People are opposed to state socialism because they went to public schools.

I think the Doonesbury poll sums it up best:
http://www.doonesbury.com/media/strawpoll/…
The socialists think (93%) he is a moderate, the moderates think (96%) he is a moderate. The only group that is at all confused about it are the people that are Nazis themselves.

lulz, Mrs. V.

"I wish someone on this blog would have the guts to actually address the issues surrounding health care instead of pointing fingers, whining, and sliming the other side. I guess that's what Democrats are reduced to these days."

You go ahead and do that instead of calling on others to do it for you.

troll: 2/10

@Mr.V. I'll step in with some responses to your misinformation here if I may, before you two kill each other...although Graham is of course free to respond independently!

You've said Obama's idea won't allow the following:

1.Choose what benefits are in your plan.

Wrong. If you like your current plan, you can keep it. End of story. How many times does Obama need to repeat this?

2.Be rewarded for healthy living by paying less.

Wrong. Right now, health care costs are scheduled to double in the next ten years if we do nothing. The aim of the public option is to stop insurers from artificially inflating health care costs—to keep them honest.

3.Choose cheap high-deductible coverage.

See one. If you like your plan, you can keep it. Although compared to the public option, I doubt you'd want to choose that. Still, your choice. If you like shit in your sandwich, you can eat shit in your sandwich. I like honey, myself. Or ham. Ham sandwiches are nicer than shit sandwiches. But you may feel differently.

4.Keep your existing plan.

GAH! You're just being deliberately obtuse, right? I mean, seriously? How MANY TIMES?

5.Choose your doctors.

If you like your doctor, you can keep him or her. And yes, preserving choice is a fundamental tenet of the reform plans. So under the reform, you'll be able to choose your doctor.

Have a great afternoon.

Our socialist public schools would be fantastic if their budgets weren't raw-dogged by politicians.

Mrs. V,

Lulz again at putting my name in quotation marks. Any number of people from /b/town that have met me will attest that my name is Graham. As will my Kenyan birth certificate and Passport. I have stayed out of health care debates as I don't feel qualified enough to have opinions on the matter.

However, I do feel qualified to have opinions on douche-itude and shit-ass-poor arguments. And I do have to say that you are top-notch at both. Good job on being an asshole!

Matt if they change one aspect of your coverage - you have to dump it and take the govt plan. As anyone with insurance knows, they change yearly, thus everyone will be able to keep it -- until they soon lose it.
Then the insurance companies go out of business and the gov takeover is complete.

D: Not true. If you like your plan, you can keep it. The reform is about encouraging choice, not the government providing health care. Health care will continue to be provided by private doctors and hospitals. And you can continue with private health insurance coverage if you choose.

For clarification, I'd encourage you to read last night's Q&A with Oregon congressman Earl Blumenauer for the facts:

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…

One thing Blumenauer did point out: That if you have a health insurance plan now, and the insurer goes out of business, or for some reason can't continue to offer your current plan, tough shit. There's this illusion of continuing coverage but it's not really there, currently.

"There are no guarantees with the current system," he said.

"if you have a health insurance plan now, and the insurer goes out of business, or for some reason can't continue to offer your current plan, tough shit. There's this illusion of continuing coverage but it's not really there, currently.'

That's exactly what I said - changes to your "current plan" invalidate you.

I have just a couple points that I feel should be digested.

1: The source and reason for this manufactured picture of President Barack Obama represents something far more profound than your shallow assumptions. In no way am I endorsing it; I am saying that you're only turning a blind eye to a very serious argument. Please serve your readers by doing your homework.

2. All this arguing over the facts surrounding President Barack Obama's Health Care Reform are a direct reflection of the actuality of it. The truth of any matter is undeniable; any truth that is deniable is no truth at all. We have no business debating/arguing/denying each other unless we have a copy of President Barack Obama's Health Care Reform in our hands for analysis.

OK, Matt, so let's just go ahead and assume you're right, that there's no policy in the bill for euthanizing the elderly or leaving them to die without care. What do you think a $500 billion cut in Medicare is going to result in? Isn't that something you would normally be against?

BTW, the people who put up the signs are probably not "tea partiers" but 16-year-olds. Check YouTube and you'll see who's involved in this campaign. The old people are stirring up shit at the town halls because they know they're about to be weeded out of the population. It's self-preservation. They're fighting for their lives. Young people are putting up Obama joker posters because they know grandma's about to get the Terry Schaivo treatment. It won't be "death with dignity" via lethal injection. It will be death by food and water deprivation. Read the words of Ezekial Emmanual and John Holdren! They come right out and say it in their own writings!

Hi Tracy,

Yes, I'm in favor of saving money on health care. That's what the reforms are driven by. And I thought you right wingers were against big government?!

Again, I'd encourage you to read the transcript of last night's town hall.

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…

Us "right-wingers"? C'mon, you're better than that.

I will read the town hall transcript. And I hope that in the end we can all agree that grandma shouldn't be euthanized. We'll see what they finally vote on. But regardless of what happens with that, it won't take away from the legitimacy of the social commentary being made by the joker posters. The original poster just said "Socialism" underneath. It wasn't merely calling Obama a socialist. Rather it was making fun of socialists who voted for Obama thinking they were getting an advocate the underclass. Instead they got a spokesman for Goldman-Sachs.

Also, a $500 billion cut in Medicare is HUGE and people should really think about the implications of it.

Where the fuck is anyone getting the information that any health-care bill is going to euthanize anyone? That's just fucking retarded to think.

People need to look up the word "palliative", that would be a good place to start understanding how health-care actually works.

God, the people coming out of the woodwork on this one are even dumber than the ones that showed up for the Sam Adams debacle.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-sto…

"The Republicans carping about limitations on end-of-life care have a point. Lee Siegel on why the plans Obama is endorsing are dangerously sympathetic to "cost effective" end-of-life treatments. ...

...This is the Big Brother nightmare of oppressive government that the shrewd propagandists on the right are always blathering on about. Except that this time, they could not be more right."

RE: White House "Reality Check"-- Aren't those the same headshots they always use for the opinion polls that the Onion runs? American Voices: http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/gm_se…