Tucker Carlson absurdly claims it's "absurd" to think insurance industry involved in protests
On Fox News' Hannity, contributor Tucker Carlson called the idea that "town hall meetings are somehow being infiltrated by industry, opponents to the plan, and their shills, basically, working on behalf of trade groups" a "conspiracy theory" and "absurd," and agreed with host Sean Hannity that the protests are "organic." However, both Carlson and Hannity ignored evidence that insurance companies and other conservative groups are sending people to town halls to "rebut" the White House and Democratic leaders.
From the August 14 edition of Fox News' Hannity:
CARLSON: Well, the conspiracy theories that arise are the ones that amuse me most. There are two. One, that this is all -- these town hall meetings are somehow being infiltrated by industry, opponents to the plan, and their shills, basically, working on behalf of trade groups -- most of which actually support the plan or have remained mum on it. So that's absurd.
Or, it's the Republican Party, which all of a sudden has become incredibly organized. A party that couldn't organize my eighth-grader's birthday party all of a sudden is able to, you know, rally these unseen forces to derail the health care plan. I mean, it's absurd. This is a real grassroots movement.
HANNITY: It's organic.
CARLSON: Yes it is.
HANNITY: This is real.
Insurance industry groups are reportedly sending employees to protests
Health industry's main lobby reportedly deploying employees to "track[] where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings," "rebut" Democrats. On July 30, The Wall Street Journal reported: "[I]nsurers continue to wage an aggressive campaign against Democrats' proposals to create a public health-insurance plan. [The health insurance industry lobbying group] America's Health Insurance Plans has stationed employees in 30 states who are tracking where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings." And on August 5, the paper reported: "The health-insurance industry said Tuesday it is launching an effort to send insurance-company employees to public meetings nationwide this month to rebut increasing criticism of the industry from the White House and top Democrats."
Conservative organizations -- several of which receive funding from industry groups -- are also organizing protests
Washington Post: Loose network of activists drives reform opposition. On August 16, The Washington Post reported:
The rowdy protests that threaten President Obama's health-care reform efforts have been spurred on by a loose network of activists -- from veteran advocacy groups with millions of dollars in funding to casual alliances of like-minded conservatives unhappy over issues from taxes to deficits to environmental laws.
[...]
Several of the biggest efforts are led by established veterans in the conservative movement, whose organizations receive heavy funding from industry groups and sympathetic billionaires. [Washington Post, 8/16/09]
There is an organized effort by conservative groups to pack town halls. As Media Matters for America has noted, conservative organizations opposed to the bill, such as FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, and Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR), are conducting a campaign to turn out their supporters to attend those events, with the support of conservative media figures and outlets such as Rush Limbaugh, the Fox Nation, Lou Dobbs, and several Fox News media figures. CPR has reportedly "confirmed that it has undertaken a concerted effort to get people out to the town hall meetings to protest reform," while FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have reportedly "organized" the town hall protesters and are "harnessing social networking Web sites to organize their supporters in much the same way Mr. Obama did during his election campaign." [Greg Sargent, The Plum Line, 8/4/09; The New York Times, 8/3/09]
Meanwhile, in the real world, people are suffering. Here's a good article for anyone wanting to read it:
The Brutal Truth About America’s Healthcare
http://www.truthout.org/081609A?n
Guy Adams, The Independent UK: "They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life. In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an 'evil and Orwellian' example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system."
You narrow your career severely when you dance with the devil at Fox.
But people do have the right to protest and make their views known. It is up to people who support healthcare to support reform by calling their representatives and putting as much or more pressure on them. Also they should write letters to the editor at local media outlets in support so this discussion is not one sided.
Of COURSE they are involved with some of these protests. I won't say all, but some, they are influencing through their astroturf organizations that they hire to do these sort of things.
What amazes me, are these guys who keep saying that private industry can do it better, and more efficient, but they don't want competition from the government, because then they won't be able to compete. So which is it?
Insurance industries are of course going to send people in to "protest" because their cash cow is being threatened.
In at least one case, a woman who worked on the campaign of a Republican candidate went to the town hall meeting of the Democrat she had opposed and pretended to be "just a regular person" while repeating Republican talking points.
OF COURSE these "protests" are fake and have been generated by conservative groups that oppose health care reform. The people who come to the meetings to protest don't care about health care reform. They want a forum to scream "SHOW ME THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE!" and "OBAMA US A NAZI!" and "NOT A CITIZEN!"
The only way to ignore that is to be a partisan Republican posing as an objective observer. Yes, Tucker, I'm looking at YOU.
Poll 1: Q: 9-11
Poll 2: Q: 1-2,5
said it didn't exist.The pitiful"moderate" Democrat didn't even challenge this nonsense....What is being "taken out" is language that has been lied about and distorted so much that some people are trying to score points by taking it out..That should have been the discussion ,especially since it was Republicans that had put it in the bill anyway!!
Yeah, maybe some of these protesters are real, but they're all the same in one respect: supremely ignorant.
Any or all of the insurance company executives who think their company will be hurt, its employees thrown out of work, stockholders ruined, can attend an open town hall and explain that this will be so, and that something else should be done, or nothing should be done, and in that case they can explain how the free enterprise system will handle the problem.
Where are they?
bobbythehat