Crybabies In The White House Posted on 09.19.09 by Danny Glover (enlightenedredneck.com) @ 3:12 pm
"Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday has been in the media game for a long time now. He’s reported good news and bad news about both Democratic and Republican presidents, and the White House staffs took most of the bad news in stride. They knew Wallace was just doing his job.
"Not Barack Obama and his White House. The president snubbed Wallace and Fox News in his flurry of visits to Sunday news shows tomorrow, and last night, Wallace told Fox colleague Bill O’Reilly that Obama’s team is just as petty as their boss.
“These guys, everything is personal. I gotta tell you, everything,” Wallace said. “They are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my 30 years in Washington.”
Watch 39 second YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoNMvubV87M&feature=player_embedded
"Barack Obama is single-handedly destroying the concept of what it means to be “presidential.” He has cracked a joke at the expense of Special Olympians on late-night television; he has said a local police officer just doing his job “acted stupidly“; and he has mocked taxpayers wary of his policies as “bed-wetters” and “folks waving tea bags around.”
"Now Obama and his high-paid press aides are acting like children toward Wallace and the rest of Fox News because the network refuses to get in Obama’s tank with the rest of the establishment media.
"Statesmanship appears to be dead in the White House for the next few years."
http://www.enlightenedredneck.com/2009/09/19/crybabies-in-the-white-house/
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Obama and hacks talk more--people want less
"Finally, Kudos for the Status Quo" Jennifer Rubin - 09.18.2009 - 6:15 AM
"From the start of the health-care debate, the president has always posed a choice (one as “false” as any of the “false choices” he routinely derides): my way or the status quo. And the status quo is supposed to be so awful, so unacceptable, that of course we’ll take ObamaCare. Forget for a moment the myriad of alternatives to ObamaCare. It seems the public is calling Obama’s bluff. The voters at this point realize that what they have isn’t so bad.
"The Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll explains:
"Most Americans see no upside for their family in the health care reforms being considered in Washington and don’t believe President Obama when he says his plan won’t add “one dime” to the federal deficit. The majority of Americans believe they will have to make changes to their health care coverage if the president’s plan is passed. . . . More Americans would rather Congress do nothing than pass Obama’s plan: 46 percent to 37 percent of people polled say they prefer the current health care system to the one the president has proposed.
Similarly, more people oppose — 48 percent — the health care reform legislation being considered right now than favor it — 38 percent. ...
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/97972
"From the start of the health-care debate, the president has always posed a choice (one as “false” as any of the “false choices” he routinely derides): my way or the status quo. And the status quo is supposed to be so awful, so unacceptable, that of course we’ll take ObamaCare. Forget for a moment the myriad of alternatives to ObamaCare. It seems the public is calling Obama’s bluff. The voters at this point realize that what they have isn’t so bad.
"The Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll explains:
"Most Americans see no upside for their family in the health care reforms being considered in Washington and don’t believe President Obama when he says his plan won’t add “one dime” to the federal deficit. The majority of Americans believe they will have to make changes to their health care coverage if the president’s plan is passed. . . . More Americans would rather Congress do nothing than pass Obama’s plan: 46 percent to 37 percent of people polled say they prefer the current health care system to the one the president has proposed.
Similarly, more people oppose — 48 percent — the health care reform legislation being considered right now than favor it — 38 percent. ...
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/97972
The people not buying O-Biden's economic bull
From LA Times: "New poll finds Americans not buying Obama's light-at-the-end-of-the-recession talk (Updated)"
"In recent days both Democrat Vice President Joe Biden and the other fellow have begun to make the argument in public that from the point of view of the secure White House, they can somehow see the current dumpster economy smelling better, light at the end of the tunnel, the dawn of a new economic era just over the horizon.
"This is based largely on scattered economic stats indicating that things are not so much really getting better; they're just not getting bad as much as before. ...
"But a new poll indicates it's gonna take a whole lot more than repeated rhetoric to.... ...convince skeptical Americans not feeling the $787 billion economic stimulus. The new CNN / Opinion Research Poll finds an overwhelming majority of Americans see the country as good and stuck in a recession and have no doubts about it.
"Fully 86% of the 1,012 adults surveyed said the country remained mired in a recession; 13% disagreed. Seventy-seven percent call it a severe or moderate recession; only 10% light. More than half said their economic position had not improved in the past year and nearly 40% said it was worse. ...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/09/obama-biden-economy-polls.html
"In recent days both Democrat Vice President Joe Biden and the other fellow have begun to make the argument in public that from the point of view of the secure White House, they can somehow see the current dumpster economy smelling better, light at the end of the tunnel, the dawn of a new economic era just over the horizon.
"This is based largely on scattered economic stats indicating that things are not so much really getting better; they're just not getting bad as much as before. ...
"But a new poll indicates it's gonna take a whole lot more than repeated rhetoric to.... ...convince skeptical Americans not feeling the $787 billion economic stimulus. The new CNN / Opinion Research Poll finds an overwhelming majority of Americans see the country as good and stuck in a recession and have no doubts about it.
"Fully 86% of the 1,012 adults surveyed said the country remained mired in a recession; 13% disagreed. Seventy-seven percent call it a severe or moderate recession; only 10% light. More than half said their economic position had not improved in the past year and nearly 40% said it was worse. ...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/09/obama-biden-economy-polls.html
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Seriously, I lose count of O's lies on illegals
From Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times:
"President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
"He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants."
Obama: "Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else."
"President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
"He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants."
Obama: "Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else."
Seriously, I lose track of O's lies on illegals
From Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times:
"President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
"He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants."
Obama: "Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else."
"President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
"He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants."
Obama: "Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else."
O's empty, ignorant rhetoric has worked so far...
Obama and the Sunday Talkies [Benjamin Zycher] (via Nation Review Online)
"I see that President Obama is going to be featured on four or five (!) of the Sunday talk shows this weekend. It is simply unbelievable to me that none of the political experts in the White House has told or convinced the president that more yakking on his part on health care or anything else would be counterproductive, and that this is the time for him to sit back and be presidential, while the crass politicians in Congress fight things out.
"But . . . no. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, ACORN's gotta engage in fraud, and Obama's gotta talk. It's really that simple; and it is amazing, given how little this guy actually knows about economics, about foreign affairs, about, well, just about anything. This reminds me of a footnote, minor but revealing, from the 2004 Democratic National Convention, at which Obama was the keynote speaker. His rhetoric, as usual, was as empty as a dry well, even as it drew the crowd to its feet time and again. Obama was reported, after the speech and the thunderous reception that it received, to have said to someone, "You know, I can play in this league."
"And so there we have it: Obama really believes at his core that empty rhetoric is the same as substance and judgement.
"I see that President Obama is going to be featured on four or five (!) of the Sunday talk shows this weekend. It is simply unbelievable to me that none of the political experts in the White House has told or convinced the president that more yakking on his part on health care or anything else would be counterproductive, and that this is the time for him to sit back and be presidential, while the crass politicians in Congress fight things out.
"But . . . no. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, ACORN's gotta engage in fraud, and Obama's gotta talk. It's really that simple; and it is amazing, given how little this guy actually knows about economics, about foreign affairs, about, well, just about anything. This reminds me of a footnote, minor but revealing, from the 2004 Democratic National Convention, at which Obama was the keynote speaker. His rhetoric, as usual, was as empty as a dry well, even as it drew the crowd to its feet time and again. Obama was reported, after the speech and the thunderous reception that it received, to have said to someone, "You know, I can play in this league."
"And so there we have it: Obama really believes at his core that empty rhetoric is the same as substance and judgement.
More briliant deconstruction of racism charge
"A Tackle Box Full of Race Bait"
Hearing racism whether or not it’s warranted is called prejudice.By Jonah Goldberg:
"Of all the poisonous, ugly, and intellectually vapid controversies ginned up in my lifetime, the current breakout of St. Vitus’ Dance over the “racist” opposition to Barack Obama may be the most egregious.Al Sharpton tells CNN’s Larry King that decent and racially sensitive Americans shouldn’t let a small minority make health care into a “racial issue.”Someone in the control room surely yelled, “Cue the laugh track!”In case you don’t get the joke, this entire “debate” over whether opposition to Obama’s health-care reform is racist is totally, completely, and in every way conceivable an invention of the Left.
"Meanwhile, no significant conservative politician, pundit, or intellectual has said that they object to Obama’s agenda because he’s black. Rather, they’ve said they oppose his agenda for precisely the same reasons they oppose Nancy Pelosi’s and Harry Reid’s and Barney Frank’s agendas.
"They stand athwart Obama yelling “Stop!” just as they did with Clinton and Democratic presidents before him.Magically, the alchemic powers of Obama’s black skin transmogrify the same arguments and the same rhetoric into racism. Saying “you’re wrong” to a white politician is a disagreement; saying it to a black politician is like shouting through Bull Connor’s megaphone.It’s been said that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich. Well, these people can indict a ham sandwich for being racist. ...
"Left-wing writers spent the week droning on about how it’s now racist to say “I want my country back.” These amnesiacs are blissfully unaware that “taking back” America was the rallying cry of the Democratic party for eight years under George W. Bush. Anti-white racists all?...
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWQ0MmEzNjU5MDQ1NjdmYTc0ZDUzNzExMDFjNDJkMDU=
Hearing racism whether or not it’s warranted is called prejudice.By Jonah Goldberg:
"Of all the poisonous, ugly, and intellectually vapid controversies ginned up in my lifetime, the current breakout of St. Vitus’ Dance over the “racist” opposition to Barack Obama may be the most egregious.Al Sharpton tells CNN’s Larry King that decent and racially sensitive Americans shouldn’t let a small minority make health care into a “racial issue.”Someone in the control room surely yelled, “Cue the laugh track!”In case you don’t get the joke, this entire “debate” over whether opposition to Obama’s health-care reform is racist is totally, completely, and in every way conceivable an invention of the Left.
"Meanwhile, no significant conservative politician, pundit, or intellectual has said that they object to Obama’s agenda because he’s black. Rather, they’ve said they oppose his agenda for precisely the same reasons they oppose Nancy Pelosi’s and Harry Reid’s and Barney Frank’s agendas.
"They stand athwart Obama yelling “Stop!” just as they did with Clinton and Democratic presidents before him.Magically, the alchemic powers of Obama’s black skin transmogrify the same arguments and the same rhetoric into racism. Saying “you’re wrong” to a white politician is a disagreement; saying it to a black politician is like shouting through Bull Connor’s megaphone.It’s been said that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich. Well, these people can indict a ham sandwich for being racist. ...
"Left-wing writers spent the week droning on about how it’s now racist to say “I want my country back.” These amnesiacs are blissfully unaware that “taking back” America was the rallying cry of the Democratic party for eight years under George W. Bush. Anti-white racists all?...
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWQ0MmEzNjU5MDQ1NjdmYTc0ZDUzNzExMDFjNDJkMDU=
Who da racist? Lefties/Obots look in mirror
Of course not all--maybe not for most. But if any of what Victor Davis Hanson says doens't have the ring of truth to you, then I say "blindspot"!
"Anatomy of the "Racist" Charge—or, How to Turn a Setback into a Disaster" [Victor Davis Hanson]
"It is strange to see Democrats and their supporters persist in their efforts — indeed, even intensify them — to equate Obama's failing legislative initiatives, his dive in the polls, and the rise of protests against him with racism. Polls reveal that it is not just a losing tactic, but an enormously self-destructive one for Democrats.
"To make the argument, they would have to prove three points. And so far they have not even come close:
1) Uniquely vicious?
Is the anger against Obama different from what we have seen leveled against presidents in the past? Americans not only know that this is not true, but that some who now charge unfair play were themselves well beyond the bounds of decorum in their own attacks. In the Bush years, "hate" was a favorite word of liberal critics, from both officials (cf. Howard Dean) and mainstream publications (cf. The New Republic). "Assassination" was the rage among liberal culture (cf. Alfred Knopf, the Toronto film festival, the Guardian). "Liar," "Nazi," and "brownshirt" were casual slurs from high-profile Democrats (cf. Gore, John Glenn, Robert Byrd, Harry Reid, Pete Stark, etc.). ...
2) Is Obama the only minority high-profile figure to have earned real anger?
No. Clarence Thomas had his character destroyed for partisan purposes, and liberals were enraged when he attributed it to a "high-tech lynching." Alberto Gonzalez was reduced to a caricature of an affirmative-action beneficiary. Former HHS Secretary Louis Wade Sullivan's race was explicitly cited by Representative Stark in a particularly nasty attack. When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was caricatured in state-run Palestinian newspaper cartoons as a pregnant monkey, few on the left rushed to denounce such virulent racism.
The sad truth is that if a Pres. Condi Rice or Pres. Colin Powell were now in the midst of pushing a controversial conservative agenda (e.g., a federal ban on abortions, cuts in federal spending, keeping open Guantanamo, etc.), the liberal press would be as aggressively hostile as conservatives are today against the Obama plans. The only difference would be that all in the liberal camp would be furious over suggestions of racial motivations to their own anger over conservative African-Americans pushing controversial policy. This is self-evident.
3) Do more prominent politicians on the Right engage in racially charged invective, or rather on the Left?
There have been some lunatic local and minor right-wing state officials who have engaged in racist charges. But so far the most prominent violators of our common norms of decency have been on the left, and indeed those in high positions of executive or elected authority.
Van Jones was a White House adviser — one long ago sought out and watched, according to Obama insider Valerie Jarrett. So someone must have known that in racist fashion he had suggested that whites pollute minority neighborhoods and are more prone to commit mass murders in the schools. Top-ranking officials like Rep. Charles Rangel and Gov. David Paterson of New York have accused whites of racism in lieu of honest self-examination of their own failing careers. ...
Read more at:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzMwMDkzY2EwYTcwYjJmZGFmODhlZWNhOGE5YjVjNmY=
"Anatomy of the "Racist" Charge—or, How to Turn a Setback into a Disaster" [Victor Davis Hanson]
"It is strange to see Democrats and their supporters persist in their efforts — indeed, even intensify them — to equate Obama's failing legislative initiatives, his dive in the polls, and the rise of protests against him with racism. Polls reveal that it is not just a losing tactic, but an enormously self-destructive one for Democrats.
"To make the argument, they would have to prove three points. And so far they have not even come close:
1) Uniquely vicious?
Is the anger against Obama different from what we have seen leveled against presidents in the past? Americans not only know that this is not true, but that some who now charge unfair play were themselves well beyond the bounds of decorum in their own attacks. In the Bush years, "hate" was a favorite word of liberal critics, from both officials (cf. Howard Dean) and mainstream publications (cf. The New Republic). "Assassination" was the rage among liberal culture (cf. Alfred Knopf, the Toronto film festival, the Guardian). "Liar," "Nazi," and "brownshirt" were casual slurs from high-profile Democrats (cf. Gore, John Glenn, Robert Byrd, Harry Reid, Pete Stark, etc.). ...
2) Is Obama the only minority high-profile figure to have earned real anger?
No. Clarence Thomas had his character destroyed for partisan purposes, and liberals were enraged when he attributed it to a "high-tech lynching." Alberto Gonzalez was reduced to a caricature of an affirmative-action beneficiary. Former HHS Secretary Louis Wade Sullivan's race was explicitly cited by Representative Stark in a particularly nasty attack. When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was caricatured in state-run Palestinian newspaper cartoons as a pregnant monkey, few on the left rushed to denounce such virulent racism.
The sad truth is that if a Pres. Condi Rice or Pres. Colin Powell were now in the midst of pushing a controversial conservative agenda (e.g., a federal ban on abortions, cuts in federal spending, keeping open Guantanamo, etc.), the liberal press would be as aggressively hostile as conservatives are today against the Obama plans. The only difference would be that all in the liberal camp would be furious over suggestions of racial motivations to their own anger over conservative African-Americans pushing controversial policy. This is self-evident.
3) Do more prominent politicians on the Right engage in racially charged invective, or rather on the Left?
There have been some lunatic local and minor right-wing state officials who have engaged in racist charges. But so far the most prominent violators of our common norms of decency have been on the left, and indeed those in high positions of executive or elected authority.
Van Jones was a White House adviser — one long ago sought out and watched, according to Obama insider Valerie Jarrett. So someone must have known that in racist fashion he had suggested that whites pollute minority neighborhoods and are more prone to commit mass murders in the schools. Top-ranking officials like Rep. Charles Rangel and Gov. David Paterson of New York have accused whites of racism in lieu of honest self-examination of their own failing careers. ...
Read more at:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzMwMDkzY2EwYTcwYjJmZGFmODhlZWNhOGE5YjVjNmY=
Rep. who knows says it best--gov't rationing
In addition to the fact of literally dozens of Republican bills and amendments, and the fact that the MSM has had little interest in informing the public that, yes, Republicans have offerred sound, useful and potentially effective proposals (that wouldn't be helpful to promote the Obama p.r. theme that his opponents only want to do nothing/maintain the status quo)...You now can add the message from this cancer survivor and former small business owner:
"GOP lawmaker warns against health care changes" (USA Today):
"Republicans maintain the Obama administration's attempt to overhaul the health system will lead to government-run health care that causes delays in treatment, threatening your health and even worse.
"Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina issued the latest warning against a Democratic-backed health care overhaul as she recalled her fight with breast cancer. She said in the GOP's weekly radio and Internet address that her diagnosis "took six doctors, three mammograms and one ultrasound before they finally they found my cancer. This process took only a few weeks."
"Under the government-run health care system they have in Canada and the United Kingdom, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get those tests so quickly," she said. "One international study found that three times as many citizens in those countries wait longer than a month to see a specialist. When it comes to life-threatening diseases like cancer, delay could mean death."...
""These so-called health care reform bills have different names: a public option, a co-op, a trigger," Myrick said. "Make no mistake, these are all gateways to government-run health care."
She said that the proposals mean higher taxes for small business owners "at a time when unemployment is nearing 10% and analysts are predicting that any kind of recovery will be a jobless one."
"She noted that she's a former small-business owner.
"I can tell you from experience that this is the worst possible time to be imposing new, job-killing taxes. In fact, the nation's largest small business association found the health care tax increases being proposed would lead to the elimination of more than 1.6 million jobs."
"She said seniors should expect massive cuts to Medicare. Doing this now, without implementing significant reforms to make the program more efficient, would leave seniors susceptible to the rationing of care," she said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-19-gop-address-health_N.htm?csp=34
"GOP lawmaker warns against health care changes" (USA Today):
"Republicans maintain the Obama administration's attempt to overhaul the health system will lead to government-run health care that causes delays in treatment, threatening your health and even worse.
"Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina issued the latest warning against a Democratic-backed health care overhaul as she recalled her fight with breast cancer. She said in the GOP's weekly radio and Internet address that her diagnosis "took six doctors, three mammograms and one ultrasound before they finally they found my cancer. This process took only a few weeks."
"Under the government-run health care system they have in Canada and the United Kingdom, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get those tests so quickly," she said. "One international study found that three times as many citizens in those countries wait longer than a month to see a specialist. When it comes to life-threatening diseases like cancer, delay could mean death."...
""These so-called health care reform bills have different names: a public option, a co-op, a trigger," Myrick said. "Make no mistake, these are all gateways to government-run health care."
She said that the proposals mean higher taxes for small business owners "at a time when unemployment is nearing 10% and analysts are predicting that any kind of recovery will be a jobless one."
"She noted that she's a former small-business owner.
"I can tell you from experience that this is the worst possible time to be imposing new, job-killing taxes. In fact, the nation's largest small business association found the health care tax increases being proposed would lead to the elimination of more than 1.6 million jobs."
"She said seniors should expect massive cuts to Medicare. Doing this now, without implementing significant reforms to make the program more efficient, would leave seniors susceptible to the rationing of care," she said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-19-gop-address-health_N.htm?csp=34
Again, hard to have health care w/out doctors
What the Doctors Think [Larry Kudlow] (via NRO)
"Will Americans soon be too sick to work, produce, invest, and generate new prosperity? That’s one conclusion you can draw from a new series by Investor’s Business Daily, which reveals that doctors are overwhelmingly opposed to a government takeover of health care (including the Baucus plan). Just as important, IBD reports that any government-based health-care overhaul will exacerbate the growing shortage of doctors in this country.
"IBD/TIPP found that 71 percent of physicians believe that government cannot cover 47 million more people without significant rationing of health care. And nearly half of the doctors polled say they would retire early if Congress passes the proposed overhaul.
"IBD/TIPP surveyed nearly 1,400 physicians for its series. In written responses, doctors have pointed to lower pay, increased government mandates, and less freedom to practice as reasons for the physician shortage. In particular, Medicare and Medicaid, which essentially are running half of our health-care system, continue to pay below-market reimbursement rates that are putting doctors out of business.
"Primary-care physicians are the worst off. The American Academy of Family physicians reports that primary-care doctors need a 30 percent pay raise in order to survive. They’re not going to get it under Obamacare, or Obamacare Lite. In fact, physician payments will move lower should any of the various House and Senate plans pass.
"The Massachusetts Medical Society, operating in a state that has implemented a Washington-like universal-overage plan, reports that primary-care doctors are in short supply for a fourth straight year, that the percentage of primary-care practices closed to new patients is the highest ever recorded, and that seven of 18 specialties — dermatology, neurology, urology, vascular surgery, and obstetrics-gynecology, in addition to family and internal medicine — are all in short supply.
"On top of all that, enrollment in medical schools is already declining. By some estimates, the nation will have 159,000 fewer doctors than it needs by 2025....
"Will Americans soon be too sick to work, produce, invest, and generate new prosperity? That’s one conclusion you can draw from a new series by Investor’s Business Daily, which reveals that doctors are overwhelmingly opposed to a government takeover of health care (including the Baucus plan). Just as important, IBD reports that any government-based health-care overhaul will exacerbate the growing shortage of doctors in this country.
"IBD/TIPP found that 71 percent of physicians believe that government cannot cover 47 million more people without significant rationing of health care. And nearly half of the doctors polled say they would retire early if Congress passes the proposed overhaul.
"IBD/TIPP surveyed nearly 1,400 physicians for its series. In written responses, doctors have pointed to lower pay, increased government mandates, and less freedom to practice as reasons for the physician shortage. In particular, Medicare and Medicaid, which essentially are running half of our health-care system, continue to pay below-market reimbursement rates that are putting doctors out of business.
"Primary-care physicians are the worst off. The American Academy of Family physicians reports that primary-care doctors need a 30 percent pay raise in order to survive. They’re not going to get it under Obamacare, or Obamacare Lite. In fact, physician payments will move lower should any of the various House and Senate plans pass.
"The Massachusetts Medical Society, operating in a state that has implemented a Washington-like universal-overage plan, reports that primary-care doctors are in short supply for a fourth straight year, that the percentage of primary-care practices closed to new patients is the highest ever recorded, and that seven of 18 specialties — dermatology, neurology, urology, vascular surgery, and obstetrics-gynecology, in addition to family and internal medicine — are all in short supply.
"On top of all that, enrollment in medical schools is already declining. By some estimates, the nation will have 159,000 fewer doctors than it needs by 2025....
Friday, September 18, 2009
Unexpected toadying to the world's worst
From NRO: Dealing with What Has Come [Jay Nordlinger]
"I thought Barack Obama would be a poor and troublesome president. Did I think he would yuk it up with Hugo Chávez, smirk with Daniel Ortega about the Bay of Pigs, turn his wrath on a Central American democracy trying to follow its constitution, denounce President Bush abroad, bow to the king of Saudi Arabia, endorse a radical Middle Eastern view of how Israel came into being, knock Western countries that try to protect Muslim girls from unwanted shrouding, invite the Iranian regime to our Fourth of July parties, stay essentially mute in the face of counterrevolution in Iran, squeeze and panic Israel, cold-shoulder the Cuban democrats in order to warm to the Cuban dictatorship, scrap missile defense in Eastern Europe, and refuse to meet with the Dalai Lama — in addition to his attempts to have government eat great portions of American society? No, I did not. You?"
"I thought Barack Obama would be a poor and troublesome president. Did I think he would yuk it up with Hugo Chávez, smirk with Daniel Ortega about the Bay of Pigs, turn his wrath on a Central American democracy trying to follow its constitution, denounce President Bush abroad, bow to the king of Saudi Arabia, endorse a radical Middle Eastern view of how Israel came into being, knock Western countries that try to protect Muslim girls from unwanted shrouding, invite the Iranian regime to our Fourth of July parties, stay essentially mute in the face of counterrevolution in Iran, squeeze and panic Israel, cold-shoulder the Cuban democrats in order to warm to the Cuban dictatorship, scrap missile defense in Eastern Europe, and refuse to meet with the Dalai Lama — in addition to his attempts to have government eat great portions of American society? No, I did not. You?"
Pilgrims found young resent working for others
From Instapundit:
HEH: Wait ‘Til All The Young People Who Supported Obama Find Out That They Are The Ones Who’ll Be Funding Health Care Reform. “Yes, kids, why don’t each of you throw about $800 into the pot and get nothing out of it, not even any insurance. Do your part. Remember what Obama said about being responsible.”
HEH: Wait ‘Til All The Young People Who Supported Obama Find Out That They Are The Ones Who’ll Be Funding Health Care Reform. “Yes, kids, why don’t each of you throw about $800 into the pot and get nothing out of it, not even any insurance. Do your part. Remember what Obama said about being responsible.”
Yeah, mandate more insured...lose doctors
Funny thing--you can (unconstitutionally) force people to buy insurance, but you can't force people to become, and remain, doctors, without which, if I'm not off the mark, you can't do squat for the people with insurance:
"45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul "
"Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found. ..."
Just read the whole thing: http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=506199
"45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul "
"Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found. ..."
Just read the whole thing: http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=506199
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Yeah, civility and dialogue--that's Obama
"In case you forgot, this from over a month ago: Glenn Reynolds: "Earlier today, I'd intended to do a post with that title commenting on Barack Obama's outrageous, arrogant remark:
Obama: "But I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking.
Glenn Reynolds: "By the "folks who created the mess," I suppose he doesn't mean Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their fellow Democrats who have controlled Congress for the last 2 1/2 years. Nor, presumably, does he mean himself; yet I can't recall Obama ever identifying a single measure that he opposed as a back-bench senator that somehow contributed to current economic problems.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/08/024222.php
Obama: "But I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking.
Glenn Reynolds: "By the "folks who created the mess," I suppose he doesn't mean Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their fellow Democrats who have controlled Congress for the last 2 1/2 years. Nor, presumably, does he mean himself; yet I can't recall Obama ever identifying a single measure that he opposed as a back-bench senator that somehow contributed to current economic problems.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/08/024222.php
Use energy? Want to continue? Not w/O-Dems
"In a less tumultuous historical moment, energy policy would be the issue of the day. The United States, for reasons that remain unfathomable, continues to be the only country in the world that refuses to develop its own energy resources. As a result, our economy is competing in the global marketplace with one hand tied behind its back. Washington ostensibly is focused, above all else, on restoring our economy and creating jobs, yet our politicians perversely refuse to take the most obvious steps to bring down costs, make our economy more competitive, and create hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs.
"Today the Institute for Energy Research brought more bad news from the political front:
"As our chief global competitors continue to expand their access to job-creating, economy-strengthening energy resources, the U.S. Senate Environment Committee held another hearing today focused on subsidizing inefficient, intermittent, and expensive energy sources, while discouraging access to affordable and reliable ones.
"Following the hearing, Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued this statement:
"Another week, and another missed opportunity by Congress to address our nation's growing energy crisis. Russia is brokering a deal with communist Cuba to drill just miles from the Florida Keys. ...
""Our national energy strategy is upside down. Instead of advancing meaningful, supply-oriented policies that keep energy affordable for all Americans - like the ones China, Russia and Cuba are advancing - our leaders are hard at work restricting access to our vast domestic supplies, taxing our affordable carbon based energy sources, and showering the "green" energy brokers on Wall Street with subsidies (tax dollars) and mandates. Increased domestic energy production creates good-paying jobs here at home. Washington must focus on creating these good jobs, not exporting them offshore."...
" It is certain that at least some of Cuba's wells will tap oil pools that straddle the boundary separating our zone from Cuba's. In other words, Havana will get oil that should be ours. ... If Russia, Cuba and others can drill off the coast of Florida, why can't we?"
Read the whole thing, but only if you think America should have energy: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/08/024214.php
"Today the Institute for Energy Research brought more bad news from the political front:
"As our chief global competitors continue to expand their access to job-creating, economy-strengthening energy resources, the U.S. Senate Environment Committee held another hearing today focused on subsidizing inefficient, intermittent, and expensive energy sources, while discouraging access to affordable and reliable ones.
"Following the hearing, Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, issued this statement:
"Another week, and another missed opportunity by Congress to address our nation's growing energy crisis. Russia is brokering a deal with communist Cuba to drill just miles from the Florida Keys. ...
""Our national energy strategy is upside down. Instead of advancing meaningful, supply-oriented policies that keep energy affordable for all Americans - like the ones China, Russia and Cuba are advancing - our leaders are hard at work restricting access to our vast domestic supplies, taxing our affordable carbon based energy sources, and showering the "green" energy brokers on Wall Street with subsidies (tax dollars) and mandates. Increased domestic energy production creates good-paying jobs here at home. Washington must focus on creating these good jobs, not exporting them offshore."...
" It is certain that at least some of Cuba's wells will tap oil pools that straddle the boundary separating our zone from Cuba's. In other words, Havana will get oil that should be ours. ... If Russia, Cuba and others can drill off the coast of Florida, why can't we?"
Read the whole thing, but only if you think America should have energy: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/08/024214.php
The then-horror of Medicare/caid cuts, not now
(From Rich Lowry at NRO): Senate Republicans are sending this around:
DEMS ON MEDICARE CUTS: “IMMORAL,” “CRUEL”
Senate Dems Seek To Embrace Nearly A Half Trillion In Medicare Cuts Yet Just 4 Years Ago Called A Fraction Of That “Immoral” And “Cruel”
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “Unfortunately, The Republican Budget Is An Immoral Document. … Let's Look At What Is In The Bill Before Us. The Budget Increases Burdens On America's Seniors By Increasing Medicare Premiums, And We Have Not Seen What The House Is Going To Give Us. It Cuts Health Care, Both Medicare And Medicaid, By A Total Of $27 Billion.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.12286, 11/3/05)
(Me) How two-faced for Dems to happily sign on to the charade that half a trillion dollars cut from Medicare aren't outrageous, and won't cut medical care for seniors.
DEMS ON MEDICARE CUTS: “IMMORAL,” “CRUEL”
Senate Dems Seek To Embrace Nearly A Half Trillion In Medicare Cuts Yet Just 4 Years Ago Called A Fraction Of That “Immoral” And “Cruel”
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “Unfortunately, The Republican Budget Is An Immoral Document. … Let's Look At What Is In The Bill Before Us. The Budget Increases Burdens On America's Seniors By Increasing Medicare Premiums, And We Have Not Seen What The House Is Going To Give Us. It Cuts Health Care, Both Medicare And Medicaid, By A Total Of $27 Billion.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.12286, 11/3/05)
(Me) How two-faced for Dems to happily sign on to the charade that half a trillion dollars cut from Medicare aren't outrageous, and won't cut medical care for seniors.
Utter nonsense about racism against Obama
From Victor Davis Hanson at NRO: "In the wake of Joe Wilson's crude outburst, many network commentators (and Jimmy Carter, of course) are weighing in on the new racism that supposedly explains 1) rising opposition to Obamacare and 2) the president's sinking polls. I think this is a disastrous political move to save a health-care plan that simply has not appealed to a majority of Americans. I suspect it will result in another 5-point poll slide.
"To prove their charge, those who allege racism would have to show empirically that the present angry rhetoric eclipses what was said about and done to Bush. It does not yet.
"We don't see the word "hate" used in mainstream publications like The New Republic and the Guardian, as it was during the Bush years. (Even worse, really unspeakable things were done to Bush in novels and films.) "You lie" is about on par with the past statements of a Rep. Pete Stark or a Howard Dean ("I hate Republicans"), or the booing Democrats at the 2005 State of the Union. The extremists at the demonstrations are in smaller numbers so far than those who turned out against Bush and the Iraq War. A senior figure like John Glenn or Al Gore has not called the current president a Nazi or brownshirt.
"A better explanation than right-wing racism for the Left's exasperation is that in the Bush wilderness years, the Left assumed permanent political marginalization, adopted an ends-justify-the-means strategy of street rhetoric against Bush, then found themselves unexpectedly as the establishment, and now are appalled that anyone might emulate their own past emotional outbursts.
The whole piece is, as usual with VDH, a must read: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OThmZmY5YzNhMDY2NmY3MjBhZjcyZWU1ZWFkMjBhN2Q=
"To prove their charge, those who allege racism would have to show empirically that the present angry rhetoric eclipses what was said about and done to Bush. It does not yet.
"We don't see the word "hate" used in mainstream publications like The New Republic and the Guardian, as it was during the Bush years. (Even worse, really unspeakable things were done to Bush in novels and films.) "You lie" is about on par with the past statements of a Rep. Pete Stark or a Howard Dean ("I hate Republicans"), or the booing Democrats at the 2005 State of the Union. The extremists at the demonstrations are in smaller numbers so far than those who turned out against Bush and the Iraq War. A senior figure like John Glenn or Al Gore has not called the current president a Nazi or brownshirt.
"A better explanation than right-wing racism for the Left's exasperation is that in the Bush wilderness years, the Left assumed permanent political marginalization, adopted an ends-justify-the-means strategy of street rhetoric against Bush, then found themselves unexpectedly as the establishment, and now are appalled that anyone might emulate their own past emotional outbursts.
The whole piece is, as usual with VDH, a must read: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OThmZmY5YzNhMDY2NmY3MjBhZjcyZWU1ZWFkMjBhN2Q=
No need for tort reform pilot project...Texas did
"Tort Reform? We've Already Done It" by Peggy Venable:
"Texas passed significant tort reform in 1995, and more reforms have been enacted since then. A 2008 study from the Perryman Group found that perhaps the most visible economic impact of the lawsuit reforms are the benefits experienced by Texans who have better access to high-quality healthcare. Doctors and hospitals are using their liability insurance savings to expand services and initiate innovative programs; those savings have allowed Texas hospitals to expand charity care by 24 percent.
"The total impact of tort reforms implemented since 1995 includes gains of $112.5 billion in spending each year as well as almost 499,900 jobs in the state. The fiscal stimulus to the state from judicial reforms is almost a $2.6 billion per year increase in state revenue. In addition, these reforms are responsible for approximately 430,000 individuals having health insurance than would otherwise, and there has been an increase in the number of doctors, particularly in regions which have been facing severe shortages.
"But there's more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/16/AR2009091601286.html
"Texas passed significant tort reform in 1995, and more reforms have been enacted since then. A 2008 study from the Perryman Group found that perhaps the most visible economic impact of the lawsuit reforms are the benefits experienced by Texans who have better access to high-quality healthcare. Doctors and hospitals are using their liability insurance savings to expand services and initiate innovative programs; those savings have allowed Texas hospitals to expand charity care by 24 percent.
"The total impact of tort reforms implemented since 1995 includes gains of $112.5 billion in spending each year as well as almost 499,900 jobs in the state. The fiscal stimulus to the state from judicial reforms is almost a $2.6 billion per year increase in state revenue. In addition, these reforms are responsible for approximately 430,000 individuals having health insurance than would otherwise, and there has been an increase in the number of doctors, particularly in regions which have been facing severe shortages.
"But there's more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/16/AR2009091601286.html
Obama opponents racist? Americans disagree
Americans disagree by almost 6 to 1 with the idea, according to Rasmussen: "Twelve percent (12%) of voters nationwide believe that most opponents of President Obama’s health care reform plan are racist. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% of voters disagree, and 21% are not sure. ..."
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/12_say_most_opponents_of_obama_health_care_plan_are_racist
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/12_say_most_opponents_of_obama_health_care_plan_are_racist
Dems phony, hypocritical outrage at Wilson
David Limbaugh just nails the Dems in "Memo to Dems: Spare Us the Phony Wilson Outrage"
"While Democratic leaders are wagging their fingers at the Republican Party's alleged descent into incivility over Joe Wilson's unplanned, indignant outburst, they have a very short memory about their own partywide monopoly on incivility, as they savaged President Bush throughout his presidency. I researched and wrote a 400-plus-page book documenting the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of these hypocritical scolds in 2006, in case you need a refresher course.
"Unlike Rep. Wilson, these offending Democrats have never apologized for their outrages. Did Rep. John Murtha apologize for prejudging and slandering our battlefield Marines who were later vindicated? Did Sen. Harry Reid ever apologize for calling President Bush a liar? Al Gore? John Kerry? Has suspected tax evader Rep. Charles Rangel apologized for his conduct while devising new ways to confiscate even higher taxes from honest, hardworking Americans who actually pay their taxes?Did Sen. Dick Durbin retract the substance of his remarks in comparing Gitmo to the gulag? Did House leader Nancy Pelosi repent for defaming the CIA?...
"On a related matter, Democrats, in order to bolster their credibility to attack President Bush on Iraq, pretended for years to be war hawks on Afghanistan. Iraq, they said, was an ill-conceived Bush-Cheney diversion from the war on terror. The real war, they said, was Afghanistan, where al-Qaida trained for its 9/11 attacks. But I could have sworn I just read this past week that Nancy Pelosi said, "I don't think there's a great deal of support for sending more troops to Afghanistan, in the country or in the Congress." I guess Dems were just kidding, then, when they bludgeoned President Bush for soft-pedaling "the good war," huh?"
http://www.davidlimbaugh.com/mt/archives/2009/09/new_column_memo_2.html#more
"While Democratic leaders are wagging their fingers at the Republican Party's alleged descent into incivility over Joe Wilson's unplanned, indignant outburst, they have a very short memory about their own partywide monopoly on incivility, as they savaged President Bush throughout his presidency. I researched and wrote a 400-plus-page book documenting the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of these hypocritical scolds in 2006, in case you need a refresher course.
"Unlike Rep. Wilson, these offending Democrats have never apologized for their outrages. Did Rep. John Murtha apologize for prejudging and slandering our battlefield Marines who were later vindicated? Did Sen. Harry Reid ever apologize for calling President Bush a liar? Al Gore? John Kerry? Has suspected tax evader Rep. Charles Rangel apologized for his conduct while devising new ways to confiscate even higher taxes from honest, hardworking Americans who actually pay their taxes?Did Sen. Dick Durbin retract the substance of his remarks in comparing Gitmo to the gulag? Did House leader Nancy Pelosi repent for defaming the CIA?...
"On a related matter, Democrats, in order to bolster their credibility to attack President Bush on Iraq, pretended for years to be war hawks on Afghanistan. Iraq, they said, was an ill-conceived Bush-Cheney diversion from the war on terror. The real war, they said, was Afghanistan, where al-Qaida trained for its 9/11 attacks. But I could have sworn I just read this past week that Nancy Pelosi said, "I don't think there's a great deal of support for sending more troops to Afghanistan, in the country or in the Congress." I guess Dems were just kidding, then, when they bludgeoned President Bush for soft-pedaling "the good war," huh?"
http://www.davidlimbaugh.com/mt/archives/2009/09/new_column_memo_2.html#more
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