The Egomaniac - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
The Egomaniac
by

THE EGO-IN-CHIEF
Re: Jeremy Lott’s Paper Bag 1, Obama 0:

I have to be honest, I was ecstatic the IOC rejected Obama — especially after the adulation the MSM/Democrat press heaped on their self-aggrandizing and narcissistic whine fests. The upshot of Obama’s tedious and mind-numbing harangue was so negative that not only was Chicago eliminated in the first round, but members of the IOC are considering banning head’s of state from lobbying them directly. For 24 hours the member’s of the IOC were my heroes.

What is frightening is that the ego-in-chief still thinks his vaunted teleprompting will keep us safe from terrorists and provide us with affordable and exceptional universal government run health care. Hopefully, the Congress will hand him and his media disciples another defeat on this issue. Followed by massive GOP wins this year and next year at the ballot box.
— Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

With all due modesty (I think) Mr. Lott articulates many of the thoughts and impressions I had and have about Obama. I have always thought he is either the most tone deaf, incompetent, or evil politician that has ever “come down the pike.” And ,of course, “that covers a lot of ground.” How he and his handlers convinced more than half of American voters to pull the lever for him is a complete mystery to me when all of the above are so obvious. Maybe the ACORN and similar unreported or under-reported election irregularities may explain it. Finally, I not only would not buy a used car from the flawed Obama, I would not even take the best used car from him as a gift.

Also as I have thought and said often, why do African-Americans follow this man blindly and ignore such impressive men such as Dr. Thomas Sowell and Dr. Walter Williams when the interests and philosophy of the African American community coincide much more with the latter two? Well, in a saner world….
— Jack Wheatley

Royal Oak, Michigan

Romney? Mr. Typical Politician? Mr. I-Can-Be-What-Your-Seeking-With-No-Ideology-Of-My-Own? Mr. I-implemented-an-Obamacare-before-Obamacare-was-cool? Not in this lifetime. You folks just don’t get it.

NO MORE INSIDERS. Any politician that cannot answer a simple yes/no question with “Yes!” or “No!” instead of their slick version of “well, maybe” are gone.

We need people that are:

Above all, HONEST

If you are currently an inside-the-beltway politician and are not screaming at the top of your lungs about the corruption and sleaze, you are DISHONEST. You are a coward. Rangel. Dodd. Geitner. Frank. All the RINO enablers. I recently sent a letter to Connie Mack expressing my appreciation for his votes on bailouts and health care. I also asked what he was going to DO to reverse the decades of creeping socialism. It will take MORE than just talking the talk.
— Jim North

Could Obama argue his way out of a paper bag? I guess that depends on how you define “paper bag” and who made it, why they made it, where they made it, who’s paying for it, its politics, etc.

Short answer, though: No.
— C. Kenna Amos, Jr.

LEAKING FROM THE TOP
Re:  John R. Guardiano’s Leaking for National Security:

“The ship of state is the only ship that leaks from the top.”
— Sir Humphrey Appleby (played by the late Nigel Hawthorn) in Yes Minister (BBC, 1982).
— Gretchen L. Chellson

Alexandria, Virginia

The difference between the Truman-MacArthur flap and the Obama-McChrystal affair is polarity.

With Truman we had a “common-man” president dealing with an egomaniac general.

With Obama we have a “common-man” general dealing with an egomaniac president.

At least with Truman and MacArthur they were both on our side…..
–Jerry Howard

“Indeed, if a president and his team cannot handle the heat of public scrutiny and public involvement, then they are not fit to preside over the executive branch of the United States government.”

Indeed.
— C. Kenna Amos Jr.

PARTY ON
Re: Rossen Vassilev’s A Familiar “New Face” at UNESCO:

Reading about these ex-communist apparatchiks re-inventing themselves always reminds me of a joke that was current in Poland when the Iron Curtain came down. The joke went that if you joined the Communist Party the Party would reward you with one year’s free membership. If you also signed up another new member then the Party could waive your membership dues for ten years. Sign up two new members and you would get free life membership, sign up three new members and you would be allowed to resign from the Communist Party and if you signed up four new members you would get a certificate saying that you had never been a member of the Communist Party.
— Christopher H

FEELING THE MONEY CRUNCH
Re: Guardians of Democracy:

I admit I had been confused as to why any physician would be for a government takeover of healthcare. Until I spoke to a few doctors for my recent treatments. One doctor in particular was quite to the point..

1.) The physicians will be paid-for each medical encounter with a patient. Most doctors carry a load of “bad debt.” That is, a number of patient bills for which they will never be paid. Either insurance will not pay or the patient will not pay. This leaves any physician with a heavy overhead, nothing to pay his staff, his personal assistance, rent, continuing education or new equipment. The thinking is that taking a lower payment for services rendered will be more than balanced by receiving payment for every service delivered.

2.) In spite of public perception, many if not most doctors think Medicare is the most efficient insurance in the world. Why? Again, the physician will be paid. Maybe not promptly; but eventually. Most of all, however, physicians know what the rules are and how to follow them. They know exactly what will be paid for and how to code in order to by paid.

What most of the public frequently does not understand is that not all policies issued by a particular insurance company are the same. A policy Diversified Widget Company “X” has from “The Daily Oatmeal Insurance Company” for its employees is likely not the same as the policy United Porkbelly Company “Y” has from the same “The Daily Oatmeal Insurance Company” for its employees.

Each company which offers health insurance to its employees negotiates its desired mix of benefits according what it is willing to pay. For instance, Diversified Widget Company “X” may want to decrease mental health benefits for more coverage for dental care. United Porkbelly Company “Y” will want a boost in physical therapy coverage in a tradeoff with lower chiropractic benefits. Multiply this with thousands of different policies and physician needs a wholly separate staff just to handle insurance issues and billing. One payer with one set of benefits and one set of rules is white sands and fair winds compared to the congestion of a rush hour freeway.

Of course, this is likely to be shortsighted. Physicians may be rolling in the dough at first-until the government starts feeling the money squeeze. Then they’ll relearn what they already knew. The government does not negotiate with you. It negotiates only with itself. It will come up with a series of mysterious reimbursement calculations determining what should be paid for what service. It could be as simple as a “most favored nation” scheme in which the government takes the least cost charged in any part of the country for a particular service and apply that to the rest of the country as all that can be requested for reimbursement. Follow that procedure for the thousands of physician or medical facility-delivered services and those medical recourses will soon start losing money. With the next money squeeze, the American healthcare “system” will take it in the shorts. Young people will see the crunch physicians and medical assistants find themselves in and those same young people refuse medical schooling for other careers.

Whatever you may think of those %;!!&* doctors, but the fact is they take on more training, responsibility and risk for less than many in business and the charities who have less education, talent and skill receive. Until you hold another person’s life in your hands, you cannot appreciate this disparity in priorities. The odd reality in healthcare is that the money isn’t in direct patient care but often those furthest away from where the real action is.

If the government takes control, guess where the money will be.
— Mike Dooley

Sign up to receive our latest updates! Register


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Be a Free Market Loving Patriot. Subscribe Today!