Open Thread: The Plank Edition

Jennifer Donahue speaks!! (0.00 / 0)

  Yes, on today's Huffington Post our ol' pal Jennifer plays the "What If?!?" card:

But what if the message members brought home is wrong? What if most people don't see the public option as the dividing line that government and the insurance industry do?

A public option would make the bill acceptable to Democrats alone. Strange that so few are willing to consider other, alternative options that would get bipartisan support.

Ahhhh, yes .... "What if Jack Bauer is correct?" ...  "What if Iran is set to destroy Israel?" ... "What if more troops could win the war?".

When you can What-if? the debate ... the debate's over.

 "We should pay attention to that man behind the curtain."

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by: Ed Tracey @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 22:04:56 PM CDT

A distant controversy (0.00 / 0)

I found this entertaining. It was linked to Blue Mass Group:

http://www.hillbillyreport.org...

I didn't register to vote in their poll, but I think the alleged ones really are him.

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by: JimC @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 05:55:32 AM CDT

That's funny (0.00 / 0)

I haven't watched the video clip, but I read the quoted text.

"Gather 'round everybody, I'm going to talk down to you about your superiority complex!"

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by: JimC @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 06:05:04 AM CDT

Michael takes the podium (4.00 / 1)

I think that Medicare needs to be restructured before it can be opened to all.  The insurance companies aren't the only roadblock.  There are also health maintenance organizations like WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

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by: hannah @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 09:51:10 AM CDT

Hope you have breath mints (0.00 / 0)

'Cause this will make you throw up in your mouth.


Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 14:58:52 PM CDT

Lindsey Graham to Birthers and Haters: You are Crazy! (4.00 / 3)

In an interview with the Atlantic Senator Lindsey Graham says that it is time for the Republican Party to part ways with the crazies and their hateful attacks on the President:

Here's what the Republican Party has  to do... We have to say that's crazy. So I'm here to tell you that those who think the President was born somewhere else than Hawaii, your're crazy. He's not a Muslim, He's a good man and lets knock this crap off and talk about the real differences we have"

The video is at TPM.

So when is the first Republican 'leader' in NH going to condemn the lies and hatred being vocalized on the far right? Does Kelly Ayotte believe that the President was born in Kenya? Does
Charlie Bass? Ovide Lamontagne?  

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 17:20:45 PM CDT

He's running n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: JimC @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 20:00:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Good call (4.00 / 2)

Would explain his constant presence with McCain over 07/08.
Plus he has been laying a crumb trail of Southern pleasantries regarding POTUS. Not many quotes, but enough to cobble together a facade for disinterested Indies.

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:11:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He voted for Sotomayor (4.00 / 1)

After putting himself on TV a lot over it.

I'd look for more "bipartisan" cred attempts like that.

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by: JimC @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:13:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He may be running (hadnt thought of that) but (0.00 / 0)

1. Then it would be a good sign that he thought that condemning this nastiness would help get GOP nomination. I am not so sure about that.

2. I would prefer to think that he has a fundamental decent streak and wont go certain places, as with this, with the viscious attacks that Bush and Rove leveled on McCain in 2000 in SC, and with torture. That doesnt mean that I agree with him on much, but it does mean that he is not batshit crazy, and that means something these days.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 13:28:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He's being mavericky (4.00 / 1)

I would prefer to think he's decent as well, but the evidence for that is scant. He was not shy about pushing the "Wise Latina" nonsense when it suited him, even though the comment, in context, is completely inoffensive.

I think what you're reading as decency is an instinct he has that is similar to McCain's -- a sense of when things have gone too far. So the two of them were truly admirable on the torture question for a while, but where have they been lately? They don't need to work on it, because now it's Obama's problem to wrestle with. Plus McCain flatly declared "We don't torture people" last year.

Before anyone thinks I've lost all sense of decorum -- I hope I'm wrong, and Paul is right.

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by: JimC @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 13:48:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Tom Harkin says there will be a public option. (4.00 / 3)

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Senator Tom Harkin said that the future of health care will be decided by the President chosen by the American people and the political party chosen by the people to lead both the Senate and the House.

We will have a bill on the president's desk before Christmas, a health-reform bill. It will have a lot of good stuff in it. It will have a lot of prevention and wellness programs in there that I've been fighting for," Harkin told reporters in a morning conference call. "And it will have a public option."

"The question of if it doesn't isn't even an option," he added.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 18:22:46 PM CDT

Oh, well then (0.00 / 0)

Washington Post headline.

Reid's at the Reins in Health-Care Battle

And you were worried!

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by: JimC @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 11:56:09 AM CDT

Recommended reading (4.00 / 1)

This week I finished reading "Where Men Win Glory", the book about Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer.  It is a tough book to read, because the story is so hard to take, but I highly recommend it.  




"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 14:58:00 PM CDT

Dying to read that! (4.00 / 1)

But trying to be disciplined about finishing the books I've started.

Under the Banner of Heaven is riveting. Also tough to take.

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by: JimC @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 16:21:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yup (0.00 / 0)

But there were three books I could not wait on, so I splurged and bought Where Men Win Glory, the new Dan Brown, and Ted Kennedy's book all at once.  My personal contribution o economic recovery. Read Krakauer's first, I'm a big fan.  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 16:45:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]