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Edited on Wed Sep-30-09 06:38 AM by Hissyspit
MICHAEL MOORE:
First of all, thank you, all of you, for being here today. The, um, what you were saying about the women, and how they suffer the most from this... I remember after my film 'SiCKO' came out getting a call from someone who works the desk at one of the health insurance companies, where they have to decide whether or not they are going to deny the claim or not that someone filed.
He told me the story of a woman who had actually very good health insurance that covered psychological help in addition to medical help. And she had submitted, and her doctor had submitted, a claim for psychological treatment due to the PTSD that she was suffering from having been raped. And this individual from the insurance company said to me: "I was told to deny the claim on the basis of a pre-existing condition."
And I said: "And what was the pre-existing condition?" I expected to hear what I've been hearing over the years, you know - she'd had had acne as a teenager, she'd caught a cold a few years ago that had developed into something else, you know.
And he said: "I was told to deny the claim based on a pre-existing condition. The pre-existing condition was that she was raped." The fact that she had gone to the hospital and received treatment after she was raped meant that this particular thing that she was now applying for was something that had happened beforehand - he was just, he was practically in tears on the phone - that they were essentially now trying to get rid of her off the rolls. This is just one small example of what I've heard over the years, and, it...
This is such a cruel system we have.
No other Western democracy does this... to their people. They think it's important to have a secure country, yet they have a healthy people. You'd think every conservative and Republican and pro-war person out there would say to themselves: 'You know, we're not going to be able to defend ourselves if we're sick.' We have a diabetes epidemic in process with our children right now. What kind of country are we going to end up with, if we allow this to happen.
But our purpose of being here today is not to direct this so much to the Republicans, who - and somebody has to explain to me the logic of this - when two-thirds to three-quarters of the American public say they want the public option, at the very least, why would you oppose that? It doesn't make any political sense, does it? Because, geez, two-thirds to three-quarters of the people want it. Seems like you'd want to make some political hay by being in support of it yourself.
They're that beholding to these health insurance companies, the hospital corporations, the hospital chains, that they're actually willing to risk re-election, because of how they've been lobbied - 1.4 million dollars a day is being spent right now by the health care lobby.
Our purpose for being here today is to send a message to President Obama and to the Democrats in Congress.
First to President Obama: We have been in such a state of hope since last November, a state that we haven't felt in quite some time That day you were elected, Nov. 4th, 2008, was one of the most important days, really, in our lives. It made us feel very good and very proud to be part of this country, that our fellow Americans would do the right thing. And they came out, not in a close election, but by a very large margin and said that they wanted change, real change, the change that you promised. We continue to support you. We know that you've inherited, not just one catastrophe, but a number of catastrophes. Who would want this job? Thank you for taking it. God bless you for taking it. For being willing to try to undo the mess that's been created in recent years.
And it saddens me, when I see you, President Obama, out there stumping for health care reform and there is no enthusiastic support for your position. It feels like you're out there all alone. We look at the other side and they're out there in full force, even though they're the minority, even though they only represent 25 % of the American public, they're there at the town hall meetings, they're there at the teabagger rallies - especially my favorite one, the one last week, where they were... pictures of them using the publicly funded rest rooms on The Mall. They've been vocal, they've been organized, they've been FUNDED.
And you probably turn around and you wonder who's got your back, because you seem to be out there all alone. The reason for that, with all due respect, is that you started with a compromise. Anybody who's bought a car, anybody who's bought or sold their house, or negotiated anything, knows you don't start with your final position, you don't start with a compromise. You start with everything that you want. Everything that you believe in.
And in 2003, when you decided to run for the Senate, you said you were in favor of a single-payer health care system. And I believe in your heart you still believe that. But you started in a place where you had no wiggle room, nothing was left, and, it was a position that did not energize the base. Did not... you're not going to get millions of people out there going 'Yes, give us the public option where the private companies still get to call the shots.' How do you get people enthused about that? That's why you're out there and alone on this. You don't need to be alone.
Millions, tens of millions of Americans right now, would be right out there with you, right out in the streets, right there on the Internet with their emails, up here on Capitol Hill, jamming the phone lines, if you just did what the people wanted. The majority of the people of this country are behind you. Come on!
(applause)
I mean, politicians, they kill to have this support. You've got us all. You had us all. You haven't lost us.
So. You need to hit the reset button. That's all. Just hit the reset button and go back to the drawing board. Rep. Weiner is there at the drawing board already. He's there with Sen. Sanders. And they've got the legislation that the majority of the American people want.
Not only do upwards to three-quarters of the American people want universal health care, and support the public option, a majority depending on which poll you look at, either a simple majority or a plurality of Americans support single-payer, support Medicare For All. You're already there. You're not out on some limb. You're not having to take a risk. You've already got the people with you, and we will be there with you every step of the way.
When you held that meeting with all the bankers, the heads of all the banks, the private meeting you had with them in the White House, and, I just want to read the report from that day that was in the paper. It said: "President Barack Obama wasn't in a mood to hear them out (as they went on with their explanations as to why they needed trillions of dollars of our tax money). He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public's reaction to such explanations. He said: 'Be careful how you make those statements, gentleman. The public isn't buying that. My administration,' the President added, 'is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.'" That's what he told the bankers.
What we're here today to tell you, Mr. President, is that we have got your back. We're here to let you know that the majority of Americans support you, and that we stand between you and the pitchforks that are being held out by the private insurance companies that want to destroy this country.
To the Democrats in Congress, who don't quite get it: I want to offer a personal pledge. I - and a lot of other people - have every intention of removing you from Congress in the next election if you stand in the way of health care legislation that the people want. That is not a hollow or idle threat. We will come to your districts and we will work against you, first in the primary, and, if we have to, in the general election. You don't think so? You think that we're just going to go along with you because you're Democrats?
You should think again. This is the No. 1 domestic issue on people's minds right now. It's the No. 1 cause of bankruptcies in this country. Medical bills. It's the No. 1 cause of foreclosures in this country. Medical bills.
We will organize the thousands of people in your district who have suffered as a result of this cruel health care system that we have - we will organize them and we will come after you and we will remove you from office. Make no mistake about that. You had better get behind the President. If you think you were afraid of a few people at a town hall meeting, you haven't seen anything yet. And let me just say, there are some people in this room, if you remember back to the election of 2000, that are fairly reckless individuals when it comes to politics. They don't really care - when they see a hypocrite, when they see somebody who's turned their back on the people who put them into office, they will be relentless, relentless in working against you. Even if it means that the Democrat doesn't win.
DON'T TAKE OUR VOTES FOR GRANTED.
Don't do that. Because we'll find Republicans who are smart enough to realize that the majority of Americans want universal health care. That's right. That's absolutely right. Don't take this for granted.
The worst thing you have to fear though, isn't that people are going to vote for Republicans, you have to worry about the fact that because you have so debilitated the people who do support the Democratic Party and who support our President, where they see time and time again what they want as the people never happens - and here's what they do: they don't vote. They stop going to the polls. You need their votes. They're not going to vote for Republicans. There are people, you know, myself, and, where I come from, Flint, Michigan - I don't even remember a Republican being elected for office, uh... ever, from where I come from. It's not in our DNA to consider doing that. But I do know a lot of people who have given up. And will give up again. Barack Obama re-engergized them; he brought them out to the polls. But they, and our young people, who had their first experience with politics, at some point are just going to throw their hands up and say 'That's it. I've had it. What's the point? What's the use?' And I don't want to see that happen.
I've posted on Huffington Post this morning the 'Thirteen Reasons Why The Current Health Care Bills In Congress Don't Solve Our Health Care Crisis.' And I put this together with the California Nurses Association. And I encourage you to go to the Huffington Post and read these 13 reasons. It's very clear, very concise why the bills that are currently being pushed by the Democratic Party establishment and somewhat seems to be, the White House seems to be in support of these, why this simply won't work.
The final thing I want to say before opening up to questions, is that, President Obama, I have a lot of faith in you. I know where you come from. You come from the working class. You were raised by a single mother, and your grandparents. You had the good fortune to be allowed in to Harvard University and after you graduated from there, you didn't choose to go to Wall Street or into some law firm to make a million dollars a year, you chose to go to Chicago, to work in the inner city, where you would make no money.
Oh, and by the way, on your way there, you changed your name back to its original name - Barack Obama, not exactly the move of a politician, not exactly the move of somebody who was calculating, geez, if I run for office someday, I don't know if that Barack name is going to do me much good. You didn't think like that. You didn't think like that. You just went with your heart. And you went with the way your mother and your grandparents raised you to be.
You are one of us. You come from us. This is not the time to desert us. This is not the time to be the representative for the private health insurance industry. We need you to stand up. Stand up. Be bold. Be brave. Be strong. We've got your back. And we want universal health care for every single American and we want it controlled in a single-payer system, like the Medicare and the VA and all the other 'socialized' medicine that we have in this country. That's all we're asking for.
And as you've said over and over again to the American people, this will actually be cheaper, it will cost us less, and we will be healthier as a result of it, because when people have coverage, they go to get help. They go to get help, and they're not doing that now. And so, we help to perpetuate a sick nation.
And the Democrats in Congress, find your spine. Read the polls. And see us coming. Thank you very much.
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