health care protesters
A couple of people have commented far more cogently than I ever could on the disruption of town hall meetings by angry protesters and the hypocrisy of health care providers fighting reform of the industry. It’s too bad that the meetings are so out of control As Abe Sauer at The Awl concludes, these people are just angry, legitimately so in many ways. Unfortunately, I believe they will be worse off if their protests succeed in derailing health care reform. And the noise makes real debate next to impossible.
A Primer For the Coastal Elite: What Do the Tea Party Folks Want? An on-the-scene report from a rally in North Dakota, with photos. At The Awl.
The Hypocrisy of Healthcare Protesters at Salon.com. Darren Hutchinson of Dissenting Justice guest-blogs at Glenn Greenwald’s spot while the latter is on vacation. So many people have rediscovered the dangers of big government, which they ignored or even supported under George Bush. But really, it’s worth reading for the way it points out that we have nothing like free-market competition in health care as it stands.
My favorite of the many nutty protest signs seen recently? “Get Government out of My Medicare!” You can’t make this stuff up.
Comments
I love the people who are all, "No socialized medicine and don't mess with my Medicare!" I laugh and laugh and laugh.
Posted by: Andrea | August 14, 2009 07:28 PM
I can only laugh to keep from crying. This debate doesn't divide neatly down to bumper sticker slogans, and I'm beginning to be afraid it's over the heads of most of the American public.
You have to want to find out what the truth is if we're ever going to get this right, and most people just want to give their kneejerk reactions and move on.
Posted by: pat | August 16, 2009 04:27 PM
Do you watch The Rachel Maddow Show, Pat? She has been absolutely on fire all month with her brilliant take-downs of the lies and hypocrisy regarding the health care reform "debates". On last night's show, she focused on finding the real forces behind these seemingly grassroots protests: Astroturfing 101.
Posted by: Liz | August 18, 2009 11:19 AM
Liz, that was excellent! I'm going to post the link on Facebook if it's ok with you.
Posted by: pat | August 18, 2009 05:35 PM
Post away, Pat! Embed the video. Rachel should be seen by as many people as possible, as far as I'm concerned.
The show is always on her website the next day, in handy byte-sized pieces of each story - set up for easy linking and video embedding. Or you can get video or audio podcasts at iTunes, if that's your thing.
A great piece from last night's show laid out how the Republicans' version of the facts regarding health care reform differs from what those of in the reality-based universe.
Posted by: Liz | August 19, 2009 08:23 AM