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Oh sorry, I misread your post a bit. I was coming from the position that I thought it was always his intent that harder-hitting questions would have a bigger place in the Q/A then they did, which is why I referenced his comment in the beginning. As I stated earlier in the thread, there were some major softballs (spending time answering that question by the little girl actually grosses me out in a lot of ways), and overall I'd call the "town hall" a failure, but I thought the last few questions were better than the earlier ones.
He needs to get in a room with some people who really have some legitimate questions about the plan and answer their questions, if he wants to be successful. He also needs to answer questions that are a bit loony to counter the disinformation.
Fair enough. Really, a town hall format is always going to be hit and miss, you will get some loony questions. But, just for his sake, to legitimze the meetings, he should have had it a little more balanced. Glad we, coming from two sides of the issue, can agree.
All that blather from the repub righties but NONE here have said what question they would ask or IF they would believe him!
So cut the crap on the "manufactured" UN challenging questions....that's not what you neocons want...
Obama hit the main points and explained the brain dead comments of idiots like Palin and the droolers who think he wants to kill grandparents....
OH! THAT'S IT!!!!! There's the "challenging" question !
""Ya gonna, sniff, gurgle, kill ma granny...drooollll?"
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!
Neocon, hmmm, OK. (Do people still use that term?) So is the pro-health care liberal person above the agreed with my viewpoint also wrong?
Actually, somewhere in your barely coherent group of phrases, exclamations, emoticons, and lolo's (are we back in grade school?), is a good question - what would I ask?
Now, given, the town hall format will never be a format where he will get a good question, because you have questions asked by "civilians", untrained in the ways of presentation, that may or may not be able to completely articulate a question in a proper format. Also, more importantly, is the lack of follow-up questions. The speaker (Obama or whoever) will always have the last word.
Rather than "challenging", maybe a better word is for Obama to feel some of the anger, albiet in a more calmed down approach, that have been expressed in other town halls.
But I would be more simple in my questions:
1.) How will we pay for healthcare when the CBO indicates it will cost over a trillion dollars and that will not cover all the insured? I will mention that the "tax the rich" argument will trickle down to middle class taxpayers and have an adverse effect on the economy.
2.) How will our employee based health insurance stay in business if it is forced to compete with the government? Now, he used the post office vs. fedex/UPS comparison. I will counter that the post office is not tax payer subsidized (and fedex and UPS do not deliver mail really, they are package and parcel, logistics,etc conglamorates).
While Obama says "nobody is going to pull the plug on grandma", those who are thinking people realize there is a difference between commission and omission. He stated that in some cases it would be better (cheaper, he means) to have grandma take pain killers instead of getting the surgery she needs. He apparently would have no difficulty making that decision -- a decision that is based strictly on cost with no consideration of quality of life. Grandma might live another 20 years -- in excruciating pain -- but he would be glad to see the savings. His philosophy is the foundation for all of the reform he is touting. Most expenses are for "end of life" care, he has pointed out. In order to realize savings in existing Medicare, it has to be watered down and rationed. With baby boomers entering that age group, there is no way that he can keep the coverage that Medicare currently provides. They HAVE to dilute it and ration care.
Back to grandma - depending on the reason behind the pain that he would prefer to medicate instead of correct - grandma's health could quickly deteriorate because the underlying condition is not taken care of. Thus, the demise of the elderly is hastened, their numbers decreased, the cost of Medicare reduced.
No matter how you libs want to spin this, the care anybody gets - young or old - will be decided by cost (and the person's expected productivity). You can put the disabled on a back burner right now, because they will not count. I believe it is Ezekiel Emanuel, NIH bioethicist & Rham's brother and one of Obama's czars, has stated that one does not become a human being until he's been sufficiently socialized -- that occurs at about the age of two. So, now we have someone in power who believes that before the age of 2 one "is not human". What, then, will be done with the baby who is born with a birth defect? We are going to be in deep trouble if life itself is devalued.
Wake up, people. This is a slippery slope and somebody is trying to pull the wool over our eyes (and not for our own good). If you firmly believe reform is needed (and I do agree some reform is needed), then insist that more time and thought go into it.
While Obama says "nobody is going to pull the plug on grandma", those who are thinking people realize there is a difference between commission and omission. He stated that in some cases it would be better (cheaper, he means) to have grandma take pain killers instead of getting the surgery she needs. He apparently would have no difficulty making that decision -- a decision that is based strictly on cost with no consideration of quality of life. Grandma might live another 20 years -- in excruciating pain -- but he would be glad to see the savings. His philosophy is the foundation for all of the reform he is touting. Most expenses are for "end of life" care, he has pointed out. In order to realize savings in existing Medicare, it has to be watered down and rationed. With baby boomers entering that age group, there is no way that he can keep the coverage that Medicare currently provides. They HAVE to dilute it and ration care.
Back to grandma - depending on the reason behind the pain that he would prefer to medicate instead of correct - grandma's health could quickly deteriorate because the underlying condition is not taken care of. Thus, the demise of the elderly is hastened, their numbers decreased, the cost of Medicare reduced.
No matter how you libs want to spin this, the care anybody gets - young or old - will be decided by cost (and the person's expected productivity). You can put the disabled on a back burner right now, because they will not count. I believe it is Ezekiel Emanuel, NIH bioethicist & Rham's brother and one of Obama's czars, has stated that one does not become a human being until he's been sufficiently socialized -- that occurs at about the age of two. So, now we have someone in power who believes that before the age of 2 one "is not human". What, then, will be done with the baby who is born with a birth defect? We are going to be in deep trouble if life itself is devalued.
Wake up, people. This is a slippery slope and somebody is trying to pull the wool over our eyes (and not for our own good). If you firmly believe reform is needed (and I do agree some reform is needed), then insist that more time and thought go into it.
You have completely misconstrued what he said. This has been totally debunked in previous threads. Do a search.
At one point near the end Obama said he wanted to find someone who had a bone to pick over health care reform, because he wanted to be sure to dispel any perception that the audience was filled with "plants."
So where were all the protesters? Even White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday said the President was ready for a "spirited" debate on the issue. But there was not a heckler in sight. The White House insisted that none of the attendees were pre-screened, although many people who spoke to ABC said they got their tickets through their local lawmakers or through a White House lottery at whitehouse.gov.
If the President wanted to hear fighting words, he should have taken a walk outside. Throughout the town hall, hundreds of protesters rallied outside in a carnival atmosphere complete with bongos, balloons and megaphones. But the President didn't see that scene - his motorcade took the back road on the way in and on the way out.
How did they coordinate to get bussed in at the same time?
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OH! THAT'S IT!!!!! There's the "challenging" question !
