Thread: Obama outlines health care plan for all

***

10:15am Eastern. In an opening statement/lecture, Obama drags his daughters into the health care reform debate. Rehashes questionable menigitis story. See background on that here: Leave Obama’s kids alone…except when POTUS & FLOTUS need them for Obamacare.

10:22am Eastern. Insert laugh track. Obama: “I hope this will not just be theater.” And if it is, Obama goes on, “I hope it’s an opportunity to clarify our positions.”

Sen. Lamar! Alexander is making the opening statement for the GOP. He points out that he is a former governor and hopes to represent views of other governors who were excluded from summit. Roasts backroom deals. Uses car show analogy. Demcare plans are models we can’t afford.

10:34am Eastern. Alexander calls out Obama/Dems on reconciliation. Asks O to renounce tactics, quotes Obama opposition to reconciliation tactics in prior Senate debates. “Renounce jamming it through.” Start over, work together, reduce health care costs. Make that the goal for now. “It means going step by step together to re-earn the trust of the American people.”

Alexander: “If we don’t take reconciliation off the table, the rest of the meeting meaningless and the only thing bipartisan will be opposition to the bill.”

***

Alexander finishes. Nancy Pelosi up next. Brags about bipartisan vote for empty gesture measure lifting antitrust exemption for health insurers. Several minutes of emoting and stammering conclude with multiple invocations of Teddy Kennedy and the left-wing mantra: “Health care is a right, not a privilege.”

Next up: Harry Reid’s Save My Backside speech.

Reid: “No one’s talking about reconciliation!” But, anyway, it’s been done before. Blah, blah, blah. Reid says Demcare bill has had “significant input from Republicans.”

Invokes a constituent named “Jesus” many times. “Jesus.” “Jesus.”

11:00am Eastern. Obama makes claims about lowering premiums in his Demcare bill. Alexander calls him out. Obama gets snippy.

11:34am Eastern. GOP Rep. Dave Camp provides cost reality checks – citing CMMS, PriceWaterhouseCooper, and illuminating restrictions on HSA/MSAs. Points out limits on out-of-pocket spending and coverage mandates that bend the cost curve upward. Obama cuts him off.

11:47am Eastern. McConnell notes that Dems have had 52 minutes. GOP has had 24. Obama snips: “There was an imbalance in the opening statements because I am the president.” In other words: I WON.

Obama remedies the partisan time imbalance by…launching into another long-winded insurance anecdote. HE WON.

And now…over to Charles Schumer!

12:10pm Eastern From the GOP Senate Conference:

Setting the Record Straight: President Obama Cut GOP Some Slack?

At the start of the White House summit on health care, President Obama suggested that he cut Republicans some slack and allowed Senator Alexander to give longer opening remarks. Democratic leadership and President Obama’s opening remarks totaled more than 30 minutes. Senator Alexander clocked in at 13 minutes and 10 seconds.

President Obama to Senator Alexander: “Lamar, both I and Lamar went a little bit over our original allocated time. I — not wanting to be a hypocrite — wanted to give you some slack.”

DEMOCRATS’ OPENING REMARKS REPUBLICAN OPENING REMARKS

President Obama 14 mins, 36 seconds Senator Alexander 13 mins, 10 seconds
Speaker Pelosi 7 mins, 57 seconds
Leader Reid 8 mins, 13 seconds
30 mins, 46 seconds

12:32pm Eastern. McCain talks about backroom deals. Irritable Obama snaps: “We’re not campaigning anymore.” (McCain: “I’m reminded of that every day.”) O flips papers. Jeers at GOP “talking points.” Gives the ball to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

12:47pm Eastern. Cantor has the massive Senate bill printout in front of him. Obama squirms and frowns. Calls it a “prop” and blames printouts for preventing “dialogue.”

1:00pm Eastern. Last speaker before the break: Democrat Rep. Louise Slaughter, who complains about women and minorities being excluded from clinical trials years ago and tells a sob story about a woman who was “forced” to wear her dead sister’s dentures. Or something.

Obama extols the “terrific conversation” so far.

Pray for the Republic, people.

2:08pm Eastern. MSNBC has now cut away from Act II of Oba-Kabuki and is broadcasting Olympic women’s hockey instead.

Crikey on steroids: Tom Harkin just likened health insurance risk pools to segregation.

3:28pm Eastern Boehner up and he’s got the massive legislation on his desk, too. “This is a dangerous experiment” with “the best health care system in the world.” Calls out Obama for not mentioning the government funding of abortion in Demcare. “Let’s scrap the bill. Start with a clean sheet of paper.”


See also http://www.punditandpundette.com/201...of-errors.html

Obama, Republicans clash at heated health summit
Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar And Jennifer Loven, Associated Press Writers – 20 mins ago

WASHINGTON – With tempers flaring, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans clashed in an extraordinary live-on-TV summit Thursday over the right prescription for the nation's broken health care system, talking of agreement but holding to long-entrenched positions that leave them far apart. "We have a very difficult gap to bridge here," said Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican. "We just can't afford this. That's the ultimate problem."

With Cantor sitting in front of a giant stack of nearly 2,400 pages representing the Democrats' Senate-passed bill, Obama said cost is a legitimate question, but he took Cantor and other Republicans to task for using political shorthand and props "that prevent us from having a conversation."

And so it went, hour after hour at Blair House, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House — a marathon policy debate available from start to finish to a divided public.

The more than six-hour back-and-forth was essentially a condensed, one-day version of the entire past year of debate over the nation's health care crisis, with all its heat, complexity and detail, and a crash course in the partisan divide, in which Democrats seek the kind of broad remake that has eluded leaders for half a century and Republicans favor much more modest changes. With Democrats in control of the White House and Congress, they were left with the critical decision about where to go next.

Obama and his Democratic allies argued at Thursday's meeting that a broad overhaul is imperative for the nation's future economic vitality. The president cast health care as "one of the biggest drags on our economy," tying his top domestic priority to an issue that's even more pressing to many Americans. "This is the last chance, as far as I'm concerned," Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.

Obama lamented partisan bickering that has resulted in a stalemate over legislation to extend coverage to more than 30 million people who are now uninsured. "Politics I think ended up trumping practical common sense," he said.

And yet, even as he pleaded for cooperation — "actually a discussion, and not just us trading talking points" — he insisted on a number of Democratic points and acknowledged agreement may not be possible. "I don't know that those gaps can be bridged," Obama said.

With hardened positions well staked out before the meeting, the president and his Democratic allies prepared to move on alone — a gamble with political risks no matter how they do that.

One option — preferred by the White House and progressives in the Democratic caucus — is to try to pass a comprehensive plan without GOP support, by using controversial Senate budget reconciliation rules that would disallow filibusters. GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander asked Democrats to swear off a jam-it-through approach, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., defended it. Obama weighed in with gentle chiding, asking both sides to focus on substance and worry about process later — a plea he made repeatedly throughout the day with little success.

A USA Today/Gallup survey released Thursday found Americans tilt 49-42 against Democrats forging ahead by themselves without any GOP support. Opposition was even stronger to the idea of Senate Democrats using the special budget rules, with 52 percent opposed and 39 percent in favor.

A second alternative for Obama and his party is going smaller, with a modest bill that would merely smooth some of the rough edges from the current system. A month after the Massachusetts election that cost Democrats their Senate supermajority and threw the health legislation in doubt, the White House has developed its own slimmed-down health care proposal so the president will know what the impact would be if he chooses that route, according to a Democratic official familiar with the discussions. That official could not provide details, but Democrats have looked at approaches including expanding Medicaid and allowing children to stay on their parents' health plans until around age 26.

Obama himself hinted at a Democrats-only strategy. When asked by reporters as he walked to the summit site if he had a Plan B, he responded: "I've always got plans."

Many lawmakers and Obama stressed areas of agreement, including items such as allowing parents to keep young adult children on their health plans into their 20s, cutting fraud and waste and ensuring that sick people aren't dropped by insurance companies. But such items occupy the edges of reform.

Indeed, any skepticism about reaching broad consensus was vindicated as soon as the first Republican spoke — in opposition to the mammoth bills that have passed the House and Senate. Alexander, of Tennessee, said Congress and the administration should start over and take small steps, including medical malpractice reform, high-risk insurance pools, a way to allow Americans to shop out of state for lower-cost plans and an expansion of health savings accounts. "We believe we have a better idea," Alexander said. "Our views represent the views of a great number of American people."

Disagreements were not always expressed diplomatically.

Alexander challenged Obama's claim that insurance premiums would fall under the Democratic legislation. "You're wrong," he said. Responded Obama: "I'm pretty certain I'm not wrong."

As with much in the complicated health care debate, both sides had a point. The Congressional Budget Office says average premiums for people buying insurance individually would be 10 to 13 percent higher in 2016 under the Senate legislation, as Alexander said. But the policies would cover more medical services, and around half of people could get government subsidies to defray the extra costs.

Obama and his 2008 GOP opponent for the presidency, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, had a barbed exchange. McCain complained at length about what he said was a backdoor process to produce the original bills that resulted in favors for special interests and carve-outs for certain states. "We're not campaigning anymore. The election's over," responded a clearly irritated Obama.

"I'm reminded of that every day," McCain shot back, adding that "the American people care about what we did and how we did it."

Said Obama: "We can have a debate about process or we can have a debate about how we're actually going to help the American people at this point. And I think that's — the latter debate is the one that they care about a little bit more."

Generally, polls show Americans want solutions to the problems of high medical costs, eroding access to coverage and uneven quality. But they are split over the Democrats' sweeping legislation, with its $1 trillion, 10-year price tag and many complex provisions, including some that wouldn't take effect for eight years.

The Democratic bills would require most Americans to get health insurance, while providing subsidies for many in the form of a new tax credit. The Democrats would set up a competitive insurance market for small businesses and people buying coverage on their own. Democrats also would make a host of other changes, which include addressing a coverage gap in the Medicare prescription benefit and setting up a new long-term-care insurance program. Their plan would be paid for through a mix of Medicare cuts and tax increases. "Not only are lawmakers polarized, the parties' constituencies are far apart," said Robert Blendon, a Harvard University professor who follows public opinion trends on health care. "The president is going to use it as a launching pad for what will be the last effort to get a big bill passed. He will say that he tried to get a bipartisan compromise and it wasn't possible."

The Blair House setting wasn't grand, or even particularly comfortable. About 40 senators, representatives and administration officials were crowded shoulder-to-shoulder around a hollow square table, perched for the six-hour marathon on wooden chairs with thin cushions. Coffee breaks were ruled out, so the only pause in the action came during lunch.

C-SPAN carried complete coverage, while news operations from cable networks to public broadcasting were making it the focus of their day.

Leaving the site during a lunch break, Obama was asked by waiting reporters if he thought the debate was engendering a lot of interest across the country. "I don't know if it's interesting watching it on TV," he responded.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health...1hcmVwdWJsaQ--

FACT CHECK: Dueling polls and dubious stats
Calvin Woodward And Jim Drinkard, Associated Press Writers – 10 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Beware of politicians quoting poll numbers.

That was one lesson from the White House health policy conference Thursday as lawmakers in both parties cherry-picked survey results, ignored contrary findings and presented public opinion, which is highly nuanced on these questions, as a slam-dunk.

Claims, counterclaims and statistics flew through the room in the daylong talkfest by President Barack Obama and lawmakers from both parties. Some didn't hold up to the facts. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada suggested his party hasn't been preparing to do an end-run around the normal legislative process to pass a health care bill, when in reality this option is very much in play. Obama squabbled with a Republican senator over what his initiative might do to health premiums, and had a superior command of the facts.

A look at some statements in the meeting and how they compare with reality:

THE CLAIMS:

McConnell: "I think it is not irrelevant that the American people, if you average out of all of the polls, are opposed to this bill by 55-37. And we know from a USA Today-Gallup poll out this morning they're opposed to using the reconciliation device, the short-circuit approach that Lamar referred to that would end up with only bipartisan opposition, by 52-39."

Reid: "Last Monday, a week ago Monday, all over America, the results were run from a poll done by the Kaiser Foundation. It was interesting what that poll said. Fifty-eight percent of Americans would be disappointed or angry if we did not do health care reform this year — 58 percent. Across America, more than 60 percent of Republicans, Democrats and independents want us to reform the way health care works. Is it any wonder?"

THE FACTS:

McConnell's device of averaging polls to come up with a precise result is dubious. Because polls are often taken at different times, with different sample sizes, margins of error and ways of wording their questions, combining them may not yield a valid result. McConnell aides cited CNN, NPR and Quinnipiac polls taken at various times in January.

The Republican leader and others on his side ignored a variety of findings in recent surveys, such as the one suggesting most people want Washington to act on rising medical costs and shrinking coverage — and trust Obama and the Democrats more than Republicans to do it.

Even so, the Kaiser survey cited by Reid was hardly a cheer for what Democrats have come up with so far, although there was no telling that from his remarks. Less than one third wanted Congress to send Obama a final version of the legislation approved by the House and Senate.

More than 40 percent wanted Washington to put health care on hold or pull the plug. Overall, people were split 43-43 for or against health care legislation. That's in keeping with other surveys that have found Americans evenly divided or leaning against Obama's effort, even while liking some of the measures and wanting something done about the system.

___

THE CLAIMS:

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.: "The Congressional Budget Office report says that premiums will rise in the individual market as a result of the Senate bill."

Obama: "No, no, no, no. Let me — and this is an example of where we've got to get our facts straight."

Alexander: "That's my point."

Obama: "Here's what the Congressional Budget Office says: The costs for families for the same type of coverage that they're currently receiving would go down 14 percent to 20 percent. What the Congressional Budget Office says is that because now they've got a better deal, because policies are cheaper, they may choose to buy better coverage than they have right now, and that might be 10 percent to 13 percent more expensive than the bad insurance that they had previously."

THE FACTS:

Both are right, but Obama offered important context that Alexander left out.

The nonpartisan analysis estimated that average premiums for people buying insurance individually would be 10 to 13 percent higher in 2016 under the Senate legislation, supporting Alexander's point. But the policies would cover more, and about half the people would be getting substantial government subsidies to defray the extra costs.

As the president said, if the policies offered today were offered in 2016, they would be considerably cheaper under the plan, even without subsidies. One big reason: Many more healthy young people would be signing up for the coverage because insurance would become mandatory. They are cheap to insure and would moderate costs for others.

Moreover, the analysis estimated that the people getting subsidies would see their costs cut by more than half from what they pay now.

___

THE CLAIM:

Obama: "We've tried to take every cost-containment idea that's out there and adopt it in this bill."

THE FACTS: A number of money-saving ideas have been watered down or excluded entirely.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the government could save $41 billion over 10 years by capping jury awards in medical malpractice lawsuits — an idea promoted by Republicans but opposed by trial lawyers, who have traditionally been heavy contributors to Democratic politicians. The forecast savings are far higher than were anticipated when the nonpartisan budget office studied the issue in the past. But Obama and congressional Democrats have not gone along with caps.

Also, the budget estimated the government could save nearly $19 billion over 10 years by "bundling" Medicare payments to hospitals. Under this proposal, the government would make a single reimbursement covering a patient's hospital stay and post-surgical care instead of paying separately for each procedure or visit.

Obama initially embraced the measure but Congress and the White House ended up settling for weaker steps like demonstration projects that won't yield savings anytime soon.

___

THE CLAIMS:

Alexander called on Obama to "renounce this idea of going back to the Congress and jamming through" the bill with only Democratic votes. He was talking about a parliamentary process Congress can use called "budget reconciliation," which would prevent Senate Republicans from blocking health-care legislation. In response, Reid denied that was his intent, saying, "No one has talked about reconciliation."

THE FACTS:

Talk about the use of the reconciliation process, which Republicans view as an assault on their rights as the Senate minority, has been in the air for months, and Reid himself has been part of that conversation. In a Nevada political talk show, "Face to Face with John Ralston," Reid said on Feb. 19 that he planned to use the reconciliation process to pass a pared-down health-care bill. And answering reporters' questions about the process this week, Reid said Republicans "should stop crying about reconciliation. It's done almost every Congress, and they're the ones that used it more than anyone else." On the latter point, Reid was right.

___

THE CLAIM: Obama's opponent in the 2008 presidential election, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., sharply criticized the president for his failure to hold public health-care negotiations earlier. He noted that "eight times you said that negotiations on health care reform would be conducted with the C-SPAN cameras. I'm glad more than a year later that they are here. Unfortunately, this product was not produced in that fashion. It was produced behind closed doors."

THE FACTS: McCain is right. Thursday's session fulfilled a promise Obama broke before he kept it. Several times in the 2008 campaign Obama vowed to hold open negotiations in reworking health care. But once in office, Democrats in the White House and Congress conducted negotiations as usual, making multibillion-dollar deals with hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, other special interests — and each other — in private. And beyond Thursday's televised session, there is no indication Obama or the congressional Democrats plan further open talks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health...ZhY3RjaGVjazpk

Docs cut work hours as primary care shortage looms
Carla K. Johnson, Ap Medical Writer – Thu Feb 25, 7:56 am ET

CHICAGO – Doctors have steadily cut their work hours over the past decade, a new study finds, something that experts say may only worsen the health care situation.

It's not that doctors are terrible slackers. Average hours dropped from about 55 to 51 hours per week from 1996 to 2008, according to the analysis, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

That's the equivalent of losing 36,000 doctors in a decade, according to the researchers. And it raises policy questions amid a looming primary care doctor shortage and Congress considering an expansion of health insurance coverage that would mean more patients.

The decline in hours "occurred among all groups of physicians — young, old, men, women, residents and nonresidents — and it didn't occur in other occupations," said lead author Douglas Staiger, an economics professor at Dartmouth College.

"Something has been discouraging physicians from working the long hours they used to work," he said.

Work-hour limits for residents, or doctors in training, were introduced in 2003 and brought down the average. But when researchers removed the resident doctors from the analysis, they still found a nearly 6 percent decline in work hours.

Growing numbers of women in the profession contributed to the decline in hours, but they weren't a big driver of the trend, Staiger said.

Payment issues may have played more of a role. The overall decrease in hours coincided with a 25 percent decline in pay for doctors' services, adjusted for inflation. And when the researchers looked closely at U.S. cities with the lowest and highest doctor fees, they found doctors working shorter hours in the low-fee cities and longer hours in the high-fee cities.

Greater competition and more managed care in the low-fee cities may provide a clue to why doctors are working fewer hours.

"It's not so much the fees as the hassle factor," said Dr. Robert Perlmuter, a Chicago internist, who works 60 hours a week. He told about a recent problem with a pharmacy benefit manager. A series of faxes and phone calls got conflicting answers about which of three types of insulin the patient's plan would cover. By the time it was sorted out, "the patient missed insulin for a day."

"There's so much oversight for what we do, so many people we have to answer to and so little of it improves care, it's just driving us all crazy," Perlmuter said.

Four years ago, Dr. David Ellington, a family doctor in Lexington, Va., cut back from 65 to 50 hours a week, improving his life "by a factor of about a zillion."

"It added five or six years onto my practice life — and I love what I do," Ellington said. "I couldn't have continued to do what I was doing. I couldn't do it physically, emotionally and financially. It had become overwhelming."

The researchers based their analysis on data from U.S. Census Bureau household surveys. The data included self-reported hours from about 27,000 doctors. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging.

"This really presents a problem for us as a country as we strive to maintain a sufficient primary care work force," said Dr. Ann O'Malley of the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change, which has found declines over the past decade of about two hours per week in doctor work time.

The center's surveys add a piece to the puzzle. They've found overall work hours for primary care physicians and medical specialists declining, but hours worked by surgeons remaining stable, said O'Malley who wasn't involved in the new study.

On top of that, fewer medical students are choosing primary care and more are pursuing higher paying specialties. Paying primary care doctors for the time they spend coordinating care, such as talking to other doctors and avoiding duplicative tests, could help, she said.

Primary care doctors handle 2,300 patients on average, far too many for them to be able to realistically follow guidelines for managing their patients' chronic illnesses, let alone their acute care needs, said Dr. Thomas Bodenheimer of University of California, San Francisco. He wasn't involved in the new analysis but studies work force issues in primary care.

"It's just too many patients to take care of," Bodenheimer said. "And you don't make that much money for each visit. It's really exhausting. It's extremely hard work."

___

On the Net:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_doctor...RvY3NjdXR3b3Jr

WATCH: The moments that mattered in today's health care summit
Thu Feb 25, 7:37 pm ET

President Obama and Democratic and Republican members of Congress spent most of the day Thursday debating the future of the American health care system: who it will cover, how it will do that, and how much it will cost. The historic bipartisan health care summit lasted almost seven hours. Though substantive and important, even President Obama had to admit that the long discussion probably didn't make the most interesting television -- but there were a few moments that have grabbed a lot of attention, including an unusual story by Representative Louise Slaughter.

You probably didn't have time to watch the seven hours of debate, but we did. So we thought we'd put together a quick guide to the moments that mattered in today's historic bipartisan health care summit.

1. Tons of personal stories: Throughout the day, Democrats tried to emphasize the human cost of our current system with lots and lots of personal anecdotes. President Obama recounted his worries as a parent and witnessing his mother's wrangle with insurance industry bureaucrats as she was dying of cancer. Sen. Harry Reid told the story of a constituent named Jesus whose child couldn't get health insurance because of a cleft palate.

But no story was more jolting than the one shared by Rep. Louise Slaughter.

"I have a constituent that you won't believe and I know you won't, but her sister died," said Slaughter. "This poor woman had no dentures. She wore her dead sister's teeth, which of course were uncomfortable and did not fit. Do you believe that in America that's where we would be?"

2. Obama and Alexander dispute CBO analysis: One of the main themes struck by the Republican leadership today was that the health care reform bill passed by the House and Senate should be scrapped altogether in favor of starting over. To make this point, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander stated that, according to analysis he cited that was done by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), "for millions of Americans, premiums will go up."

President Obama countered that Alexander's claims of widespread premium increases were "just not the case" and "not factually accurate," and that the CBO's analysis found that insurance premiums would decrease 14-20% but Americans would choose more expensive plans because of the better prices.

So who was right? Well, according to an AP fact check, both were, though the report notes that "Obama offered important context that Alexander left out," specifically that the policies would cover more and that about half of Americans covered would receive "substantial government subsidies" to offset added costs.

3. Obama and McCain tussle: It took almost two and a half hours for any real fireworks to come out of today's health care summit, but when it finally came his turn to speak, Sen. John McCain went on the attack. He scolded the Democrats for what he called "unsavory" deals conducted by their leadership. President Obama fired back at his 2008 election opponent by saying, "We're not campaigning anymore. The election is over."

McCain, to his credit, took the president's rhetorical arrow in stride, responding, "I'm reminded of that every day."

Obama tried to move the conversation away from the past controversial deals and process, and toward the substantive argument.





4. The looming possibility of reconciliation: John McCain spoke again in the second half of today's summit, directly questioning President Obama about what he called "the elephant in the room." He demanded to know whether or not the Democrats in the Senate would pursue a strategy of using the reconciliation process to pass a bill with a normal 51-vote majority and avoid the filibuster that usually requires 60 votes. Republicans strongly oppose doing so, arguing that, though it's been used on major policies in the past (George W. Bush's tax cuts, Bill Clinton's welfare reform), it shouldn't be used on policies this significant.

Obama refused to take it off the table, arguing that Americans care less about the legislative process than the results of the bill, and that they expected an up or down vote on reform.




5. Obama and Cantor go toe-to-toe: One could argue that the most testy exchanges of the afternoon took place not between the president and Sens. McCain and Alexander, but between the president and Rep. Eric Cantor. Cantor, who had copies of the bills that have already passed the House and Senate stacked in front of him, received a mild scolding from the president for using the legislation as a "prop."

"Let me just guess, that's the 2,400-page Democratic bill," Obama said, later adding, "These are the kinds of political things we do that prevent us from actually having a conversation."

Obama and Cantor then crossed swords when the congressman stated that the costs of the plan would result in millions losing their coverage.

"When you start to mandate that everyone in the country has insurance ... there are consequences to that," Cantor said. "We just can't afford this. This government and businesses can't afford it."

Obama countered that the estimated 8 to 9 million people who would walk away from employer-sponsored coverage would do so because they could get a "better deal" elsewhere.




6. Everyone loves Tom Coburn: Throughout the summit, many Democrats name-checked attending Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a licensed physician. Coburn scored points early on by arguing that fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid were prime culprits driving up medical costs. But Democrats turned the criticism somewhat to their advantage, complimenting Coburn's points repeatedly. Obama, who once worked with Coburn in the Senate on a bipartisan ethics law, was quick to agree with the good doctor, assuring him he understood his concerns and pointing to provisions in the House and Senate bills that attempt to address the problem. Following suit, Democratic senators like Chuck Schumer and Kent Conrad returned to "Tom" and his sensible prescriptions time and again. Everybody loves Tom.

Later McCain challenged Obama on medical malpractice lawsuits, arguing litigation against doctors and hospitals is a main driver of health care inflation. So-called "tort reform" is a holy grail of sorts for the GOP. Obama has previously voiced his openness to the topic. But today he made his biggest overture yet to finding a compromise. His potential olive branch? Tom Coburn's proposal for medical malpractice limits.



(Videos provided by ABC News. Watch more at ABC News.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_...RjaHRoZW1vbWU-

MM's column today is a theater review of yesterday’s Demcare talk-a-thon.

What’s next? Here’s the rundown.

***

Oba-Kabuki: A box-office bomb

The Oba-Kabuki health care show at Blair House kicked off with a big lie on Thursday morning – and it all went downhill from there. The taxpayer-funded infomercial backfired by exposing the president’s thin skin, the Democrats’ naked disingenuousness, and the ruling majority’s allergies to political and policy realities.

Responding to Sen. Lamar Alexander’s opening call for Democrats to renounce parliamentary tactics designed to limit debate, circumvent filibusters, and lower the threshold for passage of health care reform to a simple, 51-vote majority, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sputtered indignantly: “No one’s talking about reconciliation!”

Everybody and their mothers have been invoking the R-word on Capitol Hill, starting with Reid himself.

Four Democratic senators pushed Reid to adopt the procedure, normally reserved for budget matters, in a letter on Feb. 16. A few days later, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs discussed the option. And then Reid himself talked up reconciliation on a Nevada public affairs show as an option to ram the government health care takeover through in the next 60 days. According to The Hill, Reid said “congressional Democrats would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing the upper chamber to make final changes to its healthcare bill with only a simple majority of senators, instead of the 60 it takes to normally end a filibuster.” A few days after that, Reid snapped that Republicans “should stop crying” about the abrogation of Senate minority rights since the GOP had used the reconciliation process in the past.

So, the cleanest, most ethical, holier-than-thou Congress ever is now defending the unprecedented adoption of ramdown rules for a radical, multi-trillion-dollar program to usurp one-seventh of the economy on the grounds of two-wrongs-make-it-right?

Hope and change, baby.

For his part, President Obama responded with one part pique and two parts diffidence. After the summit lunch break, Republicans pushed the reconciliation issue again in the face of the Democrats’ refusal to disavow the short-circuiting of the deliberative process. “The American people,” an annoyed Obama asserted, “are not all that interested in procedures inside the Senate.” Oh, really? A new USAToday/Gallup poll reports that 52 percent of Americans oppose using the procedural maneuver to pass the health care bill in the Senate on 51 votes rather than the 60 votes required to end any filibuster.

The survey also showed that Americans oppose Demcare-style health care “reform” by 49-42 – with those “strongly” opposed outnumbering those “strongly” in favor by 23% to 11%. Obama’s best and brightest team of Chicago strategists, new media gurus, and communications specialists still haven’t figured it out: Voters are as fed up with the corrupted process in Washington as they are with the White House’s overreaching policies. It’s both, stupid.

When he wasn’t cutting off Republicans who stuck to budget specifics and cited legislative page numbers and language instead of treacly, sob-story anecdotes involving dentures and gall stones, President Obama was filibustering the talk-a-thon away by invoking his daughters, rambling on about auto insurance, and sniping at former GOP presidential rival John McCain. “We’re not campaigning anymore,” lectured the perpetual campaigner-in-chief.

After ostentatiously disputing the GOP’s claims that health care premiums would rise under his plan, Obama walked it back. Confronted with more GOP pushback on the failure of Demcare to control costs, Obama told GOP Rep. Paul Ryan that he’d rather not “get bogged down in numbers.” Not numbers that he couldn’t cook on the spot without staff consultation, anyway.

Obama and the Democrats labored mightily to create the illusion of almost-there bipartisanship by repeatedly telling disagreeing Republicans that “we don’t disagree” and “there’s not a lot of difference” between us. But the dogs weren’t riding the ponies in this show.

This was a set-up from the start. The “we’re so close” mantra is the rhetorical wedge the White House will use to blame Republicans for fatal obstructionism, while whitewashing festering opposition from both pro-life Democrats who oppose the government funding of abortion services still in the plan and from left-wing progressives in the House who are clinging to a full, unadulterated public option.

While Republicans came off well and reasonably, the six-hour blowhard-fest was a monumental waste of time. Obamacare Theater tied up GOP energy and resources as the White House readies its “Plan B” (expanding government health care coverage, just at a slower pace) and Democrat leaders prep their reconciliation ramdown for early next week. This Washington box-office bomb is a prelude to much bigger legislative horrors still to come. Don’t you love farce?

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/02/26...x-office-bomb/


Read also http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/he.../27health.html

So anyone care to place bets on how long till states start anti-federal laws, or voters burn DC to the ground?

Originally Posted by rambler

Bho could not resist saying numerous snarky comments or reminding everyone that he won. Maybe if he could actually govern instead of bullying those who disagree with him, he might actually look like a President. The true measure of a person’s character is determined by how he treats those with whom he dislikes, disagrees or feels are beneath him. The summit was nothing more than a temper tantrum.

Originally Posted by John Deaux

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sputtered indignantly: “No one’s talking about reconciliation!”

ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do these people even KNOW when they are lying anymore??????

BTW, even the extorter-in-chief made thinly veiled references in his closing statements about “moving forward anyway” if Republicans did not “move closer” to the Dems proposal. Geez, wonder what he was talking about.

Originally Posted by graysonret

“The truth of the matter is that politically speaking, there may not be any reason for Republicans to want to do anything,” Obama said, summing up. “I don’t need a poll to know that most Republican voters are opposed to this bill and might be opposed to the kind of compromise we could craft."

He forgot the independents and democrats who are disenchanted with his “hope and change”. If they go “nuclear” on this bill, they will truly suffer, come November.

Originally Posted by iamsaved

Obama said that until the Republicans addressed the 30 million people who are without health care insurance, their piecemeal approach won’t even be considered.

My question is, since being healthy depends on good nourishment, why aren’t the Dems addressing the hunger problem in America? Doesn’t everyone have a bonafide right to eat so they can stay healthy? That should come before a right to healthcare.

Of course the above is rhetorical because everyone knows what Obama and the Dems want – it’s control by and dependency on government by the people. It has nothing to do with health but everything to do with how healthcare is paid for and who controls it. In a nut shell – socialism.

The Republicans need to continue to be the party of NO! No to this president’s agenda and the harm he is attempting to inflict on this country.

Originally Posted by Lindsay

Not that many of the Oprah public were watching the show, but Obama, the Emperor In Chief, was unclothed. Obama, without teleprompter, was a frowning,scolding, posing, mic-hogging,pompous, and continuously unresponsive to the subject of medical malpractice tort reform.

Probably his most telling quote was the response to Ryan: Obama told GOP Rep. Paul Ryan that he’d rather not “get bogged down in numbers.”

Trillions and trillions in national debt and the Democrats and Obama want to increase those numbers. Yes, indeed, it is about the numbers. What a completely idiotic thing to say.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
Friday, February 26, 2010

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20. For President Obama, the Approval Index has been lower only once.



Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That matches the lowest level of total approval yet measured for this President. Fifty-five percent (55%) disapprove.





By a 46% to 29% margin, Democrats say it would be better for workers if they were dropped from their employers health insurance coverage and enrolled in a government plan. Republicans and unaffiliated voters disagree. Voters are divided on support for a “public option.”

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ..._tracking_poll

At health summit, forget Obama vs. GOP: How did freedom do?
Sue Blevins – Fri Feb 26, 8:57 am ET

Washington – President Obama’s bipartisan health reform summit was a good-faith effort to find common ground on how to cover more Americans and control healthcare costs. Democrats and Republicans agreed that our nation’s healthcare system is broken and riddled with fraud and waste. But to what degree Washington should intervene further in the healthcare market was where the parties greatly diverged.

It was clear from the meeting that politicians on the left believe Washington can fix the broken system through mandating coverage and creating a national health insurance pool. Politicians on the right, however, oppose the federal insurance mandate and remain weary of a government takeover of healthcare.

At the summit, Mr. Obama calmly and confidently tried to assure Americans that his plan is a market-based approach that will improve healthcare choice and competition. On several occasions he compared it to the system for federal employees. However, he overlooked a critical point in comparing his plan to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program: The FEHBP doesn’t require federal employees to enroll – it’s voluntary! This was a very important issue to overlook.

The issue of the freedom to choose one’s health insurance, treatments, and providers didn’t receive the national attention it deserves. Yet, everyone’s healthcare freedom of choice would be greatly altered through the kind of national health reform put forward by Obama and Democrats.

Those who haven’t taken a close look at proposed legislation and the president’s plan were led to believe that health reform would give greater choice and reduce costs. But two important issues that should have received greater attention are: (1) the federal mandate to buy qualified health insurance and (2) the manipulation of the health insurance market.

What wasn’t explained clearly enough is that the Democrat’s plan requires everyone to have federally qualified health insurance or pay an annual financial penalty. And the Secretary of Health and Human Services would have the final say in determining what’s covered in federally qualified plans. Ultimately, Washington would decide what constitutes essential coverage for everyone. It was good to see Congressman Eric Cantor (R) of Virginia stress this latter point. Meanwhile, Obama gave the impression he’s merely proposing a minimum benefits package, when in fact, federally required coverage would be quite comprehensive.

Obama and Senator Mike Enzi (R) of Wyoming greatly supported the idea of a new federal health insurance exchange. But they neglected to explain how health reform bills manipulate the health insurance market by giving subsidies only to those who purchase insurance in the exchange. Economist John Goodman notes that a family making $30,000 a year would receive a $2,000 tax break for insurance at work, but more than $13,000 if they enter the new federal exchange. Additionally, health insurance premiums are projected to rise 10 to 13 percent for those in the individual market who don’t qualify for federal subsidies, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The bottom line is that many Americans could end up paying higher prices for fewer choices through federally mandated health insurance that favors purchasing insurance through a new federal exchange. Call it whatever you like – government takeover or Washington power grab. But proposed reform certainly weakens Americans’ freedom to choose the type of health insurance and covered benefits they’d like to buy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100226...hlYWx0aHN1bW0-

Obama yet to kick smoking habit, should eat better
Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer – 14 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama hasn't kicked the smoking habit, takes anti-inflammatory medication to relieve chronic tendinitis in his left knee and should eat better to lower his cholesterol, his team of doctors concluded Sunday after the 48-year-old's first medical checkup as commander in chief.

The hoops-happy chief executive, who has endured an exhausting White House run and yearlong battles with congressional Republicans, was otherwise declared in excellent health and fit for duty.

The White House physician, Navy Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman, said Obama should stick with "smoking cessation efforts," the use of nicotine gum, and come back in August 2011 after he turns 50.

Obama cholesterol levels have crept up to borderline high and he should alter his diet accordingly, according to a report the White House released after the 90-minute examination at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. While at the facility, he visited 12 military service members receiving treatment and rehabilitation for injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president is the picture of health, eats modest portions and exercises regularly. He is an avid basketball player and golfer. The slightly elevated cholesterol levels, tendinitis in his left knee and occasional smoking were the only negatives noted.

Obama said at a June news conference that he still had an occasional cigarette. It was his first public acknowledgment that he hadn't kicked the habit. He chews nicotine gum to avoid regular smoking, and his doctor said that should continue.

Kuhlman also said the president should modify his diet to bring his LDL, or bad cholesterol, below 130. At the time of his last exam, Obama's total cholesterol was 173, while his LDL was 96 and HDL, or good cholesterol, was 68.

This time, total cholesterol was up to 209, with HDL down slightly at 62. LDL was up to 138. Borderline high cholesterol starts at 200, with LDL considered in the same category at 130.

Kuhlman said Obama last checkup was in July 2008 when he was seen by the attending physician to Congress when Obama was an Illinois senator. During the 2008 White House race, his campaign released a statement from his longtime Chicago doctor saying Obama was in excellent health when examined January 2007.

Sunday's report said Obama is 6-foot-1 and weighs 180 pounds in shoes and exercise clothing. His pulse rate is 56, which is very good, as is his blood pressure — 105 over 62. The doctor said Obama's vision was 20/20 in both eyes for both distance and near vision.

The president was checked for and found free of colon cancer with a virtual colonoscopy, a scan that avoids the more invasive visual inspection with a camera device that is passed into the large intestine.

The tendinitis that Obama suffers in his left leg could be the result of his regular basketball playing.

Kuhlman said that there was mild popping and grinding in Obama's left knee and "some weakness" in his left hip, also possibly a result of rigorous and extended periods on the basketball court.

The doctor said Obama should:

_Have another exam for colon cancer in five years

_Continue smoking cessation efforts, a daily exercise program, a healthy diet, moderation in alcohol intake, periodic dental care, and remain up to date with recommended immunizations.

_Keep up a modified exercise regimen to strengthen his legs to ward off more difficulties with his knee.

_Modify his diet to lower his LDL cholesterol below 130.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100228/...obama_s_health

Facts and figures on Obama's physical
The Associated Press – 1 hr 57 mins ago

Facts and figures about President Barack Obama's health, from a physical examination Sunday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Figures are compared with information from a January 2007 physical exam, which were released in May 2008 when Obama, then an Illinois senator, was running for president in 2008. Obama is 48; he was born Aug. 4, 1961.

___

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 179.9 pounds, including shoes and workout attire.

Blood pressure: resting, seated 105/62 (previously 90/60). Below 120/80 is considered healthy.

Heart Rate: resting and seated, 56 beats per minute. A rate of 60-80 bpm is normal, but heart rates are generally lower in physically fit people.

Body Mass Index: 23.7. Under 25 is considered healthy.

Cholesterol: High-density lipoprotein 62 (previously 68); low-density lipoprotein 138 (previously 96); total cholesterol 209 (previously 173). HDL of 60 and above is considered protective against heart disease. Under 100 LDL is considered optimal. Total cholesterol under 200 is considered desirable.

Overall health: "The president is in excellent health and 'fit for duty.' All clinical data indicate that he will remain so for the duration of his presidency."_ from summary of exam.

___

Since his last reported physical in 2007, Obama's cholesterol has increased from the desirable 173 to the borderline high 209.

Although the president's HDL (good) cholesterol is in the recommended range of 62, his LDL (bad) is in the borderline high range at 138. His doctor recommended dietary changes to bring this type of cholesterol down to below 130.

Obama's blood pressure has also increased, from 90/60 to 105/62, although it is still in the healthy range.

The president's doctor recommended that he continue his efforts to quit smoking. The post-exam report indicated that Obama uses a self-administered "nicotine replacement therapy" as part of this goal. He has said in the past that he chewed Nicorette gum.

His doctor said Obama should change his exercise habits to strengthen his legs and prevent occasional pain from chronic tendinitis in his left leg.

Obama should have his next physical when he turns 50 in August 2011, according to the doctor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100228/...YtZmFjdHNhbmRm

Obama in great health but struggles with smoking
Caren Bohan – 1 hr 2 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama is in overall "excellent health" but still struggles with a smoking habit, his doctors said in a report after Obama had a routine medical exam on Sunday.

Obama, 48, visited the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland for a 90-minute checkup, his first since taking office just over a year ago.

A team of doctors led by Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, the chief White House physician, found Obama to be "fit for duty" and said he was likely to remain so for the rest of his presidency.

But the doctors recommended that he continue his "smoking cessation efforts" and also that he change his diet to bring down a cholesterol level that is borderline high.

The 6-foot-1-inch Obama, who weighs 180 pounds (81.5 kg), exercises every day, including jogging on a treadmill and lifting weights. He also plays basketball and golf and generally favors a diet of healthy foods.

Obama's resting heart rate was 56 beats per minute and his blood pressure was 105/62 -- both very healthy ranges.

The report said Obama uses a "nicotine replacement therapy," which suggests he has been trying to quit smoking.

Last June, when asked if he still smoked cigarettes, Obama said he was "95 percent cured" but added "there are times when I mess up."

Obama last had a medical exam in July 2008.

During his presidential campaign, in May of 2008, his campaign released a summary of an exam Obama had in January 2007 that also showed him to be in excellent health.

Obama's cholesterol levels have risen since 2007.

His latest exam found that his overall cholesterol was 209, slightly above the normal level of 200. His level of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, was 138 and his doctor recommended that he try to reduce that to 130 through changes in his diet.

In the 2007 exam, Obama's overall cholesterol level was 173 and his LDL cholesterol was 96.

Obama suffers from occasional pain in his left knee, a common injury in people who run. Kuhlman suggested that he modify his exercise regime and include a strengthening program for the knee.

The doctor recommended that Obama have his next checkup in August 2011, when he turns 50.

While at the medical center, Obama also visited with troops wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Obama's family medical history includes his mother's death from ovarian cancer and a grandfather who died of prostate cancer.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100228/...Ytb2JhbWFpbmdy


White House: Simple up-or-down vote on health care
Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 27 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The White House called for a "simple up-or-down" vote on health care legislation Sunday as Speaker Nancy Pelosi appealed to House Democrats to get behind President Barack Obama's chief domestic priority even it if threatens their political careers.

In voicing support for a simple majority vote, White House health reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle signaled Obama's intention to push the Democratic-crafted bill under Senate rules that would overcome GOP stalling tactics.

Republicans unanimously oppose the Democratic proposals. Without GOP support, Obama's only chance of emerging with a policy and political victory is to bypass the bipartisanship he promoted during his televised seven-hour health care summit Thursday.

"We're not talking about changing any rules here," DeParle said. "All the president's talking about is: Do we need to address this problem and does it make sense to have a simple, up-or-down vote on whether or not we want to fix these problems?"

DeParle was optimistic that the president would have the votes to pass the massive bill. But none of legislation's advocates who spoke on Sunday indicated that those votes were in hand.

"I think we will get to that point where we will have the votes," predicted Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., a member of the Senate Democratic leadership. "I believe that we will pass health care reform this spring."

In a sober call to arms, Pelosi said lawmakers sometimes must enact policies that, even if unpopular at the moment, will help the public. "We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress," she said. "We're here to do the job for the American people."

Pelosi said it took courage for Congress to pass Social Security and Medicare, which eventually became highly popular, "and many of the same forces that were at work decades ago are at work again against this bill."

It's unclear whether Pelosi's remarks will embolden or chill dozens of moderate House Democrats who face withering criticisms of the health care proposal in visits with constituents and in national polls. Republican lawmakers unanimously oppose the health care proposals, and many GOP strategists believe voters will turn against Democrats in the November elections.

Pelosi, from San Francisco, is more liberal than scores of her Democratic colleagues. But she generally walks a careful line between urging them to back left-of-center policies and giving them a green light to buck party leaders to improve their re-election hopes.

Her comments seemed to acknowledge the widely held view that Democrats will lose House seats this fall — maybe a lot. They now control the chamber 255 to 178, with two vacancies. Pelosi stopped well short of suggesting Democrats could lose their majority, but she called on members of her party to make a bold move on health care with no prospects of GOP help.

"Time is up," she said. "We really have to go forth."

Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking Republican leader in the House, made it clear Republicans see a Democrats-only bill as an election-year issue.

"If Speaker Pelosi rams through this bill, through the House ... they will lose their majority in Congress in November," he said.

The White House is redoubling efforts to remind voters that the Senate passed an Obama-backed health care bill in December with 60 votes. Every Republican voted against that bill. A Republican Senate victory in Massachusetts in January, however, left Democrats one vote shy of the number necessary to overcome GOP filibusters.

As a result, a new plan would call for the House to pass the Senate bill and send it to Obama. The Senate would then use budget reconciliation rules to make several changes demanded by House Democrats. Those rules prohibit filibusters.

Exactly what the legislation would look like remained a matter of negotiation within Democratic ranks. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, "is working with his caucus, the White House and the House leadership on strategy and next steps," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said Sunday.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky renewed his party's demand that Obama and the Democrats start over and write a bipartisan health care bill. He said that while the reconciliation process has been used to pass legislation in the past, it should not apply to health care legislation.

"There are a number of other Republicans who do not think something of this magnitude ought to be jammed down the throats of a public that doesn't want it through this kind of device," McConnell said.

Pelosi said that "in a matter of days" Democrats will have specific legislative language on health care to show to the public and to wavering lawmakers. She predicted voters will warm up to the bill once they understand its details.

"When we have a bill," she said, "you can bake the pie, you can sell the pie. But you have to have a pie to sell."

At that point, added House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, top Democrats will make their pitch to their members.

"Within the next couple of weeks we're going to have a specific proposal and start counting votes to see whether or not those proposals could pass," he said.

Pelosi appeared on ABC's "This Week" and CNN's "State of the Union." DeParle and Cantor were on NBC's "Meet the Press," Hoyer was on CBS' "Face the Nation," while Menendez appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and McConnell spoke on CNN.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100228/...l0ZWhvdXNlc2k-

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her colleagues to back a major overhaul of U.S. health care even if it threatens their political careers, a call to arms that underscores the issue’s massive role in this election year.

“Lawmakers sometimes must enact policies that, even if unpopular at the moment, will help the public, Pelosi said in an interview being broadcast Sunday the ABC News program ‘This Week.’

“‘We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress,’ she said. ‘We’re here to do the job for the American people.’”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010...s-health-care/


***


ALEXANDER: …[T]he difference here is that there’s never been anything of this size and magnitude and complexity run through the Senate in this way. There are a lot of technical problems with it, which we could discuss. It would turn the Senate — it would really be the end of the United States Senate as a protector of minority rights, as a place where you have to get consensus, instead of just a partisan majority, and it would be a political kamikaze mission for the Democratic Party if they jam this through after the American people have been saying, look, we’re trying to tell you in every way we know how, in elections, in surveys, in town hall meetings, we don’t want this bill.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/201...emocrats-.html


***


“‘Bipartisanship is a two-way street,’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declares in an interview airing Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“‘But let me say this,’ Pelosi continues, ‘The bill can be bipartisan, even though the votes might not be bipartisan, because they [Republicans] have made their imprint on this.’”

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...id=MbYwIxuLO74