Dead in the Water--Not Quite

This afternoon President Obama engaged in "truthiness." He quoted a Republican Senator who said that if they could defeat his health care plan, Obama will be dead in the water.

Listen to Obama's comments, his first real push back on the Republican messaging that any health care reform is too expensive.

According to the President, this shouldn't be about him or about politics. But it is, because this fight is about power and money, about privatizing medical care rather than opening it up to everyone, and about the future of the Republican Party. Actually, according to me and a lot of other people, it's about the future of our economy, too.

Here is a wonderful resource--FactCheck.org-- to help wade through the propaganda that is being put out there by the lobbyists who don't want to do anything that will change the status quo. Remember these lobbyists are being paid by folks like insurance companies, for profit health care systems, and pharmaceutical companies. Notice that I didn't include the doctors, because many of them, especially the younger ones, acknowledge that the current system is unworkable and as my generation ages, will bankrupt the nation. This FactCheck.org article deconstructs two "independent" ads that make claims about the Canadian single-payer system. Beware!

It's time for Obama to do more than just set out guiding principles. It's time for a health care reform summit and for all of us to demand an end to the politics of destruction.

Post Script: Watch Lewis Black from The Daily Show on July 21 make fun of the Republicans tirades against health care reform.