Chuck Todd thinks we support the public option just because conservatives don't
By John Amato Wednesday Aug 19, 2009 4:12pmOn Andrea Mitchell's show this morning, Chuck Todd was on to opine about health care reform. He said one outrageous thing and one right thing. The Toddster said that progressives might be attached to the public option because conservatives immediately attacked it. WRONG.
Mitchell:...how did this become the thing that liberals will not live without?
Todd: ...what's ironic is I think it became a big deal from the left because originally it was the immediate point of attack from some conservatives. Immediately. That that is the public option so you sort of wonder was it simply a political reaction from the left. "They don't like it, we love it."
Since there is no single payer, the public option is the only way that there will be sufficient competition that would force the health insurance companies of actually competing on the open market and making it possible for Americans to have a real alternative to them. The public option is our compromise you sad sack of know-nothingness. We wouldn't form a coalition around something just because conservatives object. That thinking only further illustrates how much the beltway despises us. We are thinking people who actually can evaluate policy on its merits and not out of resentment. When Kyl said "co ops' was just another Trojan horse for government run health care I thought that spoke volumes to the way they are treating health care reform. Wouldn't you expect the media to pounce and say that republicans never had any plans to become part of the negotiating process over health care reform? Even Chuck Grassley's insane statements haven't generated much of a reaction from the press.
What Todd is right about is that President Obama does not have any good spokesman for his positions other than himself. I've written many posts about this problem and I traced it all the way back to the general election. I also wrote about it here: With Surrogates like these... and here. The President shouldn't be the only person that can sell his positions, but the Senate is devoid of anyone that can speak with true conviction that can reach the American people. It's sad.
At least for progressives, Rep. Anthony Weiner has stepped up and become a real force in talking about the necessity of having a public option. More of him please.
Anthony Weiner Leaves Joe Scarborough Momentarily Speechless When Arguing for Health Care Reform
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how many times does this asswipe get to embarrass himself before someone intervenes for his own benefit?
O/T link, just for further examples: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/0...
The left has done a lot of gnashing for years, rightly complaining about conservative power in the Bush years and now the traitorous conservative Democrats.
Learn the lessons that the world did to destroy the National Party of South Africa and apply it to the Republican party and conservatives in general here.
I consider it the point that people organize and hold contributors to conservatives accountable for the 30 year assault on the poor, the disabled, the unemployed, the retired and for conducting oil wars.
Read our blog at http://blog.democratz.org and you will find out how you can destroy the conservative power structure.
Screw Emanuel and the DNC with their republicans candidates..
And we elected Obama and gave the democrats control of the senate and house for this deceit and BS>>>
Look What the democrats have put in the health bill to give the insurance companies now...
They are raising the profit for the health insurance empire from 20 percent to 35 percent PROFIT>>
Democrats must have really received a h... of a lot of money , plus under the counter benefits from the banking empire and now the health empire to pull this kind of BS...
So the democrats think they are being kind to Americans by passing this corporate health bill welfare without the republicans. Looks to me like the republicans receive the best in this deal... The health empire receives everything they wish and demand and the democrats will receive the sting from it once we find out what they have done..
Lets see they are going to MAKE you buy health insurance ,,,
Cut the tests you receive and the doctor has to listen to what the health insurance tell them they can give...
Doctors can only give you a prescription for the drugs that the Health Empire tells them to..
They will cut $150 billion from Medicare insurance..
Where in the hell is this a reform bill..
They plan on making the illegal citizens legal so they can receive free benefits (so they will receive their votes) while we lost our a.. and health..
Where and when are the """demonstrations""" ... If we let them get by with this BS then we are a bunch of sheep... If Bush and the republicans push a bill like this we would never stop bitching and complaining..
Have the republicans which have taking over our democrat party whipped us down to wimps...
to back up what you're saying? Your bloviating without any documentation. Who the fuck are you, Bill O'Reilly?
The h... are you BECK of Rush...
http://www.truthout.org/article/special-repor...
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2006/02/h...
Stated that the democrat changed 20 percent of profit for the insurance company to 35 percent...
http://adage.com/article?article_id=138465
Why would the Pharmaceutical Research do this when they would not cut their prices on their drug which sold in Canada for almost 1/3 the price.
The industry's lobby group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, will spend $150 million while Congress is on summer recess, according to executives with knowledge of the plans, to try to convince Americans that the president's plan for health-care reform is the right way to go.
Is Obama this f... dumb or what side of the fence is he on...
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/obama-...
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/aug/09/blue...
Big irony: Many of these lawmakers who so irritate the leadership and the Obama administration were the very people that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who in his last job knew that the Democrats couldn’t take power as liberals alone, personally recruited into congressional races. The fact that there are 52 Blue Dogs tells us that the Democratic Party is big enough to have 52 quasi-dissenters.
Bush could do better then this...To his people that is..
No. 1: Increase the capital gains and dividends taxes for higher-income taxpayers (*)
Increase capital gains and dividends taxes from 15 to 20 percent for those making more than $250,000 (couples) or $200,000
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promi...
{ Getting a little long Peter2069. Abbreviate and post the link. Thank You. SiteMonitor}
You figure out what is true..
By the time they pass what they call the health reform it will be too damn late..
I funded , supported and voted for Obama because I believe that Hillary and her group was too much of a centrists which to me are too far to the right of the center...But Obama under the care and supervision of Emanuel looks worst then Hillary would have been.
To bad democrats can not vote and elect a real democrat like DEAN or KUCINICH>>> we alwasy have to live with our mistakes...
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/state...
Listening to Obama, you'd think that Medicare will remain intact. Yet, others claim Medicare spending will be trimmed quite a bit. AARP has said about $231.4 billion could come out of Medicare's budget, while the 60Plus Association, a group that opposes the bill, says cuts could top out at $500 billion.
private insurance company supplemental insurance to phase out Medicare. It is called "plain vanilla" Medicare now, and it works just fine without the supplemental insurance rip-off. Do you understand how the drug program works? Medicare Part D? It's a joke. I wonder how they are going to destroy Social Security? The Bush agenda just keeps on giving.
People can't afford it. Right now the average is 12,000,00 a year for health care. Who can afford that?
Although, you raise a very good point. You may be right.
We have been invaded by insurance company TROLLS!!!!!!
I have been posting about the Republican blue dogs before the 2006 election... And after the 2006 election Bush have a private censored meeting with the blue dog democrats?? only...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
A look at career contribution patterns also shows that typical Blue Dogs receive significantly more money -- about 25 percent -- from the health-care and insurance sectors than other Democrats, putting them closer to Republicans in attracting industry support.
They had that cute little name, Dixiecrats. Harmless little southerners. Pfft! Sounds like those little cups of ice cream you got when you were a kid. They dishonestly stole those seats by pretending to be democrats, and now it is apparent. This is how psychopaths get over, by doing things that no one expects. The next person who says to me, "Oh, nobody would go that far," is going to get hit in the knees with my baseball bat. Jail be damned.
that have been floating around, how about some facts. We know that pharma, insurance and the medical industries all contribute to both parties but that doesn't make all the rumors fact.
!
This country should provide health care to everyone.. The problem is the Global Empires have taken full control of our government and will pay anything to keep their hands on it....
Our government is even outsourcing contracts to overseas countries while our workers are being fired , wages cut and they lose their , social programs and homes.
If Obama (that is if Emanuel would let him) would have taken the bailout money and created jobs , it would have been more beneficial to American citizens.
American workers needs jobs and for the free trade bill to be renegotiated as Obama promised in his campaign bid for president , yet state he would not AFTER he was elected.
I care a lot... My son lost his jobs by Obama's outsourcing of their contracts to foreign countries instead of making sure that Americans have jobs FIRST>>>>>
were outsourced well before Obamaa took office. Statements like that justify my distrust in your comments.
you sound a bit like weiner.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO BARACK OBAMA
Hospitals/Nursing Homes #1
Barack Obama (D) $3,335,944
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.php?...
INSURANCE #2
Barack Obama (D) $2,270,065
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.php?...
Health Services/HMOs #1
Barack Obama (D) $1,425,501
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.php?...
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products #1
Barack Obama (D) $2,124,560
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.php?...
SPEAKING OF THE BAILOUT:
Commercial Banks #1
Barack Obama (D) $3,244,103
Hedge Funds/PRIVATE EQUITY #1
Barack Obama (D) $3,091,347
Securities & Investment #1
Barack Obama (D) $14,808,875
I GUESS WE NEED TO GET RE-AQUAINTED WITH BARACK OBAMA.
OR MAYBE WE NEED TO MAKE HIM AQUAINTED WITH "WE THE PEOPLE".
the government allowing no other country to sell drugs in the US for at least the next 10 years, while Big Pharma imports the chemicals and even the drugs themselves from other countries, notably China. Another parasitic industry. No wonder they are advocating for reform. Now you can see ads on TV from Big Pharma and the banded together insurance companies, telling anyone who listens, how they want reform. Of course they do. Big windfall for them. If they are spending $1.4 a day to influence politicians, try to imagine their projected profits. Tank this whole thing. Kill it before it kills you. Chuck Todd just telegraphed something important, even if inadvertently: Those in charge of strategy for the insurance companies thinks we just do the opposite of what they want. Thus, they are trying to make us pass the bill, because they are pretending they want to kill it. Reverse psychology in action. Thanks Chuck. Remember the song, "The Name Game?" Let's do Chuck. "Chuck, Chuck, bo buck, banana bana fo...""
I get them for $76 in Canada, and I do.
They get 30% now, which will be raised to 35%. I heard it said on MSNBC tonight, and that gambling casinos only take 20%.
Then I heard it wrong..
you are saying. Expanding this globally is a very interesting thought. It could explain much. Did you read "The Family?" If you haven't, you should. I am obsessed with that them. Now Ensign, a member is back in public and still is not the lease bit ashamed of himself. That is because the Family teaches him that he is one of Jesus's chosen, and as such he can do anything he wants without consequence. The Family has global aspirations. They lust for total control of it. For their version of Jesus, the businessman. You really should read it. I couldn't close my mouth for about three days.
I bought that and Idiot America because of recommentations here and on Keith / Rachel / Jon / Colbert, and think they're both excellent -- and scary. I'm not done with The Family yet, but it is REALLY scary because The Family has been working on its goals since 1935 and has spread to leaders around the world.
Male leaders, of course. It's definitely a male-dominated group, or maybe a better term is a male-supremacist group.
And they're NOT Christian.
I'll have to check out "Idiot America". I'm almost afraid to read "The Family", but I'll probably read it anyway.
Very frightening. BTW, I like the term "male supremacist". And no, none of them are Christians. Jesus would hit them over the head with the Bible and then make them eat it. :-)
and are talking about raising it to 35%. I think that is coming out of the Senate Finance Committee and will not survive into the final bill if the House has any say. The question is how many Representatives are willing to buck the President and the Senate.
In 1993, the insurance companies only took 5% of every health care dollar spent. Source - Wendell Potter:
"I am sick and tired of knowing that only 80 cents of every dollar I pay in premiums to my private insurer goes to pay doctors and hospitals for care they provide. (This figure is down from 95 cents in 1993 before the industry came to be dominated by a cartel of high for-profit insurance companies like the two I used to work for.) I am eager not to have to donate 20 cents of every premium dollar to cover my insurer's sales, marketing and underwriting expenses and to help make the CEO and the big institutional investors and Wall Street hedge fund managers even more obscenely rich than they already are, thanks to the inflated premiums we have to pay."
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8467
(DELETED BY ME...Don't feel like starting shit tonite!)
Woops -- I keep forgetting that angle brackets just disappear ... I was trying to indicate that I was actually laughing out loud ...
i'm not a democrat, so that plan (the democrat co-op plan) doesn't really apply to moi
co-ops are the only thing out there besides private insurance companies and is cheaper, which one will you go with, Samson?
first off, i was referring to the proposal in the link provided above that suggested making a co-op for democrats. and i am not a democrat. so, i wouldn't even be allowed into that co-op.
but, to answer your larger question, from my understanding the idea of health co-ops is a smokescreen. a mirage.
Of course we will never see the final details until after they pass whatever bill they do..
But I bet the co-op will be like a HMO and if persons in it get really sick then the whole d... thing will fall through..
Why is Obama , Emanuel , Baucus , blue dogs and centrists afraid of putting a public option in.. As far as that goes why not extent Medicare to others which wish to buy into it..
There is something mighty strange the way all the democrats are fighting against the public and especially the single payer option...
When you see millions of dollars going to these ceo's salaries and bonuses as with the Banking empire , you know d.. well we are losing something..
All this money is coming from US anyway why are they so d... arrogant and determined not to give us what we ask for , but are beholding to these health giants demands..;;
There are lots of Dems working for real health-care reform, plus Independent Bernie Sanders. See the Blue America article elsewhere on this site -- they're working on rewarding Dems who are being true to their ideals and promises.
Scarborough and not Weiner.
hence the title 'fuck todd'
weiner has quickly become my health reform hero.
There's a little of that, since so many of us, myself included, want single payer.
However, it's not so much we want public option because conservatives don't, but we defend it as a possibly good compromise, when all republican do is organize goon squads with no interest in actually debating the issue, compare Obama to Hitler, yelling Hiel Hitler to Jews etc.
.
are barbarians. They are killing us.
clearly he wants to help the 46 million people without health insurance. unlike the GOP who only cares about what the health insurance companies want. and thats whats been not said very often: Obama and those who support health care reform want to HELP people. the GOP only wants to HELP themselves and the insurance companies. reforming health care is a moral issue and the conference call he had with many religious leaders today reinforced that idea. lets not expect the press to ever state that.
and the insurance companies." Let me consolidate that: The GOP only wants to help their employers, the insurance sompanies.
The GOPers and the BlueDogs are playing the Ins companies.
By making this thing drag out, they can keep the Ins lobbyists on a short leash. They can keep going back to the well over and over.
Don't get me wrong, I've had it with the Ins industries.
Nothing but carpetbaggers.
That's why Obama wanted this done before the August recess. The Blue Dogs and the GOPers make a really good living off the insurance companies. There is no reason in the world they want to piss them off. They aren't playing the insurance companies. The insurance companies are playing them. Lobbyists will never be kept on a short leash because they have the money.
If they continue to stall this, as they have. Then the GOP and the Bluedogs get to keep receiving money from the Ins lobbyists for their campaigns.
It's all about greed. While I agree with you that the ins co's are holding all the cards. The GOP and the Bluedogs stand to benefit from stalling this.
Plus, it benefits the Ins Co's
Sadly, as "Democrats", we must face the fact that President Obama and our Democratic Congress have almost ALL been co-opted by contributions received by the major health care corporations/big pharma.
The (almost) ENTIRE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS BEING CORPORATELY CONTROLLED.
Here's the REAL question: What are we Progressives going to do about it?
You can't argue with cavemen and thieves. You cannot shame these greedy and out of control bastards into doing the right and moral thing, as neither group has any integrity. Morality is for suckers. They will never give up anything. It must be pried from their cold dead hands, as the saying goes. So how do we do that?
is great!
Obama told McCain that he was using the bait and switch for health reform... Just what in the h... do you think is happening now by Obama , Emanuel , Baccus , Blue Dogs and the republicans which have left the scene...
No need To have a private health insurance option if they can not make it on their own..
it and USE whatever monster is created by these Blue Dogs , Obama , Emanuel which they will call a health reform no matter what they have put in it..
Obama , Emanuel , blue dogs and others are giving the health companies too d... much... They wish to make the illegal people in American legal and for us to pay for them..
The illegal persons in our county is close to 40 million and the figures they give you are much too low...
This is why they are cutting tests which includes ; Bloods tests , Cat Scan , MRI , X-Rays
let the health companies tell you which drugs you may or may not have..
They have been paid very dearly by the health empire to take all options off the table ,, other then the one that the health empire demands.
What right do these arrogant a... h...s that do not know their a... for a hole in the ground , but are paid dearly to make us buy a policy which the health empire has created for their profit..
If the democrats wish to spend money of those that now do not have it , then why are they doing as they promised and raise the taxes on the very people that Bush cut their taxes on...
Why are they not prosecuting the corporations which have hidden their income from the IRS and not paid taxes on.
Why are they not stopping this d... war which has become a joke and we would have no problems with our economy...
I said the government is overstepping their rights and that the American citizens should take their government back from the corporate whores. ,which have sold American down the river in a canoe with no paddle...
We have been sitting back on our a.. during nothing while they arrogantly have and still are transferring our jobs overseas and our money and power to these Global Empires..
We are sheep ,,,, sheep ,,,, sheep with no backbone...
I just donated to his campaign, even though I live miles away from New York. If you want to show him some love, you can go to:
http://www.actblue.com/page/theytookthepledge
and scroll down until you find Weiner, and then enter the amount you want to donate. It's that easy!
I just like rewarding good behavior.
Joe is such a dick.
Obama has one excellent surrogate -- Howard Dean. Guy makes an amazing case for health care every time. If he had 10 more Deans Obama would implement his entire agenda, start to finish.
Dean is not speaking for Obama. He is speaking TO him.
the obama surrogate would be tom daschle. i will defer my comment about daschle to matt taibbi: "In Washington there are whores and there are whores, and then there is Tom Daschle"
Where is Tim Kaine?
?
Obama, running on the promises of getting rid of lobbyist influences, lowering costs and expunging corruption in politics is ignoring both his promises and those like Dean.
76% percent of Americans want a public option. It is absolutely the ONLY fact we need to focus on. All the rest is absolute b.s. offered up to distract and try to confuse everyone.
Obama has lied (or has been co-opted) and so has the majority of the Congress, no matter which side of the aisle - especially in the Senate.
SO if Obama had 10 DOZENS more Deans, it obviously wouldn't make a bit of difference because he already has folded without a fight.
John I have to say that "sad sack of know-nothingness" is the most accurate description of Chuck Todd I have ever read. Except that the reality is that Todd does know his shit, I believe he just chooses to be a mouth piece of the right wing.
But the people who listen to him will learn nothing so I believe that sad sack of know-nothingness is very accurate.
about what transpires at the WH each day. Who cares what his opinion is about anything. He should be neutral, and as he isn't. He should be fired. Correspondent my ass.
this should disqualify todd from commenting further on health reform. he has clearly illustrated that he has not taken the time to understand just why a public option is pushed for. or, even worse, he does and he refuses to explain why. the msm, and buffoons like todd, have for too long framed issues and debates from the conservative POV.
DUDE…………!!!!
Who is the we?!?!
I don't support the public option!
I want FULL NATIONAL HEALTH as in SOCIALIZED MEDICINE.
Like the VA, which we already have.
D-U-D-E………!!!!
There is HR 676, a la Medicare which we already have and which I will support instead of FULL NATIONAL HEALTH only because of the serious dawdling that continues UNABATED.
WHO IS THIS WE?
RAMP IT UP!
HR 676
Thom Hartmann doesn't support the "Public Option" ..
Thom Hartmann's Letter To Obama
More at link .
I prefer HR 676 (summary here) because it also addresses several issues that need fixing in Medicare, for instance Medicare D. HR 676 mandates that the govt seek bulk purchase pricing from the pharmaceutical companies. HR 676 also makes it ILLEGAL for any insurance company to offer insurance for the same basic health and medical package that HR 676 offers.
HR 676 is Single Payer, covers ALL American residents, mandates bargaining with pharmaceutical companies, gets the insurance companies OUT of the way of Americans' basic health care needs.
And Pelosi has promised it WILL come to the floor of the House this fall, thanks to Mr Weiner's pressure.
So let's SEIZE THE MOMENT and make Universal Health Care in the US a reality.
with you, Thom. Single payer is definitely the way to go. As far as I can tell, the public option is just a sop to pacify the rethugs and blue dog dems and really isnt giving us the health care reform we need so desperately.
I say, TO HELL WITH THE RETHUGS AND BLUE DOG DOGS AND PUBLIC OPTION AND GO FOR SINGLE PAYER!!
Its whats best for our country and will finally bring us in step with the rest of the industrialized nations of the world.
This is brilliant! I'm going to forward it to the president at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact and to my congresscreatures.
Thank you SO MUCH for this link!
You folks should spread this and publicize it as much as possible -- now! Quick!
(I got that lingo from my sons).
Tell your boyz to check this out.
Freeze frame it @ 44 seconds to 55 seconds.
Then again at 3:45 to 3:50.
Hey Guyz. Howzit?
Yer ma is pretty kewl.
We will have LOTS of fun going over the Laird Hamilton vid while they're here!!
Thank you!
(A few of the crew....plus my first grandchild (still in the oven) will be here Friday afternoon for a week long visit..).
I think you're kewl too.
Then bring them here. So we can meet them. The bwood clan.:)
L.A.???
WESTSIDE????
YEAH!!!!!!!
(Do you mean for "real" or in "blog time"?) Ha!!!!!
Cool video, mudshark!
Abbyb, good thoughts to you and yours :)
So businesses get to asses the value add of their labor, suppliers, and sales channel...in fact, they love to do so incessantly...but it's not germane for anyone to enquire whether the business itself actually provides any value add to society aside from being a middle man skimming profit?
In the Republican mind having government run programs that require transparency, and are constantly open to re-evaluation is inherently bad, while having corporations that get to continue to exist, just because, is awesome.
I dare anyone to answer Rep. Weiner's question. What, exactly, does the private health insurance industry ADD to the delivery of health care? And if it does, in fact, provide an essential service is it worth the exorbitant cost? I may be falling in love with Rep. Weiner.
Not a damn thing! It's a middle man scam and we are falling for it big time. They don't even need to exist!
In the last coupla days Weiner has been making the rounds STRONGLY supporting HR 676 MediCare For All.
Obama's waffle on the Public Option has created an opening.
Weiner and Kucinich are siezing the opportunity to push Single Payer Medicare For All.
I'm loving it.
It sucks the life out of its host. When it finally kills the host, it moves on to another.
"What, exactly, does the private health insurance industry ADD to the delivery of health care?"
Here's the answer: (Ysbaddaden......where are you with the YouTube "drum roll"?)
NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And where do I go to collect my prize for the correct answer??
Chuck is increasingly showing himself to be an idiot. Joe is just plain embarrassing himself. 'I don't know how to answer that so I'm gonna get indignant and question your question'....WTF? Dummy!
Come on, GE/NBC. You usually manage your money better than this. Let the GOP pay him.
From FireDogLake Channel at YouTube:
The Ed Show - Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) - Single Payer, HR 676
I don't want access to better, more sensible health care so that I can live longer or more comfortably; nothing like that!
I just wanna pee-off Joe Frakkin' Scarborough and Chucky Todd:
because it's ALL about them!
Feckin' project much?!?
Damn, he completely pwned Joe Schmoe in that clip! We need more please!
todd the toadie announced on November 9, 2008 that he would be going after Obama and the Dems. He has lived down to it. chuck is a piece of shit.
librul media!
amurKKKa?
Weiner tied the Scars brain into a knot. The look on Scars face was priceless. And Nikita was completely lost.
Yeah, I know. a very small slip knot.
Yeah, those of us who busted our butts to get him elected noticed.
I saw that segment and it was one of those times you wish you could reach into the screen and wring a neck or two.
I think what we are witnessing is the beginning of the effects from the Peter Principle in Chuck....If you'll remember, Chuck came to NBC not long ago (4-5 years) from running his own blog..Not a bad gig and his work there was pretty good and he always took great pride in his acumen with the numbers...
Last year, he obviously got promoted to something else since he played a pivotal role during the year in Obama's campaign..And did reasonably good work. Now, Chuck has been promoted again obviously to cover the White House and to offer political commentary backed up by data that he or his minions gather during the course of his news cycle... He may have hit a wall...
The quality of his work and especially the data he is beginning to use seems to be dis-jointed and sometimes even un-related. He seems to be trying to find angles in stories and subjects that just aren't there. His appearance with Mitchell (who also seems to be getting a bit ditsy lately) and Tweety today seemed he was really struggling to find a deep vein of something that just wasn't there. It's getting very distracting....
the faked NBC Poll claiming slim number supporting healthcare reform.
as I said earlier, chuck declared his opposition to Obama and the dems before the vote was officially final.
He's one of the reasons God made mute buttons.
-- it was the Goddess who invented the Mute button, for obvious reasons.
Willingly became a lying sack of shit!
Chuck Todd just does not have it where it counts. I don't recall him ever asking an incisive question or making an intelligent comment on any political or policy matter. He is out of his league.
What value does the insurance industry provide for the BILLIONS they take from the system. The entire industry in just overhead. They provide nothing, NOTHING! Joe couldn't provide an answer because there isn't one, other than they provide a bunch of jobs that aren't necessary and a bunch of busy work that isn't either.
They have a place. It's to provide an alternative to people who don't want to be part of Medicare for all. If that is your desire, to spend your money that way, go right ahead. But I shouldn't be denied the same care my Mom gets because you don't think it's fair. Private health insurance should be a very small market.
I personally would like a portion of the market to be totally government funded. I want doctors/nurses who don't want a million dollars of student loans to be able to opt for the government to pay for their education in return for working as a government doctor for a specified time period. Much like a military doctor/nurse.
One thing that has been driving me crazy with the comments that the MSM and pols keep repeating is when they say "blah blah blah... keep the insurance companies honest". Keep. REALLY? KEEP them honest?? Please. The phrase should be "MAKE the insurance companies honest", as if that were even possible.
Anthony Weiner had one simple question for Joe Scarborough, what do Insurance companies bring to the table because health care is not a commodity, and what seemed like a 5 minute pause from Joe Scarborough, his answer turned out to be even more silent. Mika almost seemed please on how Weiner was able to dismantle her co-host because she said absolutely nothing as she watched Joe Scarborough get completely schooled.
I really shouldn't be astonished when a fucking idiot lapdog like Chuck Todd is chatting brainlessly with Eva Braun- sorry, Andrea Mitchell- nattering about how vitally defending the public option as a matter of principle and the key to real reform is: oh, just to spite the "conservatives". Screw the people who actually need this reform, and how we would ALL benefit as a society from it. No, to Todd and that sour Mitchell, it's all a game, it's all politics, that's all they understand. And that's how they frame it: not that there's a pressing dire need, a real crisis breaking the middle and working class in this country and it's inhumane treatment of heath care as a profit center for corporations. No, to these TV twits it's about petty political rivalry. That's all they understand, they can't see beyond that. Fuck them both, and fuck the propaganda machine of cable network "news". Disgusting.
.
Keep your eye on this story, because it could give Dems some good ammunition for the public option:
Democrats on a House committee are seeking detailed financial records from dozens of large insurance companies, officials disclosed Tuesday, part of an investigation into ''executive compensation and other business practices'' in an industry opposed to President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul health care.
The request included records relating to compensation of highly paid employees, documents relating to companies' premium income and claims payments, and information on expenses stemming from any event held outside company facilities in the past 2 1/2 years
Here is more:
He's asking for the following by September 4:
* A table listing the total compensation for every employee making more than $500,000 a year
* A table listing board member compensation
* A table listing off-site conferences and retreats
* A table listing the company's total revenue and net income
And the following by September 14:
* Communication with the board on compensation packages
* Tables listing premium revenue, claims payments, and sales expenses
And here's the list of insurance companies mean old Henry is picking on. In case you wondering, Mrs. Bayh's company, Wellpoint, is on that list. I would imagine that after these details become public--just as the debate between the House and Senate picks up--Evan Bayh might think a little differently about how he represents the interests of--as Mrs. Greenspan calls them--the conservative Democrats in Indiana. Likewise, once Waxman has the details of the retreats that some of those obstructing reform have attended, it may change their commitment to obstruction pretty quickly
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/19/76948...
Everyone needs to ask their rep, if they aren't, why haven't they signed on to H.R. 676. My rep, Suzanne Kosmas' office had no answer and said they would get back to me. This bill was introduced in 2005, so it's no Johny come lately.
that is such a great piece of video!
Scarborough just comes across as disingenuous, with his whole tact of trying to equivacate Weiner's stance as somehow "playing" into the hands of the townhall hijackers. What a hack.
What value do the insurance companies bring to consumers for their 30% take. None.
Mornin' Joe is flabbergasted that Weiner may be insinuating that insurance companies are not needed.
Hey, Mornin' Dipshit Joe--THEY'RE NOT NEEDED!
Shocking?
No more shocking than unexplained, dead assistants in you former Rep office.
Health insurance companies stopped being necessary when they started covering costs for things that were common everyday things...
People used to buy insurance to protect themselves from signifcant loss due to health issues. Now you need insurance just so you can see a doctor for something as routine as a physical. They've successfully interjected themselves into practically all doctor patient transactions, ballooning the costs for everything.
Of course, it doesn't help that congress has destroyed the purchasing power of the dollar with their wreckless spending habits, but that is for another thread.
...and Media at Radio & TV Correspondents' Dinner:
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiYv0gVlgx0 ](1:37)
Chuck Todd is a David Gregory wannabe ....another paid shill for corporate America. If he's so clueless about the health care debate going on right in front of him he doesn't deserve a press pass and shouldn't be allowed to ask questions that make him look mildly retarded!
On the Wiener Video;
Wiener asks "What value do insurance companies bring to the table?". How many times does he have to ask you Idiot?
Scarborough kept evading the question and pretended to be dumbfounded as to why Wiener would ask such a question. He can't answer the question because he's a corporate tool and the answer would be embarrassing for his corporate masters.........The correct answer is insurance companies bring no value to the table. They are like leeches sucking the life blood out of helpless victims that have no alternative but to stand there and take it, and the leeches appetites grow larger every year!
Scarborough also wouldn't answer the question about what insurance companies are doing to actually reduce their costs....Same answer!
Scarborough also said; "We have insurance companies in the health care business because we are a country that believes in free enterprise".
More corporate Bullshit! That's the line we have been spoon fed by corporate America since Ronnie Raygun first started the corporate takeover of this country. Scarborough keeps bringing up "the free market system". that's just another corporate tool used to con us into believing that somehow privatization of everything is good for us, When in fact they have used it to give our jobs to other countries and monopolize every industry left in this country while bleeding American workers dry.
Scarborough, Go back to fake news where you belong........You transparent brainstem
RIP Abbie Hoffman!
...free enterprise that is subsidized by public (ie, taxpayer) monies and protected from existing laws (eg, insurance corps not held to anti-trust rules)
and--->anthony weiner -- succeeds because he's principled -- and smart -- he's a keeper, that's for sure!
Seriously, anyone that thinks what Chuck Todd thinks is crazy. People want a public option because they feel it's the only way we can have real reform.
I'll be pressuring my congressman to support and vote for HR 676. We all should be doing that.
Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY) would be a fine point man for the public option....he has passion and credibility. As a veteran he can speak honestly about the fine Government Care that he has received via the VA....I guess FOX is on to his value as a spokesperson given their attack on him illustrated in the post below.
Except that just maybe there are a few of us that don't trust corporate insurance companies one little bit. Maybe there are those that believe Howard Dean when he says this is the only way to keep the insurance companies honest on pricing.
No, its probably because we are just so damn contrarian.
Jeesh, what a moron.
:)
And I love the way he continually kept putting the ball back in Scarface's court, who then whined " I'm not here to answer your questions". Waaaaaaaa. You're right Joe, you're there to promote the corporate bottom-line and THAT'S ALL.
The answer to Weiner's question is?
NOTHING except making money for the insurance company.
I don't know why C & L didn't give this clip marque treatment?
This is the total essence of our battle. What value does private health insurance bring to the delivery of health care in this country?
We should be asking this question over and over and over.
And Scarborough kept misintrepreting the question to mean Weiner was attacking the free enterprise system. I'm surprised he didn't label him a Soviet stooge. Oh--the horror of equity and access to healthcare for all.
.
Private health insurance does provide value; Joe was just too stupid to articulate it. Weiner missed the kill because he's focused on single payer and not public option. He does expose himself to that "government takeover" crap that doesn't bother us, but makes conservatives' totally irrational.
The right way to make a conservative's head explode on this issue is as follows:
-The free market delivers a crappy health insurance product. Even though everyone needs financial security when they're sick, the free enterprise offers a product that is either unaffordable or denied to 47 million Americans.
-So fine, keep private insurance for those who like it. We don't want to take over private insurance, we just want to develop a plan that is available to anyone who thinks private insurance sucks.
-If private insurance is so great, then it should be able to compete against something that the government offers, right? FedEx and UPS compete against USPS. Mortgage lenders compete against Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
-If you're really afraid that a new competitor to private insurance companies equals a "government takeover" of healthcare, then you're not a free enterprise proponent. You are a weak-kneed little girl. You are giving away your doubts that a private insurance company does something better than the government can do it. You're asking for protection, not free enterprise.
Well that would be a first.
someone needs to cut out joe's tongue
and sew it next to his ass right next
to his lips that are already there.
Just what this Country Needs another"Hack"..From NBC.
Holy COW! Weiner for President.
Maybe if the public were to hear Weiner's question more often, people would start to wonder the same thing. Just what the hell are we paying insurance companies for? What is the fundamental reason they exist? Is it worth the billions it costs? Could those billions be better spent on actual care?
"What are Health Insurance Companies doing to promote health care?"
Just answer the question, dipshit.
looks like one of those "the emperor has no clothes" moments.
very nice going, rep. anthony weiner.
Chuck todd is not qualified to be a newsman.
Chuck Todd is a nickel-hitter. He's fucking incompetent
[crickets]
With all his blather, Joe Scarborough really couldn't think up a logical rationale for the existence of health insurance companies.
Because there isn't one.
The fact is that the man is a dumb f**ck, as are most of the people you find on TV in anchor desks and talking head positions.
He didn't answer the question about what health care insurance companies provide because THE ANSWER, AND I'LL BE HE DOES NOT KNOW THIS ONE, IS THAT THEY CONTRIBUTE NOTHING.
I worked for Blue Cross of California for 8 years. Other than stand in the way of people getting needed treatment, denying claims and giving patients the run around, they do nothing at all. As a matter of fact if it were simply "nothing" that they did do it would be better than what they do.
Health insurance companies are nothing but giant black holes where your health care dollar goes and can never escape.
Chuck Todd is an amateur , half of the time he is talking out of his ass and doesn't know what he's talking about , this is just one example . I wonder who's butt he kissed to get his job .
he was panicy. What a douche. When he saw that he could nottwist or spin Weiner's words, he tried to put words in Weiner's mouth, and then kept interuppting him. God forbid that somebody might make an argument that makes Scarborough's masters unhappy.
HR-676!
is apparently, a little douchebag of a man.
Really, Rep. Weiner needs to pay Joe for that ass whoopin he just gave him. This was truly like taking candy from a baby. This fight wasn't fair at all; a unabashed, strong, informed, rational, fact based Liberal versus any conservative just is not a fair fight. Notice how Mika just sat back and let Weiner make a complete ass of her homie Joe. Obama and the corporate Democrats in Congress need to answer this essential question as well. Notice Joe just ran away from that question several times, because the truth is they add nothing to the equation, other than vampires draining the life force from our health care system. Now we know where Conservatives stand on everything; as long as there's a dollar to be made, let the "Free Market" handle. We need air to breathe, make it a commodity and sell it on the open market. We need water to live, let's just totally privatize the whole system. These cretons see nothing past a dollar bill.
Says a lot about Chuck's playground level intellect.
Howard Dean has been great on every show I've seen him on talking about the health care reform. Why doesn't the Obama team use him and Weiner more? Get those guys out there and everywhere to push back the Chuck F'ing Todds of the world.
Chuck Todd, with his big ego, also likes to think he is a GOOD reporter too, but then he proves he's absolutely not with his bias of always siding with the Reslug talking points.
there are no affirmative answers to them. You can't make the insurance companies look like they add value to health care because they don't. That's why Joe Scarbourough was nonplussed.
I thought it was interesting when Joe asked Rep. Weiner if he "really thought that these protesters who are not being paid could be the mouthpieces of the insurance companies" as if that were an almost impossibly improbable reality to fathom. Rep. Weiner was not distracted by the question because he had been talking about the fact that the public option was the only thing in the bill that would be able to provide some measure of cost containment, which is the whole reason for health care reform to begin with and it was an unwelcome non-sequitur, as usual, and which is typical on these pundit shows. If I were to answer Joe's non-sequitur question, I would have said, there is no proof that these people who are disrupting town hall meetings are not being paid or renumerated in some way or that they in one way or another do not profit from what they are doing. And, yes, they are definitely acting as the mouthpieces of the insurance companies, they are members of front groups who are not easily linked to the health insurance companies, but they are acting as if they are almost directly employed by them. And their goal is to disrupt the process and do what they can to try to thwart true health care reform from occurring.
that was awesome. nowhere did Rep. Weiner say gov't takeover of medicine. He said gov't takeover of paying for health care. joe cries about insurance being the same as medical care.
Scarborough is a charlatan. He can't answer the quetion because he can't make a cogent argument. His effort to legitmize those blowhards who were making all that noise at the townhalls is baseless.
The value that private insurers add to America's health care system is higher costs. I am not joking. That is what is actually at stake here. Higher medical costs mean higher insurance premiums, higher fees for doctors, bigger profits for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and lobbyists, and last but not least bigger political contributions! Think about it. What distinguishes the American from that employed on other industrial democracies? High costs and for-profit insurance. Are we to believe that there is no causal relationship between these two facts? Even if you tried to argue that there is no direct causal relationship, (remember cigarettes and cancer?) there does seem to be some connection. It might be some kind of clue. Does anyone else feel like the Bill Murray character in Groundhog Day? Everyday we are subjected to the same fallacious argument. This, after endless discussion and much shouting resulting in it being refuted the previous one. It goes on and on, the clock clicking time away and the cash registers ringings along in sweet harmony. God bless America!
Somebody asked, in public, the question I've been wanting to hear:
What do private health insurance companies do to improve our health care system?
The answer: nothing -- nothing government couldn't do just as well, or, more likely, better and cheaper.
A single-payer plan is really quite simple: health care providers send the government the bill, and the government sends a check. This is not rocket science. If people REALLY think the government can't handle this, they should stay off the freeways, they should stop eating FDA-approved food, and for the love of gawd, stay away from your mailbox. All those are government programs that are much more complicated and difficult than a single-payer system.
Kudos to Rep. Weiner!
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