The politicians are now "talking about football"...

Last night, my husband and I had a conversation with out neighbor, who is a car salesperson. We
started talking about the car-buying process and we were chuckling about the whole song-and-dance.

I asked my neighbor, "You know when the sales person says he has to 'ask his sales manager' if he
can accept a specific offer from a customer--what is really going on as the sales person and the
sales manager talk? Are they talking about the price of the car or arguing or what?"

My neighbor looked at me and said, "Are you kidding? We don't talk about the price. We talk about
football and what happened during last night's game and who will make it to the playoffs...or
whatever--sometimes we talk about our kids or the weather."

It's all a big act. A stall tactic in which the audience believes that serious negotiations and
real deal making are happening.

This is exactly what 99 percent of our politicians have been doing with healthcare. They're all
putting on quite the production for us--having town meetings, discussing, commenting, throwing up their
arms in disgust, lambasting single payer, calling for reform, demanding that the insurance companies stop
harming the good people of this country.

Oh the humanity! Oh how busy our politicians are! So concerned...

BULLSHIT!

The insurance companies decided long ago that there would be no reform. Those insurance-company lobbyists
told our elected leaders how it would go down. The politicians agreed, and told the insurance
companies to be patient while they performed for their constituents.

What we're seeing now is one big tap dance--they're "discussing the game" very openly to give the appearance
of a working government and a democracy.

Does it make sense to anyone that Dems control the House, the Senate and the White House--and yet no real
health-care reform will happen? The Dems aren't helpless or overwhelmed by public opinion. It's not the
"blue dogs" or the "DLC" or "the desire to compromise". They're all in bed with the corporations who have
infused many a campaign with their dollars.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being bamboozled and being made a fool out of--as I stand on the
showroom floor--thinking that my views and being discussed and my demands are being taken seriously!

I am so done with all of this!

I was comparing the tactics being used.

Both the car salesperson and the politicians are putting on a show---pretending to
discuss OUR concerns, when they're really not.

Yeah, make fun.

Is this DU or did I accidentally end up at some snarky site where people
insult others for giving a shit that we no longer have a democracy--but instead
a government bought and paid for by corporations?

relaying about when an umpire called a player Out! The manager was livid and stormed out of the dugout and got in the ump's face and screamed ''are you blind? He wasn't out - he was safe by a mile!" The ump SCREAMED back "I know! I can't believe I made that call! I feel like an idiot!" So they hollered back and forth for a few more moments, making plans to meet for a drink or whatever, keeping up the pretense, then the manager stomped back to the dugout.

Anyhoo, you pose an interesting possibility. We know lots of the members of congress besmirch one another on the floor then pal around together at the end of the day.

It really does seem like a big dog and pony show. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the republican party, which, when I was young, was a party of mostly decent people with whom I disagreed, turned into basically neo-nazis, and that my party, the party of give em hell; the party of the working guy and of women and minorities, turned into the "vote for us because we're slightly less despicable than the republicans" party.

I mean really why not?

major league professional sports team in the U.S. ..... I believe the NFL has a rule making sure this situation can not, and will not, ever be repeated.
( sorry to go off topic of the OP, but I've already agreed with you, so I'm on your side; just thought this might be interesting in light of the previous post).

No kidding.....I will have to look into that. This brings up all sorts of possibilities.........

as for car sales people...the last guy i bought a car from was dicking me around with that little show. i told him i wanted to buy the damn car and get the hell out of there and if he got up to do that again i would get the fuck up and leave. like i said, i bought a car from him.