Free Republic

Nancy Pelosi: Health care was 'hijacked' By: Andy Barr March 11, 2010 12:02 PM EST House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concedes that Democrats allowed the health care reform debate to get “hijacked” by insurance companies and other interests set on killing the bill. Pelosi, in the second part of an interview with PBS’s Charlie Rose that aired Wednesday, said that early Democratic messaging attempts were plagued by the fact that the House and Senate had yet to come to any agreement about what would be in the bill. “When you don't (have) a bill yet, anyone can characterize it any way...

<p>For every voter who strongly favors the plan, two are strongly opposed.</p> <p>One of the more amazing aspects of the health-care debate is how steady public opinion has remained. Despite repeated and intense sales efforts by the president and his allies in Congress, most Americans consistently oppose the plan that has become the centerpiece of this legislative season.</p>

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's furious, final push to get a health care bill passed threatens to shove aside the message he promised would top his list this year: creating jobs. Even as the White House juggles several enormous issues at once, the public takes its cues about the president's chief concern from how he spends his time, energy and capital. As Obama himself put it on Wednesday, from now until Congress takes a final vote on a health care overhaul, "I will do everything in my power to make the case for reform." That kind of now-or-never campaign means...

So there was President Obama, giving his bazillionth speech on health care, droning yet again that "now is the hour when we must seize the moment," the same moment he's been seizing every day of the week for the past year, only this time his genius photo-op guys thought it would look good to have him surrounded by men in white coats. Why is he doing this? Why let "health" "care" "reform" stagger on like the rotting husk in a low-grade creature feature who refuses to stay dead no matter how many stakes you pound through his chest? Because it's...

What the Dems are doing makes perfect sense. For them. So there was President Obama giving his bazillionth speech on health care, droning yet again that “now is the hour when we must seize the moment,” the same moment he’s been seizing every day of the week for the past year, only this time his genius photo-op guys thought it would look good to have him surrounded by men in white coats. Why is he doing this? Why let “health” “care” “reform” stagger on like the rotting husk in a low-grade creature feature who refuses to stay dead no...

The President sent a letter to the Congressional leadership today, outlining the new version of the Health Care plan he will present to the American people tomorrow. The letter offers four provisions to be added to the bill as a result of last Thursday's "bi-partisan" health conference and one removed:

WASHINGTON — The White House and congressional leaders are preparing a detailed health care proposal designed to win passage without Republican support if GOP lawmakers fail to embrace bipartisan compromises at next week's summit.A senior White House official said Thursday that Democratic negotiators are resolving final differences in House and Senate health bills that passed last year. The official said the White House will post the proposals online by Monday morning.The official said it will be the opening bid for two-party talks to be hosted by President Barack Obama on Feb. 25.The negotiations are to determine what changes must be...

Building-size banner expresses gratitude for vote against health-care takeover A community hospital in Batesville, Miss., has gone to the unusual lengths of posting a building-size banner on the side of its structure to thank Massachusetts voters for their decision in the recent election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. The message is simple: "Thank You Massachusetts!" It stems from the gratitude local health care providers feel for the decision that sent Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate instead of a Democrat hand-picked by Kennedy fans who would have continued to support President Obama's nationalization plan for health care....

The president said he would be open to scaling back health reform legislation in order to salvage it. President Barack Obama suggested he's open to Congress passing a scaled-back health-care bill, potentially sacrificing much of his signature policy initiative as chaos engulfed Capitol Hill Wednesday. Top Democrats said they would press ahead despite growing doubts among rank-and-file members that they can pass a bill they've been laboring over for nearly a year. A host of ideas offered in recent days have lost favor. One day after losing their filibuster-proof Senate majority in a Massachusetts special election, exhausted Senate Democrats looked...

Obamacare in Cloud Cuckoo Land Examiner Editorial January 21, 2010 When the majority of voters in the bluest of blue states elects a candidate opposed to Obamacare to fill the Senate seat previously held by the man who was that proposal's most prominent supporter, there is a clear message: You lost because of what you've been doing for the past year, so stop doing it. Incredibly, President Obama's political brain trusts and his most powerful allies on Capitol Hill don't understand this reality. Witness Obama adviser David Axelrod saying of Republican Scott Brown's victory in Tuesday's special election: "I think...

A candidate for Senate in Florida, former Miami mayor Maurice Ferre, talks about the health-care legislation before Congress: Of course I am for healthcare reform, but this is not the right plan for the working families of Florida. This plan was arrived at with unacceptable compromises. It is a special interest plan that raises taxes and favors insurance and pharmaceutical companies. I fear the President has lost sight of his original goal of extending healthcare to all Americans and at the same time controlling healthcare costs.

Obama punted on the economy and reversed the fortunes of the Democrats in 365 days. He’s misjudged the character of the country in his whole approach. There’s the saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” He didn’t get it. He was determined somehow or other to adopt a whole new agenda. He didn’t address the main issue. This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country. Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage. This is going to raise costs dramatically. In the campaign, he said he would change politics as usual. He...

Via The Daily Advertiser, protesters greeted Senator Mary Landrieu at the Vermillion Parish Public Library yesterday where she was there to speak about coastal erosion and protection. The protesters were gathering signatures for their petition to recall Landrieu despite reports that the recall is unconstitutional and is heading to a dead end. Organizers of the recall are proceeding with the effort. One protester said that the recall petition might be unconstitutional but they feel that Obamacare is also unconstitutional. Mary Landrieu, with a straight face, says that she is not for government control of health care and she complains about...

It looks like the fix is in on national health-care reform - and it all may unfold on Beacon Hill. At a business forum in Boston today, interim Sen. Paul Kirk predicted that Congress would pass a health-care reform bill this month. “We want to get this resolved before President Obama’s State of the Union address in early to mid-February,” Kirk told reporters at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast. The longtime aide and confidant of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was handpicked by Gov. Deval Patrick after a controversial legal change to hold Kennedy’s seat, vowed...

The White House continued to suffer embarrassment from its decision to limit coverage by C-SPAN of the healthcare-reform debate to a one-hour event in the White House East Room, in violation of eight separate pledges during the campaign that C-SPAN would provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of all debates and all planning sessions. On Wednesday, Brian Lamb, CEO of C-SPAN's parent company, complained to radio talk-show host Bill Press that President Barack Obama had used his network as "a political football," making multiple promises of transparency on the healthcare-reform issue that he apparently never intended to keep. And today, according to The...

Not that this will come as any great shock, but Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), the lone Democrat holdout against the current iteration of healthcare reform, announced Saturday he will vote for the bill. Also unsurprising: much like Mary "Louisiana Purchase" Landrieu (D-La.) before him, Nelson sold his vote and his very soul for some financial benefits to his state. As Politico reported moments ago: Sen. Mary Landrieu got the "Louisiana Purchase." Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up most his state's future Medicaid tab -- forever. As part of the deal to win Nelson's support, the federal...

Nelson’s Nebraska To Receive Extra Medicaid Funds Under Senate Bill This morning’s managers amendment to the merged Senate health bill goes a long way towards satisfying the demands of Democratic hold-out and all-important 60th vote Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). Nelson has recently complained that the proposed expansion of Medicaid to those earning below 133% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) would burden his state of Nebraska and suggested that states should be able to opt-in to the program. Under the current merged legislation (the version unveiled on November 18th), the federal government fully finances care for the expanded population for...

Sleeping has been all but non existent for me. I get up 2 or 3 times throughout the wee morning hours to see if I still have a country left. This morning, I read..

WASHINGTON – Congressional budget scorekeepers say the latest Democratic health care bill would cover 94 percent of eligible Americans while reducing the federal deficit. The Congressional Budget Office said Saturday the changes announced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would cut the deficit by an additional $2 billion, bringing the 10-year total reduction to $132 billion.

Another day, another study confirming that ObamaCare will increase the price of health insurance. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has found that premiums in the individual market will rise on average by 54% over the status quo, which translates into an extra $3,341 a year for families and $1,576 for singles. The White House denounced the report as a "sham" before it was even released, which shows how seriously it takes such concerns. The Congressional Budget Office also found this week that ObamaCare will boost premiums in the individual market by as much as 13%. But the White House...