Voinovich Admits GOP Opposes Health Care Reform For Political Reasons
George Voinovich is retiring from Congress next year, and I guess that means he can feel free to let a few things slip out. In this clip from CNBC, he admits what we've known all along - that opposition to the President is driving opposition to health care reform. Republicans know that if a Democratic President expands access to health care more than any time since Medicare, and lowers individual costs for most people, he will reap rewards. So their strategy, as revealed previously by internal memos and Jim "Waterloo" DeMint, is to obstruct reform to deny the President a "win", thusly turning the uninsured and the poor into pawns in a political game.
Most of Voinovich's remarks are of the fiscal scold variety, claiming that we cannot afford the cost of government (something I forget hearing from Voinovich when he voted to authorize a war in Iraq that cost three trillion dollars), but here's the key moment at around 4:25:
QUESTIONER: ...on health care, how much of this disagreement with the Administration is about the policy of health care and how to fix it, and how much of it is Republicans' obvious and understandable desire to declaw the President politically? How much of that does fit into the equation.
VOINOVICH: I think it's about 50/50, but I will tell you this...
He then claims that some Republicans want to work "on a bipartisan basis" on health care, but that's pretty much the death knell right there.
Democrats are right to jump all over this and expose the GOP as obstructionists. We've known this for some time with the record number of filibusters, but haven't gotten it out to the public. On a high-profile issue like health care, it should be radioactive to obstruct for political reasons and deny millions of people the right to have quality, affordable care.
You mean...the...the GOP...is...is...dishonest on this issue?!?!?
It can't be! It can't be! Ohhhh...the humanity!!
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
The current health care debate in a nutshell: Obama and Democrats want to use their new political capital to do something meaningful about health care. Republicans want Obama and the Democrats to fail in that goal. The Washington media pundits, in their infinite wisdom, think that we need to find a "bipartisan" middle ground between these two things.
God Bless America.
I think I need to find me a martini..
I will be finding one in about twenty minutes. :)
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I'm just glad to be on the downhill side of this one.
3 parts Grey Goose, 1 part Sapphire Gin and no vermouth. Stir and strain and add a large olive stuffed with roquefort cheese.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
If we keep the pressure on and call out each lie as they happen, the truth will begin to slip out, bit by bit. Soon the MSM will will have to stop playing the republicanzi game.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I mean, they're called politicians aren't they? If you think for one second that Obama is pressing on health care for any other reason than the fact that the public demands it, then you know nothing about politics. Politicians have one agenda, reelection.
you would not be correct. Those who pledge to toe the corporate line get to be elected and get bribed. Fact of life.
Oh, so that's it. And we all thought the GOP had absolutely no good reason for opposing health care reform.
The truth has finally come out. Now we know what dumbasses they are.
Oh, so that's it. And we all thought the GOP had absolutely no good reason for opposing health care reform.
The truth has finally come out. Now we know what dumbasses they are.
I mean, they're called politicians aren't they? If you think for one second that Obama is pressing on health care for any other reason than the fact that the public demands it, then you know nothing about politics. Politicians have one agenda, reelection.
now the most trusted newscaster in America:
http://www.timepolls.com/hppolls/archive/poll...
Thanks! Just passed this on to everybody!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Fuckin'-A Bubba! Jon Stewart Rules!
It's pretty damn bad when a late night comic earns more respect than the mainstream news idiots. However, if Bill Moyers,Glen Greenwald or that straight-talking Aussie correspondent (sorry, can't remember the name right now) that spent time in Iraq were on the list, I'd have voted for one of them.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
Oh, so that's it. And we all thought the GOP had absolutely no good reason for opposing health care reform.
The truth has finally come out. Now we know what dumbasses they are.
line about health "care" reform, etc. Please try to grab a video of this. It's like watching someone goofing on the GOP. They have to be REALLY desperate to trot out that thing.
Newt Gingrich finally admitted that the sky is generally blue and Michael Steele stipulated that water is, in fact, wet.
We consider these as signs of progress.
For more Republican cognitive dissonance, check out what a Republican Rep from Tennessee said in congress:
http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200907220004
line about health "care" reform, etc. Please try to grab a video of this. It's like watching someone goofing on the GOP. They have to be REALLY desperate to trot out that thing.
Newt Gingrich finally admitted that the sky is generally blue and Michael Steele stipulated that water is, in fact, wet.
We consider these as signs of progress.
For more Republican cognitive dissonance, check out what a Republican Rep from Tennessee said in congress:
http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200907220004
line about health "care" reform, etc. Please try to grab a video of this. It's like watching someone goofing on the GOP. They have to be REALLY desperate to trot out that thing.
Now everything is coming through 3 or 4 times. Go, North Korea, go!
Newt Gingrich finally admitted that the sky is generally blue and Michael Steele stipulated that water is, in fact, wet.
We consider these as signs of progress.
For more Republican cognitive dissonance, check out what a Republican Rep from Tennessee said in congress:
http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200907220004
Good luck on that either way.
Is to cover everyone with Medicare and use the existing tax dollars they get from us.
Cut the Pentagon's nose off. Take the toys away from the boys and give the American People something we truly NEED for a change!!!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Yet it still makes me hate the Republican party even more.
Can they please go off in a corner and die like the Whigs already.
Okay, I'll try to post this comment and if I can't, I'm giving up.
He's simply confirming what we all already knew. Rush gave them their orders a long time ago. He told them that he and they wanted Obama to fail. That's all they have been trying to do ever since.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
It's been at least a decade since a repug actually cared about policy and/or helping constituents. They've just gotten worse and worse at disguising it - no respect for the public at all now.
And perhaps that's why they have lost the last two elections. Maybe a whole lot of people are waking up to what they are doing. Why vote for a person who thinks more of their own career than they think of the voters?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
what Biden has to say about all of this?...lol
I mean, c'mon. Everything politicians do is for political reasons.
If they do at least they aren't so stupid as to say so in public
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Because then you'd know there real agenda...wait...their real agenda is obvious so it doesn't matter if they say it in public or not.
Trust me.
globally. Hows that bill address this sad fact? We're the most expensive #1 that's no secret.
How we going to produce lower costs and higher quality?
Maybe we could ask other countries how they did it? Skip the mistakes along the way and copy their finished product.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Makes no sense to reinvent the wheel that already exists.
Maybe if the entire Congress would take an hour and a half out of their busy schedules to watch "Sicko" they'd begin to get the idea of what actually CARING about other human beings means.
As a nurse who has taken CARE of LOTS of very sick people, I can tell you that the insurance corporations do NOT care, the polititians do NOT care.
They shouldn't even be allowed to call what they are doing health "CARE". Cause they don't.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
And congress knows it.
Insurance. Whats next mandatory breathing and eating insurance?
NO. But there is talk about privatizing the air around commercial buildings. I mean...makes sense...the airwaves were sold...why not eh air itself.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
fresh water in the world.
Watch the documentary "Flow" if you don't believe me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGd9D4J0lag
If they could charge us for the air we breathe they would.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Before we get all worked up, why don't we find out what is really in the final bill, if and when it passes. Social Security could be called getting old insurance. Let's just let our congress critters know what we want and see what happens. Maybe, just maybe it will benefit a whole lot of people who need it, we just don't know.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
frivolous medical surgery and procedures?
everyone admits that the real way to save money with a public option (and even single payer) is with some form of rationing. I'll not be holding my breath waiting for this to happen.
my second choice would be a sudden cardiac arrest from which resuscitation efforts fail.
LOL . . Quick and final!
You want to talk about being tortured?? Watch a full blown code of a person who is determined to be dead. They might "work" on you for 20-30 minutes before they give up.
Look what they did to Michael Jackson!! T-O-R-T-U-R-E. From the time they found him I believe they "worked" on basically a corpse for about two hours. I'm surprised they didn't crack his chest and tear his heart out to do external massage...
(Don't misunderstand me...I'm all for trying to save a person whose body wants to live...A shock or two, maybe an intubation and some breathing, an I.V. line and some cool drugs...10 minutes and everything's okay....but the "other" codes...things can get really ugly).
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Why in the world would you want rationing for health care? That sounds like a terrible idea.
more like integrity in procedures and ethics instead of . .
"Let's do a wallet biopsy first to see how much we can take from this sicko"
If your insured, you don't pay for those tests. Why would insurance companies care how much money you have in your wallet as long as you can pay your premium?
I had frivolous surgery once. I had to replace all my underwear.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
while I'm at it why is big medicine and big ag trying to stomp on alternative medicine, supplements, and foods proven to keep people healthy?
The HCIC doesn't make much money off of healthy people.
It was one of those "shouts into the darkness hoping someone is listening."
LOL
;)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Gimme a Jack chaser with dat wheatgrass!
The truth is that about 95% of anything that goes medically/surgically wrong with a human is pretty boiler plate.
Statistics are easily gathered by simply looking at all the various diagnosis at a major metropolitan hospital over the course of a year.
They'll be so many cancers, so many cases of diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, appendicitis, gall bladder problems (resulting in surgery), tonsillitis, heart disease issues, flu syndromes etc.
For the bulk of these problems the solutions are pretty much agreed upon in the medical/surgical community. Nursing care for these patients is pretty much agreed upon.
It's that 5% of the population who present with a problem that most agree should not be "aggressively" dealt with. For instance, you have a 60 year old guy present with cirrhosis of the liver and he's in bad shape. He was a major I.V. drug user/alcoholic and brought it all on himself. Then you have a 30 year old woman with some type of liver disease that can be solved with a liver transplant. She has led a healthy lifestyle. With a transplant she has a chance of living a long life. The 60 year old does not. She goes to position #1 on the list and the drug addict loses out.
If we could blink our eyes and have the best health care in the world where everyone was in and nobody was out there would HAVE to be a major emphasis on preventive care. Finding that tiny lump in a woman's breast and "fixing" it will cost lots less to "the system" than if she has no insurance, ignores the lump for a lack of money and finally presents in the E.R. one night with end stage cancer and the obvious need for hospice etc.
Clinics could be set up for weight loss, the stopping of cigarette smoking, the stopping of drug/alcohol addictions etc. Exercise and diet plans would be given to ALL patients. The healthier we are, obviously the less $$ we'd need to spend on health care.
This really isn't rocket science. Unfortunately Congress clearly does not CARE about any of us in any way. They only come calling when they want our votes for their re-elections. They have no WILL to help us the way we need to be helped in a so-called "civilized" society.
Sadly it appears to me that there is no WAY here to properly fix our broken system because there is no WILL in Congress. The corporations own them and the whole, wide world can see it.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyCCJ6B2WE ](1:01)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Insurance companies charge us an arm and a leg to insure us, then the insurance companies charge doctors an arm and a leg to insure them against law suits. Doctors then have to run zillions of tests so we can't sue them if they screw up. We have to pay doctors a higher fee so they can pay for that insurance that provides for them if we do sue them. So we are paying our health insurance premiums plus the higher fees to the doctor so he can pay his premiums. What do all these have in common? Insurance companies screwing everyone.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
people would go to the Doctor more and not have to fear . .
Doctor. Got some bad news, your almost dead. The good news is we can bring you back to life for about $250,000 to $300,000.
I actually remember a doctor coming to our house when I was a little girl and got seriously ill with tonsilitis. My parents had little to no money so I don't know how he got paid.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
When I was in college I drove home in a blizzard (3 hours) after finals with the migraine headache from hell.
My home town doctor came to the house with his little black bag, sat on the bed and talked to my Mom, gave me a shot of Demerol and I slept from 10 pm that night until 4 pm the next afternoon. Felt like a million bucks when I woke up.
The charge? On the house. Why? Cause my dad helped him paint his porch.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
are based on a cost-benefit analysis. Profit margins MUST be maintained no matter what.
Paying $1200 a month for Health Insurance or Universal Health Care?
I don't see any especially with our economy still in meltdown mode.
Why why why would the GOP do this for purely political gain or risk ?
It would make them look like complete bottom feeding assholes.... oops.. nevermind. Too late
The desperation to get "something passed" doesn't help either.
I'm a libertarian and nothing frightens me more than an overly ambitious legislative branch.
Heard a Repub Senator from Wyoming (and a Doctor) on Ed Show giving the "Republican alternative"....
boiled down to two items:
1. People should be able to buy insurance across state lines
2. Government health care is lousy
Well, given that United HealthCare just announced profits for the past year up 155%, I fail to see where
his first point would do much for that. Besides, if you think you have problems with your insurance company now, think about if it's headquarters are in some other state. Most of the fraud and abuse in the insurance industry has been uncovered by state insurance regulators. Your state regulators...
Second point is my favorite canard....If indeed the government can't run health care well, then the Exchange offers alternatives! Private insurance companies. If the Gvt program is so bad, people won't stay in it! Duh!
Earlier I heard Sen. Hutchinson on the floor ONCE AGAIN claim that a public option would result in
US health care becoming what they have in Canada AND the UK! What an idiot. In fact, it is virtually impossible to have any system that is like both Canada and UK...because of the profound differences between the two.
And why is it that Republicans only mention those two countries, and NEVER say a word about all the other industrialized countries? (rhetorical question, we know why).
Hey, you, Kos, Huffpost, someone....
How about a poll of Canadians? 1,000 would more than suffice, given the population.
One question, of the sort: "Would you favor eliminating the current Canadian Health Care System in favor of the United States Health Care system"?
Here's a good link to health care in other countries (send to your Republican Senator or Rep...):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sicka...
as a Canadian... my answer is a big fat NO frickin' way!!!!
A Canuck give up their health care ? Fat chance. We do have nuts and we do have dummies here too though. Im sure out of 33 million people they will find a few people willing to trash the system for revenge,money or their 15 minutes. All it takes is a look south for most Canadians to realize just how damn good we got it. I tremble at the thought of how much, in US dollars, my own personal health care, operations ( i suspect my ACL reconstruction surgery would have been 100 grand or so in US ) and hospital stays might have cost me .I would be unable to get or afford private/profit insurance in the US. Instead i just sigh when they increase the parking rates at local medical facilities. Im getting a little tired of the frightwings bullshit and lies about Canadas system though. We dont have 18000 people a year dying due to a total lack of access to care. Canucks would be embarassed by that statistic.
This idiot is talking about the "Tax and barrow" policy in Washington, but who gave us the tax and barrow policies, was it Dems? I don't seem to remember it that way. And of course none of these so called "news" people know enough (or have the balls enough) to call this jerk out on his BS.
Sweet Jesus I hate our media in this country.
I don't think you simpletons understand so I'm going to be clear and concise: only republicans are allowed to kill the economy!
republicanism is a mental illness!
The people that had a majority and the whitehouse. Ran the economy into the ground, without any care for the consequences, now wants to be responsable with the economy. Do remember the story about the boy who cried wolf?
That is what these republican shit heads remind me of.
The only thing they care about is themselves, it is the only reason they are in government.
republicanism is a mental illness!
Any average American could do a better job then any of these career polliticians for 25% of the money, no retirement, no lifetime job.
Washington said you should reluctantly serve and return to your former life.
Our government was supposed to be Of, For, and By the people.
What we have today is a bunch of well placed criminals trying to, no not trying but using the government to fund their lifestyle at the people's expense.
We need to clean washington out. We can do it we have the power. We just have to take it over and put them out. We can start doing what was supposed to happen in the first place. Share the burden spend your two years as a congressman and go back home and let your neighbor serve his two years and pass it on.
You would be amazed at how soon all this bullshit would end if we would just do it!
uh last i heard it was the blue dog dems who are holding this up, not the GOP..you people are such sheep..believe anything the MSM tosses out to you..and too lazy to investigate and educate yourselves on what's actually going on..The blue dogs and other dems are affraid of losing their seats come 2010 and are finally listening to what the people in their districts want..this is not about ohbumma..it's about taking the time to get it right, unlike the porkulus that was rushed thru..
health care reform is necessary..but not as a government controlled program
for the majority of bush's presidency..it was the dems and all their spending and lack of self control that has crashed the country's financial systems..mark my words..come 2010 this will all be straightend out when the repubs take over again in the house and reign in this out of control administration..just as they did during clinton's admin..that was the reason for the economic stability during the mid '90s..you had a dem pres..with a gop congress..checks and balances..which there aren't any now, you have the dems controling everything and why are they crying the GOP is holding this up..the GOP doesn't have enough votes to hold anything up..so think about that..the pres has all the votes he needs to push anything he wants thru..so why are they crying foul against the gop when it's their own party that is not cooperating??? that's the politics of it!!
Actually, rocket scientist, the THUGS laid the foundation for running the country into the ground while having complete control during the MAJORITY of the Clinton's presidency.
Timelime:
92 Clinton
94 Newt's Thug congress takes over contract on America, in 1999, passes the Gramm Bliley Act, which removes what few banking regulations we had left over from the time they were put into place - to stop what happened at the end of the Bush reign of crap.
2000 Bush installed by SCOTUS
2006 Dems regain control of Congress
2008 Bush out.
You may get away with sloppy moronic history rewrites at RimJob's Freeper site, but noit here, clueless. You signed up to show how ignorant you are. Saddo.
me-oww!
Wow, like the world never knew that Reslugs are the party of dirty rotten, obstructionists and ignorant assholes.
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