Marley Bait!

Matt Yglesias says the GOP better hope Bush actually is an idiot:

I never met George W. Bush and have no opinion on his intelligence or lack thereof. But it seems to me that conservatives ought to hope he was the knuckledragging moron of Saturday Night Live caricature rather than the cunning super-genius that Keith Hennessey has portrayed. After all, one way or another his term in office was a disastrous period of American governance.

One possible explanation for that would be that he's dumb. Or alternatively that he's incredibly lazy. The president of the United States has a tough job, after all, and it's totally possible to imagine a person with roughly correct ideas to nonetheless screw it up through incompetence and blundering. But if conservatives want us to believe that the United States blundered through a major terrorist attack, two major failed military adventures, dismal economic performance, and then finally an epic economic collapse all while under the watch of a very bright and attentive leader then it seems like a much deeper failure of the movement.

You may remember me and Marley''s discussion back in the day. Whatever happened to classical reasoning and debate? Where's the open-mindedness, the class?

MARLEY: What is clear is that whatever all insured pay, if reform passes in a manner close to its current form, premiums will go up considerably. Given that Obama won't even put his heft behind the only part of health care reform that debatably drive costs down after time (the public option), folks should at least be prepared for it....
XMASTIME: REEAlly? Oooooh, REEEEEally? You don't even know what the FUCK you're talking about!!!!!!
MARLEY: It will actually cost more to insure healthy people as well and the additional costs will result in folks dropping health care. So, perhaps, back to square 1, minus $100 billion.
XMASTIME: you're such a fucking idiot. I mean, seriously, you're a fucking idiot. This is fucking absurd.
MARLEY: Those costs will be passed on to those who currently have coverage with absolutely no suggestion that their existing coverage will be enhanced one iota.
XMASTIME: "Iota"!!  ooooooooh, we know Greek now!! Hey, I was in a frat too, asshole.
MARLEY: And you are right - those costs can theoretically be reduced by preventive care, which would potentially result in lesser costs. So, I'll assume your predicate.
XMASTIME: you're so fucking wrong, just as always. Cause you're just a fucking idiot, that's why. If we weren't online, if you were here in my room right now, I would take that little fucking head of yours and beat some sense into it with as fucking baseball bat, you fucking twat.
MARLEY: This requires a belief in your target audience of the uninsured clamoring for services they have done without until the back-end, and thereby, creating these cost savings.
XMASTIME: Bush sucked!! Dude, Bush was THE FUCKING WORST!!!!!!!!!!
MARLEY: Moreover, the insured who are overloaded by the new taxes, mandates and increased premiums will suffer a fall-off from participation, and ironically, that will mean higher premiums for all and a replication of the same "crisis" that necessitated this childish need for reform (see "millionaires taxes" that feel so right and result in MD and NY taxpayers moving to lower tax states).
XMASTIME: I don't know why you'd think doctors would move to lower tax states, but then I'm not a fucking idiot, so how could I possibly know what the fuck you're talking about?
MARLEY: Indeed, what is the argument that reform - especially sans a public option - will reduce costs, other than the long-term behavioral one?
XMASTIME: God, you're fucking stupid. Dude, seriously, SHUT THE FUCK UP!! You need to LISTEN to me!! You SEE me, but you don't LISTEN to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MARLEY: What insurance company won't raise rates if it's newest batch of insureds will naturally be the sickest, most expensive who Aetna cannot deny?
XMASTIME: blah blah blah blah (making baby noises, hamming it up for imaginary camera)
MARLEY:Costs rise for all participants on the front end, but the back end shows a decrease because all the previously uninsured now have access to health care.
XMASTIME: WRONG.
MARLEY: As usual, the government will get bigger, the insurance companies wil adjust (and profit), and the folks will bear all those expenses on their backs in the form of higher taxes, federal mandates and increased premiums.
XMASTIME: WRONG.
MARLEY: The current costs for the uninsured are factored into the current health care system.
XMASTIME: WRONG.
MARLEY: their insurance because, with a 150% increase, they figure, "I'll risk it." After all, if they get sick, they'll still be provided emergency and back-end care muich as is provided for the current uninsured.
XMASTIME: oh, jesus fucking christ.
MARLEY: Keep your private religion out of my country club!!!!!
XMASTIME: you're so fucking stupid, and you don't even know it, like Bush. you havent said a single fucking thing yet that even remotely makes sense.
MARLEY: If I was working under the assumption the whole thing would be a success, I'd support it. But like the big Bush domestic governmental initiatives, this will suck dog crap.
XMASTIME: WRONG.