[Majer:Danjer]

Saw this passed around 11 last night. The bill is over 2000 pages long. Seems to be riddled with loopholes, I can't wait to see how this plays out.

[Ben Smith]

It was kind of disturbing to hear of the visceral hatred expressed by the protesters at Capitol Hill, let alone the fact that several representatives took it upon themselves to egg them on. Several of my conservative friends honestly believe that this bill is the final harbinger of the Apocalypse (no joke).

Now we have states refusing to follow federal law, and extensive efforts to destroy the bill in every conceivable manner. Meanwhile, our nation turns a blind eye to ongoing wars, hunger, unemployment and poverty racking our own nation.

Whatever your opinion is in the matter, I think it's pretty messed up for people to feed upon fear and hatred in order to score a few political points. Our political system too is now on par with that of third world nations.

[Ben Smith]

I saw this coming and yet it's still depressing to see: http://www.guardian....epublican-obama

Perhaps most disturbing of all was how John Boehner, the Republican House leader, tried to recruit these domestic terrorists to the republican cause on Fox News, "But I've got to tell you that violence and threats are unacceptable... Let's take that anger, and go out and register people to vote, go volunteer on a political campaign."

[dudley]

Boehner and the Fox gang are just out to disrail any and all proposals of the administration
Once people come to understand how healthcare reform will benefit them personally, their tactics will backfire.

Last night I was switching back and forth between Glen Beck and Rachel Maddow
What a difference. On one channel an intelligent woman with a solid understanding of the facts, on the other the facts are replaced fear mongering

[fishmonger]

Politics on a hiking board, count me in!

Put me in the camp as being cautiously optimistic on health care reform. However, I feel like there's a strong possibility that all we did was shine the brass on the Titanic. I think in the broad sense, we could have gone two ways on health care: insure a lot more people for a little more cost to the rest of us, while improving care at the same time; or change the system to make health care significantly cheaper for the average citizen. I feel like we accomplished neither with this bill.

The creative accounting used to make this "deficit neutral" is absurd. This WILL add to the deficit, I would bet every cent I have on that. I'm perfectly ok with that if that means more people will have access to health care and we change the way people look at being healthy. This bill just dealt with the fringe of the issue, rather than trying to really change the system.

Maybe this is the best we can do, if so that is a sad statement. I for one am for the public option, without it there is no reform.

Quick rant on the Fox News/MSNBC faceoff. I always find it ironic that people who blast Fox News watch MSNBC (no offense to either you Ben or Dudley). They are both extremes and neither seeks to raise the level of conversation on any issue. If you care about actually hearing the news, listen to NPR.

Also, this "GOP incited racism/violence", this is just a diversion that the media plays along with to divert people from the health care debate. They did the same thing when Obama first took office, where everyone feigned outrage over the AIG bonuses, while totally overlooking the fact that our government officials are the ones that allowed them in the first place. Do I think that a teabagger in a crowd of 20,000 yelled a racial/homophobic epithet? I'm sure someone did. But blaming it on the GOP because they encouraged people to use their 1st Amendment rights? I just won't go along with that.

It'd be like going to Red Sox game, hearing someone use the "n-word", then blaming Red Sox management for inciting racism because they asked people to come to the game.

For the record, I'm a registered Democrat who voted for Obama. Sorry for the length, but when I get going sometimes it's hard to stop!