Right Wing philosophy: When you don't have any cogent arguments, just make shit up (re: health care)

[marmar]

from ThinkProgress:



Right-Wing Escalates Fear-Mongering Rhetoric: Warns Americans Will Die If Health Care Reform Passes

Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed a health reform plan that includes a public option. Meanwhile, on the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rolled out “a bill worth fighting for.” Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra predicted that Congress will soon pass a comprehensive health reform bill.

Fearing that health reform is getting closer to passage, the right-wing is escalating its rhetoric by issuing dire warnings of its consequences. Interviewed by the Washington Times, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) was asked if “government-run health care” will “end up killing more people than it saves?” Coburn responded, “Absolutely.”

A couple of right-wing congressman voiced similar doom-and-gloom rhetoric on the House floor yesterday:

Rep. Steve King (R-IA): “They’re going to save money by rationing care, getting you in a long line. Places like Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe. People die when they’re in line.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX): “One in five people have to die because they went to socialized medicine! … I would hate to think that among five women, one of ‘em is gonna die because we go to socialized care.”

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/16/right-wing-dies-health-care/


“Many Americans are under the delusion that we have ‘the best health care system in the world,’” the New York Times editorial page wrote in 2007, but “the disturbing truth is that this country lags well behind other advanced nations in delivering timely and effective care.”

Comapred with Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the United States ranks last in all dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. The United States currently ranks 50th out of 224 nations in life expectancy, with an average life span of 78.1 years, according to 2009 estimates from the CIA World Factbook.

Canada, Great Britain, and many of the other countries that the right-wing enjoys beating up on actually like their health systems and wouldn’t want to trade places with an American. Moreover, Americans don’t get a good bang for our buck. A Business Roundtable study found that compared to France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, U.S. workers and employers receive 23 percent less value from our health care system than the citizens of these other nations.

And, as the chart below shows, the U.S. spends the most per person on health care, but actually has worst life expectancies than many countries which spend less:

http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/spend.php




http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/16/right-wing-dies-health-care/

[BOSSHOG]

1. And your electric bill will be a million dollars a month

[Stuart G]

2. No, ten million...and gas will soon be 25 cents a gallon..nt.

[Stuart G]

3. Yes, they make up anything..as long

as it sounds reasonable, they can make it up. And who calls these fools on the truth. How many times did you hear the mainstream media accuse Bush of lieing? that is the answer

[sutz12]

4. I actually was thinking about this today...I came up with this...

1. Imagine the absolute worst case scenario.

2. Pimp this as the most likely outcome over and over and over and over
and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
and over and over and over and over and over.

Prety simple really.

[JBoy]

5. Wow, That whopper Gohmert pulled out of his ass must have hurt!

Is he seriously saying that in Canada you have a 20% chance of dying when you go to the doctor?

What a dumb fuck.

[JimWis]

6. Making shit up is right. If you watch the Republicans on the floor

in the morning giving their 1 minutes speeches, they just stand there and lie through their teeth. You know damn well they know the truth, but they have to play politics. The hell with the politics. Let's represent the American people. I am sure they believe that we the people are so ignorant that we are all buying their shit. Argggg.

[berni_mccoy]

7. DAMNIT! AMERICANS ARE DYING IN THE CURRENT SYSTEM! 18 THOUSAND A YEAR!

But they go unnoticed because they are poor.

SIX TIMES THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO DIED IN 9/11 DIE EACH YEAR BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE!