Nate Silver, host of the popular political blog FiveThirtyEight, has written an essay that describes progressives who oppose the watered-down healthcare legislation pending in the Senate as "batshit crazy." Silver argues that the proposed legislation would substantially reduce healthcare costs for most American families.
Fortunately, Silver's readers have turned the table on him. Most of the reader comments that accompany the article offer scathing criticism of Silver's analysis. One striking defect in Silver's analysis lies in the fact that he fails to take into consideration the removal of the public plan (and now the Medicare buy-in) from the proposed legislation. Despite the fact that President Obama touted the public plan as a cost-cutting measure, Silver argues that the failure to implement the plan "shouldn't change [his] numbers much." Many of the readers, however, view Silver merely as a "cheerleader" for the White House position that "something" (however flawed) must get passed.
Meanwhile, Howard Dean, a medical doctor and respected progressive voice on healthcare reform (whom President Obama skipped over as a pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services) has blasted the Senate measure and encourages Democrats to "kill" the bill and start the reconciliation process in the House of Representatives. I suspect that some Democrats will agree with Dean -- even if the bill passes in its current form.
See also:
Obama Falsely Claims that the Senate Healthcare Bill Matches His Campaign Promises
Criticizing President Obama Is Pragmatic
Ezra Klein's "Pink=Blue=Colors" Logic Regarding Healthcare Reform
Rahm Emanuel Tells Liberals To Kiss His Arse
Liberals Battle White House Over Healthcare Reform
White House Shows Its True Colors on Healthcare Reform
Irrational Robert Gibbs Says Howard Dean Is Irrational
Salon's Glenn Greenwald Says: Blame Obama, Rather Than Lieberman
Why Is Obama Still Protecting Lieberman?
I Wrote This In October 2008. . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment