Bill Moyers: Tell the Truth about Bernie’s Health Care Stand

[NorthCarolina]

http://billmoyers.com/story/tell-the-truth-about-bernies-health-care-stand/




The Clinton campaign just made a serious mistake.

They sent Hillary and Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea out on behalf of her mother to bash Senator Bernie Sanders on the issue of health care.

...snip...

But when it’s the first time (as this was for Clinton the younger), the surrogate should be sure whereof she speaks, and had better stick to talking about her candidate, not the opponent. Unfortunately, Chelsea Clinton misrepresented Senator Sanders’ position, and her premiere performance on the stump backfired, producing a flood of political donations to Sanders.

Here’s what she said: “Senator Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the [Children’s Health Insurance Program], dismantle Medicare, and dismantle private insurance.” Whew! She would have us believe that the Vermont senator is a one-man wrecking crew, an enraged King Kong – or, to be modern about it, a mendacious Darth Vader – proposing “to go back to an era – before we had the Affordable Care Act – that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance.”

Uh, not exactly. In fact, not even close.

Bill Moyers can always be counted on to set things in their proper perspective.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, NorthCarolina.

[NorthCarolina]

2. I always check out

what Bill Moyers has to say. Glad you enjoyed it as well.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Bill Moyers is a class act.

I've been a fan of his for many years.

[lewebley3]

50. Moyers doesnt know the Sanders Health Care Plan: Becasue

Sanders has not put fourth any plans, he has been a fraud so
far on the issue

[pangaia]

51. LOL! Are you still here???

How much are you being paid for these silly words?



GO PACK !!!!

[sabrina 1]

54. Lol, did you give Chelsea that advice by any chance? Even people who do not support Sanders

know that he 'put fourth (sic) a plan' and that Chelsea either lied about intentionally or was given talking points and did not check to see if they were correct.

Either way it was a disastrous thing to do for Hillary's campaign. Bernie made close to $2 Million in donations as a result though, so no harm done to HIS campaign.

[lewebley3]

56. Chelsea was just telling truth: Sanders is an nice empty suit on on facts

[Roy Rolling]

30. Why send Chelsea?

Was Bobby Jindal unavailable to make a disingenuous attack on Bernie? Sending Chelsea out on the road for this is the worst public embarrassment since Jindal's response to the SOTU address.

[cui bono]

3. K n fucking R

I can't listen to Hillary any more. At all. I tried to listen to that "grandchildren" video but I just can't deal with her. So done. Never voting for her no matter what. Thankfully Bernie will be the next president.

.

[NorthCarolina]

4. Yeah, I know...Hillary selling her brand by indicating she "actually has" grandchildren....

as opposed to the "adopted" variety like Bernie I suppose. No other way to take that comment really.

[cui bono]

6. I don't know about that. I meant I literally couldn't bear to hear her voice.

I've seen many Bernie supporters say she wasn't saying that as a jab at Bernie. I just don't have the fortitude to listen to her voice any more after hearing her lie about Bernie and single-payer. I was ready to explode when she had the nerve to triple down on that big fat LIE yesterday on Maddow's show.

.

[roguevalley]

27. families and children should be sacrosanct unless they campaign and only

then if they lie. This is astonishing to me. So was Christie's level of swinishness last night. What he had to say about Obama and how he said it makes me want to slam him with a chair.

[silenttigersong]

57. Bloviater n/t

[pangaia]

53. Hillary Clinton reminds me of a used car salesman.

I bought a used 2003 Subaru Impreza in 2010 (still have it). The salesman actually had the gall to tell me that since it was a 'southern' car, it would not rust !

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. Great piece. Live Bill Moyers...more:

<snip>

All these years later, Sanders is still fighting the battle for single payer, Medicare-like coverage for all, even as fellow Democrats capitulated to the siren songs of the health and insurance industries. President Obama, himself a one-time advocate of single payer coverage, buckled to the insurance companies and its lobbyists and minions in Congress and agreed to health care legislation (the Affordable Care Act) that would continue to treat healing the sick as a profit center instead of a basic human right.

And look at former presidential candidate and single payer advocate Howard Dean, Bernie’s fellow Vermonter, who went on MSNBC this week and said that the Sanders plan “would in fact undo people’s health care… That is something people should be concerned about.”

Why the change of heart? Maybe because Dean “now serves as senior advisor to the law firm Dentons, where he works with the firm’s Public Policy and Regulation practice, a euphemism for Dentons’ lobbying team,” Lee Fang reports at The Intercept. “… The Dentons Public Policy and Regulation practice lobbies on behalf of a variety of corporate health care interests, including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America [PhRMA], a powerful trade group for drugmakers like Pfizer and Merck.”

Fang notes that, “Incumbent health care interests, particularly drug companies and insurers, have long viewed single-payer as a threat to their business model,” and points to documents that we uncovered in 2009 on Bill Moyers Journal with the help of former health insurance executive, now whistleblower Wendell Potter. They showed a systematic plan by health insurers to discredit single payer.
<snip>

[pacalo]

35. Those were the key paragraphs -- thx for posting.

[geardaddy]

7. Bill Moyers is a national treasure.

[gvstn]

19. He really is a national treasure.

I loved Bowie and all the accolades following his death.

Moyers is someone that deserves the same. He tells you the truth from a compassionate point of view. He asks deep questions and respects and listens to the answers. Thinks about them and then follows up. I have respect for this man.

[Armstead]

9. good for Moyers

Too bad the Democratic Party went in the opposite direction from his progressive populism.

People such as he should not have been voices in the wilderness all these years.

[BlueStateLib]

10. Sanders plan to send healthcae block grants dollars to republican governors sounds risky to me

[99th_Monkey]

14. Im betting Bernie takes this criticism into account, in his updated plan for single-payer

which he says will be rolled-out before Iowa.

There are ways to address the issue of States' GOP governors deliberately buggering a
Federal Plan for single-payer. I look forward to how Bernie hard-wires his updated plan
to address this issue.

Let's wait and see what his revised plan looks like, then decide if we like it or not.

[questionseverything]

24. i am not wild about the states handling the money but

i TRUST bernie to make any necessary adjustments along the way

i feel the same way about his plan to pay for national healthcare...and trying to stay out of wars and a hundred other subjects

the ptb are entrenched and i know it is going to be difficult but at least bernie will TRY with the 99's best interest in mind

[paleotn]

17. Right! So lets just....

keep blowing huge amounts of healthcare $'s on health insurance advertising, system complexity, duplicated efforts, denial of claims, CEO salaries and dividends to shareholders.

What do you think said Republican governors are going to spend the funding on? Hookers and blow?! I'm sure a lot of smart people will word any legislation so that the money will be spent on healthcare, just like any of the numerous federal funding mechanisms all states benefit from.

[Fuddnik]

25. I can agree with that concern.

There's got to be a better mechanism. And there can be. Never trust a Republican with a block grant.

Back in 2002-2003 I qualified for Job re-training under TRA. They gave the money to Jeb Bush in a block grant, and he decided not to use it for the earmarked program, and instead used it for tax cuts for the wealthy.

Let the Federal government implement it. It takes more assholes out of the equation.

[A Simple Game]

46. Do you really think a governor would screw with everyone's health care? Not just a few

in this or that demographic but everyone. I doubt it, it would be political suicide.

[INdemo]

49. You are so misinformed and don't bother to check the facts

[Cassiopeia]

11. Excellent piece.

[paleotn]

12. As usual, Bill Moyers tells it exactly as it is. (nt)

[John Poet]

13. K & R. If there's a 'Darth Vader' in the Democratic primaries,

it's HILLARY.

[Amimnoch]

43. Odd, since Bernie is the one who sounds most like Palpatine.

Let's see:
1. Senator who makes lots of promises (more than a few aren't even within the powers of the Presidency).
2. Want's to dismantle everything and rebuild it in his idea of a perfect image (I wonder if he has a secret clone factory hidden down in the Amazon of Brazil somewhere?)
3. Palpatine was both using and speaking out against the trade federation... hmmm.. who does that sound most like?
4. Who want's to reform the republic?

You picked the wrong player little Padawan!

[CharlotteVale]

15. K&R

[Enthusiast]

16. Kicked and recommended!

[Indepatriot]

18. MOYERS IS A GODDAMN GUN-LOVING SEXIST SOCIALIST HATER!!!!! HE'S A UNICORN RANCHER I TELL YA.....

#jamiedimonsabuela

[Art_from_Ark]

42. "Unicorn rancher"

"#jamiedimonsabuela"

[Dont call me Shirley]

20. LOVE BILL MOYERS, a man with true integrity!

[Green Forest]

21. Bernie: I will give you a Lambourghini in place of your Toyota. Hillary: He's stealing my Toyota!

The Clintons, their minions, and their mouthpieces are shameless liars who do not represent me or my family's interests, only their own. I am not fooled nor tempted to be co-opted because I am honest.

So is Joe Biden. So is James Clyburn.

We will rise.

[SHRED]

22. Just tell the truth

[LondonReign2]

23. Seems Chelsea has learned from her mother

[WillyT]

26. K & R !!! - Thank You For That !!!

[NCTraveler]

28. It's a stand, not a plan.

Correct wording.

[senz]

37. Single payer and universal health care exist and are achieveable goals.

Everyone knows what they are. He doesn't have to lay out a detailed plan at this point, so don't pretend that's a big sticking point because it's not.

It's not difficult, it's not impossible, it's not even new. All advanced countries have it but us.

Even your candidate wanted it once.

[laureloak]

29. OP didn't fully quote. Left off the explainer sentence that followed.

Chelsea said ""Sen. Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the [Children's Health Insurance Program], dismantle Medicare, and dismantle private insurance," she said, according to an account from NBC News. "I worry if we give Republicans Democratic permission to do that, we'll go back to an era -- before we had the Affordable Care Act -- that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance."

IOW.... I WORRY THAT to implement Sanders plan we would have to roll back the ACA it would deny coverage to millions.


I didn't have any trouble understanding Chelsea and I agree that citizens would be very vulnerable to ditch existing programs to jump to something new. Single payer has always been the ultimate goal but transform ACA into it rather than throwing out the baby with the bath water.

[passiveporcupine]

31. There is no way Bernie will take away ACA without replacing it at the same time with single payer

Thom Hartman joins in on this and compares something Hillary said in 2008 to now...good observation. Shows just how Hillary behaves under pressure.

Hillary:

It is destructive. Particularly for a Democrat to be discrediting universal healthcare by waging a false campaign against my plan. Well, I am here to say that it is not only wrong, but it is undermining core democratic principles. Since when do Democrats attack one another on universal healthcare?

[pacalo]

38. Thom did a great job & I'm with him.

[cui bono]

32. But that's a lie. It's not rolling back the ACA and denying coverage to anyone else.

It's replacing it with single-payer, which covers everybody. And Hillary is lying when she says it's leaving it up to states. No, it's not, it's a federal program, like medicare.

I didn't have any trouble understanding Chelsea either, I understood her lie very clearly.

.

[ucrdem]

39. Exactly. "I worry."

And Moyers omitted it.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

52. Go ahead and slam Bill Moyers. See what that buys you.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

33. K&R!

[nikto]

34. Chelsea's errors are evidence that being marrfied to a wealthy fund manager is bad for your brain

[senz]

36. This is lovely. The BEST people are on Bernie's side.

It's just so nice. I don't know what else to say.

[SoapBox]

40. Still expecting The Swarm to attack Bill Moyers over this.

Heresy! That he speak such truths.

[BeanMusical]

41. "producing a flood of political donations to Sanders."

Thanks Chelsea!

[MerryBlooms]

44. rec & kick

[ViseGrip]

45. Remember to never vote for the lying Chelsea! Like mummy and diddy.

[mountain grammy]

47. Bill Moyers speaks the truth! Always!

K&R

[INdemo]

48. When will Chelsea be old enough to run for President?

Hillary has been laying the ground work for her run for over 25 years.
So just maybe this was Chelsea's first gig to start her on her way.

What's that Chelsea?A PAC started by Goldman Sachs already ?

[DirkGently]

55. The Clintons really threw Chelsea to the wolves there.

It was a badly considered ploy, with a high likelihood of backfiring, and they've burned Chelsea's credibility to a cinder in the process.