http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=1427419&spid=24698

Obama Says Talk Radio Impacting Health Care Debate



CLEVELAND -- July 24, 2009: Discussing health-care reform at a "town hall" Q&A, President Obama said, "You know, all those folks who are out there saying, we can't afford this; this is socialism; this will lead to government-run health care; all the folks who are getting ginned up on Talk radio and some of these cable news shows, you know, I have to say that they have an effect on members of Congress."

Obama also said it's "OK" that a health care reform bill may not be produced in the Senate before the August recess. He said, "I just want people to keep working, just keep working."

Here is the transcript of this quote about talk radio from Obama in the article above: 

OBAMA: It makes members of Congress nervous. So they need to hear from folks who are saying, in a very common-sense way, this is something we can do..."

in early August (Howard Fineman is a liberal MSNBC commentator who in my opinion was deep in the tank for Obama during the entire 2008 election so I do not think that he is being biased against Obama right now):

http://www.thechrismatthewsshow.com/html/transcript/index.php?selected=1&id=176

The Chris Matthews Show
August 1-2, 2009

CHRIS MATTHEWS, host: "And they like the fact that people that make sure that insurance companies that do provide insurance coverage cover a lot of things.

Mr. HOWARD FINEMAN (Newsweek Senior Washington Correspondent): But here's what happened, as I look at this. They told him, initially--they meaning Peter Orszag, the head of the Office and Management and Budget in the White House, and other people thinking this through--`Mr. President, you can do it all. And it's going to be relatively painless because we're going to totally reform it and we're not going to have to attack anybody.' Barack Obama doesn't like attack politics. But what this is really all about is the insurance industry. OK?

Ms. LOVEN: Mm-hmm.

Mr. FINEMAN: And they played a very shrewd game. At beginning the insurance industry said, `We want to sit at the table with you, Mr. President. We're offering you $100 billion worth of savings, but by the way, we don't want a public option. OK?' So the president went slow and let Congress put the bills together. The problem is he said, `Here's the problem, but we're going to get--let those guys fix it.' So he didn't have anything to sell and he didn't want to attack the insurance companies. Now, late in the game--and it is relatively late in the game--he's attacking the insurance companies because this is really all about regulation of insurance.

MATTHEWS: You know, people have said the problem is he's a cheerleader, not--and we need a quarterback. You can't keep telling Congress what you want them to do, you've got to get up there and lead them. Now he's going on vacation, Martha's Vineyard. You know, a rather elite place..."

cable dynamic" in late July (Mark Halperin of TIME Magazine in my opinion is a credible news commentator):

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0907/24/ldt.01.html

LOU DOBBS TONIGHT

Obama Invites Professor Gates, Police Sergeant Crowley to White House; Swine Flu Outbreak Worsens; President's Sinking Poll Numbers

Aired July 24, 2009 - 19:00 ET

LOU DOBBS, HOST: "Mark?

MARK HALPERIN, TIME MAGAZINE: I think the teachable moment and the person who's going to learn the first lesson, if he's lucky, is the president, because he cannot do all the things that Ron said, in particular. He cannot go out in front of reporters and wade in on an issue when he admits he doesn't know the facts, whether it involves race or not. This is a huge distraction for them. It will continue into next week. This president does not like what I call the freak show. He does not like the talk radio, 24-hour cable dynamic.

DOBBS: Tell me about it.

HALPERIN: He likes to say he can rise above it and he often does. This was a case, sometime between this morning, when Robert Gibbs said "we're done talking about this," and the afternoon when the president come out and talked about it, when the president had to realize, you can't always transcend it, sometimes you have to give. And that's what he did. I think it probably dies, unless there are new facts, by early next week..."

on the health care issue when he said "These folks need to stop scaring everybody" because that is definitely NOT going to happen:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0907/29/cnr.07.html

CNN NEWSROOM

Jackson Estate Showdown; Homegrown Terror?; Iraqi Police Storm Iranian Refugee Camp, Riots Ensue; Reportedly Seven Dead, Hundreds Injured

Aired July 29, 2009 - 15:00   ET

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: "The president out campaigning today for the far- reaching reform of health care, now dominating action on Capitol Hill. Campaigning, his pitched this afternoon in North Carolina. Here to bring out the president's fighting side. Here he is aiming his pitch at the folks out there who already have health insurance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody is talking about some government takeover of health care. I'm tired of hearing that. I have been as clear as I can be under the reform I've proposed. If you like your doctor, you keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. These folks need to stop scaring everybody.

(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)

Nobody, nobody is talking about you forcing to have to change your plan. Many of you have been denied insurance or heard someone who was denied insurance because they got -- had a pre-existing condition. That will no longer be allowed..."

Obama begging the other side "to stop scaring everybody" now reminds me of Elizabeth Edwards begging Ann Coulter "to stop personal attacks" back on June 26, 2007:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12576

ANALYSIS: John & Elizabeth Edwards did NOT "fight back" against Ann Coulter!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 5, 2007 - 2:45am.

Here is the Hardball video link from this post where you can watch Elizabeth Edwards begging and pleading with Ann Coulter "to stop personal attacks" which Coulter replied to by saying "No:"

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=d8a300dc-d991-49dc-9728-b619a4a110f2&p=Source_Hardball&t=c1150&rf=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/&fg=  (04:30)

Edwards to Coulter: Stop personal attacks
June 26: Elizabeth Edwards phones into Hardball to “politely” ask Ann Coutler to stop the personal attacks on her family.  
Watch video

Obama is going to get the exact same "No" answer from Rush Limbaugh and his activist base on the other side when he begs them "to stop scaring everybody" on the health care issue that Elizabeth Edwards got from Ann Coulter when she asked Coulter "to stop personal attacks."  Obama in my very strong opinion is in dreamland if he really thinks that he is going to get a different answer other than "No" by his begging and pleading with the other side!

Here is the Hardball transcript with the key portions of this dialogue where Ann Coulter very bluntly said "No" to Elizabeth Edwards begging and pleading with her "to stop personal attacks:"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19460016/

KING: Let's move on..."

and he was very frustrated about it yesterday.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer in my opinion does not understand how to win the message war when he told Ed Schultz about fact-checkers and major newspaper editorials.

Most average swing voters in middle America will not be looking at fact-check websites while the newspaper is a dying business. People get much more information (whether it is right or wrong) from extreme right wing talk radio and from the cable news networks than they do from newspaper editorials.

Here are the best two answers I can think of as to how to win the message war which I mentioned and documented in this post:

1) They can try to bring back some version of The Fairness Doctrine while they probably still have the votes needed in Congress and the political capital to do it. This is the one thing that Rush Limbaugh really and truly fears...

Even if some version of The Fairness Doctrine cannot be passed at the end of the day, it will still take a lot of time, money, and effort for Rush Limbaugh and his extreme wing of the Republican Party to try and stop it from happening. Every minute and dollar that they spend trying to deal with this issue (which they will have to put first in order for Limbaugh's radio show to survive) is a minute and a dollar that they are NOT able to use for other things like health care!

2) Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi can make every member of Congress vote on the record if they agree with many of the stupid things that Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and others on extreme right wing talk radio have said such as "Nazi" and "racist" which will put Republicans in a bind the next time they are on the ballot. They will lose most of middle America if they vote in favor of Limbaugh and company or they will risk getting primaried and/or defunded if they vote against Limbaugh and company and upset them!

Here is the link to the Gallup poll that Ed Schultz quoted:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/122276/Town-Hall-Meetings-Generate-Interest-Sympathy.aspx

August 12, 2009

Town Hall Meetings Generate Interest, Some Sympathy

Americans overall more likely to be sympathetic to protestors’ views than not

by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- "More than two-thirds of Americans (69%) are closely following news accounts of town hall meetings on healthcare reform, and while 34% say the protests make them more sympathetic to the protestors' viewpoints and 21% say the protests make them less sympathetic, almost half either say the protests haven't affected their views either way or have no opinion..."

Ed Schultz has every good reason to be worried in my opinion because he does not know the right answers about how to win the message war and he does not seem to be getting the best answers from the people who he is talking to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32416322/ns/msnbc_tv-the_ed_show/

'The Ed Show' for Thursday, August 13
Read the transcript to the Thursday show

Guests: Tom Costello, Harry Jackson, Derrick Dawkins, Linda Douglass, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Karen Hanretty, Todd Webster, Jonathan Weisman, Mike Allen

ED SCHULTZ, HOST: "President Obama, you have to admit, has stayed pretty cool throughout the health care debate that's taking place in this country. White House adviser David Axelrod dismissed the angry outbursts, saying, "There is a media fetish about these things."

David, I agree with you, there is a fetish about these things, especially when we hear Republicans lying on the campaign trail.

There is a new "USA Today"/Gallup poll that found that 34 percent of the people say that the rowdy demonstrations at town hall meetings have actually made them more sympathetic to the protesters' views...

ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Why-the polls are showing that this fear tactic is working. The president and his efforts to reform health care starting to slip with seniors. So how do you turn this around?

REP. EARL BLUMENAUER (D), OREGON: Well, it's exactly what you're doing here, Ed, is putting the spotlight on a blatant, obvious lie.

SCHULTZ: But you have Senator Grassley out there basically endorsing this rhetoric. In fact, he mentioned your House bill on the stump, telling people that they should fear you, Congressman.

BLUMENAUER: What's happening is every independent observer who has fact-checked this gives a four Pinocchio, pants on fire liar rating. Every major newspaper that's editorialized-people are seeing that this is a categorical untruth, that they are trying to spread falsehoods.

And I think, Ed, what's happening is that you're getting unprecedented attention. And something that is this blatant is not only exposing the lie about this provision, but it's showing the lengths to which they will go to prevent health care reform.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, that is it. I just find it, as a news consumer, hard to believe that someone of Chuck Grassley's stature in the Senate, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, after all these years in the Senate, would just be making a mistake on a House bill, which he probably hasn't even read yet. Also stoking the fire on this, of course, is Sarah Palin.

I want your response to this; her latest posting on her Facebook:

"President Obama can try to gloss over the affects of government authorized end of life consultations. But the views of one of his top health care advisers are clear enough. It's all just more evidence that the Democratic legislative proposals will lead to health care rationing, and more evidence that the top-down plans of government bureaucrats will never result in real health care reform."

Well, I would like to point out that there's rationing going on right now by the insurance industry. Dispel that myth right there about rationing, congressman.

BLUMENAUER: Well, the point is we are making choices now. Millions of Americans have health care rationed, because they can't get access to it or it's only through an emergency room. The point is there's nothing in this legislation that speaks to rationing.

It's the opposite. It gives access to people. It removes the fear of bankruptcy that is stopping a number of people from taking advantage of health care opportunities. And it's part of what they're try to go do to change the subject, making up things, keep layering argument after argument that's bogus. And hopefully they think something will stick. Well, I think it's catching up with them...

ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Let me bring in our panel tonight; Democratic strategist Todd Webster, "Wall Street Journal" White House correspondent Jonathan Weisman, and also Republican strategist and former communications director for the Republican Congressional Committee, Karen Hanretty.

Karen, are the Republicans lying out there or are we just not hearing the right things? Is this all part of the strategy? What do you think?

KAREN HANRETTY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I have to agree with you tonight, Ed, that this rhetoric about the death panels is really overblown and not accurate. I don't know if they're lying or they don't understand what is in the bill. I agree. They should have read all 1,000 pages of it as well.

If they're opposing it, I want them to have read it. Look, I'm all for, you know, folks going and talking to a doctor, clergy, an attorney, whoever, and making these decisions before they reach the point where their children and spouses have to make the decision, very difficult decisions. My parents have made those decisions. My husband has made those decisions.

I think it's very important.

I think the real-I think the Obama administration really dropped the ball, though, on the messaging on this.

SCHULTZ: I think they've got to get tough. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Todd Webster, you worked on the Hill for a long time. You were with Tom Daschle. There was always rumors about Tom. They were trying to vilify him for years. It finally got him out of office. When does-we just had a Congressman here say that Grassley is lying. When does the White House start talking like that? When does the White House take off the gloves and forget this bipartisan stuff?

TODD WEBSTER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, look, a lie will travel half way around the world before the truth gets its sneakers laced up..."

Mitch, I know you put a lot of time and energy into your blogs and it's a shame because I don't have the time or energy to plod thru them, and I suspect very few others do either.

But I can answer the question in your subject line very simply. You want to know why Obama is losing the health care message war? Because the Republicans have gone completely bat shit crazy.

That's really all there is too it.

When I see Democrats having to defend themselves against things like "death panels" and turning granny into soylent green, I know that reasonable discourse is dead and this little experiment we call democracy is essentially over.

You can't fight insanity with reason and you can't anticipate what a crazy person will do or say. The rhetoric from the right is incomprehensible to anyone with a grasp on reality.

The worst part is they will probably win. They are only a minority, but they are a very loud and threatening minority with the passion to do whatever they think it takes to get their way.

I wonder how many people are going to die before this is over.

1) Arianna Huffington's concerns are that Obama "has not been absolutely clear in terms of what is going to be in the health care reform bill that he will support" and the transparency issue when she said Obama "had said these negotiations would be happening on C-SPAN. Well, not only are they not happening on C-SPAN. They're creating this back and forth and spin and denial and counterdenial:"

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0908/14/sitroom.01.html

THE SITUATION ROOM

President Obama Selling Health Care Reform; Blue Dog's Bite on Health Reform; 11-Year-Old Journalist Gets to Interview President Obama; Ravages of Weekend Typhoon

Aired August 14, 2009 - 16:00 ET

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: "Let's get back to our top story, the president trying to sell his health care reform package. Let's talk about it in our "Strategy Session" with Arianna Huffington of "The Huffington Post" and Republican strategist Tony Blankley. He's executive vice president of Edelman P.R. here in Washington, former spokesman for the House Speaker -- then House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

What did you think? How did it go today, Arianna?

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, CO-FOUNDER, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM: Well, you know, the president is really good at that. I thought your interview with Randy was very moving. You know, he connects with people, wherever they come from.

The problem is not that. The problem is that he has not been absolutely clear in terms of what is going to be in the health care reform bill that he will support. And I think, until he draws a line in the sand and says some basic things -- there will be a public option, there will be the ability to negotiate for lower costs with the drug industry, there will be prevention -- then people are confused about what exactly is going to be in this bill.

TONY BLANKLEY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes.

HUFFINGTON: And, in this confusion, you can get all these crazy rumors that have been circulating...

BLITZER: How worried are you, if you are -- and I think you are, because I read "Huffington Post," Arianna -- about this secret deal that was negotiated with PhRMA, the pharmaceutical lobby here in Washington, the drug manufacturers?

They got a commitment that there would be X amount of cuts for them over the next 10 years. In exchange, they're going to spend about $150 million in advertising to help President Obama's deal. What do you think about this deal?

HUFFINGTON: Well, you know, it is worrisome on two grounds.

The first one is that the president himself made a promise during the campaign that there will be no ban in negotiations with PhRMA, and that that will result, potentially, in over $300 billion in savings. That was an exact promise.

So, when now we find out that there was actually an agreement that there would be a ceiling at $80 billion, that has two causes of concern. The first is, in itself, it's not something good, because costs are not going to come down as far as they should.

And the other one, in a way, just as important, is that it is emblematic of the kind of business as usual that the president promised to come to Washington to change. And the public goes away with a sense that the fix is in, that, if you're a powerful industry lobby, then you can get away with this behind-the-door negotiations, and that the public does not have the power to be there.

That's why, remember, he had said these negotiations would be happening on C-SPAN. Well, not only are they not happening on C-SPAN. They're creating this back and forth and spin and denial and counterdenial..."

2) Keli Goff is concerned that Obama's "message isn't effectively connecting with a wide swath of Americans:"

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0908/14/ldt.01.html

LOU DOBBS TONIGHT

Obama's Offensive; Blue Dog Versus Obama; Health Care in Australia; California Chaos

Aired August 14, 2009 - 19:00 ET

LOU DOBBS, HOST: "Keli, good to have you here.

Did the president -- what were we saying first? Our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, reported that the president traveled all the way out to Montana and didn't say anything new. Is this an effective way for him to campaign for his health care plans?

KELI GOFF, THELOOP21.COM: Who doesn't love Montana this time of year? Look...

(LAUGHTER)

DOBBS: I didn't mean to suggest that he wasn't enjoying the trip.

GOFF: Well, no. but, in all seriousness, it's not a secret, especially when you look at the polls, his message isn't effectively connecting with a wide swath of Americans and I'd say some of them live in Montana. You have to take it beyond the beltway and beyond the people who already agree with you..."

Both Arianna Huffington's and Keli Goff's concerns are valid in my opinion and I think that they are part of the reason why Obama is losing the health care message war to the other side.

Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress need to start trying to implement some version of The Fairness Doctrine RIGHT NOW so that health care will have the best possible chances of passing.  This is the one thing that Rush Limbaugh really and truly fears:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123508978035028163.html

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

Mr. President, Keep the Airwaves Free
As a former law professor, surely you understand the Bill of Rights.

By RUSH LIMBAUGH

Dear President Obama:

"I have a straightforward question, which I hope you will answer in a straightforward way: Is it your intention to censor talk radio through a variety of contrivances, such as "local content," "diversity of ownership," and "public interest" rules -- all of which are designed to appeal to populist sentiments but, as you know, are the death knell of talk radio and the AM band?

You have singled me out directly, admonishing members of Congress not to listen to my show..."

If Rush Limbaugh and his wing of the Republican Party fear The Fairness Doctrine so much, then why not try to implement some version of it right now?  This will put real fear in them and they will have to put so much of their time and resources into trying to stop it in order to try and protect Limbaugh's talk radio show that they will not have as much time to interfere with Obama on health care and on other important issues even if some version of The Fairness Doctrine does not pass at the end of the day! 

Democrats and even moderate Republicans (who the Limbaugh wing of the GOP hates about as much as Democrats) in my opinion are making a very big mistake by not trying to reinstate some version of The Fairness Doctrine right now when Rush Limbaugh and his radical activist base on the other side fear it as much as they do and when Democrats and moderate Republicans working together more than likely have the votes needed in Congress to pass some version of it:  

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/08/20/if-obamacare-goes-down-flames-will-calls-fairness-doctrine-return

If ObamaCare Goes Down in Flames, Will Calls for the Fairness Doctrine Return?

Related Stories

Related Topics

Censorship
Fairness Doctrine
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with Obama's health care reform program.

The issues about keeping your same insurance and keeping your same doctor if insurance changes that are discussed on the CNN panels below are definitely valid transparency issues in my opinion. They have to be totally resolved to the point where they are 100% fully transparent in order for me to support any health care reform program:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0908/22/cnnitm.01.html

YOUR MONEY

Make or Break Month for Health Care Reform; Why Democrats and Republicans Can't Seem to Get Along on Health Care or Anything Else; You Might Be Stuck Paying Higher Drug Prices at the Pharmacy

Aired August 22, 2009 - 13:00   ET

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: "So you host a radio show, too and you have been hearing a lot from callers who want to know what's in it for them and what's going to happen for them. Some of these questions we simply can't answer right now. But what is the number one thing you're hearing from people?

ANDREW RUBIN, NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER: The number one question, unquickically, is if I like my insurance now, what does it mean for me in the future? Can I keep my benefits? The answer is, maybe. In the short term, if you work for a large employer you'll be able to keep your benefits as they are. Assume your employer wants to provide the same benefits packages.

However, the legislation is written with time limits and after a certain amount of time, if your employer's plan does not meet the criteria that is needed for this whatever benefit package the federal government puts together, the plan becomes disqualified and people's benefits will change.

ROMANS: I was talking to health economist who has been trying to find out who has the most to gain, who has the least to gain. People who have preexisting conditions today, people who don't have insurance, are they the early gainers. People, who have their own health insurance through either a company, could see co-pays vary and change and generally health economists told me that people who buy their own could see costs go down. Is that in a nut shell, what the broad brush strokes are right now? Or are you going to tell me well Christine maybe?

RUBIN: I'm going to tell you maybe. It really depends on what legislation finally comes out and whether there's a governmental plan or if there is not a governmental plan and what's designed into these packages. What I can tell you is we all have a lot at stake in this. The largest percentages of the uninsured are actually young Americans. They have a huge piece at stake and yet we're not hearing much from them and they're actually the ones who are going to pay for a big chunk of this..."

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0908/21/acd.02.html

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES

Extreme Challenges: Health Care Reform

Aired August 21, 2009 - 23:00   ET

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: "One of the many things, you hear in this health care town hall meetings, people saying, am I going to have to change my doctor? Can I keep going to the same doctor that I'd gone to that I like?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And, you know, what we keep hearing is if you have insurance, you're happy with it, you get to keep that. So you keep your doctor, you keep your insurance, probably work much in the same way that it works now for most people. For example, if you have an in-network doctor, you pay a certain amount, it will be slightly higher --

COOPER: But no one can guarantee that your doctor is going to continue with some form of insurance.

GUPTA: Well, that's true today.

COOPER: Right, which is true now.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: You know, that not all doctors take Medicare for example. So, you know, if you go to Medicare and your doctor doesn't take that you would have to switch doctors. And that would probably be true with the public option as well. So I think that in that sense it would still be the same.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There's this real big trust issue right now that we haven't seen in a long time, a lack of trust. And when I talk to people on the radio show, where we talk to people and asked them, why are you so concerned or opposed to health care reform. It takes about three minutes to get to, and they said they were going to buy the toxic assets from the banks and they didn't. And you can see that people are looking over the past year, and they have been told one thing and something else maybe has happened. And they think that we are living in this world of big financial experiment and unintended consequences..."

This comparison that Christine Romans made comparing health care reform to "they said they were going to buy the toxic assets from the banks and they didn't" right above is valid in my opinion. That is one big reason why I definitely need to see 100% full transparency before I will support any health care reform program!

The lies and distortions being promoted by Rush Limbaugh, extreme right wing talk radio, and by those who are against health care reform are a totally separate issue when it comes to legitimate transparency issues about Obama's health care reform program. These are two entirely separate issues in my opinion!

That is why I am FOR health care reform, why I oppose what the extreme right wing is doing to try and stop health care reform from happening, and is why I need to see 100% full transparency before I will support any health care reform program!

Democrats in my opinion cannot just rubber-stamp Obama's health care reform program like how Republicans in Congress rubber-stamped Bush as much as they did when they were in power. Congress rubber-stamping ANY President regardless of their political party is wrong in my opinion. I definitely think that the tough but legitimate questions have to be asked and that there must be full transparency BEFORE any major legislation on any issue is passed!

That is the right balance in my opinion compared to the two extreme positions of just rubber-stamping whatever Obama wants to do and only opposing whatever Obama wants to do!

and Christine Romans mentioned how unclear that health care reform is right now:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0908/21/acd.02.html

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES

Extreme Challenges: Health Care Reform

Aired August 21, 2009 - 23:00   ET

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: "Do you think Democrats may go it alone?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Even if the Democrats go alone. I think the chances are growing that they will go for something more modest than what the president wants. I think it's -- and there is a growing chance we're going to have a complete failure.

PAMELA GENTRY, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, BET: And I think the others -- I think other people who are actually supporting health care reform, whether they were in the private sector or the public sector, they weren't very vocal. They just assumed that this was going to roll along and that information was going to get out there and people would understand what was benefiting them, the parts that were benefiting them, and that didn't happen.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Explaining to people about what it's going to mean for their taxes and for their care and their benefits and their coverage and their own money. And we can't answer some of those questions because there are several different bills from the committees. And we don't know what it's exactly going to look like yet. And people just are skeptical that they're going to have to give something up...

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You think there will be some form of reform whether...

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there would be something. I think there would be something.

COOPER: Do you agree with that, Pamela?

PAMELA GENTRY, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, BET: Yes, I agree with that. I don't think it's going to go away. Business needs is almost as much as the public needs it.

COOPER: David, do you think it could go either way?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think we're almost on a knife edge on this. And I think -- I think the president has to now take charge of the conversation and the negotiations and not just leave it to a lot of other people. Otherwise, I think the chances of failure will rise..."

No sane person should ever want Obama to fail with any policy decisions that he makes and that especially goes for something as big as health care reform in my opinion when the lives of many millions of people will be affected by it!

It is very important that Obama gets health care done right because if he fails with health care, then many millions of people will be affected and Obama will more than likely be a one-term President in my opinion.

Obama is taking a very big risk with health care (especially if he and his Democratic allies in Congress go it alone) because Obama will own that issue at least to the same degree that Bush owned Iraq. 

I do not see that much middle ground.  In my opinion, Obama going it alone on health care with 218 Democratic House votes and 50 or 51 Democratic Senate votes is putting all of his political capital on the table in a double or nothing bet that his health care program will work out.  He will either double his political capital and be considered to be a hero if he wins or he will probably lose all of his political capital and his effectiveness if he loses.

Obama probably should not even bother to run for re-election in 2012 like how LBJ did not run for re-election back in 1968 if a massive and expensive health care reform program that he passes and which he fully owns does not work out. I can easily see Obama getting a serious primary challenger in 2012 like how Jimmy Carter got back in 1980 with Ted Kennedy if his health care program does not work out and if he tries to run for re-election.

That is why I definitely need to see 100% full transparency, know every exact detail, and have every possible question fully answered before I will support ANY health care reform legislation that Obama wants to pass. And that is especially the case if Obama goes it alone without any Republican votes and with about the minimum amount of Democratic votes that are needed to pass it.

I definitely want to see health care reform pass BUT I want to see it done right as opposed to it being done very quickly so that it will have the best possible chances of working out. I do NOT want to see any health care reform program that is passed have as many problems that TARP and the economic stimulus package have had so far and both of those programs were passed very quickly!

Because so much is on the line, I definitely believe that Obama and Democratic leaders really need to be especially careful and very clearly think out everything that they plan to do with health care as opposed to just passing something very quickly mainly as a reaction to some kind of crazy behavior from ideologues on the other side who are against health care reform!

which is very unfortunate in my opinion:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_082409/content/01125100.guest.html

Monday Quotes: The Man Who Runs America

This was very easy to see since Sepetmber of 2007 in my opinion.  I have credibly documented this point numerous times since then which this link will show:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16555#comment-328296

Obama not understanding the GOP attack machine & how to fight it...

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on September 15, 2008 - 11:05am.

If I could easily see this over such a long period of time, then many people in the media like Jack Cafferty also should have been able to see it as well in my opinion but they did not see it:

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/18/pres-obama-tough-enough-for-the-job/

August 18, 2009

Pres. Obama tough enough for the job?

If Jack Cafferty had asked the question above “Could Hillary Clinton have been right about Barack Obama?” sometime during the 2008 election rather than right now, then maybe he also would have seen it.  But Cafferty was so deep in the tank for Obama in 2008 that he was NOT asking these kind of tough questions:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/15054

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on March 19, 2008 - 4:13am.

Hopefully this will teach a very important lesson to Jack Cafferty and to others like him in the media who were also in the tank for Obama to ask EVERY serious Presidential candidate the tough questions BEFORE they are elected in future Presidential elections!

She said it was not just a matter of Obama lacking experience — that was the least of it — but that he lacked the strength, the toughness, the will to get the job done..."

Rush Limbaugh polls higher than Obama does in Arkansas right now according to one poll.

Here is the Public Policy Polling poll from yesterday to show this (The poll is in a PDF document):

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/surveys.asp?@spdT=ECF791E062CD404AAB75

Surveys

All surveys are Adobe Acrobat PDF files.

8/25/09: Arkansas Obama Approval Poll

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_AR_825.pdf

(A 9 page PDF document titled "Obama not faring well in Arkansas" where the phrase "they think Rush Limbaugh's vision for America is superior" in comparison to Obama's is in the first sentence of the first page.)

Here is what is on the Home Page of http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/ right now:

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pppmain.asp?@spdT=B6B42829136845A69B19

THE LATEST PPP SURVEYS
View All Surveys

Arkansas Obama Approval Poll
August 25, 2009

Barack Obama's approval rating in Arkansas is at 40%, and a majority of voters in the state think Rush Limbaugh has a superior vision for the country.

Even assuming that this may be a partisan poll, I think that it is still very serious if it is even partially close and the key question about this poll that has to be asked in my opinion is how can someone who is supposedly "just a talk radio show host" have the name recognition to seriously compete with the President of the United States in any statewide poll?

This attack was the right thing to do BUT Obama and Democrats only helped to make Limbaugh even stronger by their not seriously following up on this attack!

I warned people many times from September of 2007 to September of 2008 that Obama had no clue how to seriously deal with Limbaugh and his media empire!

However Rush Limbaugh has been an experienced expert at this kind of message warfare for many years:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,184342,00.html

Transcript: Rush Limbaugh on 'Your World'

Thursday, February 09, 2006

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: "Neil, there is a new media out there today that doesn't let the left get away with defining the news, defining the circumstances, defining personalities and so forth.

And they haven't learned how to deal with it. They haven't learned how to deal with people like me, the problems they think FOX News causes, and everybody else. They are still in their 30-year-old playbook, in which they think they still — all they have to do is, you know, portray somebody they want to portray them, and the American people will see it, swallow it, and like it..."

war on health care to the other side right now:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0909/02/ec.01.html

CAMPBELL BROWN

U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan at Risk?; Can President Obama Get His Groove Back?

Aired September 2, 2009 - 20:00 ET

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: "The White House announced today that President Obama will address a joint session of Congress and the nation a week from today. The president has been under increasing pressure to provide more specifics of his health care reform plan. Today, supporters and critics agreed the president has to take control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he absolutely has to push the reset button and start over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take control of this debate that they have so evidently lost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has got to provide details. After this lead-up, he has to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing has really gotten away from the White House, and, quite frankly, they know it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's just going to have to get in there and fight it out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grab control of the debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the nation by the lapel.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Shift his strategy.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Regain the advantage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seize the initiative.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Set the table.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Like the president, this week, members of Congress are still on vacation, still holding town hall meetings, and still hearing loud opinions from voters..."

Obama needs to get back from vacation RIGHT NOW, I really hope he realizes that one big speech will definitely NOT be enough to stop the effective noise machine coming from the other side or stop so many Republicans in Congress from fearing Rush Limbaugh and his huge activist base of many millions which is the main reason why he cannot get that many Republican votes on health care right now, and I also hope he realizes that his best possible chance of success is to try and implement some version of The Fairness Doctrine as soon as possible which will make the other side have to drop everything that they are doing right now in order to try and stop it. This is the one thing that Rush Limbaugh and wing of the Republican Party really and truly fears:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/17860

GOP strategist John Feehery on why Republicans fear voting for the public option

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 22, 2009 - 3:33am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/17836#comment-349000

The Limbaugh wing of the GOP fears The Fairness Doctrine now:

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on August 23, 2009 - 12:41am.

It would be great if some version of The Fairness Doctrine can be passed but it will also help to slow down the other side a lot even if it does not get passed at the end of the day. That is because every minute and every dollar that Limbaugh, his activist base, and his allies in Congress spend trying to stop some version of The Fairness Doctrine from being implemented is a minute and a dollar that they are NOT able to use to mess around with health care and other important issues!

Obama trying to fight a message war with Rush Limbaugh, his media empire, and with the other side's noise machine on even terms and on a level playing field would be like him playing Michael Jordan in a one-on-one basketball game on even terms and on a level playing field with Jordan playing at his best. Obama would not have a chance because the other side is as good and experienced at message warfare as Michael Jordan is at basketball while Obama has virtually no understanding of serious message warfare:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16555#comment-328296

Obama not understanding the GOP attack machine & how to fight it...

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on September 15, 2008 - 11:05am.

being big government, big deficit, big spender, has really taken hold over the congressional recess" in my opinion:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0909/02/sitroom.01.html

THE SITUATION ROOM

Obama to Address Joint Session of Congress in a Week; California Wildfires Continue to Burn

Aired September 2, 2009 - 16:00 ET

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: "I think that's how we all feel about it at this point, trying to work out the details here.

Gloria, I want to start off with you.

One thing that the polls were showing is that most Americans, they support this idea of this public option, but they also believe that the president wants the government to take over the health care system.

Well, how does that -- how do you make sense of that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, in fact, 53 percent believe that Obama wants to take over the health care system, and 42 percent say no. And I think what this shows is that the Republican PR about President Obama being big government, big deficit, big spender, has really taken hold over the congressional recess. People believe that he wants big government..."

to the other side on Hardball on Friday night when he made the points that the Obama White House needs to figure out how to confront the right wing media machine when the President of the United States is called a Socialist for trying to make a back to school speech to children, it is a problem when the White House does not know how to respond, there is a problem there, and when are they going to learn how to avoid being tackling dummies for the far right?  Chris Matthews made these points at about 1:05 into this Hardball video which is very close to the beginning of it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/32696599#32696599  (12:35)

Will Obama’s speech make a difference?
Sept. 4: A Hardball panel (Democratic strategist Steve McMahon and MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell) debates whether President Barack Obama can convince Congress and Americans that his health care plan is what's best for the country.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/32696599#32696599  (12:35)

Chris Matthews should have thought about asking these kind of important questions during the 2008 election when it really counted instead of feeling "This Thrill Going Up My Leg:"

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14717

VIDEO: Chris Matthews said "I Felt This Thrill Going Up My Leg" As Obama Spoke!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on February 14, 2008 - 10:23am.

Chris Matthews is asking these very important questions about 2 years too late right now.  Hopefully this will teach him the valuable lesson that he needs to learn which is to be a truly objective journalist and to not openly be in the tank for ANY serious Presidential candidate in future elections!

That also goes for most the media who were also in the tank for Obama and who did not ask him the tough questions before he was elected which is when it really counted: 

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/15744#comment-309677

There is NO question in my opinion of anti-Hillary media bias...

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 9, 2008 - 6:07pm.

Nobody should be the least bit surprised that Obama is losing the message war to the other side so badly right now because I warned people MANY times from September of 2007 to September of 2008 that Obama had no clue how to seriously deal with Rush Limbaugh, his huge media empire, and with the partisan GOP noise machine:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16555#comment-328296

Obama not understanding the GOP attack machine & how to fight it...

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on September 15, 2008 - 11:05am.

Chrystia Freeland, U.S. managing editor of the "Financial Times," got it exactly right about Obama in my opinion:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0911/29/sotu.02.html

STATE OF THE UNION WITH JOHN KING

Reliable Sources

Aired November 29, 2009 - 10:00 ET

CHRYSTIA FREELAND, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Obama also inflated the expectations.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR: Of course.

FREELAND: And if I could borrow an idea from Tom Friedman, part of what I think is going on here is actually, surprisingly, Obama failing to frame the debate. It's a failure of oratory, in part, and I think during the campaign, he was great at giving everyone a storyline. And I think since taking office, he has really failed to put all this stuff together to tell us why health care is connected to the economy..."

Here is the CNN Reliable Sources video link to watch this very informative dialogue:

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2009/11/29/rs.analyzing.obama.media.cnn

Media take new tone with Obama 12:59
Howard Kurtz with a panel of top journalists (Chrystia Freeland, Bill Press, and Jim Geraghty) about the media's new tone regarding President Obama.

Source: CNN | Added November 29, 2009

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2009/11/29/rs.analyzing.obama.media.cnn

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/1-2-cross-missouri-democratic.html?wprss=thefix

About Chris Cillizza  |  On Twitter: The Fix and The Hyper Fix  |  On Facebook  |  On YouTube  |   RSS Feed

Polling shows Democrats losing health care PR fight

By Chris Cillizza  |  December 16, 2009; 5:29 AM ET
Categories:  Morning Fix
Share This:  E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble

and unfortunately he is right in my opinion.  Nobody should be surprised about this after reading the entire post above:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_121609/content/01125108.guest.html

The Obama PR Machine Has Failed

*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.

is an accurate label of him (Obama). Chris "thrill up my leg" Matthews is concerned about this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/38174370#38174370 (00:28)

Do you believe Obama is a socialist?
July 9: Hardball Big Number: 55 percent of likely voters would describe Obama as a "socialist," according to a new poll from Democracy Corps.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/38174370#38174370 (00:28)

See page 11 of 20 of this Democracy Corps poll taken from June 19-22, 2010 (which is in PDF form) to see the statistics where 55 Percent of likely voters would describe Obama as being "A socialist" (33% "very well" and 22% "well"):

http://www.democracycorps.com/wp-content/files/dcor062210fq6.web_.pdf

Democracy Corps is a Democratic leaning polling firm (it is the firm of James Carville and Stan Greenberg) so I do not think that it can be accused of conservative bias against Obama:

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/230874/55-percent-likely-voters-find-socialist-accurate-label-obama

55 Percent of Likely Voters Find ‘Socialist’ an Accurate Label of Obama?

July 09, 2010 9:13 AM
By Jim Geraghty  

"The latest poll by Democracy Corps, the firm of James Carville and Stan Greenberg, has Republicans leading on the generic ballot among likely voters, 48 percent to 42 percent...

When asked about “a socialist,” 33 percent of likely voters say it describes Obama “very well,” 22 percent say “well,” 15 percent say “not too well,” and 25 percent say “not well at all.” 

In other words, 55 percent of likely voters think “socialist” is a reasonably accurate way of describing Obama."

in my opinion.

At about 7:00 into this Countdown video, Eugene Robinson made the point that if the Democrats cannot make political hay to capitalize on serious Republican gaffes, then it is malpractice and they should be in some other business:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/38286214#38286214 (07:31)

GOP implosion imminent
July 16: House Minority Leader John Boehner is calling for a moratorium on regulation, further cementing the Republican Party as the party opposed to improving America. The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson discusses why Democrats should see an opportunity in Republican regressive politics.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/38286214#38286214 (07:31)

well. I think that Alter is factually correct about what he said on this topic in this video.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel mentioned Obama's comprehensive but compromised legislation which the progressive base is not happy with toward the beginning of this Hardball video and Jonathan Alter mentioned how that the White House is not framing their message well at about 03:52 into the video:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/38284857#38284857 (09:11)

Legislative wins hurting Obama politically?
July 16: With health care and the stimulus in the books already, and financial reform awaiting his signature, President Barack Obama has three big legislative wins in his first 18 months on the job. But is it helping him at all? Newsweek's Jonathan Alter and Katrina Vanden Heuvel join Hardball guest host Chuck Todd to discuss.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/38284857#38284857 (09:11)

as the party of big spending in my opinion. I think that the Republicans will probably win a lot of races in November basically on a default basis even if they do not have any ideas of their own if they keep on winning the message war by defining Democrats however they choose to:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1007/16/sitroom.01.html

THE SITUATION ROOM

Oil Seal Holds on New Well Cap; U.S. Addiction to Foreign Oil

Aired July 16, 2010 - 17:00 ET

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: "Here in Washington meanwhile the partisan sparring over jobs and the economy getting more and more intense by the day, as we get closer to the mid-term elections in November. The top house Republican is one of the most vocal critics of the president's policies and their effect on businesses. John Boehner today called for a ban on all new federal regulations, after meeting with business lobbyists who complained about uncertain economic conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOEHNER, (R), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The American people are continuing to ask the question, where are the jobs? And all they're getting out of Washington Democrats is more stimulus spending and more unsustainable federal debt. A moratorium on new federal regulations is a great idea, sends a wonderful signal to the private sector going to have some breathing room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's bring in our Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger. Are the Republicans, Gloria, making some headway in defining the Democrats as the party of big spending greater federal regulation?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes they are, absolutely. Particularly on the spending side. More than half the American public doesn't like the way Barack Obama is dealing with the deficit. But the interesting thing is regulation. Because as you know, Wolf, financial regulation is a very, very popular bill.

But there is a question that needs to be answered out there which is, whether the public's mistrust of government has grown so large that they believe that the government can't possibly do the financial regulation that they actually want. So they don't trust the government to regulate Wall Street. And that could be a real problem for the Democrats going forward.

BLITZER: How do they come back, the Democrats, and control this narrative?

BORGER: Well, you know, it's very difficult for them right now to control the narrative. Because they have to speak to those independent voters that are out there. They have to say to independent voters, look. Here's what we did. We're taking the country forward. But what would Republicans do? All they're doing is voting no. And that's why you hear the president talking about Joe Barton who said that, you know, he'd apologized to BP for the $20 billion escrow account. So it is a very difficult job, at the moment..."

on The Ed Show and she is right in my opinion:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/38437816#38437816  (03:52)

Forgetting about the middle class
July 27: Playbook: Salon.com Joan Walsh discusses whether middle class America is in danger of extinction.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/38437816#38437816  (03:52)

Here is the transcript link of The Ed Show video right above (the bolding is my emphasis):

WALSH:  Thanks, Ed..."