Even a Broken Watch is Right Twice a Day

Dwindling right-wing minority?

http://tinyurl.com/RR0430

That paints a different picture...

As to Senator Schultheis, I think it's quite obvious the operative word in his tweet was "meaningful."  He was calling on Senator Udall to vote down the heaping pile of .... that is H.R. 3200, and work toward real health care reform that doesn't throw out the baby with the bathwater.  We have the best health care system in the entire world, by far.  Reform does not need to be so sweeping as to fundamentally alter the entire system.

I would also quit suggesting there is broad, bipartisan support for Obama's health plan.  There is broad, bipartisan support for health reform, but Americans are rejecting the plans put forth in congress.  More and more each day realize what an awful piece of legislation they're working to pass.

Health care "reform" will die in the Senate, and for their efforts, Democrats will be widely thrown out of office in 2010.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

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by: BoulderRepublican @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 18:38:23 PM UTC

Do yourself a favor

And stop citing Rassmussen on anything related to national politics. They've been an outlier ever since Obama took office.

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by: redstateblues @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 18:40:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Do yourself a favor...

...and check their track record before you go trashing their numbers.  They were the only poll to predict the '04 election within half a percentage point for both candidates, and they were the most accurate poll again in 2008.

Health care "reform" will die in the Senate, and for their efforts, Democrats will be widely thrown out of office in 2010.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

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by: BoulderRepublican @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 19:04:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

They have been accurate for elections in the past

But for presidential job approval ratings, and anything related to national issues-based polls, they are horrible. This is not a matter of opinion, just look at the data and you'll see they're consistently an outlier.

The disparity between their accuracy on elections, and their lack of accuracy on issues and approval ratings leads me to believe they rely heavily on push polling.

Anyway, this isn't what this thread is about, but I wanted to set you straight.

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by: redstateblues @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 19:16:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Their polling on Obabma's approval/disapproval rating

Is usually the big standout at RealClearPolitics.  While all the rest of the polls listed are generally pretty close to one another, this one has been much lower on approval for Obama and much, much higher on disapproval almost all the time. Guess push polling isn't nearly as relevant to predicting votes for candidates in elections as it is to getting the opinion results you want.  I've been on the receiving end of rightie polls that pretty much want to know if you would be for having your taxes raised for no good reason. Gee, what will people say?

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by: BlueCat @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 20:41:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

"Meaningful" is not his word

It's one of the default strings the Obama tool uses randomly.

var tweetList = ["Please pass health insurance reform this year",
"Health insurance reform can't wait any longer",
"We need affordable health insurance for every American now",
"Affordable, quality health insurance can't wait",
"We need quality health insurance for every family in our nation now",
"Every American family deserves quality health insurance now",
"Please vote for meaningful health insurance reform",
"Please make sure health insurance reform passes this year",
"Please support meaningful health insurance reform now",
"Americans can't wait anymore. Health insurance reform must pass this year"];

Non impediti ratione cogitationis.

BTW, I "adduced" this all by myself, you total fucking assclown.
-Laughing Boy

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by: ThillyWabbit @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 19:06:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

"We have the best health care system in the entire world, by far"

There's nothing like a completely bogus and hollow argument based on an un-cited relativism.  

This blog is your blog, this blog is my blog

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by: sufimarie @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 19:35:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

We Do Not Have the Best Health Care in the World - Far From It

BoulderRepublican

"We have the best health care system in the entire world, by far."

I couldn't disagree with you more. We do not have the best healthcare system in the world. And I have had premium healthcare from birth until the present.

Our healthcare system is really a healthcare industrial complex serving its own interests and profits and the special interests that feed off its inefficiencies. Treatments are not based on what works but that which is the most profitable for the stakeholder. Have you looked at all that data on rigged clinical trials? I have. Ever been in a promising diagnostic study that would save billions only to have the FDA gut it by regulating it into oblivion but turn around and approve toxic drugs that main and kill? I have. Ever have a political disease Mr. BoulderRepublican and not be able to get treatment because they label your disease a mental disorder like they did with Gulf War Syndrome? I have. Ever audit the healthcare costs of a medical provider and find that they are as corrupt as organized crime families only they have the benefit of their corruption being under the radar and legal? I have. Ever been disabled due to a medical device and find out you can't sue because the manufacturers have immunity granted to them by the conservative Supreme Court? I have. Ever gone for five years being sick and seeing 30+ doctors and all they can say to you is we don't know what causes it? I have but I found out what was wrong with me not because of our wonderful inept healthcare system but in spite of it. Because I wouldn't give up. And I am on a mission Mr. BoulderRepublican to get the word out.  OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE BEST IN THE WORLD. This is fact. We are 37th out of all industrial countries.

Articles on rigged clinical trials
http://www.ahrp.org/cms/conten...

Corruption surrounding the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)

http://www.lymedisease.org/spl...

Corruption surrounding the American College of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, or ACOEM. Article by the WSJ.

http://www.moldwarriors.com/SK...  

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by: PolitianWatch @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 20:09:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

We have some of the best healthcare in the world for the very rich

That's why very rich foreigners sometimes come here for certain treatments and procedures.  We also have pretty good healthcare for those lucky enough to still be in gold-plated plans.  Our Vets' single payer system scores much higher on almost all measures than our for profit system and costs much less.   People will gripe about any system, all systems have their screw ups and I'm sure we can count on some talking point stories to argue that Vets get terrible care, etc., but statistics tell us it's excellent and low cost compared to what most of us have.

Most Americans don't get the benefit of the best of our healthcare system and cutting edge health technology, including most of the insured and all of the uninsured.   We compare to poorer nations, not to any of the industrialized nations, in quality over all.  

No other industrialized nation has a lower life expectancy or higher infant mortality rate.  the populations of the countries that beat the stuffing out of us on those and hundreds of other measures live longer healthier lives.   Those countries also cover everybody and do it for half to a third of the cost.

We pay to inflate compensation to obscene levels,  for redundancy, extra paper work by a huge magnitude, for all the very sick under-insured who neglect regular routine care and for all those uninsured using our ERS.   The logical result is that we get the least bang for our buck.  An interesting combo of expensive I've-got-mine-screw-you selfishness, greed, callousness, the politics of big money and sheer stupidity.  That's our system.  

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by: BlueCat @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 21:09:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

BlueCat you make excellent points

"We also have pretty good healthcare for those lucky enough to still be in gold-plated plans."

I am and always have been in a gold-plated plan and still we do not receive the best treatments we receive the most profitable treatments and sometimes the most toxic. This happened to me. Trust me being totally disabled at the hands of our incompetent medical practices in not fun. I'm lucky I can work again as many who have what I have can never work again. I now live with three autoimmune disorders.

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by: PolitianWatch @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 22:31:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

But not for the very very rich

I can't find it now, but there was an interesting study about the medical care that very famous people get (or rather don't) that examined likely outcomes of high-profile trauma cases--including recent ones as well as historical ones like Lincoln's assassination--had they been "regular people."

In almost every case it seems that the medical professionals were basically starstruck and threw their medical training out the window. By trying to go that extra mile (like sticking an unwashed finger and other instruments repeatedly into Lincoln's head to pick out the bullet) they actually caused damage that may have caused complications, hastened, or even caused death.

Totally off topic, but yet another reason I'm not a Hollywood heartthrob. In addition to having no talent and all the other reasons.

Non impediti ratione cogitationis.

BTW, I "adduced" this all by myself, you total fucking assclown.
-Laughing Boy

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by: ThillyWabbit @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 23:46:00 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

" We have the best health care system in the entire world, by far"

By what standards, BR?  Money spent? Yes.

Spent as percentage of GDP?  Yes.

Results?  No.  We've moved from first place in infant mortality a couple of generations ago to 37th, IIRC.  And so it is with every other standard.  This is one of the things that drive us lefties batpoop nuts about you guys. You really believe things that facts and statistics can't back up.  You repeat it to yourselves over and over; see Lenin's famous quote about lies becoming truth.

Oh, and I wish I had some of the "best health care system in the world."  I guess that also includes a bottle of aspirin and praying to get to Medicare w/o incident, huh? That's the best health care I have.

"Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth." Paul Krugman, 9/2010

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by: parsingreality @ Sun Aug 02, 2009 at 21:20:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

A more recent analog

Non impediti ratione cogitationis.

BTW, I "adduced" this all by myself, you total fucking assclown.
-Laughing Boy

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by: ThillyWabbit @ Sun Aug 02, 2009 at 21:42:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Who is that monkey? (No offense intended to our primate relatives.)

Starting to have rapid pulse.....flashbacks...

"Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth." Paul Krugman, 9/2010

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by: parsingreality @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 00:01:32 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agreed

Schultheis' tweets should be read by William Shatner so as to reveal their true beauty.

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by: redstateblues @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 18:41:49 PM UTC

I was thinking Laurie Anderson

Non impediti ratione cogitationis.

BTW, I "adduced" this all by myself, you total fucking assclown.
-Laughing Boy

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by: ThillyWabbit @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 19:36:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thank You! n/t

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by: dmindgo @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 21:19:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Schultheis on Twitter

He sounds about as coherent there as he does elsewhere. What a doofus.

"Why not do the right thing for the American people, even though it's not exactly what we want." - Speaker Boehner

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by: Half Glass Full @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 22:08:16 PM UTC

But

He does sound less like a twelve year old girl than Chuck Grassley.

Non impediti ratione cogitationis.

BTW, I "adduced" this all by myself, you total fucking assclown.
-Laughing Boy

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by: ThillyWabbit @ Sat Aug 01, 2009 at 23:31:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

disappointing

Senator Schultheis is a good man - he should be against the Obama health care bill, not for it

TABOR4LIFE

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by: Muhammad Ali Hasan @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 03:34:29 AM UTC

It's very confusing

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by: RedGreen @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 06:33:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]