The usual suspects simply recited the misinformation stuff. Most of it was not a question, just a repeat of some rant they heard. I had coffee with the local right wing in the morning, and theiy were encouraging each other to ask about Canada, rationing, abortion, the national debt, socialism and foreigners. (No one wanted to ask about the death squads.)

It's kind of hilarious that most of the folks who claimed to have "read the biil" have never read their own inurance policy, or the Medicare or MedicAid bills which now take care of them.

Franken easily handled the room. He started by talking about his pheasant hunt, got most of the room laughing by comparing himself as a hunter to what happened with Dick Cheney, and noted who applauded and who didn't, and then he knew who would ask what stuff.

There was a lot of support for a rational healthcare system. It's kind of why the Dems are winning all over.
Most people don't want what we've got.

The "questioners with legitimate concerns" mostly agreed with Franken, and want big changes. It was not a victory or a defeat for either side, most of us learned a lot, at least I did.

He's now in the Twin cities holding meetings I think. Maybe somebody will will tell us about that.

The people crafting this bill have no understanding of what it is they are doing. We will be worse off than we are now. I weep for this country.

Then there are the gullible few who believe that the government "doing something" is better than nothing. These guys think that anyone who disagrees with their pile of crap obviously get all of their opinions from talk radio.

They also think that "fed up with the last guy" somehow translates into a mandate for socialism.

I weep, too.

I couldn't help noticing in the above link ("10,000 Minnesotans called Klobuchar with health care questions, and many are still waiting for clear answers") that it appears to be an article written by none other than Doug Grow. How poorly is Klobuchar doing her job when someone as left-leaning at Grow takes her to task?

She must *really* suck at the job!

jb

This is pretty good...

The "Obamas" cartoon is great. Is that a single edition or are their other episodes? Is there one on the Palin's? They would provide good material too.

I have no idea - somebody e-mailed it to me.

I would love to see a Palin one.

All the Obama ones are here. The other ones I've seen so far are pretty lame.

There are some wickedly funny and tasteless Ted Kennedy jokes on the front page.

Well, crap. My take on Franken's visit to Montevideo may have been incorrect. I thought he appeared and just handled the crowd. It now appears that his staff only told the City staff he was coming, and they arranged a meeting at the Mayor's cafe, as always. But they did try to keep the meeting quiet, so the crowd was in fact vetted even though lots of Republican staff was present.

In fact, they didn't tell the newspaper, and when the Editor called the city office for the time, they refused to tell him, saying it was just a small meeting, and they didn't want him there!

I guess only a few of us heard about it, I attended and thoought nothing of it. Apparently I was with a group the American News called "gate crashers". And hell, this year I'm a goddamn Democrat! So is the Editor!

Anyway, the Franken appearance was orchastrated, by his staff, or the City staff, or both. Just like Amy.

It was in fact a good meeting, and he did well. But not as I described it above. Mea culpa.

There's been a lot of noise about Franken's meetings. The Strib listed the times, but not until *after* the meetings had already begun.

His staffers said if you want to talk to him, just come see him at the Fair, but they don't know when he'll be there or where.

Bachmann has been more upfront, but apparently there are huge lines and I already know about the "DEATH PANELS!!!"

Lines For Bachmann Health Forum Out The Door

Mr. Unger:

You may be a Democrat and a left-leaner, but your integrity and honesty impress me mightily!

And you're an attorney, to boot.

I salute you!!!

jb

+1

Which distinguishes it from which other bills?

(Well, OK, typically the lobbyists who craft a bill know precisely what they're doing: getting laws passed for their clients' advantage at the cost of everybody else. Still, how is this different?)

Actually there was a poll out a couple weeks ago that somewhere around 60% (63 for some reason jumps out at me) would rather Congress did nothing than pass the bill currently being discussed.



I dunno, I would consider "How are we going to pay for it?" a legitimate concern.

Well, if you think that the medical industry can just continue the mess we have, or that we have that choice available to us, or that we are not already "paying for it" (about twice what we would pay under a government payor plan), I don't know what to say. The whole debate is about paying LESS, not more.

But I think the debate has now passed this point, we have a looming crisis that's bigger than war and the recession, and I think we need to try to solve the problem. We can't solve this by taking another "poll", or tirades at political meetings or listening to talking heads.

Wait until we "bailout" the health insurance industry. Stay tuned for a few years.....