10:17: Obama's opening statement is pretty decent. Let's work together, etc. Sen. Lamar Alexander up next for the GOP opening statement.
10:30: Sen Lamar Alexander just told Obama to basically go screw himself in the GOP's opening statement and that the only way forward, period, is for the Dems to start over completely, otherwise this is six hours of wasting America's time. You don't have a choice, is his message. There's bipartisanship for you.
10:35: Nancy Pelosi: Allow me to retort. Remember Ted Kennedy! You guys respected Ted, you know.
10:41: Pelosi hits back on Alexander's long-on-process speech. "Most people sitting around the kitchen table don't care about process. They care about results."
10:44 Harry Reid opens with an anecdote about a Nevada man named Jesus and his daughter who was born with a cleft palate, and the $90k bill the insurance company stuck him with for surgery for his daughter's "pre-existing condition."
10:46: Alexander is "entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts." Ouch.
10:50: "America's the only country in the world where you have insurance and get sick and go bankrupt." Nice.
10:54: Obama again, saying everybody agrees the issue is cost.
10:58: Lamar interrupts the President and says the CBO says the Senate bill makes premiums go up. Obama corrects the hell out of him. Lower premiums mean people will buy better insurance.
11:00: Obama: You know, there are a lot of Republican ideas already in this plan on cost-containment.
11:02: Mitch picks Tom Coburn for his side next, but not until McConnell flogs the polls that say everyone hates the Dems.
11:06: Government can't run anything. $150 billion a year in fraud. We fix fraud, we incentive doctors, we save 15% on health care for everyone.
11:09 We're creating more diabetes with food stamps and school lunches than anything. It's all about tort reform!
11:14 Steny Hoyer's up for the Dems. We've all got health care horror stories. I have one too!
11:17 Hoyer: You know Tom, you should be happy with our bill's anti-fraud provisions. You have a better way? Let's talk.
11:24 Republican Rep. John Kline talking about small businesses forming insurance pools. Don't both sides want this? Isn't this already in the bill?
11:26 Sen Max Baucus of the Dems responds: Yeah, those are called "exchanges". They were originally your idea, Republicans. It's a good idea. We're working on ironing out those differences.
11:29 The Dems continue to be nice. "We agree on prevention. We agree on fraud. We agree on exchanges." Somebody give him the hook already.
11:32 Rep Dave Camp of the GOP comes in with the $1 trillion cost/$500 billion Medicare cuts lie.
11:37 Obama puts up Dem Rep. Rob Andrews, who has a lot of Republican friends, apparently.
11:40 John Kline cuts off Andrews. "Nobody with health care plans from big companies are complaining." Really?
11:41 Mitch Objects, wants more time for Republicans. Obama relents to Rep Paul Ryan.
11:44 Obama getting annoyed now. Ryan keeps going on about doing to insurance what Congress did to credit cards.
11:45 Obama telling his story about his legal minimum car insurance policy he had on a beater in college, and how you can't have that for breast cancer. "We can't do that."
11:50 Chuck Schumer still agreeing with the Republicans. The Dem response to start over is "your ideas are in this bill." Gotta cut the bad stuff, keep the good stuff.
11:51 GOP Sen Jon Kyl counters with "No, we have too much disagreement." Attacks mandates, which are...a Republican idea.
11:57 Obama again, disputing Kyl's "fundamental" differences.
12:01 Jim Clyburn speaking. Emergency room patients being seen for primary care problems because they don't have insurance. Small businesses are at the mercy of the owners who make the decisions.
12:10 Obama shifts gears to insurance reform itself.
More on this later.
12:30: John McCain reminds everyone that he's running for President in 2008.
12:42: Eric Cantor puts the entire 2400 page bill on the table and says "We're afraid of Washington." Obama's bullshit tolerance level just dropped to nil.
12:50: Eric Cantor looks like somebody just took a dump in his Cheerios. He is clearly not used to being spoken to in this manner.
12:54: Biden askes for 10 seconds (heh). Rep Louise Slaughter of the Dems talking about the history of insurance discrimination of women. Strong stuff.
1:00 Obama talking to reporters now, called lunch break.
Guess giving accurate statements isn't feasible when you're trying to make one side look OMG AWESOME and the other look like they are satan whiling killing a puppy.
ReplyDeleteFor those who really care to read something accurate go google it. Repubs started out with basically "We agree the system is broken and needs fine tuning, however this is a car that can't be recalled and fixed and we ought to start over (rimshot at Toyota)" And thats not inaccurate. Start Over. They counted votes and made bribes to get something passed. Start over now that the Dems don't have a super majority and work step by step. In the end we will end up in the middle where I think the best result will lie.
Anyway carry on, I'm sure up next the Repubs will say "Our plan is simple, dont get sick, and if you do, die quickly!"
10:58: Lamar interrupts the President and says the CBO says the Senate bill makes premiums go up. Obama corrects the hell out of him. Lower premiums mean people will buy better insurance.
ReplyDeleteObama's opinion means dick when the CBO says otherwise. That's who both sides are using as a referencing point on cost.
11:00: Obama: You know, there are a lot of Republican ideas already in this plan on cost-containment..
ReplyDelete"Well we took some of your ideas, therefore you should accept most of our really bad ones!"
That's a logical argument. Actually I like the way you post it better, it's easier to rip apart.
Hey Anonytroll. How's the family?
ReplyDeleteWow are you going to paraphrase the whole summit to the toon of a liberals view?
ReplyDeleteThis is actually interesting, I'm getting a great picture of how intellectual you really are and what side you're rooting for. As if it wasn't obvious already.
Repubs are talking: "They're being mean again!"
Dems are talking: "Oh snap take that to the bank!"
Zandar, you simply must spring for a better quality troll.
ReplyDeleteThis one's boring.
I(nC)