Althouse: "Obama Begins Drive for a Health Care Bill."

March 4, 2010

"Obama Begins Drive for a Health Care Bill."

Obama Begins Drive for a Health Care Bill. That's the headline in the NYT.

And that's my post.

I hope you are amused.

I'm laughing. Are you?

52 comments:

magpie said...: America Begins Drive for a New Congress.; 3/4/10, 6:50 PM
avwh said...: I guess I have to choose whether to laugh or cry. I'm still torn.

Could the NYT be any more lame if they tried?; 3/4/10, 6:51 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: "Final Drive" or "New Drive" would have been acceptable.; 3/4/10, 7:03 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Does he think he is Tiger Woods? Today a drive, tomorrow an iron, the next day a wood, maybe next month a wedge. When does all this just putter out?; 3/4/10, 7:03 PM
traditionalguy said...: The state media always use the semantics of a conquering hero at war for us. That is the BIG LIE at work.(the NYT borrowed it from the communist tactics of Uncle Joe). Since last July when Palin's face-book nailed the evil secrets contained in Obama's carefully designed 2400 pages of massive socialized medicine, we have seen only Obama's courageous fighting face on every TV broadcast with the media's help repeatedly croaking the LIE that the GOP has no plans to offer. No questions to Obama have been allowed from the GOP and the Tea Party guys for those 8 months until a few minutes last week.To question the big lie in the Media you had to yell out at Obama during a STU speech. So now the Captain's courageous image is said to be going to fight against the will of the people by cheating on the Senate's procedural safeguards to tell the Massachusetts voters to all go to hell. He is a one slimey POS.; 3/4/10, 7:12 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Here's hoping his drive ends up like Tiger's 2 AM.

Alright, blondie, grab a golf club and commence a beatin'.

In a few months we'll get a tearful apology.; 3/4/10, 7:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...: (Didn't mean to leave "bill" off. That wasn't the joke. Correct.); 3/4/10, 7:16 PM
mrs whatsit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/10, 7:16 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Maybe the ghost of Ted Kennedy is driving the Health Care Atrocity.; 3/4/10, 7:20 PM
Palladian said...: "Obama Begins Drive for a Health Care Bill."

I hope he's taking that drive in a Prius.; 3/4/10, 7:21 PM
Unknown said...: I knew they couldn't distinguish the truth if somebody hit them with it, but even if Ann fat-fingered the title, it still says something interesting about how people have come to view the contact the Gray Lady has with American culture.

PS I thought he'd been driving for over a year. Reminds me of the somnambulists you get stuck behind on a one lane road. (Don't get me started about the damned cowpaths they call roads in Ohio); 3/4/10, 7:22 PM
Palladian said...: Although given the road he's traveling, he's probably driving a Trabant...; 3/4/10, 7:23 PM
Peano said...: Begins?; 3/4/10, 7:30 PM
cf said...: A more accurate header would be stolen from a Gloria Borger description of the Administration's view of this (per Taranto)
Administration Gasses Up Rooftop Helicopter , Prepares to Leave Saigon.; 3/4/10, 7:48 PM
SteveR said...: Peano beat me to it. Begins? In other news, NYT's reports: "Magellen Begins Quest to Circumnavigate the Recently Discovered Round Earth"; 3/4/10, 7:56 PM
Elmer Stoup said...: Forget about reconciliation. If the House passes the Senate bill (remember the bill with the excise tax on so-called Cadillac plans, the Cornhusker kickback, the LA purchase), it's over. Obama signs the bill and ObamaCare has just been rammed down our throats.; 3/4/10, 8:01 PM
Henry said...: I like the way that here we are, March 4,2010, and Obama begins a drive not for the bill, but a bill.

Most of the editors at The Times are really quite good and I have to think that the indefinite article is intentional.; 3/4/10, 8:03 PM
wombat said...: Edgy snickers as he demands the bill, "Check, waiter," and walks out on the tab.; 3/4/10, 8:04 PM
LakeLevel said...: New York Times Begins Long Slide to Obscurity. Oh wait that started years ago.; 3/4/10, 8:08 PM
garage mahal said...: It's taking forever for Democrats to hurry up and jam this down our throats!; 3/4/10, 8:18 PM
GeekEsquire said...: Can we get cash for the clunker he was driving the past year?; 3/4/10, 8:24 PM
bagoh20 said...: Yea, take a drive through the country, get some fresh air, have a picnic, take a nap. maybe even talk to a few real Americans and ask them what they think.; 3/4/10, 8:29 PM
wombat said...: This is no Sunday drive. Obama's cruising to pick up Dems thumbing a ride and in need of a lift. Nice.; 3/4/10, 8:30 PM
traditionalguy said...: I hope Barry got him several dozen cartons of cigarettes for his Maoist Long March thru the American system of free enterprise. The locals have stopped cooperating in their own destruction just to see his loving smile everywhere. The jig is up for this fake American holding our White House temporarily.; 3/4/10, 8:41 PM
Ralph L said...: It's taking forever for Democrats to hurry up and jam this down our throats!
They keep pulling back and then thrusting forward again and again. I hope they're enjoying themselves.; 3/4/10, 8:48 PM
Triangle Man said...: Meanwhile, some whack job opens fire on Pentagon cops and the NY Times closes the story with this:

"Virginia, which has some of the most lax gun laws in the nation, has been drawing criticism from gun control advocates lately by pushing to expand gun rights. The state’s General Assembly approved a bill in mid February allowing people to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and the House of Delegates voted to end a 17-year-old measure forbidding people from buying more than one handgun a month."; 3/4/10, 8:50 PM
Phil 314 said...: The drive to keep Hope alive!; 3/4/10, 9:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Meanwhile, back at the universities, the generation that voted over 65% for Obama is getting their first real taste of the rest of their lives: cuts in government services.; 3/4/10, 9:04 PM
Wince said...: Obama Begins Drive for a Health Care Bill.

Popular Science: "This can happen to you."; 3/4/10, 9:24 PM
Henry said...: That deserves the front page!; 3/4/10, 9:28 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Meanwhile, back at the universities, the generation that voted over 65% for Obama is getting their first real taste of the rest of their lives: cuts in government services.

Just wait until they start having to buy health insurance at inflated prices that they don't need (the inflated prices due to the limitations on age and health ratings).; 3/4/10, 9:34 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: Here's something to think about: if I'd gotten any help with my plan, we could have had a real debate about these issues, and there might not be such a push or the bill might be different.

I'm trying to raise the level of debate in the U.S., which you might think wouldn't be so difficult.

Take an objective look at what happened instead, with the partiers just throwing tantrums like babies, and with their leaders egging them on.

Your leaders are failures, and they failed you.

If anyone wants to do things in a perfectly legitimate and highly effective way that will raise the level of debate in the U.S., help promote this plan. And, you need to get new leaders.; 3/4/10, 9:44 PM
David said...: Cram!

Swallow! (I said swallow, bitch.)

Ummmmm.

Tastes like chicken!; 3/4/10, 9:54 PM
bagoh20 said...: Lonewacko, the time for talk is over and always has been, didn't you hear?; 3/4/10, 9:58 PM
james said...: I should probably go to bed. I read that as "Obama Begins Drive-By Health Care Bill."; 3/4/10, 9:58 PM
cubanbob said...: "Obama Begins Drive for a Health Care Bill."

This definitely needs the Downfall-Hitler parody with Punch Sulzberger as Hitler pointing to the map and asking "where is Steiner? where is Wenck?; 3/4/10, 9:59 PM
former law student said...: Everyone who complained that Obama took a handsoff approach, leaving everything up to Pelosi and Reid, should be happy now that Obama's in the driver's seat.

Right?

And, it's "a" health care bill because there's no frickin' public option. Instead it's a Maximize Insurance Co. Revenues Act.; 3/4/10, 10:01 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: And, it's "a" health care bill because there's no frickin' public option. Instead it's a Maximize Insurance Co. Revenues Act.

If so, then only because it is designed to increase overall policy costs, and therefore if rate of profits as a percentage of revenues stays constant, then the absolute amount of profits should increase.

Not quite sure what we are ultimately going to see if it passes into law (esp. since we are talking a not-yet-drafted reconciliation bill to modify the Senate version), but I did seem to remember being able to buy insurance across state lines sort of thing at least in some versions, and that is supposed to bring down rates, and therefore profits.

That said, you still seem to be trying to convince us that the reason for our health care problems are because of the rapacious insurance companies - despite their not-so-stellar return on investment over time, as compared to many other industries.; 3/4/10, 10:09 PM
Anonymous said...: I guess the unemployment situation can just take a back seat while he goes for his drive?; 3/4/10, 10:12 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: And, it's "a" health care bill because there's no frickin' public option...

It is not a health care bill. There is nothing in the bill about reforming health care. It is an insurance entitlement bill. It is a big lie.

There is nothing in the bill about regulating doctors, hospitals, medical schools, or any other aspect of the medical profession. There is nothing in the bill about building new medical schools- which require permission from the government. There is nothing in the bill about regulating the malpractice insurance industry and its evil twin the lawyers.

The whole bill is about health insurance entitlement. It is not health care reform. Never was, never was intended to be.

It is a health care atrocity bill.; 3/4/10, 10:13 PM
Henry said...: @Peter V. Bella

Not quite.

It is the health care atrocity bill.; 3/4/10, 10:20 PM
Issob Morocco said...: Like Mr. Magoo behind the wheel, oblivious to the impending danger and doom he wishes to impart on us.; 3/4/10, 10:27 PM
bagoh20 said...: This bill is not what anybody wants, not even the Dems or the President. That leads to the question of: Just what is the purpose of passing it?

1) The president's ego requires passing something, anything called health care.

2) The Democrats feel similar about their egos, and feel passing anything is the lesser evil to carry into the election. (This is incorrect)

3) There is no intention of this bill being the law, it's a place holder.; 3/4/10, 10:43 PM
KCFleming said...: The nation is now run by and for the parasites.

People living off of those creating wealth now outnumber them, and vote themselves careers and pensions and now health care from other people's money.

Now they've hit the point that the golden goose is starting to die.
It's only a matter of time now.; 3/4/10, 10:52 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: The time for debate is over again?; 3/4/10, 11:08 PM
Alex said...: It's taking forever for Democrats to hurry up and jam this down our throats!

Thank god for the tea partiers, Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats for blocking your holy President.; 3/5/10, 1:56 AM
Popville said...: Time for some lyrics: Todd Rundgren's "Drive:

"I'm bleeding
I don't think I can go on
I'm dying
My last breath has come and gone
Pity the man
Searching in the sky
Looking for a sign from above
And he never caught a glimpse of
What he's worthy of
Don't sit and wait
For the world on a plate
It's not a stroke of luck or chance
Just draw a bead on that sucker
And drive"

typical insanely great Todd anguished pop-rock corker

wv: mensho: you're kidding me right? too easy; someone else can supply the Uxbridge English Dictionary daffynition; 3/5/10, 1:57 AM
Nora said...: It's New Dawn all over again, I guess; 3/5/10, 2:01 AM
John Stodder said...: I think today's the day everyone woke up and realized that once the House passes the Senate bill, that's the end. There won't be reconciliation. There will be a kabuki dance of amending the bill, but nothing will be agreed upon, and the president will cry crocodile tears and sign the bill as passed by both houses.

House members should understand that as they vote. This is it. There is no Step Two, no Step Three. If they don't think they can live with Step One, they only have one option, to vote it down.; 3/5/10, 2:19 AM
AllenS said...: Obama begins drive for a health care bill. If you're not behind this, hop on the train!; 3/5/10, 5:22 AM
Roger J. said...: This like being on a mobious strip while watching "The English Patient." Took forever for that dude to die. Does anybody have a clip of Elaine's and Peterman's dialogue on that?; 3/5/10, 7:22 AM
Roger J. said...: oops--mobious = mobius; 3/5/10, 7:24 AM