1. Student Zach Lane Disrespects President
    John M. Palladino John M. Palladino United States says:
    August 16, 2009 at 7:50 PM

    Zach Lane, the university of Colorado- Boulder student who “challenged “President Obama to a “oxford” style debate on health care, shows the very small minority of which has disrespect to our Nation institutions and to elders and individuals, I was ashamed of this young’s man disrespect for both the lack of respect of the office of the President as well as the man in that office by challenging him to a debate during the Town Hall meeting in Grand Junction, CO on Saturday August 16.. As an alumnus of the University of Colorado, I am also ashamed that he mentioned his affiliation to the school. This young whippersnapper is not even wet behind the ears yet. I also was a Business Major with a Poly Science Minor at CU and at his age or at my current age, out of respect I would never challenge any President to a Debate.

    I was there at the Town Hall meeting, and this fellow was clearly seeking his 15 minutes of fame, He was yelling and screaming at the President to call upon him, (so he could be heard above those other 1600 other individual in the meeting which had questions. Lane got his 15 minutes of fame.

    I hope all that are requested to do business with Zach Lane upon his graduation recall his lack of respect for both individuals and institutions and think very hard if they really want to do business with this individual.

    Shame on Zach Lane. He owes both the President and the others in attendance an apology for both his disrespectful behavior on Saturday.

    By the way his question was very good question which was answered in part prior to his question being asked and further expanded upon by the President, yet he stated after the town hall meeting that the President did not answer his question. Well Zack you might let your ears work more and let your mouth run less and you may get further ahead in the future.

    From the actual transcript of the exchange .
    All right, I'm going to call on this gentleman because he's been waving -- and he's shouted at me a couple of times, so I just want to -- I just want proof here that I'm happy to get a good debate going.

    Q    How are you doing, Mr. President?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I'm good.  What's your name?
    Q    My name is Zack Lane (phonetic).  I'm a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Good to talk to you, Zack.  What do you study?
    Q    Political science and business marketing.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Fantastic.  All right, what's your question?
    Q    My question is this.  And also, I'd love to have a debate, just all out, anytime, Oxford-style, if you'd like.  (Laughter.)  I understand -- I'm willing to do that.  But my question is this.  We all know the best way to reduce prices in this economy is to increase competition.  
    How in the world can a private corporation providing insurance compete with an entity that does not have to worry about making a profit, does not have to pay local property taxes -- (applause) -- they do not have to -- they're not subject to local regulations?  How can a company compete with that?  And I'm not looking for anything -- I don't want generalities.  I don't want philosophical arguments.  I'm just asking a question.

    Reply
    • Zach Should Be Applauded
      Chili Dogg Chili Dogg United States says:
      August 17, 2009 at 9:03 PM

      Mr. Palladino,

      Why do you spend so much more time attacking someone who dared to ask
      the President a tough question, than examine the content of his
      question, esp. since you stated that his question "was very good question" (sic)? How about more on the issues and less personal attack?

      Obama's claim that the government option would have to make it on it's own and not be subsidized is not credible. Do you think that Obama would let his most important program fail or go into huge debt if it couldn't compete? I doubt it. It would be another subsidized
      money loser like Amtrak. The P.O., which Obama mentioned, runs in
      the red even though it has a monopoly on mail delivery. Obama's answer doesn't sound like much of an answer to me, either.

      Thanks,

      Charles

      Reply
    • Kudos to Zach Lane
      Wayne Stevens Wayne Stevens United States says:
      August 17, 2009 at 9:29 PM

      Congratulations are in order to Zach Lane, the University of Colorado student who asked a perfectly respectful and valid question of President Obama at the town hall meeting in Grand Junction on Saturday. It is unfortunate that Mr. Palladino elected not to include the president's response to Mr. Lane's question. Perhaps that is because to do so would underscore once again Mr. Obama's dissembling on this issue in light of other statements he has made over the years and recently on the subject of competition in the healthcare system. Most interesting is at the end of the president's lengthy and rather rambling respone, he mentions UPS and Federal Express with respect to competition with the U.S. Post Office. Evidently the president is oblivious to fact that UPS and FedEx came into being precisely because of the inefficiency of the Post Office, and that they provide better service at lower cost than the corresponding niche within the Post Office.

      In essence, President Obama conceded to Mr. Lane in his response that the private sector cannot effectively compete with a government-run, government-capitalized healthcare. The UPS reference neglects to mention that the U.S. Post Office essentially ceded the entire overnight and package shipping niche of their enterprise to those private competitors. In the case of healthcare, the government has no intention of pemitting such competition to exist. Their restrictions upon all existing insurance policies are so Draconian, with even the slightest change or update in those policies resulting in in automatic transition to the public plan, private competition would in effect be eliminated in the span of a few short years.

      So, once again, I would like to thank and congratulate Mr. Zach Lane on respectful, albeit pointed, question to President Obama. That is the essence of how our representative republic should operate. And shame on anyone who dares to be critical of a private citizen asking an appropriate question of an elected leader and expecting a truthful, honest answer.

      Reply
    • President Obama should apologize
      Kerry Adams Kerry Adams United States says:
      August 17, 2009 at 9:33 PM

      Why should an American citizen apologize to President Obama just for asking a very good question about just one of the many problems with ObamaCare? The president works for us and  we should keep him accountable by confronting him with the questions that most of us have about his attempt to socialize our form of government. He is not getting these types of questions from the media so when a bright young American is able to articulate what many of us would love the chance to do, we should welcome and celebrate it. The fact of the matter is that most Americans would like the government to fix existing entitlement programs like social security and medicare/medicaid before burdening us with yet more failed government programs. At least then they would warrant a little more credibility of which this administration lacks severely.

      Reply
    • Palladino is a Pin-head
      John Scott John Scott United States says:
      August 18, 2009 at 12:27 AM

      Mr. Palladino,

      Why can't the President be challenged to a debate? He is an elected official who works for "we the people". So what is wrong with young or old challenging his opinions? The President chose to  take off his coat, his tie, and "roll-up" his shirt sleeves so that he could appear to be just like one of the people in attendance. He chose to have a town hall style meeting where people could voice their opinions, make statements, and ask questions. Is it because this "whipper-snapper" was young, confident, and asked an intelligent question? Or is it because you still think that young people should be "seen and not heard"?

      I'm 61 years old and I am proud to see the youth of this country standing up and joining the political debate. We ask them to fight our wars so why can't they be supported and respected when they stand up and ask questions? To me you are the one who should be ashamed for even writing what you did. In O'Riely's words, you're a PINHEAD!

      Reply
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