Contributors

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Presidential Profiles #5: Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is one strange cat. For starters, there's his name. Could we really live with a president named Mitt? Mitt is actually his middle name. When you hear what his first name is you'll know why he prefers to go by his middle name.

His first name is Willard.

Then there's the whole abortion thing. He was against abortion then he was for it when a relative died of an illegal abortion and now that he is seeking the Republican nomination for President, he is back to being pro-life.

He is for the death penalty, against all forms of equal rights for homosexuals, and his favorite book is Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard (yikes!). He supports the Bush Doctrine, is against stem cell research, and is a Mormon sans the extra wives.

In many ways, he seems like an ideal candidate for conservatives....but then you get to health care. Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, made it illegal for anyone to be uninsured in regards to health care. His plan called for all employers to immediately insure all of their employees. If an individual was unemployed, they would be able to choose their provider and the state would pay for it. They also would be able to choose whatever doctor they wanted or keep their old one. Since this plan is highly logical, well thought out, is working out great, and helps our everyone equally, conservatives hate it.

And him, because if everyone gets equal treatment, as we all know, that's one step closer to communism. Besides, heaven forbid, that we would start having healthier people who then wouldn't be bilked out of their retirement money by the pharmaceutical industry. Sadly, as far as most conservatives go, this is too black a stain on Romney to fully support him.

So, even though he is really conservative on most things, he gets a C in my eyes, just above Brownback and Biden, for actually doing something about health care and succeeding.

Wednesday: Dennis Kucinich

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mitt Romney is a douchebag. If ther was ever someone who is as evil as "the man," it's this fuckstick. He is a dick.

Anonymous said...

Mark, I know you are trying to be more open minded these days but jeez. Romney higher than Hillary? My faith in you as a speaker of truth to power is slipping fast.

Anonymous said...

Ah, the eloquence of the left…nice post, Eddie…

Mark, as usual, what you like I dislike & vice versa…but you knew that. ..but again, a few things we can agree on.

I don’t mind his change of opinions. People change over time or just due to learning more about an issue. I learn something new every day and sometimes it changes my outlook significantly. However, if it’s simply politically motivated, well, that’s breaking in Kerry flip-flop territory and should be considered...

The Hubbard reading? I agree, Yikes! …but I thought the left was open-minded about differing religious beliefs? Particularly, if it’s non-Christian…

His healthcare policy? Thanks, no. Dave’s theory on healthcare? Get your own darn healthcare. (I probably won’t make it far in politics w/ that though…) We could devote weeks discussing the finer points of that, but I noticed Crab left because nobody would listen to reasoned opinion, so there’s no point is there?

Definitely one of the more polished candidates, but I suspect he won’t get the nod from the GOP.

Dave’s Grade-o-meter: B-

Mark Ward said...

I am with you on the change of opinion thing. Issues change over time as well so I think it is good to be flexible.

I know people that are into scientology and they scare me..hence the yikes!

Crab left because he got bitch slapped up and down the joint with the facts of Canadian health care which completely contradicted his non reasoned fervor regarding universal health care. It's odd, I took a lot of what he and other folks have said about "health care for all" as being factual but it's really just paranoia when you dig into it. I also forgot about the year I spent in France and my experience with their health care system which was very positive.

In the end, any universal health care system in this country will greatly benefit the private sector and mostly everyone, except maybe Crab, will be happy.

Anonymous said...

I read a bit of those posts and that's not what I got out of it...but, I can't claim to be an expert on health care. I did however spend 4 years in London and learned a few things; primarily that even without a proper medical background, I know more than the average practitioner there.

My best example:
I have some sort of food allergy that can be quite severe. I went to the doctor in London. After reciting the symptoms, the doctor asked what I thought it was. I thought it was cheese or something (at the time anyway). So she says, "don't eat any cheese". That's it. I asked if I could be tested for something a bit more conclusive. She said she could put me on a list to see a specialist and that it would take approx. 18 months to get in. If I didn't use the NHS (National Health Service), ie if I paid for it, I could probably cut that time in half. When I moved home, I went to my doctor in Edina and laid out the same details. He picked up the phone and had a nurse come in immediately for a blood test. I found out the next day it was inconclusive and was scheduled for a specialist later that week. Problem solved.

Of course, not all systems are the same. But, in my opinion; you get what you pay for.

(And, heck, why should I pay for someone elses? ...but that's perhaps for another time.)

Anonymous said...

Bitch slapped by a cut and paste job? By someone who admitted she only did 5 minutes on research on the internet before making her cut and paste post? I read that thread.

He was also called stupid, bigoted, racist, ignorant, uneducated, along with a host of other names.

Hence why I don't bother posting here.

Even though I agree with you many times, you've been caught peddling complete bullshit on here too Markadelphia. Like the last time you went after gun owners. Somebody came on here and bitch slapped you around a little and you didn't have much to say in response to it.

Mark Ward said...

Dave, your experience in London is in fact the downside to universal health care. From what I know of their system, it is set up quite differently than France or Canada. It is not privately driven so yeah, they are going to have problems.

In the future, probably when Michael Moore's Sicko comes out, I will be putting up a series of posts on health care, including my own experience in France. A question to ponder: which is worse: paying for someone else's health care or paying for a defense contrator's vacation home?

HF, yes, Kevin did give me a lot to think about gun ownership. I still think the Zumbo thing was ridiculous but I now have a different perspective on it and I don't really mind seeing that when it is backed up by sound research (not regurgetated Michael Savage rants).

And that is the difference between me and Crab...he will never admit when he is wrong, which he was about health care. I think the point...was it truth girl?...was trying to make was if it only too her five minutes to find facts that directly refuted Crab, imagine how much more one could find in a day's worth of research.

I double checked her facts about Canadian health care and they were all correct. It is privately driven. There is no disputing this.

Anonymous said...

My ears were burning today. Now I know why.

HF, I used Wikipedia as my primary source to respond to Crabmaster. Yes, I cut and pasted paragraphs but only those that were basically filled with just the facts. I also went to this site.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/activit/about-apropos/index_e.html

which details how the Canadian Health System works. It's important to remember that if you are employed, you get insurance through your employer and choose whatever doctor you want. If you are unemployed, the state provides health care for you and guess what? You can still choose a doctor. So Crab's dire predictions were flat out wrong.

And yes, markadelphia, that is what I meant by five minutes...

Anonymous said...

I used to teach tennis with Mark a few summers ago. I rarely post on here but since a health care thread got started, I thought I would throw in my two cents.

I have dual citizenship in both Canada and the US. We have a house in Winnipeg and one here. My father works for a Canadian company. We all get health care through his employer and we have gone to the same doctor for years. The government did not assign us a doctor. I do not have to wait in long lines when I go to the doctor, which actually has been a few times in the last year (broken leg snowboarding and broken collar bone water skiing).

That being said, I don't think Canadian health care is "better" than American health care. It's just different. We are not like Russia or some other countries that have sub par care. The biggest issue the US has with health care is reconciling its capitilistic paradigm. American companies make billions of dollars a year on health care and everyone needs to figure out a way to keep that happening, as they employ millions of people, while at the same time insuring everyone.

Romney's plan deals with those issues, from what I have read about it, and seems sound.

Anonymous said...

I’d be real careful about talking shit on here about people who don’t post anymore Mark. Bitch slapped? You want me to tell everyone which liberal poster on this blog said "I’m not sending my daughter to school with a bunch of niggers"? How about the other liberal, who regularly espouses how evil rich people are, who is himself a millionaire who hoards his money? Through experience comes wisdom I guess. You’re on here telling people we need to do good old fashioned detective work with regards to fighting terrorism...well look what happened out in New Jersey. Sounds like we are already doing just that...and you’re on the internet telling people we aren’t doing any of that.

I like how you now frame your exchange with Kevin, nice revisionist history. He "gave you things to think about"? No, he contradicted what you said with research and facts and you couldn’t refute what he said. So I get "bitch slapped" and you "are given things to think about". Nice double standard and nice choice of language. You haven’t changed your position (yet) one inch on that subject along with a host of other subjects as well and you know it so don’t come on here and project your own faults and insecurities onto me.

Speaking of peddling bullshit, you said on here that members of the Bush Administration were planting child porn on the computers of their political opponents and then you refused to tell anyone where you read that when asked. Until you tell your readers where you got that charge I’d suggest you back off the "peddling bullshit" charges. I'll stop bringing that up when you provide the source of that accusation.

I’m not the only one who is done wasting time on here btw. You would insult me up and down but you acted like a submissive puppy dog toward PL when he would call you out or engage you in debate on here...and he regularly described your writings as "comical", "laughable", "disgusing", "arrogant", "detached from reality", and so on. Your reaction to his take on universal healthcare was "Well until then, your comments are purely speculatory, as are mine" while your reaction to me was "You’re peddling bullshit". Interesting.

It is a fact that the healthcare company I work for does over $15 million dollars of business every year with VA hospitals. It is a fact that I personally talk to VA employees a couple times a week. That’s 2 times more than you do every day. Hey, the standard you use often is that you "talk to people" so I think you can allow me to use that standard correct? It is a fact that the VA's government-run system of hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes is clogged with bureaucratic excess. It is a fact that universal health care will give the government increased power over your life and it is a fact that the plan would be intrusive.

You only picked out a few paragraphs of what I wrote (the speculatory parts where I said that there will be long waits for simple procedures) but you couldn’t refute the rest of what I wrote. Go back and read that discussion, it’s in March 2007...hell I only mentioned Canada 1 time when I pointed out that there would be long wait periods for simple procedures, then look at truthgirls research as her research said the exact same thing...longer than normal waits. You see, there are 2 sides to every issue and there will be downsides to universal healthcare. You’re all sure that a healthcare plan for a country with a population of 35 million will work just fine in a country with a population of over 350 million?

My dire predictions were reserved for what happens when US politicians and US Government bureaucrats get to be in charge of your health care. I never said the Canadian system sucked - go back and read the discussion. So should we accept your predictions that it will work just fine here as fact?

Yes, American businesses are capitalist. Just know that the US government gets theirs before anybody else gets theirs in our country...and the government does it via forced taxation, not voluntary transactions.

Gee Mark, for someone who says that 95% of the people of this country (including your friends and family) are uneducated and stupid, now you applaud and accept the fact that people only do 5 minutes of research on the internet on subjects? Guess that whole "reading more" and "gaining a genuine understanding of the issue" is out the door now as long as people agree with you huh? Besides, if it’s on the internet, it must be true right?

Anonymous said...

...I guess that's giving it to them w/ both barrels...

It's not often that you hear of Americans running off to Canada, Sweden, France, England, etc for an operation due to issues with the US healthcare system. (I distinctly remember the uproar when Madonna didn’t want to have her baby in a UK hospital even though she resides in London. Oh, the shrieks from The Times & Guardian! It was priceless.) For all its flaws, America still provides the best care anywhere.

Mark Ward said...

Well, it's nice to have you back, Crab albeit for a short time I'm afraid. Nowhere in your diatribe did I hear anything about the possibility of you being wrong about universal health care. Just the usual "you are the close minded one and there's is no way in hell that I am" stuff. What a shock.

As far as being "careful" about what I say, I used virtually the same language in reference to myself, in a recent comment last week, about my posts on Kevin's blog. I get beat up on there all the time...I don't care. I am still going to post there.

As far as the other stuff goes...

Yes, a liberal did say that. He was wrong, he knows it, and regrets saying it... another difference between you and him.

I don't think the rich guy we know is hoarding his money...if we are talking about the same person.

New Jersey, the FBI said they have no connection with Al Qaeda. That being said this is a situation where it feels good to be wrong. Thank god someone is on the watch here...

As far as the Zumbo thing goes, that whole thing comes down to opinion. Kevin's opinion changed my mind on a few things and his interpretion of the law was sound but in the end, it's all a perspective thing. That is a different issue than universal health care which has models in place which contradict many of your claims.

I will never reveal my sources to you regarding the child porn thing. I told you how I started..it's up to you to find it on your own. That is a path I don't want to go down again. If you take it as meaning that I lied, then so be it. And I won't talk about this again.

It's not really that big of a deal if you or PL don't like to post here anymore, although I suspect PL is, in fact, HF above. If you recall, PL talked me down from my "Let's kill all Muslims" phase (again, another example of where I was wrong) so he has really argued with me from both sides. He is a more broad minded person than you and, with all his neocon talk, he still voted for John Kerry.

Yes, your word about the VA does hold muster with me. Yes, I think you have working knowledge of the VA system. Yes, I agree with you that the system is flawed and has been for some time. That's where we part ways, though, because you can't admit that Bush's policies have made it even worse. Someone who works there even posted that in the last thread and you still can't see it because of your close mindedness. Recently, it came to light that the Bush administration helped the VA prepare for the PTSD (Post Traumatic Shock Disorder) cases coming back from Iraq. The Bush Administration predicted there would be around 3000 cases. There were 18,000. So, clearly, an alread flawed system is being made more flawed by incompetence and the complete and utter inability to admit fault and accept responsibility for those mistakes.

You are assuming that the government is going to be in charge of health care for everyone. Every current, proposed model I have seen for this country has private industry, such as your company, driving it and being the ones in charge. The link above that truth girl provided is from a government info site so I suppose it's possible they could be lying but why?

Here's the deal, I have this blog for basically three reasons:

1. To vent off my frustrations at the unbelievable amount of bullshit of the last six years.

2. To improve my writing skills

3. To raise the level of debate in this country so people can think critically again of their government.

Sure, I only get around 150 hits a day but all politics are local, as Tip O Neil said, and you have to start somewhere. So, post..don't post...think it's a waste of time, that's cool with me. I don't write on here to be an autonomoton, spitting out only facts. I write to get people to think and hopefully make them laugh.

Anonymous said...

Well said, MC, but I suspect that you won't get anywhere with the immovable object that is Crabmaster. Clearly, he masks his insecurity about his low level of socio-political knowledge by personal assaults on you, who clearly has a very high grasp of said knowledge.

I don't agree with you on everthing but it's a foregone conclusion that you have a keen political eye and you know your shit, dude, even if you suck at volleyball :)

Anonymous said...

I have discovered recently that any time a conservative opens his or her mouth and makes a critical comment about a liberal (or anyone else for that matter) they are usually talking about themselves.

Isn't it funny that the right always accuses the left of being whiners.....re-read Last in Line's post above and it sounds like one long cry from a giant fucking baby.

Anonymous said...

To the last 2 posters, way to raise the level of debate. So I am the immovable object? You care to include eddie or truthgirl at all in your criticism? If you’re against brick walls you should be against all of them, not just the ones on the opposite side of the aisle from you correct? If you knew me at all downtown (hell you probably do), you would know that I’m more secure in who I am that most people I know who are busy keeping up with the Jones’ and worrying about what everyone else thinks of what area of town they live in, how big their house is, what vehicle they drive, what kind of clothes they are wearing, how big their salary is, how much corporate cock they can suck, etc. You would know that I do not seek external sources of gratification and the only validation I seek is from myself. Downtown, you really haven’t posted a whole lot on here anyway…you’ve had your chance to engage people in debate on here.

Torch, your first paragraph describes pretty much everybody. Besides, downtown and yourself have both been on here and have seen me be labeled a racist, sexist, bigoted, uneducated, stupid, insecure, simple-minded, idiot by people I have never met or who refuse to introduce themselves in person to me so I might as well act the part since you all already think that way right? So if you and downtown view me firing back with both barrels against personal insults, accusations of me "having no time for people who aren’t white" (even though my 2 best friends to this day from Illinois are Hispanic), being anti-female (even though I have a ton of female friends while at the same time not being their emotional tampon) and other accusations on my character as "whining" then I guess I’m guilty. I know that when you let people get away with beating you down like that, that’s how abusive relationships get started and I don’t tolerate it. You haven’t proven your knowledge of anything political on this blog yet either.

Mark, it isn’t about me being wrong about Universal healthcare. You and truthgirl SPECULATE that it will work and you label your comments as such. I SPECULATE that things just might not go as smoothly as you predict and that problems will happen and you say I’m peddling bullshit. It’s quite obvious to me that you two are the only ones allowed to speculate on the issue and nobody else is allowed to speculate if their opinion differs from yours. Notice in the discussion we are speaking of, I really didn’t mention Canada but you two sure did in order to change the subject because you all thought that problems with the VA were all GWB’s fault. They weren’t. It’s the system...the system that has been in place for many, many years. The healthcare they get is and has been top notch – the outpatient facilities are dumps and have been for a long time.

"Someone who works there even posted that in the last thread and you still can't see it because of your close mindedness". What? That VA employee who posted on there proved my point – the outpatient facilities have ALWAYS been shoddy (for as long as most people can remember) and you are on here blaming Bush for it. THAT was my gripe...they have ALWAYS been bad…and I see you still blame Bush. So why should I vote democrat? Where were you dems for 8 years?

The fact that the New Jersey 6 have no connection to Al Queda doesn’t have anything to do with you coming on here and telling everyone that detective work is not being done. It’s obvious now that detective work is being done. So you should refrain from telling people that detective work isn’t being done now right?

Yes, I do think you lied to your readers and you were peddling bullshit with the child porn accusation you made and I think you know it. I may be a brick wall but at least I’m not accusing people of crimes with no reprucussion for doing so and hiding the sources from readers. Those are pretty serious accusations to make and hiding your source is quite ironic for someone who claims to be anti peddling-bullshit.

Regarding the PTSD numbers, very few people in any government ever admit their mistakes, local, state, or at the federal level. You have even told me stories from the city government you work for. I can’t believe you are still actually waiting for someone from either party to step up and admit to something that will damage them politically. I’m certainly done waiting.

You still pretty much feel the same way about muslims. You’re just not as vocal about it anymore.

Please re-read what I’ve said about universal healthcare. My main complaint is not that the current systems in place in other countries are all fucked up (even though there are downsides which cannot be ignored like waiting up to 1 year for certain procedures, patient to doctor ratio ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 patients per doctor in some jurisdictions in Canada(meaning no patient-doctor relationship), Canadians who can afford it getting their medical treatment at private clinics in the U.S. to avoid waiting...such individuals who do this are vilified by other Canadians as "line jumpers"), my main complaint is who will be running it in this country – US government employees, bureaucrats and US politicians. Businessmen may be greedy, that fact does not motivate me to have the thing turned over to politicians, who are even worse than businessmen IMO as they are even less accountable than businessmen are. Yeah, why don’t we let Richard Jefferson run it. He’ll do the right thing with no self interest whatsoever. Never mind that $90k in his freezer.

Mark, I don’t know if you remember me telling you this but I favor a limited universal healthcare plan for this country. Based on my over 5 years of experience working in the healthcare field, and being a certified Paramedic in the state of Illinois, here is how my plan would work. Notice there is no cutting and pasting here from wikipedia.

The bottom line is that medicare IS the best system we have going right now in this country. IMO there needs to be more of a balance between medicare,private insurance, and co-pay.
Healthcare is one of the only industries where the government does not get the best rate for things. The company I work for gets better rates from Medica and UHG than the government does. Congress passed a law some time ago (not sure when) that stipulates that medicare cannot negotiate the price of anything while insurance companies can. I would reverse that so medicare IS allowed to negotiate for prices like everybody else.

Therefore I favor a medicare-style plan that EVERYBODY is on...sort of a National HMO if you will. 2 ways to go about this, and I’m not sure which way is the best...one way is to have hospitalizations covered 100%. Really expensive things like transplants and prescription drugs would NOT be covered under this. Everybody would have the option to purchase supplemental private insurance from insurance companies to cover such things based on their own or their families needs. The other way is to have all catastrophic things covered and have the option to buy private insurance for basic hospitalization or whatever else you want you and your family to be covered for. US companies would drop medical insurance as a benefit and they would get to keep that money for their own bottom line. Increase payroll taxes to pay for the plan.

Regarding co-pay, it is at about 20% now...increase it to 30% over a period of time...say 10 years or so…don’t implement that change right away all at once. Yes that will be painful to some people but no matter which way you go in this, somebody is going to get hurt and/or pissed off under any new plan. You have the option to buy private insurance from private insurance companies to help you out with co-pays.

In terms of implementing any new plan, the free market will determine the next great healthcare plan. When it will be successful will be when there is a market demand for it, sooner rather than later I bet. Maybe it will be something along the lines of what I typed. Maybe it will be some socialists wet dream, I don't know for sure. Whatever it is will come about because somebody has found a way to work with the free market and will allow people in the free market to sell services for a profit and the market has found that it is cheap, efficient, and is preferable to the current system. People have to want it, not be guilt tripped into accepting it (which is what I read when liberals tend to start spouting off on the subject). In other words, it can't be forced.

How is that for low level knowledge downtown? Torch? That isn’t some broad outline, those are my specifics. Now I’m going to wait for the "intelligent, well read" people on here to post their plans (including specifics as I did). Nut up or shut up. That’s more detailed than anything any lefty on here every typed up on the subject, and I’m the dumb one with low level socio political knowledge remember?

The main problem I still have is that US politicians and US government bureaucrats will be running the plan and the service we will receive and the implementation of the plan will be absolutely horrible and corruption jusy may rear its ugly head just a little, ya think? I mean, look at the areas that the government controls now – the post office, Department of Motor Vehicles, VA hospitals, Public Education…areas like those are horribly mismanaged with bureaucracies, corruption, overhead and waste as far as the eye can see, not to mention a poorly motivated workforce who all know it is impossible for them to get fired.

Yes, Mark and I duke it out once in a while but we have officially kissed and made up so all is well on the western front. Not to mention this thread now has a bunch of replies cause I’m posting in it. No more of this only 1 or 2 replies stuff in this one huh?

Now I’m going back into the shadows...

Mark Ward said...

Two things....I have changed my opinion about Muslims. There are several folks from Somalia, Sudan, and Iran that are parents at my son's school. I also spent some time recently observing a class, for my graduated studies, with Somali women. As with anyone, when you get to talking to people, ignorance (which I was and still am to a certain extent) goes away.

I still contend that in your National HMO (which was well thought out btw) would still be privately driven. There is no way we will have a universal health care model like Britain. The health care industry and doctors won't allow it. It's possible that it could end up like the defense industry is now, an unholy alliance between government and private industry.