Health Care Summit: A Viewer’s Guide

You never can tell when someone might propose a round of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

For some reason, I was thinking more along the lines of “You Never Even Call Me By My Name”

“Send in the Clowns”?

Yesterday, when I raised this question, a White House official suggested: “Kumbaya”

Begging your pardon, KT, but I followed the link, and it sure looks like six things to me.
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As for Song du Jour, how about “Cockeyed Optimist” from South Pacific, especially for POTUS?

Losing one’s temper in politics is usually self-destructive, but can also excite supporters and give the appearance of power.

I often think the inability to say what you mean clearly and forcefully is a major roadblock in formulating good policy. One of Obama’s talents is that he actually does retain the ability to call someone a liar to his face without appearing to be uncivil. I suspect he’s been rehearsing that very move.

Pelosi and Reid will lead the Dems in a round of Coldplay’s “Fix You.”
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On the Republican side, Boehner and Cantor will burst into the room singing Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”

the first one was supposed to be an introduction to the five.

Personally, I’d like to hear Obama quote Ezekiel when he gets fed up with the foot draggers…

I’ll be back tonight, have a great No Feeding Thursday!

I have a feeling that will be especially hard today, kbang…

“so-called Blue Dog on hand, Jim Cooper of Tennessee.”
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Ha “so-called”?

One song I’m NOT betting on is the early ‘70’s classic “Stuck in the Middle With You”, esp. with the line, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am…”

There will be little that happens today that won’t be scripted or completely planned by either side. The expectations for this event can’t get much lower…

http://www.political-buzz.com/

…per Amy’s last post / comments, maybe it won’t suck as bad today.

Best case scenerio: Nothing happens!

KT, it’s OT but per your figure skating tweet, can you get yourself “assigned” to watch the finals late tonight so it counts as “work”? No doubt Alice Park will cover the technical stuff but might you take a nap after HC summit, find a new “spin” on Kim vs. Asada vs. everyone else, and post here? (remember that last short prog. winner to take it all was in 1992, so by those tea leaves, Asada should win, maybe Rochette??)

That WSJ article is misleading, to say the least. From Steve Benen at Washington Monthly:
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The White House isn’t just denying the accuracy of the report, by all indications, the president’s team is absolutely livid over the article. A Murdoch-owned paper, on the day of the health care summit, seems to be deliberately trying to sabotage Dems’ efforts to create some momentum.
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So, what’s the truth here? It seems the White House, in the wake of the Massachusetts fiasco, drew up a variety of plans, and this watered-down tack was one of the possibilities. But here’s the key: President Obama and his team chose not to pursue it, as evidenced by the White House push in support of the president’s plan.
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Indeed, for Democratic policymakers, this scaled-back approach — Cohn noted that some insiders call it the “Skinny Bill” — would likely be a political and policy disaster. It wouldn’t solve the problem reform is intended to address; it would demoralize the base that needs the party to finish the job; it would still be the subject of ridiculous Republican lies; it would signal to the electorate that Dems can’t govern effectively enough to deliver on their top priority; and it would delay the entire process by several months, likely killing its chances anyway.

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The WSJ is hyping this to cripple the president’s effort, plain and simple.
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http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_02/022579.php

Just as a P.S.:
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It’s not just that Klein and Cohn say this “Plan B” won’t work. The White House decided this “Plan B” would be a disaster and they abandoned it as a result.
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The indications in the WSJ that this “skinny plan” is something they’re ready to use as a fallback position seems incredibly misleading.

My problem is that I can’t stay awake late enough.
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And while we’re OT: Per your request on an earlier post, kbang refers to an episode during the campaign in which HRC’s campaign penned up its traveling press corps (including yours truly) for something like six hours in a men’s room. It became the subject of one of our earliest caption contests. Unfortunately, the infamous movable type crash of 2008 killed those comments, many of which were tears-rolling-down-your-cheeks funny. I think kbang himself might have written an entire song for the occasion.
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anyway, here are the commentless links:
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http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/03/03/luxury_living_on_the_campaign/
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http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/03/03/lap_of_luxury/
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http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/03/03/update_luxury_living_on_the_ca/
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http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/03/03/caption_contest_luxury_living/

Given the lies we seen come out of the corrupt GOP House Organ, the Wall Street Journal, the last couple years (see Fund, John), it is no surprise they are trying to teabag the health care meeting.
What is surprising is that this scam is drawing attention.

“Walking With a Ghost” (Tegan & Sara)?

It seems commenters have a low opinion of the credibility of the WSJ.
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The suggestion is that editors have either allowed or even instructed reporters to run a misleading story, in order to misinform the public, so that the health care reform summit might suffer from increased public skepticism.
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Is this a fair assessment of the general feeling here?

KT, thank you, thank you, thank you for this. I’m amazed Hillary’s staff didn’t get a handle on this; they should’ve sat down to make sure everything came out ok. Media relations and optics are the #1 and #2 issues in politics, yes? But at least you got dinner; hopefully it didn’t taste like crap. I also hope reporters didn’t argue about leaving seats down or sparing a square, but I’ll bet TV stations found lots of B-roll to use there.

Works for me, Stu. But I don’t think the WSJ is wholly to blame for any “increased public skepticism” that might be present.
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Nor so I think that’s what you are implying.

Sorry. That should be”
“Nor do I think that’s what you are implying.”

John Lennon: How Do You Sleep?

KT: Any chance you can repost the photo in another “1000 Words”? I’m off for two weeks and need something to keep me from my honey-do list.

I think that about sums it up. Fruit of a poisoned tree. Or Joe Klein letting Pete Hoekstra ghost write his column.
What journalists don’t understand is that once you start pulling a bunch of cutesy stuff that ruins your credibility, you can’t just pretend that it didn’t happen without applying accountability.

If the Wall Street Journal fired some of the people working for it that have been proven to have lied multiple times, they could begin the process of being believable again.

I think Michael Steele is jealous he wasn’t invited to the Health Care Summit:
http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2010/02/michael-steele-mocks-dog-and-pony-show.html

He’s lucky that they let him attend the RNC meetings.

Progressive* liberals continue to cede American values and liberty in their constant quest for more and more entitlements. The cutting edge of this movement is our public indoctrination schools. They teach our kids a bunch of clap-trap so they will accept it when they become voters. There is no God, praise homosexuals, be politically correct, global warming, embrace illegals, bigger government is the answer to everything. They don’t have time for the three RRRs any more, they are too busy turning out idiots that can’t speak, write or form a cognizant thought. Big government is their god.

It is understandable, perhaps human nature, that these liberals want more, even if they didn’t earn it, however, it is truly amazing that they are so willing to trade the very future and freedom of their own children in response to progressive* demands. On the other hand, most of them are the product of the same indoctrination schools. So, the beauty of this indoctrination is that when they graduate they have been convinced that they are elite, bright, progressive* and that they are the master race (hmmm… where have we heard that before?)

Now the progressive* liberals have voted in a self-important, colossal idiot who has never done anything in his entire worthless life (other than voting present). They know little about this man other than that he is black, eloquent and he promises them more of what others have earned, the perfect progressive* idol.

*progressive: I am elite and smart, you are stupid, therefore I will be your master

The Obama Deception – Video
http://usataxpayer.org/?0071119896

The Progressive Plan for Your Children
http://usataxpayer.org/?0092081630