HCR links
With signs of spine-stiffening from the administration and our gutsier Senators, health-care reform is back on the table. Analysis of yesterday's White House plan is at Liberal Values; more on the overall situation is at Hello Mr. President and Politics Plus (be sure to watch the Jon Stewart video, especially the part about Hawaii). Finally, go sign the petition to Democratic leaders to restore the public option via budget reconciliation in the Senate. This is do-able -- so far, 22 Senators have officially affirmed their support for it. Even the original Senate bill would be a huge improvement on the status quo, and the new White House plan is better; but since Republican intransigence is going to force the Democrats to use reconciliation anyway, why not push to get even more?
The poll results at Hello and PP are telling, showing support for the Senate bill in the 30%-40% range but support for the public option in the 50%-70% range. They confirm what we've said all along -- support for HCR has fallen not because people like the status quo, but because the public option was removed from the plan.
The poll results at Hello and PP are telling, showing support for the Senate bill in the 30%-40% range but support for the public option in the 50%-70% range. They confirm what we've said all along -- support for HCR has fallen not because people like the status quo, but because the public option was removed from the plan.
posted by Infidel753 at 4:20 AM
10 Comments:
Well .... if anything ... at least some folk's are ACTUALLY trying to do something for a change.
I signed the petition yesterday. Things seem a little more hopeful today. We just have to practice a little voodoo and keep our fingers crossed.
OT: I finished Schaeffer's book last night. Very honest, mostly self-deprecating, and absolutely hilarious (especially his adolescent interest in and quest for sex). A strange family life to say the least. The transitions of his father from rigid to loose in the 60s back to rigid was an interesting study.
The insight into how the religious right came into being was of particular interest. I wonder if they realized they were unleashing a monster.
His comments about others in the "business" of saving souls were most interesting, especially Pat Robertson. What a nut case.
Could have done without the last chapter but a thoroughly enjoyable and revealing book. He deserves a lot of credit for his escape.
I think the Health Care will get passed... eventually.
I think it will get done, and prove the cynics wrong, as they usually are.
TNLib: Voodoo dolls on standby.
Glad you found Schaeffer's book interesting. I found it to hold a lot of insights into the Christian Right (for newer readers, my review is here). It's too bad he still engages in silly atheist-bashing, but I have a feeling his journey is not over yet.
That and his anti-abortion stand. I also find it interesting that he went from one rigid structure to another - the Christian Right to the Greek Orthodox Church.
Sometimes I find him a little self-serving - not so much in the book as in TV appearances and on his blog.
Thanks for the linkage, Infidel. I really hope that we put the public option, or at the very least, expanded access to Medicare back in.
Medicare for All.
TNLib: Yes, that's disappointing. He has the same blind spot about abortion that the fundies do. Even Andrew Sullivan does.
TomCat: If those poll results from their states don't convince them that restoring the public option is the key to being re-elected, it's hard to see what will.
Hill: Well, that would be the simple and straightforward way to cover everybody -- I don't know why they can never do things the easy way.....
I have pretty much given up on health care reform doing me any good -- which is fine, really, early on I had such high hopes, and those kept getting thoroughly squashed. So I suppose it's best not to hope for much, and either be right, or be pleasantly surprised.
Still blows my mind how many ordinary citizens were brainwashed into fighting against health care, they were willing to keep whatever they had no matter how bad it was, just to make sure other people didn't get anything undeserved. That's all I can figure, because it really makes zero sense to object to something that's in one's own best interests. Sigh.
GL: It's been a long and frustrating process, partly because the issues genuinely are very complex, and partly because so much time was wasted pursuing a futile bipartisan approach. On the latter point, at least, the Democrats seem to have wised up.
Some people are against it because of the scare stories the Republicans have spread around (death panels, Stephen Hawking would be dead by now if he lived in Britain, etc.). Some really believe it's all a diabolical socialist plot (remember how many people in this country think the Moon landings were faked, global warming is a hoax, Obama was born in Kenya, etc. -- the gullible are always out there), some simply don't realize the status quo is unsustainable.
But I'm convinced now we will get something. It may not be all that great, but it will be better than the present system, and it will be improved over time.
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