The Heart of American democracy today: Democrats AFRAID of the "RUSH (and big biz) will say BAD THINGS ABOUT YOU" smear-machine....
Dave Johnson over at HuffingtonPost hits the HEART OF THE MATTER as to how millions of us Americans have found ourselves stuck in this NIGHTMARE we are in, pouring our blood and treasure into the Iraq war bloodbath, quagmire and corruption nightmare with practically NO consistent and coherent OPPOSITION to Mr. Bush's disastrous leadership, especially in Congress and in the "Major Media" (with the sole exception in the "Major Media" being Mr. Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" news show, and the comedy of Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert's fake-news shows).
Here's what Mr. Johnson says about "The RUSH LIMBAUGH affect," or more simply the DEMAGOGUERY, SMEAR, SLANDER, IGNORANCE, BIGOTRY, and ATTACK-POLITICS RULE AMERICA" effect:
<< In the 90's the Clinton administration offered a comprehensive health care plan that involved private insurers instead of a "Medicare-For-All"-style national health plan, hoping to ward off industry opposition. This was an example of what I call the "Afraid Rush Will Say Something Bad About You" syndrome - the point being that Rush will say something bad about you anyway, no matter what you do. And of course the private insurance companies did oppose the Clinton plan anyway, putting so much money into opposing it that it never even came up for a vote. The effort went beyond just opposing the plan and became personal, with smears and take-no-prisoners tactics directed against anyone involved in trying to bring health care to the public. So much of that money and venom was left over that it helped bring in a Republican congress the following year. >>
IN A NUTSHELL, THIS PARAGRAPH EXPLAINS HOW the Rethuglican Right-Wing has HIJACKED AMERICA, and turned the PEACE, PROSPERITY, PROGRESS, and BOOMING ECONOMY of the Clinton years into the nightmare of RISING POVERTY, RISING CRIME, DECLINING ECONOMIC standards, and the trashing of Civil Rights, privacy, and Constitutional rights marked by the Bush 43 administration.
What is EVEN MORE AMAZING than that Democrats are now effectively "ruled" by the smear-and-slander demagoguery of a blowhard, pill-popping, ignoramus of a Right-Wing radio talk show host, BUT THAT SIX YEARS after George Bush stole the election of 2000, THE DEMOCRATS __STILL__ have NO REAL COUNTER to the news-bias FOR the Rush Limbaugh talking points besides the Air-America and Jones Radio network "liberal" talk show hosts!
Republicans and the Bush administration can STILL count on FOX 'news' network, ABC, CBS, CNN, and ALMOST ALL the network news and cable TV shows to PRESENT THEIR TALKING POINTS, while Democrats do NOT have a SINGLE media outlet dedicated to putting forth a coherent Democratic vision of past triumphs and successes (the New Deal defeating the Depression and President Roosevelt leading America to victory in W.W.II; President Harry Truman laying the foundation of European recovery and the eventual success against the "Cold War"; President John F. Kennedy laying the foundation for winning the space race; President Linden Johnson actually trying to ELIMINATE POVERTY in America, to be sidetracked only by the Vietnam war; and of course President Clinton REVERSING the HUGE REPUBLICAN DEFICITS, brought on by the TRILLION DOLLAR S&L scandal.
Indeed, (partly because so many Democratic leaders were complicit), Democrats can't even spell out to the American people that it was the FAILURE OF PRIVATELY HELD Savings and Loan institutions THAT LED TO THE Bush1 RECESSION of the late 1980s/early 1990s, including the economic despair that in part contributed to Timmy McVeigh's attack on the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. (McVeigh and millions of other Americans were still unemployed in late 1994 during the tail end of the Bush1 recession.)
NEVER has the saying "THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT" been more true. It is NOT enough for Democrats to be on 'the right' side of WINNING economic policies and social programs - THEY MUST HAVE IN PLACE a media communication channel that can COMMUNICATE WITH AMERICAN VOTERS, UNFILTERED by the Rush Limbaugh DEMAGOGUE "spin" imparted by so many of today's networks.
In the 2000 election, Al Gore WON THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS NATIONWIDE by OVER 500,000 votes... yet still the RUSH LIMBAUGH TALKING POINTS determined who would sit in the White House in January.
SIX YEAR LATER, the Democrats STILL have NO ANSWER to the Rush/Fox DEMAGOGUERY, IGNORANCE, SCORN, and DERISION network.
[note: Hillary's bureaucratic boondoggle, known as "Hillary-care" and, according to Dave Johnson's article fashioned in a manner to try to win over the Insurance companies, was a MONSTROSITY that attempted to FORCE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS to become responsible for their worker's heath insurance policies. While thousands of small businesses DO try to provide health insurance to their workers, Hillary-care would have FORCED tens of thousands more small employers to go into the healthcare/health insurance business. Small businesses, and particularly small employers (up to 10 workers), can barely afford paying into social security, providing unemployment insurance, WORKERS COMPENSATION insurance, and the accounting for all the above and federal taxes. MUCH LESS GOING INTO THE HEALTH INSURANCE business!
"Hillary-care" is, as Dave Johnson points out, a TYPICAL example of Democrats PREFERRING TO DO A POLICY or program HALFWAY, rather than CONFRONTING the Right-Wing media demagoguery, smear, and slander machine.
Compare also Al Gore's timid and tepid "Social Security lock-box" campaign of 2000, to his articulate, impassioned, and FORCEFUL comments when he was on the campaign trail with Clinton in 1992, "What is up should be down, what is down should be up!" criticisms of the Bush1 administration.
IF DEMOCRATS DO NOT CONFRONT the radical, reactionary, destructive, and divisive rhetoric of the Republican Right-Wing media machine, WE DO NOT HAVE GENUINE two-party (much less multiparty) DEMOCRACY.
===================================
News For Democrats: Health Insurance Companies WILL Oppose Your Plan Anyway
by Dave Johnson
12.26.2006
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/news-for-democrats-healt_b_37181.html
With a Democratic Congress coming in January, obviously several health care plans are going to be introduced. Here is some free advice to legislators. Don't even bother including private insurance companies in your plans.
Conventional Wisdom thinking is that you have to include private insurance companies in any plan, or they'll put so much money and effort into opposing your plan - and you - that nothing can pass.
In the 90's the Clinton administration offered a comprehensive health care plan that involved private insurers instead of a "Medicare-For-All"-style national health plan, hoping to ward off industry opposition. This was an example of what I call the "Afraid Rush Will Say Something Bad About You" syndrome - the point being that Rush will say something bad about you anyway, no matter what you do. And of course the private insurance companies did oppose the Clinton plan anyway, putting so much money into opposing it that it never even came up for a vote. The effort went beyond just opposing the plan and became personal, with smears and take-no-prisoners tactics directed against anyone involved in trying to bring health care to the public. So much of that money and venom was left over that it helped bring in a Republican congress the following year.
So here is some news for Democrats who are offering health care plans that offer tribute to private insurance companies: They are going to oppose your plan.
Do you think that it is more efficient to use a private insurance company to provide health insurance? Then take a look at what the big corporations do when offering health insurance to large numbers of employees. The big companies "self-insure." They set up their own little internal national-health-care plans for their employees and administer them themselves rather than use private insurance companies because private insurance companies cost too much. Face it: Medicare-For-All is the only plan that will work. These days the private insurance companies are designed to deliver profits and enormous CEO salaries, while delivering the absolute minimum benefit to the public that they can get away with without personally being put in jail -- fines and civil judgments being already factored in.
Do I have a low opinion of insurance companies? You bet. Am I alone? Discuss.
Here's what Mr. Johnson says about "The RUSH LIMBAUGH affect," or more simply the DEMAGOGUERY, SMEAR, SLANDER, IGNORANCE, BIGOTRY, and ATTACK-POLITICS RULE AMERICA" effect:
<< In the 90's the Clinton administration offered a comprehensive health care plan that involved private insurers instead of a "Medicare-For-All"-style national health plan, hoping to ward off industry opposition. This was an example of what I call the "Afraid Rush Will Say Something Bad About You" syndrome - the point being that Rush will say something bad about you anyway, no matter what you do. And of course the private insurance companies did oppose the Clinton plan anyway, putting so much money into opposing it that it never even came up for a vote. The effort went beyond just opposing the plan and became personal, with smears and take-no-prisoners tactics directed against anyone involved in trying to bring health care to the public. So much of that money and venom was left over that it helped bring in a Republican congress the following year. >>
IN A NUTSHELL, THIS PARAGRAPH EXPLAINS HOW the Rethuglican Right-Wing has HIJACKED AMERICA, and turned the PEACE, PROSPERITY, PROGRESS, and BOOMING ECONOMY of the Clinton years into the nightmare of RISING POVERTY, RISING CRIME, DECLINING ECONOMIC standards, and the trashing of Civil Rights, privacy, and Constitutional rights marked by the Bush 43 administration.
What is EVEN MORE AMAZING than that Democrats are now effectively "ruled" by the smear-and-slander demagoguery of a blowhard, pill-popping, ignoramus of a Right-Wing radio talk show host, BUT THAT SIX YEARS after George Bush stole the election of 2000, THE DEMOCRATS __STILL__ have NO REAL COUNTER to the news-bias FOR the Rush Limbaugh talking points besides the Air-America and Jones Radio network "liberal" talk show hosts!
Republicans and the Bush administration can STILL count on FOX 'news' network, ABC, CBS, CNN, and ALMOST ALL the network news and cable TV shows to PRESENT THEIR TALKING POINTS, while Democrats do NOT have a SINGLE media outlet dedicated to putting forth a coherent Democratic vision of past triumphs and successes (the New Deal defeating the Depression and President Roosevelt leading America to victory in W.W.II; President Harry Truman laying the foundation of European recovery and the eventual success against the "Cold War"; President John F. Kennedy laying the foundation for winning the space race; President Linden Johnson actually trying to ELIMINATE POVERTY in America, to be sidetracked only by the Vietnam war; and of course President Clinton REVERSING the HUGE REPUBLICAN DEFICITS, brought on by the TRILLION DOLLAR S&L scandal.
Indeed, (partly because so many Democratic leaders were complicit), Democrats can't even spell out to the American people that it was the FAILURE OF PRIVATELY HELD Savings and Loan institutions THAT LED TO THE Bush1 RECESSION of the late 1980s/early 1990s, including the economic despair that in part contributed to Timmy McVeigh's attack on the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. (McVeigh and millions of other Americans were still unemployed in late 1994 during the tail end of the Bush1 recession.)
NEVER has the saying "THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT" been more true. It is NOT enough for Democrats to be on 'the right' side of WINNING economic policies and social programs - THEY MUST HAVE IN PLACE a media communication channel that can COMMUNICATE WITH AMERICAN VOTERS, UNFILTERED by the Rush Limbaugh DEMAGOGUE "spin" imparted by so many of today's networks.
In the 2000 election, Al Gore WON THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS NATIONWIDE by OVER 500,000 votes... yet still the RUSH LIMBAUGH TALKING POINTS determined who would sit in the White House in January.
SIX YEAR LATER, the Democrats STILL have NO ANSWER to the Rush/Fox DEMAGOGUERY, IGNORANCE, SCORN, and DERISION network.
[note: Hillary's bureaucratic boondoggle, known as "Hillary-care" and, according to Dave Johnson's article fashioned in a manner to try to win over the Insurance companies, was a MONSTROSITY that attempted to FORCE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS to become responsible for their worker's heath insurance policies. While thousands of small businesses DO try to provide health insurance to their workers, Hillary-care would have FORCED tens of thousands more small employers to go into the healthcare/health insurance business. Small businesses, and particularly small employers (up to 10 workers), can barely afford paying into social security, providing unemployment insurance, WORKERS COMPENSATION insurance, and the accounting for all the above and federal taxes. MUCH LESS GOING INTO THE HEALTH INSURANCE business!
"Hillary-care" is, as Dave Johnson points out, a TYPICAL example of Democrats PREFERRING TO DO A POLICY or program HALFWAY, rather than CONFRONTING the Right-Wing media demagoguery, smear, and slander machine.
Compare also Al Gore's timid and tepid "Social Security lock-box" campaign of 2000, to his articulate, impassioned, and FORCEFUL comments when he was on the campaign trail with Clinton in 1992, "What is up should be down, what is down should be up!" criticisms of the Bush1 administration.
IF DEMOCRATS DO NOT CONFRONT the radical, reactionary, destructive, and divisive rhetoric of the Republican Right-Wing media machine, WE DO NOT HAVE GENUINE two-party (much less multiparty) DEMOCRACY.
===================================
News For Democrats: Health Insurance Companies WILL Oppose Your Plan Anyway
by Dave Johnson
12.26.2006
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/news-for-democrats-healt_b_37181.html
With a Democratic Congress coming in January, obviously several health care plans are going to be introduced. Here is some free advice to legislators. Don't even bother including private insurance companies in your plans.
Conventional Wisdom thinking is that you have to include private insurance companies in any plan, or they'll put so much money and effort into opposing your plan - and you - that nothing can pass.
In the 90's the Clinton administration offered a comprehensive health care plan that involved private insurers instead of a "Medicare-For-All"-style national health plan, hoping to ward off industry opposition. This was an example of what I call the "Afraid Rush Will Say Something Bad About You" syndrome - the point being that Rush will say something bad about you anyway, no matter what you do. And of course the private insurance companies did oppose the Clinton plan anyway, putting so much money into opposing it that it never even came up for a vote. The effort went beyond just opposing the plan and became personal, with smears and take-no-prisoners tactics directed against anyone involved in trying to bring health care to the public. So much of that money and venom was left over that it helped bring in a Republican congress the following year.
So here is some news for Democrats who are offering health care plans that offer tribute to private insurance companies: They are going to oppose your plan.
Do you think that it is more efficient to use a private insurance company to provide health insurance? Then take a look at what the big corporations do when offering health insurance to large numbers of employees. The big companies "self-insure." They set up their own little internal national-health-care plans for their employees and administer them themselves rather than use private insurance companies because private insurance companies cost too much. Face it: Medicare-For-All is the only plan that will work. These days the private insurance companies are designed to deliver profits and enormous CEO salaries, while delivering the absolute minimum benefit to the public that they can get away with without personally being put in jail -- fines and civil judgments being already factored in.
Do I have a low opinion of insurance companies? You bet. Am I alone? Discuss.
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