CNN poll shows Obama speech on health care a huge hit among those who saw it on TV
September 9th, 2009 at 09:32pm Pat Cunningham
 A scientific poll commissioned by CNN in the wake of President Obama’s speech to Congress on health-care reform shows a BIG SWING in favor of the plan outlined by the president.
 The survey’s stated margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.
 Asked for their overall reaction to the speech, 56 percent of respondents said it was “very positive,” 21 percent said “somewhat positive,” 12 percent said “somewhat negative” and 9 percent said “very negative.”
 Seventy percent of those polled said the policies proposed by Obama would “move the country in the right direction,” while 27 percent said the move would be in the “wrong direction.”
 On the basic question of whether they favor or oppose Obama’s health-care plan, 67 percent expressed favor and 29 percent opposition.
 The poll was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, an independent firm.
 UPDATE: I didn’t notice this at first, but in fairness I should point out that respondents in this poll disproportionately identified themselves as Democrats.
 In light of that factor, the results of the survey could be somewhat skewed, I would think.
 Frankly, I’m surprised that an outfit like Opinion Research isn’t more careful about something like that.
 UPDATE II: CNN has acknowledged the poll’s tilt toward Democratic respondents (HERE), but the network’s deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, seems to attribute it to disproportionate Democratic viewership of the speech.
 If he’s right about that, the overall poll results might be accurate in terms of reaction to the speech among TV viewers.
 Besides, it doesn’t seem far-fetched to assume that Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to have avoided watching the speech, which would absolve Opinion Research of the sloppiness I implied in the third paragraph of the update preceding this one.
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1. SNuss | September 9th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Why Obama’s speech failed: the lie of bipartisanship
September 9, 9:20 PM
Charlotte Evangelical Examiner
Richard Bean
Those of you who watched Obama’s speech may have noticed the attempt to paint the President as being open and bipartisan. Nothing could be further from the truth. Republicans have tried reaching out to Obama since APRIL and these outreaches have been rejected by the White House.
The rest of the speech repeats the same old lies and platitudes that have been trumpeted by the mainstream media’s slavish coverage. This speech was a desperate attempt to save a dying effort by Democrats to control as many aspects of your life as they possibly can.
No one can deny the used-car salesmanship of President Obama. But selling America a system that amounts to a socialist European clunker and asking you for the cash is something we should not pay this any heed. This type of silver-tongued babbling does nothing for those who are in need. This speech isn’t about those in need. This is about Obama’s career and the career of Democrats who have touted this horrendous idea, and only the naive believe this speech was intended to bring anyone together.
The first part of the speech was a blame game about inheriting the economy, followed by a flat out lie that he saved the economy and jobs. In fact, millions more people are out of jobs as a result of the Obama presidency. He destroyed a car company, and several banks. He also added more debt to the back of taxpayers than every president before him, including Bush.
Next, he rants about how awful America is because we don’t steal money from others to give that money to other Americans. To justify the demonization of our country, he told stories about the failures of insurance companies, and then leaped to conclusions that this must mean we need the government to run things. By this logic, who does Obama suggest run his government, since it is even more corrupt than any insurance company (see his Czars)?
After that, he pretended that the deficit problem is because of health care (not his trillions of dollars mess that he created with his economic policy). His solution is, ironically, to increase the deficit by having the government get involved. He said he wants to build on what works. Surely he doesn’t mean Medicare or the VA! Both of these systems are fraught with disaster and fraud. Both are mismanaged. Medicare is broke and not getting any better. Obama wants to build on this?
The theme of the speech is demonization and name-calling covered with a smile. He claims there were scare tactics, yet that is exactly what his speech started out with. He claims that everyone will die without government running your life. Scare tactics? Excuse me, but it IS scary when the government proposes something as outrageous as H.R. 3200.
The idea that any government program is efficient and financially responsible is laughable. The Post Office has done so well! So has Medicare! In fact, our government is so efficient that we are printing money like it’s free of consequences. Right…
Next, he started talking about forcing insurance companies to give coverage for preexisting conditions immediately. (I am waiting to hear him say that insurance companies must grant coverage for a house in the midst of being destroyed in a fire…maybe that’s in his next speech).
While it is true that Obama is not requiring that you leave your doctor or plan, it is in effect what will happen. When a company that needs profits to succeed must compete with a company that doesn’t need a profit (and can print its own money), it will lose. Companies will switch to paying the fee instead of paying the higher costs. This will mean that employees will either have to pay for their own care or go to the government plan. Take this down the road, and what do you have? A mass exodus to the government-run plan and the crippling of the private insurance companies.
The next ridiculous part of the speech was Obama talking about others costing us money by not having insurance. Obama is okay with stealing your money to give to others through higher taxes, but he has a problem with some exercising their liberty in not having insurance because it might “cost us money.” Only a die-hard liberal could miss the double standard.
He then babbled on about the death panel accusation…not realizing that this was already set up before the H.R. 3200 bill was proposed. In other words, there is already in place a body which could decide a treatment is too expensive for grandma. What does Obama call a panel which decides to not give grandma a life-saving medicine because the government feels it is too expensive? Fine…he doesn’t want to call it a death panel. Call it what you like. It does the same thing no matter what you call it.
I find it odd that Obama wants to hold insurance companies accountable, yet he cannot even hold his own cabinet accountable. Somehow, Obama manages to argue that private colleges are somehow related to private insurance companies. How many people attend private colleges Mr. Obama? If your argument is that only 5% of Americans will sign up for your insurance exchange, would your comparison to public vs. private schools hold up? Of course not, a majority of students go to public schools because the tax payer subsidizes it.
Ah, then the lecture to Republicans. Obama says he will address the criticisms of the other side. If this were the case, why not accept any meeting with Republicans since April? The reason is because Obama has no interest in their views. This is not, and has never been, about the American people. It is not about the health of the American people, but about the health of Obama’s legacy and the health of the Democrat party.
In typical whining fashion, Obama seeks to rescue his failures by blaming Bush again and again. None of his monetary figures were backed up by the CBO except one. In fact, the CBO claims are quite the opposite of what were portrayed in the speech tonight. The debt was not mostly from Bush, in fact, Obama’s debt will dwarf Bush’s debt and all presidents combined. I cannot stress this enough. The mainstream media surely will not stress it.
When Obama says he will protect Medicare, what he really means is that he will print more money to cover the bankrupt system. He wants to make it more efficient? Get it out of the hands of the government.
Obama talked around the issue of tort reform better than I’ve ever seen. I am currently texting in my vote for him on “So you think you can dance.” The results will be in soon. Dancing around the issues is an artform at which he excels
The President claims that his “door is always open.” The unfortunate part that he left out is that it is a rotating door that serves only as an exit for Republicans. As noted, since April, Republicans have reached out with their ideas. Time after time, Republicans were ignored. Obama tried to shove his plan down the throat of America. Tonight’s speech resulted because America’s gag reflex vomited up the sickening virus that is the Democrat debacle.
I hope that if you listened to this speech, you ignored the emotional appeals and the shameful use of the death of a Kennedy to try and guilt you into approving his agenda.
Obama closed by saying he wants to shape the future of our country. Heaven help us all. A well-given speech? Yes. Anything new? No. Pretending to be bipartisan without new details doesn’t cut it. The speech, while given with gusto and emotion, fell flat. It was a failure, and he missed his big chance. There are no do-overs. America, there are no do-overs for us either if they get their plan passed.
Call your Senators and Representatives and let them know you support tort reform, portability, the ability to buy plans across state lines, and other common sense proposals. Tell them you reject the government intrusion into your life with the mask of charity.
Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-16864-Charlotte-Evangelical-Examiner~y2009m9d9-Why-Obamas-speech-failed-the-lie-of-bipartisanship
2. Pat Cunningham | September 9th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Snuss: You provided a link to that right-wing claptrap at the bottom of your comment. So why did you have to post the whole damn text?
By the way, it’s the “Democratic Party,” not the “Democrat Party.” When will you Publicans ever learn?
3. Pat Cunningham | September 9th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
One other thing, Snuss. In that screed from some religious rightist, the claim is made that Obama’s speech “fell flat.” The poll to which I refer in my post suggests otherwise.
4. SNuss | September 9th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
So, a Leftist media poll supported the speech, no surprise there.
Pat sez: “So why did you have to post the whole damn text?”
Why not? Do they charge you by the keystroke?
5. Pat Cunningham | September 9th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
SNuss: It’s late and I’m too tired to fully explain to you that CNN, just like Fox News and all the other major media, uses an independent firm to conduct its polls. That’s why results of most of the major media polls usually are pretty similar, whether they’re from right-wing outfits like Fox News or the Wall Street Journal or from NBC, CNN or the New York Times. In this case, however, the results should be viewed in light of the matters I discussed in my two updates to this post.
6. realfoxnews | September 10th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Snuss What does CNN get about 20% of the viewer’s that ever body else gets. What is the age gap watching CNN? The ones that get scared and vote that way. A senior like Pat.
7. Pat Cunningham | September 10th, 2009 at 8:12 am
realfoxnews seems to think that a poll commissioned by CNN covers only CNN viewers. Of course, that’s not the way it works. In this case, the pollsters commissioned by CNN talked to people who watched the speech on any channel. By the same token, when Fox News commissions a poll, the respondents ARE NOT necessarily Fox News viewers. Some respondents, no doubt, never watch Fox News.
8. Richard | September 10th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Most idiots in this country do not follow what is going on in the world let alone follow politics. Then to have these same people included in polls?
Polls can be taken to get what you want out of them. So what is the point?
9. SNuss | September 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I haven’t been able to watch the entire speech, since I am working 12-hour days to support the Liberal loafers, but of what I saw, Obama came across as his usual snobby, elitist self, who paid nothing, except vague lip service, to the idea of anything near a bi-partisan healthcare plan.
10. unmanager | September 10th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Maybe you partisan, hateful delusional wingnuts need to look at REALITY…this bill has been watered down by so much Republican hysteria, it’s ridiculous to call it “Obamacare” any longer…
highlights…
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/19174
“…Sen. Charles Grassley, a key Republican negotiator on health care, was on a winning streak as Congress recessed for August, having wrung important concessions from Democrats, including an agreement not to tax employer-provided health insurance and a limit to demands on drug companies.
How did Grassley reciprocate? With an attack that struck Democrats as stunning and baseless. Grassley told an Iowa crowd he would not support a plan that “determines when you’re going to pull the plug on Grandma.” The remark echoed conservative activists who wrongly claim a House health care bill would require Medicare recipients to discuss their end-of-life plans with doctors…. liberals were fuming over Obama’s recent remarks suggesting he might also yield on the federally run insurance option he’s been promoting. Many saw it as a huge concession that could leave them with nothing more than watered-down insurance cooperatives.
But the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, Jon Kyl of Arizona, dismissed even such co-ops as a “Trojan horse” leading to government control of health care….”
Everything Republicans want, they’ve gotten, and all they do is whine,lie,and obstruct.
http://www.slate.com/id/2226793/
McCan’t and McShouldn’t
At a Kansas City forum, John McCain and Mitch McConnell show why bipartisanship on health care is impossible.
“…The first problem is that Republicans and Democrats can’t even agree there’s a problem….McCain talked about wellness and fitness, outcome-based treatment (i.e., doing what works), and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse—all components of the Democrats’ health care plan….”
..
11. Art | September 10th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
I have not been able to watch any Obama speech. For some reason, he does not come in on any of my radios and TVs. Must be that spam filter I have?
12. Craig Knauss | September 10th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
snuss says, “I haven’t been able to watch the entire speech, since I am working 12-hour days (cleaning animal cages?) to support the Liberal loafers,” First, I’m glad to hear that snuss actually has a job. Good for you snuss. But please explain how you manage to post so much rightwing BS when you are supposedly working 12 hrs. per day. I know I don’t get near my personal computer nearly as much as you do. Is it because I have a real life and you don’t? And who are all these liberal loafers? I’ve been working and paying income tax for 42 years. How long have YOU been in the workforce, snuss? BTW, that ultra-liberal organization know as the American Medical Association endorsed much of Obama’s health plan. That must be a bitter pill to swallow, huh, snuss?
13. SNuss | September 11th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Answer: I post on my breaks. It’s refreshing to escape from the reality of work, by reading Leftist drivel.
BTW, I’ve been paying too much in payroll taxes for over 37 years, because of the Leftist politicians, and the Liberal loafers.
BTW, the AMA LEADERSHIP endorsed much of the plan, NOT the rank and file.
42 years in the workforce? Aren’t you about ready for some of that “end of life” councilling, from Obamacare?
14. Craig Knauss | September 11th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
snuss, It doen’s appear that you actually read that “leftist drivel” because you spend all your time linking to rightwing BS, such as that redneck preacher at the top of the page. If you want to know about healthcare ask someone who actually works in it, like my wife (25 yrs).
I’ve been paying too much taxes also. That’s because the Republicans have been running the country for 24 of those last 37 years. They are responsible for more than 75% of our current national debt. Instead of blaming “liberal loafers” (all the libs I know have been working for years) try blaming the real culprits, the conservative crybabies.
In case you haven’t figured it out, the AMA leaders are elected by the AMA membership. That’s how it works. And I know a bunch of health care professionals who want some improvements in the system.
I think you are do for some counselling about your severe dementia. I can recommend a good Alzheimer facility for you. Your memory won’t come back, but they will feed you and wipe your a**.
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