How Dems Are Failing to Sell Health Care Reform - George Lakoff

[nycrackhead]

I can smell his farts.

[PissedFechtmeister]

All he's saying is that the Dems aren't as good at propaganda as the Reps, but if they just take his advice they will be. 

[Torakization]

Bank run health care, sir.

[shovland]

The Democrats are so incompetent at promoting policies that they would be better described as saboteurs.

[mollycanadian]

I discovered this last summer and thought it was brilliant. Democrats are using reason and statistics to get a population who will benefit from this on side. It won't happen unless they use stories and emotion...which is why the Republicans are so good at. Americans seem so suspicious of big government - historically I can understand that. Obama won because he appealed to people's emotions - the "good" ones.

[jrobertwood]

I thought the reason they don't go after the insurance companies is that the democrats are in their pocket, and need their agreement in order to get reform done.

[daderone]

George Lakoff is great

[Americanfighter01]

okay then

[GBS990]

A lie is nothing more than the truth standiing on it's head.

[bickleschmickle]

This man is brilliant. I don't understand why people don't listen to him.

[givebirthathome]

Watching the Club for Growth "Oppose Government Run Healthcare Ad" really adds to the message of this video. They show a picture of an elderly person in a hospital bed, with a relative collapsed in despair, while telling you that if your treatment costs more than 22, 000 dollars you won't get it under the British system.

"Medical decisions should be made by patients and doctors, not politicians and bureaucrats" -denies the truth. Doctors would still make decisions under a new system.

[thetimman00]

Monopolies do so much better screwing the people when they have captured the regulators. Insurance companies have done this and now the federal government is going to step in and fix everything? BS in the first degree.

[Redfingers]

I really don't believe in this anecdote the guy brings up about the woman believing the "government takeover" will take away her medicare. Because I simply cannot believe that someone would be that absolutely and totally vapid. How, exactly, does one suppose that government funding for medication will be canceled by the government funding medication?

I'll tell you what, though. If a person like that exists, she doesn't deserve government funding. She deserves a bullet in the head and a grave.

[blackiron60]

Lakoff brings up an excellent point, indirectly at least. Why is the left-wing so impotent in most places in the world? Because they are geared to the mentality of the moderate: be reasonable, state lists of facts, appeal to reason, commonsense and, of course, right-wing scaremongering demolishes their arguments again and again and again. Since the Cold War the left has been running scared, always on the defensive, and it needs to grow some balls if it wants to turn that around.

[givebirthathome]

To some extent the Dem problem is intrinsic to their program.

Since the right runs the hierarchy, they know how to pitch understandable messages to less intellectually capable people. Willingness to lie, since that works now with our more-poorly-educated-than-ever people and a concentrated media, helps too.

Democrats don't want to acknowledge inequality of ability, so they make arguments that are too intellectually demanding for their audience, and fail to succeed in emotional strategy.

[kfrb1]

What is clear is that most people have not read the bill. If more people read, the debate will completely change. What I hear people supporting or opposing has little basis in HR 3200 as it currently stands. You want your doctor to read your chart before treating you, your pilot to check his instruments and weather forecast before flying, and yet you argue positions with no knowledge.

[givebirthathome]

No knowledge? Would you care to contest that our media is concentrated, or our people are poorly educated? I think not to the latter, as you are pointing out that people haven't read the bill.

I have and do read the actual text of many of the things I take positions on; I haven't read this bill, but then I'm not taking a position on it either. What I *am* taking a position on here is the relative PR competence of the Democrats and Republicans, which I have had ample opportunity to observe.

[classicallady]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention all the most sophisticated tests/exams were sent to the Mayo Clinic in Minesotta, Never cost him more than a penny

[classicallady]

Furthermore some other day I ws reading a few comments from those idiots t.baggers out there that those companies if faced with a MAJOR reform would take their businesses somewhere else and I asked "Where" 3rd world countries? I mean in Euroep we have health care, Canada the same...where will they go?South and Latin America also have government assitance...Former Soviet Union? Russia and it's ex satellite countries also have universal healthcare.

[im4wur]

Australia has national health care too. - I have a friend in Australia who's cancer treatment cost him an out of pocket fee of $10... total. - In the US he'd have been left destitute.

[classicallady]

I think I told you about my late brother in Canada...14 months in a hospital, air-lifted from Ottawa to Montreal to get brain surgery by one of their best medics, endless C-Scans, MRI's, PET's, private room so he would feel more comfortable, the staff at both cities...IMPECABLE! nevr a day with pain. If he was still living here like he was 22 years ago the bill would come close to a million and I'm sure, no doubt any Ins. Company would have kicked him out of the hospital after 3 or 4 months

[FoShizzle951]

Lakoff is the man.

[82abhilash]

Yes, people are stupid, you just have to keep on repeating something and they will believe it. By that logic, all the Obama administration has to do is keep listing their public policies time and again and people will believe them. So we need not listen to what this guy says. He has contradicted himself.

[82abhilash]

This is Bullshit. The name is what is wrong? The naming is counterintuitive so people are mislead? Because you are so smart and the less common folks are so stupid that someone else has to decide matters concerning their health? Here is a counter-intuitive name 'demilitarized zone'. That is the name given to the most militarized border in the world, the one between North and South Korea. Is anyone fooled by that name? Is anyone ever fooled for long by names?

[im4wur]

It's my understanding that the "demilitarized zone" between the Koreas is just that. A buffer zone between the two armies in which there is no standing military. Hence the name.

[82abhilash]

A physically separate space between the two armies so that they do not kill each other. So the space in between is technically the "demilitarized zone". But remember, armies face each other separated by a small distance when they are ready to charge each other, when they are at war and they have remained at war. And both sides are accumulate man and machinery because the next battle may be around the corner. So it is really a heavily militarized zone.

[im4wur]

Based on your other comments here, I didn't think the facts would make much difference to you (technically speaking of course). - lol - Thank you for confirming that.

[82abhilash]

I would have posted a proper reply to you, if I knew what you said. Facts do not make a difference to me (technically speaking??!!). You are just playing around with words, instead of giving a well articulated reply. Well OK, whatever suits you.

[Smartassawhip]

We all know that it is difficult these days to get information regarding the health care plan. In the comment section of my profile I have the answers to some of the most common questions asked. I also have the link to the easier to read version of the bill in pdf format sent out by congress as well as videos that will tell you exactly which dems and republicans are in the pocket of big pharma and the insurance companies along with their phone #'s. Do the research for yourselves.

[im4wur]

The GOP is playing a dangerous game. By lying to people, the corporate shills are teaching people to not believe them. It's only a matter of time before the vast majority of people will see through the lies about health care (and other things).

[wildpeachatl737]

I agree with Lakoff's observation that the Obama administration underestimated the coountry's ablility to comprehend and seperate the bull from the facts but I wouldn't go so far to say that they are failing or will fail. I think the fog is beginning to lift for some, we're all not on the same learning curve.

[Inyahtihasta]

Well at least the term "public option" is an attempt at honesty. The name "American Plan" calls to mind a similarly positive-sounding, yet fundamentally malicious program, The PATRIOT Act.

By calling it the American Plan you make the same insinuation: that if one is against it, one is un-American, just as opponents of the the PATRIOT Act were vilified as unpatriotic.

[GBS990]

When people read and understand what is in the bill, the truth becomes obvious. You think you have to wait for a specialist now, see what happens with government intervention, oh and no appeal, ever.

Anything but the American plan.

Yes, we know the truth, too bad for this government hack.

[classicallady]

Orchard6773 Whet the Prez meant - and failed to be perceived was in referrence to the ins. companies. They are the ones paying BIG money, manipulating people, placing over a million/day to install fear and further ignorace. Worst of all, they are taking advantage of the elderly who most unfortunately, some are not thinking straight anymore. Were we back on the XIII century, these thugs would be sent to the guillotine - and that's where they all belong.Worst defrauders of the government

[im4wur]

ClassicalLady, - I'd recently heard that the private health care insurers have spent more to fight this bill than McCain spent to win the last Presidential election. - The 'for profits' would only do so if they had a lot to gain by maintaining the status quo. - The fact is the status quo is unsustainable. The current system is broken and it's only going to get worse unless we have significant health care reform.

[classicallady]

I stick to my idea of Obama sort of giving in a little ("give a little take a little) only to patch the way for a single payer option in the near, very near future

[ferrozm]

dumb ass they can't sell the idea because it is a stupid one. We need free market reform not govt mandates.

[MagellansUnderwear]

under-regulated markets are at the heart of the recession. hoarding toxic assets, medical bankruptcy, and predatory lending. Combine that with criminal practices in petroleum speculation and people living beyond their means and this is where it lands us. Insurance is too expensive and it is too easy for insurers to deny/ drop coverage.

[ferrozm]

all of those things are the products of regulatory agencies which corporations take over anyway. Insurance is too high because of govt subsidies and inflation due to govt medicaid and medicare

[MagellansUnderwear]

no, Insurance is so high because the insurance companies exist to turn a profit and make their shareholders as rich as possible. This is why people are denied coverage. Health insurance is a for profit business and that is the glaring flaw. Health care is too essential a service to be run as a for profit venture. Health insurance profits quadrupled last year.

[im4wur]

MagellansUnderwear - wrt: "No, Insurance is so high because the insurance companies exist to turn a profit..." - You are exactly right.

Furthermore, the people in the US pay twice as much per capita for health care as people in other nations and yet we get a fraction of their quality of care. - Why is that? - Because in the US, the health care industry is siphoning money from people's premiums to create profit for their investors and pay obscene management fees.

[moshe88]

No, insurance is so expensive because insurance companies are forced, by law, to insure as many people as possible & to pay for as much as possible almost regardless of risk factor & pre-existing conditions. If insurance companies could choose who they wanted to insure & only paid to cover sever injuries or sudden & sever illness, insurance would be much cheaper. Health care would also become cheaper as a consequence of doctors not being able to charge as much & choose more expensive treatments.

[McArrowni]

And what about people with pre-conditions. Let them rot?

[moshe88]

If you're walking down the street, and you see a man having a heart attack or choking on something, are you guilty of murder if you don't help him? If a bum asks you for money, are you guilty of theft if you don't toss him a few bucks? What law says you are not allowed to not help other people?

[moshe88]

Most Good Samaritan laws don't punish you if you don't help someone. From Wikipedia: "Good Samaritan laws in the United States are laws or acts protecting from liability those who choose to aid others who are injured or ill." These laws don't punish you for not helping someone, they protect you from lawsuits & prosecution if you, say, pull someone out of a burning vehicle &, in the process, cause them an injury. Only Minnesota & Vermont have laws that require you to at least call 911.

[im4wur]

wrt: "If insurance companies could choose who they wanted to insure..." - Of course it would be cheaper for the insurance companies if they didn't actually have to cover sick people. - However, what your point fails to address are the people that can't afford spiraling health care premiums (and co-pays) and have to sell off their life savings to cover their health care bills. - What's the point of paying insurance if the coverage is not there when you need it?

[im4wur]

Medicare ("government run health care") operates to care for people, while the health care industry is in business to make money for its investors (and pay exorbitant management fees). Two different goals, two different results.

Furthermore, medicare's 3-5% overhead vs. the 25%-35% overhead for private insurers should show you how those results are structured.

[hootiemack]

Wow, this guy pretty much nailed it on the head!

[andid]

The death panels already exist, as this man pointed out, in the form of denying and prolonging care, and denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

The public option wouldn't give them that chance. It would force health insurance companies to stop denying coverage or start losing patients/doctors/nurses/money.

[MagellansUnderwear]

this is a line of bullshit and you know it.

[andid]

How's that?

Of course I'm being somewhat hyperbolic in calling them death panels, but people being denied or price gouged for pre-existing conditions seems like it would fall more in line with these "death panels" Sarah Palin warns us of.

[MagellansUnderwear]

I may have misread the sentiment of your statement. my bad.

[MagellansUnderwear]

yeah i definitely did. I get angry about this, to the point where when I hear/see the words "death panels" I become a gibbering reactionary jerk. It just blows my mind that so many people can't see the advantages and necessity of health care reform.

I mean, America moving out of the 19th century, what a concept!

[andid]

I saw your favorites and they're practically identical to mine so I thought I was in the twilight zone, but no bad. Sorry I brought up the death panel crap, but sometimes it's fun to use people's own rhetoric against them.

People without health insurance are fighting against health care reform...that's when you know some on the anti-reform side have no attachment to reality.

[im4wur]

It's ironic that many of the things people against health care reform are afraid of, are ALREADY happening under the current for profit system.

[ic300x]

population control

[jamesholder13]

Great video. But I wonder if it is not a failure of the Democrats but an unstated attempt to ensure the health care industry's dominion over health care. Since they've taken single payer off the table, there seems to be little question of what they are doing.

[therhythmicmenace]

the eugenics nazi plan

[HellWithPoverty]

Alright, that's enough Alex Jones.

[WashingMachine0]

Excellent video.

[rjsmitty69]

How about there are no specifics in the bill its just ideas on what they want to do . They need to stop and put in specifics of the bill in the bill and then WE THE PEOPLE will decide if WE want it or not ..

[Socksbike]

Spot on!!

[LeGioNoFZioN]

so is he saying the dems are lying by not saying the truth or that they are incompetant because they cannot elaborate on the truth ?

[Crackadackas]

He's saying the Democratic party as a whole, those in support of the bill are staying too politically correct. They're afraid of using any rhetoric at all. They just call the items what they are, but that doesn't get to your average American. Repetition of statements, like "HOLYSHIT DEATHPANELS GUISE" on the other hand...

[LeGioNoFZioN]

ok I see, but isn't the democratic party the party of PC ? they are the politically correct ones most of the time, asking them to not be is against their nature .. isn't it ?

[Crackadackas]

Okay, maybe PC was the wrong term to use. What I meant is they seem to be unwilling to call these plans anything other than what exactly they are. Because the titles are not patriotic, or otherwise easily understandable, the message is often lost. Then the repetition of deathpanels, takeovers etc create fear and it devolves into a shouting match between those who understand the need for reform, and those who repeat talking points. The Democratic party is lacking layman understandability.

[LeGioNoFZioN]

I think you are right, well said

[wimscheers]

Incompetent, at least PR wise. They think a clean, technical well explained idea will persuade the voters. The republicans are a loose cannon, shooting at anything that moves with insane allegations and statistics, using buzz words like government control, death squads, killing the elderly and socialized healthcare. They are lying, but they get their ideas across. The dems are telling the truth, but they don't get their ideas across. And really, that shouldn't be to hard.

[LeGioNoFZioN]

I blame the bill they tried to pass personally. write better bills and people have less to be scared of. thousand page bills always hide something the government doesn't want to admit to. myabe I'm just a skeptic