Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

Well, my darlings, I promised you more patented Michael Steele stupidity, and here it is:

In general, even most opponents of health care reform maintain the pretense of concern about the failures of the status quo. It's not unusual to hear Republicans say, for example, that they'd like to support reform, just not the reform proposal on the table. It's a shallow talking point, but it's intended to shield them from criticism that the GOP is satisfied with the broken system that most Americans don't like.

Michael Steele missed the memo.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, in an interview this weekend on Univision, said, "I don't think we need a comprehensive overhaul of our health care system."

"Because our health care system," he continued, according to a transcript posted by Latina Lista, "while it remains the best in the country and while it provides largely the services that people need and the quality of those services are very, very good, there are costs associated with this system that needs to be address more directly."

He explained the Republicans' plan for health care, describing it as "elbow grease" that requires neither regulation or taxation.

"It's common sense solution, it doesn't require a nationalizing of our health care system, and it doesn't involve or require a great government intrusion through regulation and taxation and other confiscatory policies," he said. "What it requires is applying a little, you know elbow grease, to allow those businesses, those Hispanic businesses for example, under the market place and get the health care that they need."

It's hard to know where to start with this, though it's hard to miss the fact that Steele thinks our country's health care system is "the best in the country." I suppose that's true, in a circular kind of way. It's also worth noting that Steele still thinks there are Democratic plans for "nationalizing of our health care system," reinforcing suspicions that the RNC chairman has no idea what he's talking about.

But more important is how badly out of touch Steele is. Even now, after months of debate, he's convinced "a comprehensive overhaul" is excessive, and would prefer to just tweak the system around the edges. That's not where the country is -- the most recent CBS News poll found that 53% of Americans believe "fundamental changes are needed" to the U.S. system, while an additional 31% believe our system "has so much wrong with it that we need to completely rebuild it." That's a combined total of 84% who want, at a minimum, some serious changes to the status quo. What's more, those numbers are even higher than in September, suggesting the appetite for an overhaul is growing.

It's hard to get more stupid than "We don't need to reform our country's health care system because we have the best health care in the country," but I'm sure other Cons will try.

Do you want to know how good our health care system is?  So good that a 40 year-old man has to join the Army to insure his wife, who has ovarian cancer - and before Bush the Buffoon got us involved in two wars, he would've been too old for that option.  He gets to miss his daughter's high school years, because he'll be away in the Army.  He can't take his wife to chemo, because he's away in the Army.  That's how good it is.

We need single payer.  All we can hope for now is a public option.  Is there hope?  The GOP seems to think so - they've given up on moderate Dems helping them derail health care reform.  Good.

Max Baucus wants us to know that the public option's alive, only very badly burned.



 Well, actually, he said we'd get one, he just didn't know what kind.  Sen. Burris says it damned well better be a good one.  Otherwise, his vote's a big fat fucking NO.  Good on him.

Blanche Lincoln's constituents gave her hell over the public option during their little chat.  Not so good: she's a total tool of the insurance industry.  Just check out this exchange:

"We are terribly disappointed that you have caved in to the insurance industry and failed to support the public option for health care. It may very well affect our vote for you in the next election," Ray and Judy told her on the chat, which is posted online.

"Unfortunately the insurance companies opposed the bill I supported in the Finance Committee. There are many ways to provide greater options and choices to individuals, including non-profits, a state plan, and a co-op plan," Lincoln wrote back.

"The insurance companies opposed it" is not a valid excuse for fucking us over, Sen. Lincoln.  You'd best remember that if you don't want to go back to being Ms. Lincoln, Private Fucking Citizen.

As for what the public wants, well, when the question's phrased as a choice between a bipartisan bill and ne with a public option, they want a public option more than they want happy Cons.  So bipartisanship has got to go.  Are you listening, Senate Dumbocrats?

Well, some of them are.  Some of them are pathetically whining that they need the Obama administration to step up and tell them, specifically, to put the public option in the bill.  If someone knows what's wrong with these idiots, please share, because I can't figure it out.

Sen. Harkins isn't being a WATB.  He's too busy telling public option opponents to shut the fuck up and get on board with the majority. 

Meanwhile, over in the House, Blue Dog Marshall's busy telling everyone that Medicare and Medicaid are just like the Soviet Union.  No wonder he could only spout this stupidity on Faux News:

"We've got this sort of central payment system, which is a fundamental problem. It's health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, making the payments, and we've got consumers and doctors pretty divorced from the costs associated with the decisions that are being made," said Marshall. "As a result, we've had an explosion in cost. I think we've got to see a fundamental change in the system that we've got right now for payment. If we don't do that, we'll continue to have opportunities to fix waste, fraud and abuse, because systems that are centrally planned and controlled -- like the Soviet system -- are just full of those kinds of issues."

Does this even mean anything, or is it the word salad of a severely delusional mind?  It sounds like he's saying we shouldn't have any health insurance at all.  WTF, are we supposed to pay cash for treatment, and if we haven't got the cash, too fucking bad?  Is that what he's trying to tell us?

What an assclown.  Can someone tell me why this dumbshit's even considered a Democrat?  He's a social fucking conservative, for fuck's sake.  And he's absolutely insane on health care.  What's left - a light green thumb, a mild opposition to troop surges, and a few scattered economic ideas that would be considered heresy by Teabaggers.  Not even fucking close to enough.  Georgia's 8th - if you want a Con, elect one honest enough to call himself one next time. 

At least he's not the Speaker of the House.  No, the Speaker, thankfully, is a woman getting ready to hand the coup de gras to the Senate:

As always, the legislative process is unpredictable, and the Senate is operating in isolation from the House. But with the public option potentially in the balance, Speaker Pelosi's goal is this: present conservative Democrats in both chambers with a Hobson's choice between a public option bill and a potentially more expensive Senate bill that may have no public option at all.

Those fiscally-responsible Conservadems will have a hard time explaining why they're rejecting that one, now, won't they?

I think I'm enjoying the sausage-making process again....