Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Get ready to run, you pirates!

Jonathan Alter @ Newsweek: Health Care as a Civil Right:
This summer's health care political debate has seen the creation of "something new"
a tsunami of rumors, myths, fear-mongering and misinformation about the proposals that surges around the Internet in nanoseconds. “I’m totally confused about what’s going on,” one reader wrote to the AARP Bulletin. “How do I know who to believe?”

Misinformation spreads at rapid speed

On a more encouraging note, Danny Schechter, the News Dissector reports on the popularity of driving the pirates out of your doctor's office and local clinic or hospital:
When asked if they support “having a national health plan in which all Americans would get their insurance through an expanded, universal form of Medicare-for all,” the responses in favor get even better for our side:

· 58% Approve (+ 8 points versus the sample asked specifically about “single-payer.”)

· 34% strongly approve (+ 10 points)

· 38% disapprove (- 6 points versus the respondents who disapproved of “single-payer.” When asked this way the approvers out-number the disapprovers by 20-points).

· Only 25% “strongly disapprove” (the “strongly approve” respondents outnumber the “strongly disapprove” respondents by 9 points).

I think this is huge. Not only does it suggest that all of the efforts to demonize single-payer are largely failing, but it further suggests that we will have strong majority support for single-payer healthcare if we can educate the roughly 8% of the population that would support it if they understood what it was. Even without that 8% we have a majority 50% to 44% support. With it our majority improves to 58% to 38%.”

Obama better wake his ass up and get out in front of this thing before it runs over him and every Democrat in the Senate (except Bernie Sanders).


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