Weiner Roasts Beck's Gold Sponsor

Shout out to Adam: Come back from the TV... and don't order those coins!

If Dennis Kucinich ever tires of running for President, I hope Anthony Weiner will take up the challenge. My favorite Congressman from New York has issued a report finding Goldline uses conservative talk-radio paranoia and other shady tactics to drive sales. From Congressman Weiner's report:

...Goldline International has been in business since 1960, but has gained national prominence recently by sponsoring conservative talk show hosts.

These paid spokespeople have happily agreed to promote Goldline by playing off the fear of inflation, to encourage people to purchase gold as an investment that will protect them from an out of control government.

In reality Goldline is a company that uses conservative rhetoric, high pressure sales tactics and tall tales about the future of gold to sell over priced coins that can be bought somewhere else for cheaper [Congressman Anthony Weiner, "As Seen on TV: An Investigation of Goldline International," U.S. House of Representatives, 2010.05.17].

In pot-calling-kettle news, Goldline spokesman and entertainer Glenn Beck accuses Rep. Weiner of using McCarthyite tactics. (Really, Glenn? Really?!?)

Rep. Weiner is undaunted, saying "...the facts are clear. Goldline rips off consumers and Glenn Beck helps." (So do fellow fear purveyors Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, Dennis Miller, and Laura Ingraham, all with choice goonie goldbuggery quoted in the report.) The Congressman is calling for consumer protection legislation to require metals dealers to disclose hidden fees, purchase price, melt value, resale value, and resale profit information.

Let Feds Take Over Health Insurance? Heck Yeah, Says Rep. Weiner!

Jackie's right: this interview with Rep. Anthony Weiner is great! Rep. Weiner lays it on the line: he wants Medicare for every American. No triangulation, no compromise, no muddled message, just the kind of beautifully straightforward, practical arguments that Dennis Kucinich won me over with five years ago.



Key points:

• It's not about Left or Right: it's about saving money.
• Insurance companies aren't bringing value to the transaction.
• Medicare and the VA don't exclude pre-existing conditions: government health coverage is thus clearly more humane than private for-profit insurance.

Even subpar interviewer Joe Scarborough recognizes that Weiner can take what some want to portray as an extreme position and lay it out with crystal clarity and no deceptive or flaming rhetoric. National single-payer health insurance just makes sense.

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Dems getting ready to go it alone on health care? Saddle up! Cooperatives don't appear to have the muscle to produce solutions. Why go for an ill-defined, untried compromise (that Republicans won't buy into anyway) when we could try a public option that works in some form or another in every other industrialized country? Do your own thing, Dems; besides, America loves rugged individualists... ;-)