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Drunkblogging yet another health care speech

Posted by Richard on September 9, 2009

Vodkapundit is drunkblogging President Obama's 87th (or is it the 112th?) speech promoting government-run health care. I'm not going to watch the speech, but I'll check in on the drunkblogging after a while. I suggest you do the same; it's bound to be much more interesting and informative than the actual speech.

If you want to play the drunkblogging home game, I suggest taking a drink every time you hear "security." I understand that's the new focus-group-tested talking point. The previous one, "choice," didn't sell too well.

Cheers!

UPDATE: Steve's drunkblogging answered almost all my questions about the speech, except how often "security" was mentioned. Judging from his typically amusing and informative outbursts and various other reports and commentary (Instapundit has lots of great quotes, links, and observations), I'm glad I didn't watch. Nothing new to see here, folks, move along. 

Of course, there was apparently a passing reference to allowing some "experiments" in a few states with some unspecified form of tort reform, so another big question is this: How many Republicans will seize on this whisper of a hint of a bone that might be tossed to them to roll over, beg, and lick Obama's hand? My guess is that Steve's correct (at 5:53), and it will be more than a few. "Gutless," "unprincipled," and "Republican" are an all-too-common three-part oxymoron.

UPDATE2: Hugh Hewitt:

Talk about underwhelming.

Most telling was the laughter at the phrase "there remain some details to be worked out," which the president wasn't counting on.

"Misinformation," "bogus claims," "scare tactics," "such a charge would be laughable,' "it is a lie plain and simple" –welcome to the bipartisanship of hope and change.

This speech may be rallying the left, but it isn't doing anything to advance "bipartisan" solutions. It appears that the president has settled on a jam down, one built on the same lame arguments that have failed to persuade a majority or even a near majority of Americans.

Indeed™.

UPDATE3: Reason's Peter Suderman (emphasis added):

Philip Klein and my former colleague Greg Conko have a new paper out making the case against the current batch of health-care reform proposals.
The criticisms of liberal reforms are sharp, but what really makes the paper worthwhile are two aspects. The first is that, contrary to the president's accusation that those who oppose reform have no solutions of their own, they actually propose and detail a number of useful, specific reforms, including some that tend to get less attention, like curbing regulations on medical devices and new drugs that artificially increase scarcity (and, as a result, drive up costs).
The second is that they fully recognize that the current health-care system is a disaster, and that the reforms they propose wouldn't necessarily ensure that those with chronic preexisting conditions have access to health insurance. But, they say, the current patchwork of ill-thought-out government regulations of the health care market is so problematic—and, in fact, exacerbates our health care problems so much—that it must be fixed before addressing the few remaining problem cases.

… Conko and Klein have done some solid, capable work. More than that, they've proven, once again, that anyone who buys the president's argument that opponents of liberal reform don't have anything to offer just isn't listening.
 

(HT: Instapundit)

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