Friday, January 22, 2010

The people are confused about reform

You know how much I hate polls but Kaiser’s January Health Tracking poll [pdf] was fascinating. I did a long form at DetNews on this one but the short version is: A majority supports the specific provisions of the reform bill. The volume of GOP lies that have been taken as fact and the ignorance of the specifics among the electorate is alarming. You can thank our useless tradmed for that.

The Democrats screwed this up by dicking around so long that the GOP had time to build a completely false narrative, playing into the peoples' fear. Just like they have for the last decade. And the only way the party is going to save its sorry ass is to find the balls to tell the GOP and their own corporatists to fuck off and pass a good bill. And I mean now.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

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7 Comments:

Blogger Ruth said...

Actually, the narrative now is the same I heard when medicare was going through, it's about the public. The right considers public interest to be anti-business. No, it doesn't make sense. Beggaring the consumers is what their ideology seeks, and it's really, really bad for business. Don't expect the right wing to be so rational, though, they can't handle facts.

4:23:00 AM  
Blogger Litzz11@yahoo.com said...

Yes, well, that was the whole point, wasn't it? With all of that talk about death panels and Medicare cuts and government bureaucrats and all that nonsense -- the point was to confuse people.

Democrats have never, ever learned how to play ball. They sat on their thumbs. And here we were told that Rahm Emmanuel and Axelrod were such a tough guys and brilliant messagers but they let it happen.

8:02:00 AM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

Hey Ruth, The depth of the cognitive dissonance on the right is astounding Ruth. I read the comments my trolls leave at DetNews and jaw hits floor. Some of these guys have been following for years. They're not so much stupid, not all of them anyway, as they are wilfully deluded.

Hey SoBeale, I'm so frustrated with the Dems, I really wish there was a way to start a viable progressive party. In a way, the teabag faction is making us look bad. They're out there pushing their own candidates.

10:33:00 AM  
Blogger Kevin McKague said...

Not only do more people admit to liking the bill once they actually learn about it, but the MSM fails to mention that many of those polled who dislike the current bill dislike it because it doesn't go far enough.

Polls also show a portion of those who voted for Brown are disgruntled (and self-defeating) Democrats who are angry that the Obama administration and Congressionsal Dems are doing to little to reform Wall Street, and force a public option.

My advice to the Democrats; this is not the time to capitulate to Republicans who want only for the president to fail in spite of the consequences to Americans. People want health care reform, they want Wall Street reform, and the election of Scott Brown does nothing to change that.

11:04:00 AM  
Anonymous abi said...

Kevin, I'm afraid Brown's election does everything to change those things. Obama and the dems screwed up health care reform from day one by starting off with their fall-back, compromise position - the public option, and then proceeded to whittle it down to a splinter of what it should be.

And that was when they had 60 votes in the Senate. Now we're lucky if they can pass a health care bill consisting of nothing but a dozen sweet grandmas traveling around the country kissing boo-boos.

1:29:00 PM  
Blogger Kevin McKague said...

Not necessarily, abi. There's still reconciliation, or the House can swallow their pride and pass the Senate bill. They could ram it through while they hold Brown's certification at the door. Any outrage over decorum would be quickly forgotten by voters when they remember who made it possible for them to see a doctor.

1:57:00 PM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

Abi, the MA Senate election changed nothing. The lesson is the Dems need to get off their butts and start passing some progressive legislation. That's what they were elected for and they're still acting like they're in the minority. 59 is still a majority. Presuming that 60 is necessary buys into the GOP narrative. Reid could overcome that if had any balls.

Kev, I gave the same advice to the Dems and the most irritating part of this whole fiasco is that the MSM refuses to mention that fully half or more of the dissent comes from ppl who think the bill didn't go far enough "to the left."

5:48:00 PM  

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