First Conservative Blog

Do They Know it’s a Recession?

At a time when many Americans need money now, a shocking new analysis by USA Today of federal salary information shows a dramatic increase in the number of federal employees who are making six-figure incomes. The numbers make it seem as if these workers are far from feeling the effects of the recession.

Employees previously making $ 100,000 or more saw an increase of between 14 and 19 percent in their salaries, before factoring in bonuses and overtime pay. That’s an awful lot of money for those that already are well off – and at a time when more people are hurting than ever.

And the Rich Get …Well, You Know the Rest

The number of civilian employees in the Defense Department earning $ 150,000 salaries increased from 1,868 at the end of 2007 to 10,100 in June of the current year. This news can be hard to swallow at a time when millions of Americans have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meets. A lot of people would love to be working, but can’t find even a basic job.

Conversely, federal hiring has been on a steady rise in recent months. In the last 18 months, the Transportation Department has bumped 1,689 people to over $ 170,000 – compared to only ONE person earning that before now.

Is this where it Ends?

Perhaps this would be easier to stomach if this were the extent of it. The truth is that the entire federal government is raising salaries, which is asinine considering we have a record deficit and debt. Six figure salaries are less common in these areas. Meanwhile in the rest of the country we desperately need money now.

How is this Justified?

According to Jessica Klement, the government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, these employees work in industries that require greater amounts of training or skills, and are working for less then their private sector counterparts. The USA Today reports that Klement said these workers, according to Klement, made 26 percent less than counterparts in the private sector.

Does their Story Hold Water?

USA Today also looked at federal employee salary stats from the Office of Personnel Management (except workers in Congress, Postal Service, the White House, the military, and at “intelligence” agencies – their track record justifies quotes). From the study they found that the average private sector salary was $ 41,331 and the average federal employee is making $ 71,206.

Shocking, but True

For the majority of Americans who really need money now, this is going to be some tough news to hear. The previous administration approved pay increases of 3 percent in January of 2008 and 3.9 percent in January of 2009 across the board for federal employees. The recommendation of President Obama is to take this down to 2 percent for the beginning of 2010, which may still sound high but is actually the lowest increase since 1975. These raises, among others and modified pay systems, have led to these egregious salary increases.

Conservative Blog post – supplemental for October 15

White House spin meisters have a real headache on their hands this morning, as former Clinton Labor Secretary and current Obama economic advisor Robert Reich appears in a speech revealing the partial truth about the Obama health care plan.   Reich said:

“We’re going to have to, if you’re very old, we’re not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It’s too expensive…so we’re going to let you die.”

That Democrats plan to cut costs by cutting short the life span of Senior Citizens is no surprise.  The real shock is that Reich felt he had to at least tell part of the truth – perhaps to maintain some manner of personal integrity. 

The truth that is left out of Reich’s statement though, surrounds the term ‘couple of months.’  Every nation that controls health care costs via a national delivery system makes an actuarial decision about every treatment request relative to cost and expected life span.  The more expensive the request, the lower the chances are of receiving the treatment.  And of course the older the patient, chances for receiving government approval for the expenditure declines further.  Unless the patient is able to return to work somehow to repay costs through his productive work and taxation, the actuarial decision almost always falls into the ‘no’ category.   For Seniors who really would like to live a couple more years, this is an early death sentence courtesy of their federal government.  Decisions that will directly extend the life of senior citizens by years and not months will in all probability be rejected – especially if they are in any way experimental or expensive.  (As seniors were to a large extent responsible for electing this government, they need to stand up and motivate their representatives to reject this plan entirely.)

Adding to the White House Press Office Misery Index (WHoPOMI) Reich is also on tape saying:

“(The government is) going to use the bargaining leverage of the federal government in terms of Medicare, Medicaid—we already have a lot of bargaining leverage—to force drug companies and insurance companies and medical suppliers to reduce their costs. What that means, less innovation and that means less new products and less new drugs on the market which means you are probably not going to live much longer than your parents.“

Setting realistic expectatons is an honest way of selling an idea.  And now that a senior level Democrat has been revealed speaking about the inevitable consequences of the health care takeover, the internal misery index is increasing right along with the unemployment numbers.

If Reich is true to his credentials as an economist, he must stand by these statements.  This of course puts him at odds with the current President who has promised exactly the opposite of what Reich points out to be the obvious results of the proposed health care takeover legislation.  

Check out the video itself – courtesy of Newsbusters. 

Conservative Blog Post for October 13, 2009

‘Duh’ Economics   

Democrats this morning scrambled to contain damage resulting from release of a report highly critical of the health care takeover plan currently being debated in the US Senate.  The report – paid for by the Insurance industry and undertaken by highly respected Price Waterhouse Coopers – claims that the current plan would drive costs for an average individual up by at least $600 per year and would result in additional premiums of $1,700 per year for family coverage by 2013. 

This prediction drew the predictable Democrat reaction.  “Hatchet Job,” said a spokesperson from Senator Max Baucus’ (d-MT) office.  “Fundamentally Flawed” added AARP.  Without specifically addressing the reasons the study was flawed or incorrect, liberals proceeded with their usual method of handling dissent – impugning the motivations of the messenger.   “Insurance Company and Industry Greed,” seemed to be the central theme coming from Congressional Democrats. 

Price Waterhouse Coopers has been crunching numbers well before Barack Obama was riding the waves and attending his private high school in Hawaii.  The well-respected firm wouldn’t put its professional reputation into the cross-hairs of the Democrat party character assassination squads unless it was absolutely sure of its position – regardless of who paid for it.   Despite what Democrats claim, corporate integrity is alive and well in the US. 

The study identifies three central economic themes that Democrats can’t seem to grasp.  So for the purpose of identification, we’ll call these  ‘Duh’ principles .  Leftists who reject or can’t understand the principles of Economics just won’t get it, but perhaps the use of ‘Duh’ can shame them at least into listening.

‘Duh’ Principle 1 – Additional requirements placed upon an industry drives up costs to providers. 

As the Price Waterhouse Coopers study points out, heaping more responsibility on the industry will result in rapidly escalating costs to those organization that currently provide insurance services.  The only thing difficult to understand here is why Democrats have such a hard time understanding. 

Covering pre-existing conditions – although perhaps a noble objective – requires the industry to assume payment responsibilities for conditions they do not currently have to cover.  Does this increase their costs?  Of course it does!  There are a myriad of new requirements in the proposed legislation under consideration in both houses of Congress as well.  Each will drive up provider costs.

‘Duh’ Principle 2 – Higher provider costs means higher prices for consumers.

Will these new requirements directly increase costs to consumers?  It better or the company will soon fail.  Every organization must generate a profit for its shareholders or owners to remain viable.  It also may be that the government intends for insurance providers to fail so that the government option – or complete federal takeover of the insurance industry – will become the only remaining course.

When Democrats can’t tax value from an offending group or industry, they typically resort to adding costs and responsibilities to somebody else.  Astonishingly, the Democrat theme is that shareholders – not customers – absorb cost and tax increases.   As shareholders are viewed as members of the oppressive wealth class, this is an acceptable course.  

Shareholders can’t operate any business without a respectable profit margin.  They will compel the organization to pass on any additional costs to consumers.  And if all insurance providers must meet the same new set of requirements, all insurance company prices will rise concurrently.  There will be no advantage in moving from one provider to another.   One additional note on shareholders; most of these folks are average Americans that own portions of health provider companies as part of their stock holdings or 401(k) plans.  These aren’t rich New Englanders (like the Kennedys and Kerrys) who spend their summers on Martha’s Vineyard.

Unfortunately for them, Democrats are going to get blamed for rising health care costs at the same time service levels to customers will decrease.   As there are no Republicans around to blame, Washington lefties will have to face public wrath on their own.    So what are they to do?  There really is only one option – which the left will never accept.

‘Duh’ Principle 3 – Only by decreasing operating costs and lowering risk can the cost of health care be reduced. 

In addition to dumping service requirements on the health care industry, Government can influence the cost of doing business in only two additional ways; setting legal standards and taxation.  Democrats have allowed the legal industry to drive the cost of American health care well above the rate of inflation. Risk of being sued is a primary financial consideration for every medical professional.   And although nearly all Americans agree that fair compensation should be paid to victims of malpractice, the punitive damages – those damages that are awarded to a victim and his attorney as punishment for a wrong doing – are out of control.   John Edwards has a mansion and a mistress as proof of how much money the legal industry bleeds from the misfortunes of others.

Physicians must limit their exposure to lawsuits by ordering every test, exam and treatment imaginable for each patient – regardless of the likelihood of success.  This is termed ‘defensive’ medicine, which provides only marginal benefit to the patient and significantly escalates cost to the provider.  A legal reform effort that would limit punitive damages but leave actual damages up to court discretion would be hugely helpful in lowering the cost of doing business in health care.  And lowering costs allows physicians and insurance providers to compete for customers with better rates.   Unfortunately, the American Bar Association and the legal community is a primary owner of the Democrat party and will never allow their ability to leech a huge income off the misfortunes of others to be restricted. 

Increased taxation only elevates costs to the provider and applies further upward pressure on the price structure.  Upward pressure applied to the entire industry only raises internal costs, and as we have already seen raises costs to consumers. 

So the three ‘Duh’ Principles of Economics are obvious to all who look, read and research the health care issues.  Democrats who live as ostriches or only watch CNN, continue to believe that laws of economics do not apply to them or their policies.  And even though consumers may be gullible for a while, consumers can add and subtract.  When they see their costs outpacing their ability to pay, Democrats will be held accountable. 

Conservative Blog Post for September 19

The Obama Argument Clinic

Team Obama rolled out yet another communication plan after the big speech to the joint session of Congress failed to move support for the health care takeover plan.  This next version involves sending the Prez out with His message to all the major Sunday news shows.  At best, this is a questionable tactic.  At worst, it will reveal once and for all that the Obama plan to ruin American health care is based on a series of illogical dreams and wishes that cannot possibly become reality. 

Had the President been in serious negotiations and willing to compromise, some serious and positive changes could come out of the effort.  However, pressure from the radical left has ensured that once the plan was revealed, the Washington politician’s job was to sell it – not modify it.    Those that objected to the plan – in addition to objecting to the sales methodology – really object to the content of the legislation. 

In response to criticism over the inevitable rationing of health care services under this plan, the Obama team responded ‘there will be no rationing.’  In response to criticism over the cost – that the Congressional Budget Office even states will be astronomical – the Obama team responded ‘not one dime will be added to the deficit.  No logic, economic history or facts are applied to the left’s position.

Denial is not a form of argument.  People want logic, facts and reasoned responses to inform their decisions.  So far from the Democrats, voters have received only irrelevant emotionalisms followed by denials that these bad things will happen.  These denials have gotten silly.  In Monty Python’s “The Argument Clinic” (see it here), the characters have an “argument” that is simply an exchange of “yes it is” and “no it isn’t.”   Team Obama has boiled its entire sales strategy down to simply saying ‘no it won’t’ in response to serious and meaningful questions.   But, as Demcrats simply can’t handle serious and meaningful questions without demeaning the questioner, this is about all voters can expect.  The Obama shills in the media are too busy calming their legs to challenge the Chosen One’s responses.   Voters have just about lost patience with the entire exercise as it appears the Democrats simply have no logical case to make for taking over one sixth of the nation’s economy and the media has no interest in uncovering the details behind the plan.  And tomorrow on the Sunday shows, Obama will turn on his broken record once again. 

In this final push, Team Obama is rolling out the Chosen One to work his interpersonal magic on the lesser news networks (those other than FOX).  The friendly media will certainly not provoke an argument with the Prez, so one can imagine the discussion going something like:

CBS:  “Critics have said that rationing of health care will result from the rapid influx of millions of currently uninsured patients into the system without any additional doctors”
Obama:  “No it won’t”
CBS:  “Oh, Okay.”

MSNBC: “Critics charge that the government appointed health care boards will function as ‘death panels’ if they are entrusted with deciding under what circumstances seniors will be allowed to receive certain treatments.”
Obama:  “No they won’t”
MSNBC:  “Oh, You are so brilliant and benevolent.”

NBC:  “The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this plan will cost trillions of dollars after year 10.  Is that true?”
Obama:  “No it won’t” 
NBC:  “Oh, Okay”

ABC:   “Critics say that there are loopholes in the current legislation that will allow taxpayer funding of health care services to those in this country illegally. Will illegal aliens receive health care services under your proposal?”
Obama:  “No they won’t”
ABC:  “Oh, Okay”

We’ve actually seen this strategy play out. During the President’s ‘joint’ speech, he made no additional argument or case for passage of the program.  Because He is still fairly well liked, support for health care takeover jumped for a few days, but as of the latest Opinion Dynamics poll, support for this monstrosity hit a new low – 42%.  Opposition pushed 55%. 

Simply put, the Obama sales plan has no substance – just like the argument clinic.  And unless the President can come up with a reasoned response other than demonizing those that object, this plan will either fail (hopefully) or be rammed through Congress with disastrous results.  Should the latter occur, Democrats can count on being out of power within twelve months.  The next Congress will then have to dismantle the bill while Obama is still in office.  If Americans think things are contentious now… just wait for that.

Conservative Blog post for September 18, 2009

Pelosi Expresses Concern over State of Public Discourse

After trying to come up with a lighter subject for the Friday column, it is time to admit failure. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed fear yesterday that opponents of the Democrat plans for health care, spending and a host of other issues would incite people to violence.  This absurd extrapolation reveals the immaturity with which Democrats and leftists look at the dialogue taking place around them.   They are genuinely fearful though and simply cannot believe that the population does not adore the Democrat agenda.   Of course, because Democrats are simply better and smarter than the rest of us, none of the blame for the increased animosity can possibly be laid at their doorstep.

There are several reasons for voter anger in the country.  Much of it is due to anxieties caused by the utter failure of the Obama administration to adhere to sound and proven principles of economics, foreign and social policy.  This is fairly simple to understand.  Demcorats somehow find it easy to ignore.   

Reasons for the problems are indeed simple.  The Stimulus has failed to keep unemployment to under 8 percent as Obama Himself promised.  Obama just surrendered the defense of Poland and Eastern Europe to a resurgent Russia, and of course taking over health care is something that – I know this is hard for lefties to grasp – Americans simply and definitely do not want.   To cope with the increasing level of tension, Obama and the Dems do what they do best… blame others.  And this is where the problems arise when talking about the state of public discourse.

Just last week the new kind of Democrat reached across the aisle during His ‘joint’ speech to smack conservatives over the head.  The new kind of Democrat excoriated hard working Americans employed by insurance companies.  The new kind of Democrat scolded those that disagreed with him as essentially stupid for reading the legislation and for forming an opinion different from His.  The new kind of Democrat promised to ‘call out’ anyone else that disagreed.   Of course, ‘calling out’ someone that disagrees with you isn’t a threat unless it is a Republican making the statement.  This new kind of Democrat turned out to be a radical leftist that conservative talk shows warned about during the campaign.   Middle ground voters that bought the Obama line about being a New Kind of Democrat, understand they have been fooled. They are none too happy about it.

Americans are indeed upset with their government – of that there is little doubt.  Democrats are quick to paint themselves as victims because the strategy plays great on MSNBC and CNN.  However, it is the Obama/Democrat agenda itself that fuels this fire.  It is no secret that Democrats –in particular their hard core leftist supporters – are dying to take over American health care and to make ‘the rich’ pay for all their past evils.  They are dying to ratchet up energy costs so that Americans have to cut back their loathsome power consumption levels.    Democrats are dying to take control of the media to stifle the voices of those that oppose them.  These are simple and observable ambitions.  And it should scare the living Hell out of voters on all sides.  Because these are observable truths, the fear is real, growing and is manifesting in town hall participants demanding highly unusual things like respect from Pelosi and the Democrats.  Since when did voters have to openly demand respect from those in their employ? (Well… since the election.)

So as the national anxiety level climbs to another level, let’s examine some of the real reasons our political discourse has become so contentious.    (Author’s note… these are just the big three general reasons.  There are simply too many other signs of disrespect for voters and their opinions to detail here.)

Stimulus – Short Version; the danged thing doesn’t work.  When Americans buy something at Sears and it doesn’t work, they take it back and the company either refunds the purchase price or provides another, similar unit.  The Stimulus is a major reason the economy isn’t recovering in a full and robust manner (read – with jobs).  Voters have figured out that it doesn’t work and want a refund.  Obama isn’t Sears, though, so voters are told to get a life. 

Repeating the mistake Roosevelt made back in the early ‘30s, increasing government spending (and by restricting foreign trade as He did with China earlier this week), Obama is repeating exactly the steps to economic disaster that Hoover and Roosevelt used to create the Great Depression.  Despite the best efforts of the teachers union, most Americans understand this.  Pelosi, Obama and the Democrats do not.

Foreign Policy – Obama this week proved himself a dolt – so much so that the Polish Foreign Minister wouldn’t even accept a call from Obama’s Secretary of State.  (Not accepting a call from Hillary is probably a smart thing anyway.)  Giving up a strategic advantage to appease a regime known to invade its neighbors is simply foolish.  That policy is also an invitation to despots worldwide. President Obama has just sent an engraved invitation to rogue nations to threaten the US.  Combine the incredibly naïve decision to stand down from the missile defense shield, with Obama’s capitulation on the North Korean six party talks and the decision to allow Iran to become a nuclear power, the world has become a much more dangerous place.  Voters understand that this President has made their world a more dangerous place in the future where their sons and daughters will have to again fight the evil that US action today could have prevented.

Health Care – Note to Pelosi (make sure she is sitting down when she hears this) – people do not want the government involved in their health care.  Because Democrats are not listening, voices at town hall meetings had to be raised.  Pelosi herself ginned up the animosity by being incredibly disrespectful of those that disagreed, referring to them as Nazis and mindless robots sent by the radical right.  As she did this herself, her arrogance cannot be blamed on others.  Pelosi now openly wonders why people are so angry.  In true Democrat form though, she doesn’t take any responsibility herself.   

Obama and the rest of the Democrat machine jumped into this fray as well.  During the President’s ‘joint’ last week, he promised to ‘call out’ those that were “not telling the truth” about His health care proposals.  The President has never responded to criticisms in a substantive way that would allow discussion.  When the issue of rationed care is brought up, the Chosen One just states that rationing won’t happen.  When confronted with the economic evidence that rationing is inevitable under His model, Obama simply denies it will happen.  In a tactic similar to Monty Python’s ‘The Argument Clinic,’ denial is not a form of discussion or discourse.  When voters hear denial after denial instead of substantive reasons, they rightfully conclude that rationing will occur.  Of course there will be rationing of care and the death panels will be the government medical boards that determine under what circumstances a person could have hip replacement or heart surgery.  Rationing is the logical, predictable and assured (in every nation that has national health care) result of taking over the system to control cost.   

Failure to acknowledge these realities are driving the current animosity.   It also has Democratic arrogance on full display.  Obama promised us the smartest administration in history.  He has so far proven Himself woefully incapable of negotiation and in making decisions with sound, long-term objectives that the voters themselves – Obama’s employer – agree with.  In short, President Obama and the Democrat team have lost sight of the fact that they are in the employ of the American people.  

Looking ahead, the current animosity may seem tame one year from now however.  Should the Senate proceed with the health care takeover using a procedural maneuver known as ‘reconciliation.’  Voters will understand two things;  1. It was very clear that voters and citizens did not want this legislation to become law, and 2. Democrats betrayed them by ramming it through anyway.   If the left thinks that public discourse is out of control now, just try that little trick and see what the national mood is then.

The Obama Show takes to the air this weekend in a final push.  The animosity level will be acutely impacted by what is said.  If Obama simply repeats his contentions about no rationing, no service to illegal aliens and no deficit impact, voters will only become more outraged.  The President has to present solid, logical and substantive – mathmatical – reasons for his positions.  Of course he is only taking the Obama Show to friendly turf where he assuredly won’t be asked many difficult questions.  It is also revealing that in order to win support for health care takeover, the President needs to win converts.  It is very difficult to win converts when you are only speaking to your friends and allies at network news. 

Domestically, Obama has turned out to be the kind of bully that He believed the US had become internationally.  ‘Calling out’ adversaries, using SEIU thugs at town hall meetings to tamp down resistance from ordinary Americans is proof.  This hasn’t escaped voter’s attention.   And voters rightfully hate bullies.

Final note to the Dems… this is the bed you made.  Lie in it for a while.  Democrats have lost sight of the fact that they are public servants – not rulers.  And when Nancy Pelosi hands over the House Speaker’s gavel, it won’t be a holiday, but the huge sigh of relief will be audible worldwide.

Conservative Blog post for September 17

The Baucus Health Care Plan – Launching the Democrat vs. Democrat Fight

Senator Max Baucus (d-MT) revealed an $856 billion health care reform plan of his own today after months of discussions with Republicans failed to produce reforms radical enough for Democrats.   Baucus really screwed up the Democrat’s assault on health care by revealing this proposal though.  All the false momentum that the President, the media and his harder left supporters thought they had, evaporated as Baucus broke ranks and presented his own policy without the key public option.

Baucus probably thought he was doing Democrats a great favor.  In fact, he probably did by saving them from a true electoral nightmare should the public option become law.  Still, Washington Democrats are quietly expressing their feelings of betrayal.  Without 60 votes in the Senate for the public option, the only hope for this monstrosity would be to pass it though a budget reconciliation process.   In what would amount to nothing short of a declaration of war with Senate Republicans, Baucus seems to be against the back-door method of passage.  Thus he felt compelled to at least come up with something on his own.

Like all things that Democrats come up with, the Baucus health care proposal has already brought about several unintended consequences, including:

Stealing the Spotlight -  Friends of the President were inspired last week when the Chosen One appeared willing to fight for ruining American health care by creating a public insurance ‘option’ that would quickly be the only coverage available.  Baucus rolled out his proposal and promptly got on CNN, MSNBC and stole attention from the Obama Show.  The networks dread putting Mad Max on television though because he is quite possibly the most boring spokesperson for any cause there is.

When it became clear that the Baucus proposal contained no public option, Democrats were seriously disappointed.  Now that the Prez committed to the public option to appease his Union and radical supporters, the good Senator shot it down from within.  That at least is a good thing.  Getting it put back will require a Democrat vs. Democrat fight.  That is also a good thing.

Turning public attention to the cost – Democrats have been avoiding the cost issue like the plague.  While the President insists that His plan would not add one dime to the deficit – at least for the first two years while no services were being paid for – all other reasonable folks from the Congressional Budget Office on down have been coming up with astronomical figures as to what this is likely to cost.  Baucus came right out and hung an $856 billion price tag on his proposal, with taxes to pay for it.  This takes away the ability to insist that a much more radical overhaul of health care (especially the public option) can reasonably be done with no deficit impact.

Returning attention to individual responsibility – Democrats absolutely hate this discussion too.  Irresponsible individuals, who choose not to purchase insurance even though they can afford it, would be required to buy in.  Democrats hate making anyone buy something… they don’t mind taking people’s money for themselves, but making people be responsible for their own well being just doesn’t seem right.  Besides, individual responsibility frees the masses from state control over their lives.

Decreased the chances of enacting health care takeover via ‘Reconciliation’ - Since it is Baucus’ committee that would have to execute the move to declare a takeover of health care as a budget item, the administration has been put on notice that Baucus won’t be a part of desecrating Senate rules.  If the good Senator was okay with using reconciliation, he wouldn’t have bothered to write out his own plan.   Obama has to come up with some real plum for the Montana Senator to compel him to reconsider.

Deflating the ridiculous notion that race is a meaningful part of this debate - When former peanut farmer and President Jimmy Carter opined that those that objected to the Obama plan were in fact racists, he really didn’t think that Baucus would be considered among them. Democrats have always reserved the charge of racism as being valid only when levied against Republicans, but Carter made such a blanket accusation (and he wasn’t referring only to those who spoke out at town hall meetings) that the good Senator must be included in Carter’s classification of who is against the President’ plan.  Of course Senator Baucus is no racist and neither are the town hall and tea party participants.   

In the end, Senator Baucus has unwittingly derailed the drive to take over one sixth of the American economy. Obama will have to come up with another publicity stunt or some kind of speech before a joint session of the world to reclaim momentum for the public option.  If the President is a skilled politician, He will use the excuse that He can’t get Democrat support to force the public option through the Senate.  His radical supporters won’t accept this for a second though and will put the President right back in the vise.  It will be spectacularly fun to watch the coming Democrat vs. Democrat battle!

Conservative Blog Post for September 13 – Joe Wilson’s War

In full display of how ‘out of touch’ Democrats are with the country’s main stream, House lefties this weekend continued to demand a full apology on the House floor from SC Rep Joe Wilson.  Wilson – who already apologized to the White House for shouting “You Lie!” during the President’s Health Care speech on Wednesday evening – has found himself underneath an avalanche of criticism for lack of decorum.  He also found himself under an avalanche of campaign cash. 

With a leaderless Republican party throwing up some remarkably strong resistance to the President’s efforts to take over and ruin American Health Care, Rep. Wilson has emerged as an unlikely focal point of the debate.  Democrats decry anyone who disagrees with them – particularly if they are able to get their objections onto liberal media – as out of control, crazed lunatics.   The generally calm Wilson apologized for shouting out his comment during the President’s speech, but not for the content of his comment.  And for this he was rewarded with over $750,000 dollars in campaign contributions from across the country. 

Democrats tried to use the same incident to raise funding for Wilson’s opponent and claimed to have come up with some $400,000 sent by outraged lefties.  With Wilson outraising his opponent nearly two to one as a direct result of Wednesday’s events, thinking people recommended to the Democrats that they stop calling attention to it.  Instead, House Democrats kept the pot boiling with their insistance that Wilson apologize formally or be censured.  How much cash would a censure motion raise?  Plenty!

Even San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi can do the math here and is encouraging her babbling army of lefties to let the issue die.

House and Senate Republicans should be reading this as well.  As the country has shifted well away from the Obama vision of state-control of everything from energy to health care, a good amount of positive coverage – not to mention cash – may be obtained by loudly objecting to anything Obama.  And for that one GOPer that would like a leadership role, this may be that golden opportunity to grab the spotlight.

So mild-mannered Joe Wilson and his continuing war with Democrats and leftist media pundits has unwittingly re-energized an awkward Republican opposition.  Aided by Democrat’s silly refusal to let the issue just ‘go away,’ a new conservative resistance may be afoot. 

Obama to the Rescue – of the GOP – Three Ways Obama Helps Republicans

Following His theatrical –if misleading – address to the nation last Wednesday, President Obama sought to galvanize support for taking over the US Health Care industry.  Instead he added fortitude and backbone to the resistance.

Despite Congressman Wilson pointing out Obama’s inaccurate statement regarding coverage for illegal aliens, the speech failed to change public opinion.  (It is telling that despite a flood of contributions to Wilson’s congressional opponent from lunatic lefties anxious to feel better about themselves, the South Carolina district he represents remains firmly in support of their GOP rep.)

By refusing to come clean on several obvious issues, such as coverage for illegal aliens and the outrageous cost of His proposals, Obama unwittingly united the opposition yet again.  Supporters of His efforts to ruin American Health Care for most citizens were already united behind him – all 32% of the population.  Unfortunately for the Prez, the opposition just got stronger.  Obama has only himself to blame.

Failing to answer questions after 23 speeches on the matter is tantamount to lying.  Most voters who aren’t committed leftists keep waiting for answers as to how this thing is really to be paid for, where in the world –specifically – can $500 billion in savings be found within the Medicare program and how can government health boards (seriously) NOT act as death panels when their main duty will be to enforce cost controls and regulation on seniors needing treatment.   If there are no practical and realistic answers offered, most people that think for themselves conclude that the ones offering the plan really don’t know how it will work and are therefore not to be trusted.

Obama and his minions have simply not answered questions and are burning up what is left of the trust the voters left with them last year.    Other than simply denying that ‘bad things’ will occur, Obama and the leftist Democrats offer no substantive argument that will move public opinion.  Some Democrats – particularly in the Senate – seem smart enough to understand this and are already at work crafting a bit of legislation that will allow Obama to save face by claiming a win on health care reform without actually delivering very much. 

Still, the damage may be done.  Democrats know they will lose seats in the mid-term elections next year.  However, their President is putting them in the untenable position of supporting a plan that has no logical expectation of delivering the results Obama is promising.  Pelosi doesn’t care…she will be re-elected by her lunatic fringe district.  However, people like Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) do care – they represent entire states that do not support the health care takeover.

Conservative candidates in relatively red states like Nebraska and Louisiana (now that the Bayou Democrat’s election-stealing network has been broken up) are already running against the President.  Obama offers such a clear example of liberalism out-of-control and elitist government that refuses to answer questions or provide specific details regarding important matters, that any Democrat is painted with this image.  And in the Bayou State, Obama is already dragging Democrat prospects into the alligator pit.  Senator Vitter – beset by his own personal misbehavior – is mounting a VERY strong candidacy for re-election by simply presenting himself as one who opposes the Obama policies.  Right now, he is looking tough to beat.

Democrats knew they would have an uphill battle to maintain their House and Senate margins.  Unfortunately for them, Obama has given every conservative candidate a clear illustration of what liberalism means to America.  Americans are rightfully scared enough to at least pay attention.

Obama is adding to a potential GOP Revival in three central ways, including:

Arrogance – By stating that “we will call you out for your inaccuracies” the President is acting like a bully who is in fact, unwilling to talk about specific details.  Besides, this is an empty threat.  Republican opponents seem all too willing to have this conversation, as they have actually read the bills.  Democrats –especially those who have read the bills – are absolutely afraid to discuss the implications publicly.  Obama seems to either have not read the legislation or is absolutely dishonest about what the language means.  To Democrat’s credit though, the bills are written so poorly and in such legalese that Obama thought that as any good lawyer does– He could interpret it any way which suited Him.  This just isn’t good enough for American voters.  And should the attempt be made in the Senate to pass the Health Care disaster bill via reconciliation – look for a major GOP sweep next fall.

Attitude – A standard political tactic – if you are not for this plan, you are ignorant.  Unfortunately, the grass roots nature of the town hall resistance movement really is “grass-roots.”  For all its attempts to be a good organizer the GOP has great difficulty organizing a picnic – much less setting up the kind of opposition Congressional lefties ran into in their home districts last month.  For Obama and Pelosi to accuse the opposition of being Republican plants or being just plain ignorant is insulting to the very people to whom Obama owes his job.   They won’t forget.

Ineptitude – Team Obama believes that a good speech solves all problems.  They fail to distinguish between a good speech and good theatrics.  Obama is great at the latter – horrible at the former.  A good speech generally includes details and specifics to make a logical point.  Unfortunately, in the delivery of 23 major addresses on Health Care, no specifics and certainly little logic have emerged.  This just makes Democrats who support the plan look silly.  They can’t answer a simple question about the ‘reasonableness’ of finding $500 billion in savings from Medicare without ridiculing whoever asked the question.  The biggest fear on the part of Team Obama is that Joe Biden gets off the reservation and starts commenting on Health Care legislation.  Republicans would need no further assistance.

Jump the Shark episode of the Obama Show – Obama in Reruns

In a highly anticipated speech on health care reform, the President addressed a joint session of the US Congress last evening to say – well – not much new.  Although he threw a bone to conservatives about being open to Tort Reform, most other content was already delivered.  And it was delivered in 23 previous installments of the same Obama show.

Other things went according to expectation as well.  Senior White House advisor David Axelrod spent most of his evening demonizing those who opposed the President’s takeover plan – especially Karl Rove and other Republicans.  This was certainly the sort of bipartisanship that the President espouses.  But…Axelrod was only following the President’s lead in demonizing adversaries. 

The only GOPer to “call the President out” was South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson who reacted to an obvious mis-statement by the President that the proposed Health Care legislation was not intended to provide coverage to illegal aliens.  “You Lie!” was Wilson’s honest appraisal – delivered loudly on national television.  It seems that the President conveniently neglected to note that all language Republicans proposed to prevent illegal aliens from claiming health care coverage at taxpayer expense has been stripped out of all bills by the Democrat majority.  The Democrat’s obvious intent is to cover illegal aliens with taxpayer funded health insurance while at the same time encouraging them to violate federal law and vote in the next election.    In any event, despite the outburst, Wilson and the Republicans were far better behaved than Democrats watching a State of the Union speech by George W. Bush. 

The fact remains though, that there were few facts to go with this speech.  Americans have heard it all before.  It will be curious as to whether voters like the Obamacare plan any more after the speech than they did before.  As Democrats learned the hard way in August, details matter.  When Obama says that there will be no rationing of health care, reasonable people (anyone who read the bills) look at the legislation and conclude otherwise.  For the Prez to once again come out and say that there will be no rationing of care, service to illegal aliens (a fact so eloquently noted by Congressman Wilson) will not be provided and that the thing can be paid for mostly with Medicare savings, His credibility slides.  And although He gave his usual great theatrical performance, it is time to put this show into syndication for late nights on the TVLand channel.  The thrill is gone.

Obama has given 23 speeches on Health Care – each essentially the same.  Why did He think this one would produce a different result?  So just like Gilligan’s Island, Happy Days, Seinfeld and Cheers, the Obama show has lost its ability to attract new viewers.  Obama has in effect – “Jumped the Shark.”  In a painful reference to an awful episode of Happy Days where Fonzi jumped over a pool of sharks on water skis – signaling the end of anything new and interesting on the program, it is time for Team Obama to pull the plug on the speeches, substance-free theatrics and childish attempts to appear friendly to conservatives.  The jig is up and it is time for the Prez to get the hook. 

So in the interest of better entertainment, here is a look at the top issues of which the country has heard enough.

Medicare Savings – Government simply NEVER finds efficiencies or savings.  Period.  Governmental officers that promise such savings usually wind up finding none and add to the problem by adding in their salaries.   When Jerry Seinfeld set out to create a show about ‘nothing,’ he succeeded.  Unfortunately, Mr. Obama is going to find ‘nothing’ in Medicare savings because the program is essentially bankrupt right now!  Guess who would get the bill?

Illegal Aliens – Recalling the Gilligan’s Island episode where stunt flyer Wrong Way Riteman (or whatever his name was) landed on the island in his plane and promised to get the castaways off without actually intending to,  Obama should acknowledge that He has no intent to work with any conservative ideas.  Should all the illegal aliens start to claim health insurance under His proposal, they would receive it.  Obama would just say that He is following the law – the law which stripped out any enforcement measures to ensure that illegal aliens were not provided free services at taxpayer expense.   Wrong Way Obama has promised to get the taxpayers off this island, but He has little intent of following through.

Death Panels – Demonizing Sarah Palin for this will of course backfire.  There are in fact rationing boards in the Obama plan that will decide under what circumstances certain procedures will be allowed.  These are the actual death panels which will remove ‘freedom of choice’ from each Senior citizen’s set of options as she/he nears end of life.  If a government panel decrees that certain treatments are outside the approved protocol, the patient will not receive it.  This has been the case for EVERY nation that has national health care.  This one is too serious to make fun of.

Cost – In a famous episode of Happy Days (prior to Jumping the Shark), Richie drinks too much beer at a party and tries to take his pants off without removing his shoes.  Mr. Cunningham tells Richie that when he was a boy, they took their shoes off first before removing the pants.  Richie responds that “Oh Dad!  Things are different today!”  Obama Cunningham believes that things are indeed different today and that somehow the laws of economics – proven through the decades – don’t apply to Him or His policies.  Perhaps the Prez needs to take off his shoes like everyone else.  There cannot possibly be any cost savings from Medicare – a program which is now essentially broke and needs significant taxpayer subsidies already to meet its commitments.

Keep your Doctor – Who in their right mind would practice medicine and endure constant threats from ambulance chasing (Democrat supporting) lawyers – only to be supervised by a government bureaucrat?  Cheers featured a cast of folks whose career was serving beer to semi-over imbibed patrons.  These are the folks that would become doctors under the Obamacare plan.  Obama can’t seem to understand that His plan will drive private insurance out of business – or – that is His intent and He is simply being untruthful about his position.  During the speech, Obama noted that businesses failing to provide health insurance would be required to “chip in” to cover the cost of providing workers with health coverage in the national plan.  This “chip in” scheme is priced at 8% of payroll costs.  Most companies already pay upwards of 15%, so all the math wiz kids out there in Democrat land have concluded that companies will dump private coverage at 15% in favor of an 8% cost.  In addition to that, companies would save huge amounts in administrative overhead by dumping their workers onto the public plan.  Be clear… you will almost certainly NOT be able to keep your doctor or your insurance plan.  They won’t survive Obamacare.

In all, the Obama speech was uniquely unpersuasive and it was just plain boring – and old – and tiresome – and whining – and repetitive.  These are all indications that the Obama Show has indeed “Jumped the Shark.”  The great speech giver has worn out his teleprompter and has worn out the interest level of most viewers.  After ‘Jumping the Shark,” most programs never recover the level of interest required to be a continuing success.  Obama may go on to star in reruns, but only committed Democrats will watch.

Health Care Reform Speech– Obama’s Top Five Tactics

Support for Health Care takeover is quickly slipping away.  To stop the slide, President Obama has scheduled yet another prime time speech to inspire the nation to accept His wisdom over voter’s personal judgment.  Unfortunately for members of Congress, they will be required to attend this Speech.  After two disastrous press conference appearances, the President had to come up with a bigger and better way to roll out the teleprompter and make one more pitch for taking over one sixth of the US economy.    Whether the President will actually roll out any new ideas is a mystery.  The networks weren’t going to forgo reruns of Hannah Montana to cove another presser, so He had to make this a speech before a joint session of the US Congress.

Obama advisors have hung on to the childish belief that a strong personality and effective communication are more important than facts.  The plain fact is that the current health care proposals will result in:

• exceptionally high costs to taxpayers,
• rationing of care,
• IRS involvement in the health care industry,
• restrictions on freedom of choice regarding end of life issues, and
• on and on

Congress made the mistake of letting the public read the bills Democrats were proposing.  Rational discussion of the proposal then led to the logical conclusion that all of these ‘really bad’ things will in fact become reality should the Democrat’s plan become law.  The only chance the Democrats had was to withhold the content of the legislation until after it was passed.   Team Obama believes that a good speech can overcome these realities.

How stupid does the President believe the American people are?  We will certainly find out Wednesday evening.  Basing His decision to speak to the country before a joint session of Congress, President Obama will employ five –until recently- tried and true Democrat tactics to regain support for taking over the American health care industry.   However, unless  He plainly removes the ‘public option’ from the legislation – a point he went the opposite direction on in his AFL-CIO speech over the weekend – Obama will show that he doesn’t respect American’s ability to reason for themselves.  Should He take this tack, He may ruin the rest of his Presidency.  And to quote a famous pirate, “one can only hope.”

So here are the top five predicted tactics that the President will employ to save the movement to ruin American Health Care:

5.  Demonize – the opposition – A tactic that brings back memories of Ted Kennedy vs. Robert Bork and Bill Clinton vs. anyone with a brain, President Obama will accuse conservatives and Republicans of not offering their own version of health care reform.  Conservatives believe that another version of taking over the health care system is not acceptable and of course have not offered an alternative.   Two Republican ideas already shot down in Congress were:

• Restricting care to US Citizens only by requiring some proof of citizenship, and
• Allowing insurance carriers to compete nationwide – something not currently allowed

The failure of these options indicates that Congressional lefties intend to provide health care to illegal aliens at taxpayer expense and intend to restrict consumer’s ability to purchase plans from better carriers in other states.   The latter option also ensures a lower degree of competition which results in higher prices and costs to American consumers.

4.  Paint a grand vision – for American Society – President Obama believes that He won the election because of his ‘Hope and Change’ message.  The slogan worked even though it was void of specifics.  The problem with health care is that Democrats committed their ideas to paper in the proposed legislation and now that the specifics are available to anyone who can read.  Most of those that did read the bills are very much against the proposals.    Obama believes that painting the vision of a grand and kind nation that takes better care of its illegal aliens than it does of its senior citizens will turn into a sure winner in 2012.  Obama better hope that these senior citizens won’t be around to vote in 2012.

3.  Engage in high theater and drama – by telling stories – The Hollywood lefties have offered a bit of advice to the President in that a good performance will go a long way to convince people to take action that is not in their best interest.  The President will no doubt have one or two (possibly more) heart touching, tear jerking stories of those who suffered terribly because of a lack of health insurance.  Of course the media will fail to validate any of these stories.  Theater and drama are hallmarks of Democrat administrations, but as movie producers have known for generations, the same film only draws well for one or two weekends.  After that, the support withers considerably.   Obama is doing yet another ‘rerun’ of his past health care speeches.  Past reruns haven’t fared well and have only driven support lower.  This speech may send support straight into the tank.  “One can only hope.”

2.  Make it Personal – After all, the Obama Presidency is all about Obama.  After the passing of the last Kennedy, there is no longer any unofficial American Royalty.  MSNBC loser Chris Mathews opined that Obama is the “last Kennedy brother” because Teddy anointed Him during the last election.  Despite the complicity of most in the Washington/New York media club, Americans really don’t want a royal system of government run by decrees and executive edicts.  Obama and the Democrats would very much like such a system as long as they are the ones in power.  Look for the President to bring up his family’s health history as part of the theater and drama act in a last ditch effort to make the story compelling, personal and worthy of throwing one’s own common sense and judgment out the window. 

1.  Simply deny – that bad things will happen (IRS involvement, Rationing, End-of-Life, No Freedom of Choice). This is perhaps the most interesting tactic to expect. Obama and the Congressional supporters who tried to force-feed health care takeover to the American voters have simply denied that the bad things will happen.  Obama has time and again stated that rationing won’t happen, you will be able to keep your insurance plan if you like it, and on and on.  What kind of argument is this?  As the Monty Python troop noted long ago, “simply denying something isn’t an argument.”    Obama is indeed becoming worthy of an appearance on Monty Python’s Flying Circus – if only they were still taping.  Repeating the same message over and over hasn’t been effective and won’t be in the future.  If Obama can’t provide specific examples of how and why rationing will not occur, and how 500ish billion can be cut from Medicare (for redistribution to illegal aliens and others who can afford insurance but won’t pay for it) without causing a restriction on available treatment to seniors, He will certainly lose this argument as well.

Obama is up against the crushing weight of logic in the Health Care Debate.   Americans are over the ‘Hope and Change’ message and want specifics that can be debated.  And when they are debated in a free and open forum, Americans should be over the ‘health care takeover’ as well.  One can only hope.