Tommy Thompson 2004: Universal care is right for Iraq

By GottaLaff

Flashback!

Time: 2004.

Place: Iraq.

Rushpublic hypocrite: Tommy Thompson.

Fresh from a two-day weekend visit to Iraq, the Bush administration's top health-care official defended the $950 million that will be spent to help Iraq establish universal health care.

Congressional Democrats have criticized the administration for helping Iraq to establish universal health care without doing the same for U.S. citizens.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said yesterday there are major differences between the two countries that defy simple comparisons.

"Even if you don't have health insurance," said Thompson, who toured medical facilities in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Tikrit on Saturday and Sunday, "you are still taken care of in America. That certainly could be defined as universal coverage. Every American's health care is far superior to what the health care is in Iraq."

Universal coverage as in... the emergency room, Tommy? Oohh, I need some Tylenol. I wonder if it's covered by COBRA. It should be for $20,000 a year.

Meantime, it's good to know the Iraqis were looking to us for better health care reform ideas.

Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, responded yesterday, saying the U.S. system doesn't sufficiently meet the needs of 44 million uninsured Americans.

Welcome back to 2004. The more things change...

And I miss Uncle Teddy.

H/t: schnaity

Rolling Stone nostalgia: People of the Year 2004 - Barack Obama

By GottaLaff

The original article is here. Good times:

Rolling Stone’s Obama commemorative issue, Barack Obama and the Triumph of Hope, hits stands today (it’s also available through BarnesandNoble.com). [...] Obama talks about Bush’s re-election and vows to not run for President in 2008.

I guess he changed his mind. Excerpt:

Q: [Y]ou must wonder if you've peaked too early. The media like to burn through their heroes quickly.
O: I don't mean to insult you, but the media can only drag you down if you take it seriously.

And here's a taste treat for dessert:

Q: What would most surprise people to learn about you?
O: Probably that I'm a failed jock. I love basketball, but my love for the game always exceeded my talents. I was pretty good but never really good. Also, I'm a reformed smoker; I think that surprises people. I quit, but then during the campaign when you're in a car driving through cornfields, occasionally I bum a cigarette or two. But I did all my drinking in high school and college. I was a wild man. I did drugs and drank and partied. But I got all my ya-yas out.