Infomercial Attacking Obama's Health Care Plan Backed by 'Swift Boat' Financer

[bananas]

Source: Fox News

But a major new national attack-ad campaign has the potential to put a dent in Obama's plans, with millions of dollars coming from one of the backers of the "Swift Boat" attacks that wounded John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.

Conservatives for Patients' Rights, founded by multimillionaire investor and former hospital chief executive Rick Scott, began this week airing a 30-minute infomercial on some cable networks warning Americans of a health care takeover.
...
Scott, who helped finance the "Swift Boat" ads, has hired the same group responsible for those ads, CRC Public Relations, to coordinate the campaign. The Washington Post reports he is using $5 million of his own money and up to $15 million more from supporters to push his campaign.
...
The infomercial has drawn strong opposition from SEIU. The union, which represents health care workers, claims more than 68,000 petitions have been signed urging NBC to pull the ad, scheduled to air in the Washington, D.C., market on Sunday after "Meet the Press."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/30/television-ads-attacking-obamas-health-care-plan-incites-battle/

[BlooInBloo]

1. And DUers will be right there with them.

[Buzz Clik]

28. Yes, I'm curious -- how similar is the commercial to the attacks launched here?

[msongs]

2. sure hope at least ONE dem somewhere has a PR plan. or repubs win again nt

[bertman]

3. We can fight back. Here's a petition that's going to the NBC President asking him to not

run this ad/infomercial.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/nbc_healthcare/?r_by=4251-1961326-wy3iLMx&rc=confemail

Sign it and email it to everyone you know. Time is getting short.

[AsahinaKimi]

4. signed and sent

kicking too

[dotymed]

10. TOO BAD

That President Obama is still refusing to consider Single
Payer Health Care for all Americans. Not only do we have to
defeat the Swift Boaters, we have to convince the President to
implement Single Payer for all.

[avaistheone1]

32. We sure do. If we really want change and health care reform the

only plan that will do so and unfortunately it is not on the table - is single-payer.

[Dakota Flint]

5. Thanks for the link

signed and sent!

[blm]

6. Grazie....

this is a battle we HAVE to take up.....

[snappyturtle]

9. Thanks and done! nt

[blaze]

15. Thanks for the link!! Signed and forwarded!! nt

[Libertas1776]

7. Signed and Sent

that mother out! Health care: Now or Never!

[NewJeffCT]

8. Is this the same swift boaters that said if anybody could prove a lie

in the swift boaters claims, they would give them $1 million... but, when John Kerry called them on it, they conveniently forgot the challenge, even when Kerry offered to donate the money to charity?

[hay rick]

13. That was T. Boone Pickens I believe. nt

[depakid]

11. Progressive groups and Democrats had better understand that America's a culture of lies

Truth and facts don't matter.

If they don't fight back with their own hard hitting ads, they will lose this fight, as they have so many others, all the while whining and complaining to the corporate media, like a bunch of perennial losers.

[Swagman]

25. exactly..fight fire with fire. The truth has to be presented in a much

more agressive way. Take no prisoners..these people don't fight fair.

[DonCoquixote]

12. THIS is where Hollywood should step in

And make the sort of hard hitting ads to counter the swift boat. We need to get Sicko on TV, we need to have people get together and attack the GOP, regardless of whether or not you wanted Canada care or something else, because if not, we will not get jack.

[depakid]

18. For some strange reason, Democrats and many of their advoates have difficulty with straight talk

calling a spade a spade in no uncertain terms. No matter how many times they get burned, they never learn the lesson- and the far right ends up defining the issue and framing the debate.

It's almost like a pathology. For a set of people who like to think that they live in the "reality based community," it's just bizarre that they cannot grasp such a basic deal that's right in front of their faces.

[DonCoquixote]

20. Say what you will about Mike Moore

But Sicko does the trick very well.

[depakid]

21. Micheal Moore is an exception to the rule

The rule is guys like Carl Levin the other day "chiding" Dick Cheney.

"bearing false witness" and tap dancing around. That bit was weak, and almost painful to watch.

[Better Believe It]

26. You don't understand. The Democratic Party with help from Hollywood won't do that.

That would make Republican "leaders" angry and they might attack President Obama and other Democratic officials.

We must go overboard to appear reasonable and responsible even if we look like whimps.

[BlueJazz]

14. LOL! LOL!...LOL!

"Conservatives for Patients' Rights"

We Democrats know very well that when Conservatives start talking about "Helping" the "Rights"
of somebody...get ready to bend over and take it up the a....

[Stinger2]

16. Rick Scott should be in jail for Medicare/Medicaid Fraud not running Swift Boat ads

Rick Scott

In 2001, HCA reached a plea agreement with the U.S. government that avoided criminal charges against the company and included $95 million in fines. <3> In late 2002, HCA agreed to pay the U.S. government $631 million, plus interest, and pay $17.5 million to state Medicaid agencies, in addition to $250 million paid up to that point to resolve outstanding Medicare expense claims.<12> In all, civil law suits cost HCA more than $1.7 billion to settle, including more than $500 million paid in 2003 to two whistleblowers.<3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lynn_Scott

Rick Scott should be in jail for Medicare/Medicaid Fraud not running ads against people that are trying to fix health care!!!!!!!!!!

[depakid]

19. How many people do you think know that fact?

I'd hazard a guess maube 5% of the population.

Now, put the shoe on the other foot- if this were a progressive commercial and there was some untoward history about one of its leading figures, how many people do you think would know about it?

[Liberal_Christian]

17. I seriously would by into their reasons for not wanting universal healthcare...

if it weren't for the rest of the industrialized world proving them wrong once again.

[Oregone]

22. Im not sure they are fighting against that, but rather Obama's plan

I don't think he even wants universal health care.

Perhaps itll be mandated and flawed private health insurance (that will continue to deny claims).

That doesn't sound like universal health care to me.

[Liberal_Christian]

38. It's true.

They're really fighting against both; killing two birds with one stone. Have you seen the "Conservatives for Patients' Rights" ads? They completely knock canadian healthcare. They probably just want to squash the idea of an affective healthcare system but at the same time devalue the president's position.

Obama, like most democrats, has no back bone anyway; we saw how he handled the credit card companies (no change), Iraq (no change), regulation of Financial Industry and reinstating Glass-Steagal (no change), Gun Industry (no change) Hopefully the cap-and-trade, the stimulus bill, and creation of jobs that can't be outsourced will warrant more positive results.

In all fairness, it's easier to be a republican politician, for it's easy to -politically cater to those with money and power and neglect those who do not-, and you seem like a real successful and ideologically loyal politician when your message at the same time is to -politically cater to those with money and power and neglect those who do not-

The problem is democrats also -politically cater to those with money and power and neglect those who do not- they're just being hypocritical when they do instead of being considered good little republicans.

But, yes, I agree with you, and I've been thinking the same thing all along; our healthcare (if it even changes) will be just another derivative of privatized medicine; Changed just enough to give us the illusion that our representatives are being useful, but left the alone enough for corporations to remain the unnecessary middle men to reap outrageous profits.

[Cleita]

23. We knew this was coming. It had already been

announced here and there in the underground news. Isn't it time to start taxing these jerks out of existence?

[Better Believe It]

24. SEIU should run powerful, hard hitting commercials for single payer but they can't/won't because ...

President Obama was for single payer Medicare for All before being elected Senator but is now opposed to it.

Perhaps President Obama will change his position and once again be in favor of single payer if he runs for President again in 2012.

[Jackpine Radical]

27. Most of us have known an attack like this would be coming.

We have known since the early days of the Primary season when people started talking about health care. Harry & Louise Ride Again. Well, actually, Harry died a few years ago when his insurance refused to cover his heart transplant, but never mind. My point is that we knew it was coming.

So did Obama. You can bet on it. You may not like Obama's version of health care reform--I don't--but he has surely been anticipating a virulent and heavily funded attack if he attempted anything but an outright capitulation to the health insurance industry. Those guys are fighting for their lives, they have control of almost 20% of GDP, and they have no interest in relinquishing their big bucks.

Therefore I predict that Obama, with his usual incredible political acumen, will manage to sink the Swiftboaters just like he did in the campaign last fall, and will very neatly tie them into knots. He has had a long time to plan for this one, and I expect the same level of competence we have seen out of him so many times in the past.

[spag68]

31. Obama

I supported and worked for him, but I don't believe he will get this job done. If he doesn't cave, I will be the first to apologize.

[Jackpine Radical]

34. OK, so maybe I'm whistling

past the graveyard.

I so fear for this nation if we don't get a humane health care system.

(Among other things.)

[BrotherBuzz]

29. Swift Boat financier and discredited fraudulent former hospital chief executive!

Should be a slam dunk to discredit this entire sham Astroturf 'Conservatives for Patients' Rights' movement.

Piece of cake, right? Why do I feel ill knowing that this crap will gain traction? I just don't get it, but P.T. Barnum did, and he was right, "You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public".

[spag68]

30. NBC

It seems strange to me that they are running the ad on NBC. NBC is probably watched by progressives more then any other channel so wouldn't they have more luck with other networks? Just thinking.

[KakistocracyHater]

33. wooooow $5 million of his own money-where is Spielberg, Clooney

Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Barbara Streisand? How is it that Dems are unwilling to match the pay that Repuglicans use for their own party?

Is the truth not worth it?

It seems that Dems want the same effect of a HUGE blockbuster movie without having to pay for it. They want the same bang with half the buck.

[alarimer]

35. If it does not include a public option, I hope it fails too.

Obama's plan, so far, sucks. Ted Kennedy's is MUCH better.

[DCKit]

36. I'd have thought they'd be keeping their heads down.

The last damn thing *they* need is for U.S. to start demanding health care without corporations in the mix. The more noise the ins. cos make, the more people they're going to wake up, and they won't like it when people wake up and realize we're being offered false (and very expensive) choices.

Guess they just can't help themselves.

[Arkana]

37. So...what? Is it a parrot screeching "SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!"

on a loop for 30 minutes?