Comments on: Did Obama Ask Sen. Cantwell To Mislead You?

By: bugsger

bugsger — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:48:22 +0000

Me, too.

By: Russ

Russ — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:28:42 +0000

I wish just once one of you people would explain to me why, if Obama supports a real PO, he doesn’t publicly proclaim that, publicly demand it. (Obviously the grudging mention of a phony, gutted PO in the speech before congress doesn’t qualify. He was clearly more happy and at ease when he referred to gangsters as good people.)

I’ve been waiting since last spring for a coherent answer to that question.

Today I’m still waiting.

By: Bluetoe2

Bluetoe2 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:06:28 +0000

As Gertrude Stein once said, “There is no there there.”

By: oldpro

oldpro — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:03:58 +0000

Nope. Happy to report that I’ve checked this out and Maria has never called this anything but a complement to a public option, which she is still fighting for.

Your misinformation was evidently picked up from NWPI (Northwest Progressive Institute) last week which they have since corrected. You need to correct this posting as well.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Call Maria’s office and confirm for yourself.

By: oldgold

oldgold — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:40:50 +0000

Why is it strange? Because an artcle reporting Obama supports the public option is being used to argue he doesn’t. The title of the news story is:

Health care reform: Privately, Barack Obama strongly backs public option

I would recommend that folks read it. http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....ory?page=1

By: MarkH

MarkH — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:22:12 +0000

Runnin him outa town on a rail are ya?

The Liberals would only consider ‘runnin him outa town on a LIGHT rail’!
Green Revolution and all, don’tcha know?

By: fflambeau

fflambeau — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:08:38 +0000

Oldgold you wrote: “This is the third time in 2 days an article about Obama supporting and working for a public option has been used as “evidence” he is working against it. Strange.”

Why strange? Look at Obama’s history. He has steadfastly run AWAY from the public option. Recall that in February or so he called a White House conference on health care reform and failed to invite even one speaker in favor of a single option. He also wanted Tom Daschle as his head of HHS (until it turned out Daschle hadn’t paid his taxes properly). Daschle has been bought and paid for by insurers for years and is opposed to single payer. Obama selected Max Baucus as his spearcarrier for health care reform and he was the guy who had doctors and nurses arrested for talking about single payer before his committee. Obama then met in secret and behind closed doors (breaking a campaign pledge to hold all healtcare reform talks in public and to televise them live on C-SPAN). He even denied the meetings had taken place until the NYTimes blew the whistle on them. After these secret talks with insurers, Obama began talking about health “insurance reform” (not healtcare reform). He then made a speech in Colorado in which he called the public option “only a sliver” and not essential to his overall plans. And indeed, when addressed Congress after the Colorado speech, he again downplayed the public option and instead focused on a mandated insurance plan. Dennis Kucinich rightly diagnosed this as “the wrong approach” and a “sellout to the insurance companies.” Obama needs the money that insurance companies and BigPharma can provide to his (and other Democratic) campaigns. He is a Chicago politician. He has never been a progressive or even a liberal Democrat. Instead, like Rahm Emanuel, whom he chose as his COS, Obama is a DLCer. The only position that he fought strongly for was: huge bank and Wall St. bailouts, thereby rewarding one of his biggest sponsors, Goldman Sachs. Obama does NOT favor the public option and is only trying to finesse around the issue because he and Rahm know that most of the country supports it and especially the liberal-progressive wing of his party (which he seems to despise). Look at Obama’s actions, not his words.

By: oldgold

oldgold — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:30:36 +0000

This is the third time in 2 days an article about Obama supporting and working for a public option has been used as “evidence” he is working against it. Strange.

By: bmull

bmull — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:45:01 +0000

We should get rid of the exchanges and use Cantwell’s plan for anyone who doesn’t have employer-based insurance. If you don’t like the “Basic Health Plan” you could buy supplemental coverage.

It is not a public option, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea. And if everyone from Frist to Bloomberg to the Academy of Pediatrics is going to come out of the woodwork to support a public option-less plan we may not be able to stop it.

By: oldtree

oldtree — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:22:15 +0000

Our president understands what hell will be like if he doesn’t get a real public health care reform action passed. But he may not care. You have to wonder what could destroy this country faster? His ambivalence to the needs of the people, or the actual will of the people?
If these leaks are true about what he is going to do, he won’t last the term. We have never recalled a president before, but I feel there will be a vote of no confidence. Since their oh so effective handling of cheney’s war economy, the bailout of all the folks that never required it except to hide our insolvency, and their refusal to demand the only thing that will save our country from abject poverty and collapse, they must be getting what they want.
It just doesn’t happen to be what we want.