Week in the News
President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. (AP)
Health care history this week. The reform that looked doomed just weeks ago is law. Signed, with twenty-two pens, amid cheers and tears, by President Barack Obama.
Democrats celebrated. Republicans cried “shame” and “repeal.” Then came the vigilantes, with bricks through windows, a cut gas line, and ugly, ugly threats.
We’ve got a U.S.-Israel standoff in the news this week. Google out of China. Problems for the pope. And new moves on foreclosure prevention.
This hour, On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:David Gergen , director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and senior political analyst for CNN. He served as an advisor to PresidentsNixon , Ford, Reagan, and Clinton.
Bill McKenzie, editorial columnist for theDallas Morning News .
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic.
Listener comments
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I wonder how angry the neo-cons, tea baggers, independents, libertarians, rigid constructionists, banjo afficienados, cro-magnons and republicans would have been if the health care bill had contained any REAL reform. I guess this gives them additional time to stockpile dried beans and bottled water in their cellar command posts.
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GREAT VIDEO! AWESOME!
WATCH “NO YOU CAN’T” BOEHNER
VS
THE “YES WE CAN”YOUTH OF THE NATION !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpOUctySD68
OH YEAH, THE ‘LICANS WILL CERTAINLY BE TAKING BACK CONGRESS IN NOVEMBER… RIGHT!
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Barack Obama with a 42%
approval rating , Nancy Pelosi with a 11% approval rating, and Harry Reid with a 8% approval rating passed their version ofhealth care reform legislation that 62% of Americans are firmly against. Now we know how democracy really works.
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HA HA HA! Anyone can make up poll numbers!
If you want the REAL NUMBERS,
GOOGLE “non-partisan polls.”
The first result is this website, which will give you the REAL results of dozens of polls on dozens of subjects:
http://www.pollingreport.com/
AS ALWAYS, REPUBLICANS POLL LOWER THAN THE DEMS OR THE PRESIDENT.
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AS ALWAYS, REPUBLICANS POLL LOWER THAN THE DEMS OR THE PRESIDENT ON PRETTY MUCH EVERY SUBJECT IMAGINABLE.
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Here is fox news fair and balance polling
Megan Kelly,she argues for them, against them, she states about 4minutes in that she follow the polls, yet a few seconds stating she is not familiar with the polls. She even misquotes the poll when she is reading the polls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7G_IIu-_v4&feature=PlayList&p=420F415142B6C329&index=53
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America why not to vote for them and further exposing the tea baggers for what many are misinformed, hateful, often filled with bigotry and racism(not all) but a large enough portion that encourages it(even know they try to act as if it does not happen).
Can you guest address that time and time again in the tea party movement the undercurrent of racism,hatred and bigotry that presents itself time and time agian.
here’s the video of the day the bill passed the house and the congressman are walking outside.
http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2010/03/emanuel_cleaver_spit_on_–_now_with_video.php
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Rage on the Right
The Year in Hate and Extremism
“The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation.
Hate groups stayed at record levels — almost 1,000 — despite the total collapse of the second largest neo-Nazi group in America. Furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups soared by nearly 80%, adding some 136 new groups during 2009. And, most remarkably of all, so-called “Patriot” groups — militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose “one-world government” on liberty-loving Americans — came roaring back after years out of the limelight.”
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/spring/rage-on-the-right
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124906766
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Obama in single digits (9%) for his approval rating, ouch.
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GOOGLE “non-partisan polls”
and click on the first site that comes up… then get the REAL numbers from many polls.
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If
John Boehner had stood up and claimed that someone threatened to take away his tube of bronzer would that be proof that lefties talking about Boehner’s orange, Hoganesque tone is the same as teabaggers dropping N-bombs? Both sides make hateful comments based on skin color?
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The GOP has sowed the wind and the nation is reaping the whirlwind. The “Hell, No!” crowd has set in motion an ugly tone, violence, and what may well presage the dissolution of the Union with their self-serving Party of No tactics.
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When addressing the NAACP, former Vice President
Dan Quayle made his infamous gaffe, “A mind is a terrible thing to have.” There were a lot of people who had a great time with that back then, much to Quayle’s chagrin. I don’t think he misspoke the ethos of the GOP, however. To this day, they continue to channel the ghost ofLee Atwater : there’s nothing like taking advantage of people who are primed for exploitation for one’s own gain. They are adept at taking Machiavellian theory to continually greater heights. I do wonder to what heights the GOP truly aspire. I know that once one reaches a certain height in the atmosphere, he begins to lose oxygen. Thinking, judgement and reactions fail exponentially. Ultimately, consciousness is lost.
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While there are some jackasses on the left, the disgraceful and violent behavior has been from the right. No one on the left murdered people at the IRS or spit on black congressmen.
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Why is a bullet through Eric Cantor’s window being blamed on the “other side” by Bill McKenzie. Is he prepared to source that serious accustion? Just because you are an editorial columnist doesn’t mean you can print or utter unverified accustions.
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Hold on a second. Please don’t just pass on the Cantor remarks that his Richmond office was shot at without mentioning that the police account called it vandalism as a result of a gun going off in the area. Cantor clearly wants everyone to believe that he too was targeted and he throws in some anti semitism as well.
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Is it self-reliance for corporations and bankers to get government welfare? The difference between the left and the right is that the right believes the myths they tell about themselves.
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The police have said that the bullet that hit but did not go through Eric Cantor’s district office window was a stray bullet.
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Isn’t it time for NPR and all the media to stop calling AIPAC “the pro-Israel lobby”? The only true word in that phrase is “lobby.” It isn’t “the” lobby – J Street and others, like Jewish Voice for Peace, are pushing for policies that will allow Israel to achieve peace and legitimacy as a Western democracy. AIPAC advocates policies that subsidize Israel’s oppression of the
Palestinians and will end by destroying the Jewish State. How about more coverage of J Street?
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I just lost all respect for
David Gergen as a reasonable conservative voice.
If the public is opposed tohealth care reform isn’t part of the reason because of all the Republican misinformation (death panels, etc.) about it?
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David Gergen, give me a break. How can you make the argument that after a year of negotiations the Dems didn’t reach out to the Republicans? If Obama did offer
tort reform , do you think the Republicans would have voted for the bill?
Seriously. Get a clue. And stop with this “both sides” nonsense. Nancy Pelosi never gave a wink to people threatening to kill Republican leaders. Democratic members of Congress never prodded their followers to start bringing guns to the public square.
The Republicans are listening to their most extreme supporters – the Tea Party is the Sinn Fein of the Republican Party.
How David Gergen does not understand this is incomprehensible.
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I find it quite interesting that when
George W. Bush defended his two wars, despite the strong public resistance to them, he was a strong leader doing what was best for the country. WhenBarrack Obama does what he thinks is right, even though it is against some public opinion polls, he is forcing his own will down the country’s throats.
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When polled on individual elements of the bill, people were FOR IT!!!
…YES, I LIKE EVERYTHING IN THE BILL, JUST NOT THE BILL WITH EVERYTHING???
That is a direct result of Republican prevarication and audience response testing to findNEWSPEAK that will sway the ill-informed.
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David Gergen makes reference to the oft repeated claim that “the American people didn’t want health care reform” according to the polls. Clearly, many did not. But roughly half certainly did want reform. Let’s not forget that a huge segment of the population is happy about the bill that passed this week.
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He wasn’t just “passing along” what Cantor said, he attibuted the bullet to “the other side” himself.
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What does a self reliant person with a pre existing condition do with health care in its present condition???? And, how do you expect the public to have an educated opinion regarding reform when the tea party et. al. promote lies e.g. death panels?????
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What the public wants!?
The public wants free desert with itsHappy Meal ; the public wants to sit around in a LazyBoy and watch sports all day long. You going to legislate that?
I’m a Democrat, part of the public; in fact the larger part of the public that by significant majority won the Legislature and the Presidency, last time I checked. Funny- Social Security, Civil Rights, Medicare… and now Health Care Reform, all took place under Democrats!
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To the caller… It didn’t take a 3k page bill to give everyone access to healthcare, it would only take 1 page stating no one can be refused.
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Of course polls showed the public was against the bill. Because of a giant campaign of misinformation by the GOP, they were against a bill that included things like not being able to choose a doctor, vast deficits, socialism and death panels. Of course no one would want those things, but they were all fictitious components of the Republican smear campaign.
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I think that it is time to stop pretending that members of congress represent their constituents, or should do what the polls say. They merely represent getting themselves re-elected by hook or crook.
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The guest on your program says Democrats brought on the “no” votes from all Republicans because they were shut out of the process. Senator
Charles Grassley is touting to his constituents that many of the provisions he authored on the committee he belonged to are in the bill as it was adopted. Following is a direct quote from his Action Alert he sends to constituents:
“In fact, a number of my amendments and legislative initiatives are in the health-care reform bill that became law on Tuesday, including my reform to make sure tax-exempt hospitals are held accountable for their special status. My legislation to require pharmaceutical and device manufacturers to report payments to physicians is included. So is my legislation to establish greater transparency about nursing home ownership and safety, and my bill to disclose self-referral ownership interests in imaging facilities. I authored the Medicare fraud-fighting provisions in the new law, and the value-based purchasing reforms are based on legislation I developed several years ago in the Finance Committee. I also developed the provisions to improve Medicare reimbursement for mid-sized “tweener” hospitals, a number of which are located in Iowa. These items and others were put into the proposal during the many months of work I did last year as Ranking Member of the Finance Committee with the Committee Chairman, SenatorMax Baucus , during our effort to try to put together a bipartisan reform bill. The provisions remained in the legislation throughout the process, and the fact that they did shows that they are good policy and nonpartisan initiatives.”
How can anyone say the Republicans had no input on this when they are now bragging about the parts of the bill they authored?
Charlotte Nehls
Charles City, IA
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God Bless Gergen! He is a true non-partisan.
What is at stake here is the faith and trust of the people in all our major institutions: government, financial and now the Catholic Church.
It’s time to get past left and right. We need real leadership that will unite us all in saving the economic core of this country by asking for sacrifice from all, not taking sides or picking winners.
Gergen, would you consider leading instead of advising?
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JP I went to the and the majority in the CNN poll are against the health care bill.
I am too, I want single payer. I hope this will work but from what I see is just a huge windfall for the insurance corporations.Obama and the Democrat’s could have just went for reforms such as an immediate end to preexisting conditions and how about that deal with big pharma.
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There’s a straight line from talk radio and Fox propaganda to Republican politician’s angry trumpeting and foul talk. Now that the conservative leaning public is riled up and starts acting out their anger, it was suddenly nobody’s doing to put them in that state of mind.
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Funny- Social Security BANKRUPT, Civil Rights (The only sitting member of congress to oppose the civil rights bills in the 60’s is guess what… a Democrat!), Medicare BANKRUPT… and nowHealth Care Reform will also cause all insurance companies to be BANKRUPT, all took place under Democrats!
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I think the lack of bipartisan support for this health insurance reform has everything to do with the political climate and nothing to do with the legislation itself. Why do conservatives support a government role in women’s health (bans on contraception or even counseling about contraception, not to mention abortion) but do not want the government to ensure that every American has access to health care regardless of income, state of residence or health status?
I have been a public health worker for 35 years, and I have watched with great dismay as our medical care system has declined over that period of time.
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Wow. Gergen SCHOOLED. Nice find, Charlotte.
Tom – great balance with the guests today. Really awesome.
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David Gergen claims that healthcare reform goes against the American idea of self-reliant individuals. This is not true. I was willing to pay out of pocket for my health insurance when I was unemployed after college, but I could not buy a policy because I had a low-cost “pre-existing condition.” (I was also being “self-reliant” by temping in order to pay rent and mystudent loan on my own, no help from my parents.)
Just like the protesters who threw money at the man with Parkinson’s inOhio , David Gergen seems to think that the problem was “just” that people with health problems weren’t willing to pay for insurance policies. That’s not the case: the insurance companies would not take our money!!
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when you teach your kids about being a good losers, will you also tell them about not repeating serious accustions until you have first verified the truth of the matter?
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Michael, back there, I agree that it seemed, pre-election-of-Scott-Brown-in-Massachusetts, that the Democrats would never have the chutzpah to use reconciliation and get the best bill versus what would get 60 votes.
However, Brown, who apparently voted FOR Romney-care (our version of mandated coverage), voted AGAINST Obama-care. ALL the Republicans voted against it.
I e-mailed him, after checking out the Boston papers and the net broadly. He is not carving out a New Republican Approach, which is desperately needed.
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David Gergen does not know what he is talking about.
As Nancy Pelosi has pointed out, the Republicans were not on board for Medicare until after their motion to Recommit was defeated. Then they voted for the main bill.
The issue of Virtual vs. Actual Representation, which Gergen is alluding to, is resolved by the simple observation that on both sides, the Democratic Congress satisfied these rubrics of modern representative government.
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The share of the National debt figure for each American household is $120,125. It’s up $15,445 from last year. It will keep going up until something is done to stop the runaway spending by Congress and the Obama administration.
The healthcare bill is going to add to that number.
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Agree with Bill McKenzie – the party must own it.
Timothy McVeigh and other Republican terrorists are all yours.
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FOX news? Should have a gvt. mandate renaming it FOX Entertainment.
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You cry cost on things you don’t want and ignore it on things you want. Is this the new Republican mantra? Seems it is.
I wish Jack would clean Gergen’s clock. Go for it Jack.
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I love how Gergen can’t bring himself to admit that Republicans are pushing their people to make death threats.
Instead we hear more of the “well, both sides, blah blah blah blah.”
If someone cuts a gas line going into your house, it’s not vandalism. It’s attempted murder.
Why can’t you come out and say that?
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I think the vitriole has to stop, and at least one Republican voice is speaking up. David Frum wrote a great essay on how health care has become the Republicans Waterloo, and places much of the blame on the conservative radio. The essay is a must read for anyone who really wants to bring change to our national discourse.
http://www.frumforum.com/waterloo
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Mr. Gergen, please stop with the false equivalence.
There’s little difference between the tea partiers waving signs and the GOP leadership– bear in mind John Boehner’s speech in the House just before the vote.
One side is talking policy; the other side is shouting about fascism.
From top to bottom, there is no equivalence between the parties.
And consider what’s happened to David Frum (and Bruce Bartlett) when it comes to the sides’ tolerance of ambiguity, dissent, and discussion.
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Regarding health care legislation…
We are a republic (read thePledge of Allegiance ) and it is the duty of our government to protect the rights and privileges of the minority from being denied by the majority. Thus, this government has protected the right of 30 million people to have health insurance despite the majority (presumably) wanting to deny them that right.
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The blame for the present political divisions lie entirely with Republicans, who consistently made decisions on political rather than policy grounds.
Most of the health care bill was well within historically Republican positions; the Republican party chose to block everything. The division comes from thatpolitical strategy , not from the actual policy content of the bill.
I agree with Richard – the occasionally sensibleDavid Gergen has just revealed himself to be just another shill, peddling Republican talking points and advancing the Fox News agenda to the detriment of the country.
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They have shown themselves to hate Americans.
They are criminal and evil and only work for the rich.
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I just would like to point out that in 2000 a partisan Supreme Court, in a completely undemocratic act, handed the Presidency to the candidate who did not receive a majority of the popular vote!!! Talk about setting aside government by consent of the governed. And yet, Democrats did not go the Tea Party route. Al Gore behaved like a statesman because
national unity is more important than any election. would that the Republicans did not turn every policy disagreement into a Constituional crisis and prelude to civil war.
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The government has been paying for the uninsured when they show up in the emergency room with untreated medical conditions – how is this health reform more expensive? You can only have a non-government system of private health care insurance when everyone shares the risk!
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My note to the Tea Party:
If you are a patriot, an independent thinker who loves truth and freedom, the time to wake up is now.
As a man devoted to a life of liberty and freedom, a man who lovesAmerica , I am fed up. And I’m angry that so many people I thought shared these values are being led astray. We’re being played for suckers.
And who or what is responsible?
A company, owned by a billionaire foreigner who is primarily interested in enriching himself and secondarily in promoting the interests of the true “one world government” that seeks to enslave us. A company run by a media executive who spent decades as a political operative and now spoon feeds viewers with stories designed to weaken our resolve, to make us so fearful and depressed we can barely think, let alone act, and then diverts our energy and anger with stories about people who don’t share our values, morals or lifestyles.
What is theone world government that controls more and more of our daily lives? Who are these people? What is the organization that seeks to confuse us, weaken our will, divert us from taking steps to be free and make us crazy?
The true One World Government = multinational corporations andfinancial institutions that now operate beyond the reach of any country’s laws. They milk us for all we’re worth, and throw their garbage into our air, water and land, while their owners retreat into their gated communities to live their privileged lives.
The people at the heart of this conspiracy = Roger Ailes, and Rupert Murdock, the head and the owner of the company. The company: FOX.
Wake Up.
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@cory
Well-said at the first post for this day. It’s what everyone needs to see at the top before the ‘he said she said starts.’
I refer to the the so-called new patriots as the group in the tri-cornered tin foil hats because I like the image it gives me to think about. As Sarah Palin goes around the country, there’s little talk about “Black Helicopter Steve” who was in one of her administrations. People can look that up if they want.
This is nohealth care reform and even the minimal talking points for it by the administration are refuted by theCalifornia nurses as recently as Wednesday of this week. Rather, it’s the insuranceprotection racket and the lack of antitrust legislation those companies enjoy should be looked as violations of RICO.
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I forget what else I had to say. That’s enough.
Oh, I found an article saying that new Republican senator Scott Brown was a great disappointment to the Tea Party and the funders who thought he would stand up for the funders of the Tea Party (or however that works). But I haven’t yet figured out whether that is true. IfMassachusetts came up with a Republican who will buck the Party Machine, that would be so cool.
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The war(s) –I imagine you’re referring to both– were not political issues? On which planet? Amen to all those who point out that so many of the budget hawks now decrying “runaway spending” have great culpability for putting us in the mess we’re in by blindly following the lies that led us into Iraq (especially).
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The Bill McKenzies of this world are not even too ashamed of their own stumble bum rhetoric, even as they try to articulate their (now) losing positions. It’s actually fun to watch.
McKenzie tosses out Medicare “cuts” right along with Fred Thompson’s total ignorance on the subject. Wait ’till McKenzie signs up for Social Security (like that’s ever going to happen). Wait ’till he finds out that he’s going to pay Medicare premiums of 16.5 % of his S.S income (if he’s that lucky).
These G.O.P. types are just part of the great Ignorati in this country. It’s sad to think that this includes so many members of our esteemed free press.
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right to life zealots.
I don’t recall to hearing a lot of crazy violence during Bush’s presidency from the left. Not that there were not incidents because there are crazies on the left as well as the right. However, what we are seeing here is a rise in the level of anger and in some ways it seems that the extremist have been given permission to commit these acts. We now have 24/7 cable news and radio filled with these hate jocks spewing forth bile.Glenn Beck comes to mind.
Gergen reminds me of the old myth of the Ostrich who when faced with adversity buries it’s head in the sand.
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I’m still waiting for someone to point out any language in Art. 1, sec. 8, of the US Constitution that authorizes Congress to take over the health care insurance industry. Given that 38 States are filing or planning lawsuits to throw this scheme on the scrapheap of history, perhaps we will find out!
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If the left offers political opposition to a Republican president, and the right calls for the assassination of Democrat, it’s all the same?
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Your guest may be right. There may be more “center right” moderates than “center left” moderates, but the key word is CENTER. Until the Republican party emphatically denounces and separates itself from the fringe elements who are currently their most visible supporters, centrists don’t see their party as an option.
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Do you think that people who turned against the bill might have been afraid their grandma would be subject to death panels?
The republican are to blame because they stirred up the pot with lies. They are now trying to blame the dems for the anger.
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World War II with the huge post-Cold-War, post-NAFTA, global chances for many goods, high-living — the fantasy was a borrowed balloon of well-being. Boom, pop. Reality is not that way.
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Wow, that’s quite an amazing quote.
Even if the reasons for going to war (WMD, Iraq was involved in 9/11) were real (they were not) President Bush never asked Americans to pay for these actions by raising taxes.
We’ve been at war for almost ten years now and we’re going broke.Obama inherited this.
To cry money now is incredibly disingenuous.
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The American people DO want health care reform. What percentage of the people who didn’t like the bill just passed were against it because it wasn’t Single Payer?? A LOT of people look at the industrialized countries and see better, cheaper health care FOR ALL than we have here. What percentage were/are against it only listen to Republican party line mis-information?
I hope all of the “I’ve got mine so the heck with the rest of you” people lose their jobs and health insurance. Perhaps the mile they walk in the other persons’ shoes will be enlightening.
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Tom,
I wonder how commentators avoid recognition that thepolitical philosophy of one person (Rupert Murdoch ) is being GLOBALLY hammered thru….
In the USA – Fox
In the UK…Daily whatsitcalled, Sky
In Hong Kong …. a bunch of paper/TV
In Australia …..
In effect, while all these ‘independent’ analysts cocoon Fox as a US news channel with1st amendment protections….it’s got the same message in ALL it’s global markets! ergo, the rich man’s UN!
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Tom…
Big difference with past legislation…as David G knows…Democrats such as Ted Kennedy could oppose a president and still work with that president. In other words…compromise. Who is willing to compromise on the GOP side? It started with the Death Squad talk by GOP senators on the committee. The GOP is very disingenuious.
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Gergen
Lyndon Johnson had a favorite saying, “come let us reason together.”
In the 60’s I was a political Science major at the University of Minnesota. I had a professor that always said the problem with that philosophy is both sides have to want to end up at the same place.
When the discussion of health care stated with Bill Kristol saying the Republicans must oppose all health care discussion with no or they would lose in the future their is no effort to reason together. The truth of the matter is there was bipartisanship in the crafting of this bill, just no bipartisianship in the vote. As soon as the bill passed Senator Grassley’s office sent out a press release pointing out he had authored a particularly part of the bill.
Please lets not try to balance the problems when there is no balance. The right controls the Republican party to such a degree that any moderate can not act… Do not blame democrats for these problems.
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You ask if Republicans are fanning the flames of anger? We all saw Republican congressmen waving thumbs up at the protesters who were throwing slurs and spitting at our elected officials. We’ve seen the web picture of Pelosi on fire. And what about Palin putting rifle cross-hairs to identify people who should be victimized. If that is not fanning flames of anger and violence, what is it? Clearly it’s not a “just a prank.”
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Is he or isn’t he?
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As a former newspaper owner who could not afford insurance because I felt it more important to pay my reporters and salespeople, I have mixed feelings about the health care bill. While uninsured, I developed breast cancer and now have tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. I was also shut out of getting insurance.
What I found to be a foolish statement made on this show was that Republicans need to win a majority of the votes this November in order to give them some “responsibility.” These people assumed this “responsibility” the minute they were voted into office, regardless of whether or not they were in the controlling party. It is about time they took somebig boy and girl pills and start accepting this responsibility. This includes working with their fellow Senators and Congressmen, regardless of party, to make life better for all Americans.
As for the caller’s comment that FOX News is not a real news organization, that is simply foolish. I am a liberal Democrat and even I find value in some of the news coverage provided by FOX. In fact, often this network’s news coverage is much more detailed than that found on any other station. It is up to the listener to change the channel when they disagree instead of calling for an end to any person’s or organization’s right tofreedom of speech .
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The bill requires businesses to purchase healthcare for every employee & the minimum policy costs the business $15K, or pay a fine of $2K….hmmmm…. I think a smart business will drop employees for that deal. Then the person not insured by their employer must either buy the policy from an exchange for a cost of more than $15K or pay a penalty of a max of 2% of their income… so a smart person would say OK, I won’t buy insurance because I can save a lot of money until i get sick & since there is no penalty for preexisting conditions I will sign up when I get sick. The end result is less people covered by insurance and more sick people covered causing premiums to skyrocket and promote more healthy people to drop coverage. WAKE UP PEOPLE & READ THE BILL!
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The Republicans made a decision as soon as
Obama and the dems came to office that they were not going to co-operate in any way with Obama or Congress. It was obvious that their tactic was to just said “no” to everything and every attempt by Obama personally to bring them into the process of government. I am a lifelong Republican and am horrified with behaviour the Republican leadership has chosen. It’s quite clear that the Reps would rather play politics and wipe up their “base” than to govern from the center.
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Most observers would look at this evidence and agree that we have run out of money, but a handful stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the obvious. The latter insist that, somehow, spending more of the public’s money will solve the economic woes brought about in large measure from out-of-control personal and public spending. Such are the people who hold the levers of power in Washington.
So long as they continue to tax away capital for spending on an unproductive government sector, our economy will continue its downward spiral. History is filled with examples of administrations that failed to heed the warning signs and pushed spending beyond the limits.
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I’m surprised to hear from such a respected, no-nonsense analyst like
David Gergen the GOP talking point that polls show the majority of Americans did not support the healthcare reform bill. The breakdown of the responses shows that when you add the supporters AND those that feel the bill didn’t go far enough, a clear majority supported reform.
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I used to have a lot of respect for David Gergen, but his pathetic defense of Fox New as as somehow the equivalent of MSNBC and even NPR is beyond absurd.
Sure, MSNBC hasKeith Olberman andRachel Maddow , both of whom are unapologetically left wing, but there is a huge difference between a commentary and news.
Olberman’s and Maddow’s commentaries are left wing, and thats fine, just as it’s fine forSean Hannity and Bill O’Rielly to make right wing commentaries, but Fox’s news organization has been caught repeatedly in flat out documented lies, such as using old footage of rallies more than a year old to inflate the size of teabag crowds. Their so called “news” division has perpetuated the “death panel” lies, has given credence to the Birthers, etc. A legitimate new organization does not repeatedly lie Mr. Gergen, and to pretend that Fox is a legitimate news organization on the same level with NPR is ridiculous.
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Well, your wait is over. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18 — the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause — is the same one that was argued over by federalists like Hamilton and democratic republicans like Jefferson. Read “The Federalist Papers” and get an eye opener.I’m still waiting for someone to point out any language in Art. 1, sec. 8, of the US Constitution that authorizes Congress to take over the health care insurance industry. Given that 38 States are filing or planning lawsuits to throw this scheme on the scrapheap of history, perhaps we will find out!
Posted by Douglas C. Dodge, Esq.
See, the upshot is this — Where are the federalists today? They’re nowhere! … just as are your lame arguments in favor of the status quo where 45,000 men,women and children die each year in these United States for no reason other than the lack of access to competent and timely medical attention.
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congressional district , and it’s not his campaign headquarters.
Instead, the building is actually in Virginia’s 3rd congressional district. Cantor represents the 7th.
Republican snake Cantor lying? Quelle surprise.
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I think it is curious that no one is connecting the dots between the recent activities of the Mossad, political assassinations, and the announcement about new housing in
East Jerusalem .
Is there more than one reason that theDepartment of State is getting annoyed with Israel?
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news magazine that Fox News had become the default channel around the world for English, shall we say, Wallpaper. You go into a bar, the channel being shown is Fox. Or you go into a hotel lobby, or a hospital waiting room, the channel is Fox. This I believe was when Bush 43 was in power. And the import of the news was that heretofore, the default channel had been CNN, as I recall (was it C-Span? I always go with free TV so I don’t know). I thought, well, nobody around the world can afford Cable anymore. My crapmeter (as a teacher called it in a thread yesterday) told me, make note of this, “something” is going on. I, for instance, would pay good money to be in a hotel that offered CNN, live senate hearings and so on. But I for one would steer clear of the hotel with Fox News.
So this was the face the USA was presenting to the world? That and thewar in Iraq ? With moreinternet access worldwide, I think we are past that. Does anybody know?
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I agree with the second sentence.
About that unproductive government sector, consider this: the present for-profit health insurance industry is generating bankruptcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy, house foreclosure after house foreclosure after house foreclosure. The present for-profit health insurance industry is creating for those seeking Emergency Room care an Ellis Island effect, a regular gauntlet of needy people, at a time when if you are going to be moaning in misery for five or six hours, you would rather be doing it in your home than a sterile waiting room. Why didn’t I die “in peace at home,” like the newspaper obituaries usually state?
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To hear
David Gergen compare FOX and and its regurgitators to NPR, is absolutely off the charts. He should do so when Fox shares its lock onhate speech (the world’s oldest commodity), fear mongering and jingoism with the rest of legitimate media, no matter how weakened byDisney , GE, etal. FOX “News” alone stands above all to demonstrate just how muchFreedom of Speech has bottomed out.
To embrace discernment, a gift only to man, we must collectively insure every individual who cares to participate in our form of government with Freedom of Thought. Thank you Mr. Gergen and On Point for demonstrating thatAmerica is now in dire need of this 13th Bill of Right.
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Self-correction : “Where are the anti-federalists today?”See, the upshot is this — Where are the federalists today? They’re nowhere! Posted by F. William Bracy
It’s still true, however, that they’re nowhere. They split into factions closely related to the dems and reps of today.
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Wow. I didn’t hear the whole hour, but David Gergen doesn’t seem to have started being any more honest or cogent in the last two years.
Is this some meta-trick by NPR to make sure everybody listening knows how much Beltway Inbrededness my membership dollars can rent?
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Ellen,
I am really frustrated by that too. We have a restaurant here inRock Hill , SC that we really enjoy going to. But at both ends of the joint are TVs both tuned to FOX all the time. The best they can ever do for me is to turn the sound off. It angers me because I don’t want to have a TV where I eat – period – no matter what is on it, let along the da** FOX channel. And to expand on what you said about 99% of the places out there, even McD’s ALWAYS have FOX on as the default station it seems. I think next time I’m going to see if I can either change the channel myself for ask someone to. And it isn’t as if anyone’s even watching the thing. I have a feeling that for most, since they have it on all the time at home, it just makes them feel, well like they’re still back in their own living rooms – yuck!
Pete
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Towards the end of the program discussing the US relationship with Israel, someone called in and stated that they felt like there’s a pattern where the Israelis push the
Palestinians to the point where they do something stupid and then the Israelis retaliate. Tom Ashbrook claimed he couldn’t hear the caller because his radio was on and went directly to the next caller. The next caller said that it seemed like Orthodox Jews in Israel were dictating American foreign policy in the Middle East. This time, Tom Ashbrook cut directly to a recording of the Israeli prime minister speaking about how close the US and Israel are and how Israel shares intelligence with the US; not responding to what the caller said. Both callers provided clear and succinct statements for discussion. I would have been interested in hearing the guests’ direct response to those questions. Instead it felt like Tom Ashbrook was trying to sidestep a difficult issue rather than airing it for open debate. Whether Tom Ashbrook, the panelists, the show’s sponsors, or all your listeners agreed with the callers is not important. What is important is open discussion, and I feel like this is one show where that was stifled. I expected a higher standard of journalism from Tom Ashbrook and in this instance I’m disappointed with the show.
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Right-wing Republicans CREATED the very opposition they now tell us about by misleading the public. This may not be a great bill; it may not be “real reform”, but it is a step. If we don’t do this now, it will get put on the back burner for another 15 or 20 years. Some people are worried about losing their good coverage, but if reform does not happen, NO ONE but the rich will be able to afford good coverage in 10 years.
I also wonder if the radical Right simply has more hatred inside of them than the rest of America? I was very angry at a lot of the things that Bush did, but I never called anyone to make DEATH THREATS about them voting for a particular piece of legislation! My God…SCARY.
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Economics will eventually crush this new entitlement problem.
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I think most of America is more in the center, but you wouldn’t know that by listening to any of those angry spouters…
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The fact that many Democratic consistencies support a new entitlement program and of course want to push 100% the cost onto the productive members of society does not surprise me. However, it is still disheartening for me to watch the United States disintegrate into a second class welfare state modeled after
Western Europe that is acquiescent to its own demise. The bottom line is that empires enter a period of precipitous decline when its citizens expect the state to take care them (and expect other citizens to pay the bill). I think the next step on theObama agenda should be to go full circle and create a new government program to “wipe the rear ends” of all Americans who are too lazy to take care of this task on their own (e.g. subsidized of course by the top 5% of wage earners).
http://www.cnbc.com/id/36013573
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I copied this from an article on BUR’s web site:
http://www.wbur.org/npr/125170643
I don’t care what side of the political landscape you are on this kind of lobbying has to stop. Businesses and organizations spent $1.2 Billion on lobbyist instead of investing in jobs. Think about that for a minute.
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budget deficit or that the “unspecified Medicare savings” in this plan will ever materialize.
Here is another interesting article from Bloomberg. As noted in this article, bond market investors are effectively saying that it is safer to lend money to a private company,Berkshire Hathaway , than to the US Federal Government, despite the fact that the Treasury has the constitutional power to print money. I know that politicians in both parties prefer to ignore these record peacetime deficits (10% of GDP is only exceeded by the deficits incurred during WWII to my knowledge) and either expand entitlement programs and/or cut taxes, but the loss of the AAA rating for the US Treasury would have devastating consequences.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYUeBnitz7nU&pos=2
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Every now and then we should remind members of Congress that we’re paying their salaries.
Democrats seem to be a little better about remembering that what they earn comes from all taxpayers. Republicans have forgotten that, like it or not, the left bought their beer and tapas last night and they owe us a little respect in return.
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This conversation angered me. The republican-leaning guest was doing what republicans can’t seem to stop doing – rewriting history even as it happens before us. He kept insisting that the ‘majority of Americans were against this bill.’ First, this is clearly not true – democrats were for it in their millions.
But most importantly, and this is where the republican dishonesty comes in: your base was NOT against THIS bill because they did not KNOW what was IN this bill. They did not know what was in it, and were not informed because republicans smeared and lied and spun the biggest pile of horse-hockey about this bill that the lies reached heaven. Obama is going to ‘take over the government,’ Obama is a socialist,’ ‘this bill is a ‘government takeover,” ‘they are going to kill your granny,’ ‘abortions will be free,’ ‘illegal immigrants will get everything and ruin America…’ on and on. The lies the lies the lies. Republicans with the help of Fox ‘News’ made good and sure that their base would get zero accurate information and be provided with a thousand confusing lies instead – the right and the insurance lobby perpetrated a disinformation campaign on their OWN people. And those people against health care were sorely ill informed – the republicans have a lot to answer for here. They did not inform themselves and then they LIED nonstop about the bill. Those tea-partyers actually believe that there will be death panels and that this is a government takeover. Like what, social security, public schools and roads? The republicans are ripping our country apart and then they want to pretend that the damage has been created ‘equally,’ well that is another lie and I for one would like to know who the republicans are working for – it sure is not for the average American. I would bet it is for the insurance lobby and for the super-rich, as usual. Shame, shame on them for their lies, which even they have begun to believe, shame on them for their exploitation of violence and fear and hatred, and for their non-stop power-mongering which started under Clinton and which has destroyed our public discourse and which is now pushing us onto very dangerous ground. Shame. Great shame. History will prosecute you.
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FromAnderson Cooper’s show AC360:
GERGEN: I do. I think there’s a chance of an incident, isolated, to be sure, but I think there’s going to be some wing nut out there on one side or the other of the political aisle, or somewhere, who is just out in Never Never Land, and a lot of guns out there.
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Last, here is something everyone should care about even if they could care less about their fellow man – tuberculosis, mersa or other infectious, nasty diseases could not care less how rich or ‘productive’ you are. Illness does NOT CARE if you live in a fancy-pants gated community with walls to the sky – having a huge population of fellow citizens with no access to health care is extremely dangerous for the whole society. What they get, you will also get. I for one do not want to live in a third world country where only the top 5% of people have access to a decent existence. All Americans of all classes built this country – but especially the working people – and all should have a chance at a productive and decent life.
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The talk about helping liberate from health-insurance-paying jobs and letting them march to their own drummer, it may be a nod to reality in that the jobs are marching to their own drummer overseas and we are having to fend for ourselves. But even with the subsidies in the new bill, as I have found out inMassachusetts , you end up paying half your income for health insurance. Why? You make just enough (to keep your business forward looking) and also just enough to be responsible for not only your own spiking insurance bill but paying everyone else’s subsidies or free care. So you feel like Atlas or whoever it was, the god who had to carry the world on his shoulders. I am not the top 5%. I think they find tax shelters.
Anyway, those trying to make a go of it don’t get as much of a boost as Pelosi sets forth. But I know what she means.
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Mr. Gergen, as well as many republicans continually claim the people did not want this bill because of the polls. However most people did want healthcare reform, and many citizens were only against the bill because it didn’t go far enough (ie no public option.)Claiming otherwise is intellectually dishonest.
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I would to say ever since Obama”s election David Gurgin has been defending the Republicans. I would like to ask him how many times the democrats have lied about the health care bill. I keep hearing it’s both sides but I have heard very little truth concerning anything this president has tried to accomplish from the other side. No jobs have created by the stimulus from Scott Brown who comes right out of the gate with his right-wing talking points.
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However, the fact remains that the recent healthcare lawPresident Obama signed into law makes the US more economically similar to those former powers ofWestern Europe , which have been in a period of decline for at least the past 65 years . Unlike the politically successful entitlement programs of Social Security and Medicare, where everyone paid into the system through a broad basedpayroll tax , this program gives the illusion of a free lunch to the majority of Americans as it promises benefits paid for by someone else.
The bill is being financed by a combination of:
1)“Unspecified medicare savings” (really, does anyone actually believe these savings will ever materialize or will we continue to borrow and force a downgrade in the quality of US Treasury debt?
2)New 3.8% payroll tax on investment income;
3)Increase in medicare tax from 1.45% to 2.35% on wages over $200k;
4)2.9% excise tax on sale ofmedical devices : Companies will either pass this cost along to consumers to the extent devices are under patent and do not have a market replacement, or the US will lose yet another manufacturing industry.
Where is the middle class tax to pay for this program (e.g. beyond the possible impact of companies passing along the excise tax on medical devices)?
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Federal: 39.6%
New York State: 8%
New York City: 4%
Healthcare reform bill tax: 3.8%
Incremental Medicare tax: 0.9%
Total Marginal Rate: 56.3%
If the President gets his way and eliminates the cap on social security, this person would face a 62.5% marginal tax on income over $200k if single or $250k if married (68.7% if self employed). What economic incentive exists for this person to take on additional work unless he or she can structure income as capital gains? I am sorry, but people do not choose to work harder to finance the largess of our government.
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I end up paying, through my premiums, for the uninsured, for the subsidized insured, for anyone who needs health care. The way it’s set up, I can’t afford screenings or anything optional. I hunker down and wait for Medicare, praying. The top 5 or 10 percent aren’t helping at all, that I can see.
And this is under Romney-care, which supposedly is the model for Obama-care. It does not help the middle class except insofar as we cannot be “dropped” at the whim of the insurer.
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People on the left make it so hard to come over to their side. I believe in single payer, global warming, choice, Bush’s incompetence and that
wall street is filled with a bunch of thieves. There are so many areas I have agreement with the left on, but then I see NPR listeners calling Tea party members, racists, republican’s stupid, lying, lackeys of the rich – evenAmerica haters. This thinking is as simplistic as anything from Beck or Limbaugh. At least they have the excuse of doing it for the ratings. So, keep simplifying those who, you think, disagree with you and see how many people you’re able to bring over to your side. At least you can claim to be no different from the right wing.
BTW, I don’t like the health care bill. It’s filled with give-aways, ridiculous saving assumptions, and no mechanisms for reducing costs. And trusting that this congress will fix it over time when they’re more or less owned by whoever donates to them, is far more optimistic than history would support.
