Why don't they believe him?

So at the Townhall where Obama assured us he wasn't being questioned by all plants we have...

A doctor that's not really a doctor and a cute kid that asks why people are mean to the President... who coincidentially happens to have parents with major campaign ties.

Lying about medical credentials (Was it too hard to find a real doctor that could toss Obama a softball question?) and using kids as plants, but it's those against the bill that are manufactured outrage.

And sure Obama's willing to use cheap theatrics and obvious lies to push his agenda, but that doesn't mean what he's selling is bad.

What you don't trust him?


No wonder the public is more sympathetic to Town Hall Protesters than not

In a survey of 1,000 adults taken Tuesday, 34% say the sometimes heated protests at sessions held by members of Congress have made them more sympathetic to the protesters' views; 21% say they are less sympathetic.

Independents by 2-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now.

The findings are bad news for President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders, who have scrambled to respond to town halls marked by aggressive questions and noisy demonstrations by those opposed to plans to overhaul the health care system.

Trust

John Stewart notes: “You know a sales pitch is in trouble when it starts with Look, you gotta trust me, we’re not going to kill your grandparents! These hot dogs, I'm selling you, they're not made of pig anus!"

Be kind of nice if Stewart went into why people are having a hard time buying what Obama's selling.

Via Glen Reynolds

Who also notes a mix of handpicked softball questioners and Claire McCaskill's own trust gap.

Meanwhile Althouse wonders about something that's... missing from the healthcare debate.

Another Digest

Here's another roundup of stuff.


Fame:

As Jim Treacher says: If Kenneth Gladney was an Obama supporter, right now he'd be more famous than Rodney King.

Gotta love this "post-racial America": Democrat union heavies can beat up a black guy using racial epithets and leave him in a wheelchair unable to speak - and happily (unlike, say, a black professor being asked for picture ID) it's not "symbolic" of anything at all. Not a Sharpton in sight to speak up for him: Mr Gladney's only shot at fame is an entry in The Guinness Book Of Records under "Least Famous Black Hate-Crime Victim In America".

Online Rumors Aren't What Is Sinking ObamaCare

Ramesh asks a simple, clear question: Are we really to put our faith in Obama's contradictory claims that "the system is an unsustainable disaster, but you can keep your piece of it if you want"?.

I've wondered how the bill is going to simultaneously cover the uninsured, expand care, and cut costs all at once; put more succinctly, they're promising the new system will spend less money and more money at the same time.

The common theme is that the Obama administration is making multiple promises that are impossible to keep; the response is basically... "shut up, you domestic terrorist"?

Activists against Obamacare are "mob", Un-American, and paid Insurance-company shills, but it's perfectly okay when the Whitehouse makes backroom deals to get this:

The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday.

The unusually large scale of the industry’s commitment to the cause helps explain some of a contentious back-and-forth playing out in recent days between the odd-couple allies over a deal that the White House struck with the industry in June to secure its support. The terms of the deal were not fully disclosed.

From the same link. Take a guess on which side is paying it's protesters about $11-16 and hour.
Just guess.

From the SEIU:

Opponents of reform are organizing counter-demonstrators to speak at this and several congressional town halls on the issue to defend the status quo. It is critical that our members with real, personal stories about the need for access to quality, affordable care come out in strong numbers to drown out their voices.

Someone better tell them that Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer find "Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American."

And one has to love how people against these government plans are "counter-demonstrators". What next calling people that dare to speak out against the state "counter revolutionary wreckers"?

By any other name...

Robert Wright notes that “we already ration health care; we just let the market do the rationing.” This is a true point made by the proponents of health care reform. But I’m not sure why it’s supposed to be so interesting. You could make this statement about any good:

“We already ration food; we just let the market do the rationing.”

“We already ration gasoline; we just let the market do the rationing.”

“We already ration cigarettes; we just let the market do the rationing.”

And indeed, this was an argument that was made in favor of socialism. (No, okay, I’m not calling you socialists!) And yet, most of us realize that there are huge differences between price rationing and government rationing, and that the latter is usually much worse for everyone. This is one of the things that most puzzles me about the health care debate: statements that would strike almost anyone as stupid in the context of any other good suddenly become dazzling insights when they’re applied to hip replacements and otitis media.

Yes for some reason HealthCare is special, unique from other services.

From the Prof

Also, the market doesn’t deny you a hip replacement or a pacemaker because someone in government thinks your political views are “un-American.” Given the cronyism and thuggery we’ve seen with the bailouts, etc., I’m not confident this would hold true under a government health program. And I’m absolutely certain there would be a special track for insiders and favorites.

Someone doesn't think he can trust congress or the President to be ethical.

Megan McArdlecontinues

But there is also a real difference between having something rationed by a process and having it rationed by a person. That is, in fact, why progressives are so fond of rules. They don't want to tell grandma to take morphine instead of getting a pacemaker. It's much nicer if you create a mathematical formula that makes some doctor tell grandma to take morphine instead of getting a pacemaker. Then the doctor can disclaim responsibility too, because after all, no one really has any agency here--we're all just in the grips of an impersonal force.

But this won't do. If you design a formula to deny granny a pacemaker, knowing that this is the intent of the formula, then you've killed granny just as surely as if you'd ordered the doctor to do it directly. That's the intuition behind the conservative resistance to switching from price rationing to fiat rationing. Using the government's coercive power to decide the price of something, or who ought to get it, is qualitatively different from the same outcome arising out of voluntary actions in the marketplace.

Anger... justified?

I am not, and would not, endorse criminal mob behavior. But exhibitions of anger and spirit when one is justifiably angry and spirited are entirely appropriate. Making clear to a pol who is trying to insult your intelligence that you don't appreciate it is entirely appropriate.

I just don't get the detachment from the real world here. We're not talking trivia here. We're talking about what kind of country we're going to be from here on out. That's something worth getting whipped up about. If we're not whipped up, we lose. If we are whipped up and the Democrats try to use that fact as an excuse to ram this through, then they were going to ram it through anyway.

We are a heavy underdog. To prevail, the needle we have to thread is to convince enough Dems and RINOs that there will be electoral hell to pay if this monstrosity is enacted. That requires an authentic demonstration of fervor. It's unfortunate that some people will go overboard — as happens in any human endeavor — but that's no reason to treat this as if it were an academic exercise. If that's the approach, the game — like the country as we know it — is lost.

At least there's some good news.

Rasmussen: Support For Health Care Reform Falling

I hate posting poll reports because given all the variables of sampling, the wording of questions and other elements, it's hard to tell what they mean but you can certainly see the trend of support for the whole enterprise eroding.
Obama didn't pick his August deadline out of thin air. He knew what this month would mean.

BTW-for those Democrats who say they want an 'honest and respectful debate'...bullshit. If Obama, Pelosi and Reid had their way, the bill would have been passed and signed by now with no chance of debate. If people are mad at what you are trying to do and how you tried to do it, too bad.

And the results:

opposition to the plan has increased to 53%, up nine points since late June.
More significantly, 44% of voters strongly oppose the health care reform effort versus 26% who strongly favor it. Intensity has been stronger among opponents of the plan since the debate began.

...As for the protesters at congressional town hall meetings, 49% believe they are genuinely expressing the views of their neighbors, while 37% think they’ve been put up to it by special interest groups and lobbyists.

"In related news, we have always been at war with Eastasia."

Obama Aug, 19 2008 “If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system,”
Obama Aug, 11 2009 "I have not said that I am a supporter of a single-payer system,"

Compare the two videos.

So who you gonna believe? The President or your lying eyes?

And the Dems wonder why the public is being so hostile and untrusting of them

Rand Simberg nails it: "Just how stupid does he think we are? And how clueless is he if he thinks that we can’t find this kind of thing on the Internet?"

Sure he's insulting your intelligence, but that doesn't mean you can't trust him to run your medical care.

Roundup

Another reason not to trust the Whitehouse: When they crow about good news of this quality....

The unemployment rate declined from month to month, even though the total number of Americans employed with a job decreased. If you don't find that a signal that the happy headlines are misleading, I don't know what else to tell you.

Heh.

Get this: The party of “community organizers” is now whining that President Obama’s critics are organizing com munities — against his health-care scheme.

The nerve of ‘em, huh?

Faced with mushrooming opposition to ObamaCare, Democrats have launched a multi-media campaign that attacks foes as “extremists” who’ve “called out the mob” to “destroy President Obama” and “intimidate and silence regular people.” They cite “the playbook of high-level Republican political operatives.”

Actually, that sounds more like the tactics of the Chicago street, where Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel cut their political teeth. Indeed, you can almost hear Richard Nixon grousing about angry anti-war protestors and pleading for “the great silent majority of Americans” to rise up.

Bizzaro world: Union goons are called in by the DNC to "calm" "astroturf" "political terrorists".

You can guess what happens.

Pay attention, America. This is a glimpse into the next three years of the Obama administration, at least using the same logic by which the Left accuses health-care reform opponents of “astroturfing”. If its policies get organized opposition, especially at events designed to allow for public debate, purple-shirted thugs will appear to crack heads and scare off the opposition.

And if nothing else, it’s a great look at how the unions will act once the secret ballot gets eliminated from organizing elections.

It's just the Chicago Way.



Remember, suspicioun builds confidence.

If you’re a virtuous and patriotic American, you may find this column either offensive or misleading. If so, please forward it to White House authorities at the Department of Fishy Activity. (E-mail the good people at flag@whitehouse.gov.)
As many of you have heard, the White House now requests that the public tattle on those of us spreading “fishy disinformation” regarding Washington’s proposed takeover . . . oops, I mean “reform” . . . of your health care. This step, naturally, is for our own good.

Now, don’t get overly paranoid, you freaky right-wing zealots. Judging from the Obama administration’s track record, the program will do absolutely nothing other than add billions to the deficit.

The vital thing to bear in mind, though, is that the nation needs a concerted plan to corral this wacko “mob” of “thugs” who recklessly use the First Amendment to decelerate all this forward progress.

On Silent Majorities.

Like Richard Nixon, Barack Obama wants to govern on the strength of a silent majority, although with a twist. Obama wants the majority that opposes or questions his policies to stay silent.

Obama’s White House and its allies have unleashed a barrage of criticism and condescension at people daring to show up at town-hall meetings and ask their elected representatives pointed questions. “Fired up and ready to go!” apparently works only one way. If engaged citizens shower Obama with adoration at stage-managed rallies, they are the very stuff of American democracy. If they boo their congressman, they are a scandalous eruption of fake or hateful sentiment.

This reminds me a lot of Klavan's video. Shut Up.





Are you a part of "The Mob"?

Speaking of how good gov' healthcare is.
Man vs. Mutt

In the last few years, I have had the opportunity to compare the human and veterinary health services of Great Britain, and on the whole it is better to be a dog.

As a British dog, you get to choose (through an intermediary, I admit) your veterinarian. If you don’t like him, you can pick up your leash and go elsewhere, that very day if necessary. Any vet will see you straight away, there is no delay in such investigations as you may need, and treatment is immediate. There are no waiting lists for dogs, no operations postponed because something more important has come up, no appalling stories of dogs being made to wait for years because other dogs—or hamsters—come first.

Hnmmmm
Mark Steyn explains

That's because, in their respective health systems, Fido is a valued client, and poor Debra Beavers wasn't.

Roger Kimball has some thoughts.

So, the President of the United States wants critics of his plans to socialize American health care to “get out of the way.” His operatives urge you to turn in your friends and neighbors if they say “something fishy” about the administration. Confronted with spreading grassroots outrage, President Obama instructs his supporters “to punch back twice as hard.” Kenneth Gladney, the 38-year-old black conservative who was hospitalized by union goons, can testify that they are doing just that. (It’s what Obama once called “the Chicago way”: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” he said.)

Obama standing firm... on collecting a dissident database.

Change!

Orwellian

This time there's no exaggeration.

This news article in the UK Daily Express brings to our attention plans by the British government to wire 20,000 households with closed circuit television cameras. Familes will be closely monitored to make sure that they are raising their children in the proper manner. Private security guards will make regular on-the-spot checks.

What will happen if a parent does not provide a home environment that aligns with government policy is unknown to me.

The idea is to change unhealthy homes so that the kids won’t fall into a life of crime. I’m sure that the UK government will only target familes where the parents have been acting up enough so they have come to the attention of the police. Or, at least, only chaotic homes will be targeted right now. What the future holds, who knows?

There are two underlying issues that really worry me.

The first is that crime, particularly youth crime, is so out of control in the UK that the government thinks it is justified in placing electronic eyes inside of private homes. After all, if it wasn’t en emergency, why spend hundreds of millions of pounds for projects like this? It certainly discredits government claims that crime is actually falling.

The second issue is the private security guards that will willfully enter private homes. Private security is now acting under the authority of the state? And in such a broad and undefined manner? How come it isn’t obvious that this is a really, really bad idea?

Ah, the state bringing back moral hygiene and this time using modern surveillance to ensure compliance.

And you gotta love the outsourcing of critical, invasive, government functions to a private company. Says interesting things about the reach of the UK state and its grasp.

Don't think that the US is immune.

Remember when Obama decried the "politics of fear"?

Change!

Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.

...Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

(emphasis mine)

Now keep in mind, a lot of what people will term 'lies' are merely policy difference. Either way, Obama and his apparatchiks want to know about it. Personally, I'll be sending in that Linda Douglas video from below since she's lying about what Obama actually said.

Given this President's unseemly propencity for going after individual citizens (Limbaugh* and Crowley come to mind) not to mention the media's willingness to vet the hell out anyone who actual dares to question Obama (hello Joe the Plumber) this is more than a little creepy. It's also excellent fodder for the "imagine if Republicans had done this" file.

To mention another totalitarian movie. Suspicion breeds confidence!

Nice how dissident goes from being patriotic to snitch-worthy.

Democracy

Remember, there's one thing politicians fear and that's not getting reelected.

This can and should be used against them.

“On the eve of the August recess, members are reporting meetings that have gone terribly awry, marked by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior. In at least one case, a congressman has stopped holding town hall events because the situation has spiraled so far out of control.”

Hope and change! But if you cancel the town halls, the angry constituents will still find you somewhere, won’t they?

And Operation Embarrass Your Congressman has more on what you can do.

Told you So

Pledge. Meet experation date.



Geithner Won’t Rule Out New Taxes For Middle Class.

Though cigarette taxes have already increased too.

So when Obama says that if you make under 250k that you won't see "any form of tax increase", well you know how much his word is worth.

Let's give him control of our healthcare too! I'm sure we can trust him on that.

Via Instapundit.