also, I assume if this fails, we're into January, right?
Senate Aide X: Yes, January and I doubt if they'll go for reconciliation.
John: Why do you doubt reconciliation? I ask because I am thinking it won't get 60.
Senate Aide X: I just haven't heard any talk of it.
John: Do you think it will get 60? I am thinking, no.
Senate Aide X: I don't doubt the Dems may do anything to pass it, so I'm not ready to declare it dead.
John: But still, it's looking grim right?
Senate Aide X: They are in much worse shape now than a week ago. If the bill dies this week, it will be because Dems just let it crumble through infighting and the Tea Party/American people standing up in August and demanding through weeks of recent phone calls and protests that it be stopped.
John: If it were to pass somehow, do you think it could die going through ping pong, back and forth between the House?
Senate Aide X: No! Pelosi will rubber stamp whatever the Senate passes.
John: So, you think all these demands from the Left about the public option and the Blue Dogs saying they have to have the Stupak Amendment in there are all for show?
Senate Aide X: No, the left-roots passion is real, but if you are Obama, Reid, and Pelosi, you know this is a one shot deal. This moment won't happen again soon and it's better to cut any deal you can to socialize health care as much as you can now. Take the win, go for more later.
John: One last thing: Chances of passing a health care bill? Give me a percentage.
I really do not understand why the Republican leadership (listen up Michael Steele) hasn't been absolutely hammering on this! The number of Democrats literally caught lying about their intentions when it comes to the public option is astounding. It's not even up for debate that's what they're doing either.
The latest lying scoundrel caught on tape is none other than Robert Reich, of Clinton administration fame. First up is Reich on Sept. 26, 2007 in front of a group at Berkeley. Video #2 is from last month. If I had to bet which one of the two videos posted below showed Reich at his most candid, it would be the first one. The second one is obviously his attempt to assuage anxieties of people who believe the Democrats want to do with health care what Reich is advocating in the first video.
Anyway, here's video #1:
Sounds like Mr. Reich is advocating death panels there, isn't he? Considering he's getting up there in years, I bet he's filed for an exemption if he has that attitude.
Now check out the more comforting Robert Reich who's there to assure you that the public option is nothing to fear. It is your friend as long as you don't watch Video #1.
Video #2:
Note: Hey Robert, if you're going to insist on carrying a head of hair, you could at least take care of it.
To see more videos from the growing list of Democrat liars on health care, I posted them HERE,HERE, and HERE.
I guess the Washington Post's Ezra Klein simply couldn't help himself. He was caught red-handed admitting that the Public Option in Obamacare is a trojan horse for single payer (government run healthcare) on a video from July of 2008. While on a panel, he admitted that the plan was "sneaky" and that even though its architects couldn't admit it publicly, Klein would.
Klein is one of those leftists with a big vocabulary who lacks the ability to understand where money comes from. These people are truly astounding.
First, as a refresher, watch this short clip from August and look for the segment that includes Ezra Klein.
Now, to flesh out Ezra Klein's position, watch this video and listen for his reference to a "sneaky strategy" at the end.
This video actually prompted a response from Klein, who had engaged both VERUM SERUM and Ed Morissey at Hot Air, who got into an interesting debate with Klein after POSTING THIS. Here is an excerpt of Klein's response to the claim that he advocates a "sneaky" strategy (as the video clearly indicates):
Actually, that’s not my view unless the public plan can use Medicare bargaining rates. But put that aside. Conservatives have an Underpants Gnomes-theory of how liberals mean to achieve single payer. It looks something like this:
1) With 60 votes in the Senate and a hugely popular new president, Democrats labor to reform the health-care system and manage, barely, to create a public insurance option by promising up-and-down that it wouldn’t have any government-provided advantages over private health insurance plans. This is about competition, they swear.
2) ????
3) The United States Senate votes to outlaw private health insurance.
I really don’t understand it. Morrissey isn’t wrong to say that many liberals would like a single-payer system. But there is nothing in Barack Obama’s plan that would enact such a thing and nothing in the political jockeying we’ve seen thus far that should make anybody think such a thing is possible.
Pure gibberish. Medicare bargaining rates?
Hey Ezra, how about allowing insurance companies to work in ALL STATES? This would necessarily drive down the cost of health care because it would create competition that you claim to champion (when you're not speaking of "sneaky" strategies).
The best thing Klein could do is come forward, admit that he's been busted, start arguing for what he truly believes, and stop being an advocate for "sneaky" things.
Again, the left simply doesn't understand where money comes from.
Be sure to read the WHOLE PIECE at Verum Serum (and follow the links to watch the back and forth between Klein and Morissey).
Despite alleged deals with Big Pharma, an AMA endorsement, having the mainstream media in their back pocket, and a super majority in congress, the Barack Obama administration still couldn't get his single payer trojan horse through the American people. He is backing off for now but it's not time to relax. This news should embolden the American people, not give them the green light to go back to apathy.
Another interesting development to result from this latest news is how the far left nutroots are going to react (beware of flying hinges). My prediction is that they are going to come unglued.
Case in point: last week it was learned that the origins of the posters of Obama with a Hitler-esque moustache did not come from conservatives at all. Rather, they originated from the far left group, LaRouche PAC, which was actually critical of Obama for not going far enough with single payer. Check out the report from EYEBLAST.
Imagine, if LaRouche PAC didn't think Obama was socialist enough before, what on earth are they going to say when they digest the fact that he is backing off due to political pressure from not only the right but from within his own party?
Almost certainly this is going to mean that Republican lawmakers will be able to sit back and enjoy the infighting that is about to befall the Democrat party. What's critically important, however, is that the right not lose its engagement or passion.
As we approach football season, an appropriate analogy might be to treat it as a first round bye in the playoffs. Stay sharp, stay focused, and stay rested but also stay ready because it ain't over.
