Supporters of health care reform and members of Organizing for America, the SEIU, and AFSCME met at St. Paul's church in Augusta yesterday to combine art and activism and create a giant map of the state of Maine, meant to symbolize our collective experience with the health care system. The plywood outline of the state was quickly covered in pill bottles, hospital bills, hand-written personal stories and other mementos.
The anti-Obama protesters were hilarious. I'm not sure how you're supposed to have a rational public debate when one side is talking about policy and personal experiences and the other side is spinning wild conspiracy theories. (Did you hear about the secret provision in the house bill that will revoke the Third Amendment and allow Obama to quarter Kenyan troops in your house?)
I also enjoyed their chants of "Channel 6 is communist!"
It is also hard to have a
It is also hard to have a serious debate when the media starts a story by saying a group "supports the President's plan."
Since when does the President have a plan?
There is a bill that has passed the House. There is a bill that has passed one committee in the Senate. A very different bill is likely to come out of another Senate committee.
Talking about the problems with the current system is fine. But we also need to talk about what is really being proposed as an alternative. So far that is very much a moving target.
Debate
Agreed that the final health care reform bill proposal is still malleable. And, actually, no bill has yet passed the House, just the three committees. But there are two firm proposals to discuss, and it seems more details of the third emerge every day.
Obama has a series of principles that he has been clear about, but he is obviously flexible on some details (let's hope not too many). I might not define it as a plan, but I can forgive WLBZ/WCSH for that imprecision.
What's less forgivable is insisting that any proposed legislation anywhere contains death panels or some kind of abrogation of the fourth amendment that this protester apparently fears.
That's not making a mistake in language, that's just lying.
Plenty of mistakes on both
Plenty of mistakes on both sides, such as the President claiming that the AARP endorsed the bill.
Lies? Or disception>?
I can't believe you guys are for the "plan" anyhow. Tell me what the hell has the govt run that is either efficient or effective? Social Security? Medicare? what??? And yet you want them to run something else that will eat up 25% of the nation GDP? My goodness are you blind or just want anything regardless of the outcome?
Eventually you are going to run out of other people's money and frankly we need alot LESS of government, not more.
And while I am at it, please convince your Senators to STOP running under the Republican ticket. They are Democrats (and liberal ones at that) at best and just drag down the Republican party with their liberal leaning votes. I am sick of both of your Senators.