Don't Support Obama's Health Care Reform? You Might be a Racist

[33girl]

With all the crying that happened at Nixon's funeral, I would say he was probably redeemed a GREAT deal. You have to admit that he did things no one else was brave enough to do (i.e. reaching out to China) and let's face it...even if he would have done everything right the press would have hated him anyway.

American Experience just did a show on Clinton, and it really hits home what a perfect storm he got dropped into (i.e. with Newt G being Speaker) and what a polarizing figure he was...he just made it worse by not being able to keep his dick in his pants.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by 33girl

With all the crying that happened at Nixon's funeral, I would say he was probably redeemed a GREAT deal. You have to admit that he did things no one else was brave enough to do (i.e. reaching out to China) and let's face it...even if he would have done everything right the press would have hated him anyway.

American Experience just did a show on Clinton, and it really hits home what a perfect storm he got dropped into (i.e. with Newt G being Speaker) and what a polarizing figure he was...he just made it worse by not being able to keep his dick in his pants.

I wasn't born until Reagan's first term so I can't speak on experience but other than Watergate I've never heard anything derogatory about the man, same with Kennedy even though I've heard that Kennedy wasn't exactly the most popular president while he was in office.

And isn't every president doomed to be a polarizing figure? It seems that no matter what you do or say as long as you associate with a political party the other half of the country isn't going to agree with you or your policies.

[33girl]

They were just saying that it went beyond "I don't care for Jimmy Carter" to the point that people PASSIONATELY LOVED or PASSIONATELY HATED Clinton. I'm not sure that was him specifically though, rather the way the media/the country is going. There is no "middle" anymore.

And yes, when Kennedy was alive only something like 30% of people in a poll said they voted for him. After he was assassinated, it went up to 70%.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by 33girl

They were just saying that it went beyond "I don't care for Jimmy Carter" to the point that people PASSIONATELY LOVED or PASSIONATELY HATED Clinton. I'm not sure that was him specifically though, rather the way the media/the country is going. There is no "middle" anymore.

I totally agree and it's not just with Clinton. You can see the same parallels with GWB and Obama.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

I wasn't born until Reagan's first term so I can't speak on experience but other than Watergate I've never heard anything derogatory about the man, same with Kennedy even though I've heard that Kennedy wasn't exactly the most popular president while he was in office.

And isn't every president doomed to be a polarizing figure? It seems that no matter what you do or say as long as you associate with a political party the other half of the country isn't going to agree with you or your policies.

Nixon was shady long before Watergate. Read up about the Alger Hiss trial.. Nixon helped prosecute him. Although he publicly called Joe McCarthy a fraud, he supported McCarthy in many of his actions.

Kennedy became extremely popular because he was assassinated. He was very polarizing but someone needed to be, to get the Civil Rights issues out there, IMHO.

That said, I have a really hard time understanding why people don't want everybody to have health insurance and access to good health care. I just don't get why people think that either some people should just be left to die or that hospitals should be expected to provide services for free. It doesn't make sense to me.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AGDee

That said, I have a really hard time understanding why people don't want everybody to have health insurance and access to good health care. I just don't get why people think that either some people should just be left to die or that hospitals should be expected to provide services for free. It doesn't make sense to me.

Most people I know who have reservations about or are against the health care changes (me included) are more worried about rising premiums, getting dropped by their current insurers and/or being forced into a new government plan that covers less but costs more to the individual. Insinuating that people with these valid concerns want others to just die in the streets is pretty insulting.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

Most people I know who have reservations about or are against the health care changes (me included) are more worried about rising premiums, getting dropped by their current insurers and/or being forced into a new government plan that covers less but costs more to the individual.

Right. My sense is that the question about making sure everyone has access to affordable coverage that brings about the divisions are not the "whether" but the "how."

And I think the problems of the "how" are exacerbated by our decision years ago to rely primarily on an employee benefit-based system. Wish we could have a do-over on that.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Kennedy became extremely popular because he was assassinated. He was very polarizing but someone needed to be, to get the Civil Rights issues out there, IMHO.

Kennedy totally didn't want to "deal with it" as far as civil rights was concerned...he was far more into his foreign policy. He was basically forced into even talking about it.