How Tom Daschle Might Kill Conservatism

We already have national health care - visit an emergency room

Has anyone ever lived in a "national health care" state? A visit to the doctor there is exactly like a visit to our current emergency rooms. Take a number, sit down, bring a meal (or two) and you will see a GP in about 6-8 hours. In other words, instead of bringing up the bottom levels of healthcare, we will destroy the middle levels. The upper levels will still exist - do you really think you will be waiting in the doctor's office with Michelle Obama?

OBTW, anyone want to attend medical school with the promise of lowered wages? Great Idea, get 8 years of college, and make a federal pay-scale as top dollar. How many doctors do you want to operate on your children who make less than GS-10?

We had better think carefully before we kill our Goose for this brass egg...

Don of TX @ Nov 23, 2008 15:07:51 PM

RE: "Landslide"??

If I were you, I'd be a lot more careful about tossing around the word dolt. You strike me as the type of person who championed George Bush's electoral college win, even though he lost the popular vote. And while an 8 million vote advantage may not seem like a landslide to you, that coupled with his 2-1 electoral college drubbing effectively makes YOU the only dolt I see mister. Take your uninformed opinion to someone who cares.

of @ Nov 23, 2008 14:12:35 PM

How Tom Daschle Might Kill Conservatism

Ridiculous. Conservatism is dead and the subhuman, unamerican white trash monster of neoconservatism must be destroyed - no matter the cost.

playin possum of WA @ Nov 23, 2008 14:11:25 PM

The conservatives are correct about this

The conservatives are right to be panicked about this. They should be. Elections have real consequences.

There's no question that once the citizens of the United States see how much better things are with a guarantee of good health care, regardless of your job, regardless of your income, regardless of any pre-existing conditions, they will never want to return to a "free market-for profit" system.

For years, the lobbyists, PR people and politicians hired by the insurance and for-profit medical companies have used propaganda and scare tactics to brainwash people into thinking "No country has health care as good as the USA." and "If the government gets involved with health care, they'll make it much worse." and other types of mendacious nonsense. But it has worked, at least up until now.

The Republican goal will be---as it was in 1993 and 1994---to stall any plans to institute universal health care coverage, however moderate and modest---and simply "run out the clock" with the hope that they can kill it for good by winning back congress in two years.

President Obama, the Democratic congress and the majority of American citizens need to stay completely focused on the goal of universal coverage for all American citizens, regardless of the nefarious actions of the few who are desperate to keep things the way they are.

This time, the American people will win. We're decades overdue for universal health care. The time is now!

snesich of WA @ Nov 23, 2008 13:32:21 PM

No landslide

I really wish the MSM would stop lying through its teeth and saying that the Obama election was a "landslide" or "near landslide." If you want to see a landslide, look at Nixon in '72, or Reagan in '80 or '84. Obama won by a surplus of two points. That's no landslide, that's a margin of error.

Crow of MN @ Nov 23, 2008 13:14:05 PM

Insurance vs Insulation

Insulation? Has anybody noticed that in addition to those 47 million without health insurance that many employers are offering only "bare-bones" coverage with initial out-of-pocket deductibles of over $1,000. I would hardly say these people are insulated from knowledge of health care costs. I would say when combined with the steadily declining purchasing power of their wages that most will forego care until it reaches a point of misery and substantially higher treatment cost.

Darin of MO @ Nov 23, 2008 12:57:33 PM

Distraction Doesn't Work - Try Solving Real Problems

Republicans have spent the last eight years ignoring health care, or proposing preposterous programs that leave out many Americans. Savings programs work fine for those Americans who actually have money to save, after the sleazy credit card, cell phone, mortgage trawlers, and other bad actors have taken their chunk. Other countries do just fine with "socialized" or at least managed medicine, with little of the tremendous waste of our system. You can't shout "terrorist" and sow fear, uncertainty and doubt to distract the American people from their largest single problem forever. Yes, a universal health care system might spell doom for the GOP, simply because it is what most Americans want, once the choice is framed outside the typical scare-Harry-and-Louise distraction. It's a little late for the Republicans to be finally focusing on problems Americans care about.

Marc Cooper of MA @ Nov 23, 2008 12:23:47 PM

Some exaggerations here

Has anybody checked the Labour/Conservative election totals since the introduction of the NHS? The Brits love their NHS, but it didn't stop them from electing conservatives...

Tom @ Nov 23, 2008 12:03:28 PM