They are retarded -- nearly every American has had (or heard) of shit stories from health insurance company bureaucrats. Fuck these spoiled while rich fucks.

Have you heard that Senator Grassley pays $356 per month for outstanding Blue Cross/Blue Shield family coverage. Why doesn't he want the rest of us to pay the same? Shouldn't we put a stop to that kind of bribery? Why does Senator Grassley hate Americans? If members of congress are unwilling to pay what the rest of us pay, shouldn't we vote them out?

Republican idiosyncrasies in interpreting public opinion can be explained by analogy to tribal cultures. In many of them, the tribal name actually means "human being" or "the people" in the native language -- the clear indication being that other humanoid bands wandering about are not different tribes, but actually some different and irrelevant species that can safely be excluded from humanity.

In the same way, the GOP considers their tribe name, "Republican," to be synonymous with "American" and even at times the more general "people." Thus, to a Republican, saying that Americans are all white evangelical small-town southerners who believe in God and think x is not the obvious fallacy that outsiders would think it. It isn't that the GOP's logic is faulty; it's that outsiders don't understand their cosmology. In the GOP system, you don't count.

Since when has public opinion mattered to ANY politician in Washington. Virtually every poll in existence has shown that the majority of Americans have wanted us out os Iraq for three years now. Last time I checked we were still there.

I second Jon. Though it seems absurd it simply explains too many strange things coming from the right.

Maybe GOPers can start by explaining to us how a gov't bureaucrat getting involved in patient decisions is any better or worse than insurance company executives. And they should be able to provide firsthand proof of gev't meddling since they all have gov't-run healthcare.

Maybe the press could ask them> Naaaaahhhh.....

Jon, I love it. To Republicans we are all Sioux or enemies to the Republican Cheyenne.

Jon nailed it. It's a variant of the "no true Scotsman" ploy, which goes like this: Jock reads a report of a crime committed in England and says "No Scotsman could do that." Then he reads a report of an identical crime committed in Glasgow, and he says "No true Scotsman could do that." Similarly, no true American could support a public health care option.

>"I second Jon. Though it seems absurd it simply explains too many strange things coming from the right."

Read up on the 'Right Wing Authoritarian Personality Type'. It explains most of why the planet is screwed up.

Unfortunately the characteristics of the syndrome prevent the people having it from recognizing that they ARE the problem, rather than the solution.

OT: Sanford presser: turns out he wasn't just screwing the citizens of South Carolina . . .

Anybody want to bet his wife told the press he was flying in?

the gop's problem seems that they don't quite understand the importance of numbers...their plans usually lack hard figures these days, they read a cap n trade study and make up numbers [and repeat them after the study's author told they were full of it..],the polls flummox them...as barbie famously said "math is hard."

CNN has a quick blurb on the Sanford situation. I assume more details will follow.

Grab some more popcorn.

Breaking news: Mark Sanford admitted to an affair! And down goes another one!

I would be willing to join a protest at my state capital in support of a public health care plan. If 72% of the public showed up at their state capitals on a specific date and time it would make a fantastic statement about health care!

Simple. Those 72% aren't real Americans. QED.

Just like the Republicans would win every election if it wasn't for the blacks. And the Hispanics. And the women.

That's the 72% who don't count.

As we have learned from the GOP repeatedly, people who have the wrong views are disenfranchising themselves at the table of power.

Given the choice between "empowering a bereaucrat" who at least ostensibly serves the public interest and "empowering a bureaucrat" at a private insurance company whose only duty is to find ways to increase my premiums while cutting my benefits, I think I'll go for the public option, thank you very much!

I think it bears pointing out that while 72% of Americans favor increased government influence in health care, that 72% is only 12% more than the 60% majority required for anything to get done.

And a +/-12% margin of error in a poll conducted by the liberally-biased CNN (whose polling sample probably only included gay socialist Muslims) is certainly within reason.

Republican math is such that 60 now equals 51, and 41 equals nothing, why should we be surprised if they say 72 equals 27?

Data? Data?! We don' need no steenkin' data!

Hell, it's the new DEM talking point as well. We're about to see universal health care killed by a centrist black DEMOCRATIC president whose election I greeted with tears of joy.

The Big O is placing himself squarely on the side of the corporations. I never thought he was so cowardly.

argh... another republican talking point that drives me crazy and doesnt mean anything. "bureaucrats making decisions and getting between you and your doctor" what the hell do they call insurance company middle management?

bureaucrats are better then actuaries for your health. the bureaucrat will make you fill out a lot of forms before getting treatment. the actuary will make you fill out a lot of forms (detailing every aspect of your life) and then tell you the treatment isn't covered.

Every time I read about some dork pontificating about government bureaucrats, I feel like him going to hurl. If I were actually in the presence of some jerk bloviating about the subject, I'm afraid I would do something I really wouldn't regret later.

What in the name of all that's holy do these people think that insurance adjusters are??? Their whole job is to come between the patient and the doctor to see to it that the patient doesn't get what he needs if it is going to cost money. Their bonus, even their continued employment, depends on how many policies they can cancel and how many claims they can deny. None of this would apply to a government bureaucrat.

For these jerks to spew their venom about bureaucrats is more dishonest than anything Dick Cheney ever said or did.

Demented just described himself! I heard it too! "most bureaucratic and wasteful aspect of our society"

Why are Republicans concerned about what the Iranian people want, but NOT concerned about what American people want?

Or, as a Minnesotan, why is it so important for an election in Iran to be decided by the voters, but the election of a Senator should be blocked?

Why is democracy there a good thing, but democracy here is to be obstructed?