Olympia Snowe is boss, Joe Lieberman plunges the dagger, Obama claims victory through retreat, the great liberal revolt begins

It is unconstitutional for the federal gov’t. to force citizens to buy a private product or service. Shame on the whole rotten bunch.

Thanks for posting Brent.

No suprise here. But Obama never had intentions of the public option BECAUSE of his special interests. Rahm was not in favor of it and John Kerry clued in early in the year all of this when he said, maybe “a trigger option for 10 years down the road” at a fundraiser in MA. I don’t know if Rahm’s reasons are Barry’s, or just that it was Howard Dean pushing it.

And now, maybe the Democrats will do the right thing, being they know they have nothing but a “For Sale” presidenot (ok, pretty much impossible, but they have every reason to attempt to).

Obama’s secret deals on insurance (no price negotiations) Pharma, no drug negotiations and no reimports from CN, and no hospital negotiations. No o transparency, all being his campaign promises.

So now Congress can flip off Obama, make REAL reform, use the power of the large pool that is negotiating better prices. Import drugs, add negotiations, do tort reform, lift state to state bans for sale of insurance. Do it all and really bring the prices down. After all, they already went with Axelrods talking points referring to it already as “Health Insurance Reform”. Now they just need to do it instead of these crappy bills (AND EXPENSIVE) to screw us out of health care reform.

80% of the American are satisfied with their current health insurance.
They’re not screaming for socialist government-run rationed health “care.”
No, this screaming is coming from the socialist demcong who wish they had been born in Europe – soooo much more civilized.

PLEASE keep it up….and maybe the people will wake up and kick their worthless, self-centered, never-held-a-job political asses out.

I said two months ago that they will buy out a failing insurance company and then they will set all the rules for coverage. Now THAT is how they will get a public option.

Oh by the way………you won`t like it.

Excellent post, Brent. You’ve nailed the raw reality of politics as we know it [or think we know it] in today’s arena. For all the convuluted lip service, Barack Obama simply wants to be awarded the crown at the end of the day. Univeral healthcare? Forget about it. The public option? Expendable, at best. The word of the day? That we win, that we get something and call it good. Forget the public and what they’ll have to cope with–the taxes, the limited number of doctors, the rationing of services. And the elderly? Hell, they’re going to die anyway. But let’s not forget the debt. The God awful, generational debt.

Are we angry yet? I don’t know. I don’t hear it, not the volume I would expect. Maybe the howl will be heard if this Frankenstein monster is passed, if the public realizes how it’s been shafted.

But we won! The Dems won and got healthcare reform. Hip-hip-horray!!! Stop complaining. Winning is everything.

That’s what we’re suppose to say, programmed to believe.

Here’s my version: we’d be better with no reform at all than a half-ass version. Something is not better than nothing.

Democrats, ruled by special interests??? Oh, no. Here’s a clue: the Congress as whole, both parties, are whores of the special interests.

Where do we, the average citizen, fit in?

Nowhere! No how.

I hate the implications of the word “revolution.” But the time is coming. We’ll all have to choose our sides. And I know where I and my family stand. And guess what? It’s not party particular.

Had another spam gobble. Sending an email now.

Exactly. You are bullseye right. This sentence “Make no mistake, the president has privately surrendered the public option to get a single Republican senator” is a mistake. Obama never intended a public, Medicare type plan. His words in support were like tweets on Twitter, but shorter–to deceive supporters of expansion of Medicare on behalf of his corporate handlers. He never was serious about it. Never pretended to be serious about it.

I find when I use capital letters it gets trapped in the spam filter.

When Obama was campaigning, we complained of several things:

His…
1. voting present 130 times in State Senate.
2. reneging on FISA, NAFTA and Public Financing.
3. taking more money from Wall St. than any other candidate while pretending to be above lobbyings and special interests.
4. caucus fraud.
5. race baiting.

So goes the audition, so goes the show. Is anything that is happening now a surprise to any thinking person?

Brent, thank you for yuor article.

3. should say “lobbyists”

I don’t know what is worse: that unlike LBJ fighting for Medicare the president would give away the most important provision for a fig leaf of Republican support, or the fact that the president is so focused on image and public relations that he will try to sell himself as getting a bipartisan bill, with only one Republican, a truth in advertising farce.

These behaviors of the POTUS are so equally bad, it IS hard to decide which is worse. Those of us who saw through brand Obama during the primary were well acquainted with his focus on “image and public relations” already. To me, the first problem, the selling out of the most important provision, is the DNC’s karma working itself out. I wonder what the Dems thought they were getting, someone with substance, character? What idiots!

Great Post! Love the headline.

Like auto insurance?

I don’t know what is worse: that unlike LBJ fighting for Medicare the president would give away the most important provision for a fig leaf of Republican support, or the fact that the president is so focused on image and public relations that he will try to sell himself as getting a bipartisan bill, with only one Republican, a truth in advertising farce.

Those of us who were on to brand Obama during the primary could have told you how much “image and public relations” meant to him. Yes, it IS a hard choice, but I can say that the first behavior, the giving away of the most important providion, bad as it is, is only karma working out for the DNC.

And, yes, I agree that Obama really never wanted to push for the public option–too much insurance company money for future campaigns would be in jeopardy over that.

No one has to buy that unless they want to drive. Everyone has to have some kind of health–it’s part of being human, Prime Idiobot.

You do not have to have a car, and thus, no-one forces you to buy car insurance.

I am very opposed to the mandate for a variety of reasons. One of which is that it forces people to pay for allopathic medicine they may not want. (I use alternative healthcare out of pocket myself.)

That is false, you do not HAVE to purchase auto insurance, even if you choose to exercise your privilege to drive because you have several options here in CA. The same is true every other state where I have been a licensed driver (CO, OR, NJ).

From the CA DMV web site:

Types of financial responsibility (you only need one of the below)

A motor vehicle liability insurance policy
A cash deposit of $35,000 with DMV
A DMV issued self-insurance certificate
A surety bond for $35,000 from a company licensed to do business in California.

Why not let people self insure for health insurance?

Why not let people pay for their own healthcare and decide what THEY want to spend money on, not the government.

Maybe the “weaker Democratic Senators” will do like their Imperious Leader and vote “present”.
BTW, without a “Public Option” what is there to prevent the Insurance companies from jacking their rates up through the roof?

Plus with the auto insurance mandate, note, as you said its liability insurance that’s required, you must insure that the other people on the road that you could potentially hit. The mandated health insurance is to insure yourself, your own health.

nope, no capitals. sorry.

Jack,
You got it right. From the get go Obama crapped out on the public option. He’s been getting cover with Baucus,Snowe, and the Blue Dogs.

The deceptive tactics from the WH have undermined real efforts towards creating a bill that levels the playing field. Democrat insurance shills have been behaving abominably in the Senate, and there has been an embarrassing lack of leadership.

Obama is still MIA.

graywolf,

If you’re not a shill for the insurance/drug lobby,
then you’re just a fool, or an evil fool.

Note that the readers and bloggers on NoQuarter are a highly informed and literate group.

You really er, don’t know what you’re writing about,
or you are a wholly owned Insurance Troll.

I knew it before, and now I’m seeing it all again.

We’re in the hands of the Chicago Mob. This administration will be local Chi all the way.

Mr. Precious has conned a cult like group of politically naive infants into believing he would really deliver on healthcare reform, among other issues.

It’s disheartening to see how easy it is to gull the public. Obama is a supreme opportunist who will go along with Wall Street and Insurance money as this is where his re-election dollars come from.

Add a hefty dose of inexperience and narcissism and voila, we’ve got Obama.

Would federally mandated Auto insurance for all be illegal? That’s my question. Can the Feds make us by a product? Also have state mandates ever been litigated?

Wish it weren’t so but this is old news.
Obama was financed by the insurance industry, elected by ‘useful fools’ and serves his masters as agreed.

Perhaps he needs another prize: I suggest an Oscar, he’s not the President he just plays one on TV.

Oh goodness me…I couldn’t say it any better myself.

God please give us courage to face the civil and economic devastation that will likely come next. I am TERRIFIED for this country and my family.

If only Americans could get a peek into the future to see what so many of us former Soviet citizens know CAN and WILL happen….perhaps they would wake up.

They can start the presses printing insurance cards just like they’ve done with currency but it won’t make much difference, except for higher rates & taxes, if there aren’t enough docs accepting new medicare or medicaid patients. This is already happening & it’s going to get worse, docs aren’t going to work for less money than a hairdresser or manicurist. Here’s the new trend, concierge docs/vip docs…you pay them 2k a year just to accept a new patient & none of the 2k goes towards office visits or treatment…this is going to get ugly. Emergency rooms are already filling up with new medicare patients who can’t find a doc. How’s that for change you can believe in.

Amen to that Graywolf….don’t let the fool above me faze you….you are right 100%.

If anyone is a Troll, it is you dear….just another empty shill for a system that has been shown to be useless, costly, and most of all dangerous to our rights and freedoms (that is hard fact).

Your type loves to solve solutions by throwing it all to the government because you are to lazy to think or read the thousands examples in history that show your system is morally, economically and socially bankrupt.

If it wasn’t for lazy minded/elitist socialists (with delusions of Grandeur) we wouldn’t have half the fiscal, social, educational and moral problems we have today.

Socialism is a physolophy from which Nazism, populism, communism, eugenics and fascism derive their gruesome principles(and great scientists backing them at each step).

Jaw on the floor yet in disbelief? Well if you actually read history, without the commi spin you are used to FEEDING on, you would know something about the TRUE History of Socialism (and PUKE in disgust)…and not call people like Graywolf “Trolls”, but rather call them worried and faithfull Americans who value their freedom (your freedom, even if you don’t). Upon learn this, if you had a heart and conscience, you would feel terribly gullible/duped, and very sorry for the horrendous damage you and your types (the ignorant but useful PION/DRONE of the socialist elite) have done to this country…and the world.

100 years of socialism practiced by Dems and Republicans is what brought us to this dismall point in history. The infiltration is now total and complete with socialist Bush forging the way beautifully for Obama.

When we (the USA) go down its game over for freedom and individualism in the world.

I wonder how you’ll like your fantasy land when it comes to pass…I’ll bet anything that for a bunch of hedonistic, selfish, spoiled, whiny, upper middle class brats you will absolutely hate it when they take away your beloved “RIGHTS” and “property/money” to give you nothing in return…you’ll scream bloody murder but there will be no one left to help you when they cart you away to a reeducation camp for practicing your “free speech”. Enjoy…you certainly earned it.

Perhaps you believe that you will be part of that “socialist elite on top” when your utopian dream comes true?….believe me, as a former Soviet Citizen, the air on top is very rarified….you are nothing to them just chatel and you never will be.

Historic example: Stalin killed off his most valiant and dedicated officers and supporters FIRST. Lenin did the same. So did Castro I believe.

[...] Show original post here [...]

Now,the talking point coming from The White House is that the insurance companies are trying to sabotage the bill. Don’t believe that for one minute. This is the bill they want since it provides nothing for us and gives them millions on new customers. Thats a propaganda trick to get us all on board and support of the boondoggle so we’ll win against the insurance companies. Alot of people are gonna fall for this gimmick. Its a lie. The administration and Insurance companies are working in tandem. Remember the promised Obama they would cooperate and he trusts them. What has changed? Nothing but the talking points.

The Deception Continues…Chapter 3

Report: Obama Poised to Announce 45,000 Troop Escalation in Afghanistan

The Obama Administration has reportedly told the British government that it intends to announce an escalation of another 45,000 troops in Afghanistan, potentially as soon as next week.

The report comes despite claims that the Obama Administration is continuing to hold talks about the strategy, though this seems to be more based on the question of whether to emphasize the failed battle against the Taliban or focus what will soon be over 100,000 troops on fighting the roughly 100 al-Qaeda members reportedly in the nation.

Britain annoucned that it intends to send another 500 soldiers to Afghanistan to bolster its 9,000-strong force. The announcement reportedly came as a result of the US assurances, and despite the growing domestic opposition to the war.

Several Democrats, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, have expressed reservations about the massive escalation, particularly coming just seven months after the administration’s last escalation. Yet Rep. Hoyer urged fellow Democrats to go along with whatever President Obama decides.

http://antiwar.com/

Obama At The Crossroads

What is particularly disturbing about Obama’s deliberative process is that he does not consult with anyone who was opposed to the Iraq and Afghan conflicts from the beginning, narrowing his options to those advocated by the liberal interventionist and nation building wing of his own party, a perspective that differs little from that of the Republicans. Divergent views are unwelcome. The Israeli lobby’s torpedoing of Charles Freeman as head of the National Intelligence Council in February 2009 eliminated a possibly independent voice over fear that he might chart a reality-based course in the Middle East and elsewhere. As all the choices The White House is likely to consider are bad, those of us in the antiwar community should perhaps ponder whether the status quo is a better outcome than a new surge, which would undoubtedly kill even more Americans, Afghans, and Pakistanis.

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2009/10/14/obama-at-a-crossroads/

Mr. Precious has conned a cult like group of politically naive infants into believing he would really deliver on healthcare reform, among other issues.

Yes but it’s not the cult that he has to worry about. It’s the lefty liberals who actually have a vision and a plan for health care reform. I started to lean conservative and republican from my democrat roots some twenty years ago. Even though I differ with liberal ideology in some respects, I respect the integrity of their beliefs.

There is no integrity in the behavior or attitude of the cult.

How much money would it take to be truly self-insured for healthcare? The figure would have to be in the millions of dollars, but even families with multi-million dollar lifetime ‘caps’ with their insurance companies are now part of the 60% of personal bankruptcies in America that are due to medical bills.

The case you make for not having to buy car insurance is also bogus, because the person HAS TO BUY personal liability insurance, which, in litigation mad America, is one of the most expensive parts of most automobile insurance policies, in part because of the huge medical costs that car accidents can bring.

Most Americans see the need for many socialized services in their country, when these services are used mainly by people in the most vulnerable times of their lives: services like education for children; firefighting; police; Social Security and Medicare for the elderly.

Basic Healthcare should be socialized, or, to the extent it is left in the private system, it should be heavily regulated and non-profit as it is in Switzerland or Germany. Americans are being ripped off by the insurance and drug companies, and by medical institutions and healthcare providers who charge astonomically unjust fees for their services. Americans are paying, on average, more than twice, per captita, of what other OECD countries pay for healthcare, and, according to statistics measuring major health indicators, the United States only ranks 37th.

Welcome to NQ Brent, very nice column!
Perhaps Lieberman will justify my vote for the Gore-Lieberman ticket after all.
However, the AP made front page of my newspaper this morning: “Advocates Trying To Rework Public Option”. It ain’t dead by a long shot!
It is really difficult to keep a score card when Congress can’t even tell the truth about their party affiliation!

Yes, so very informed on here.

So informed as to realize that “the governement” can provide “health care” without cost. Well, not exactly, but us “rich folks” can pay for it through varied systems of taxation, robbery and financial sleight-of-hand. That is, after the limousine liberal crowed axes out a nice chunk off the top, sort of like Tony Soprano did with his crew.

You aren’t informed, you are freaking naive.

To all in congress, the president and his administration:

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams

I would like to pose a question. Is there any significant difference between the President meeting in secret with Pharma and others in corporate health entities and our former vice-president, Dick Cheney, who met with major oil entities in secret.?

Helen, there is no difference! I have a question, please answer? Was it Barry Soetoro, AKA Barack Obama, who shrilled long and loud for a change????? A change in Washington DC/ Transparency, no negoiations behind closed doors? He even stated, health reform would be discussed on Cspan?

Yes, they and Obama demonized Dick Cheney and campaigned specifically that you will SEE their OPEN planning and meetings.

He said “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”.

Now, Obama always has to outdo the worst. So when Cheney was having meetings with Enron, etc, Obama is fighting to keep his lists of visitors from the public AND again, after campaigning the opposite.

We won’t get in to all his other lies, extraordinary rendition, ending Iraq war in year, Telecomm Immunity.

We’re just talking on the Health Care debate right now. Pretty pathetic, isn’t he?

[...] story at http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/10/14/olympia-snowe-is-boss-joe-lieberman-plunges-the-dagger-o... « sexiest [...]

I’m surprised and not so surprised to see Olympia Snowe targeted. She’s a woman, what do you expect? I’m sure she worked her mesmerizing medusa like qualities and managed to manipulate the entire male dominated congress. Besides, she’s also a Republican and who do you blame when your spineless Dem leadership is screwing you over? Well usually Bush, but Olympia Snowe will do.

I visited some right blogs, “down with the traitor Snowe. Vote her out!” But ironic to visit the left blogs and see the same thing. This is a Dem bill written by a Dem, supported by a Dem congress and prez, and the left is angry at Snowe for supporting it?? The one Republican is to blame for the entire mess?

I’m telling you, if women really are this powerful, I think it’s about time we put them in charge.

[...] Olympia Snowe is boss, Joe Lieberman plunges the dagger, Obama claims victory through retreat, the g… [...]