Jay Cost at RCP: Obama misread his mandate. This essay is on the money. The Dems are acting as if the whole country were like San Francisco. One quote:
...the Obama administration has acted as if those hagiographical comparisons to FDR were apt. It let its liberal allies from the coasts drive the agenda and write the key bills, and it's played straw man semantic games to marginalize the opposition. For all the President's moaning in The Audacity of Hope about how the Bush administration was railroading the minority into accepting far right proposals - he was prepared to let his Northeastern and Pacific Western liberal allies do exactly the same thing: write bills that excite the left, infuriate the right, and scare the center; insist on speedy passage through the Congress; and use budget reconciliation to ram it through in case the expected super majority did not emerge.
Why you won't see medical tort reform (h/t, reader):
Despite the top sellers, the NYT still refuses to review conservative books. Very foolish of them. Thoughtful reviews and critiques would be a good thing.
The last swine flu vaccine in the 80s killed more people than the flu did. Now Guillain-Barre returns with the new flu vaccine. I think I'll pass.
Are the days of the classic car over? I kinda think so.
"Dutch embrace Islamic names." That's one way to put it, but I can think of other explanations.
Why Martha's Vineyard?
The tactic of manufactured crises. Am Thinker
Cry havoc, and leaf through some books on war with Jules, overlooking scenic Cape Cod Bay.
Putting the heat on ACORN. I don't mind political advocacy groups. I just mind when they are paid with my tax dollars, like ACORN. It's a huge scandal, but the MSM will not touch it.
Via Front Page:
It’s a new age of irony that we live in. The president is a self-described community organizer who used his skills at grassroots activism to launch a populist movement that swept him into office. Now his administration, along with its Congressional allies, is worried about a determined civic movement that is turning against it.
The folks turning up for the town-halls may be maligned by their elected officials. They may be painted as rage-filled lunatics by the media. But unfortunately for the Obama administration and its transformational vision for health care, they aren’t going away.
The O hires campaign ad firms to promote government medicine. That had better not be on my nickel.
Sissy remembers The women now went willingly into the field. Women like to do for their families. So do real men.
What's the deal? Dr. Emanuel isn't my doctor. He has no right to make my medical decisions.
The evil, evil anti-O racism of Tinky Winky. Yes, I think the O is a joke. I think all politicians are jokes.
From The American:
Hollywood seems to think that the government is either screwing up the country because it doesn't know what it is doing or it is destroying the country because it is trampling on the rights of its citizens. However, the people who hold these convictions are the exact same people who want to turn over the operation of all the key components of the country to the government to manage. Health care, energy, education, the economy itself -- these and dozens of other critical features of American society should be directed, according to the Left, from the hallowed halls in which the bumblers and betrayers work.
Who are the uninsured and should we pay to cover them?
Stunning Freudian slip by the MSM
How Canada is saving money on government medical care
Quoted at Carpe Diem:
Comprehensive health insurance is such an ingrained element of our thinking, we forget that its rise to dominance is relatively recent. Modern group health insurance was introduced in 1929, and employer-based insurance began to blossom during World War II, when wage freezes prompted employers to expand other benefits as a way of attracting workers. Still, as late as 1954, only a minority of Americans had health insurance. That’s when Congress passed a law making employer contributions to employee health plans tax-deductible without making the resulting benefits taxable to employees. This seemingly minor tax benefit not only encouraged the spread of catastrophic insurance, but had the accidental effect of making employer-funded health insurance the most affordable option (after taxes) for financing pretty much any type of health care. There was nothing natural or inevitable about the way our system developed: employer-based, comprehensive insurance crowded out alternative methods of paying for health-care expenses only because of a poorly considered tax benefit passed half a century ago.
Emails to House members overwhelm website. Keep 'em coming.
Enjoyed our Barrister identifying government and politicians as a powerful special interest: the most powerful one. Wish I had had that insight.
ACLU: Prior restraint for religious speech. This is insane, sick, evil, despicable. Related: More on Yale's voluntary restraint of speech
Who is really doing the astroturfing? As noted at Insty: "Have you ever seen a clearer case of projection in your life?”
Orthopedists slam the O for "blurring reality". Nice euphemism, docs.
Wizbang:
For the last year and a half, President Obama's arguments in favor of his health care reforms have consisted of little more than recycling every popular myth dreamed up by socialized medicine advocates to illustrate how wretched our private health care system has become/
