We already know the wingnuts hate the idea of government-run health care, no matter how many of them are taking advantage of it. And now that Adolf Saddam Hussein Obama has hinted that he might be OK with a non-profit health care cooperative, well, they hate that, too.
As Steve Benen notes at Political Animal, “for months, Republicans said a public option would mark the fall of civilization, but a co-op alternative is entirely palatable. But in light of signals that a genuine public option is in trouble, the Republican Party that found co-ops reasonable has decided to change course. Now, they’re against co-ops, too.”
He continues: “(N)o matter what Democrats propose, Republicans are going to reject it, even if they’ve already signaled support for the same idea. Consistency and honesty are irrelevant — the goal is to defeat health care reform, no matter what’s in the bill.”
Speaking of what’s in the bill, Bob Herbert at The New York Times says we’re headed “toward changes that will result in a lot more people getting covered, but that will not control exploding health care costs and will leave industry leaders feeling like they’ve hit the jackpot.”
Without an “efficient, nonprofit, government-run insurance plan,” and with a requirement that most Americans buy health coverage, writes Herbert, “Millions of young and healthy individuals will be herded into the industry’s welcoming arms. This is the population the insurers drool over.”
He continues: “If the oldest and sickest are on Medicare, and the poorest are on Medicaid, and the young and the healthy are required to purchase private insurance without the option of a competing government-run plan — well, that’s reform the insurance companies can believe in.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling so good.
Mad Blog Media 
After years of being an independent voter, I joined the Democrats to try to keep GW Bush out of office. I ditched the Dems after the hatchet job they did on Howard Dean. I feared Democratic Party domination when Obama won since one-party rule is rarely good, no matter which party’s in power. But the GOP has become simply the party of NO, HELL NO! with Rush Windbag and wacky Sarah Palin as their spokespeople. Sadly, it’ll take a majority of Dems in both House and Senate, a BIG majority, to get anything done in the next few years. I might have to rejoin the Demos…or maybe I should stay the hell out since my “help” failed to keep Daffy/Fudd out of the White House!
And some of the Dems are actually part of the problem — the self-styled “Blue Dogs,” who like Texas Democrats are really just wishy-washy Republicans.
I dunno, man. I have grave doubts about the future of this country, no matter who is nominally “in charge.” There’s lots of babbling about “fascism” from both sides lately, but what has actually been developing for quite some time now is a sort of fascism-in-reverse in which the State does not control the corporations, but rather the corporations control the State. Politicians are just ornamental, like tits on a Diesel engine. The rest of us, of course, exist only to serve.
Pay no attention to the idiocracy, but rather to the man behind the curtain.
Oligarchy is what we are talking about, right? Its pretty fucked up no matter who controls the whistles and bells. They all are owned by the fat cats anyway. Fuck ’em.
The best quote to sum up the idiotic rage against reforming healthcare was the guy who screamed at the town-hall meeting, “keep your government hands off my medicare!” You can’t make this kind of shit up.
Sadly, my Senator, John Salazar, whose district wisely and carefully dodges the O’Grady household in CS, proudly boasts on his website about being a “Blue Dog Democrat”. Isn’t that kinda like bragging that “I’m not the guy you thought you were voting for! Ha-Ha!”? So about the only thing we have standing between us and the “Drill Baby Drill!” republicans around here is this guy, Mr. Republican-Light. It like having your choice between Bud and Bud Light, there is no correct answer!