Republicans are basically admitting that government run care would be more efficient than insurance

This has to be one of the most hilarious moments in history. When one of the very few Republicans still left who can make cogent arguments discusses why he opposes the Democratic plan (Gregg, NH), he very quickly ASSUMES that offering a public option "would lead to the government taking over all healthcare" before making the usual Republican "rationing" argument.

Oh really Mr. Gregg?

So you are simply assuming that government run heathcare will be more efficient than insurance companies, and that efficiency will lead to "rationing"? Why would something that is more efficient ration any more than the insurance companies currently are? And even if their was rationing, it compares negatively to NO INSURANCE how? This is why they're raiding the public forums with screaming irrational rednecks, because they have no reasonable arguments against a public option.

What's their argument going to be?

"Well, the public option is too efficient. We can't disprove all that we've been saying about privatization for the past 40 years by having another wildly successful government program that is more efficient that the private sector"

I feel like we're falling into their trap by getting caught up arguing about a few psychotic screaming rednecks.

They have no arguments, so they're resorting to violence. As angry about their idiotic behavior as I am, the only real response is to educate the public about their misinformation. I know I set at least one person straight every day. This should be our job as active Democrats/progressives/liberals - get out the truth about healthcare reform without getting sucked into the vortex of stupidity.

Now, if the rest of the country would figure that out, things would get much easier.

We just can't afford to take our eyes off the prize - we can and we WILL get reform, let's make sure it includes the public options that the Republicans are tacitly admitting IS MORE EFFICIENT THAN THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

I thought the rushpublicans believed in competition...let the marketplace determine. That's fine and good until their corporate profits get in the way...then you make sure your sheeple get the lies and distortion and make sure they work against their own best interests.

They have no arguments...and more important there's no answer to the millions without insurance or those who have the most basic coverage that could vanish with the next illness or if they lose a job.

While some here wring hands that this debate is lost or that the rushpublicans are somehow winning...this game is far from over. They're shooting their wad now in hopes of creating a manufactured "outrage" (with complicity of the paid-for corporate media) cause they know that if they don't make something stick now, they're going to lose.

It's not who makes the most noise or shouts the loudest that matter here...it's who gets the last word, and more important, the vote.

And they know this because our health care system is the worst buy in the world. It is one big lard festival, with insurance companies and health care corps with layers of lard, all designed to be huge profits. No one is controlling the costs of these despots. They charge whatever they want to charge, and there is no reasonable relationship between the charges and the services.

I know a young man whose labor union father died after a sudden stroke. The father was in his mid 50s, and had never made over $60,000 a year. He was discovered unconscious, and he never recovered consciousness. He died in three days, during which time he was operated on.

How much do you suppose the bill was for this 72 hours of care for a man who died never regaining consciousness? $400,000. That's over $5000 an hour. That's almost $100 a minute.

No arguments, simply partisanship - it's idiotic.

Of course, the Republicans are going to vote against whatever final bill emerges on the floor. The Republican Party since the departure of Teddy Roosevelt has been and will likely continue to be the party of business first, and business exists to make profits first, service second. All businesses in the private sector live for profit. If service came first, then health insurance corporations would be unprofitable.

It's the fundamental truth nobody likes to talk about. Something always is given a priority, and in the private sector, that is usually profit. In the public sector, service is given a priority. This is why the US Postal Service even bothers to service locations with such low population densities that it is simply unprofitable to operate in those locations. If mail delivery was left to the private sector, half the country would not get their mail because they live in areas that are too remote and costly to reach that it generates no profit.

Liberals encourage women to abort their babies ...

while ...

Liberals encourage women on welfare to have more babies ...

:crazy:

And yet hardly any of their brain-dead supporters has caught on. SHOCKING!

Perhaps this is all they got. They certainly don't have anybody capable of making an argument that isn't either a) idiotic on it's face ot b) a complete lie designed to scare people.

They have corporate sponsors, media whores, and useful idiots. That's it.

That's why they're fighting it with everything they've got. Look at the depths they're going to to stop it. These tactics burn serious political capital, of which they have precious little to begin with. This is all or nothing with them. If a good bill passes, it will be successful, and it will be as popular as Social Security and Medicare. And people will remember who opposed it. The republican party will be doomed.

And when it does pass, I guarantee you that these stupid redneck fuckers shouting at the town halls will be the first ones to sign up or it.

If they've got no arguments and are getting a bad rap as rioters, where do they go from here?