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"Since when do Democrats attack one another on universal health care?" -HRC
Hillary feigns shock and outrage at the Obama camp's mailers. Doesn't strike me as a smart move. Indulge me a bit while I plagiarize myself and reprint my analysis of the pre-Wisconsin Clinton-Krugman health care mailer.
"Which part of the mailer is untrue?"
Um, where do you want to begin? Remember Al Franken's "weasel
words"? Things that are not technically "lies" but are clearly intended
to mislead? Or, put another way, Everything that's come out of Karl
Rove's mouth ever? This flyer is sick with them. So let's begin:"Which of these people do not deserve health care?" The insinuation
here is that the difference between Obama's plan and Hillary's is that
people would be turned away from getting health care under Obama's
plan. False.And this line of attack gets more explicit and scare-monger-y on Page 2:
"Will it be YOU?"
(Here, a more honest mailer would say "Turn over for answer!" and then would have the word "NO" written in 128-point font.)The mailer uses contested claims that 15 mil would not have health
insurance to suggest that those people would be denied or left without
access because... of what? their income level? pre-existing conditions?
The mailer doesn't say (and even the study that came up with the number
of 15 mil never charged that anyone would be "left out"-- the number is
just an estimate of the healthy young folks it thinks would choose to
opt out of the system). Why? Because it would be a flat-out lie to say
any of these things. Instead, the piece just implies these things by
declaring that Hillary's plan would "end discrimination against people
with existing conditions." By contrasting this statement with the
bulletpoints underneath Obama's plan (wasteful, demagogue, hates
universal care), the mailer suggests, in a none-too-subtle way, that
Obama's plan would not do the exact same thing with regard to
preexisting conditions. Which is BS, and very, very Rove-ian.Indeed, every feature of Hillary's health care plan that she talks
up in her bulletpoints is shared in its entirety by the Obama plan
(keeping your current plan, making care affordable for all, ending
discrimination against pre-existing conditions). The only difference
between the plans (a difference without a distinction, as I hope I've
shown in my past posts) is that her plan involves some vague notion of
mandates (a word, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be found in the piece).
But the average reader would wouldn't know that. Which is the point.On the last page of the mailer, the Clinton stoops to perhaps its
lowest level yet, by taking advantage of a man who with obvious
psychological problems. For a campaign that claims to be concerned with
health care, you'd think Hillary would show more concern for the
clearly troubled Paul Krugman, instead of choosing to display his
logorrhea and angry derangement on the back of the mailer for the world
to see. For shame, Hillary, for shame.
The Clinton campaign, when called out on this hypocrisy, will say that Obama's mailers are that much more egregious because Obama claims to be running a positive campaign. I am not sure if this is a wise argument to be making: the obvious implication is that it's okay for the Clinton campaign to get down and dirty, because they are running that sort of campaign to begin with.
Lately, whenever I hear Hillary speak, I see a tiny angelic cartoon version of Mandy Grunwald on one shoulder, and a tiny cartoon Mark Penn--pointy-tailed, pitchforked--on the other. I guess the Mark Penn side won out today.







Comments (2)
Great post, thanks. I was a huge fan and supporter of both Bill and Hillary in the nineties, but now I could not possibly be more disgusted with her insipid and incompetent campaign.
February 23, 2008 11:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if this is one of those topics that Hillary will want to discuss next Tuesday at the debate. Do you think that is what she meant? Be carefule what you wish for ... HRC. It looks like you are going to get it, and I don't mean the Whitehouse.
February 24, 2008 2:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
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