Tag: john boehner

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Gates and Boehner: Two very different ways of saying it

Often it’s not what a person says, but how he or she says it.

Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest people in the world — a person who builds things — says it one way.

John Boehner, one of the most powerful elected government officials in this country — a person who fights for his argument — says it another way.

They’re talking about the same problem.

Gates is effective, calmly stating the problem along with wisdom and confidence that the problem can be solved, and a proposal for what needs to be done.  What’s at stake for him is the next generation.

Boehner is looking backwards, distorting, and blaming.  He appreciates the problem mostly as a handy knife with which he can stab the opposition over and over again.  He focuses on the emotion, without offering realistic hope for a solution.  What’s at stake for him is the next election.

Gates is being honest, so there’s hope in what he says.

Boehner is being less than honest by selecting certain examples and blowing their importance out of proportion, in order win favor. There’s fear in what he says.

One of them speaks to large group of fully energized people.

The other speaks to an empty room.

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Does Mitch McConnell make anyone else feel like barfing?

Am I the only one who feels like barfing every time Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and other Republicans in Congress, in regards to health care reform,  say, like silly billy parrots, “the American people do not want this bill.”

makes me feel like barfing

I doubt it.  I’m guessing, if all the people who felt like barfing every time this lie was told actually barfed — the country would be swimming in barf.

This is because, while he endlessly repeats “Americans do not want this bill,” a lot of Americans in fact DO want this bill.

Wh0 are we, the Americans who want this bill?  Chopped liver?  And why does he keep saying we don’t want it, when we do.  Or does he not consider those who agree with him to be Americans?

And which bill do we not want?

That’s the problem.  The House and the Senate passed different bills — and nobody is completely happy with either.  So if they say we do not want “this bill,” they are technically right — since they haven’t defined what they’re talking about.

But most Americans DO want any damn bill that passes and begins to climb the country out of health insurance hell, introduces fair play, and moves us towards, ultimately, universal health care.

Certainly you’ve got polls that say the majority of Americans are against health care reform — because you’ve lied and distorted and scared the bejeezus out of people.

Well, here’s a poll for you:

In August of 2009, SurveyUSA asked 1200 adult Americans a question for NBC News and Wall Street Journal.  The question was “In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance?  1) extremely important 2) quite important 3) not that important, or 4) not at all important?

77% said it was either Extremely Important or Quite Important.

So get real.  The American people want Congress to fix the broken system.  That’s why we elected Obama.  It’s the health insurance industry that’s against it, and they’ve spent $380 million buying your votes in Congress and moving those poll numbers for you guys — more money than was spent on the entire 2008 presidential campaign.

Importance of Public Option