Watching Obama's Town Hall Speech

[Rotator]

Boy, the democrats got in line early today.

 

[Billnew]

no.
They were selected by "random lottery".

 

[Billnew]

No one commenting on Obama town meeting?

I was at work, so I didn't see it.

major networks would be smart to keep a slot open for Obama weekly. Since it doesn't seem like he can go very long without speaking to the people.
Of Course, Bush jr didn't speak enough for a nation at war.

 

[DeathMagus]

He should have been more upfront about the fact that he used to support single-payer, but no longer does "due to the destructiveness it would cause the current system." It's important to admit one's position changes, and explain why they have come about.

 

[Billnew]

He should have been more upfront about the fact that he used to support single-payer, but no longer does "due to the destructiveness it would cause the current system." It's important to admit one's position changes, and explain why they have come about.

I did make reference to that point on another thread. Glad its not only me trying to keep them straight.

Big Disparity Between People at Senator Specter and President Obama Gatherings - Neil Cavuto | Your World - FOXNews.com

NAILE:And we had the bussed-in the crowd on the — on the left, I would call it, the pro-nationalized health care crowd, which was — contained a lot of global warming and other side issues. But the — the predominant mood outside was opposed to nationalized health care.
CAVUTO: So, you're saying, despite what the White House is saying — and the White House insists this was not a screened crowd — that — that it — essentially, it was a screened crowd?
NAILE: I believe it was a screened crowd inside.

I believe the town hall was screened. You can't have very emotional people in Congressional town halls and have a presidential town hall be as calm as can be.(even with the great speaker)
Even if no anti-healthcare people won the "lottery", they would have still had a presence inside.
Obama may or may not know the audience was fixed, but it would appear to have been screened.
I am disappointed.

 

[mont974x4]

the upcoming meeting in Montana is supposed to be by public ticket sales. I still am not going. Why pay for a ticket just to go get lied to? LOL

 

[Billnew]

Asking for help knocking on doors and convincing neighbors, Obama said, "I never said change would be easy....Change is hard. And it doesn't start in Washington. It starts in places like Portsmouth."
"Yes we can," the crowd chanted, a reprise of Obama's campaign rallies.

Political Intelligence - 2008 Presidential Campaign Blog - Boston.com

Can this be any more obvious?

Crowd chants yes we can?

This wasn't just screened it was a full fledged Obama rally.

50% of the public aren't sure of this bill, but the majority of the crowd chime in?

The 11 yr old girl that asked a question was the daughter of a campaign contributor.
Malden girl to Obama: what about those "mean things" people say about your health plan?? - Malden - Your Town - Boston.com

Julia's mother was an early Obama supporter and donor in Massachusetts during the presidential election, so she had previously met First Lady Michelle Obama, the Obama daughters Sasha and Malia, and Vice President Joe Biden.

Nice little rally, rather then Town hall.

 

[rambot]

50% of the public aren't sure of this bill, but the majority of the crowd chime in?

It should be noted that this also means 50% aren't sure of this bill yet they are still willing to yell at their elected representatives that their current president scares them.

Is THAT healthy?

 

[mont974x4]

50% of the people are yelling? Seems to me that only a few are actually yelling. Most of us are writing and calling and otherwise letting our employees (elected officials work for us) know what we expect in an orderly and professional manner.

 

[DeathMagus]

Political Intelligence - 2008 Presidential Campaign Blog - Boston.com

Can this be any more obvious?

Crowd chants yes we can?

This wasn't just screened it was a full fledged Obama rally.

50% of the public aren't sure of this bill, but the majority of the crowd chime in?

The 11 yr old girl that asked a question was the daughter of a campaign contributor.
Malden girl to Obama: what about those "mean things" people say about your health plan?? - Malden - Your Town - Boston.com


Nice little rally, rather then Town hall.

Pretty lame. There are better ways to keep things civil than to simply fill the room with yes-men.

 

[TheOtherHockeyMom]

the upcoming meeting in Montana is supposed to be by public ticket sales. I still am not going. Why pay for a ticket just to go get lied to? LOL

Just an FYI, the Montana event is free. You need to get tickets in advance, but there is no cost.

 

[mont974x4]

it would still cost me in time and money to get there. He's not even going to a major town. Still a lot of effort just to be lied to....he is a politician after all.

 

[Billnew]

I was hoping someone would have disclaimed the chanting.
I never heard anything other then my OP.
1-2 lined paragraph, that could be misunderstood, is pretty weak reporting if they really did chant.
Does anyone know that this happened?

 

[Gramaic]

He should have been more upfront about the fact that he used to support single-payer, but no longer does "due to the destructiveness it would cause the current system." It's important to admit one's position changes, and explain why they have come about.

Personally I prefer that we have a single-payer, and I happen to be conservative. However Obama's plan right now is better than nothing. Our health care system is in dire need of reform. As long as the public option isn't dropped from the proposed health reform bill, I'm okay with it.

 

[Billnew]

Personally I prefer that we have a single-payer, and I happen to be conservative. However Obama's plan right now is better than nothing. Our health care system is in dire need of reform. As long as the public option isn't dropped from the proposed health reform bill, I'm okay with it.

Our system is only a little worse then it was 10-20yrs ago. It is in need of change, but not dire need of change.
The public option will be there, until the peoples money wipes them out.
Insurance costs are governed by competition. Goverment insurance is regulated by politicians and how much money they can push into insurance.
When goverment insurance strangles private insurance, it will die. Leaving goverment insurance as the only option. Once goverment is a monopoly, then we have no choice but to pay what ever goverment says. Meaning we could pay more then what we do now.
This bill does nothing to affect healthcare costs. It only seeks to isolate and neuter health insurance.
Health care costs so much because of 3 things. Malpratice insurance, uninsured, and liability. Liability and malpractice insurance push costs way up, forcing Dr to order tests they know won't do anything other then rule out things that the Dr never believed was the cause, just in that instance it might ring true. When it costs 1-2 million per 1 in a million case, you order a test every time to save that costly mistake.
Malpractice can cost $100K a year or more. We each pay a part of this, when we go to the specialty Dr.

 

[Gramaic]

Our system is only a little worse then it was 10-20yrs ago. It is in need of change, but not dire need of change.
The public option will be there, until the peoples money wipes them out.
Insurance costs are governed by competition. Goverment insurance is regulated by politicians and how much money they can push into insurance.
When goverment insurance strangles private insurance, it will die. Leaving goverment insurance as the only option. Once goverment is a monopoly, then we have no choice but to pay what ever goverment says. Meaning we could pay more then what we do now.
This bill does nothing to affect healthcare costs. It only seeks to isolate and neuter health insurance.
Health care costs so much because of 3 things. Malpratice insurance, uninsured, and liability. Liability and malpractice insurance push costs way up, forcing Dr to order tests they know won't do anything other then rule out things that the Dr never believed was the cause, just in that instance it might ring true. When it costs 1-2 million per 1 in a million case, you order a test every time to save that costly mistake.
Malpractice can cost $100K a year or more. We each pay a part of this, when we go to the specialty Dr.

Adding a public option to the picture will challenge private insurers and make them compete more, yes. As for "strangling private insurers" to go out of business, not quite. There are countries that give their citizens the choice of either a government run option, or a private insurance option. Good examples would be Germany and Australia. In many cases, public options improves many systems. Adding a public option will do no more than give Americans more choices for health care. In a way it will be like the mailing system here in the United States, where people have a choice between the government run Post Office, or the private UPS, FedEx, and DHL. Offering a public option in health care won't be forcing people to get their health care needs from the government, just offering more choice to people.