clueless

I was going to give Chris Dodd the rest of the month off to recuperate from surgery, but, sorry, what he said today simply can't go unnoticed.

Indeed, upon reading this all I could think of was Saddam Hussein's chief flack  "Baghdad Bob", insisting that the Americans were far from the Iraqi capital getting their butts kicked in the desert.

I attach, verbatim, the Senator's statement on health care reform from the Hartford Courant's "Capital Watch" blog

 At this historic moment, faced with an urgent crisis in our health care system but blessed with an unprecedented opportunity to fix it, we cannot let politics as usual prevent us from delivering on the promise of change,'' Dodd said in a statement.

A senior member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Dodd, a Democrat, was tapped by committee Chair Sen. Edward Kennedy, to help lead the committee's healthcare effort. "The Senate HELP Committee has passed a uniquely American bill, one that cuts costs, protects patient choice, and guarantees every citizen access to affordable, quality health care.  It also includes a strong public option that has earned the support of moderates in both the House and the Senate,'' Dodd said. He acknowledged winning passage will take "hard work, careful consideration of all perspectives, and a commitment to get to the finish line no matter what obstacles are thrown in our way by the cheap politics of the status quo." But Dodd offered the following prediction: "When Congress returns in September, the misinformation and anger of a hot summer will subside - and we will continue to move forward. "In fact, we will pick up exactly where we left off.  There will be a good bill on the floor.  There will be a spirited debate with ample opportunity for all ideas and perspectives to be heard.  But we will get this done.  And we will pass comprehensive reform this year." 

Chris, about those "moderates" backing the Public Option Bill .....mind telling us who they are?

This seems to be a bit more representative of reality, Chris

When a questioner, Ray Evans, said he believed the President wants to do too much at once and asked whether Boyd would "be willing to scrap everything" and start over to do pursue reform more incrementally, the congressman responded: "I think that is an excellent idea … we may end up there."

But what do we expect from Chris Dodd? This time last year he was insisting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "fundamentally sound".  Didn't quite work out that way, did it?  

Chris, don't worry. If the Senate thing doesn't work out for you there's plenty of work out there for propaganda ministers.

I know there's a lot of competition in what is the worst reason to eliminate competition from the health care sector, but I think we have a winner.

Megan McArdle's piece on why she opposes national health care got deservedly wide coverage, and provoked some generally limp objections, such as this offering from Ezra Klein:

For all its waste, elevating the U.S. government to sole purchaser seems to ensure a much-higher rate of military technology innovation than if we left it to the private sector.

How does this remotely make any sense? The reason the government is the sole purchaser of laser-guided 500 lbs bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles is that we don't allow civilians to lob them around at each other. There is no private market for such military technology, unlike for Lipitor or Viagra. Utterly ridiculous

Is the argument the Left is now making is that we need to make civilian health care as cost-effective as Pentagon weapon procurement?  Hello, let's let the folks who gave us $700 hammers get into the bandage business.

 Indeed, one of the shills for socialized medicine once used the Pentagon as a poster child for waste.  And the Center for American Progress, one of Klein's soulmates,decried the program we've used to buy weapons.  So the same system that was utterly broken for the Pentagon prior to Obama is the way to reform health care under Obama? 

Hello? I'm a mick lawyer from deepest suburbia, not someone like Klein who is kingpin of Jornolist and part of the Beltway Brain Trust, but Talking Heads described this whole concept about the time Klein was born.    

Even if you thought these folks made sense before, they sure aren't now that they are in charge.

And Ezra, you know, most of the stuff in this movie happened about the time you were in utero or slurping down formula, and the Pentagon had nothing to do with it.   Innovation? No government bureaucracy to be found here.

Maybe in Klein's future the NEA will be distributing posters "Wouldn't be great if the schools got all the money they needed and they had a bake sale to buy an MRI machine"

 Dear “Naive Americans,”

I’m ecstatic about universal healthcare, electronic medical records, and government oversight. 

First, universal healthcare. TRICARE, a private and public partnership, of government funded military healthcare is universally substandard. When was your last visit to a military, veterans or state hospital? I’m delighted to know that the known substandard healthcare “system” you’ve required soldiers and the poor to endure, is a long overdue for the rest of you.

Second, electronic medical records will ensure the perpetual revision of your records to conceal medical negligence, delete all records of off label use of drugs not approved by the FDA, and genetic profiles and history will determine whether or not you receive treatment, and you live or die based on the a bureaucrats entry of the words “unsuitable,” “complex history,” and “pre-existing conditions,”  -- there is after all a duty to die for the greater good, ask any veteran.

Third, government oversight, You’ll be surprised to find that in order to get universal healthcare and the twin evil of electronic medical records, you’ll have to waive your right to sue for medical negligence, even intentional, willful, and malicious medical malpractice. Please do join the million plus war veterans backlogged seeking medical treatment and related disability benefits. Did you know that less than 10% of disabled veterans are due to combat? Or that most of the 90% others, are victims of indifferent medical negligence and malpractice? Ask any disabled, destroyed, and destitute veteran that you avoid eye contact with while they languish on your streets, begging for food, work and change. Flying a flag while ignoring your veterans is offensive. 

After all the soldier through blood, sweat, tears and shattered minds, bodies and destroyed futures and families, fought to ensure your equality. It’s high time you were made equal.

Sincerely yours,

“Ecstatic”

Ben David (stole from a Dr. letter to the editor )