It's times like these that I wonder if politicians are deliberately swindling us, or if they are actually as ignorant as their rhetoric implies. Governor Gregoire spent some up-close-and-personal time with President Obama discussing health care reform.

The soiree included just the President, Governor Gregoire and three other governors in a spectacle clearly designed to prop up public perception. They hope we actually think that they have well thought out plan that will benefit everybody and will result in free health care for all....and free "quality" health care, at that.

The truth is, there is little thought and very little concern about the consequences we face if the President's health care plan is passed. What makes me wonder, though, is the Governor's statement of caution concerning the costs of publicly managed health care. In this Seattle P-I blog post,  after expressing her support for health care reform, she is quoted as saying: "The costs would have to be absorbed at the federal level," because, according to her, the recession battered states are in no position to incur additional costs.

Does she really believe that the federal government is it's own funded entity? Has somebody told the Governor that federal programs are funded by the citizens of her state as well as all the other states? Why would the federal government be able to absorb costs that the states cannot afford? All costs are passed down to the taxpayers. She rightly recognizes that such an overhaul will indeed incur additional costs. I guess she thinks as long as her budget doesn't have to cover it, then it's free! Or else, the Governor speaks with a forked tongue.