Actually, for 95% of those, I'd say we did get mad.

Yes, a few people got upset, but nothing close to what this has done. This has practically divided your country.

Second, during Bush's entire presidency there was never as much of an uproar about anything he did as there is as much an uproar over this Health care reform.

Not to mention that to the majority of the world outside wonderful Amurricah it doesn't seem that you guys got as upset as you are now. You may have been pissed yes, but come on.. This doesn't even compare. It has your country in such an upheaval right now that now, the rest of us can see it. Whatever you guys did before with Bush...I dunno but it seems like small grapes compared to this.

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
*Didn't happen.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate
energy policy.
*Didn't happen.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
*Didn't happen but even if we stipulate she was a covert CIA operative nobody go mad at the person who really "outed" her when it was finally publicly released who the leaker was.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
*Actually, many people who oppose Obamacare opposed that as well. Except all the democrats that voted for it, though.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
*Define "no threat".

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.
*Sounds like a bargain and much less expensive than Obamacare.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
*Not sure about that. Even the president has acknowledged that eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse is a Republican issue. Still, very minor compared to what we'll see in Obamacare.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
*Bah, liberals consider anything even slightly less comfortable than a health spa as torture.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
*My bad. I don't get too mad when law enforcement bugs conversations with overseas terrorists.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
*Sure we did. He was offered to wJc prior to 9/11. That really burns us up. As to post 9/11, I'd like to see some of these liberal armchair generals catch anything other than a cold in the mountains of Afghanistan.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
*Please, poor military facilities are only an issue when Republicans are in charge.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
*Wow, really? How many times does someone have to be told to leave, your city is about to flood?

You didn't get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.
*Strange, the rich pay a higher percentage of taxes post-gWb tax cuts. Besides, you can't give tax breaks to anyone other than those that pay taxes, and the rich pay virtually all of them.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.
*Deficit or debt? There's a difference and of course we got mad.

You didn't get mad when the president ignored the clear and timely warning that terrorists were going to hijack planes and fly them into the WTCs.
*This one is actually beneath responding to.

You didn't get mad when the weapons inspectors, who said there were no WMDs, were ignored.
*You mean the weapons inspectors that were denied inspections? Besides, it's not like people in the employ of the UN have any more credibility than those in the intelligence services of the world.

You didn't get mad when hundreds of thousands of people died in Iraq.
*You might have me there. Actually, the right word would be sad and I'm pretty sure that most people other than Stephen Green were sad.

You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans...oh hell no.
*Oh come on, couldn't you come up with a less contrived conclusion to this?

I'm not talking about how many votes were required for specific things to go through or not. I'm talking about what the people in the country seem to be doing about what actions their government is taking. How pissed off the people got. How many buttons could be pushed before they did something.

And I also understand the circumstances in which the War was voted through, thank you for pointing that out though Brian. However, if I recall correctly the UN has called the War in Iraq illegal. IMO, the opinion of the UN overrides anybody sitting in a house of representatives or council chamber.

PS - I am not against America or Americans. So don't think I am just sitting here trying to bash your country. To the rest of the outside world though, it just seems like you guys sit and complain, and do nothing, and now that something potentially good has come along for you, you want nothing but to smash it down and bash how bad it will be. Yet, when all these bad things were going on and even worse decisions being made, you guys seemed to do nothing really. There's a reason why the outside world views you the way they do...I used to love the country and its ideals, but now I absolutely loathe what it has become.

Do you think electing Obama is "doing nothing"? What about the shift to a Democrat controlled congress?

I just think pissing and moaning about your elected officials and their actions is a rising fad in america since Bush's hellraising terms. its like you guys grew balls a little late. While the new health care plan might not fit *YOUR* personal agenda right now, its going to aid americans as a whole. Jump up and down and sing that this plan is not about the right to see a doctor all you want, I do not think that the majority of americans or ESPECIALLY forum goers here are educated or possess the competence to comprehend the plan and predict its success or failure rate. Not Matty, not Wookie, no matter how big they talk, and how condecending they want to be about it. I'm not saying I do anymore than you, however. Your current government is not the enemy here, and at least they are trying to do what's right for your own country. And thankfully, its not invading another country on bogus terms.

In the end though, worse comes to worse, at the very least this problem is not going to drag half the world down along with America like we've witnessed since the turn of the 21st century.

*Sounds like a bargain and much less expensive than Obamacare.

Also, again for the record -- democrats turned out in DROVES to pass those -- they were all for the war and all for the patriot act, among others. That post is pure BS (regardless of your views on the health care legislation).

;1073192']A lot of liberals were saying there were no WMDs from day one, though.

I think that most Americans are complacent. They're too busy watching television, working & sleeping to really care about anything until it begins to affect their quality of life (e.g. when the electricity goes out) or if it scares them in to action (e.g. 9/11). We're taught to fear everything via our system of education (e.g. Socialism) & our media (e.g. terrorism). We're raised to believe that the entire world is against us (including Europe but especially France), that we're on our own & that we need to police the world to prevent those people from coming over here & killing us. We have a 2 party system where both parties are more similar than they are different but we're taught that they're opposites. We wouldn't recognize a Liberal or Socialist if he was skull-****ing us. We know absolutely nothing about anything but we have strong opinions about everything (usually given to us from the media) & that's exactly how our government likes us to be.

...& those of us who at least make an attempt understanding what's wrong w/ us & how to fix it are scared ****less of law enforcement & our government.

They should have voted no, then.

Fact of the matter is, Matty, americans DID do nothing. Case in point, Bush was re-elected for a second term.

He (and a lot of the conservative lawmakers nowadays) doesn't represent what the Republican party has historically been about. Since he pissed off all his republican supporters, a lot of them voted for Obama and other democrats and they ended up with a super majority able to pass any laws they want.

Is this seriously a retort? It's like saying, "Well we just burned 600 billion dollars, but it's okay because it's not as expensive as this new health care bill!" It does not in ANY way make that waste of money valid!

Jep, not entirely accurate -- Kerry won the popular vote.

so stupid that someone i know voted for Bush because "He should clean up his own mess."

so stupid that someone i know voted for Bush because "He should clean up his own mess."

Said person also voted McCain on the grounds that there was a female VP candidate. (Also she thinks Obama is evil or something.)