Feinstein -- I got an actual letter

It may be a form letter, but it looks like some thought went into this:

Dear Mr. /abumbyanyothername/:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the inclusion of a public health care option in health care reform legislation. I am committed to enacting meaningful reform to expand access to the health care system.

I am delighted that you support healthcare reform, as do I. /this is news to me, tell me more/ The key is to find a healthcare plan that provides coverage, as well as limits costs /it's called medicare for all, just open it up and let us buy -- in fact charge us a profit margin so you can cover the poor on our premiums/. My colleagues in the Senate and I have been working on this /uh, no other way to say it, bullshit/, but it is a difficult issue and must be carefully thought out /yeah, because 97 years, since Teddy Roosevelt first proposed it, is not long enough/. I hope that the Senate Finance Committee will propose a bill which will lay out a way in which we can accomplish these goals and can be effectively merged with the bill passed by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions /did you miss the part where I said the HELP committee bill is crap?/.

Other health reforms are also necessary. I strongly believe that any healthcare reform legislation should prohibit coverage denial based on preexisting conditions /how generous/. Reducing healthcare costs is absolutely essential /Yeah, that's why medicare for all is a great idea, have you heard about it?/. Between 2000 and 2007, combined profits for 10 of the country's largest publically traded insurance companies rose 428 percent /Do you happen to know how much their contributions to Congressional (and Presidential) candidates went up over that period?/. I believe that a way to control those costs is by instituting a public option /yes, medicare for all/, a nonprofit cooperative model /no, insurance company run clusterfuck/, or a regulatory authority /no, insurance companies will take this over/to achieve this. I am also concerned about the astronomical growth of entitlement spending, which makes up 56 percent of all federal dollars spent in 2009 /we know, that's why I told you I didn't care about your deficit concerns/. Health reform must bend the healthcare cost curve, slowing the growth of entitlements in order to reduce our nation's debt and budget deficit /three words -- medicare for all/.

Any Senate health reform bill must improve California's complex health care system, and please know that I am working hard with my colleagues to make health care affordable for all Americans /you're not worried about this/, without adding to the federal deficit /we got the part where that's all you care about. are you a Republican?/.

Again, thank you for writing. If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

print it out in color, too.

I have responded to you letter with my comments in red below. I am sorry that some of this is coarse language, but at this point I am frustrated and I am certain that I am not getting through to the Senator, for whatever reason.

I will be supporting anyone who chooses to oppose her in the primary in 2012. I will be asking Democracy for America to find us a candidate who is really a Democrat.

Thanks for your time.

/abumbyanyothername/

It was some kinda robotic thing in response to the email I sent him yesterday, in which I suggested nationalizing the health insurance companies or turning them into non-profits. They probably got a good laugh out of it -- assuming human eyes even saw it at all -- before they sent me his canned and oh-so-corporatist response. It's exactly what I expected from him.

Mr. even though my name is unmistakenly female.

since some are claiming that Feinstein backs the public option.