1.) “You want the government to run healthcare?! The stupid government?! Are you crazy? They’ll kill the system–they’ll kill us all! The government can’t run a healthcare system, they’re idiots!”

Medicare? It’s been “government healthcare” since 1965…

…according to survey findings reported [in 2002] in the article, “Medicare versus Private Insurance: Rhetoric and Reality,” by Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis and colleagues, Medicare out-performs private sector plans in terms of patients’ satisfaction with quality of care, access to care, and overall insurance ratings. The survey found that elderly Medicare beneficiaries are 2.7 times more likely than enrollees in employer-sponsored plans to rate their health insurance as excellent and less likely to report negative experiences with their insurance plans. Medicare beneficiaries are also one-third as likely to say they couldn’t get health care because of cost than are those covered by employer private insurance plans.

…and just who do you think takes care of our fighting men and women–fucking Cigna? No way, pal, our service people get a helluva lot better care than the for-profit monkeys at Wellpoint would ever bother to provide. For really bad-ass care, military style, you need good ol’ Uncle Sam:

Stewart: Are you saying Americans shouldn’t have access to the same plan health care that we give the soldiers?

Kristol: Yes, to our soldiers? Absolutely.

Stewart: Really?

Kristol: I think the one thing if you become a soldier…

Stewart: …so you just said, Bill Kristol just said that the government can run a first class health care system.

Kristol: Sure it can.

Stewart: A government run health care system is better than the private health care system. You just said that…

Kristol: I don’t know if it’s better.

Stewart: No, you just said it was better.

Kristol: I didn’t say it was better all around.

Stewart: No, you said it was better. You said it’s the best, it’s a little more expensive, but it’s better. I just want to write this down. The government runs the best health care…I understand that–so what you are suggesting is that the government could run the best health care system for Americans, but it’s a little too costly so we should have the shitty insurance companies health care.

Kristol: I’m suggesting our soldiers deserve better health care…

Stewart: They deserve the best. They have the best government run health care money can buy.

And then there’s TRICARE–ever heard of that?

TRICARE, formerly known as the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS), is a health care program of the United States Department of Defense Military Health System.[1] TRICARE provides civilian health benefits for military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents, including some members of the Reserve Component.

How about Medicaid?

Medicaid is the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states.[1] Among the groups of people served by Medicaid are certain eligible U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including low-income adults and their children, and people with certain disabilities.

“Federal and state governments? Multiple incompetents trying to run a healthcare system? Are you out of your freaking gourd?!”

Well, let’s take a look. Here’s how the Medicaid plans in Utah stacked up against regular old ‘fee for service’ in a 2008 survey where respondents rated their care as an 8 out of 10, or higher:

Hmm, looks like the government can run a healthcare system after all. It’s been doing it, in the case of the military, for a couple of centuries. Argument #1, done.

The truth is that the government can do pretty much anything it wants to–all you have to do is demand they do it, and do it well. Democracy, right? To me, the key is to make sure you elect competent people to run the thing. Demand good government, and take the requirements seriously. It’s not complicated.

It certainly was a bombshell, so the reactions are coming fast and furious. And many righties do not like what Sarah Palin did. They immediately thought that, by giving up on the Governorship so quickly, long before the first term was up, she had abandoned Alaska for personal reasons, and it understandably would not sit well with Alaskans or Americans. And lord knows Conservatives are long on loyalty, so if they’re throwing her overboard only hours later, it can’t be good.

Quin Hillyer, Senior Editor of The American Spectator: ‘Knowing that many, many conservatives will absolutely dump on me for saying this, I can’t help myself: Sarah Palin’s resignation is an appalling dereliction of duty and a highly cynical move to set herself up for a presidental run for which she is manifestly unqualified.

I have written the same thing about other politicians who resigned their offices mid-term without any scandal or family crisis necessitating it: It is an absolute dereliction of duty to quit mid-term. When you run for office, you are making a promise to your constituents to serve out your term (unless you get elected to higher office or have one of the aforementioned compelling reasons not to do so). To do otherwise is, in effect, to break your word. It is a sign of a lack of integrity.’

Jim Geraghty of the National Review: ‘David Schuster is offering a typical sneering tone, but it doesn’t make it any less accurate: “If it’s true that she’s leaving the governorship before her first term is complete, her national political career is done.”‘

‘A broken clock can be right twice a day, and Schuster is right here. If Sarah Palin wishes to someday be President of the United States, then she had to serve at least one full term in statewide office. (Yes, Obama had been in the Senate for about two years before running for president, but he had a lot of stars align for him at the right moment. Beyond that, at some point, “but Obama did it that way” isn’t a persuasive argument.)

Departing with little or no warning, after about 30 months in office, is beyond surprising. I’m sure the Lieutenant Governor will do fine, but there’s definately a sense of leaving with work unfinished and as her career was just beginning to take off.’

Talk show host and blogger Ed Morrissey of Hot Air: ‘The news of Sarah Palin’s resignation as governor came during my show this afternoon, where we spent most of an hour discussing it with the chatizens and my co-host Duane Patterson. I’ve had a chance to watch the video of her announcement and read through dozens of Twitter messages back and forth attempting to rationalize this, and still, it simply can’t be rationalized on the basis of what Palin said today. It’s easily the most bizarre resignation I’ve seen, and just about senseless.

If it’s her duty to always “protect” Alaska, then that strongly implies not walking away from the responsibility of governing it — a responsibility she sought, and with which her constituents trusted her to execute. No one leads by quitting. No one leads by quitting. Palin’s abandoning her post, and at least from her own description, doing it because she doesn’t want to deal with the issues of being a “lame duck,” a status all politicians have to handle at some point.’

Blogger Ace of Ace of Spades: ‘[DrewM]…She’s resigning at the end of the month. Wow.

It’s over. You can’t resign from a governorship and then run for higher office. Barring some strong reason, like needing treatment for cancer.’
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Blogger Rick Moran at Right Wing Nut House: PALIN RETREATS. Hard to see this as anything else. Yeah, she may still run for president in 2012 but, if anything, this makes her an even longer shot. I hate to say this — and I know it will rile some — but I see this as a retreat. She is, to be blunt about it, running away from the savaging she is receiving in the press and from liberals. It’s not exactly cowardice because the press targeted her kids and husband too – something new and despicably low in American politics. But it suggests an inconstancy that presidential candidates shouldn’t have.

She may be doing it for her family now. But if she then shows up in Iowa and New Hampshire asking people for their vote, what are people to think?

Rich Lowry, Editor of the National Review, isn’t all down on her: I think I have pretty well-established credentials when it comes to being charmed by Sarah Palin, but that statement, as a statement, was simply terrible. Rambling and not at all persuasive as an argument for her decision. More Gibson/Couric than GOP convention speech. She shouldn’t have said a thing without getting Matt Scully—or some similarly talented speechwriter—on the case first. As to how this decision plays out ultimately, we’ll see. There’s plenty of time if (as I assume) she wants to run in 2012, and she obviously has plenty of capital with Republicans. But not an auspicious start.

Who knows, maybe she’ll make a comeback. Politics is strange business.

UPDATE: It’s not all frustration and disappointment: the loons over at Atlas Shrugs are rejoicing.

4:30 pm: My take? If Palin is anything like I think she is (know she is), Obama’s treasonous presidency is responsible for this. She, like all patriotic Americans, is shocked by what is happening. Obama is destroying this country. She knows it. We all know it. We need a leader. She is answering our call.

She did not quit. She is going to get into the fight to save America. Watch what happens.

Will do.