Now if I remember correctly Matt Taibbi predicted Health Care Reform would not pass

[Peacetrain]

or it was not HCR after it passed..I am trying to remember? He was on a tear though..

I have seen some more than one op on Matt being madder than an old wet hen about the Presidents speech that has not happened yet.. so I guess this will be okay to ask.

He has gotten ahead of himself a couple of times..


so:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8629730

Edit to add for those who do not like to click links.. from 2009

"I have supported the President since July 2007. I have been through thick and thin with his campagin, and have made more than one error in getting ahead of what the President will say.

I have learned the hard way. You can guess, and you can read all the pundits at all the newspapers, blogs etc. but getting upset or even joyous about any given thing before the speech on whatever it will be, usually backfires.

But there is only one truth, you can count on.

You will not know for sure what the President has on his mind till he gives his speech."

[tridim]

1. He's trying to one-up the firebagger queen's pre-reactionary bullcrap.

But at least he doesn't have an allegence with Grover Norquist. I'm pretty sure he's an actual Democrat.

[Peacetrain]

2. It never ceases to amaze me..that the republicans are given the benefit of the doubt

wait for their speeches before judgement..

But the Democrats are blasted from all sides before the speech is even out.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. As I am not a fan of arch implications I think it would be good of

you to show an example of Taibbi giving Republicans the benefit of the doubt. Or any other Democrat, liberal, or DUer. Other than Obama, of course.
That is a hell of a thing to hang out there with just a sneer and a raised eyebrow.

[ixion]

3. he was right. there was no 'reform', just a big giveaway to Insurance cos

[hifiguy]

9. +1

forced extortion of people's money to be given to insurance companies who will sell them insurance that is as useful as volcano coverage would be in Antartica or tsunami insurance in North Dakota.

It was a gigantic scam designed to benefit only the insurance and pharma vampires.

[Bake]

21. +1000000

I pay for insurance. It doesn't pay a DIME until I'm out of pocket $2600, which I can't afford.

So I don't go to the doctor.

Bake

[OnyxCollie]

24. Same here.

Good to see you're still around, Bake.

[Bake]

41. Thanks, OC!

Glad to still be around. Most times, anyway.

Bake

[Chimichurri]

12. yes, indeed.

[Octafish]

16. A special ''Thank You!'' to Rahm's doctor brother and all their secret friends...

Jonathan Gruber Did Not Disclose Conflict to the WaPo

Paying friends to say nice things is one way of drumming up support for health care insurance reform.

[joeybee12]

20. Exactly!

[JNelson6563]

25. Well damn skippy, I will have to tell my college age kids

that they are indeed getting insurance from their dad's work but it isn't helping them. No, it is only helping the insurance company. I'm sure my son, who experienced his first kidney stone in recent months will be very surprised to learn this.

Oh, and my dear friend who had a cancerous breast removed last month, thanks to the elmination of the pre-existing condition bullshit...well won't she be surprised to learn that she hasn't benefitted from this legislation either!

All these poor, misguided souls, thinking these positive changes that have made their lives better, or even possible. What utter fools!

Julie

[county worker]

31. Your situation is a plus but more people are uninsured then when HCR passed.

Your situation does not reflect the the whole picture. I know you know that.

[sabrina 1]

49. And what will you tell College kids whose parents do not have

coverage themselves, or who do not have parents? This patchwork quilt of a system has so many holes in it, it is utterly ridiculous and so complex half the country has no clue what it is all about. All they know is, for most of them nothing has changed, we still have the worst excuse for a HC system in the civilized world, with the focus STILL on profits first, people, as a commodity, rather than as human beings.

I'm glad for the few it will benefit, not so glad for the huge windfall it is for the very people we needed to get rid of, the middle-men who serve no function other than to make a profit and in doing so, find as many loopholes as they can in any legislation that will help them make more money. That is a shameful system and I don't see how this 'reform' did much to change it.

[Javaman]

43. On the nose. nt

[amborin]

59. +10000 big health insur corps now have captive clients, too, with the mandate

Obama campaigned against the mandate without a p.o....just as he campaigned FOR a public option.....

fool me once......

[deutsey]

61. +1

[CreekDog]

4. you make it sound like it was a slam dunk and not even close

since you're questioning his credibility --by stating it as you did, you made your credibility as weak as you're attempting to make Taibbi's.

not my fault. :shrug:

[truebrit71]

5. What "reform"?

:shrug:

[Freddie Stubbs]

26. Increasing insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions

[Chimichurri]

42. There are no caps as to how high the premiums can go. So, if I get sick again, I can

lose my house paying for the luxury of not being dropped in exchange for exorbitant health insurance premiums.

[Freddie Stubbs]

45. Insurers are prohibited from discriminating against or charging higher rates for

any individuals based on pre-existing medical conditions.

[Selatius]

55. They'll jack up everybody's rate for that reason alone. They're still able to age discriminate ...

On premiums as well. There is too much profit-taking in health insurance and no real way to control costs.

[Chimichurri]

56. They can raise premiums as high as they like because there are no caps. They can charge

whatever they like. There are no caps put on that, on purpose.

This little detail negates everything else that is good. Period.

[Freddie Stubbs]

27. Insurers are prohibited from excluding pre-existing medical conditions

(except in grandfathered individual health insurance plans) for children under the age of 19.

[Freddie Stubbs]

29. Insurers are prohibited from charging co-payments, co-insurance, or deductibles for Level A or Level

or deductibles for Level A or Level B preventive care and medical screenings on all new insurance plans.

[Freddie Stubbs]

30. Insurers' abilities to enforce annual spending caps will be restricted, and completely prohibited by

2014.

[county worker]

34. More people have no access to medical care than when HRC passed!

The problem wasn't access to insurance, the problem was access to medical care!

[Freddie Stubbs]

46. Is that because of health care reform, or because the economy has been tanking for the past 3 years?

[county worker]

58. It's because health care reform was not passed.

We could of had medicare for all. In stead we got "everyone has to buy insurance."

We did not get health care reform.

[Freddie Stubbs]

32. Insurers are prohibited from dropping policyholders when they get sick.

[Freddie Stubbs]

33. Insurers are required to reveal details about administrative and executive expenditures

[Freddie Stubbs]

35. Insurers will be required to spend 85% of large-group and 80% of small-group and individual plan

premiums (with certain adjustments) on healthcare or to improve healthcare quality, or return the difference to the customer as a rebate.

[Freddie Stubbs]

37. Insurers are prohibited from discriminating against or charging higher rates for any individuals

based on pre-existing medical conditions.

[truebrit71]

40. So it was health care INSURANCE reform then...and it kicks in at some point in the future...

...just AWESOME!!!! :eyes:

[Freddie Stubbs]

47. Many of the provisions have already kicked in

[county worker]

39. The jobs thing will be just like HCR. The problem with health care was lack of access to health care

not lack of access to insurance and now more people lack access to health care then before HCR.

The problem with the jobs thing is it will rely on the market to create jobs like the market is supposed to create access to health care.

[blindpig]

6. He was essentially right....

what did pass could have come out my ass.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

7. Health Care Reform did not pass.

Health Insurance Reform did. A BIG difference, that even O noted in his speeches.

[Lint Head]

10. You are correct. To have real health care reform the insurance companies

have to be eliminated from it as a for profit entity. Insurance companies are nothing more than banks handling money.

[sabrina 1]

8. Airc, he did not predict it would not pass, he was against the

final version and said so. He thought it would be better if it did not pass as it was not addressing some of the major problems in the system, AND he said, as did many others and still do, it was a giant giveaway to the HC Insurance Industry. And it had no PO.

Once the PO was dropped, the bill was mostly what Republicans had proposed all along. They got two birds with one stone, a bill only a Republican could like, and they got Democrats to vote for it. Taibbi saw all the implications of that for the American people, and politically for Democrats. He was right. This bill is very unpopular with the American people on all sides of the political spectrum.

[trumad]

11. Matt Tiabbi is one of the most important journalists of our time.

Griftopia was brilliant and dead on. He is a thorn in Wall Streets ass and he will go after anyrthing that rips the American people off.

Face---Obama is a Wall Street candidate.

BTW: I can guarantee you someone recently banned from another progressive website will be chiming in...... because he's a wall street toe sucker.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. I do remember correctly and Barack Obama said that 'fixing'

health care by mandating that people must buy insurance is like trying to solve homelessness by passing a law that requires people to buy a house.

[sabrina 1]

14. I remember that too, and cheered when he said it having always

been against Mandated insurance, and Obama stated my feelings about it perfectly. Matt Taibbi, among others, agreed with him then also.

But that was Candidate Obama whose views on many things have since 'evolved'.

Taibbi otoh, has been consistent in his views on what HC reform should look like.

But in the upside down world we live in, we are supposed to be angry at the guy we ALL agreed with, including President Obama, in order to defend the complete flip-flop on an issue of so much importance to the American people.

Sorry, I like consistency. Taibbi's views on HC reform were in line with Progressive Democratic views and still are. I still agree with those views and don't get what this OP is all about.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. I also remember 'any bill I sign must contain a strong public

option' and all the reasons he gave that it must. I bet you do too, as does Taibbi. And millions of other Americans.

[chill_wind]

22. Sure do.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/07/obama_says_health-care_reform.html

And then I remember him effectively lying about the fact of it when it was over.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/12/obama-now-says-he-didnt-campaign-on.html

[sabrina 1]

48. Yes, I do, and I'm glad you do too. Because people keep telling

me I wasn't listening to this President when he ran for office. That if I had really listened, I would not be so surprised at his policies now. If I were to believe them, it would mean I just imagined everything I heard him say in the campaign. So, it's comforting to know I'm not the only one! :-)

[chill_wind]

53. People love to feel vindicated

if they were not his supporters. I can understand that. I was not a Clinton supporter. I therefore did my best to try to be one of his, rather see BushII/Palin come to pass. I missed some important cues and did my best to determinedly ignore a few others. I let people and pro_Obama media spin me silly. They were very, very good at it and in too many cases I was too gullible for words.

I've mentioned my misgivings about him and FISA and a fair few other things in his campaign before, but ALL of it ended for me when he started stacking his cabinet and appointing all the old Bush/Clinton economic arsonists as the city's new Fire Chiefs, to cop a phrase from Dean Baker.

There were things he distinctly said and did to get my vote and active support, along with millions of others' votes, and for which I won't be forgiving him.

What's unfathomable to me are not so much the people who make much of insisting the leader he is now was the same as their perceptions of him in the campaign, but that most of all, they are strongly pleased with the results. I mean WTF! Seriously, now.

:wtf:

[girl gone mad]

51. This is one of the reasons I supported him over Clinton..

in the primaries.

sigh.

[bengalherder]

57. Me too.

I guess I owe Hill and apology. I wouldn't be as mad at her now had this been her administration because she at least admitted she would go there.

Although I think she would have gone for the same 'dream team'.

[chill_wind]

17. Obama is already on the record

regarding his pushing for the latest free trade deals, along with the Republicans and Third Way, who also want them.

Here he is doing exactly that:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/07/08/remarks-president-monthly-jobs-report

Third Way campaigning:
http://www.thirdway.org/press_releases/151



Those deals are just part of what Taibbi is talking about. And he's right about it and far from the first to lambaste these latest proposals.

Candidate Obama Vs. President Obama On Trade
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x619157

Obama Vows Opposition to Colombia Trade Deal
By Susan Davis
April 2, 2008

Nick Timiraos reports from Philadelphia, Pa. on the presidential race.

Sen. Barack Obama addresses the Pennsylvania Statewide AFL-CIO Convention in Philadelphia, Pa. (Getty)

Sen. Barack Obama promised to stand firm in his opposition to the Colombia Free Trade Agreement on Wednesday–days after President Bush asked Congress to quickly pass the trade deal–in a speech to rally the union vote at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO’s annual convention.

The Illinois senator said he would oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement “because the violence against unions in Colombia would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements.”

more: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/04/02/obama-vows-opposition-to-colombia-trade-deal

Obama was right in what he said as candidate Obama on Columbia, in particular. And wrong to reverse himself. Nothing has changed to justify Columbia. It is still the deadliest country on earth for trade union members.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/06/09/ituc-survey-colombia-still-the-most-dangerous-place-for-union-members/


-------------------------

How do supporters of this justify this to themselves?


As far as the upcoming speech, I suppose you could hope in his speech he might, for example, dramatically reverse himself on these deals yet again from what he just said last month about wanting them, but that does seem incredibly unlikely.

[TheKentuckian]

19. He is correct. What we did is maintain the existing system while bolstering the profit centers

and gave the insurance cartel a key to the treasury and the IRS as an enforcer in exchange for a few pay to play pot sweeteners.

That is bad enough but what is worse is that we were so zealous in maintaining the status quo that we ended up mandating most Americans buy from the company store, yes we Democrats without a solitary TeaPubliKlan vote to purchase a product sold on the open market, for profit from their employers at the employers sole discretion. For all the talk of the exchanges, most of us will never be allowed the opportunity.

The reform has little reform to be found.

[deutsey]

62. That's what has irked me about most of Obama's 'reforms'

He always makes damn sure that the haves get the lion's share of the reform and then tosses the scraps to the rest of us.

[JNelson6563]

23. I wish I lived where Matt lives

Thomas More called such a place Utopia. Except in his Utopia reality played in somewhat regularly, unlike Matt's.

Julie

[chill_wind]

38. Everyone has become rightfully completely cynical about campaign politics

and Obama has been no exception in doing his share to add to cause.
The real Utopia is where all the self-content revisionists live. Insisting he never said things he said. Never condemned things he condemned. Never vowed things he vowed. Deniers of irrefutable reality.

[county worker]

28. You could at least wait until the results either happen or don't.

And if jobs are not created, I'll bet dollars to donuts that you'll have another excuse but you won't find fault with Obama in anyway.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. Is that the same "reform" that they're going to come back to fix someday..maybe...if only....?

[QC]

50. JUST PASS SOMETHING NOW WE CAN FIX IT LATER!1!!!!11!

[Javaman]

44. I don't know what you read or saw, I saw no health care reform passed

I saw business as usual for the health care corps getting a big fat wet kiss.

[girl gone mad]

52. Health care reform did not pass. n/t

[jannyk]

54. Ditto. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

60. True, but if they tell us often enought that it did, they think we'll believe that.