Lie, rinse, repeat.
That's what republicans in congress are doing. And it's working. At least their lies are well thought through and organized as follow:
1. Admit there is a crisis.
Just months ago, there was no health crisis according to the GOP. Taking the pulse of America persuaded them to recognizes a crisis but disagree on the solution. That makes them look like they are looking for a solution. On that note, what does the GOP plan call for since there is a crisis. Forgot, they decided not to come up with a plan. Convenient!
2. "A Washington takeover would lead to bureaucrats making people stand in line and denying treatment like they do in other countries with national healthcare."
What are those countries? Are those the same countries the World Health Organization (WHO) said had better health care than the US? France, Italy? The top two health care systems in the world with national health care, where infant mortality, obesity, expectancy of life and every medical metric we know of are far better than the US? Which third world country with better health care than the US do they deny treatment? Columbia, Morrocco?
3. This health care experiment will have consequences for generations, but President Obama and Democrats want to ram this legislation through Congress in two months.
You mean for sixty years, we've been talking about it and during the last five months you all knew a bill was coming. The reality is this is what this is what they do every time you bring the subject. We know have them on the record saying they want to slow it down and kill it.
4. Obama experimented with the stimulus. It did not work. He experimented with banks. It did not work.
For starters, George Bush started the bank bailouts. Remember that guy? Amnesia is pretty convenient. And that was a good thing. There is no telling where the situation would have been like today, had we done nothing. Their recipe for all ills seems to be "DO NOTHING." The stimulus is not working? Where is the data genius? The markets are doing well, number of banks are paying back the stimulus that the GOP said taxpayers will never see. If all banks pay back the money, tax payers will make money off of the loan. And they are repaying already!!!
5. Obama will kill seniors.
Typical GOP babble.
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Comments: 25
If everyone has access to quality healthcare then who are they going to feel superior to?
Anyone that can't manage to pull up the entire bill and read it for themselves should just have a big plate of STFU!
Start HERE and go to page 425 before you believe the misinformation being doled out by the shovelful!
Click here: http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf
http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf
Time to go full court against insurance companies. When we are done with them, the public will be 100% against them.
Someone has to admit the patient.
Someone takes a history, to see if the patient is allergic to the Advil.
Someone cleaned the room the patient is taken into.
A doctor has to order the Advil.
Someone takes the order and sends it to the pharmacy.
Someone in the pharmacy fills the order.
Someone in the pharmacy had to order the Advil from the pharmaceutical company, and someone had to clean the floors in the pharmacy.
A runner takes the Advil to the unit the patient is in.
Someone maintained the elevator the runner used and cleaned the floors in the halls between the pharmacy and the patient unit.
Someone accepted the Advil on the unit, and someone took the Advil to the patient.
And all of those someones expect to be paid.
Why can they get you a burger for less than $25?
I'm a big Obama supporter and I advocate a major sector of our country having the option of choosing health care, administered by the Federal Government.
But it seems to me, that the following is true:
The implementation of a Federal Health Care plan is likely a daunting task.
I do not necessarily believe that anyone, yet, understands HOW to do it correctly.
Before it begins, there needs to be demonstrable evidence that it's going to work; that Congress will have anticipated any major or moderate boondoggle.
I am not at all sure that Congress has done that yet.
I realize that we can't anticipate all the problems--before they happen. Nevertheless, one gets the feeling that things are being expedited instead of contemplated.
What's more, we don't want Obama's political liabilities to increase--and if something major goes wrong, with this plan, he could lose re-election....solely on the basis of its failure.
Thanks.
What do you mean by Federal Health Care plan?
Let's say they want an entire care system administered by the gov. What leads you to believe that they can't do it? How about the VA? That's a federal government run health care system for all our veterans. We've been doing it for decades.
B) - They are resorting to the scare tactics they used to kill legislation in 1993 - Let's hope people are smart enough to see through it
C) - It's time to make people realize that this isn't a fight between Democrats and Republicans - after all the conseravtives were hijacked by the likes of Lembaugh, Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly - who are nothing more than shills for the special interest - do you honestly think radio and TV stations can afford to pay their salies by themselves.
THIS IS A FIGHT BETWEEN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE CORPORATIONS AND THEIR LOBBYISTS.
There is going to be a case heard before the Supreme Court in the fall involving the corporations receiving full 'natural person' status - including freedom of expression - which they 'express' with money.
If the Big Buisness get their way - we will become the Corporate States of America
Don't believe me - do nothing and let this legislation fail - this is the testing ground to see how much power they have over this congress - to finish the job they've been chipping away at over the past 30 years
Unfortunately, the ins companies are exploiting the culture of party wars and are with people from the opposition party. They foolishly oppose anything the other party does, thereby cite with companies stealing their money on a daily basis under the masquerade of caring for them when they get sick.
really, i hope we get a health care plan. then us who have no insurance will get treated better. the gop just doesnt want us lil folk to be healthy, just another thing they want for themselves
I hope people are paying attention!!!
I love it!
When the public opinion tide begins to turn, the liberals come out en mass to assault the people who oppose their leader!
I have VA single payer so I don't worry about my coverage - my job now is to educate the brain dead lemmings from BOTH parties that doing nothing is going to bankrupt the
country
You know Dan - I hope you're still laughing when you or someone you care about loses insurance, gets denied for a pre-exisiting condition or lose their home because they can't pay a bill
Senator Baucus,
With all due respect, Sir - How dare you block REAL healthcare reform
We know the truth:
From healthbeat blog:
June 24, 2009
A Telling Table: Senators and Contributions from Health Insurers
Here is an eye-opening table revealing which Senators have received the largest contributions from PACs representing the insurance industry. Compare the names on the list to those who suggest it would be “unfair” if private insurers had to compete with a public-sector insurance plan that could offer better, less expensive insurance to all of us. The numbers come from this site. (Thanks to Brad F. for calling my attention to this website. )
Senator Cycles PAC $
Baucus (D-MT) 3.125 $141,250
McConnell (R-KY) 3.125 $110,750
Nelson (D-NE) 3.125 $106,123
Kyl (R-AZ) 3.125 $106,000
Gregg (R-NH) 3.125 $103,500
Grassley (R-IA) 3.125 $95,000
Lincoln (D-AR) 3.125 $91,000
Enzi (R-WY) 3.125 $87,000
Chambliss (R-GA) 3.125 $86,750
Ensign (R-NV) 3.125 $85,750
======================================
AVERAGE SENATOR $37,267
On the website, Nate Silver explains that the table is “based on data downloaded from OpenSecrets.org, a.k.a. the Center for Responsive Politics. Contributions were tallied from two industry codes: F3200 (Accident & Health Insurance) and H3700 (HMO's). Data covers the 2004, 2006 and 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles. The fundraising data is adjusted based on the number of cycles that the senator has participated in as a Congressman (including time spent in the House of Representatives) or as a candidate, where 2010 is treated as 1/8th of a cycle since one quarterly report has so far been filed from the two-year period. So, for example, a senator that ran for and won office in 2006 is treated as participating in 2 1/8th out of a possible 3 1/8th cycles: 2006 as a candidate, and then 2008 and the fractional cycle in 2010 as a senator.”
Silver goes on to point out that: “Some 37 senators are listed by Howard Dean’s website as supporting the public option so far: 36 Democrats plus Olympia Snowe. [So much for the theory that no Republican Senator would vote for the public plan—mm] To Dean's list I add Arlen Specter as a 'yes' vote, based on a recent public statement.
Silver then built “a model to explain and predict whether a particular senator supports the public option. The variables in the model are as follows:
-- The senator's ideology, as measured by his DW-Nominate score. Click here and scroll down to “most recently viewed pages” to find DW scores.
-- Per capita health care spending in the senator's home state;
-- Lobbying contributions received by the senator from health insurance PACs since 2004.
Using that model, he found that, “Lobbying contributions appear to have the largest marginal impact on middle-of-the-road Democrats. Liberal Democrats are likely to hold firm to the public option unless they receive a lot of remuneration from health care PACs. Conservative Democrats may not support the public option in the first place for ideological reasons, although money can certainly push them more firmly against it. But the impact on mainline Democrats appears to be quite large: if a mainline Democrat has received $60,000 from insurance PACs over the past six years, his likelihood of supporting the public option is cut roughly in half from 80 percent to 40 percent."
"(One caution: It's possible that we're confusing cause and effect: perhaps senators receive a lot of money from the insurance industry because they hold conservative positions on health care, rather than the other way around. Although I believe that accounting for ideology should correct for most of this, I'm open to suggestions on an alternative model design that would better be able to disentangle these effects.)
“Note that PAC money spent on Republicans is completely wasted insofar as the public option goes. Someone like Jim DeMint is almost certainly not going to support the public option to begin with; you don't need to give him any further incentive to oppose it! Of course, the insurance industry may get its money's worth in other ways, such as by generating more vigorous opposition from these Republicans to more "bipartisan" versions of health care reform.
“What happens if we set the lobbying variable to zero for all senators? That is, suppose that the health care insurance industry were prohibited from making political contributions? In that case, the model predicts, 47 senators would currently support the public option, as opposed to the 38 who actually do. In other words, the insurance industry's influence appears to swing about 9 votes against the public option. Whatever number of senators wind up supporting the public option, add 9 to it, and you'll have a decent ballpark estimate for what the level of support might be if not for insurance industry contributions. Note, however, that we haven't attempted to model the impact of contributions from other interest groups, including both pro-health reform organizations such as labor unions or other stakeholders like pharmaceutical companies.”
I’m not a political scientist, so I am not going to comment on Silver’s model. But I do find the numbers—and his analysis—fascinating.
Posted by Maggie Mahar on June 24, 2009 | Email this post
Take the August break and consider whether you want to do the right thing - ignore the special interest and serve not only the people of Montana , but the the United States as well - or not only lose your chairmanship, democrats and Independents will back a Senator who WILL give us the reform we need and you'll be voted out of office if you allow the public option be stripped out of the legislation. You already screwed us by not including single payer to be considered.
Think about it Senator
Baucus' office has a revolving door for lobbyists:
" * Roger Blauwet, Baucus’ tax counsel, who now lobbies for Merck, Wyeth, and other pharmaceutical interests
* Jeff Forbes, Baucus’ former chief of staff, who represents the interests of several pharmaceutical companies
* Scott Olsen, a one-time Baucus policy adviser, has been a lobbyist for Amgen since 2004.
* Melissa Wier, Baucus’ former chief trade counsel, who lobbies for Assurant and Ace Limited insurance companies
One particularly noteworthy Baucus alum–a powerful former Baucus chief of staff named David Castagnetti–is now a lobbyists for America’s Health Insurance Plans–the health insurance industry’s enormous and powerful professional association."
Should this man be the chairman of the Senate finance committee? Baukus won't even run any deal by his caucus before he shakes hands on an agreement with Republicans. Baukus is a shill for the insurance industry.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/21/2003363.aspx
Him and Chuck "There will be no public option" Grassley have been 'working together" - yeah to kill healthcare and keep the special interest money coming
we should petition Harry Reid to pass the bill to have the committee chairmen reviewed and removed if they're doing a sh*tty job - or just have Baucus thrown out of the Democratic party - or better yet petiton to have the citizens of Montana vote his sorry ass out of office
according to open secrets.org here is a list of the top 100 contributors to the Democrats and Republicans over the past 20 years:
Heavy Hitters
Top All-Time Donors 1989-2008 Summary
View party split for:
All cycles2008 cycle LEGEND: Republican Democrat On the fence
= Between 40% and 59% to both parties
= Leans Dem/Repub (60%-69%)
= Strongly Dem/Repub (70%-89%)
= Solidly Dem/Repub (over 90%)
Rank Organization Total Dem % Repub % Tilt
1 AT&T Inc $43,225,567 44% 55%
2 Am Fed of State, County & Municipal Employees $40,965,173 98% 1%
3 National Assn of Realtors $35,059,763 48% 51%
4 Goldman Sachs $31,111,912 64% 35%
5 American Assn for Justice $30,733,929 90% 9%
6 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $30,733,491 97% 2%
7 National Education Assn $29,908,375 92% 6%
8 Laborers Union $28,201,600 92% 7%
9 Service Employees International Union $27,510,607 95% 3%
10 Carpenters & Joiners Union $27,368,258 89% 10%
11 Teamsters Union $27,151,254 92% 6%
12 Communications Workers of America $26,633,246 99% 0%
13 Citigroup Inc $26,545,405 50% 49%
14 American Medical Assn $26,188,799 39% 60%
15 American Federation of Teachers $25,994,021 98% 0%
16 United Auto Workers $25,403,502 98% 0%
17 Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union $24,793,477 98% 0%
18 National Auto Dealers Assn $23,987,908 31% 68%
19 Altria Group $23,849,491 27% 71%
20 United Food & Commercial Workers Union $23,742,074 98% 1%
21 United Parcel Service $23,517,045 36% 63%
22 American Bankers Assn $21,734,466 41% 58%
23 National Assn of Home Builders $21,401,355 35% 64%
24 EMILY's List $20,911,560 99% 0%
25 National Beer Wholesalers Assn $20,301,345 31% 68%
26 Microsoft Corp $19,676,974 52% 46%
27 Time Warner $19,614,971 71% 28%
28 JPMorgan Chase & Co $19,371,448 51% 48%
29 National Assn of Letter Carriers $19,205,934 88% 11%
30 Morgan Stanley $18,093,316 45% 53%
31 AFL-CIO $17,872,217 95% 4%
32 Verizon Communications $17,815,390 39% 59%
33 FedEx Corp $17,646,056 40% 59%
34 Lockheed Martin $17,621,542 42% 57%
35 General Electric $17,257,803 50% 49%
36 National Rifle Assn $17,095,136 17% 82%
37 Sheet Metal Workers Union $16,907,563 97% 2%
38 Ernst & Young $16,719,024 44% 55%
39 Credit Union National Assn $16,669,386 47% 51%
40 Bank of America $16,509,521 47% 52%
41 Operating Engineers Union $16,222,850 85% 14%
42 American Hospital Assn $15,998,859 52% 47%
43 American Dental Assn $15,976,579 46% 53%
44 Plumbers & Pipefitters Union $15,770,736 94% 5%
45 Blue Cross/Blue Shield $15,464,044 39% 60%
46 International Assn of Fire Fighters $15,372,243 82% 17%
47 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu $15,360,480 34% 65%
48 Air Line Pilots Assn $15,291,917 84% 15%
49 PricewaterhouseCoopers $14,947,133 36% 63%
50 Natl Assn/Insurance & Financial Advisors $14,845,205 42% 56%
51 AFLAC Inc $14,407,869 44% 55%
52 Merrill Lynch $14,298,010 37% 61%
53 Union Pacific Corp $13,845,948 23% 76%
54 United Steelworkers $13,432,947 99% 0%
55 Boeing Co $13,377,302 46% 52%
56 United Transportation Union $13,317,045 88% 11%
57 Reynolds American $13,285,727 24% 74%
58 Pfizer Inc $13,201,017 29% 70%
59 BellSouth Corp $12,993,782 45% 54%
60 Ironworkers Union $12,786,775 92% 7%
61 American Institute of CPAs $12,698,585 42% 57%
62 Credit Suisse Group $12,140,965 44% 55%
63 American Postal Workers Union $11,640,973 95% 4%
64 National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn $11,620,221 51% 47%
65 General Dynamics $11,399,799 46% 53%
66 American Financial Group $11,314,325 18% 81%
67 GlaxoSmithKline $10,892,244 28% 70%
68 Walt Disney Co $10,803,009 67% 32%
69 Chevron $10,644,894 25% 74%
70 Exxon Mobil $10,471,723 14% 85%
71 Natl Active & Retired Fed Employees Assn $10,430,000 77% 21%
72 MBNA Corp $10,059,006 17% 82%
73 General Motors $9,947,394 38% 60%
74 UST Inc $9,935,061 21% 78%
75 Freddie Mac $9,860,490 43% 56%
76 AIG $9,743,312 50% 49%
77 Human Rights Campaign $9,742,875 90% 9%
78 National Restaurant Assn $9,645,995 15% 83%
79 Southern Co $9,503,495 31% 68%
80 Prudential Financial $9,328,974 48% 51%
81 MetLife Inc $9,282,115 55% 44%
82 American Academy of Ophthalmology $9,162,538 52% 47%
83 National Cmte to Preserve Social Security & Medicare $9,112,499 80% 19%
84 Eli Lilly & Co $8,979,924 28% 71%
85 CSX Corp $8,932,385 31% 68%
86 Associated General Contractors $8,811,941 14% 85%
87 Amway/Alticor Inc $8,717,101 0% 99%
88 National Cmte for an Effective Congress $8,707,940 99% 0%
89 American Maritime Officers $8,606,031 46% 53%
90 Archer Daniels Midland $8,229,114 43% 56%
91 Seafarers International Union $8,098,644 84% 14%
92 MCI Inc $8,093,472 46% 53%
93 American Airlines $8,006,873 47% 52%
94 American Council of Life Insurers $7,545,266 37% 62%
95 Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn $7,353,627 74% 25%
96 Bristol-Myers Squibb $7,282,437 21% 78%
97 Enron Corp $6,633,207 29% 70%
98 Andersen $6,313,422 37% 62%
99 BP $6,100,421 28% 71%
100 Vivendi $4,439,940 66% 32%
If you look at the trends: Unions give more to Democrats
Corporations favor Republicans
neither side is immune from special interest - so I propose is legislation to curb their "influence" - or as we called it in the old days: bribery
Based on data released by the FEC on May 12, 2009.
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center
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