Been following the furor over the new mammogram recommendations, and while conservatives have been quick to jump on it - see, see, this is what happens when government gets involved in health care! - it strikes me that we will never, in this country, be able to do away with unnecessary medical testing. There will […]

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Bill Clinton speaking to Senate Dems on the health care issue today:
Whitehouse quoted Clinton arguing: “The reason the teabaggers are so inflamed is because we are winning.”
Yep.
That’s why Bachmann’s tea party “press event” last weekend was described as a “last stand” - because it was. Ideologlically, they’re ready to die on this hill. Politically, they […]

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This shows up in the e-mail, conservatives always forward these things in the apparent hope that I’ll read it, slap my forehead and say: NOW I see!!!!
During my last night’s shift in the ER, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient with a shiny new gold tooth, multiple elaborate tattoos, a very expensive brand […]

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Following the maneuvering now in the Senate over the health care bill, Bill Clinton’s apparently meeting with Dem senators today and there’s noises being made that some conservative Dems won’t support the bill unless it bans federal money going for abortions - and liberal Dems saying they might not support the bill if it does.
I have […]

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Josh Marshall has it:
Tonight, in an historic vote, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would finally make real the promise of quality, affordable health care for the American people.
The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality affordable […]

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Interesting. House voting now; Stupak amendment, which restricts abortion, passes pretty handily - but provides political cover for conservative Dems to vote for the broader bill.
Boehner bill just voted down. This is happening.
Update: It happened; narrowly, 220-215.
Wow. It eluded Truman; it eluded Clinton. It won’t elude Obama.

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Sullivan links to a Politics Daily story describing yesterday’s teabaggery:
The angry folks at the protest — which attracted several thousand conservatives — held up signs with messages of hate: “Get the Red Out of the White House,” “Waterboard Congress,” “Ken-ya Trust Obama?” One called the president a “Traitor to the U.S. Constitution.” Another sign showed […]

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I’m sorry, but this is just a plain lie:
House Minority Leader John Boehner addressed the tea party crowd on Capitol Hill today, telling them that health care reform is “the greatest threat to freedom” he’s seen as a congressman.
“This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I’ve seen in the 19 years I’ve been […]

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Hey, Wingnut Queen Michelle Bachmann is sponsoring her very own tea party today!
And Republican members of Congress are falling in line - as they must. And she’s even talking about leading the teabaggers through the halls of Congress to find Congress critters who might dare vote for health care reform and shout at them in their offices.
Maybe […]

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So the GOP actually comes up with a health care proposal, which Matt Y. aptly calls the “No Soup for You” plan:
If you’re uninsured, this won’t help you.
If you’re insured, but you worry that circumstances beyond your control—a global financial meltdown leading to layoffs at your company, say—this won’t help you.
If you’re insured, but you […]

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House health care bill is out.
Details here.

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Interesting. I used to get a lot of these; not so much anymore, but then we don’t write about religious issues as much anymore. Maybe we should.
Until several months ago I had been an Evangelical Christian most of my life.  During the past several decades I have witnessed various desperate health situations both within and […]

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Wingers. They transcend parody.
Incidentally, I think it’s wonderful that they’re now in full-throated howl against Olympia Snowe. Yes - hound her out of your party. That’s a wonderful idea. She can join Arlen Specter as totally and forever discredited in the eyes of people who think effective political protest entails… sending large bags of rock […]

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Senate panel votes down public option.
Tell me again what incentive insurance companies have to cut consumer costs?
“A government run plan will ultimately force private insurers out of business,” Mr. Grassley said
Sen. Grassley, tell us please exactly how private insurers benefit health care consumers?
Or are the needs of the insurance industry actually more important than those […]

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E-mail this morning:
I read your column regarding healthcare for illeagles.
Do you believe that the democrats will deny care to illeagles?
Well, I know Donovan McNabb’s cracked ribs are going to be an issue, but I don’t think the team is going to ask the taxpayers…
Oh. Right.
First off, did I write a column about “illeagles?” I did […]

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Glenn Greenwald hammers on something we cited a few weeks ago in the print edition:
Just as was true for the 1994 crime bill, the right-wing fury over health care reform is motivated by the fear that middle-class Americans will have their money taken away by Obama while — all together now, euphemistically — “having someone […]

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Via Sullivan, this conservative suggestion for health care reform rang a few bells, as it might with any parent:
Absurdly restrictive licensing barriers to providing even rudimentary care make health care very, very expensive.  Any parent can tell you children’s ear infections are about as common as weekends.  And they’re about as hard to diagnose, too.  Yet, instead […]

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One of Josh Marshall’s readers nails the workings of the wingnut mind:
One recurrent theme of extremist assaults on the president has been the deep, visceral conviction that he’s hiding an extremist agenda. The more moderate his rhetoric, the more reasonable his tone, the more detailed and specific his claims, the deeper this conviction grows. If […]

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Well, I thought it was a tour de force - maybe the best speech I’ve heard him give. There were quite  a few b*tch-slaps in there - the one involving Palin, you could practically hear the contempt dripping from his voice, and given the mendacity of the “death panel” lie, that’s more than appropriate.
I’m not […]

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Water is wet. The sky is blue.
Sarah Palin is an idiot:
In an interview with the New York Times in April, the president suggested that such a group, working outside of “normal political channels,” should guide decisions regarding that “huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their […]

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