Rep. King: Health Care Reform "Not A Major Issue" For Americans (VIDEO)

In the current battle over health care legislation, the Republican Party has walked a political tightrope, trying to stall reform's consideration while not appearing indifferent to the struggles of millions of Americans who lack insurance or are dissatisfied with their coverage.

But on Monday, one GOP lawmaker went off message. Appearing on MSNBC, Rep. Peter King, (R-N.Y.) declared that health care reform was "not a major issue among the American people."

"I think the last poll showed 14 percent see health care reform as being a major issue," said the New York Republican, often rumored to be a potential candidate for Senate in 2010. "I think this is a metaphor of the president having gone too far, too fast, and really not living up to his campaign promises of governing from the center. But we have to avoid acting as if we won this battle. Right now the voters are turning somewhat against Barack Obama. It doesn't mean they are coming to us. We have to play this, I believe, very effectively but not be going for the kill."

King's polling reference was to an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey released last week that showed health care was the third highest priority for the public. Job creation was the top priority of 38 percent of the public; the deficit, 17 percent; and health care 14 percent.

Being the third highest "top priority" is hardly synonymous with being a minor issue -- certainly not when considering that when NBC/WSJ tallied the respondent's first and second priorities, health care shot up to a tie for second place, at 32 percent. Moreover, a Time Magazine poll released around the same time, found that nearly 70 percent of the public said it was very or somewhat important Congress and the President pass major health reform in the next few months.

Later in the MSNBC interview, King acknowledged that when people are asked if they want health care reform, "they will say yes."

"But then what you talk about what health care means it is not what President Obama wants."

Here too, however, he was off base. According to the same NBC/WSJ poll that he referenced earlier, 56 percent of respondents said they favor a health care plan along the lines of what the president supported; 38 percent opposed it.

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Comments

[AndyWright68]

11:47 AM on 08/06/2009

74% of Americans are completely satisfied with their coverage.
\
If you are worried about the cost then get the insurance companies out of managed care, support health savings and get the government out. There is no competition and that's why health care costs have skyrocketed.

Health care is not a right. This is the United States. Not France. Not Canada. Not Cuba. We are guaranteed freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. True Americans will fight to defend this country and our Constitution.

Just because there are millions of socialists living here does not give them the right to infringe on our rights so they can turn this country into what they think it should be. People who defend freedom are a very different type of people. Nobody has ever fought and died defending socialism.

[SiameseTrainer]

07:21 PM on 08/10/2009

I thought your Constitution guaranteed LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The life part might include health care. Nothing in the document about guaranteeing Corporate profit either. But your post is sarcasm gone wrong, right? If not you are one very confused Puppy.

[proudem]

11:12 AM on 08/04/2009

In what world is this guy living?

Imagine being able to pay less for health care and using the savings to stimulate the economy by paying for college, cars, etc.

[bensisco]

10:11 AM on 08/04/2009

This poor guy is clueless.

[Grunty1]

10:19 AM on 08/04/2009

Duh. Didn't you see the "GOP" in the headline!

[butterfliesblossom]

10:05 AM on 08/04/2009

It is not the most major issue for me. Lobbyist reform, and CEO pay top my list, but Healthcare is a close third. Are the Republicans willing to tackle any of these problems?

[Grunty1]

10:19 AM on 08/04/2009

If by "tackle", you mean "cash in", then yes!

[mcmutter]

10:36 AM on 08/04/2009

the Supremes keep insisting that cash is free speech.....lotsa luck on getting reform

[cltclt]

08:56 AM on 08/04/2009

I have health insurance also, but we are kidding ourselves if we think that we don't already pay for others at the highest cost. People with asthma and no health insurance don't get maintenance medicines, they just show up in the emergency room when they get an attack. Any doctor will say that this is the highest cost way to treat someone. Women that show up in the emergency room to have a baby with no health insurance, we pay for that. Anyone claiming the system as it is works fine is not being honest when there are almost 50 million uninsured.

[SiameseTrainer]

08:13 AM on 08/04/2009

This is a classic "Dog Bites Man" story. The fact that there is a Repoblican Politician with his head up his a$$ and his mouth frozen into the permanent rictus of NO is not news. Should you find a Repoblican who does not match this description write him/her up, THAT would be News.

[GrainOSand]

08:56 AM on 08/04/2009

Indeed. I do like some of what Ron Paul has to say. He loses me at a certain point. Colin Powell is reasonable as is Chuck Hagel. Jack Kemp was a fair person. I do not really think all GOP members are evil or that they do not have the best interest of the country at heart (as they can conceive of country and best interest). I think the GOP playbook is outmoded, and historically proven to be immoral and incorrect, and that fact is coming to bear on contemporary times and contemporary hearts and minds. They went to the well once too often with their wedge issues and their hypocrisy on important matters like -- fiscal responsibility, and “support the troops” in illegal unnecessary war or be deemed un-American. Credibility waned and hind parts were waxed by a fed up electorate in 06 and 08. Minus a change of heart and mind, this trend is likely continue as people continue to wake up on the zombies of zealotry wanting to take the nation on a zombie walk to nowhere. That low moan you hear is a zombie saying no to meaningful change. That’s all they ever say, unless it is more zombie juice or magic zombie dust in the offering. Like: tax cuts for those who do not need them; no-bid contracts for homies, cronies, and cohorts; deregulation of greedy unscrupulous industries (here the dems were complicit), and general lack of concern and attention for the “entire country”.

[henrypapillon]

07:19 AM on 08/04/2009

Huh ? Who woke me?

[Vinca]

07:47 AM on 08/04/2009

Healthcare is a major issue, for those that can't afford to buy health insurance. Obama's doctor said last night on Lou Dobbs show, he thought Medicare for everyone would be good. Seems to me it would. It DOES NEED OVERSIGHT. It's an established program that would work well with OVERSIGHT.

[mcmutter]

10:39 AM on 08/04/2009

health isurance is not an issue for most until....you lose yours......discover you cannot buy another policy....or find out you can't afford a policy....or get sick.....or lose your job

[takeyourballandgohome]

06:46 AM on 08/04/2009

We would never have any health coverage change if the GOP 'pigs at the trough' had their way. Obviously, look at the Bush years.

And, wherever Cheney, is....can he for one minuted imagine if he did not have adequate coverage...both he and Lynn so overweight, there should be a penalty imposed by the ins. carrier.

[DonRoberto]

06:32 AM on 08/04/2009

Representative King's comments put me in mind of Josef Goebbels' famous dictum that "If a lie is big enough, everyone will believe it."

Unfortunately for Rep. King, telling lots of little lies isn't quite so effective. Enjoy your fifteen minutes, Pete.

[yukoner1]

06:15 AM on 08/04/2009

Even the so called 'moderates' are suffering from RDS - Republican Derangement Syndrome.

[Grunty1]

10:20 AM on 08/04/2009

[RDS - Republican Derangement Syndrome.]

Note to yukoner: the 20% Rushpublicans are NOT moderates. Far from it. But they are indeed suffering from derangement.

[William Young]

06:10 AM on 08/04/2009

My honest opinion about health care. Those crying about health care being a privilege instead of a right ok let me ask you this. Ok, why are you honestly crying when the money is still coming out your pocket regardless? For every uninsured person that goes to the hospital that can't pay their medical bills, guess what the insurance companies pass these costs unto you. You may not notice a 2% increase in your premiums but whether you want to live in denial you're coming out of pocket. Each uninsured person that needs medical assistance and they can't pay, guess what You're paying, we're paying I'm paying. So to those that are crying we don't need this, yes we do until the guys in the insurance industry come off their high horses and realize your greed is what's hurting the health care system.

[confuseddemocrat]

06:33 AM on 08/04/2009

The problem is that most people are insured...and they can afford their premiums

People are more concerned about keeping their jobs so the health care issue is not as crucial...if the electorate was passionate about healthcare there would be movement

I suspect many americans who are currently uninsured and unemployed will say give me a good paying job and I will pay for my own healthcare insurance

[Darcman]

02:38 PM on 08/04/2009

You have no idea how money works, do you? One of the main reasons businesses close up shop in the USA and go overseas is the cost of healthcare! Cheaper healthcare is second to wages on the list of why businesses choose to setup shop overseas! Health care costs are crushing us in this country and lots of those people who you think can afford their health care are barely scrapping by! More and more people lose their healthcare everyday and in a few years it will get so expensive that people will be paying more for their healthcare premiums than for other of their living expenses!

[JBoy]

04:27 AM on 08/04/2009

So, if job creation is the top concern of 38% of Americans, why does HuffPost have so many more editorials on health care? Where's the jobs creation blog?

[yungstar]

04:00 AM on 08/04/2009

No health insurance..Screwed. Health Insurance..Screwed with Vasaline. Whenever you as a taxpaying AMERICAN citizen is forced to choose between healthcare that Sucks or healthcare that Really Sucks, then its time for a system overhaul guys. Anything else is inhumane....

[GrainOSand]

03:31 AM on 08/04/2009

You know, fire is never a concern until you look up and you are engulfed in flames. That is not the time to think of precautions against consumption by flame.

You know, bankruptcy due to major medical bills is never a problem until the day in court.

You know, Brownie was doing a heck of a job while people were floating dead in dirty water and witnessing and living horror in a football stadium.

You know, Osama Bin Laden was not wanted dead or alive (i.e., he was not a priority) until that tragic day that he became the figure on Sheriff Buford T. Bush’s wanted poster.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0409041pdb1.html

It seems this attitude of “I am ok, and you -- who cares!” is a shortsighted view that leads to spreading, widening, deepening pain. It is also unbecoming for a nation claiming greatness amongst nations, the moral high ground, and to be of, for, and by...the people.

[henrypapillon]

07:20 AM on 08/04/2009

Excellent!

[Spesabsquemetu]

11:08 AM on 08/04/2009

Powerful post with a force of impact far greater than a grain of sand.

Is indifference the pre-requisite for greed?

[GrainOSand]

04:29 PM on 08/04/2009

No, selfishness is the prerequisite. If I were greedy I would be rich (monetarily speaking -- I am fabulously wealthy in the currency of love, which for me suffices). I have had at least two opportunities in this regard. All that was required of me was to take advantage of someone else. For me, that was a deal breaker due to early lessons (hard ones) I learned about honesty and integrity and how abandonment of either is unacceptable.

Indifference is actually reported to be a high state of consciousness. One who is not pulled by happy or sad, loss or triumph, is said to be in a masterful state. One who is not self concerned, self aware, self enthralled...is in a state where death does not cause fear and life does not prompt clinging. It is qualified that indifference of this sort is still somehow empathetic, compassionate, and caring -- just not self righteously so, no need for a statue in the park for simply doing the right thing. Indifference causes one to not covet permanence. For me it has served to wash away the effects of the onslaught to destroy me via systemic messages, mindsets, and madness...all before I emerged from the womb of my dear mother. I have not gone unscathed, but due to an ability to, on a neophyte level, tap into indifference grounded in love, it has been one hell of a battle and it continues to be a fulfilling worthwhile journey.

[Osusuki]

03:24 AM on 08/04/2009

This is an improvement for Congressman King. He usually says, "If you care about health care reform, you must be un-American." We all know that's the way he feels, anyway.

[PunxatawnyPhil]

05:57 AM on 08/04/2009

That's how the righty's all feel. America is all about Capitalism, nothing else. The free market capitalist is the answer to ALL our problems. Democracy and the rights and voices of the people mean nothing. The market will fix all our problems... when it is exactly that false ideology that is the root of all our problems. A. Rand is their God and Atlas is their Bible. And Capitalism can be a wonderful tool, but if you think that is our guiding light for what this country was founded on, then in my opinion, you couldn't be more wrong.

[DonRoberto]

06:51 AM on 08/04/2009

I think it is important not to accord too much importance to the role of political ideology in the debate. First, the leadership of the right use ideology as a tool, but it would be wrong to think that many of the leadership actually *believe* their own propaganda.

Ideology is the vehicle the GOP and neoconservative leadership use to communicate and justify their policy positions, and to the extent that their policy positions are inconsistent, the ideology itself must also be inconsistent. Hence the reason for an ideology in the first place: if the policy positions were based on logic and reason, they could be deduced from core principles, and an ideology (which is always based on unquestionable absolutes) would not be necessary.

Bottom line, ideology is invented and promulgated for the benefit of the Republican rank and file; the only real ideology of the Republican elite is self-interest.