Is this guy ever right about anything?

Seriously, though, he did encapsulate one of the right's principal objections to national health care -- it would be too damn effective.

Kristol goes on Stewart every so often and Stewart just carves him up like meat loaf and it's entertaining but not very edifying. Kind of like most news coverage these days.

Speaking as former military (PN3, USN, 1991-2001) I can assure y'all that not only was the military health system a first-rate place to go to when you were ill, but when I had a stroke in 2000, I stayed in two VA Hospitals (Followed by a supervised-living facility and finally my own apartment) and found the VA service to be top-notch as well.

Hang on, who's being described as the oblivious one in your last paragraph, Stewart or Kristol?

I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but Kristol looks like the very epitome of Shifty Liar to me. That smile, for starters.

Bill Kristol is one of the supreme assholes of the Universe...the military is *rewarded* with good health-care? While the rest of us get ripped off and killed by insurance companies, and that's the way it should be?

What a shameless, immoral worm.

It was an enlightening interview, if only to more fully expost Kristol's mendacity. I loved it when Jon pointed out something to the effect that Kristol thinks the military deserves BETTER health care than the rest of America. Because they are the elite. I wish he had brought up the healthcare Congress gets, and if he still thinks the same thing. Do the American people not deserve the same quality of HC that Congress gets?

Hoist the elitist a-hole by his own petard.

While you are criticizing Bill Kristol for saying something that is completely wrong, may I take this opportunity to remind you that Michael Moore is fat?

That is all.

Kristol demeaned Obama for retaining his Senate seat while running for President, falsely claiming he stopped working. He attempted to use that as a foil to praise Palin for quitting her governorship now.

Uh, Bill, Palin retained her governorship while running for Vice President, and one could argue she stopped working during the entire campaign.

Another thing that Kristol said was that ordinary Americans are not good enough to get the same healthcare as "the troops."

Well, I for one, consider myself plenty good enough, thank you.

Even if the cost of covering a person on Medicare were rising faster than the cost of covering a person on a private plan, you would have to make sure you were doing an apples to apples comparison - people on Medicare are older, and sicker, than people on private plans, on average. Costs could be rising disproportionally for the types of procedures and services that older, sicker people get.

IOW, have to control for age and disability.

Oh, and Bill Kristol is truly a piece of shit. He knows he is lying, and the sponsors for his think tanks and media outlet (propaganda pushers) get what they pay for.

Why didn't he work some reason to kill Muslims into the healthcare debate? Maybe "healthcare costs will distract us from the real compelling tasks to humanity, (1) making the world free of Muslims, and (2) fighting public (govt., sometimes) encroachments into private profits. The people who make those profits and the people who want Muslims dead sign his checks.

How impotent the truth is with a well-placed lie. When Kristol said that, I said, wow, is that true? If I hadn't bothered to find that it wasn't true, I might have been left wondering. For those predisposed to believe government is the problem, it now is true, regardless of what Ezra Klein's version of reality is. Kristol made reality, and Jon didn't have enough information to unmake it in the 2.5 seconds he's given to rebut. That is why lying, often and repeatedly works in a nation of flat screens.

Maybe what Kristol was trying to say is that the presence of government health care programs causes the country to consume more health care than would be the case if those programs did not exist. If one also assumes that the supply of health care resources is fixed, then he would be correct that the government driven increase in demand would push up the average price.

The answer to this type of logic is that one needs to look at both the supply and demand for health care resources, and that as a society we are better off if we encourage more people to enter medical professions.

Ezra addressed the "per cap" side of thing, but with the "baby boomers" now moving from the private insurance side of the ledger to the Medicare side of the ledger, there has got to be a "total cost" uptick on the Medicare side that will only get worse for the next decade and beyond.

It's not possible to judge whether or not Kristol is "wrong" because, as Glen Greenwald demonstrates today at http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/, Kristol believes lying serves a great and necessary social purpose (the neocon agenda).

Just as certain Presidents are above the law and C-Street Christian frat boys can violate the articles of their faith because they are anointed by God, neocons believe it is sometimes necessary for commoners like us to believe a lie because the truth is too complicated for us.

It's understandable that thoroughly corrupt media would give Kristol and his fellow traveling intellectual thugs a forum but why anyone continues to listen is beyond me.

I really think that the most revealing statement BK made was that Americans "don't deserve health care." Really? I'm sure he thinks he himself deserves insurance. It all ties in to America's good old philosophical mix of Calvinism, Puritanism and predestination. There are deserving people and undeserving people. The deserving people are favored by God and showered with beneficence and financial reward in this world, in addition to a guaranteed spot in heaven. The undeserving suffer on earth and are going to hell regardless of their good deeds and hard work and their lack of resources is clearly a decision made from on high, therefore they do not deserve anything in this world or the next. This goes a long way to explain why family-values conservatives (Sanford, Vitter et al)can commit immoral acts with no repercussions, whereas the sky will fall if one of the unwashed undeserving commits the exact same act.

Maybe what Kristol was trying to say is that the presence of government health care programs causes the country to consume more health care than would be the case if those programs did not exist. If one also assumes that the supply of health care resources is fixed, then he would be correct that the government driven increase in demand would push up the average price.
Posted by: avocet

They're already consuming health care, buddy ... in the most expensive, ER-based way possible. Would you mind terribly if we move to cover them in a demonstrably less expensive way?

Another winning performance by Bill Kris-D'oh!

At what point does Kristol shed his skin revealing himself to be an alien reptile?

What a fucking scumbag. Utter contempt for society.

This August recess I'm sure all those Blue Dogs and Republicans in Congress will be giving up their government-run health care coverage since they believe it provides inferior care and jeopardizes private health insurance. (don't hold your breath)

Contact them next month and make them explain to us why they believe the rest of us should not have the option to choose a system like the VA, which is reportedly far cheaper and far more effective by hundreds of measures of quality of care. And then suggest they give up their govt care plan.

Is this guy ever right about anything?

Ironically enough, BK was absolutely right about this- the government really can provide superior care to that provided by the private sector, and currently does so. OK, maybe he didn't *mean* to say that, but that's precisely what he said, and he was right.

As has been said by others, he was sent up by his own petard.

-Z

Oh God -- a new conservative narrative: We can only honor veterans by bankrupting non-veterans who suffer catastrophic illness.

Just shoot me.

There are only two ways Bill Kristol is ever helpful. Inadvertently, as in this case, or as a perfect example of "it's amazing what a man cannot understand provided his paycheck depends on him not understanding."

I always knew these Neo-con scum had a hard one for the military. Now the evidence is glaringly obvious.

If the private sector is so much better than "socialized" medicine, then why aren't veterans registered with United Health Group or Tenet or another god-awful HMO?

*crickets*

That's what I thought.

At what point does Kristol shed his skin revealing himself to be an alien reptile?

That's what I'm saying! The guy is just creepy, even if you don't pay attention to his words. You're always waiting for his second eyelid to blink, or to suddenly notice a big hunk of human scalp stuck between his teeth. It's like his whole body is just a plausible facade over some disturbing darkness.

Please support the public option. The combination of the public option and not allowing insurance companies to charge different rates based on pre-existing conditions is essential to having a fair health care system. Then coverage could be mandated. Discrimination based on a person's genetic makeup by insurance companies is the big crime in health care today. Get rid of allowing higher rates for people with pre-existing conditions and the problem will fix itself. Then people can shop around for the best rate and plan. Now people are stuck and cannot leave their plan because another company will not sell insurance to them.

"It is true that the growth rates of Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance are well-documented. But the documentation shows the opposite of what Bill Kristol says it shows. The price of Medicare and Medicaid have gone up much more slowly than private insurance."

Of course -- because the government sets strict controls on what they'll pay for the services. Which is, of course, what all this is about -- the medical-industrial complex is looking to protect its bottom line, so they employ professional liars like Kristol to spread Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

That's OK my favorite tv program 's on why should I pay any attention to anything anybody says thats going to effect me and my children and children's children. Will somebody please pass me some more of that delicious mercury laden fish.