VIDEO: Kristol meth

By GottaLaff

Via Think Progress:




How nice that Mr. Liz is comfortable. Too bad about the rest of us, huh?

But on to William K...

Apparently, you can be a ClusterFox punditiot without having to do any homework on the subject at hand.

Who does he think he is, Sarah McDimWitty? What a meth.

VIDEOS- Obama's health care summit: CNN v. Daily Show

By GottaLaff

CNN:



Now let's see the same summit through Jon Stewart's eyes:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bipartisan Health Care Reform Summit 2010
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Vancouverage 2010

My favorite moment comes at about 5:40. I want that audio as a ringtone so-o-o badly.

Sarah Palin compares beer summit to health care summit

By GottaLaff

Michele Bachmann and BeerCan McClueless just keep topping themselves:

"I think Michele Bachmann summed it up very well earlier today. She suggested that maybe the beer summit was more productive and fruitful than what we saw today coming out of the health care summit."

-- Sarah Palin, in an interview on Fox News.

This from someone (or two) who is never productive and sports a "beer head" full of froth.

Video- MSNBC Fact Checks Health Care Summit Claims

Summit Watch: 257-111, But who's counting...

By GottaLaff

Photo via

Earlier today on Twitter, I made a prediction that one of the talking points after the health care summit would be that the poor GOP didn't get enough talk time. The big bad Democrats were hogging the conversation, as was stated during the meeting by the GOP, several times.

Okay, so that wasn't really much of a prediction, then.

But just the same, I did call it... and the ever dutiful CNN picked it right up and regurgitated it:

Democrats spoke for a total of 135 minutes while President Obama spoke for 122 minutes, for a total of 257 minutes. Republicans, meanwhile, spoke for just 111 minutes, about 30 percent of the total speaking time.

The time discrepancy did not go unnoticed by the top Republican in the Senate

Shortly after President Obama, Vice President Biden and legislators from both parties returned from a lunch break, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office released a statement detailing how long President Obama had the floor, versus how much time members of each party were allotted during the nearly three-hour morning session.

Let's break it down: The Dems got 135 minutes and the GOP got 111. The president was moderating. And he's the president.

Now let's compare that enormous, terribly unfair 24 minute gap to this post of only 1 year ago:

In a new analysis, ThinkProgress has found that Republican lawmakers outnumbered Democratic lawmakers 75 to 41 on cable news interviews by members of Congress (from 6am on Monday 2/2 through 11pm on Thursday 2/5):

Some observations from our analysis:

– Last week, Fox News came the closest to balance with 8 Republicans and 6 Democrats. But the so-called “fair and balanced” network was not able to maintain such a ratio this week, hosting 24 Republicans and only 11 Democrats.

– The business news networks were particularly egregious this week. CNBC had more than twice as many conservatives, with 14 Republicans and 6 Democrats. Fox Business was even worse, hosting 20 Republicans for just 4 Democrats.

– In the previous study, the supposedly liberal MSNBC favored Republicans 15 to 9. This week, however, MSNBC became the only network to host more Democratic members of Congress than Republicans, with 17 Democrats and 12 Republicans.

[...] Some of the most frequent Democratic guests this week were outspoken critics of the proposed stimulus plans, such as Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Kent Conrad (D-ND).

Fortunately, the imbalance on the networks is not going unnoticed. A House Democratic leadership aide told Politico’s Michael Calderone yesterday that “what happened with cable last week is that Republican House members were the only show in town.” A “very senior” Democratic aide told The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent that the leadership is “aware of the problem and are taking steps to fix it.” The aide noted that “there is also an onus on producers to remedy this issue.”

Let's not forget this post. Or my post entitled "Mything In Action-- Librul Media. Network news coverage favored Republicans 1992-2004". Or this one.

Call me crazy, but I kinda think they owe us a few minutes.

Dick Durbin: "If you think it's a socialist plot..."

By GottaLaff

We're all socialists now!

"If you think it's a socialist plot, then please drop out of the federal employees health program."

-- Sen.Richard Durbin (D-IL), to Republican lawmakers at today's health care reform summit.

Anyone see any dropouts? No?

I didn't think so.

Obama ends health care summit promising to move ahead with or without GOP

By GottaLaff

Headline of the day, via an e-mail alert:

WASHINGTON (AP) Obama ends health care summit promising to move ahead with or without GOP.

And...

Obama tells health summit that the nation can't have another year's debate on health care.

His exact words, as I heard them:

No "need to start over, everyone knows what the issues are."

Time for change. Now.

Summit Quote-O'-The Moment: Size Doesn't Matter edition

By GottaLaff

For months, we've been hearing the Rushpublics whine and cry about the size of the Democratic health care bill. It's too big, it's too small, it's too heavy, it's too light, it's too thick, it's to thin...

Well said, Charlie Rangel:

"I don't think someone in an emergency room is concerned with the size of a bill."

Imagine a health care summit under Bush or Palin...

By GotaLaff

Can you imagine George "Nuc-u-lar" Bush conducting a health care summit like the one taking place today? For eight years we had to suffer through the ramblings of an incoherent, illiterate embarrassment called "W"... most likely because it's all he could spell.

And for the past two years, we've had to endure his female counterpart, Sarah Palin. It's nearly impossible to imagine Palin and John McCain maintaining a televised meeting for 7 straight hours. I can't even fathom either of them having a semblance of knowledge about any given topic, let alone 7 hours worth.

As I listened to President Obama, I marveled at his expertise, his intelligence, his calm. Despite the fact that I don't agree with him on key issues, I value him, his patience, his professionalism, his abilities, and his evenhanded approach.

Yet Obama is branded a terrorist. Why? Because he's a threat to those who value power and profit over democracy. If the president passes health care, even if it's watered down and has no public option/Medicare extension (one area where we part ways), he wins. The Republicans lose. They are terrified.

The GOP is no longer accustomed to dealing with a leader who is more knowledgeable than they are, and a better arguer, someone who can cut through their spin and fear mongering. They are no match, and they know it.

And therein lies the real terror.

Summit Watch: Waxman, "The Mustache of Justice" speaks

By GottaLaff

Henry Waxman, the "Mustache of Justice", kicks butt:

Seniors ought to worry if we don't do something...

Now he's blasting Anthem, Wellpoint for upping out insurance costs 39%.

We have to hold down health care costs. One that is peculiar is medical malpractice at the federal level. The CA law has been in effect, and CA is faced with 39% increase!

We need insurance reform so more people can buy health care.

All these issues go together, as Harkin said.

And the money line (no pun):

They say, "The public doesn't want your plan." If I heard the Republican rhetoric over and over, I wouldn't want our plan either!

Coincidentally, I had just tweeted that very thing. Bingo.

John McCain: "We Arizonans hate California, because they've stolen our water."

By GottaLaff

John McCain:

"We Arizonans hate California, because they've stolen our water."

Hate? Arizona "hates" us?

I live in California. Many of us here believe McCain stole the country's credibility.

McCain on reconciliation (paraphrased in part):

I remember the last time there was a proposal... we Republicans were in the majority... re: confirmation of judges... If reconciliation is enacted on 1/6 of our gross national product... it could harm the future of our country.

Obama:

Americans aren't all that interested in procedure... but they want a vote... probably feel majority vote is okay.

You say Washington shouldn't impose... unless it's something you guys like. ... But there may be a way to do it where states can tackle issue in a serious way... We have to arrive at a package that includes other drivers of health care inflation...

Summit Watch: The Boehner speaks... and speaks... and speaks

By GottaLaff

The Boehner spoke and spoke and spoke nothing but the same old GOP talking points, and then said:

"I could go on and on and on."

And then he went on.

""I've been patient....But why can't we agree...? ... Let's scrap the bill."

He's just afraid his faux tanning won't be covered any more.

Obama:

"There are so many things you just said that ... just aren't true."

And shortly thereafter, the president ended the convo and moved on.

Summit Quote-O'-The Moment: Steny Hoyer edition

By GottaLaff

I jotted this down during the opening statement by Steny Hoyer at the health care summit:

"You agree with [us] rhetorically, but it's not in your legislation."

In other words, you're hyp. O. Crites.

Summit Quote-O'-The Moment: Chuck Grassley's god edition

By GottaLaff

Chuck Grassley:

"I consider CBO god around here."

I thought the word NO was his god.

I wonder who the Congressional atheists are.

John McCain gets flustered when Obama agrees with him

By GottaLaff

President Obama on Medicare:

People aren't healthier because Big Insurance is getting more money for Medicare Advantage. Take the $4-500 billion a year, and devote it to closing the donut hole...

We're talking about Medicare Advantage, not Medicare... Medicare Advantage is not a good deal for seniors, tax payers...

Bonus:

McCain just got flustered when Obama told him he made a legitimate point. He stammered, he paused, he giggled uncomfortably.

Zoinks!

Summit VIDEO: Howard Dean's two cents

By GottaLaff

Here you go:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rockefeller: "The health insurance industry is the shark that swims just below the surface of the water"

By GottaLaff



Jay Rockefeller:

The health insurance industry is the shark that swims just below the surface of the water. ... You can't see them until they get their teeth into you...

They can do what they want. And they do. And it's money. It's money.

The public option will probably not be possible... You gotta clip their [Big Insurance] wings when you can.

You stop that by having a law... It can't just happen on a voluntary basis.

Summit Watch- Harkin: Whenever I hear the word "pool", I think "segregation."

By GottaLaff

Tom Harkin:

Nine out of ten of Republican ideas are in the Senate bill that are in the House bill... We're very close on this.

As for an incremental approach:

You can only do reforms if everyone's in the pool. ... cost controls... this all hangs together. You can't pick one out and do it without doing the other.... It's like throwing a 10 foot rope to someone who's drowning... then a 20 foot rope... He'll drown. [paraphrased]

And a vital point:

We don't want to allow segregation in our country... nor on the basis of disability... yet we still allow it on the basis of your health. Why should we? Why should we?... Whenever I hear the word "pool", I think "segregation."

Summit VIDEO: Obama v. McCain. Oh snap!

By GottaLaff

I posted about this, and then some, a little earlier. Here's the video:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Hey J-Sid, disrespecting the president won't work. He's smarter and quicker than you are.

Summit VIDEO- Lamar Alexander: "We ought to start over"

By GottaLaff

And so the talking points continue....

From the Department of Bad Metaphors:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If the Democratic plan is a "car that can't be fixed", then the Republican "plan" is an antiquated horse and buggy that continues to leave horsie "gifts" all over the road.