Evil Obamacare

[neoplacebo]

Passage required an obscene compromise with the party's corporate shills, in particular Baucus, Nelson and Lieberman. Hence, no single payer, no public option, no legal ability for the government to negotiate drug prices.

The public system Obama campaigned on in 2008 and tried to enact in 2009, required a supermajority that the Democrats just didn't have.

The ACA wasn't an obscene compromise; it was the outright adoption of the Republican alternative.

It's hard for people to grasp that when Republicans were for it before they were against it.

Yeah, I've always thought that was quite remarkable; I suppose selective amnesia is an epidemic in the GOP these last few years. Oh, your new avatar reminds me of a cartoon I saw years ago called "The Angriest Dog in the World." I can't remember who did it but it went something like "this is the angriest dog in the world. he is so angry he cannot eat, he cannot sleep...he is so angry he approaches the state of rigor mortis..." it was great. The illustration just showed a dog lying on the ground at the end of a chain on his dog house. I'll have to look for it.

[rstrong]

It's hard for people to grasp that when Republicans were for it before they were against it.

It's not just the ACA.

An early example is the flag pin outrage - Obama didn't wear a flag pin one day, and the Republicans declared him to be anti-American. And yet there plenty of campaign pictures and videos of Republican candidates without flag pins floating around.

They faulted Obama for continuing Bush II policy in Iraq and Afghanistan - the same policies they were calling people traitors for criticizing a few months earlier. They started calling Iraq "Obama's War." At the 2012 Republican Convention a senile Clint Eastwood ranted at an empty chair over *Obama* invading Afghanistan.... And Republicans clapped and barked like seals.

There's the endless constant claims that that he's a commie Marxist socialist for bailing out the banks and auto manufacturers and running up the 2009 deficit as the largest ever. Even though the banks were bailed out on the Republican watch, the initial auto bailouts - and the commitment for more - happened on the Republican watch, and this made the 2009 deficit the largest ever while still on the Republican watch.

Then there was the photo of Obama bowing to a foreign leader - something they claimed never happened before. Never mind all the Republican Presidents who did the same. Not to mention Bush II holding hands with the Saudi leader.

Republicans had a hissy fit because "Obama was going to fly the communist flag on the White House Lawn!!! For the first time EVER!!!" It turned out to be a false story - in reality some private group was going flying the flag down the street. And the communist Chinese flag HAD been flown on the White House lawn during the Bush II administration.

They have a hissy fit when Obama wants to hold terrorist trials in America, ignoring the previous terrorist trials - in America - for the USS Cole bombers, African embassy bombers, one of the 9/11 terrorists, etc., etc. under the previous Republican watch.

For a while they faulted Obama for a huge cut in military spending, until people started asking, "On what planet is a 4% spending increase a huge cut?"

They faulted Obama for cutting F-22 production, even after people patiently explained to them in small words that it was the Bush II administration that .... didn't cut production, but refused to order more ... and that Obama kept this policy.

Having "Czars" suddenly became a sign of a dictatorship. Never mind that every President (except Kennedy) in the last 70 years has had similar "czars". Franklin Roosevelt had 19 of them. Bush II had 33. Suddenly they were wrong under Obama.

The same goes for executive orders. Obama has issued less than any President in over a century.

And "executive actions" on immigration. Obama's was similar to Bush I's and no-where near Ronald Reagan's amnesty.

And the War Powers Act. Republicans in Congress declared Obama's military action in Libya to be unconstitutional, because it was done without Congress's authorization. But President Bush I did the same, ordered troops into Panama in 1989 to overthrow General Manuel Noriega. As with Obama, President Bush consulted with Congressional leaders but did not seek or receive Congress' authorization. The legal issues were settled by the Office of Legal Counsel when the same thing was done with troops sent into Haiti and Bosnia in the 1990s.

Part of the Republican hysteria over "ObamaCare" was that it created "Obama's Militia." (The Ready Reserve Corps has been around since 1798 and has been a uniformed service for over a century.)

In the 2012 election Republicans had a hissy fit over Obama using a Canadian bus. Prevost bus shells are Canadian made, then outfitted by Hemphill Coach of Tennessee. Predictably, Bush II used one in his last election campaign. In 2008 the same buses were used by John McCain, Fred Thompson, Rudy Guiliani and Sarah Palin. And by Republican candidates like Michele Bachmann in 2012.

Who can forget:

"Exercise a no-fly zone this evening."
- Newt Gingrich, 3/7/11

"I would not have intervened."
- Newt Gingrich, 3/23/11

I'll just stop here, only because the list is endless.

[Mr.B]

I wasn't really paying much attention to the news item on the radio today, namely because it was someone who decided he was politically motivated and qualified to run for president. What got my attention though was the blasting directed at Obama! I told my wife..." Listen to that idiot blast Obama; Obama ain't even going to be in the presidential running"!

I'm dreading the goober parades that will be assaulting the airwaves from now to elections..... :cussing:

[Vrede too]

Republicans to fight Obamacare through election campaign despite ruling

It would be fascinating to know how much healthcare could have been provided for how many people with all that's been spent unsuccessfully fighting the ACA rather than working to make it better. Then, add all the effort that's been expended in this forum and thousands of others by ODS cons, including by the dupes that actually believed the lies from GOP pols about the repeal that was never gonna happen.

The ACA was not my choice and I would still go a different direction (single payer), but it's been a success compared to the prior status quo by almost every measure. This will become even more true as uber-partisan and uber-foolish red states end their self destructive opposition.

[JTA]

I wasn't really paying much attention to the news item on the radio today, namely because it was someone who decided he was politically motivated and qualified to run for president. What got my attention though was the blasting directed at Obama! I told my wife..." Listen to that idiot blast Obama; Obama ain't even going to be in the presidential running"!

I'm dreading the goober parades that will be assaulting the airwaves from now to elections..... :cussing:

There's some image making rounds on facebook that says "Obama's family used to own slaves, spread this like wildfire!"

[Wneglia]

There's some image making rounds on facebook that says "Obama's family used to own slaves, spread this like wildfire!"

Old News

[Boatrocker]

I wasn't really paying much attention to the news item on the radio today, namely because it was someone who decided he was politically motivated and qualified to run for president. What got my attention though was the blasting directed at Obama! I told my wife..." Listen to that idiot blast Obama; Obama ain't even going to be in the presidential running"!

I'm dreading the goober parades that will be assaulting the airwaves from now to elections..... :cussing:

There's some image making rounds on facebook that says "Obama's family used to own slaves, spread this like wildfire!"

I'm getting it in a few emails, again. From the same older, rural, evangelical in-law relatives who still circulate that old jewel (mid 90s) about how Congress or the USPS is going to impost a 5 cent tariff/fee/charge/whatever on each email.

[O Really]

Right-wingers worst nightmare comes true - Obamacare actually works...
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/26/paul_kr ... y_triumph/

[Vrede too]

Company Acquires Rights To Drug Used By AIDS/Cancer Patients; Immediately Raises Per Pill Price From Under $14 To $750
from the because-fuck-you,-that's-why dept

[JTA]

Company Acquires Rights To Drug Used By AIDS/Cancer Patients; Immediately Raises Per Pill Price From Under $14 To $750
from the because-fuck-you,-that's-why dept

Here's the CEOs twitter. Now, I'm not jumping to conclusions because I'm not an expert on pharmaceuticals, but goddamn. Look at some of the comments thanking him for defending capitalism, as if buying rights to an existing product and drastically raising prices makes you a defender of capitalism.

Money for nothing and chicks for free.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MartinShkreli

Yo guys this brings up a question I have for you older folk. Nowadays I seem to hear a lot of blind praise for what I can only describe as an ultra simplified, twisted idea of some ultra libertarian capitalism. It's almost like its become the central principle in a large chunk of peoples life - "defending capitalism". Seems like it began around when Obama got elected, because prior to that I don't ever recall hearing much talk of "socialism" out in the wild.

Was it like that back in the commie days? It just all seems like an inversion of the shit I recall reading about back during the early times of the Soviet Union - defending international socialism/communism and defending the proletariat/worker etc, despite the fact the reality of many communist regimes showed otherwise.

I suppose what I'm saying is it just seems like blind devotion to an ideology trumps all pragmatism.

"I have a boot on my neck and a piss trickling down on my face, but life is tough and this man has more money than me, I must be deserving of this as this man is my superior."

It's all very reminiscent of serfdom to me.

[O Really]

Yo guys this brings up a question I have for you older folk. Nowadays I seem to hear a lot of blind praise for what I can only describe as an ultra simplified, twisted idea of some ultra libertarian capitalism. It's almost like its become the central principle in a large chunk of peoples life - "defending capitalism". Seems like it began around when Obama got elected, because prior to that I don't ever recall hearing much talk of "socialism" out in the wild.

.

Funny thing about that "when Obama got elected" isn't it? Although others have tried it, nobody has been anywhere close to the rightwingers in their ability to demonize words. Take "liberal" and "conservative" for example. Reasonably neutral words describing different positions on the political scale? Not lately. RWers have turned "liberal" into a synonym for "baby-raping murdering psychopath who's coming to take away your guns and abduct your wife." Back in MCarthy days, it was "communist", "red" etc. "Socialist" is their code for "furrin' enemies" regardless of actual political/economic system.
All fundamentally related to not liking the black guy in the White House.

[rstrong]

Nowadays I seem to hear a lot of blind praise for what I can only describe as an ultra simplified, twisted idea of some ultra libertarian capitalism. It's almost like its become the central principle in a large chunk of peoples life - "defending capitalism". Seems like it began around when Obama got elected, because prior to that I don't ever recall hearing much talk of "socialism" out in the wild.

Was it like that back in the commie days?

It was like that the previous times the Republicans weren't in of the White House.

It was like that during the Carter administration. And yet for all of Reagan's anti-government, anti-spending, anti-regulation, anti-socialism rhetoric used to defeat Carter, if you did a blind comparison of what both did once in office, you'd declare Carter to be the Republican.

The same goes for Clinton. All through the Clinton years the Republicans were constantly screaming that Clinton was a tax-and-spend socialist who would bankrupt the country. Never mind that he turned out to be the most fiscally conservative President in a couple generations, actually producing a budget surplus for a couple years, which would be science fiction under Reagan, Bush I or Bush II.

Then, as now, anything and everything the government did under Clinton was commie Marxist socialism. Then, as now, it didn't matter that the government did the exact same thing under Republican administrations.

Once Reagan/Bush I/Bush II entered the White House, it largely stopped. Because Rush Limbaugh, Fox and the rest of the Republican propaganda machine could hardly declare Republican policies to be socialism. And so until Obama entered the White House in early 2009, the bank and auto maker bail-outs were *investments*, not socialism.

[Boatrocker]

. . . All fundamentally related to not liking the black guy in the White House.

I am old enough to remember elections all the way back to 1964. I didn't understand what was going on, but I was aware of the all the "adult" talk in that uber-while, uber-WASP Birmingham suburb where I experienced the 60s. I remember all the hoo-ha about Vietnam, the whole McGovern-Nixon thing, Watergate and subsequent fallout, and I voted for the first time in a presidential election in 1976.
Politically unaware as I was, there just was none of this batshit wingnuttery boiling around Goldwater, LBJ, Humphrey, Wallace, McGovern, Nixon, Ford, Carter or even Reagan (whom we all know wouldn't be allowed to peddle pencils on the sidewalk outside GOP HQ these days). Not till the 80s did I begin to notice even the greater animus between self-described conservatives and liberals. But nothing- NOTHING- back then rose to the level of tooth-gnashing, hand-wringing, garment-tearing, spit-spraying, conspiracy-spouting RW bullshit that sprouted like toadstools after a warm rain upon the election of a (half)black man, twice, to the office of POTUS. You can blame the internet and proliferation of 24 hour news-ertainment and its requisite talking heads for adding accelerants and forced air to the furnace fire, but you cannot blame them for the entirety of the flames, or the ignition. This is nothing more than simmering, resentful bigotry of the idiot RW, unable to contain itself anymore. It is both historic and hysterical.

[Vrede too]

Also, there's never been as much corporate money being thrown at politics and duping the simpletons. Of course, the corporations have zero interest in "ultra simplified, twisted idea of some ultra libertarian capitalism" or even "defending (real) capitalism", but pretending they do while harping on the "socialism" boogeyman can be used to advance their interests if enough cretins swallow it.

[rstrong]

As I've said before, what's happened is that Fox News and NewsMax, created as a wing of the Republican Party - plus WorldNetDaily, created to tell the lies that Fox, NewsMax and Republican politicians wouldn't dare tell but would cheerfully repeat - have made a discovery: Their best source of revenue is impotent right-wing rage.

Rush Limbaugh's popularity has been highest - by far - during the Clinton and Obama years. **He had to hold back on the anti-government wingnuttery when the Republicans were in charge.** Likewise Glenn Beck's popularity skyrocketed when Obama took power. The same goes for Hannity and other Fox News talking heads - and web sites like WorldNetDaily - that monetize impotent right-wing rage.

It was Fox News that gave the Tea Party it's voice, and now Fox News is essentially the voice of the Republican Party. But it's become far more than that. As Eric Boehlert put it way back in 2009:

Memo to the media: Fox News is now the Opposition Party

Rupert Murdoch's cable cabal is now, first and foremost, a political entity. Fox News has transformed itself into the Opposition Party of the Obama White House, which, of course, is unprecedented for a media company in modern-day America.
[...]
Greenwald noted the similarities between Fox News' overt role in U.S. politics with places like Venezuela, where the opposition TV station led the failed 2002 coup attempt against Hugo Chavez, as well as Italy, where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a media magnate, uses his TV ownership to agitate. "Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch are really using that model to organize and galvanize this protest movement," wrote Greenwald. "It's a totally Fox News-sponsored event."
[...]
The protesters do not look to politicians for leadership. They look to niche media figures like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and their scores of clones behind local and national microphones.

Fox News wants to REMAIN the opposition Party. They don't want the Republicans in power. The more power the Democrat boogeyman has, the more viewers tune in to Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, and even colossal morons like Geraldo Rivera. Freed from responsibilities of being in office, more prominent Republicans can have segments on Fox shows. Fox News is a gold mine for Rupert Murdoch when the Democrats are in power.

And so to win the Republican nomination you have to display a wingnuttyness that makes you unelectable in a Presidential election. That is where Rupert Murdoch's Fox News has steered the party. The more Romney or other 2012 candidates tried to be moderates, the more they were painted as "Republican In Name Only." Even Republican hardliner Newt Gingrich learned this the hard way when he took the non-insane position that some compromise was needed on the budget. Fox News, the Tea Party and the Limbaugh/Beck wingnut fringe came down on him like a ton of bricks.

Which leads us to Donald Trump. And the other candidates fighting to stop affordable healthcare and protect the sanctity of traditional bigotry and any other means to attract the inbred vote. A nightmare for those who want a Republican White House, but not for Fox News and others who monetize impotent right-wing rage when the Democrats are in power.

[Boatrocker]

[Vrede too]

The robber barons used to exert direct control over the masses. Now, they've figured out how to persuade enough of the masses to do their bidding on their own.

[rstrong]

Company Acquires Rights To Drug Used By AIDS/Cancer Patients; Immediately Raises Per Pill Price From Under $14 To $750
from the because-fuck-you,-that's-why dept

So a hedge fund manager obtains the manufacturing licenses for a critical cancer and AIDS drug and raises the price by 5000%. That doesn't mean that we should trash his name without looking into his other... Oh for Christ's sake.

Lawsuit: Scumbag Pill Price Gouger Stalked and Harassed Ex-Coworker's Entire Family

[Boatrocker]

It's already been noted that he's a hedge fund manager; calling him a scumbag is simply redundant.

[Vrede too]

In fact, it's rather unfair to scumbags.