XDA

I have been a causal observer of American politics since I was in 5th grade and President Kennedy's assassination was announced (to cheers) in my school. I have been a much keener observer since Al Gore tried and failed to keep counting the votes until they came out right (something Gov. Gregoire and Sen. Franken were able to do better). I have seen the excesses of the somewhat paranoid Pres. Nixon (just because you're paranoid doesn't mean...). But I have never seen the likes of the vapors that have overtaken the Democrat leadership when citizens actually dare to opine that the proposed Health Care/Insurance reform legislation is no good.

Let me recount the ways:

Let's start at the top. President Obama said, recently in the Old Dominion:

I don’t want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking.

Shut up, he explained.

Here's what Speaker of the House said in response to the question: Do you think there’s a legitimate grassroots movement going on here?

I think they’re AstroTurf. You be the judge. They’re carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care.

Godwin's Law aside, government taking over the control, but not the ownership, of business is the essence of fascism and the Nazis were German fascists (self named national socialists and therefore lefties). So aside from the insane Jew hatred and genocide and all the other important baggage, it is not an inaccurate historical comparison. Still, the sign Ms. Pelosi was almost certainly referring to (from here in Colorado) had the swastika inside a red circle with a red line through it, like a no smoking sign in symbols. Being against swastikas, and what they stand for, is NOT the same as showing support for swastikas, und so weiter. More here.

There there's Senator Barbara "Don't call me Ma'am" Boxer, saying:

"Let's make this Obama's Waterloo. Let's break him." That's what this is about. And by the way I saw some of the clips of people storming these town hall meetings. The last time I saw well-dressed people doing this...

The horror of the meeting attendance by well dressed neo-storm troopers was echoed by White House Spokesman Gibbs:

I would point out that I don't know what all those guys were doing, what were they called, the Brooks Brothers Brigade in Florida in 2000, appear to have rented a similar bus and are appearing together at town hall meetings throughout the country.

More here.

Then there's the Ministry of Truth's reaction video, starring former reporter Linda Douglass, located on the White House Blog:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

That the so called disinformation complained about is the playing of an older clip of Obama saying he supports a single payer plan and will work to get one by increments doesn't seem to merit a mention. The reaction is merely to play Obama's recent serial lie* about keeping your own insurance under the new plan. That has tones of 'pay no attention to that man behind the curtain' to a lot of people and hints of the jackboot (sorry for the Nazi imagery) in this snitch invitation.

I could go on and on but here is a funnier and better mind at work:

The Washington Post’s Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (not, as far as I know, a Brooks sister to the Brooks Brothers) says “the town hall demolition derby” is “cynically designed and carried out in order to destroy real debate in the public square over health insurance reform.” Decrying the snarling, angry protesters, liberal talk-show host Bill Press (no relation to the Corby Trouser Press) says that “Americans want serious discussion” on health care. If only we’d stuck to the president’s August timetable and passed a gazillion-page health-care reform entirely unread by the House of Representatives or the Senate (the world’s greatest deliberative body) in nothing flat, we’d now have all the time in the world to sit around having a “serious discussion” and “real debate” on whatever it was we just did to one-sixth of the economy.

But a sick, deranged, un-American mob has put an end to all that moderate and reasonable steamrollering by showing up and yelling insane, out-of-control questions like, “Awfully sorry to bother you, your Most Excellent Senatorial Eminence, but I was wondering if you could tell me why you don’t read any of the laws you make before you make them into law?”

*The President cannot guarantee that your employer, by whom most health insurance is paid, will continue to subsidize the health care insurance you like, particularly in light of the economic pressure in the bill for the employer to drop their plans and also in light of the language in the bill which prohibits health insurers from offering any coverage different from the government option. Either way, the majority of Americans end up in the government option, the DMV brand of health care insurance. Who wouldn't enthusiastically support that result?

Rather than go all ad hominem on those who have real, informed objections to the proposed legislation, wouldn't it be better to answer the questions and explain why the government option is the solution we've all been waiting for?

Labels: Health Care Debates