Store-Bought Indignant Protests

[ICantSpellDawg]

Former health insurance exec speaks out:

A former health insurance executive says the disruptions taking place at lawmakers' town halls around the country are the result of stealth efforts by health insurance companies.

Wendell Potter, a former CIGNA vice president, detailed what he said were past covert efforts by the industry. [...] "When you hear someone complaining about traveling down a 'slippery slope to socialism,' some insurance flack, like I used to be, wrote that," Potter added.

Potter said during his 20 years in the insurance business, the industry would funnel money to large public firms who would create front groups and find friendly voices in conservative media.

In particular, he cited front groups created to fight "Patients' Bill of Rights" legislation in the 1990s, as well as a campaign to discredit the Michael Moore film "Sicko," which harshly criticized the industry. [...]

A health insurance trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), sent a letter to congressional leaders earlier this week stating support for "bipartisan health reform" and denying any role in fomenting disruptions at meetings.

Again, do you deny that some people are legitimately pissed about this? Did you blame Communists and anarchists for front protests of the War in Iraq or everything else the Bush Admin did?

The reality is that there is nothing capitalist about monopolistically obfuscating health care costs and obliterating price lowering competition. Health Insurance needs to be reformed as sure as youre born, but the way in which people are doing it is wrong. I don't want Democrats tackling this themselves - they will compound the problem. I also don't want Republicans to do it themselves because they will screw it as well. A Gesture of Good will would be to provide a bigger Republican voice in the process then we might even deserve.

Cost is primary. As long as consumers dictate pricing the system will work. If they don't (as they don't now) the problem will get worse. Democrats don't get this - Republicans have the benefit of being powerless observers and are starting to get it as a matter of survival.

The table needs to be equal. Strong, untainted GOP leadership is needed to wash away the illegitimate blocking tactics and provide balance. They need to show the american people that some Republicans are beign listened to. Lindsay Graham, Paul Ryan and numerous others are just waiting for an outstretched hand.

[Lemur]

Again, do you deny that some people are legitimately pissed about this?

I think most of them are pissed they lost the White House to a negro. Others have been whipped up on misinformation and demagoguery from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. Here's an important read from conervative economist Bruce Bartlett (the entire article is a must-read):

Budget experts have known for years that Medicare was on an unsustainable financial path. It is impossible to pay all the benefits that have been promised because spending has been rising faster than GDP.

In 2003, the Bush administration repeatedly lied about the cost of the drug benefit to get it passed, and Bush himself heavily pressured reluctant conservatives to vote for the program.

Because reforming Medicare is an important part of getting health costs under control generally, Bush could have used the opportunity to develop a comprehensive health-reform plan. By not doing so, he left his party with nothing to offer as an alternative to the Obama plan. Instead, Republicans have opposed Obama's initiative while proposing nothing themselves.

In my opinion, conservative activists, who seem to believe that the louder they shout the more correct their beliefs must be, are less angry about Obama’s policies than they are about having lost the White House in 2008. They are primarily Republican Party hacks trying to overturn the election results, not representatives of a true grassroots revolt against liberal policies. If that were the case they would have been out demonstrating against the Medicare drug benefit, the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, and all the pork-barrel spending that Bush refused to veto.

Until conservatives once again hold Republicans to the same standard they hold Democrats, they will have no credibility and deserve no respect. They can start building some by admitting to themselves that Bush caused many of the problems they are protesting.

[Xiahou]

I think most of them are pissed they lost the White House to a negro.

Wow, that's classy. Most people upset by the healthcare reform proposal are racist- what a great generalization. You should be ashamed of yourself.

If you're not making sweeping racism charges against a large group of people, I'd love to hear exactly what you meant.

[Whacker]

Lemur and Xiahou are what make the backroom worth reading once in a blue moon.

[Lemur]

Xiahou, where were these angry mobs when GWB passed Medicare Part D? Where were they when the $700 billion TARP program was rammed through Congress? Where were they when the CBO predicted a $1.2 trillion deficit before BHO enacted a single policy?

Where were they when Federal spending as a percentage of GDP rose from 18.4 to 20.9? Where was all of this indignation?

Honestly, I think there's a class of people who see the country's racial complexion changing, and it freaks them out. 'Cause on the issues they simply don't have grounds to be as angry as their screaming makes them out to be.

So yeah, there's a racial dimension. I wouldn't call them racists, though. But none of these people took to the streets or screamed at their representatives when far more liberty-robbing events than health care reform took place.

Let's hear your theory: Why the anger now and not previously? Is this just another case of It's okay to do it if you're a Republican?

-edit-

P.S.: Anyone who disagrees with me is going to get turned into Soylent Green when they come in front of my Death Panel.

[Xiahou]

I complained about Medicare part D- and I know I wasn't alone. Even more people were livid over TARP. People's anger over government excess has been snowballing for a long time. And, unlike you, I'm not going to try to attribute all of people's outrage to one or two specific things. Some don't like the plan on it's merits, some are upset that it'll further spike our deficit, some are nuts (there's always a few) and many are upset by a combination of reasons. Protests and anger over government spending have been growing for years. The deficit this year is quadruple what it was last year. If people were uneasy before, how do you think they'd feel now?

But no, it's so much easier for you to say that A)Most of them don't like negroes or B) Those that don't hate blacks are just stupid and being duped into opposition. I'm sure that lumping everyone who is opposed to it into a nice little stereotype makes it so much easier for you to dismiss them. Pathetic.

Which am I, Lemur? I don't like the healthcare reform plans. Is it because I don't like a negro being in the Whitehouse or because I'm too dumb to know what's good for me? It's gotta be one or the other, you said so.

[Lemur]

Well, there is a strong nativist theme with the protesters, sorry. It was even stronger with the Birthers.

We've had federal overspending, overreaching and information grabbing on an epic scale for eight years. But suddenly a negro is president and it's time to bring the guns and scream in our representatives' faces.

Yup, must be a coincidence.

(P.S.: When protester after protester screams about how they're losing "their" America, what do you suppose they're talking about? Physician reimbursement schedules? Rural clinic access provisions?)

-edit-

In response to your edit: Xiahou, I seriously doubt you're attending town hall meetings in PA, screaming at the top of your lungs and declaring that the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants. So as the courts would say, you have no standing.

If you're trying to say that I'm saying anyone who's dissatisfied with the five current healthcare reform bills is a racist or misled, well, epic reading comprehension fail. We are discussing people who try to shout down their representatives at town meetings, not policy wonks or Backroom contributors.

[Crazed Rabbit]

You ever heard of the 'straw that breaks the camel's back' Lemur?

As for suggesting a majority of these protestors are protesting because Obama is black - that's beyond preposterous.

CR

[Xiahou]

We've had federal overspending, overreaching and information grabbing on an epic scale for eight years.

If it was on an epic scale before, what is it now when it has quadrupled, hmmm?

(P.S.: When protester after protester screams about how they're losing "their" America, what do you suppose they're talking about? Physician reimbursement schedules?)

It speaks volumes to you mindset if the first thing you attribute that to is racism. Do you think that people could have other visions of "their" America besides just a white one? Why is it Obama supporters, like yourself, who are always the ones to drag race into everything he does. Do you think some people were harder on Clinton for things that Bush Sr did as well? I've already explained how average people could have a growing sense of outrage over government excess, so let's set them aside and look at the worst sort of partisan hacks. Are there people out there who would give a Republican a pass for something and bash a Democrat for the same thing? Of course there are, I've heard them do it. But I have no idea how you get off attributing "most" people's anger to racism. We've really moved forward in electing a black president haven't we? Before, you'd have to defend a policy on its merit. Now, you can just call opponents racist. Good thing for the post-racial presidency.

In response to your edit: Xiahou, I seriously doubt you're attending town hall meetings in PA, screaming at the top of your lungs and declaring that the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants. So as the courts would say, you have no standing.

The excerpt you quoted said people "Again, do you deny that some people are legitimately pissed about this?"

There was no mention of screaming protesters at rallies in the selection you quoted nor in your response. Many people who are "pissed" protest respectfully, many of us, like myself, don't even go. But we're still upset or "pissed" about what our government is trying to force on us. You glibly dismissed us all as racists(most) or suckers(the rest).

If you're trying to say that I'm saying anyone who's dissatisfied with the five current healthcare reform bills is a racist or misled, well, epic reading comprehension fail. We are discussing people who try to shout down their representatives at town meetings, not policy wonks or Backroom contributors.

More like epic posting fail. I read what you typed. Nothing more or less. If you mean something other than what you type, maybe you should type that instead.

Edit: Even had you said that the protesters are either racists or stupid, that alone would be patently offensive, but at least you would have left me out of your insults.