Interesting factoid: Obama wrote a 1200 word editorial on health care for the New York Times over the weekend, and it didn't mention a public option once. Hmmmmm.
Reagan talks on health care...he talks about national health insurance, socialized medicine, "sticking a foot in the door"...
Here is a snippet, talking about the dangers of the "slippery slope" inherent in government control of healthcare:
But let's also look from the other side, at the freedom the doctor loses. A doctor would be reluctant to say this. Well, like you, I am only a patient, so I can say it in his behalf. The doctor begins to lose freedoms; it's like telling a lie, and one leads to another. First you decide that the doctor can have so many patients. They are equally divided among the various doctors by the government. But then the doctors aren't equally divided geographically, so a doctor decides he wants to practice in one town and the government has to say to him you can't live in that town, they already have enough doctors. You have to go some place else. And from here it is only a short step to dictating where he will go. This is a freedom that I wonder whether any of us have the right to take from any human being.
Everyone should listen to this. Even years after his death, Reagan still leads.
The Oregonian is reporting that State Rep. Larry Galizio is stepping down to take an education position working for the Governor. As he's my representative, I am fairly familiar with him.
He was a strong campaigner, and the Tigard district is fairly conservative (by Oregon standards). We should start right away in trying to recruit a good candidate to run in 2010.
Check out this blog post over at Townhall. I'm reluctant to throw stones at crazies, because both sides have them. BUT, since the left has played the "crazy card" with such glee, here goes:
Woman asks Sheila Jackson Lee softball question at a townhall. Claims she is a "pediatric primary care physician." Gets her picture taken by the paper, etc.
Turns out she is not a doctor at all. She lied. She apparently sees no problem with lying about being a doctor - bragged about it when asked by people investigating it.
Her friend with her at the townhall, is a well-known Obama supporter who had a Che Guavera flag at her office.
Wow. As the cliche' goes...you just can't make this stuff up.
This is a great post by The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder. Basically, the American College of Surgeons is coming down hard on Obama for misstating facts, sowing distrust in patients for their Doctors and basically attempting to give medical advice without a license.
Look at the homepage of The Huffington Post...it's titled "Obama Rhetoric vs. Obama Deal-making". The left is starting to become unhinged about Obama's "deal with the devil" (in the minds of liberals) with pharmaceutical companies.
I think one of Obama's biggest problems going forward is trying to keep all the constintuencies happy...insurance/drug companies, unions, DailyKOS liberals, blue dogs.
Newt has a great column in Human Events about the possibility of nationalizing turning into rationing, and rationing turning into an Orwellian world where a government agency decides what amount of health care you are worth. Here's a snippet:
Supporters of government-run health care dismiss these worries as alarmist. They argue that because their big government health care bill doesn’t overtly call for rationing, it is somehow illegitimate to talk about this danger.
But it is always legitimate to consider the long-term consequences of a government program. By refusing to have an honest debate of this issue -- to explore honestly the consequences of the “painful choices” that all supporters of government health care say must be made -- their argument boils down to nothing more than this:
Trust the government.
Trust the politicians who are passing 1000-page bills they haven’t read.
Trust the leaders who are demonizing the citizens seeking to express their disagreement by calling them “un-American.”
Trust the advisors who advocate sacrificing the weak and the old and then hide in the shadows.
Trust the government to know what’s best for the most intimate, most personal part of you and your family’s life: your health.
This is the kind of thing that isn't a big deal by itself...but is part of a drip, drip, drip that's serving to discredit Obama's effort to get this passed...
