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Gibbs Says GOP Will Need To Explain Why They Now Oppose Health Care Summit They Called For
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today the proposed insurance rate hikes from Anthem Blue Cross in California that we've been writing about will serve as a backdrop for President Obama's health care summit next week.
Gibbs struck an ominous tone, suggesting that if reform doesn't pass now, there are more increases to come. It's an issue the Democrats seized on recently as they attempt to push a final measure over the goal line.
"People are getting letters in the mail now. They got them in California. Your health insurance is going to go up almost 40 percent from last year to this year. That's a preview of what's going to happen if we don't do anything," Gibbs said.
Gibbs also reacted to Anthem parent company Well Point's justification for the hikes - that reform is necessary.
"Well, I would say to this insurer, welcome to the game. Come down and help us -- help be part of the solution for cutting costs and increasing coverage," Gibbs said.
Republicans have not yet accepted the invitation and have said that the White House should start from scratch with a clean sheet of paper. Gibbs mocked the party for not immediately accepting a meeting they called for.
"Right before the president issued the invitation, the -- the thing that each of these individuals was hoping for most was an opportunity to sit down on television and discuss and engage on these issues. Now, not accepting an invitation to do what they'd asked the president to do, if they decide not to, I'll let them leap the -- leap the chasm there and try to explain why they're now opposed to what they said they wanted most to do," he said.
Gibbs said the process is "toward the end of the solution finding."
The press secretary several times pointedly declined to say what would be in the draft "online text" that Obama told lawmakers he'd post before the Feb. 25 summit, telling reporters in the daily briefing today to "stay tuned."
We've been asking our Congressional sources all day what they expect to be in that draft. So far, no answers, but we'll keep readers posted.
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mcc
February 16, 2010 4:12 PM
Are they going to hold it anyway even if the Republicans don't show up?
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TheOtherWA
February 16, 2010 4:23 PM in reply to mcc
They better hold it! By all means show the empty chairs where republics are supposed to be. Show America very clearly that the R's don't give a damn about anything but their next soundbite.
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Chris
February 16, 2010 4:25 PM in reply to TheOtherWA
Excellent idea. That actually might make it sensational enough for the MSM to pay attention.
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EastWest
February 16, 2010 4:45 PM in reply to Chris
Got that right. Televise that sucker, empty chairs and all. And be sure there are name plates at each seat.
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Turnaround
February 16, 2010 5:51 PM in reply to EastWest
That's right, empty chairs and name plates--on party color red or blue cardboard.
Let rows of empty red-tagged chairs be the Republicans' collective scarlet letter.
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Overreach THIS!
February 16, 2010 6:27 PM in reply to EastWest
Your comment is strongly recommended by the undersigned as to the nameplates!
Very respectfully,
O.T.
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Max Thrax
February 16, 2010 5:01 PM in reply to Chris
Which is exactly why the WON"T do it. You really should pay attention.
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FreeRider
February 16, 2010 6:29 PM in reply to Max Thrax
Are you pretending to be a Democrat or a Green today, Max?
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:41 AM in reply to Max Thrax
They have no choice but do it: they asked for it.
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slacker137
February 17, 2010 1:04 PM in reply to Chris
You can't be seriously suggesting that the MSM hasn't covered this, are you?
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rwp
February 16, 2010 4:47 PM in reply to TheOtherWA
Great idea your 1000% right
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3star2nr
February 16, 2010 4:54 PM in reply to TheOtherWA
yup they have nothing to lose. Hold it and call the republicans bluff. then Obama after doing the presentation should say "Ill now take a few questions from the republicans"
"oh no questions? ok lets move on"
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lapdogs
February 17, 2010 7:31 PM in reply to TheOtherWA
Put Name Tags at the seats, written in BOLD letters, to show who didn't show up!
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martingauthier
February 16, 2010 4:24 PM in reply to mcc
But that wouldn't be bipartisan!!!!!! Tsk, tsk, shame on you.
Remember, the definition of bipartisan is that Dems have to agree to whatever the Rs want.
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Lok52
February 16, 2010 4:26 PM in reply to mcc
I certainly hope so. With all of the seats for the Republicans setting there empty. A visual example of how they are "running the country".
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docrocktex
February 16, 2010 4:45 PM in reply to mcc
Of course. They've hyped this thing to high heaven, all the networks are talking about it. This is actually more than just the summit, it's turning into a whole week of events focused on HCR, including the Anthem hearings in the House. If the Rethugs don't show, who gives a damn?
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:39 AM in reply to mcc
Hope so!
This is great; I only wish they'd scheduled it for mid-March -- more time to keep it in the media.
The assholes don't DARE not show up. And when they DO show up, they'll find that they predicted is true -- if and only if they continue to say "NO!": it's a TRAP to put them on the spot: to expose them for what they are and are about -- unless they finally decide to act in bipartisan good faith.
It's put up -- or shut up and get out of the way -- time.
It's shit or get off the pot time.
As the ancient slogan says:
"The whole world is watching!"
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Lonesome Otter
February 16, 2010 4:22 PM
i believe they'll show the empty seats with the placards naming each of the invited GOPers...maybe they'll even throw one of 'em a question..."mr boehner, what do you think of that?......................nothing?, okay, moving on!!!
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Powkat
February 16, 2010 5:09 PM in reply to Lonesome Otter
"Boehner . . . Boehner . . . . Bohner?"
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ohyeathatsright
February 16, 2010 5:25 PM in reply to Powkat
LOL, Classic.
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Noam Sane
February 16, 2010 4:23 PM
Perhaps a sternly worded letter is in order.
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Chris
February 16, 2010 4:23 PM
They'll never be forced to explain it. Why? Because it's not sensational enough for the MSM. Josh is right.
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igotthis
February 16, 2010 5:07 PM in reply to Chris
Oh yes they will! I don't like the MSM either, but this is a "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" event. If the brash outlaws (the Republicans) don't show up, they will have to explain their cowardice for not showing up. They may as well come and shoot wildly and hope they hit someone, since they are going to lose this fight whether they show up or not.
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NobleCommentDecider
February 16, 2010 4:26 PM
GOP reasons not to come:
(1) Obama will put socialist Kool-Aid in the water.
(2) Democrats will experiment on them with death panel rays.
(3) Too many have gigs on Fox News that day to come.
(4) OK, will come only if Obama brings his birth certificate.
(5) Obama must agree to extend Bush tax cuts on millionaires and dead rich people before they will come.
(6) Obviously just a sinister ploy to confiscate guns.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:43 AM in reply to NobleCommentDecider
"Death Panels" are off the table.
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AirBoss
February 16, 2010 4:45 PM
Because they're hypocrites, and in any event, can't stand the truth.
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rbeats
February 16, 2010 4:48 PM
What does Pumpkin Face have a date with tanning bed number 7?
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miles born
February 16, 2010 6:01 PM in reply to rbeats
Pumpkin Face has a double date with his boys Johnny Walker & Jack Daniels.
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FlownOver
February 16, 2010 4:50 PM
The Publicans might not care much whether the MSM shows the empty chairs and nameplates, but they're wetting themselves at the thought of the clips turning up in heavy rotation in October.
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Max Thrax
February 16, 2010 5:03 PM in reply to FlownOver
What makes you think the Dems have the wherewithal to do this?
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:45 AM in reply to Max Thrax
Gee, like they're doing it, eh?
Is reality an illegal immigrant which avoids your house?
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Barney
February 16, 2010 5:02 PM
The GOP doesn't have to a thing. Obama is imploding. The latest CNN poll...with a huge oversampling of Democrats.....has 52% saying Obama does not deserve re-election.
BTW..is this one of the left wing blogs that Bayh hates?
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Nutter
February 16, 2010 5:33 PM in reply to Barney
And you think the GOP has a chance?
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Dorn76
February 16, 2010 6:17 PM in reply to Barney
Comical. And they would prefer who exactly?
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:47 AM in reply to Barney
Ah, "Barney" the Registered Liar weighs in with his latest Snippets of Desperation.
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jsdc007
February 16, 2010 5:31 PM
And as usual, the Republicans will do what they want, and the Dems and the White House can do nothing to retaliate. The general public is clueless, asleep at the wheel, generally pissed off, and the Republican's rottenness will be rewarded at the polls this November by their crazy, fanatical wingnut faction (the largest one there is in the GOP), even as Dem. voters have just checked out.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:53 AM in reply to jsdc007
The poll at the end of last week showed the opposite:
The public is paying attention, and accurately blames the Republicans for the mess, AND want the Bushit tax cuts repealed.
You really need to pay attention to reality outside your anti-Democratic belly-button lint.
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Silence
February 16, 2010 5:34 PM
This country is in full blown revolt and this boob is still uh'ing and ah'ing about more freebies.
If it wasn't so pathetic, it would be funny.
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SchoolyT
February 16, 2010 7:16 PM in reply to Silence
I can see the revolt from my front window .
A "freebie" that would reduce future debt? We wouldn't want THAT, would we?
Time for you to go p(r)ay to your corporate sponsors.
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Silence
February 16, 2010 8:01 PM in reply to SchoolyT
Yes. More spending will solve the debt problem. lol
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lousgirl84
February 16, 2010 8:13 PM in reply to Silence
Actually more spending is just what this country needs. We need to spend our way of this mess that your retards caused. The stimulus should have been twice as big.
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Silence
February 16, 2010 9:00 PM in reply to lousgirl84
lol
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bill57
February 17, 2010 1:07 AM in reply to lousgirl84
Don't try to explain basic economics to a teabagger. They don't have the IQ to understand. Remember these are the morons (morans,as one of their own signs said) who helped put Bush /Cheney in office. 8 years of abject failure and because of their great track record, they believe they should be taken seriously. LOL!! For Christs sake...they wanted and still want the one politition who can make W seem halfway intelligent...that great quitter Sarah "I can see Russia from my house!" Palin.
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SchoolyT
February 19, 2010 12:31 AM in reply to Silence
OK, here's a question for you. What type of expenditure counts as the single largest in the federal budget? Health care. If we devise a way to reduce spending in that area, every other expenditure remaining at parity, why wouldn't the size of the budget, and the related debt involved, both decrease? Show your work.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:56 AM in reply to Silence
This country is in full blown revolt and this boob is still uh'ing and ah'ing about more freebies.
_____
And you're sitting that one out too as the typical Republican armchair war-mongering chickenhawk.
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erwin
February 16, 2010 5:38 PM
I think they should post, online, the names of the invitees and whether they have accepted, rejected, or are undecided about the invitation, kind of like the way evite does it...
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 3:58 AM in reply to erwin
Good idea. Sort of like an RSVP list.
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Leftflank
February 16, 2010 5:57 PM
Gibbs said that the GOOP needed to explain why they're being such hypocrits, & they just said "NO".
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Silence
February 16, 2010 6:19 PM
$ 1 2 , 3 6 7 , 2 4 1 , 1 3 3 , 8 3 6 . 5 6
The estimated population of the United States is 307,852,380
so each citizen's share of this debt is $40,172.63.
Ticktock, Ticktock.
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MyMy
February 16, 2010 6:42 PM in reply to Silence
So what's your solution? Higher taxes could pay this off, as would full employment, with people paying their taxes.
Or is it defaulting--the corporate solution, the bankers' solution, the government solution in third world countries.
Oh, wait, isn't that what the conservatives in the US want us to become? A third world country with only two classes, the abject poor, and the lordly C Street-blessed wealthy striding over them?
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lousgirl84
February 16, 2010 8:56 PM in reply to MyMy
Silence has no solutions. It's a troll. It gets paid everytime it posts a comment.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 4:02 AM in reply to lousgirl84
He probably gets paid less than minimum wage because opposed to subsistance as being "socialist welfare".
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XXXOOOXXX
February 16, 2010 7:00 PM in reply to Silence
The "debt" is a non-issue. Once we nationalize everything, and eliminate the FED, we'll just ask China to annex us and forgive the debt. Isn't that Obama's plan?
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Porchcow
February 16, 2010 6:46 PM
Just how clueless is this White House? Look what's happening now. The GOP are all over the country, bragging about the stimulus money they brought to their state, when they voted against it, and railed against it in their states over and over and over. Now, they think it's swell! Why do our party leaders (stop laughing) not understand the repubs are going to do the same thing if somebody in our party can muster up a pair and get a healthcare bill through, no matter how they do it??? The country wants it. We worked and volunteered our butts off to guarantee a House and Senate that would pass it, provided we had a President who would be bold enough to lead. In the end, we'll be able to say we got it all done....the jobs, the healthcare, etc, DESPITE the repubs' efforts to stop it. It's called LEADING! What the hell is it going to take for someone in our party, with leadership ability (if we can find one) to just f*cking DO IT??!!
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 4:06 AM in reply to Porchcow
It'll be great having the Republicans taking credit for HRC -- which until now they've insisted is "so-shul-ism".
If Republicans are for it, then it must certainly be good for the country.
What amazes is that every time this issue comes up, the far-right America-haters manage to drum up a lunatic fringe faction which is all mouth and no brain.
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dweb823
February 16, 2010 7:40 PM
Aim the camera at John Boehner's empty chair or Mitch McConnell's and have the President intone, "And so Mr. Boehner/Mitchell: Please outline for us what you believe should be the fundamentals of a bill to bring down the costs of health care and assure coverage for all Americans and avoid the unconscionable rate increases which the industry is even now sending to its customers?"
Sound of Crickets.
Frankly I think the 2010 campaign theme out to be...."If you elect a Republican, be sure they tell you exactly what their program is. Don't let them get away with bland platitudes like "Reduce taxes and wasteful spending." Make them tell you exactly what they would do away with to achieve their goals.
Hit that over and over. The GOP has no plan except the one George Bush used....the one that got us into the present mess.
What is your plan? What is your plan? What is your plan? If you regain the majority, WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?
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Silence
February 16, 2010 8:15 PM in reply to dweb823
The real question is, WHAT IS YOUR PLAN? We the people are moving toward an era of personal responsibility........a quest for excellence.
The train is leaving the station. Do you have your ticket?
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Michael A
February 16, 2010 8:22 PM in reply to Silence
Dude, that has been the same mantra for 30 years now. And, where are we today?
Anything new? Didn't think so.
By the way, let's abolish the defense department. That's a start on the road to personal responsibility. We are a heavily armed nation and can easily defend ourselves. So, let's abolish the defense department. What do you think?
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lousgirl84
February 16, 2010 8:56 PM in reply to Michael A
Unfortunately only the crazies are heavily armed.
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Silence
February 16, 2010 9:01 PM in reply to lousgirl84
At this point, it is only the crazies who are unarmed.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 4:12 AM in reply to Silence
Reality hates you for lying about its reputation.
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Silence
February 17, 2010 7:52 AM in reply to JNagarya
Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,074,757 checks in August 2009, a 12.3 percent increase from the 956,872 reported in August 2008.
So far that is roughly 9,076,205 gun bought this year! The total is probably more as NICS background checks may cover the purchase of more than one gun at a time.
This latest jump in background checks show that Americans are solidly in-favor of keeping firearms in the hands of law abiding citizens and clearly shows that proponents claiming the USA wants more gun control are blatantly wrong.
Gun Owners Say No to Gun Control with their Wallets
The increased trend of Americans buying firearms at a record pace was once thought to be a one time fluke caused by fears of the new Obama administration expressed lust for more gun control. But now 10 months in and the wrongly named “fear buying” has now become the norm as law abiding US citizen exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear firearms by the millions every month with no sign of slowing down.
The bulk of the buying has been concentrated on the following types of guns or calibers:
* Semi Auto Handguns
* Revolvers
* Ar15s and all variants of the Black Rifle
* .50 Caliber
1.17 Guns for Each Person
Conservative estimates of legally owned guns in the USA put the number at 355,029,250 million guns in the USA. That is 1.17 guns for everyone in the USA and if you listen to the liberal press they are all assault weapons. God bless anyone who tries to invade the USA…
Crime Rates Falling
The most stunning in all of this is that we have not seen an increase in crime, murder rates have fallen across most of the USA and Americans have shown that they can be trusted with firearms ownership. This is directly in contrast to what the national media and gun control supporters would have us believe.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 6:16 PM in reply to Silence
Thre are no background checks for sales by "responsible gun owners" to criminals through the gun show loophole.
You don't want to admit that -- or the obvious fact that two groups don't want that loophole closed:
1. "Responsible gun owners," and,
2. Criminals.
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Silence
February 16, 2010 8:58 PM in reply to Michael A
I don't mind contributing to the common defense. Do you?
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Michael A
February 16, 2010 10:51 PM in reply to Silence
Nope, so let's abolish the dept. It will save a ton of taxpayer dollars.
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Silence
February 16, 2010 9:07 PM in reply to Michael A
Perhaps, you should bag the mantra part and actually give it a try.
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Michael A
February 16, 2010 10:53 PM in reply to Silence
Have been. I care about people though and you obviously don't give a shit about people, but you will be the first one in line for a handout when you need it. Hypocrite.
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Silence
February 17, 2010 7:59 AM in reply to Michael A
Don't think so. I can take care of myself and my family.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 4:10 AM in reply to Silence
The train has been "leaving the station" since Regan was elected. There's nothing more pathetic than an incompetent fascist; Mussolini was able to make the trains run on time, and tehy actually left the station in reality, not merely in an empty Republican promise of, "A train leaving every station!"
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Silence
February 17, 2010 9:01 AM in reply to JNagarya
The name is Ronald Wilson Reagan, not Regan. After months of reading "REGAN" in your posts, my patience has run out.
Perhaps, you should concentrate on spelling his name correctly before commenting on the man or his record.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 6:22 PM in reply to Silence
Ronald Winston Reagan was a draft-dodger.
Same goes for your foul-mouthed tough-guy macho hero Dick "Five Deferments" Cheney.
Tell us, slug: what is "heroic" and "patriotic" about draft-dodging while calling others draft-dodgers -- and while also enthusiastically supporting wars in which one refuses to fight?
Ronald Winston Reagan was a shitty actor who had one basic skill: being able to read a speech in a way that succeeded in arousing jingoists' irrational hatreds, which they then erroneously called "patriotism".
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acf_ma
February 16, 2010 11:20 PM
Personal responsibility was the philosophy that led the Bush administration to let New Orleans sink into the Bayou after Hurricane Katrina. The real crime wasn't the incompetence of "heckuva job Brownie" and his FEMA, it was the attitude to let them solve their own problem. How did that work out?
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Michael A
February 16, 2010 11:27 PM in reply to acf_ma
The problem with that bs mantra is it assumes that if you work hard, no matter your station in life, you will succeed. Not true. It ignores the class structure in our society. Many, many poor people work their asses off and will get nowhere because of their station in life and status.
That "philosophy" is for the purposes of keeping the poor poor and the rich as rich as possible. It basically is a f*ck you philosopy. Too bad the class that you were born into. You are f*cked.
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masanf
February 17, 2010 12:21 AM in reply to Michael A
Oh give me a fucking break. Your simplistic attempts to explain the Republican and conservative philosophy are pathetic. However, in keeping with your style of argumentation, it seems the Democrat agenda is to take as much power away from the individual and place it in the hands of the government in order to keep the populace suckling at the government teat, thus enabling Democratic politicians to accumulate more power and more control over everyone's lives.
The Democratic Party is run by condescending and elitist pricks who think they know best; the whole "the public is too fucking stupid to understand how super awesome are health care bill is" is the perfect example. Such an attitude is a symptom of liberalism.
It is amazing and outright fucking hilarious how the left describes Conservatives as rich oligarchs and then turns right around and claims they are redneck rubes. THe commenters here live in such a fucking echo chamber, their only real knowledge of conservatives comes from hate sites like the ragingly anti-semitic Daily Kos, a site run by an effeminate dickwad who cheered when Americans were murdered in Iraq.
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Michael A
February 17, 2010 2:24 AM in reply to masanf
You are delusional. Keep living in trainwreck beck and lush fantasy land. They are using you and laughing all the way to the bank. Sucker.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 4:25 AM in reply to masanf
it seems the Democrat agenda is to take as much power away from the individual and place it in the hands of the government in order to keep the populace suckling at the government teat,
_____
I'm calling your bluff, pseudo-conservative reactionary twit:
Quote in full, verbatim, the language in the Constitution which --
Prohibits We the people from directing that the taxes We the people pay into the treasury are to be used to meet the needs of We the people, and how that is to be done.
And don't give us any of your specious horseshit that you're concerned about and protecting We the people from becoming dependent on We the people and We the people's OWN MONEY.
And while you're at it, do the same with the language that authorizes elitist sociopathic bullies such as you to dictate how We the people can and cannot use We the people's OWN MONEY.
Either that, or STFU, America-hating slug.
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Silence
February 17, 2010 8:08 AM in reply to acf_ma
Personal responsibility includes knowing when to pack up get out of dodge.....like when a monster storm is spinning right toward your front door.
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masanf
February 17, 2010 12:24 AM
And the Republicans never advocated for a health care summit after a bill was already decided upon by the Democratic Party. Any claims otherwise are a fucking lie and would be pointed out as such if this site's authors didn't have their noses so far up the president's ass. And Robert "I am so inarticulate I make George Bush look like Socrates" Gibbs knows it.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 4:35 AM in reply to masanf
"And the Republicans never advocated for a health care summit after a bill was already decided upon by the Democratic Party."
1. You're desperate fear that We the people will get a good long look at the anti-American Republican party is showing.
2. Than you for admitting that the Democratic Party -- the MAJORITY -- decided on a bill to which the Republicans have contributed NOTHING except efforts to BLOCK it, contrary to the demands of over 70 per cent of We the people.
"Any claims otherwise are a fucking lie and would be pointed out as such if this site's authors didn't have their noses so far up the president's ass."
The REPUBLICANS DEMANDED that Congress' deliberations on HCIR be televvised. So most of them were televised.
The REPUBLICANS then flat-out lied that they HADN'T been televised. So President Obama responded that in fact they were -- which is the fact -- but if the REPUBLICANS want to be certain that the deliberations are televsied, then he will hold a nationally-televised summit on the issue so that the REPUBLICANS' demand that it be televised will be met.
So now the Republicans don't know what to do, because -- exactly as President Obama said during his wiping of the floor with the Republican Caucus -- they have boxed themselves in, painted themselves in a corner. Because President Obama has
PUBLICLY called their BLUFF by graciously giving them opportunity to --
Put up or shut up.
Shit or get off the pot.
"And Robert "I am so inarticulate I make George Bush look like Socrates" Gibbs knows it."
And you know you are a fucking liar, and terrified taht the Republicans are -- either way -- going to be exposed as exactly what they are:
LYING OBSTRUCTIONISTS who care only about their party, while constantly telling We the people to go fuck ourselves -- EVEN IF WE VOTE REPUBLICAN.
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masanf
February 17, 2010 12:25 AM
And if Gibbs thinks the Republicans are going to give cover to the Democrats on a bill that is more unpopular than George Bush post-Katrina, he is even dumber than he looks and acts.
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JNagarya
February 17, 2010 4:38 AM in reply to masanf
When the actual contents of the "bill" -- there are TWO bills, asshole, and you haven't read EITHER of them -- are explained to We the people, the majority of We the people agree with it.
It's the lies you America-hating slugs spew to which they object.
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Vincent F
February 17, 2010 4:16 AM
Sure, Republicans want to shrink govt and increase personal responsibility... by cutting taxes for the rich and passing Medicare Part D and losing two wars. If conservatives, when in power, ever show a sign of fiscal responsibility and deliver on campaign promises to shrink govt and spend less taxpayer money, it will be the first time.
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Silence
February 17, 2010 8:17 AM in reply to Vincent F
Obviously, real conservatives have not been in power for a very, very long time.
$ 1 2 , 3 6 9 , 4 8 5 , 7 9 5 , 2 9 5 . 3 1
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de TOQUEville
February 17, 2010 1:07 PM in reply to Silence
Axiom #1 of right-wing trolls:
Whenever conservative pols fail, it's because they weren't "real conservatives."
It can never be acknowledged that conservative policies just don't work as advertised.
Reminds one of unreconstructed Marxists.
Silence is right though, that the Bush admin. was not fiscally conservative. Cheney said "deficits don't matter." Funny how the tea partyin' hordes didn't get upset at the time by the Bushies' inability to balance the checkbook.
I bet Silence maintained a lone vigil outside the white house, demanding fiscal restraint, and demanding to see the birth certificate that proves Bush was born in New England, not Texas...
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congoman
February 18, 2010 9:20 AM in reply to Silence
OK. When was the last time "real conservatives" were in power then?
Was it...Clinton, when this number was actually going down?
$ 1 2 , 3 6 9 , 4 8 5 , 7 9 5 , 2 9 5 . 3 1
Is that your hero?... Or some other guy? Who? When? What happend on that persons watch that was so good for that number?
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boo_lala
February 17, 2010 1:38 PM
I think the optics of the president "walking into the lion's den" and facing 140+ opponents by himself (and wiping the floor with them) vs. Boehner refusing to agree to a forum--to which he can bring whichever buddies and aides he wants and whatver documentation he needs; a forum that he, himself, clamored for--refusing to go unless he knows in advance what size the room is, speaks for itself. It says, "We have ideas but we know they aren't very good and we can't defend them in public...and we're very afraid of the president because he's smarter than we are."
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philogratis
February 18, 2010 8:36 AM
I guess I'd have to watch the press gaggle to see what "pointedly denied" means. There are many matters that White House press secretaries are not willing to comment on at any particular time, and if reporters keep asking these questions, they'll keep hearing the same answer.
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Tosh
June 6, 2010 10:52 PM
So what's your solution? Higher taxes could pay this off, as would full employment, with people paying their taxes.
Or is it defaulting--the corporate solution, the bankers' solution, the government solution in third world countries.
Oh, wait, isn't that what the conservatives in the US want us to become? A third world country with only two classes, the abject poor, and the lordly C Street-blessed wealthy striding over them?
m65 kamagra
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