Obama speaks... does Languish listen?

[Razgovory]

Heard on NPR that a few Blue Dogs (Ben Nelson is the name I remember) have said they will vote against any bill that doesn't have at least "some Republican support."

The blue dogs are really a positive political force.  They are one of the main reasons I have hope the government can eventually come up with some decent reforms to the medical system.

Yep, the Blue Dogs are keeping the Democrats from going too far to the left on so many issues, keeping the party sane and trying to stave off the slide into political defeat at the next polls, like the Dems and Repubs have both suffered for their hubris before.

Like civil rights.  When the Blue dogs left look what happened!

[Vince]

Heard on NPR that a few Blue Dogs (Ben Nelson is the name I remember) have said they will vote against any bill that doesn't have at least "some Republican support."

The blue dogs are really a positive political force.  They are one of the main reasons I have hope the government can eventually come up with some decent reforms to the medical system.

I listened to some of Obama's speech.  Speeches are alright and he delivered a fine one but, you know, until we have a bill to debate there is really not much else to talk about.

Well it appears the GOP are going to say no to any bill regardless of how much the President might negotiate so he's stuck with a catch 22 for Blue Dog support.  How do you get the Blue Dogs to sign on if the GOP won't support it under any circumstances?

[crazy canuck]

From the little bits I am picking up about the American health care debate it appears the quality of the discussion has been reduced to the level of saying Obama is worse then hitler.  Doesnt surprise me that some idiot would get lost in his own rhetoric and call the President a liar during his speech.

[Berkut]

Well it appears the GOP are going to say no to any bill regardless of how much the President might negotiate so he's stuck with a catch 22 for Blue Dog support.  How do you get the Blue Dogs to sign on if the GOP won't support it under any circumstances?

The GOP is not some monolithic bloc that will all vote en masse. They have their moderates who are reasonable as well.

The entire thing is a waste of time though, since none of the health care "reform" actually addresses what is broken about health care in the US. If anything, it is going to make it worse.

[Valmy]

Well it appears the GOP are going to say no to any bill regardless of how much the President might negotiate so he's stuck with a catch 22 for Blue Dog support.  How do you get the Blue Dogs to sign on if the GOP won't support it under any circumstances?

Surely some of them will.  I mean Obama could just start copying and pasting Ronald Reagan's policies and the nutters of the GOP would still oppose him just because but surely there are a few who can be negotiated with.

[Valmy]

Like civil rights.  When the Blue dogs left look what happened!

Woah a leftist blaming moderate Democrats for segregation!  Shocking.

[KRonn]

Well it appears the GOP are going to say no to any bill regardless of how much the President might negotiate so he's stuck with a catch 22 for Blue Dog support.  How do you get the Blue Dogs to sign on if the GOP won't support it under any circumstances?

The GOP is not some monolithic bloc that will all vote en masse. They have their moderates who are reasonable as well.

The entire thing is a waste of time though, since none of the health care "reform" actually addresses what is broken about health care in the US. If anything, it is going to make it worse.

[Valmy]

The entire thing is a waste of time though, since none of the health care "reform" actually addresses what is broken about health care in the US. If anything, it is going to make it worse.

What would actually address the problems?  I think we need some sort of force to drive prices down and create some sort of competition, I kind of liked the idea of putting small businesses and individuals to broker collectively.

Also worrying about damaging an already incredibly horrible system doesn't really bring up that much fear for me.  There may be a risk of making shit stinkier but it was already shit.

[Vince]

Well it appears the GOP are going to say no to any bill regardless of how much the President might negotiate so he's stuck with a catch 22 for Blue Dog support.  How do you get the Blue Dogs to sign on if the GOP won't support it under any circumstances?

Surely some of them will.  I mean Obama could just start copying and pasting Ronald Reagan's policies and the nutters of the GOP would still oppose him just because but surely there are a few who can be negotiated with.

Snowe could probably vote in favor but I'm not sure who else would.

[DisturbedPervert]

From the little bits I am picking up about the American health care debate it appears the quality of the discussion has been reduced to the level of saying Obama is worse then hitler. 

Only 1936 Hitler.

[Berkut]

The entire thing is a waste of time though, since none of the health care "reform" actually addresses what is broken about health care in the US. If anything, it is going to make it worse.

What would actually address the problems?  I think we need some sort of force to drive prices down and create some sort of competition, I kind of liked the idea of putting small businesses and individuals to broker collectively.

Also worrying about damaging an already incredibly horrible system doesn't really bring up that much fear for me.  There may be a risk of making shit stinkier but it was already shit.

It is not "incredibly horrible" at all in fact, it is just ridiculously expensive.

The basic problem is one any basic economist can point out - they is no market force driving down costs or rewarding efficiency. The only market force is to drive billing up forever, and this will continue no matter what "plan" is put in place to cover more and more poor people with insanely expensive "insurance".

[Valmy]

The basic problem is one any basic economist can point out - they is no market force driving down costs or rewarding efficiency. The only market force is to drive billing up forever, and this will continue no matter what "plan" is put in place to cover more and more poor people with insanely expensive "insurance".

Is there a solution to this problem?

It is not "incredibly horrible" at all in fact, it is just ridiculously expensive

Bad service for high prices with tons of overhead sounds pretty horrible to me but I am not sure what service you are comparing it to.

[Razgovory]

Like civil rights.  When the Blue dogs left look what happened!

Woah a leftist blaming moderate Democrats for segregation!  Shocking.

They used to be called Dixiecrats.  So don't get to close to them.

[KRonn]

The basic problem is one any basic economist can point out - they is no market force driving down costs or rewarding efficiency. The only market force is to drive billing up forever, and this will continue no matter what "plan" is put in place to cover more and more poor people with insanely expensive "insurance".

Is there a solution to this problem?

It is not "incredibly horrible" at all in fact, it is just ridiculously expensive

Bad service for high prices with tons of overhead sounds pretty horrible to me but I am not sure what service you are comparing it to.

It's not easy but there are a lot of good ideas out there, by Dems, Repubs and others. Just not many of those in the bill perhaps, at least not the original bill which was more about govt take over than addressing many of the real health care problems.

[Valmy]

They used to be called Dixiecrats.  So don't get to close to them.

Um...there are Blue Dogs from every region of the country.