Excuses I do not want to hear:

[Stinky The Clown]

"The American people are worried about the high costs"

What the people are worried about is the butt fucking their wallets take at the ..... uh .... hands of the Bigs: Pharma, Med, Insure, Etc. Some high level, intense explanations might have helped them understand. Don't believe that? They believed the teabaggers (a highly organized, very targeted, very well executed political STRATEGY that proved very effective in shaping the debate). They might have believed us if we tried to speak. Sadly, there was zero leadership and no strategy.

"We didn't have the votes"

We very well could have if there had been some actual leadership a year ago. Standing in the kids' bedroom doorway after a fight and telling them to "work it out and don't come to supper until you have" is not effective parenting and is a perfect analogy for the health care strategy that got us here.

"There's not enough support for a robust public option"

The very term "robust public option" is a clever obfuscation at best. It is a weasel phrase to imply something but define nothing. Yet it became the focus of the debate. Thinking people might ask how that happened? Luck? Chance? I bet not. This administration was a message **machine** during the campaign. When it came time to deliver .... not so much. Single payer is, as **every thinking person**, including all members of Congress, knows, the singularly most effective way to efficiently deliver health care. It was NEVER championed by anyone in power. Not Once. It was killed before it was born ..... by OUR SIDE. Yeah, we all know that "he never said he wanted single payer". What he said was he wanted the best health care for America. What do YOU think that is if not single payer?

"We don't have the votes II"

We could have if someone took to the bully pulpit and pointed out who, or who's wife, was on the payroll of what insurance company. What might happen to the person who did that? Not get reelected? Cowardice is the opposite of ACTUALLY facing down the corruption in government. What does one have to lose when one has attained the highest level of power IN THE WORLD? That would have been some real change .... for a change.

Yeah, yeah, yeah ...... I have heard it all. And I'm not buying it. Are there excuses YOU don't want to hear?

I bet there are.

Add them to this thread.

[Brickbat]

1. "We need to think about 2010."

To which I say, "Yes. Yes, you damn well do."

[Ozymanithrax]

2. Killing the bill doesn't mean allowing 50+ million people to die without health care...

I see people say what amounts to that everywhere on this board and it bugs the hell out of me.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. "We need to think about 2012."

Oh, wait, that's my excuse to THEM.


TG2012

[gratuitous]

4. Any excuse that pretends there isn't "enough" public support

Poll after poll after poll has shown since the beginning of the year that there is overwhelming support for single payer. Since the summer, when the deliberate obfuscation began in earnest, the disinformation and misinformation has been more ubiquitous than Tiger Woods, Sarah Palin and Amanda Knox combined and squared. "Single payer" this, "public option" that, "Medicare buy-in" the other have all muddied the waters with various options that have confused the issues and worked to bring down the poll numbers. But when people are presented with a clean choice in the matter, they would really like to see a single payer system that guarantees coverage, doesn't disqualify pre-existing conditions, and helps with prescriptions. Under those circumstances, public support is well over 60%, far more unanimity than ever existed for other policies that have been enacted in the last several years (looking at the invasion of Iraq, the USA PATRIOT Act, the Terri Schiavo Fucking with the Courts Act, etc.).

[phantom power]

5. "We'll improve it later"

Maybe, maybe not. Some will no doubt try, on the other hand the same very powerful forces that have already neutered HCR will be our opponents, trying to make it even worse. Since it is based on private insurance companies, analogies to "improving SS" or "improving medicare" do not apply.

[bvar22]

8. I'm STILL waiting for them to go back and "fix NAFTA"....

..like they promised.

They also promised to "go back and fix the Patriot Act"....still waiting.

Two BIGGEST LIES in Washington:
"We'll go back and fix it later".
AND
"I won't **** in your mouth."

[Atticus]

6. Clearly, you don't appreciate the value of DRY powder! K&R nt

[Yuugal]

7. "We need more dems"

Nah, we don't need any more, the current crop of DLC scum has done enough damage.

[foxfeet]

9. "My dog ate the public option."