Healthcare and The Land of the Disintegrating Talking Point

Is it just me, or are conservative TV talking heads and Blue Dogs the only people who are sticking to the talking points set up to kill Healthcare reform? It seems like it. Hell, even Republicans are having a hard time staying on point. Case in point, tin foil hatter and Minnesota Representative, Michelle Bachman

Approximately 114 million Americans are expected to leave private health insurance. Why? Their employers will drop the insurance because the taxpayer-subsidized plan will be 30 to 40 percent cheaper. This action will collapse the private health insurance market, and then the Federal Government will own the health provider game. (Source)

Cheaper, more efficient healthcare is worse? Who knew?

Michelle, the mothership sent out talking points just yesterday. That wasn’t one of them.

Still, the media is faithfully spewing RNC talking points like they’re all that’s been programmed into the pull string in their backs. Do any of these sound familiar?

* President Obama and Democrats are conducting a grand experiment with our economy, our country, and now our health care.

* President Obama’s massive spending experiments have created more debt than at any other time in our nation’s history.
* The President experimented with a $780 billion dollar budget-busting stimulus plan and unemployment is still rising. The President experimented with banks and auto companies, and now we’re on the hook for tens of billions of dollars with no exit plan.
* Now the President is proposing more debt and more risk through a trillion dollar experiment with our health care.
* Democrats are proposing a government controlled health insurance system, which will control care, treatments, medicines and even what doctors a patient may see.
* This health care experiment will have consequences for generations, but President Obama and Democrats want to ram this legislation through Congress in two months.
* President Obama’s health care experiment is too much, too fast, too soon. Our country cannot afford to fix health care through a rushed experiment.
* Americans want health care reform that addresses, not increases, cost or debt.
* Government takeover is the wrong way to go — health care decisions should remain between the doctor and the patient.

Apparently the RNC is “experimenting” with writing talking points. (/snark)

The media blitz, and the lobbying effort, which is spending like there’s no tomorrow, and cherry-picking their facts, does seem to be having some effect…on Blue Dogs.

Apparently, they’ve been getting the RNC talking points, and have come out to block the bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee (Source). You’ll notice that one of the listed Blue Dogs is our very own Bart Gordon. Lincoln Davis and John Tanner probably aren’t far behind.

Republicans are using this dissention to try and push a “centrist” plan of their own. Read down in the comments and notice the FUD spouted by commenter TNvolunteer73.

Yesterday, The Hill published an article about support for a “public option”. In the article, the author sites the Rasmussen poll as more than an outlier, but an outright liar. The poll asks if people support “a government health insurance company to compete with private insurance companies.” From the article:

In fact, only one poll asking a straight favor/oppose question has recorded majority opposition — but generating that opposition required Rasmussen to misstate the facts. They asked about creating “a government health insurance company to compete with private insurance companies.” The only surprise is that just 50 percent thought a government-run health corporation was a bad idea. Of course, no legislation under consideration in the House or the Senate even contemplates creation of a “government health insurance company.” So if some day someone were to actually propose such an animal, Rasmussen can responsibly say the public is opposed — until then their poll is meaningless.

Math is hard, honesty is harder!

So yesterday, President Obama (yes, he’s the President and I call him President, not Mr. or any of the other things that people on TV call him other than President) met with some of the malcontented Blue Dogs. Whether or not this meeting will net any real movement on the issue or not is still up in the air, but $24b/year in deficits to insure nearly 100% of Americans seems cheap. Hell, it’s only 4.5% of the Defense Budget! Further, that number is BEFORE any additional cost savings, and they’re still working on that.

This morning’s USAToday notes in an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that Dems are working to squeeze bill’s costs. Focusing on areas of agreement rather than dissention, the House Speaker believes that ”…We are closer than ever before to the reform that the American people need, and we’re going to get the job done.”

So maybe all’s not as bad as it sounds. Still, that’s not a reason to let your guard down, or get comfortable. We still have to demand a real health care solution from our Representatives and Senators. To that end, HCAN released this ad last week.

Seriously, calling and emailing is the way to get in touch with these folks. Writing a letter is nice, but it can be more easily ignored than a constantly ringing phone. If you live in the 6th, and you want a public option, you best get to dialing. That’s the only thing that’s going to turn Gordon’s vote to our side.

Give Rep. Gordon a ring, here are his digits 877-264-4226.

Finally, I think every morning post needs some humor, and while I work hard at being snarky, I’m hardly a professional. So here’s Lewis Black destroying Republican talking points on Health Care.

( h/t Bruinkid)

Have a Healthy Day!