Hat tip to Adam Feser!
Indeed, when an argument invokes Hitler and the Nazis, it's hit bottom. But bless Rep. Barney Frank for living up to his name and calling the likening of health coverage reform to Nazism and protrayals of Obama as Hitler as "vile contemptible nonsense."
If more Democrats would just give simple, straightforward answers like this, simply telling people exactly what's in the bill, we'd see health coverage reform pass the very day they get back from the August recess. Too bad Barney Frank won't be at DakotaFest....
Rep. Frank also offers a wonderful rebuttal to a businessman's complaint that President Obama is taxing us into oblivion, noting that the Obama Administration hasn't raised a single tax. As a matter of fact, President Obama has actually cut taxes for 98.6% of working households to the tune fo $288 billion dollars, over a third of the stimulus package. As Adam and I and Bruce Bartlett notes a few days ago, taxes in 2009 will constitute a lower percentage of our GDP than they did in Reagan's best days. So even if President Obama does raise taxes to pay for health coverage reform, he has a lot of room to go before bringing taxes back to the levels under President Bush.
Bring on your worst, Republicans. We Dems can still win, if we just tell the truth.
The tarp bill, aig, stimulus bill, one trillion over budget for 09-10, and two wars are all on credit. Taxes are low this year but it will rise to meet new interest and pricipal demands. Both sides need to stop borrowing and show the true cost of government.
ReplyDeleteThad Wasson
Come on, Thad: in for a penny, in for a pound! ;-) (By the way, I look forward to reading your balanced budget proposal.)
ReplyDelete... In for a ton.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't he be more diplomatic? Granted, some of these people don't have a handle on the real issues, but the Democrats overall have done a HORRIBLE job of putting out easy-to-understand information on how the bill would affect them. The Obama administration has been a huge disappointment since they appeared to be masters of creating web sites and communicating to the nation. Consider that we are acutely interested in this issue, follow it every day, but still there were many things that we were still unsure.
ReplyDeleteRight now my hero is Rep. Anthony Weiner. I can't play this clip enough.
ReplyDeleteI wish he were my Rep. I'm hoping he's heading to Senate or even the White House someday soon.
The clip hyperlink didn't work. Here's the link address:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIF_dWwxAHE
Yeah, He's (Barney) great. No one else quite like him, unfortunately. Very quick. No nonsense.
ReplyDeleteFrom the clip it was obvious that some people didn't come to debate the facts. Once rationality is lost debate becomes impossible. His responses were perfectly fine for irrational people. At the very least the sharpness of his tongue may have shocked at least one of those people enough to actually look into what the proposed legislation actually says.
ReplyDeleteThere are irrational people in the world. You can't help them all.
John, diplomacy has always been my weak spot. I tend to be too blunt, too forceful, too argumentative. But too much diplomacy appears to be the weakness of Team Obama on health care. They've tried too hard to use gentle, unscary language, against opponents who, as Tony recognizes, are not interested in being gentle or unscary, let alone crafting genuine political compromise. If more Democrats—if the President himself—would respond as vigorously as Rep. Frank does here to obvious and blatant baloney, those poll numbers would bounce right back up. I hate to admit it, but for all my commitment to civil, rational discourse, there does come a time to fight fire with fire. Not deception and scare tactics, but with frank and unapologetic branding of B.S. as B.S.
ReplyDeleteAnon @4:11
ReplyDeleteStick to the issues of this post. Do you deny anything Franks said in the clip? Please point it out because I don't think he said anything that was factually incorrect.
Funny how Anonymous commenters don't seem to read anything... including the comment policy. They're so enthralled by singing in the shower (hearing their own weak imitations of Rush Limbaugh echoing off the moldy plastic walls of their narrow minds), that they can't take time to actually listen to what's being said. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing... the person making the Nazi comment was a Lyndon La Rouche Democrat and NOT someone from the "evil" right wing.
ReplyDeleteOoopsie?
No, no oopsie. Can you point to a single statement Rep. Frank made that is factually incorrect? Frank called the woman's silly Hitler talk nonsense. It doesn't matter which whacko the woman follows, Limbaugh, LaRouche, or L. Ron Hubbard. Strip out every reference to political party here, and Frank is still fabulous!
ReplyDeleteFunny, I missed the Straight Talk reference first time around and do appreciate Barney Frank for obvious reasons. Communications grumbles aside, Obama remains the best thing we've seen come out of politics in my lifetime, and a bit proudly, from my generation.
ReplyDelete