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    <title><![CDATA[Discussion on How Republicans beat health reform ]]></title>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: How Republicans beat health reform]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-809]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I thought this website was about innovation and cutting edge thinking.  How is highlighting obstructionists innovative. Hennessey's thinking is the same do-nothing, &quot;problem, what problem?&quot; strategy that lost the GOP the White House and Congress last year.  Despite their attempts to derail the debate and timetable for reform, this will go badly for the Republicans. Policymakers and the public will seize the time to debate the merits and think creatively about solutions.  The Democrats are just as committed to reform as the GOP is to stopping it.  The Dems also have greater support for reform by the public.  The GOP will be in worse shape and will have only themselves to blame.]]></description>
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        <dc:creator><![CDATA[sacaldwell@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:27:46 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: How Republicans beat health reform]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-755]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Excuse me, but I thought the Dems had the majority in both houses.  The President wants to ram this down people throats and even moderate Dems are very concerned.  What is the big hurry to rush something through that may bankrupt America?]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-755]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[lbarnes1947]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:23:08 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: How Republicans beat health reform]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-754]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[This is both a far-fetched analysis and also tragically premature.  The gravest mistake Republicans can make is choosing to make Health Care Reform about &quot;defeating Obama.&quot;  Defeating Health Care reform is like defeating America to win a political victory.  The American people may be a few cards short of a Royal Flush, but they are not that mentally disconnected.  It is their pocket books and loved ones who suffer, and Corporate America that grins to the bank.  This is not a political issue -- it is a moral and economic imperative, just as alternative fuels and energy are also instruments of future economic prosperity.  I have had superb health insurance in my past and have been totally devastated by absurd and impossible health care in recent years.  I am far from the only one.  The billions of dollars lost in family suffering and tragedy are never the issue to Republicans, only the dollars to be made by Doctors, Insurance Companies and related health delivery systems.  They forget that all those Billions are drained like blood from the pockets of what were once independent and well off Americans -- drained dry and likely unable to work full time, reduced to desperation and poverty by accident, twist of fate, or genetic dice roll.Before any Conservative Loyalists get too smug, they should be mindful that the same twists of fate may visit them, and mere political loyalty will not pay the medical bills or salvage a mortgage when hundreds of thousands of dollars must pay those medical costs. Clearly, a lot of Republicans need medical care and surgery -- heart transplants to be exact...to replace that cold black thing with something that is a living, caring and functioning heart.Zenbob]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-754]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Zenbob]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:46:54 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[The real issue]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-738]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Republicans have been able to turn the issue into one of who pays. It's not who pays. It's how do we control costs.If we can focus on that, there's hope for real reform, no matter whether it's government or private insurance doing the paying. What I resent is how private insurers made the &quot;who pays&quot; argument when they're the ones who have done the research on cost control, and could control costs if government simply gave them carte blanche to do it.Start with expanding the pool of differential payments. We already require smokers to pay more. How about fat people? Anyone who ignores doctors' orders puts themselves at greater risk and should pay an actuarially-determined premium based on that risk. Or be denied coverage.]]></description>
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        <dc:creator><![CDATA[DanaBlankenhorn]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:20:36 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: How Republicans beat health reform]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-746]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[The analysis is too simplistic by playing the typical tactic of &quot;divide and conquer&quot; by separating the parties or painting the Republics as the villains.  The President's proposed &quot;plan&quot;, if you can call it that, is a steaming pile of dung -- and reasonable people smell it and see it as such.  I don't care which side comes up with it, but we need a better choice than the one put forth by the President.  And no one better try to ram such an important decision down our throats for the sake of political expediency!]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-746]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jedilarryb]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:55:44 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: How Republicans beat health reform]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-737]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Dana, another interesting angle on the issue.  While, as a conservative, I'd like to believe this to be the reason why the healthcare agenda is stalling, I'm more inclined to see that it is dissension within the Democrat ranks.  How else explain the hang-up with a 59% majority in the House and a 60 vote filibuster-proof super-majority in the Senate?  I do like the approach you've taken with the issues Baucus faces, but there still seems to be something more.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-737]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[agcereniv]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:53:38 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: How Republicans beat health reform]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-726]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Republicans and Independents are supporting healthcare reform just not OVERHAULING with a government plan.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.smartplanet.com/forum/discussions/1-217-726]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[CallyAnn09@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:41:20 -0700</pubDate>
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