Comments on: Obama’s Town Hall in New Hampshire – Live Video

By: victoria

victoria — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:02:40 +0000

The Harry and Louise commercials are paid for by big Pharma, in exchange for the deal with Obama. The 80 billion payoff that keeps the government from negotiating drug prices.

By: hychka

hychka — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:38:27 +0000

Fauxnews was just pushing words to the effect that blaming the media for stirring up the crazies is a loser. “Blaming the media just never works.”

They are also distancing themselves from the now debunked things they have been saying for a month. Looks like Sarah Palin got the “Turn 180″ memo before Fauxnews did.

By: itchyfish

itchyfish — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:19:21 +0000

One of the things I wondered about during the townhall was his assertion that people would no longer be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions or have their coverage evaporate in the middle of an expensive illness. I found myself wondering exactly how that was going to be enforced. Some poor schmoe is already going through medical hell, the insurance company is giving him a paperwork-encrusted version of “Buzz Off!”… will sirens and flashing lights go off? Will the Fairness Police arrive and haul the miscreants away? Or will Schmoe’s grieving relatives maybe win a lawsuit five years after he’s dead and the insurance company will pay a token fine?

By: bobh

bobh — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:11:29 +0000

The private insurers have insisted they are for reform and all that, Harry and Louise are now saying that, but the insurers encourage thugs to disrupt Town Hall discussions. How do you trust such treacherous people to keep their end of any overhaul agreements?

The only encouraging evidence here is the heavily regulated Medigap market, where they do obey themselves.

By: bobh

bobh — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:08:10 +0000

New Hampshire, which takes its Town Hall forums seriously, gave the rest of the nation a lesson in civility and decorum. I just hope Obama doesn’t feel the need to go into a real snake pit of yahoos somewhere else.

By: Oilfieldguy

Oilfieldguy — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:05:08 +0000

snicker!

By: Staggerlee

Staggerlee — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:57:03 +0000

Thanks for the info.
Amazing how little we know about a country that we share a border with. I admit guilt in not seeking that information but our media is really worthless in this respect also. You Canucks would have to start shipping truck loads of the devil weed over the border to get any press in our “media”.

By: brendanx

brendanx — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:56:07 +0000

Yes, the worst moment of the town hall was that thoroughly unfounded and unempirical assertion that because we’ve always done it one way the transition away from that system would be too hard. Politically, yes; as policy, no.

By: brendanx

brendanx — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:54:33 +0000

That’s what I thought when I first heard the phrase! And as a fully insured member of the middle of the class, even if a little more politically engaged than average, I’m an important target. So I was very pleased to hear at how much of this town hall he devoted to explaining how the federal government can bargain for the public. Now, I don’t want to sugar coat it — maybe it was my imagination, but I think I sensed a little overcompensating bluff and bluster from Obama when he talked about how he negotiated $80 billion in savings from the drug industry — and, in fact, he let on to his regret for this deal with the devil by saying that “we may go back and get even more”.

By: Fern

Fern — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:51:57 +0000

A lot of people don’t have supplemental - I just pay for services as I use them.

And remember that what we pay in additional taxes is way, way less than a typical American would pay for health insurance if purchased privately, or in lost wages and other benefits when employers have to pay for insurance.