Who Hijacked Our Country

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Bill Maher to Democrats: “'Stand Your Ground' on Obamacare”

Democratic strategists have been saying this for the last few months:  Don't hide under your desk and pretend the Obamacare rollout wasn't a disaster and that there aren't millions of Americans who are pissed off and worried about their future health care.  The Affordable Care Act — i.e. Obamacare — will be the dominant political issue between now and November.  Whichever party does a better job of getting out in front of this issue and framing the debate will be the party that prevails in November.  (And no, it's not a done deal that the Senate will go Republican.)

Bill Maher has this advice for Democrats:

“Stand your ground.  When a Tea Partier says, ‘Obamacare is a government takeover,’ say, ‘I wish — because that would mean Medicare for all.’”

He pointed out that most Americans are in favor of expanding Medicare and Medicaid, and agree that insurance companies should NOT be allowed to turn people down because of a pre-existing condition; and that Democrats haven't capitalized on this:

“No wonder the Republicans have such an easy time selling their argument about Obamacare — which is basically, ‘Hey, we tried it, it was a big failure.’  How about volleying that one back with, ‘What? We’re still signing people up for Christ’s sakes, how can we even know if it’s a failure? What we do know is that Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum think it will kill their children. No, you guys are thinking of assault rifles.’”

He also had some good things to say about Jimmy Carter, whose “failed presidency” is still talked about by the Far Right:

“Failed by whose standards?  We may not have had a great economy in the ’70s, but I’ll tell you something else we didn’t have — a war.  Obama’s supposed to be an environmentalist — he should be inspired by the president who put solar panels on the White House roof, not the president who came after him and tore them down because he thought the Sun was interfering with Nancy’s astrology.”

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5 Comments:

Blogger Jim Marquis said...

There was a good Danny Westneat column today in the Seattle Times that pointed out the number of uninsured has in Washington state has dropped by over 25 percent since the ACA went into effect.

March 30, 2014 at 12:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

is the excerpt from the letters to my local newspaper an example of Tea Party like thought?

"The last writer says everybody deserves affordable healthcare coverage, but how to do it? He forgets that everyone has coverage of a sort: if you appear at a hospital emergency room sick or injured, they must treat you as a matter of law. If you want more coverage than that, you can buy it."

Yeah right a perfect way to stay healthy Emergency Room Therapy and just buy more Insurance if you need it - simple as that.

Who needs Obama Care?

Erik

March 30, 2014 at 7:10 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Jim: I liked that Danny Westneat column too. Basically the blue states are trying help their citizens by making Obamacare work as well as possible. The red states are throwing their own people under the bus just so they can diss that Commie from Kenya.

Erik: Yup, that's one of the Right's favorite talking points. If they could, they'd eliminate the requirement for ERs to help everyone who comes in; but in the meantime they can keep saying "hey, just go to the emergency room."

March 31, 2014 at 3:21 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

Bill M. is a wise man, and Jimmy C. was an excellent president. One of our best. Ever.

Also, the ACA is rapidly gaining popularity.

It's getting better all the time

April 1, 2014 at 6:50 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Snave: Interesting survey. The results are pretty mixed but the trend seems to be increasing support for the ACA.

April 1, 2014 at 6:56 PM  

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