President Obama News Thread

[Boon Mee]

Here's a great new thread destined for double-century in no time. You can vote on the latest idiocy of Comrade Obama here

Obama calls a decline in GDP an improvement...
...
We're going to listen to other people's ideas, except that people who disagree should shut up...
...
"I have not said I was a single-payer supporter."
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Doctors like to amputate limbs rather than treat diabetes for the money...
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Colonoscopies detect prostate cancer...

Previous “winners”:

• Snitch Central for ObamaCare dissenters
• Rushing legislation bad in 2004, essential in 2009
• Obama opines on Gates arrest without “having all the facts”
• Obama salutes the Ghana flag
• Obama jokes about Alaska sale with Russians
• Obama uses union and DNC plants at health-care town hall
• Obama plants a question on Iran with HuffPo
• Change in Iran coming because “Obviously, after the speech I made in Cairo…”
• Flashing his soles to the camera while talking to Netanyahu
• “If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”
• “We can no longer afford to spend as if deficits do not matter and waste is not our problem.”
• Siccing Tim Geithner and Charlie Rangel on tax cheats
• Phony Churchill quote on torture throws Grandpa under the bus
• Torture probe flip-flop
• Obama covers up IHS while quoting Jesus
• Austrian is a language?
• Obama bows to the Saudi king
• 1908 Model T got better gas mileage than today’s SUVs

[Jet Gorgon]

Let's have a laugh at all that's going on...

[chitown]

W.H. backs away from public option - Yahoo! News

W.H. backs away from public option



President Barack Obama and his top aides are signaling that they’re prepared to drop a government insurance option from a final health-reform deal if that’s what’s needed to strike a compromise on Obama’s top legislative priority. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that the public option was “not the essential element” of the overhaul. A day earlier, Obama downplayed the public option during a Colorado town hall meeting, saying it was “just one sliver” of the debate.
He even chided Democratic supporters and Republican critics for becoming “so fixated on this that they forget everything else” — a dig at some liberals in his own party who have made the public option the main rallying cry of the health reform debate.
At the same time, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of six senators involved in bipartisan Finance Committee negotiations, all but declared the public option dead in the Senate.
“Look, the fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option,” said Conrad, who has pushed an alternative proposal to create a network of consumer cooperatives, on Fox News Sunday. “There never have been. So to continue to chase that rabbit, I think, is just a wasted effort.”
A White House aide said in an e-mailed statement Sunday afternoon that the president is not backing away from the public plan.
"Nothing has changed,” said Linda Douglass, communications director for the White House Office of Health Reform. “The president has always said that what is essential is that health insurance reform must lower costs, ensure that there are affordable options for all Americans and it must increase choice and competition in the health insurance market. He believes the public option is the best way to achieve those goals.”
But taken together, the remarks from Obama, Sebelius and Conrad suggest the White House is preparing supporters for a health care compromise that may well exclude the government option — which could help Obama win enough votes for a sweeping overhaul but touch off a nasty battle inside his own party between liberals and more moderate members who have resisted a bigger government role in health care.
It was only in June that Obama said in a letter to Senate Democrats that “I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.”
A month ago, Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that “any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans – including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest – and choose what’s best for your family.”
But in the face of hardening opposition to the idea — even inside his own party — Obama appears ready to retrench. Obama and his aides continue to emphasize having some competitor to private insurers, perhaps nonprofit insurance cooperatives, but they are using stronger language to downplay the importance that it be a government plan.
“What's important is choice and competition,” Sebelius said on CNN’s State of the Union. “And I'm convinced at the end of the day, the plan will have both of those. But that is not the essential element.”
The reaction in the liberal blogosphere and beyond was swift and negative Sunday.
“Ultimately, if the president decides he’s going to go with a reform effort that doesn’t include a public option, what he will have done is spent a ton of political capital, riled up an incredibly angry right-wing base that’s been told this is a plot to kill Grandma, and he will have achieved something that doesn’t change health care very much and that doesn’t save us very much money and won’t do much for the American people,” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." "It’s not a very good thing to spend a lot of political capital on."
One diarist on the Daily Kos said the “public option is in the ICU. ... When you call something that once was the central tenet of reform is now a ‘sliver,’ it is very difficult to argue it is not being de-emphasized.” Another diarist wrote this headline: “Told you so: Public Option, Meet Underside of Bus.”
“It would be very, very difficult without the public option,” Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on whether she could support a bill that dropped the public option. She spoke on CNN's State of the Union.
Liberals say a health care bill without a public option would fail to actually reform the system. They view the public option as the best way to hold insurance companies accountable and provide affordable coverage, and they say nonprofit cooperatives are an unproven model.
“Health Care for America Now believes that all of the elements that Secretary Sebelius spoke in favor of – a public option, insurance reform, making health care affordable to all – are essential to effective reform,” said Richard Kirsch, campaign manager of Health Care for American Now, a liberal organization pushing the government option. “There is no ‘the’ essential element – all are key to health reform that will work.”
Sebelius, following Obama’s lead Saturday in Colorado, sought to shift the focus of the debate from the public option to more popular reforms such as prohibiting insurers from denying or dropping coverage because of a preexisting condition. It’s a subtle, but potentially telling, window into the White House’s latest strategy on reframing the terms of a legislative victory.
“Those are really essential parts of the program, along with choice and competition, which I think we'll have at the end of the day,” Sebelius said.
At the Saturday town hall meeting in Colorado, Obama defended the rationale for establishing a public plan, but he also raised eyebrows for suggesting the final package may not include one.
“All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform,” he said. “This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it. And by the way, it's both the right and the left that have become so fixated on this that they forget everything else.”
On CBS's Face the Nation, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked if the government option had to be included in the final bill. He repeated the standard White House line that the president's wants to "inject some choice competition into the private insurance market."
But then, he appeared to hedge.
"The president has thus far sided with the notion that that can best be done through a public option," Gibbs said.
"Is that a hedge?" asked host Harry Smith, referring to Gibbs's use of "thus far."
"No, no, no. What I am saying is the bottom line for the president is that we ought to have choice and competition in the insurance market," Gibbs responded.

[barbaro]

This thread ought to be in "Obama News section," eh?

[lysander]

I used to think that the USA was a sophisticated democracy. Apparently it's not left the playground yet.

[raycarey]

^it's great that you've learned how to copy and paste.

really, it is.

but don't you think you should at least offer an opinion or even the slightest amount of analysis (however juvenile or misinformed it might be) ?

[Jet Gorgon]

Democracies are never sophisticated.

[barbaro]

What's your opinon on this, Chitown?

[chitown]

What's your opinon on this, Chitown?

[/quote]No one but the lazy welfare rascals want their plan. The WH is dropping the public option and end of life care as they know they will be run out of DC if they keep pushing it.[/quote]

[/quote]Why is it that my money should go to people that lounge about and do nothing while manipulating the system to its fullest.[/quote]

[chitown]

I have not had company insurance for years, however I have always found a way to have insurance for myself and family. What is the problem with the rest of the lay-abouts???

However I think reforms are needed - such as tort reform to keep same lay-about from filing frivolous lawsuits ones that demand billions. I also think that being charged $20 for 2 Tylenols when you are in the hospital is ridiculous.

[barbaro]

^ Thanks for the opinion. Yes, it appears the public option is dead.

[chitown]

^ Thanks for the opinion. Yes, it appears the public option is dead.

There is too much of this gimmee what I got comin' thought process. Democracy dies when you have give aways.

My comment from the other thread -

I have always had health care that I have paid for since I quit working for others years ago. I have seen the waste - big screen TV, stereo system, nice clothes, jewelry, and expensive ride - but whine about health care bills as they go to the ER for a common cold. all the while collecting government hand outs for everything else.

[Jet Gorgon]

However I think reforms are needed - such as tort reform to keep same lay-about from filing frivolous lawsuits ones that demand billions. I also think that being charged $20 for 2 Tylenols when you are in the hospital is ridiculous.

Yep.
Hey, no Tylenol at the hosp my Sis was at once. I went out to buy a bottle. And there is so much waste! A pal was in there dying and they brought him full food trays three times a day. All piled up. I said, "take them away." The guy says in broken English, "not my job."

[Muadib]

I have no problem paying my due toward social services for the greater good... Police, Fire, domestic security, education, social services to a degree... The problem is that we can't have it all... Find somewhere else to cut the budget to be able to afford it universal health insurance, like the military...

I can also empathize with the 'I pay my way, you should too' sentiment... The problem with this is that once you have a pre-existing condition or get on in years, the cost of private medical insurance in prohibitive in the US... The reason for this is inflated costs for hospital medication ($20 for 2 tylenol), inflated hospital costs ($750 a day for a semi-private room), medical mal-practice lawsuits which drive up the cost of insurance for physicians, unnecessary tests to prevent medical mal-practice law suits, and on and on and on...

60% of bankruptcies in the US are related to illness & medical bills which cannot be paid... In the land of the free and the home of the brave I find this unacceptable...

Study Finds Illness, Medical Bills Cause Majority of U.S. Bankruptcies

Typical Cobra medical coverage for a family of 4, where the parents are in their mid-forties and in good health is in the neighborhood of $1400 per month... Considering the mean annual salary in the US is $50,000 a year, medical coverage is usually one of the first things to go...

This is important legislation... My concern is this the time to ram it down an already leary American public's throat...

[Jet Gorgon]

^ Is he still at swearing and personal attacks?

^^ Agree, Muad. But I heard that many hospitals and docs are forced to charge insurance holders more because medicare/caid refuses to pay the regular rates. The system needs to be revamped to get rid of disparities like this. If govt healthcare comes in, it will be worse, and the govt will add tens of thousands of union administrators to botch things up and bloat the overall cost.

[chitown]

I have no problem paying my due toward social services for the greater good... Police, Fire, domestic security, education, social services to a degree... The problem is that we can't have it all... Find somewhere else to cut the budget to be able to afford it universal health insurance, like the military...

I can also empathize with the 'I pay my way, you should too' sentiment... The problem with this is that once you have a pre-existing condition or get on in years, the cost of private medical insurance in prohibitive in the US... The reason for this is inflated costs for hospital medication ($20 for 2 tylenol), inflated hospital costs ($750 a day for a semi-private room), medical mal-practice lawsuits which drive up the cost of insurance for physicians, unnecessary tests to prevent medical mal-practice law suits, and on and on and on...

60% of bankruptcies in the US are related to illness & medical bills which cannot be paid... In the land of the free and the home of the brave I find this unacceptable...

Study Finds Illness, Medical Bills Cause Majority of U.S. Bankruptcies

Typical Cobra medical coverage for a family of 4, where the parents are in their mid-forties and in good health is in the neighborhood of $1400 per month... Considering the mean annual salary in the US is $50,000 a year, medical coverage is usually one of the first things to go...

This is important legislation... My concern is this the time to ram it down an already leary American public's throat...

I paid about $500 or $600 a month for a decent family plan. What they need to do is to have a pool system that is nationwide rather than states restricting things. You can buy coverage much cheaper in some states than you can in Illinois.

[raycarey]

Just like his hero, RC uses a teleprompter, only he uses it to figure out what words to type when posting.

so now obama is my hero?

and this is more than a bit ironic coming from someone who has a predicliction for copying and pasting george will op-ed pieces in their entirety....without even the slightest bit of his own analysis or opinion.....hmmm.....seems to be quite a bit of that recently from the conservative element on this forum.

Is he still at swearing and personal attacks?

swearing? what's this about jet? oh, i see....you're just making things up again?

and as far as 'personal attacks', everyone on this board knows that this is your default posting style.

and you seem to be intimating that you have me on ignore.....why is that jet? i can only assume it is because over the last week on multiple threads i've exposed you as ignorant and misinformed on the issues.

You can buy coverage much cheaper in some states than you can in Illinois.

hey einstein, did you ever consider that's because health care in illinois is more expensive than it is in other states?

do you want health care costs to be the same in all states?

oh my god.....that sounds suspiciously like.....so....soci....social....SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE!

AIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




let's eat!

[chitown]

Just like his hero, RC uses a teleprompter, only he uses it to figure out what words to type when posting.

so now obama is my hero?

and this is more than a bit ironic coming from someone who has a predicliction for copying and pasting george will op-ed pieces in their entirety....without even the slightest bit of his own analysis or opinion.....hmmm.....seems to be quite a bit of that recently from the conservative element on this forum.

Is he still at swearing and personal attacks?

swearing? what's this about jet? oh, i see....you're just making things up again?

and as far as 'personal attacks', everyone on this board knows that this is your default posting style.

and you seem to be intimating that you have me on ignore.....why is that jet? i can only assume it is because over the last week on multiple threads i've exposed you as ignorant and misinformed on the issues.

You can buy coverage much cheaper in some states than you can in Illinois.

hey einstein, did you ever consider that's because health care in illinois is more expensive than it is in other states?

do you want health care costs to be the same in all states?

that sound like.....so....so....so....SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE!

AIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




let's eat!

Not socialized dickhead. But allow insurance companies to sell in all states so the costs are lower all the way around. As it is now, a guy in Wisconsin can not buy Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois.

You must be between classes c.r.

[Jet Gorgon]

^Poor ray.

So, should you be concerned about the WH spamming you and collecting your e-mail address?

Here's liar Gibbs.



And today's report from Major:
Breaking News | Latest News | Current News - FOXNews.com

[Lambik]

[quote=Jet Gorgon;1138420]

....... The guy says in broken English, "not my job."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

A french Canadian ?

[chitown]

[quote=Lambik;1138818]

....... The guy says in broken English, "not my job."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

A french Canadian ?

I never said that.

[Muadib]

I paid about $500 or $600 a month for a decent family plan. What they need to do is to have a pool system that is nationwide rather than states restricting things. You can buy coverage much cheaper in some states than you can in Illinois.

Oddly enough, once you get through all the emotion, mis-information and rhetoric which surrounds this issue, I believe this is exactly what BO has in mind, but has been sidetracked by all the dissent...

Things will not change for those of us who have private medical care, while those who are disadvantaged will have access to co-op med centers... The public aspect of the Health Care Bill is now dead...

[chitown]

I paid about $500 or $600 a month for a decent family plan. What they need to do is to have a pool system that is nationwide rather than states restricting things. You can buy coverage much cheaper in some states than you can in Illinois.

Oddly enough, once you get through all the emotion, mis-information and rhetoric which surrounds this issue, I believe this is exactly what BO has in mind, but has been sidetracked by all the dissent...

Things will not change for those of us who have private medical care, while those who are disadvantaged will have access to co-op med centers... The public aspect of the Health Care Bill is now dead...

Minus the government being involved.

[Muadib]

Here's an interesting twist of events...

Obama's MySpace page: I'm 52 years old, not 48

Posted: August 17, 2009
12:46 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

If President Obama were indeed born in Hawaii, was it while the islands yet remained a territory of the United States?

A new wrinkle in the dispute over his birth – and whether he is eligible to be president under the U.S. Constitution's requirement that the president be none other than a "natural born" citizen – appeared today when Obama's MySpace page confirmed his age is 52.

That would mean if he was born on the islands that now make up the state of Hawaii it would have been during the archipelago's days as a territory for the United States, the status for the islands from about 1900 until it became a state in 1959.

Obama's MySpace page: I'm 52 years old, not 48

Does BO even know how old he is??? The media has been saying for weeks that he would be 48 years old as of his birthday on August 4th... No one is the White House press corp have ever disputed that, until today...

If there is the question about when he was born, the obvious next question is where was he born... Seems his Mom went missing for 6 months during the time of his birth...

Obama mama: 6 lost months

Don't start with the 'Birther' bullshit again... These are valid questions & issues and the target keeps moving... A 'Proof of Live Birth' document is NOT a Birth Certificate... He had to provide a Birth Certificate to get a passport... So why not provide the damn thing and put this story to rest...

[MrG]

Don't start with the 'Birther' bullshit again... These are valid questions & issues and the target keeps moving... A 'Proof of Live Birth' document is NOT a Birth Certificate... He had to provide a Birth Certificate to get a passport... So why not provide the damn thing and put this story to rest...

Oh, but it is, at least according to the State of Hawaii that issued the certificate. Repeating the same old invention that it is not is what keeps the target moving.