Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on August 17, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
I left this one out of last week’s Obamateurisms, and Jim Treacher demands justice — so consider this a belated recognition of a classic fumble by Barack Obama. In his appearance at a “greenhouse” in support of his overhaul of the American health-care system, Obama tried to assure Americans that a government system could compete with private health insurers and not drive them out of business. However, the one example he could use will not put anyone’s mind at ease who worries about competence and efficiency:
Now, the only thing that I have said is that having a public option in that menu would provide competition for insurance companies to keep them honest.
Now, I recognize, though, you make a legitimate — you raise a legitimate concern. People say, well, how can a private company compete against the government? And my answer is that if the private insurance companies are providing a good bargain, and if the public option has to be self-sustaining — meaning taxpayers aren’t subsidizing it, but it has to run on charging premiums and providing good services and a good network of doctors, just like any other private insurer would do — then I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. (Applause.)
I mean, if you think about — if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems. (Laughter.)
Seriously? Obama wants to reassure us that the government can handle health care by using the Post Office as an example? Oh,that will certainly impress anyone who’s had to wait in line for service at the Post Office. Just think this: Dr. Cliff Clavin.
And even putting aside the jokes, the comparison shows just about everything that’s wrong with having government operate at all in the private sector. The only reason the USPS remains in business is because it has a monopoly on first-class mail. It routinely runs in the red and has to rely on its government mandate to stay in business. The reason UPS and FedEx can remain in business against it is because even with the subsidy of its first-class mail monopoly, it can’t operate efficiently enough to bury parcel competition.
Right now, the Post Office is contemplating a greater rationing of its services in order to save money, specifically by reducing delivery days from six to five and closing a significant number of its locations. Pay attention, because ObamaCare will do the same thing when it also costs a lot more money than predicted.
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
Addendum: I have been running a reminder of Chris Muir’s fundraising drive for his Day by Day site here — Chris does the illustrations for the Obamateurism series — and today I can announce that Chris made his goal for the next year. Thanks for all your help in keeping Chris and his insight in the fight for us!
Blowback
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Thank you, Ed.
I was getting antsy. I saw the clock and I knew it was OOTD time.
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:09 AM
And don’t relent in putting pressure on Congress. Howard Dean came out and said this morning that the final bill would have a public option included. The talk about dropping it is nothing more than a tactic to get it out of the Senate. Plan and act accordingly.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:10 AM
Mmm…post office…nom nom nom…
http://humorinstitute.org/?p=519
Lockstein13 on August 17, 2009 at 8:12 AM
how could anyone say that with a straight face….seriously
where have we heard this before….hmmmmm
cmsinaz on August 17, 2009 at 8:13 AM
So what is the equivalent in the health system to “going postal”.
right2bright on August 17, 2009 at 8:14 AM
I would like to see an example of a program that the government has operated efficiently.
TXMomof3 on August 17, 2009 at 8:15 AM
What does it say that the phrase is known?
TXMomof3 on August 17, 2009 at 8:16 AM
I can hardly wait to go to my nurse and have her/him look me over while being all tatted up, lip rings, eye brow rings, nose rings, piercing, etc.
Coming in late, and making me wait in a line then telling me they are closed, come back tomorrow.
…although I would have preferred him using the DMV as an example.
right2bright on August 17, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Arbitrarily sending people to death panels.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Making jobs, and personal wealth disappear?
coldwarrior on August 17, 2009 at 8:18 AM
TXMomof3 on August 17, 2009 at 8:15 AM
.
That might be a good question I ask Senator Nelson at one of his townhall meetings.
yoda on August 17, 2009 at 8:19 AM
They are good at that. Are we the only ones awake this morning, and if so, why?
TXMomof3 on August 17, 2009 at 8:19 AM
I wasted a Saturday afternoon at a VA provider. I can say with certainty that you won’t find efficiency in that organization.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Look how great government did preventing 9/11
look how great they did in not screwing up the economy
now we want them doing healthcare
you know
if you need a ride home
you dont find a drunk to drive you.
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:20 AM
So what is the equivalent in the health system to “going postal”.
right2bright on August 17, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Arbitrarily sending people to death panels.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:17 AM
cmsinaz on August 17, 2009 at 8:21 AM
My dad spends enough time out at the Dallas VA. I am not impressed.
TXMomof3 on August 17, 2009 at 8:21 AM
TXMomof3 on August 17, 2009 at 8:19 AM
I’m up. I actuaally had to do some work first. NOw The White House is saying Sibellius misspoke. Maybe Barry is not dropping the public option. What an idiot. He wants to be a three year lame duck. Remember, the Gobmit bought $10,000 toilet seats.
kingsjester on August 17, 2009 at 8:23 AM
IRS, Medicare, Social Security, Welfare programs (hundreds of them), schools, complete failures….military is the closest, NASA is pretty good.
The only one that has an impact are some of the “reinvestment” or revitalization programs for inner cities, some are horribly mismanaged, but some have done some great things to turn areas around.
Primarily the ones that give huge tax breaks for business to move into an area and provide work. Many of those (outside places like Chicago, and D.C.) work pretty good.
Overall, most every Federal program is a disaster, and worse, EVER EXPANDING.
right2bright on August 17, 2009 at 8:23 AM
I find it ironic that the USPS does not have the money to pay into the fund for their retirees’ health care benifits.
http://www.market-ticker.org/archives/1337-USPS-Threatens-Health-Pension-Default.html
4of8 on August 17, 2009 at 8:24 AM
I do believe, outside of the US military, the USPS is the largest employer in the country. And yet no one seems to think the post office is efficient.
rbj on August 17, 2009 at 8:25 AM
Being Paneled?
right2bright on August 17, 2009 at 8:25 AM
The idea of having a health administrator that would be anything like my delightful, (and I have to believe, deaf mute, because even after three years, he appears incapable of speech) hippie mailman, leaves me shaking in my boots!
(Please- no offense to actual, deaf-mute hippies)
anniekc on August 17, 2009 at 8:26 AM
Going X-ray.
rightside on August 17, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Obama wants to play doctor, and he wants to play post office. That’s a pretty good indication of what he’s doing to the American people.
backwoods conservative on August 17, 2009 at 8:29 AM
The Father of the Nation!
Barack Obama!
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:29 AM
Here, surprising the Postal Service is not the largest (outside of general government)
right2bright on August 17, 2009 at 8:31 AM
Obama is an idiot.
…just sayin’…
ladyingray on August 17, 2009 at 8:34 AM
FIFY
mr.blacksheep on August 17, 2009 at 8:34 AM
The spelling of pogrom is not that much different than program which is relevant because if the filthy liar in the White House succeeds, tens of thousands of people are going to die needlessly early as a result of diminished health care standards.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:35 AM
Is Michelle the SchoolMarm of America
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:35 AM
Where the heck is the teleprompter for God’s sake? It’s soooo embarrassing to see Obambi stumble and stutter his way trying to make sense without the teleprompter. This is the man the left and the MSM hail as the Most Eloquent speaker EVAH!!!! WOW! Unbelievable.
poxoma on August 17, 2009 at 8:36 AM
OT: Worthy of a read.
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/08/16/george-w-bush-by-proxy-syndrome/
After reading it, I prompted to refer to a line I recall from HBO’s Band of Brothers: “We stand alone together.”
Strap on your helmets, boys and girls. It’s time to start getting in some grilles. The only way to defeat bullies is to fight back. After all, Ralphie got no respect until he punched out Grover Dill and beat the snot of Scott Farkus. Of course, by fighting back, I intend the expression only in a figurative sense.
BuckeyeSam on August 17, 2009 at 8:37 AM
Just saw a MSNBC commercial for Rachel Maddow’s show
“This is between people who want healthcare reform, and people who don’t even want a conversation”
I want to shave her head and dunk her in ketchup.
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Obama cites the Post Office??
Back when it was the US Post Office Department, it ran fairly well. Then along came the US Postal Service. Hasn’t run well since.
Wages and pensions…big culprit.
Unions…big culprit.
Trying very late in the game to compete with Fedex and UPS….dumb move. Do well what you do well. Let those who do other things well, do other things well. Something my Dad told me decades ago.
Destroying their money maker…philatelic sales…by producing dozens and dozens of expensive “stickers” instead of collectible postage stamps, and then making it impossible to remove used stamps from envelopes and packages without destroying them. [Seriously, this is one area that the USPS has botched up entirely...costs about .001 cent to produce a stamp...and stamp...and they sell for a penny up to $16 each at the counter.] The price of stamps produced before the 1990′s are increasing for collectors worldwide. The newer stuff? Not so much.
Solving cost problems by cutting services or charging more for those services. [Having to pay extra to "guarantee" delivery? Thought a first-class stamp was supposed to take care of that?]
Hiring private firms to print stamps/stickers [Avery and others]; Hiring private companies to move the mail, from all across Alaska, for example, to those hundreds of large 16-wheelers you see going down the interstate; Deciding to sell souvenirs at post offices….still on the hook for thousands and thousands of Beany Babies, among other schlock; Cutting home delivery and rural delivery and setting up “centers” to force people to drive or walk miles or blocks to pick up mail.
Yep, efficient as all get out…
But, then demanding a huge increase in federal funding to make up for the losses caused by iniefficiencies.
Then telling Congress that they will close hundreds of post offices (after hundreds and hundreds have already been closed) unless Congress forks over the cash.
Now, brethren…take this matrix and pay it over the proposed Obamacare program.
If I ran a business like this model…I’d be out of business in a year, maybe two, if I had a lot of donors to help me out.
But, Emperor Obama (Obama the Unclothed) invokes the USPS as a “good” example?
Not only amateurish…but stooopid.
coldwarrior on August 17, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Thankfully for him, many Americans don’t know their history.
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:41 AM
First rule of sales – Don’t raise doubts in your customer’s minds by citing failed examples of your previous work. Second rule – Stay on message at all times to ensure reliability and trust.
Obama would starve to death as a salesperson out here in the real world.
sherry on August 17, 2009 at 8:42 AM
:-)
can we label her a putz as well? or is there a female equivalent?
cmsinaz on August 17, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Band of Brothers and A Christmas Story references in the same post? Is that even legal?
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Also not having enough caffeine this morning…sorry for the wealth of typos on that one.
coldwarrior on August 17, 2009 at 8:43 AM
I believe putz is unisex!
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM
This health care business has a lot more things that we don’t want besides the public option. I am afraid people will stop paying attention to it if the public option is taken off the table. It doesn’t make any difference if the provider if private or public if the government determines what the policy will contain, how much it costs and will fine you through the IRS if you can’t prove that you are obeying.
Cindy Munford on August 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM
NO GREEN ROOM FOR YOU!
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM
He is a salesperson…selling snake oil.
And we can only hope. :-)
coldwarrior on August 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Does anybody else detect a sense of arrogance, fear, disbelief, and deperation coming from the Administration, Congress, and their Far Left Base? It’s like I told one of the new Trolls the other day: It just chaps you guys that average people actually are displaying intelligence and the will to stand up for themselves. Using the USPS as an example is appropriate. Under the public option our Healthcare will arrive late and we will wind up damaged as a result.
kingsjester on August 17, 2009 at 8:45 AM
This woman had Linda Douglas on last week and was actually agreeing with her every single talking point. There was no objectivity. The whore wasn’t looking for conversation. She’s completely in the tank for the filthy liar in the White House.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Well at least the Post Office is Constituionally mandated:
Tom
marinetbryant on August 17, 2009 at 8:46 AM
ROTFLMAO… ya think, come on he did say… “If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half for the thing that’s going to make you well.”
Who doesn’t understand the Blue pill Red pill metaphor? I mean well, besides Obama…??? The blue pill doesn’t work at all and cost you everything… No thank you we’ll pass Obama…
doriangrey on August 17, 2009 at 8:46 AM
It’s all lefty code
“conversation”
“dialogue”
“debate”
ya ya ya. The lefties aren’t interested in debate. Their future is one free of it
“If you want to imagine the future, picture a boot stomping on a human face, forever”
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:47 AM
They were…when they were the US Post Office Department.
[BTW, those Route Numbers? US Route 1 all the way out to US Route 101...were established as postal routes before they became highway numbers.]
coldwarrior on August 17, 2009 at 8:48 AM
I was taken aback when he repeated this comment at his town hall on Saturday. To their credit, his audience snickered…and he seemed somewhat surprised by that. How out of touch can he be?
Dee2008 on August 17, 2009 at 8:49 AM
i just saw someone on MSNBC “morning joe” say that those waving the “no socialism” signs at the townhalls really didn’t understand what that meant–that these people really do want healthcare for grandma.
these people misunderestimate us.
kelley in virginia on August 17, 2009 at 8:50 AM
Bent, folded, spindled and mutilated.
Dee2008 on August 17, 2009 at 8:51 AM
Yup, I remember as a kid living on US Postal Route 5 in Washington State, this was of course way back in the late 60′s.
doriangrey on August 17, 2009 at 8:52 AM
:-)
cmsinaz on August 17, 2009 at 8:53 AM
Arrogance- Most assuredly.
Fear- Only in the sense that they are afraid that healthcare takeover will fail which will seriously damage the filthy liar’s credibility among the moderate moonbats he needs to get his socialist agenda passed.
Disbelief- Yes. It is clear that he thought personal charisma and lies alone would have been sufficient to ram this bill through the Congress and onto his desk before the August “district time.” It is clear from the town hall meetings that the political class is not prepared to answer the real concerns of Americans.
Desperation- Not quite yet but the honeymoon is over. The filthy liar is going have to map out his agenda carefully because his falling poll numbers will hurt him in getting things like amnesty passed in an election year.
Overall this administration and Congress is teetering on the edge of critical failure. We need to figure out how to deliver the coup d’ gras.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 8:53 AM
More than in your worst nightmare…
doriangrey on August 17, 2009 at 8:54 AM
Going sawbones?
Greyledge Gal on August 17, 2009 at 8:54 AM
+100
cmsinaz on August 17, 2009 at 8:55 AM
A few years ago my local post office put up those huge plexiglas barriers that you see in banks. I feel comfortable now entering that post office because I know the workers have to get through two inches of plexiglas in order to attack me.
Will I feel the same about submitting to an medical exam by a doctor sitting behind the same kind of barrier?
unclesmrgol on August 17, 2009 at 8:56 AM
You’re right, Cindy. There is much more to fear besides the public option.
ladyingray on August 17, 2009 at 8:57 AM
I used to watch that show, but they are just as in the tank for O as the rest of the shows on that station, unless Joe has a few sane moments of clarity that I haven’t heard about recently…
cmsinaz on August 17, 2009 at 8:57 AM
In order to govern you need two things trust and legitimacy.
Obama has lost the trust of the nation but if he forces this socialist takeover on us he will lose his legitimacy as well.
The government has never touched anything which has not turned to shit. Now they want to force us to give them control over our health and our lives. That is not going to happen without a fight.
If they insist on this takeover it’ll change the nature of our social compact. In other words, we’ll cease to be independent citizens and we’ll become defacto subjects beholden to the government for our very lives.
If they force this takeover we may as well scrap the entire constitution and the union and seek redress.
These would not be the actions of a government acting within the confines of the Constitution I swore to uphold.
elduende on August 17, 2009 at 8:58 AM
The Bamster is a true Renaissance man, a master of many fields. In medicine, he can check you for prostate cancer with a colonoscopy. In finance, he knows all the tools of analysis, even “profit and earning ratios”. And in his healthcare plan, he’ll model the new gubmit system after the post office. Gotta love that Bamster.
Renaissance man
petefrt on August 17, 2009 at 8:58 AM
The only thing Obama is faster @ than picking Czars is scrubbing the WH.gov web site.
When Obama said that he wanted to remake America did he really mean overtake? By overtake did that mean to rule rather than govern. Well, if he gets this Obamacare plan, then who knows how many more mini-Czars will be needed to rule over this new kingdom of general welfare?
Civilin National Security Force (CNSF) sounds so un-cool now doesn’t it? I mean, who needs the courts & police when you have your own “private” publicly funded mobile army to control the dissent of your self believed mandates. Need a job young people? Join O’s new CNSF an be all that Obama wants you to be and get paid while you do it.
Americannodash on August 17, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Actually I think they are displaying a certain amount of fear, they are starting to wake up to reality and discover that being a current Presidential Administration is genuine real hard work, it isn’t the rose colored glasses walk in the park they thought is was going to be.
Since none of them have ever actually worked for a living before they know they are in deep $hit, all the more so because they are also becoming slowly aware of the fact that their actions will have repercussions later down the road when they are no longer the administration in charge.
Yes, they are getting desperate and feeling quite a bit of fear, the American people are waking up and they are pissed off.
doriangrey on August 17, 2009 at 9:00 AM
O stepped in his own pile here… this has been my main argument to anyone advocating the public plan. It’d be administered by the same people that work at the IRS, the USPS, and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
I also just can’t believe, no matter how many times O says it, that public plan would get infinite funding since it’s an entitlement and private insurance couldn’t compete. This is always my second point to public-plan supporters… if he can reform current entitlements (social security, etc…) then this might be marginally believable (and not likely anyways).
Ciao
K
krl on August 17, 2009 at 9:01 AM
Another example of ineptitude: the government’s response to the Katrina disaster. How many federal, state, county and city agencies failed to provide help to people without skimming off the top of the disaster aid, or providing only more bureaucracy and paperwork rather than relief?
Pazman on August 17, 2009 at 9:02 AM
This whole thing makes your mind wander into places it shouldn’t be. My biggest fear is having an Acorn employee in the exam room with me and my doctor – taking notes.
sherry on August 17, 2009 at 9:03 AM
They’ve already done that – one day a week, I get nothing but supermarket circulars and mattress ads.
That means to me, the postman is simply not sorting the mail that one day, delivers the circulars and then goes home.
Once they are done delivering the “mail”, they are done for the day.
Going to five days would simply put into practice what they are putting in place in principle.
NoDonkey on August 17, 2009 at 9:03 AM
Now, in what world does anyone believe that the “public option” would be totally self-sustaining and not need any taxpayer subsidy? Is he really trying to claim that the “public option” would be just another insurance company offering? If so, what is the point – there are already plenty of insurance company plans out there. The whole point of the “public option” is that it is going to be taxpayer subsidized.
There is no other way for it to work other than taxpayer subsidy, unless it charges the same rates, offers the same services, and uses the same models to limit exposure (i.e., risk pools, prohibiting pre-existing conditions).
Who are these people who think that a gov’t run business will be able to operate as efficiently as a private business? that gov’t can simply wave a magic wand and suddenly find a way to insure everyone with as good as coverage as most people currently have, and be able to pay for it all with premiums of the same price as current insurers’ premiums? Really? Do even leftists believe this?
Monkeytoe on August 17, 2009 at 9:06 AM
I agree. A friend and I have an ongoing disagreement. I say that Obama is not very intelligent just street savvy with intelligent handlers. He maintains that he is intelligent albeit only slightly above average and that he’s street savvy. Personally I think that in the IQ department he’s well below the average. I don’t think that anyone with even average intelligence could pursue the path and methodology that he’s taken and expect success at any level. Of course that would imply that even his handlers are dumb as posts too. Is he intelligent? Why or why not? I’m still trying to sort it out.
Oldnuke on August 17, 2009 at 9:07 AM
Barry gets so mesmerized by his own rhetoric that he doesn’t even realize what he’s saying half the time.
What’s truly appalling is watching the slack-jawed faces and glazed eyes of his fans as they eagerly swallow every lie he utters.
Barb Dwyer on August 17, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Ed, thanks for finally writing up the Post Office metaphor as an official OOTD. I was amazed that Obama was clueless enough to say it, intending it to be positive. In Chicago there have been many scandals involving non-delivery of mail by the USPS. So it’s not like Obama was unaware of what he was getting into.
jwolf on August 17, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Fewer than you suggest. The failure in the immediate aftermath of Katrina was most lack of coordination combined with a Democrat Governor (Kathleen Blanco) completely out of her comfort zone and refusing to do the necessary steps to get federal troops in to help. After Katrina and Rita, the real problem was lack of oversight and the fact that much of this was new territory for all levels of government. Yes, there was waste and inefficiences galore but to suggest there was a pattern of fraud is one of those things you need to prove before you start accusing.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 9:10 AM
The greatest debate in American history (to date) and CBS thinks the general public cares more about a guy who murdered dogs for fun. The public option stories have dropped to #3 in the front page articles in today’s NYT’s and Wapo, (online), and Howard Dean says the healtcare bill will have the public option—yeeeehaw.
Fareed Zakaria, at the Washington Post thinks we need to be in a “crisis mode” to get things done:
Meanwhile on Morning Joe, they’re having another segment labeled “Healtcare Civil War”
It sure sounds like the mainstream media are searching for a soundbite that will resonate with the public—reaching for strawman arguments by the bale-load.
Hip waders recommended……
Rovin on August 17, 2009 at 9:10 AM
Barb Dwyer — agree 100%. And it’s not just appalling, but extremely frightening.
jwolf on August 17, 2009 at 9:10 AM
Couldn’t agree more.
The trust factor may well be the main casualty of ObamaCare. Folks were already edgy over Porkulus, card check, bailouts and takeovers in finance and auto industries, and such. Then when the Orwellian features of ObamaCare became known, most people took a second, more serious look at this man because now, all of a sudden, he was fiddling with their lives and liberty in the most existential way possible.
Yes, the power grabs are unConstitutional, and need to be prosecuted thoroughly.
petefrt on August 17, 2009 at 9:12 AM
That is incredibly inflammatory. Thankfully, there are only a handful of people watching it.
sherry on August 17, 2009 at 9:13 AM
Father of the Nation!
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:29
Barack Obama…Class President
yoda on August 17, 2009 at 9:14 AM
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 9:10 AM
You are exactly right. Local and state resources were intended to play the biggest role in national disaster planning.
What wasn’t envisioned was a scenario where the local and state resources wouldn’t or couldn’t show up.
National diaster planners have learned a lot since Katrina.
Still, all the planning in the world won’t help all that much if the city and the state completely drop the ball.
NoDonkey on August 17, 2009 at 9:15 AM
Despite the fact that civil war is a gross misnomer. It’s nothing of the kind. It’s merely the citizens of this country voicing their opposition to a proposed government policy in accordance with the foundations laid down by the architects of that government.
Oldnuke on August 17, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Don’t forget to deep fry her first.
davidk on August 17, 2009 at 9:17 AM
I’d be OK with a public option if it was not subsidized by taxpayers and if the rest of the medical industry got the same guarantee big pharma got: that it would not use its position to dictate prices. If that were the case, public health insurance would be the USPS of health care. It would be so bad that nobody would use it unless they were forced or had no other choice. Of course, I would want people to have a choice not to have health care, so I can’t see how a public option could survive.
Kafir on August 17, 2009 at 9:18 AM
Mine too. Or being examined by an ACORN employee in the Federal Medical Technician Training Program. It’s so nasty it’s almost unthinkable. But you just know it’s going to happen. If Obama has his way, healthcare costs would be cut by using (and funding) ACORN.
petefrt on August 17, 2009 at 9:21 AM
If they insist on this takeover it’ll change the nature of our social compact. In other words, we’ll cease to be independent citizens and we’ll become defacto subjects beholden to the government for our very lives.
elduende
And what better way to guarantee his power and his elevated place in history. A soviet system but without all those messy murders (if you don’t count the unborn).
SKYFOX on August 17, 2009 at 9:24 AM
Sherry,
I take no solice in visiting these mediums other than to gage the rhetorical BS from these folks who still think they are shaping public opinion. While I agree with you their title was “inflammatory”, the sheer joy of visiting the “leftward” websites over the weekend, (Huffpo, DU, Pandagon, Kos Kids, etc.), having a total meltdown was a “flamming success”.
Rovin on August 17, 2009 at 9:25 AM
I was living in New Orleans this time last year as Hurricane Gustav came through. What a difference with a competent Governor and a gun shy mayor. The whole city was really evacuated. Of course those that relied on the government for providing transportation and lodging were complaining about the accomodations but the bottom line is that the city was evacuated, the LA National Guard clamped down on the city so hard that there wasn’t looting, and it proved that there were lessons learned after Katrina/Rita.
highhopes on August 17, 2009 at 9:27 AM
Like a breath of fresh mountain air Oldnuke—well said.
Rovin on August 17, 2009 at 9:28 AM
I like the pun:). And thanks for taking one for the team. I stopped watching them a year ago. It’s just not right to start the day spewing cuss words.
sherry on August 17, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Not to be confused with pate de foie grace.
mr.blacksheep on August 17, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Absolutely. What could be better than cheap, obedient labor.
sherry on August 17, 2009 at 9:30 AM
It sounds a lot like private enterprise, except the gubmint won’t have to pay taxes. It’ll kill competition.
Why not open up competition? Allow people to buy health care insurance from anywhere in the nation instead of only within their state. There are no choices in my state and so much of the coverage is mandated. At this point in my life and leading up to it, I’ve only needed catastrophic coverage. I could’ve saved thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, not to mention the tens of thousands my employer has paid for my coverage. I’ve barely used it.
I’d like to tailor my own coverage, even working with an insurance agent, much like I do with my auto and homeowner’s policies. I shop them around every year.
This is all so stupid.
It would be great to be able to change jobs and take my insurance coverage with me without being plopped into some cesspool of government insurance.
Ampleforth on August 17, 2009 at 9:32 AM
We’ll fight them in the courts until they fail us and then we’ll find other ways to seek redress of grievances.
Well it would guarantee total control of an aging population. Just think of the intrusion into privacy laws this is to see the potential for police state abuse too.
elduende on August 17, 2009 at 9:33 AM
I wouldn’t be so quick to call it a “gross misnomer.” Barry has done more to divide this country than any other president that I can recall. Gun sales are through the roof, more and more militia groups are forming. People are ANGRY…and they’re starting to choose sides. If push comes to shove, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a little scuffle escalate into a serious skirmish…with folks getting killed.
Barb Dwyer on August 17, 2009 at 9:41 AM
In the old days you could put a 3 cent stamp on a letter and it would get from the east coast to the west coast in three days.
Nowadays a first class stamp costs 42 cents. At least it’s still just a penny a day.
lamykat on August 17, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Was there a hidden Obamateurism? Today the NYT notes one from Montana:
“It’s nice to take a break from the going-ons in Washington,” Mr. Obama said, in a rare moment of presidential misspeak, as he read from the teleprompter. “I’m thrilled to have a chance to spend some time with the folks in this beautiful state. After all, here in Montana you’ve got bears and moose and elk. In Washington” — and here the president stopped himself, laughing so hard it was momentarily difficult for him to continue — “you just have mostly bull.”
Like the way the Times calls it “a rare moment of presidential misspeak”. But that TOTUS just cracks me up, too, Mr. President.
ChrisB on August 17, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Went to the Post Office this morning. Long line, few windows open for service (2 out of 7 work stations manned). Indifferent employees. Stamp machine “out of order” so I have to go to the counter. I’m next, Ooops!, nope, soon as the last customer left, window is closed for employee ‘break time’. Screw the customers, let ‘em wait.
Yeah, Barry, I want health care, just like that.
GarandFan on August 17, 2009 at 10:20 AM
I used to work in a town in NJ and sometimes had to go to the Post Office there. The lines were constantly as long as they are at other POs during the Christmas rush. Looking at the bright side I used to say “its always Christmas at that PO”. I don’t think I’d approach it with a sense of humor if I was standing in that line with a sick child. Its unions. Any service, agency, institution, company etc. that is unionized is inefficient and wasteful because they are more concerned about themselves than their customers. And this President, Administration, Congress caters to the unions.
mph on August 17, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Look on the bright side, your organ transplants will have delivery confirmation.
infidel4life on August 17, 2009 at 10:42 AM
I want to shave her head and dunk her in ketchup.
blatantblue on August 17, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Last week she was calling the protesters “anti-health” so…I have clippers if you have the ketchup or any thing else you want to dunk her in.
milwife88 on August 17, 2009 at 10:47 AM
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