No Runny Eggs

Folks,

I have run out of words and thoughts that would attempt to explain the thinking of the left.  As the posts by Birdman, Steve and myself discuss, we are each unable to reconcile the high desire of self preservation that every elected official has with the “CHARGE” mentality of forging ahead with placebocare.

In an attempt to create a mental picture of what I’m seeing, imagine that the look out on the Titanic had just spotted the iceberg while it was still about two miles off.  Most of us would expect that upon notification, the Captain would tell the helmsman to slow down and steer a course to avoid the iceberg.  If Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid were that Captain, I’d see them responding by telling the helmsman to set a course directly for the iceberg and yell loudly for the engines to be increased to “full speed ahead.”  They would do this because while they know there will be casualties, they’re OK with those casualties.

The latest evidence of Pelosi and Reid giving the American people the middle finger comes from Rasmussen.  Amongst their latest findings:

• Seventy-eight percent (78%) of voters nationwide say it’s at least somewhat likely that the health care reform legislation working its way through Congress will cost more than projected.
• Eighty-one percent (81%) also think passage of the legislation is at least somewhat likely to lead to higher middle-class taxes.
• The survey finds that 68% believe the legislation will increase the federal budget deficit.

No more is it sufficient to say that the American people are not in favor of placebocare.  With the latest Rasmussen results, we are now able to say that up to 81% of the American people believe that both Houses of Congress AND President Obama are lying to them about the implications of this legislation! 

Stop for a moment…………………………………………..Just sit still………………………………………Sip your coffee…………………….breath deeply………………………………………consider that last statement…………………

Up to 81% of the American people believe that both Houses of Congress AND President Obama are lying to them about the implications of this legislation! 

And yet, they proceed!

Shoebox and Birdman have been having a spirited debate on the future of PlaceboCare. While I hope that Birdman is right that this can still be scuttled, I’m of even a more sour opinion than Shoebox. Allow me to put in my 2-cents’ worth:

• There are actually three versions of PlaceboCare out there: the version that passed the Senate on a party-line vote (the hijacked H.R. 3950), lacking any sort of public option but financing abortion-on-demand; the version that barely passed the House (H.R. 3962), lacking financing for abortion-on-demand but having a public option; and H.R. 3200, still lurking in the shadows and having both the public option and financing for abortion-on-demand. Of the three, only H.R. 3200 and a completely-unamended version of H.R. 3950 would not have to go through a 60-vote test in the Senate.
• The limited debate on H.R. 3950 strongly suggests that there would be 50 votes (plus Biden) in the Senate for H.R. 3200.
• If Nancy Pelosi can get a majority to support an nearly-unchanged (from the Senate-hijacked) version of H.R. 3950 (or even a completely-unchanged version), it is likely that she would also be able to get a majority for H.R. 3200. After all, the bigger stumbling block in the House has been abortion-on-demand funding.
• If Scott Brown pulls off the upset in Massachusetts and wins next month’s special election to permanently fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat (and if the ‘Rats seat him), the Democrats would not be able to get to 60 votes for either an amended H.R. 3950 or a Senate-considered H.R. 3962 (at least without the defection of one of the Maine Wonder Twins).
• As Shoebox said, Pelosi doesn’t much care about losing 40 ‘Rats, especially if they’re Blue Lap Dogs. I’ll add to that by saying Harry Reid and company aren’t at all worried about losing a majority in the Senate. Indeed, given the lack of NRSC/NRC support for Brown, I have my doubts about the Republicans’ desire to pick up even one net seat in 2010.
• However, I disagree with Shoebox that just “anything” will mollify the moonbats’ anger that full-out Communism hasn’t broken out yet. If the Dems lose control of the House in 2010, it will be in large part because the ‘bats stayed home to protest “nothing” being done, much like how the Republicans lost control in 2006. That is the threat that Pelosi will respond to.

Damn, I hope I’m wrong. I REALLY hope I’m wrong.

Well, it’s official now.  I feel the need to get it off my chest.

Birdman and I have been having an ongoing, private debate.  He believes placebocare will yet meet its Waterloo.  His primary belief, which he outlines nicely here,  is that the looming deficit will be the piece that brings enough Democrat votes together with Republicans, to kill this freedom obliterating bill.  I don’t want to make Birdman sound like a myopic Pollyanna.  He also believes that abortion, public option or a host of other issues could also cause the bill to stall.  In short, if I may paraphrase, he believes there are too many moving pieces and too many Democrats who will have to face election next year, to hold together the votes that were there on the passage of the original House and Senate versions.

I on the other hand, have complete confidence in the Democrats to push this bill through to the end.  Let me lay out my rationale.

1. As I wrote yesterday, Payola Palooza is now in play.   Any Democrat member that Pelosi or Reid would need in a second vote, now have a price tag on their head.  Most Senators have already been bought.  Representatives go for much much less.  While there is a lot of talk about deficits, Harry, Nancy nor President Obama really care about them when it comes to passing this legislation.
2. Obama is in trouble.  Read any poll you want and it is clear that Obama’s approval is falling on all political fronts.  Heck, even African Americans are down in the 60% approval level.  If Obama fails to get placebocare passed it could be argued that he is Ofer in his first year with no where to go but down.  All of his chips are in on placebocare.   He’ll get Nancy and Harry to do everything possible to keep him from becoming irrelevant before his first State of the Union.
3. Elections – all the talk about Democrats having to face the electorate is a smoke screen.  Nancy Pelosi has already said she expects to lose up to 40 seats next year.  She considers these “transitional” seats.  She believes that they are the Democrat version of RINOS and should be replaced by more vigilant Marxists! 
4. To the argument that Birdman makes about self preservation, I present exhibit A.  Expect to see many more “centrist” Democrats to announce their “retirements” in the next few weeks.  These are people who know they are dead people walking i.e. vote for the bill and they won’t get reelected, vote against the bill and Pelosi will have them cleaning the Republican urinals until they retire.  Oh, and if you think, “poor people, they’ll be out of work!”  Don’t worry, for anyone that goes willingly, Nancy has cushy, high paying and high pension jobs lined up for each of the votes she needs to buy.
5. It doesn’t have XXXXX (name your favorite feature.)  Sorry, it doesn’t matter whether it is the public option, abortion, the deficit or any of the other items id’d as “deal breakers.”  None of them will ultimately be “deal breakers!”  In the end, the far left, the moderate left and all other versions of the left will accept anything that will pass with the understanding that if they pass it now, regardless of what is actually passed, they can fix it later.  Perfection is not required, passing something, anything is!
6. Finally, history!  There is no doubt that every Democrat looks at this bill as historical.  While I admit to not understanding it, I see a similar pattern with placebocare as there was with the election of Barack Obama.  It was clear from early on that Obama was a Marxist and apologist who would do this country harm.  Objective people, people who actually wanted to look at the information, saw through the veneer of public persona that was being created.  Unfortunately for our country, in the end, too many people got caught up in the sale of “change” and the historicity of the first black president.  Placebocare is on the same track.  Any logical, thinking person can see the line of broken promises we’ll experience if placebocare is based.  That said, this isn’t about logic.  This is all about emotion and history for the Democrats.

There, now you’re on the inside of a debate that Birdman and I have had for several weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, I hope I’m wrong and Birdman is right.  Unfortunately, I’m used to the Democrats going against anything that resembles America but I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised!

The toner hasn’t yet set on the Harry Reid’s version of placebocare and positions are already being taken on how the House and Senate will reconcile their bills.  The AP has an enlightening article that quotes numerous Democrat Representatives laying out how they see the House and Senate bill harmonizing:

James Clyburn, a strong advocate for the public option, when asked whether the final bill would be required to have a public option answered:

“We want a public option to do basically three things: Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs. So if we can come up with a process by which these three things can be done, then I’m all for it. Whether or not we label it a public option or not is of no consequence.”

Representative Chris Van Hollen said:

“Before the House was to give up the public option, we would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums.  We’ve got to make sure that the final product is affordable.”

At first blush, these and other similar quotes, look like the normal “congressionalese” that is spoken any time a negotiation is about to take place.  However, in light of what we just watched in the Senate, particularly with the purchase of Ben Nelson’s vote (a side note:  I thought “Pay for play” was illegal?  Wasn’t that what Blagojevich and Burris were/are accused of?), comments like these need to be understood in a whole new way.

“Hey, I’m not fixated on a name.  I want to make sure we accomplish some specific goals,” is what appears to be Clyburn’s thoughtful response.  However, let’s take another look at Clyburn’s quote after putting on our official “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses.  With our special glasses, what initially looked like a principled, practical response, now reads:

“I could be persuaded to give up the public option.  First, while I don’t care if it actually does it, I need to be able to tell my constituents that the bill does three things:  Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs.  I’m sure we can add several hundred pages of confusing language that will give the impression that we’ve done this even thought we won’t.   Second, after seeing what has transpired in the Senate, I’ve developed a price that my vote can be purchased for.  Whether we end up having a public option or not is of no consequence as long as I get the appropriate gratuity!”

Let’s now look at Representative Van Hollen’s comment.  After you’ve used your official “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses once, subsequent quotes are much easier to decipher.

“Before I give up the public option, I would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums.  We’ve got to make sure that the final product is affordable.  I expect other taxpayers to be subservient to the sluggards of my district so that my constituents will not have to pay any of the ridiculous taxes that have been placed in this bill.  With this benefit and the agreed to publicity that the DHCC will guarantee to provide me on this topic, I should be well on my way to buying myself another term in the House!”

Now that we’ve seen the vote purchasing in the Senate we will never again read or hear, any comment by any Congressperson about what he/she will or won’t accept in legislation without thinking, “I wonder how much they expect to be bribed for their vote?”  Keep you pair of “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses handy.  You’ll be reaching for them every day from now until November of 2010!

Ray Stevens with his thoughts on Placebocare

Late this afternoon, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell waved the white flag.  As reported by RollCall, McConnell made an agreement withHarry Reid to pass a two month extension on the debt limit and waive the remaining time required to get to the final vote on the passage of Placebocare.  McConnell, recognizing that he never had any bullets (heck, even Barney Fife at least had one bullet) decided it was the better part of valor to waive the time and allow a timely departure for the Christmas holiday for all senators and staff rather than hold to the last second and be labeled a Scrooge on top of the label of “dolt!”

By Christmas there will be two versions of Placebocare that couldn’t be more different.  In fact, about the only thing the two bills have in common are the allegation that they both pertain to health care.  Now that both houses have passed a bill, the questions become these:  Can the two bills be reconciled and if they are, will both houses vote to support the reconciled bill?

The question of whether the bills can be reconciled is obvious.  Nancy, Harry and Rahmwill do anything and everything to get a bill that will go back to both chamber floors.  Don’t think for a second that there will be an issue that one of them can’t strong arm or buy their way through.  So, that leaves the question of whether the reconciled bill can be passed.

There’s lots of new bad news out for President Obama the Democrats and Placebocare.  In a new Quinnipiac poll, 72% oppose using any public money from placebocare to pay for abortions.  The same poll found that by a margin of 52% to 36%, Americans oppose placebocare and by a margin of 56% to 38% they disapprove of the way that President Obama is handling the issue of health care reform.  Perhaps most significant out of the Quinnipiac poll is that there is no economic or age demographic that now supports Obama’s handling of placebocare.  Not even the young people support Obama on placebocare any longer.

The latest Rasmussen polls are even more damaging to President Obama and Placebocare. After having shrunk to about a 10 point deficit, Rasmussen now shows that public opinion is back, and holding, near it’s high of a 15% deficit, and that’s the good news!

Early today, Rasmussen released it’s daily presidential tracking report. After hitting a new high, or rather low, of -19 ten days ago, the trend had been improving for President Obama recovering to a -12 a week ago. However, in the past few days the trend has not only reversed, it’s reversed at a staggering rate. On December 20th, the rating was -15. In just two days the poll leaped to a -21, a 6 point swing! Does anyone thing it coincidence that the health care votes are occurring during the same time frame as this dramatic change? The same daily poll shows even amongst African-Americans Obama’s support is now only 58%. Do you remember when 90% of African-Americans voted for President Obama?

Finally, early last evening, Rasmussen released the latest generic poll. Republicans now lead Democrats by 8 points, the highest level this year and the highest level for a considerable period of time.

Back to the question.  It’s clear that placebocare is shunned everywhere and by everyone.  It’s clear in all the polls, including President Obama’s favorability rating, that the public is rigidly set against the bill.  That said, I won’t put one penny of a bet against Nancy, Harry and company and their ability to rig another set of votes.  I will say this though, if the Democrats manage to pass this bill, the political tables will turn 180 degrees from where they were in 2008.  In 2008 you almost couldn’t buy an election if you were a Republican.  If placebocare is passed, in 2010, Democrats won’t be able to buy an election and that’s saying something!  The fact that the Democrats either don’t see this or believe that they can somehow avoid it is a willingness to suspend disbelief that is far worse than that required by Hillary Clinton when she questioned General Patraeus!

Regardless of the way that placebocare proceeds from here, I have a suggestion for the Republicans.  Rather than the normal congenial hand off of time on the chamber floor i.e. I yield my time to the good Senator from the State of XYZ, I propose that the Republicans brand the Democrats in a way that will keep the issue in the forefront for the foreseeable future.  I propose the Republicans brand the Democrats what they are by saying each time, “I yield my time to the good Senator from the State of Denial!”

This piece from the American Eneterprise Institute could also be titled, “You can have any health insurance plan you want, as long as it’s black Communist Red.”:

All of which brings us to the question of whether you’ll be able to spend extra money to add benefits that exceed the government’s basic package or opt out of that plan entirely. The bill doesn’t address this question directly–yet I can say with great confidence that it will be costly and in some cases impossible.

The bill leaves these issues in the hands of the bureaucracies that will write the law’s enabling regulations. And it’s clear both what the spirit of the Obama plan and the habits of these bureaucracies will produce.

I’ll temporarily stop the quote to remind you that under the current version of PlaceboCare, anything that the bureaucrats write will essentially not be reviewable by Congress. Let’s continue.

The overriding goal of this reform is to turn health insurance into a more “egalitarian” benefit that’s the same for everyone, regardless of income, personal preference or need. So rules written under President Obama to implement the Obama plan are a sure bet to intentionally curtail anyone’s ability to wrap around this national coverage with a supplemental policy or to contract privately with doctors to pay your way out of its limitations.

This is exactly what the bureaucracy’s done with Medicare. Doctors accepting Medicare can’t contract privately with Medicare patients to bill for services that Medicare doesn’t cover. Nor can patients buy added coverage to help plug Medicare’s gaps. (The “Medigap” that many seniors now buy are tightly regulated by the government to limit how much they expand on Medicare’s basic benefits; they mostly just help defray co-pays.)

In short, beneficiaries are trapped inside the Medicare insurance scheme, just as they’ll soon be trapped inside the ObamaCare exchanges. Doctors can’t offer benefits not covered by the government plans, and patients can’t buy extra insurance to make up for many gaps….

The very rich, of course, will be able to buy their way out of ObamaCare. Many of the best doctors will go cash only, opting entirely out of the Obama program, to cater to a wealthy clientele. But only the truly affluent will have the cash to escape.

Yes, folks, you read the headline right – The Dingy One has, as part of the Dingy version of PlaceboCare, made it “out of order” for either House of Congress to overrule any decision rendered by the Death Panels (aka the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards) (emphasis in the original):

To change the rules of the United States Senate, there must be sixty-seven votes.

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Section 3403 of Senator Reid’s legislation also states, “Notwithstanding rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph (A) may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection (c)(3).” In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule.

Senator Jim DeMint confronted the Democrats over Reid’s language. In the past, the Senate Parliamentarian has repeatedly determined that any legislation that also changes the internal standing rules of the Senate must have a two-thirds vote to pass because to change Senate rules, a two-thirds vote is required. Today, the Senate President, acting on the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian, ruled that these rules changes are actually just procedural changes and, despite what the actual words of the legislation say, are not rules changes. Therefore, a two-thirds vote is not needed in contravention to longstanding Senate precedent

And that motherfucker had the balls to say that he hoped the Senate would return to civility once he finishes fucking everybody over. Well, FUCK HIM AND THE HORSESHIT HE SPEWS OUT!

Revisions/extensions (8:40 am 12/22/2009) – With a tip of the hat to Ed Morrissey, here is the video of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) questioning the Parliamentarian of the Senate on this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnmvVo_itT0[/youtube]

Michelle Malkin has the sordid details, as well as the newest catch-phrase. We know what Mary Landrieu’s and Ben Nelson’s prices were. The question is, what was Joe Lieberman’s?

Time for a start of another PlaceboCare carol:

On the first day of PlaceoCare, Dingy Harry took from me
My right to not pay for your health care.

On the second day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

On the third day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
Three trillion dollars,
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

On the fourth day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
Forty Republicans’ Sunday,
Three trillion dollars,
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

On the fifth day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
All the nation’s gold,
Forty Republicans’ Sunday,
Three trillion dollars,
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

It’s late, so I’ll leave this unfinished, at least for now.

In less than 72 hours, Ben Nelson went from centrist Democrat to Ashley Dupre in comparison to Mary Landrieu’s saloon girl pricing commands.

On Wednesday, reports were out that argued that Ben Nelson could not support any form of placebocare that didn’t have the sign off of Nebraska’s chapter of national right to life.  Also on Wednesday, The Weekly Standard published a poll showing that while 51% of Nebraskans approved of Nelson’s job, 67% opposed placebocare and 61% said they would be less likely to support Nelson if he voted for placebocare.

In spite of the risk to his political career, today after receiving lots of financial goodies for Nebraska and a poorly worded attempt at hiding the fact that abortion will ultimately still be required by placebocare, Nelson has agreed to vote for cloture.  Assuming there are no other Democrat whores whose conscience can be bought, it appears that the Senate will be passing Harry Reid’s version of placebocare. 

With the now apparent, imminent passage of placebocare, a question arises.  With the polls solidly against placebocare in places like Nebraska and other fly over states, how do Democrat Senators expect to pass placebocare out of the Senate and not receive reelection repercussions?  Easy, they’ll pull the “John Kerry!

in October 2003,  Kerry voted against an $87 billion supplemental funding bill for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He did support an alternative bill that funded the $87 billion by cutting some of President Bush’s tax cuts.  Whenit was apparent the alternative bill would not pass, he decided to go on record as not supporting the legislation to fund soldiers.  It was after this combination of positions and votes that Kerry uttered his now infamous quote:

I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.

Cloture, or the approval to proceed, requires 60 votes in the Senate.  This is the issue that has stymied Harry Reid until now.  However, the final vote for the passage of a bill, only requires a simple majority or 51 votes.  In fact, if the vote is split at 50/50, Vice President Joe Biden would cast the deciding vote.  While it now appears that Reid has spread enough of our money around to get 60 votes for cloture, you can bet that there will be no where near 60 votes for the final votes.

Between today and whenever the final vote comes, you can bet that Senators like Jim Webb, Ben Nelson, Byron Dorgan, Evan Byah and a few others, will be talking about how they are yet “unsure” as to how they will vote on the final vote.  They will talk about the need to “move the process forward.”  In fact, I’m certain that several Democrat Senators will vote against the final passage of the bill.  Not too many, something less than 10 will vote against the bill, but there will be some who believe voting against the final bill will give them political cover.

By voting against the final bill, these supposed “moderate” Democrats will go back to their states and attempt to claim that they weren’t really for the atrocity that is placebocare.  When they return to their states, these senators will tell their constituents that they voted for the bill before they voted against the bill.  Actually, this is an incredibly difficult maneuver as it is not the “John Kerry” but the “Reverse John Kerry.”  I doubt you’ll see many of these folks successfully execute the move.  Several of those attempting this move will get zeros, not from the Russian judges but from their home state constituents!

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the last ditch plea from the Republican Senators.  If you have a phone and have a Democrat Senator, especially ones about to attempt the “Reverse Kerry,” call them and let them know that no matter how hard they try to explain otherwise, they will be held accountable for all votes that had any part in allowing placebocare to become law!

You’ve all heard about climategate.  A few emails get leaked and the entire basis for global warming comes to a scientific crash because the data had all been rigged to produce the results that those who controlled the data wanted.

I’ve been puzzled for some time as to how Placebocare could be anywhere near deficit neutral even after taking into account that revenues start well before benefits and CBO reported increases in insurance costs, particularly for younger people.  Previously, I had shared studies done by various health industry groups that showed dramatic increases in insurance costs under any of the iterations of Placebocare.  It always appeared to me that the CBO’s numbers weren’t reconciling with what the industry was saying, even at a macro level.  I had always thought the answer lied in me not being smart enough to see the differences in how things were analyzed.  However, with some new information I now believe that I couldn’t see why because the “why” wasn’t there.

Cato institute has uncovered what could do to Placebocare, what the leaked emails did to global warming.  Just read this post and see if you don’t agree:

I actually saw my headline on a post over at Politico.  It struck a chord with me.  With all of the Christmas Carols that were being rewritten for Tiger Woods i.e. “I’m dreaming of a white mistress,” I hadn’t heard any that had been written for Placebocare.  I decided to rectify that oversight.

Without further ado, my contribution, perhaps the start, of Christmas Carols about Placebocare:

Sung to the tune of “What Child is This?”

What Bill Is This? 

What bill is this, that sits at rest
On Harry’s desk while debating?
Who Joe and Ben would love to pass
But can’t find the terms that ally them!

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

 
We tried a takeover, tried control
The peasant people are rioting
We tried to obfuscate, tried to hide
The impact on lives we were planning

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

Tried buying votes, with earmarks and threats
But nothing seems to corral them
When one steps in one more disagrees
I can’t find a plan that calms all of them

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

So bring me Snowe and Jim and Joe
A place in history taunts me
All’s up for grabs don’t let me down
A cloture vote’s near don’t torment me!

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

It was suggested that if I ever recorded this, it should be done with a choir of children and at the end they should add:

“mmm mmm mmm Barack Hussein Obama.”

Revisions/extensions (10:28 am 12/16/2009, steveegg) – For those of you who don’t know the tune, I’ll take a page from Doug from Upland and provide one for you. Just don’t ask me to try to sing it; your pets and ears would not survive.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4WnzcrUci0[/youtube]

I’m not sticking around for all the votes of the amendments, but there’s a few items to touch on (mostly courtesy my friends at The Weekly Standard:

• Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) went back to his roots and said that dumping the Medicare-expansion option was good enough for him.
• Michael Goldfarb reports that the White House has threatened Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) with closure of Offutt Air Force Base (home to the United States Strategic Command, which handles all military things WMD, space, and command-and-control related) if he didn’t jump on board.
• Mary Katharine Ham broke out some classic movie cliff scenes in response to a quote from President Obama saying that the ‘Rats were on the precipice of an “achievement”. I’m partial to the use of the “Themla and Louise” one, as it was entirely self-inflicted just like PlaceboCare.
• The Senate Doctors, Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and John Barrasso, M.D. (R-WY) hammered home the pratfalls of going to that precipice, especially going there alone…
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfr1SLC2sUM[/youtube]

Expand Medicare!

That’s the latest non public, public option.  Even Politico.com recognizes that this new plan is really the “public option” with a new name:

To win over liberals disappointed at losing the public option, Democrats would allow older Americans starting at age 55 to buy into Medicare, the popular program for the aged. The Medicare expansion would be a significant victory for Democrats, who spent years pushing for it. The proposal would in effect create a public health insurance option for older Americans, since Medicare is government-funded and government-run.

On its Health Policy Blog, Mayo clinic posted in part:

Expanding this system to persons 55 to 64 years old would ultimately hurt patients by accelerating the financial ruin of hospitals and doctors across the country. A majority of Medicare providers currently suffer great financial loss under the program. Mayo Clinic alone lost $840 million last year under Medicare. As a result of these types of losses, a growing number of providers have begun to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practices.

Did you get that?  Did you pick up what what Mayo said?  Let’s pull out the key piece:

As a result of these types of losses, a growing number of providers have begun to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practices.

Time and again, the Democrats, including President Obama, have assured us that the implementation of Placebocare would not cause any form of rationing.  In fact they argue that more people will have access to health care with Placebocare than today.  How can you significantly increase participation in a bankrupt program and not get rationing?  You can’t!

Within the past month SK&A, a national health care information solution company released a study that looked a physician acceptance rates of Medicare and Medicaid. The study found that less than 83% of all physicians still accept Medicare or Medicare patients. Also found in the study is that large, hospital settings are more likely to accept Medicare than small group clinics, the North region of the US was most likely to have physicians that accepted Medicare (87%) while the West was the least likely (78%). Finally, the study found that high volume physicians (those who saw 31 or more patients per day), were more likely to accept medicare than those who saw 20 or fewer patients per day.

As recently as 2002, a study by the Medicare Advisory Council found that 90% of physicians accepted Medicare.  In less than 7 years 7% of physicians have exited the Medicare program.  I don’t know how the Democrats define rationing but I’d say that a shrinking supply of physicians or being limited to less than 15 minutes per visit because the economics dictate it, is a pretty good example of rationing.

Yesterday, as White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was questioned about polls showing President Obama continuing to drop in popularity, Gibbs responded:

I’m sure a 6-year-old with a crayon could do something not unlike that. I don’t put a lot of stake in, never have, in the EKG that is the daily Gallup trend.

In his response and follow up comments, Gibbs seems to suggest not only that a six year old is unable to control their crayons but also that anyone who puts any stock in polls is deemed to have the mental ability of a six year old.

First, having lived through the stages of dexterity improvement as it relates to color crayon control, I can attest that many six year olds are extremely capable of “staying within the lines” and even coloring  a reasonably straight line, when asked.

Second, while I would agree with Mr. Gibbs that any one poll may not accurately reflect the mood of the polled, multiple polls will certainly show a direction and a significance of the concern level.  Let’s look at an example.

Support for Placebocare is claimed by Mr. Gibbs, to have public support.  To be sure, there was a time when the public did support Placebocare.  However, as time has gone on, and the public finds out how damaging Placebocare will be to the economy, the quality of health care and their pocketbooks, public support has dropped to levels that should require a mercy killing.

Just today, three new polls came out showing a low and deteriorating support level for Placebocare:

QUINNIPIAC: “Voters Disapprove 52 – 38 Percent Of The Health Care Reform Proposal Under Consideration In Congress, And They Disapprove 56 – 38 Percent Of President Obama’s Handling Of Health Care, down from 53 – 41 percent in a November 19 survey by the independent Quinnipiac University.” (“Obama Approval Falls To New Low, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds,” Quinnipiac University, 12/9/09)

BLOOMBERG: “The poll finds significant opposition to using Medicarefor savings; 78 percent say they would oppose any cuts to the program.” (“Obama’s War Plan Gains Amid Doubts On Domestic Policy,” Bloomberg, 12/9/09)

PUBLIC POLICY POLLING: “Support For Obama On Health Care Has Hit Another New Low With Just 39% Of Voters Now Expressing Approval Of His Health Care Plans And 52% Opposed.” (“Obama’s December Standing,” Public Policy Polling, 12/9/09)

It is clear that there is no majority or even plurality of support for Placebocare.  In fact, when you start asking people about specific provisions as Bloomberg did, support becomes almost nearly non existent.

If believing that Placebocare does not have the American public’s support makes me a six year old, what does that make someone who believes it does have support, like Mr. Gibbs?

Yes, I know, it’s a pretty trite title.  That said, many of you would probably reply with “yes, but it fits most of your writing!”  OK, now that you’ve had your moment of sarcasm, can we get down to business?

The Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell put out a press release denigrating the Democrat’s efforts to make a bad bill, worse.  As part of his statement, McConnell accused the Democrats of both a lack of principle and laziness by saying:

‘So what’s becoming abundantly clear is that the Majority will make any deal, agree to any terms, sign any dotted line that brings them closer to final passage of this terrible bill. They are, for lack of a better term, winging it on one of the most consequential pieces of domestic legislation in memory’

“Winging it” are they?  I don’t think so!  Whether it is Reid or someone else, the Democrats seem to know exactly what they are doing. 

The Senate started with a plan that was sure to split the Democrat caucus.  As Steve has on his poll, there were at least 3 issues capable of ensuring that Placebocare didn’t exit the Senate; abortion funding, public option and the cost.  We’ve already seen in the House version how the Democrats will “eliminate” abortion funding from the bill while retaining it via some smoke and mirrors.  We also know that for all the discussion of concern over cost, there is no Democrat that will stand in the way of a “historic” legislation due to a measly few trillion dollars.  That leaves the public option as the real divider.

Last night and this morning, we are hearing that the Democrats are finding a solution to the public option dilemma.  Articles like this one at Politico.com, are suggesting that a public option that is run privately but at the government’s direction, may be the solution that lets the Democrat spectrum be equally offended but provides a solution that is equally accepted.

I won’t go into the weak mindedness of this non public, public option other than to say; “Isn’t this just more of the same?”  Aren’t all plans today basically privately implemented but publicly mandated?

What I will say about the non public, public option is that not only might this get the Democrats to solidify, there are also signs that this kind of a solution may get the one Republican vote they need to close debate and move to a final vote.  In fact, the non public, public option is the brain child of Senator Olympia Snowe.  Yes, that’s right, the same Olympia Snowe who has a problem with a public option but has no problem with funding abortion services.  See how this is coming together?

It’s becoming clearer to me that rather than “winging it,” that while the outcome may be imperfect from their viewpoint, Democrats are close to finding a path that will allow them to attain their goal, control of the health care industry.  On the other hand, Mitch McConnell has yet to offer anything other than verbal tripe in the way of opposition.  Not once has McConnell demanded a unanimous consent on any amendment, nor has he required the reading of the bill.  Neither of these efforts would ultimately cause the bill’s failure if the Democrats are committed to unity for passage.  However, either or both of these efforts would delay the passage of any bill.  If there’s one hope for killing this bill it is kept in forcing the Democrat Senators to face their constituents another time before the vote.  If the polls are correct, a number of them will hear clearly, that they had better not vote for Placebocare, at least if they value their cushy jobs.

So, while Mitch McConnell accuses the Democrats of ethical flexiblity and “winging it” it would seem that at this point, he is the one operating without a plan and in fact, “winging it!”  Pot meet kettle!

I pointed out to you here that while the advertised cost of the first ten years of the House Placebocare bill was $829, the real cost, if fully implemented, was over $1.3 Trillion, 57% more than claimed.  The reason for this dramatic difference is that while the House plan has taxes and other revenue sources beginning almost immediately, the expenses, or implementation of the benefits, did start for nearly 4 years.

The Senate bill is no better than the House. It too begins to generate revenue long before it hits the full stride of expenses. As a result, the Senate bill claims it will cost around $1 Trillion. We all know that this number is false. What we don’t know is how big the real number is. Well, it appears that the Democrats might.

In comments today, Democrat Senator Max Baucus from Montana said:

“Just for a second — health care reform, whether you use a ten-year number or when you start in 2010 or start in 2014, wherever you start at, so it is still either $1 trillion or it’s $2.5 Trillion, depending on where you start…”

What?  “It’s either $1 Trillion or $2.5 Trillion, depending on where you start?” 

Senator Baucus is willing to concede that the Senate version of Placebocare could have a swing in cost of $1.5 Trillion, 150% of the advertised price, “depending on where you start.”  Baucus treats $1.5 Trillion dollars as if it’s some irrelevant amount.  He treats it as I would treat a dime in my checkbook balancing; as a rounding error!

If Senator Baucus is right and “It’s either $1 Trillion or $2.5 Trillion, depending on where you start,” might I suggest that we start really, really early?  I’d suggest we start where the price tag is still ZERO!

Poll after poll has shown that Placebocare is not supported by the majority of Americans.  One segment that inexplicably hadn’t moved to the anti Placebocare side has been the youth.  In fact, youth are one of the few segments that have consistently supported Placebocare.  In a Rasmussen poll this week, while overall support for Placebocare had dropped to 38%, the poll found that a majority of those under 30 continued to support Placebocare.

As I said earlier, the support amongst those under 30 is inexplicable.  Why?  Because those under 30 are the group most likely to feel the impact of Placebocare.

The under 30 group is the most likely not to carry insurance.  Under Placebocare, if you don’t have insurance you will be subject to fines, or in the House version, jail time.  Also, several studies have shown that for those who do have insurance, those under 30 will likely see significant increases in the cost of their insurance.  I referenced some of those studies here.

As long as Placebocare continues to have about a 40% support in the country, people like President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and other tone deaf politicians, will maintain an effort to enact Placebocare under the guise of “demand.”  With all other age groups decidedly against Placebocare, if the under 30 group breaks its support, overall support will drop below 30% and that would likely be a death blow for Placebocare. 

That begs the question, “How to we move the folks under 30?”  Dick Morris and the League of American Voters may have found the answer.

Morris and the League have developed a commercial specifically targeted at the youth.  The commercial was played in the States of several key Democrat Senators just prior to the Senate vote of last weekend.  The results?  Prior to the commercial, the under 30 crowd in these states supported Placebocare 58% to 30% against.  After the commercial ran, the same age groups in the same states shifted to a 25% and 65% against Placebocare.

Hokey smoke Rocky! That’s a HUGE change. A change like that nationally would stop Placebocare in its tracks. So, what was the silver bullet in the message that got this dramatic change? Watch:

Turns out that those under 30 don’t like being taxed or penalized anymore than those over 30. Is it possible that those under 30 are just as economically rational as other age groups once they have the truth about how Placebocare will impact them? YUP!

Now that the Senate bill will enter debate it will be harder and harder for the Democrats to hide behind the “that’s not in the bill” argument using the “it’s not written yet” guise.  Both the House and Senate plans are in written form and both have horrendous implications for the young people of our country.  The longer the debate goes on, the more time to make sure that people have the information about what really is in the bill.  Time is not the Democrat’s best friend when it comes to Placebocare.

As Tom McMahon asks in today’s 4-Block, “How sick is this?”

Here’s the photo from Drudge:

Post up your best caption for the picture.

Here’s mine:

Reid needs support for his lower back pain after carrying the 2074 page Senate health care bill into the chamber.

Update:  OK, how about “NO!  When doing the Senate two step, you put one hand on my shoulder, the other on my waist!”