goobernutorial.
me likey.
me steal from bubba.

they're a bunch of weiners!

"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?"

You know, it's possible that this guy just misspoke. It would be pretty easy for Medicare to come out your mouth when you meant Medicaid.

OTOH, it's also completely believable that he doesn't know the difference.

You sniveling Peter Parker wannabe over there in your spiderman underoos. Since you are likely getting your gas from Pilot for free for doing this hit piece on me, what I really say and said Saturday probably means little to you.

Why do you not call WSMV for the video? You are such the investigative reporter, not!

I was misquoted more than once by a reporter who does not own a voice recorder. How's that?

So, does it seem like I know the difference, now?

If we grant that Kirkpatrick meant Medicaid and simply misspoke, he is still wrong. TennCare, for all its flaws, has always been an improvement over Medicaid. Compared to a thoughtfully designed, single-payer system, both TennCare and Medicaid are junk, but we'll never get anything thoughtful out of the ranting ideologues who now constitute the Republican mainstream. They are pretty good at ruining things, however. (see Bush, George W)

This is the type of respectable debate to which look forward. Thanks for the observation.

Tenncare, may in fact be better than Medicaid. I am not attempting to argue that point. What I am suggesting is that this state nor any other needs to be in the business of distributing benefits for the indigent.

I addressed this article specifically (see link) in my Murfreesboro speech on Saturday. What I was saying was this... when I gave my first political speech (ever) two weeks earlier in Nashville, I was the first candidate of either party to call for a complete return of the publicly funded portion of our health care system back to the federal government in accordance with the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution and common sense.

The state GOP posted the link to this article. However, I am the only candidate who had already embraced the concept, and I still do. This is what I mean when I said that I am already beginning to have an effect on the debate. Some bloggers may try to position me as some sort of illiterate and degenerate. Try me. See if I can hold up my end of the argument.

To R.Neal: I agree that states participate in Medicaid through unfunded mandates, but those that are or are attempting to manage it alone are very few in number.

((link...))

Governor Bredesen said at the National Governor's Conference that the President's plan was potentially "the mother of all unfunded mandates." The purpose of an unfunded mandate as I have grown to understand is what Congress passes when they lack the political courage to raise the revenue themselves. Instead, they foist the burden on to state legislatures and governors which lack the authority to print money to honor their commitments. This is also called "passing the buck."

Tennessee, by law, cannot run a budget deficit, and the Governor, in effect, has the "line-item" veto to cut spending as (s)he sees fit from discretionary programs in order to balance it. The only way we can legally go into debt is to issue bonds, but then, we are faced with servicing that debt, which we observe has not worked out so well for our sister state, California.

While I am not a fan of single-payer, I do join the chorus where it comes to actually leaving the status quo behind. An absence of a plan is presently our plan. I do like the "cooperative" concept that President Obama describes, but as run by DC, it will become nothing more than a state-run oligopoly putting the health insurance industry out of business. We have seen the mess that having only three automakers has done to that business. Yet, he asks us to believe that a myriad of bureaucracies can do a better job.

That thar dog jis' aint gonna hunt, rikki.

I am not from the Republican mainstream. I am suggesting the "cooperative" plan to be run by the state. We could group 2-3 million working Tennesseans into a plan with a menu of 10-15 different plans from which to choose depending upon age, lifestyle, etc. Nobody would be denied coverage, but if a person did not have a matching program at work or are self-employed, they would have to pay 100% of the monthly premium, which I am going to estimate at 4-600 dollars a month depending on the choice.

The insurance industry, of which I am no particular fan, will be salvaged because each state will choose different providers. Another thing we can do to lower the cost of malpractice insurance, which is passed along to us in the end (bahaha -- i said in the end) is to demand that the AMA and TMA regulate their profession more strictly.

Malpractice is a lot like crime. There is a lot of recidivism. These doctors need to be stripped of their licenses much like malicious prosecutors should be disbarred and manufacturing evidence should be criminalized. Today, both actions are rare, indeed. Tort reform is a "straw man" and should not ever be considered. These two positions place me out of the mainstream of GOP thought, the vested interests, and better define me as a civil libertarian.

Further, every employer could offer every plan. So, you may now be asking how do we cover the uninsurable. Well, its like this... if a person with any such preexisting condition(s) wanted to be on the plan they would only have to pay the base premium each month like everyone else. Today, if they could even buy insurance, it would likely run 1500-2000 a month. The state insurance fund would cover the difference.

That is the only welfare component of my plan. It simply rewards those who are willing to sacrifice in order to help themselves. If one is completely unable to support themselves, then, they should be allowed to opt to become or remain wards of our behemoth central government.

The rest of us should live and die with our liberty intact. Of course, those who choose to waive any of their rights to President Obama and the Health Czar should be allowed to void any such agreement in accordance with their free will. Of course, that is not a matter for state government to take up. So, good luck with that one.

Our state simply lacks the resources to do this and would be much better off focusing on things we can control, like say, education.

If you would like to read more about my plan for creating Washington-free schools in Tennessee, please go to my blog and read more:

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Should we assume by your fondness of a Barry Goldwater quote that you plan to follow his example as soon as your bottom reaches the governor's chair?

As in perhaps your relationship to the LGBT community?

Or do you cling to the winger view that Mr. Goldwater fell and hit his head sometime during his older years?

Or was he correct when he stated the Grand Old Party just made him look liberal because they marched so far to the right?

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Hes got my vote!