Previewing Rick Scott's Lies
Posted on May 26th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in Profits Before People|
|
Disgraced CEO Rick Scott and Conservatives for Patients' Rights will be running a half-hour "documentary" against President Obama's health care plan for the DC audience right after Meet the Press on May 30th.
The contents of this "documentary" is as surprising as it is true, which is to say, not. Scott has been previewing the materials all month, in spots like this one. If the "documentary" is similar to these ads, and everything I've heard says they will be, we're in for a lot of distortions and outright lies.
For example, the interviews with British and Canadian doctors were carefully edited to make Scott's point. It's become clear that the doctors themselves don't agree with Scott. For example, the British doctor, Karol Sikora, supports government-run centers to research treatments, even though in Scott's ad, he appears to condemn the idea. Even better, Canadian Dr. Brian Day, who appears to condemn Canada's health care system, has openly mocked America's:
Canada's health system has been ranked 30th by the World Health Organization, and the U.S. was ranked 37th…Why would anyone copy a system that ranks substantially below ours?
The entire hit piece Scott is putting out will be focusing on health care in countries like Britain and Canada, which I actually find a bit of a mistake. If you're taking your cues from the Frank Luntz playbook, comparing health care to other countries really isn't going to resonate with people, nor does it make much sense. Nobody in Washington is proposing replacing the American health care system with a system from other countries. What we've got going is an American solution - building on our health care system while changing it in our own ways.
But, the above is what you'll get if you watch Scott's "documentary." Lies about what Washington is considering, distortion of the participants, and lots and lots of fear.
How are we going to "rebut" this documentary? Do we have our own documentary to run? Can we donate to such an effort?
HCAN is working on a rebuttal, we definitely could use the monetary help to get it on the air. Donate if you can!
Jason:
Great to hear! Will you blog on HuffPo and Dkos about the rebuttal documentary? If so, I'm looking forward to whipping up the momentum for donations there.
Will do, as soon as plans are settled. I'm hoping tomorrow.