Quote Originally Posted by PanzerJaeger View Post
Lets assume for argument's sake that your assertions are not only correct, but also forgiving. Let’s assume that the GOP has absolutely no ideas of their own on health care. Not one single solitary one. Let’s assume that they are simply doing whatever they can to stop healthcare reform completely
That's not quite what I'm asserting though. They have ideas, but they don't seem willing to vote for a bill that incorporates some, but not most, of their ideas. Which is fine, that's their right as the minority party. They can wait until they are in the majority and pass a mostly-GOP version of healthcare. (Don't hold your breath, the status quo suits them fine)

The disingenuous argument is being presented that Obama/the Dems aren't listening to the GOP. If that's the case, the bill wouldn't be filled with pages of their ideas; ideas which, when Republicans are asked if they would vote for the bill if those ideas are included, they still flatly say "no". So, unless the bill is written mostly by Republicans, they won't vote for it. The Dems are listening to the GOP, but they won't be doing things like privatizing medicare, so it's silly to propose it. It's odd to assume that when the Dems control the Congress and the White House (And I use the word "control" very loosely here...) they will pass a mostly GOP bill which includes ideas which are the exact reverse of what they want to accomplish, such as deregulation and privatization.

If you took a poll on how the public feels about the GOP's proposals, you'd get far more opposition to it. Health care reform in most people's minds does not mean less government involvement. The problem people have with the current system is that costs are flying out of control, in the grip of insurance companies and other interests which are private and for-profit. They want some price controls, or costs controls, or some regulation and oversight, some justification for the cost increases here, when they aren't flying out of control in other modern industrialized countries who cover more people. When the GOP proposes an idea which even remotely fits into it as a workable option, it generally gets included. When they propose reducing the existing government involvement, the Dems balk, as most people would. That can only favor those who are rolling in riches, while kicking those who have no viable healthcare system of their own.

How does any of that justify passing what is widely regarded as a bad bill, full of buy-offs, accounting tricks, and massive new entitlements that even the Democrat's most rosy projections said would fall off the ledge into the massive ocean of unfunded liabilities we've already got after about 10 years?
Source? The Congressional Budget Office says the bill is a cost-saver, and it isn't an unfunded mandate either.

And, in that respect, aren't the Republicans more accurately representing the wishes of the people by just saying "no"? People certainly want health care reform, but I've never witnessed such an outpouring of dissatisfaction with a particular piece of legislation in my life.
Where are the polls about how the public feels about the GOP plan? You would find such dissatisfaction. A majority supports a public option, which is much more in line with Democratic principles than GOP principles. And it's not a representation of the public by just saying "no", they want action. They just aren't really thrilled about this heavily-compromised proposal.