The Obamessiah's Town Hall, Part 2

Just one day after the Obamessiah's holy town hall, we have a brand new understanding of the whole event. Not only were the questioners planted, but so was the entire audience!

Remember Obama's little joke about calling on an Obamacare opponent so it didn't look like he just had a crowd of plants? Turns out that was absolutely what he had:

Note the protesters waiting out in the rain while Obama's non-plants get off of their bus and file into the place. No wonder it was a supremely friendly crowd, huh?

Another statement Obama made about the 'death panel' question was that much of it was written by Republican Johnny Isakson. This, of course, was intended to show how willing he was to be bipartisan, and to paint Republicans with the death panel brush, when the reality is completely different:

Politco's Martin Kady reports that Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) is none too pleased with Obama's crediting him yesterday for the end-of-life counseling provisions in the health-care bill:

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), didn't appreciate President Obama's shout-out at the New Hampshire town hall meeting this afternoon.

Obama said that the voluntary end-of-life counseling in one version of the bill had a Republican sponsor — and he mentioned Isakson by name.

And that set off the senator from Georgia.

"Isakson vehemently opposes the House and Senate health care bills, and he played no role in drafting language added to the House bill by House Democrats calling for the government to incentivize doctors by offering them money to conduct end-of-life counseling," Isakson's office said in a statement.

"This is what happens when the President and members of Congress don’t read the bills," Isakson said in a statement. Robert Gibbs has refused to say whether or not President Obama will read the health-care bill.

More lies. For some additional fact-checking, go here.

And how about this whopper:

Now, in reality, here's what happens:

But here’s what the Really Smart Guy in the Oval Office apparently doesn’t understand about the medical system. Diabetics are treated by general practitioners and endocrinologists, neither of whom perform amputations. The AMA pointed out that Obama was off by a factor of 100 on the costs, but thus far no one has pointed out that the incentive structure he assumes doesn’t exist. Only after a GP and the endocrinologist, plus probably an orthopedist and a couple of other specialists, decide that the limb cannot be saved does the surgeon remove the limb. It has nothing to do with the compensation that the GP and the endocrinologist receives, or an imaginary windfall for an amputation that will have nothing to do with either a GP or an endocrinologist. I know this from long-time personal experience as the spouse of a Type 1 diabetic who lost her eyesight and kidneys to the disease, and who worried about amputations for years before her pancreas transplant.

If Barack Obama doesn’t understand that much about medical care in the US, why should we be listening to his ideas to radically restructure it? Maybe he should quit shooting off his mouth, withdraw this bill, and learn something about the industry he expects to dismantle and reassemble.

Nah. That would take too much effort and time. Don't you know we're in a CRISIS here, and it's ALL because of health care?

Seriously, though, do you know what it all boils down to? It's very, very simple:

Health care in the US is covered by three main systems-- Medicare, medicaid, and private insurance.

Two of these systems are bankrupt, and will be unable to make payments beyond 2032 (insert correct date here, I don't know).

The third is solvent, and can make all of its payments for the foreseeable future.

Barack Obama's plan is to take the one system meeting its obligations and fold it into the two systems that are bankrupt.

People get this. And people get that Obama is lying to us about his plan and his motivations. End of story.

There's my two cents.