That is 54%; a majority of Americans do not understand that Medicare is a government program. We are changing from a democracy to a true idiotcracy.
It is mind-boggling that people are seriously that stupid or that poorly informed. How is it possible to have a viable discussion about health insurance with such citizens?
Barney Frank is right: It would be like talking to a wooden table.
Here's another way to look at the misinformation: In our poll, 72% of self-identified FOX News viewers believe the health-care plan will give coverage to illegal immigrants, 79% of them say it will lead to a government takeover, 69% think that it will use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and 75% believe that it will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing care for the elderly. But it would be incorrect to suggest that this is ONLY coming from conservative viewers who tune in to FOX. In fact, 41% of CNN/MSNBC viewers believe the misinformation about illegal immigrants, 39% believe the government takeover stuff, 40% believe the abortion misperception, and 30% believe the stuff about pulling the plug on grandma. What's more, a good chunk of folks who get their news from broadcast TV (NBC, ABC, CBS) believe these things, too. This is about credible messengers using the media to get some of this misinformation out there, not as much about the filter itself. These numbers should worry Democratic operatives, as well as the news media that have been covering this story.
As ThinkProgress has pointed out, Fox News regularly distorts the truth about health care reform. Last week, Media Matters found that over a two day period opponents of health care reform outnumbered supporters by a 6-to-1 margin on Fox.
The worst part of Obama's mishandling of healthcare reform has been his attempts to have a bi-partisan bill. The question is why?
The country voted the Republicans and conservatives out of the federal government because the country had enough of the ineptitude, dishonesty, incompetence, and multiple disasters visited on the country as a result of conservative Republican policies.
If there is anything the Republicans proved in the last 8 years its that they are incapable of leading and running the government. And Senator Judd admitting they "weren't very good stewards of the government", and Senator Grahams's admissions of mismanagement, while sincere, isn't enough to give anyone confidence they can do anything right.
Bush all by himself did more damage to the United States in 8 years than the Soviet Union could in 50.The results of having engaged the Republicans in the healthcare debate are evident. There's been lying, disinformation, smoke screens, and the loud, disruptive, dishonest, holier than thou groups dominating town hall meetings which were stuffed with Republicans and conservatives who still think, after being proved wrong about everything, that they know best. As we saw from the shouters at Senator Specter's town hall, the Republican idea of healthcare reform is limits on medical malpractice awards.
Obama's problem is he didn't take on the lying and disinformation from the beginning, and as John Kerry found out in 2004, lies that go unchallenged can be effective. And believed by ignorant people. Now that Obama has had a few "teachable moments" at the hands of the Republicans he may be a bit wiser.
Soldiers and Marines train intensively to minimize 'teachable moments' in combat that can leave them dead. The fight against the goddam Repugs is less fatal, but war nonetheless.
What's needed now for the sake of real healthcare reform and getting a bill that will do the most good for the most people, which includes a public option, is for Obama and the Democrats to do what the doctor ordered. And that means pulling the plug on the Republicans, ramming the reform bill through with a public option. and asking Senator Grassley and Michael Steele where to send the flowers.
Note to Barry: Look, dude, wise up. Bipartisanship was a nice idea. It didn't work. Those assholes aren't going to vote for real health care/insurance reform in any case, no matter what you do. Tell 'em to go eff themselves and get a bill passed. Ram it down their throats. With a public option or it's all for nought - when you took single-payer off the table, that was the compromise. More than I would have given them.
Time to man up and do what you know is right.
UBS and the IRS reach a final deal:
The Swiss banking giant UBS on Wednesday reached a final deal with the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service in which it will ultimately disclose names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion.Details of the settlement were unveiled Wednesday by the I.R.S. commissioner, Douglas Shulman.
The agreement, he said, also allows the Swiss government to work with other Swiss financial institutions to disclose the identities of other Americans who have hidden money offshore.
UBS will notify the clients whose names are to be disclosed in coming weeks, Mr. Shulman said. Clients still have time to reveal themselves before a voluntary disclosure program ends Sept. 23 to potentially avoid prosecution and steeper penalties and fines, he said.
"I think it's fabulous and fantastic, and hilarious," said Limbaugh, "that a woman shows up at a Barney Frank town hall meeting with an Obama-as-Hitler poster and this Nazi stuff, in his district. I mean, this is unreal."
"But the killer for me was, here's Barney Frank saying, 'What planet do you live on?' to this woman. Isn't it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends of his time living around Uranus?"
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Flashback: then-Alaska Governor Failin declared April 16, 2008 as Death Panel Healthcare Decisions Day to "raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for end of life care." No, really:
WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. …
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim April 16, 2008, as: Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.
Dated: April 16, 2008
Bonus: you know who else supported death panels?
whether he's guilty or not." This should ease the concerns of those innocent souls on Death Row who fear their executions
might be unconstitutional.
Thank you, General, and thanks to all of you who have been doing our bidding at the townhalls. I won't offer you anything of value in return--that would violate my most basic beliefs. But I can offer you the satisfaction of knowing that you have achieved a momentary blip in the thoughts of a very grateful economic elite. You are engaged in the greatest of all civic actions, the defense of our profit margins. For that we thank you.Today, we are threatened with the possibility that a public option will be included in the final healthcare reform bill. It's a fairly remote possibility--we pay our Congressmen well--but one that will yield disastrous consequences on our profit margins should it pass.
You see, a public option would represent a competitive force that would compel us to cut costs. Our compensation is likely one of the places where such cost cutting would occur. Take a look at what some of us are making now:
Let's say the public option forces us to cut our pay by 10%. That would mean our average annual pay would decrease by $1.54 million. We'd have to settle for a vacation estate in Provence rather than a townhouse on the Seine, and poor Junior would suffer the humiliation of driving to Andover in a Corvette rather than a Maserati.
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