The Politics of Fabrication and Fear

The politics of fabrication and fear is back. In the tradition of Karl Rove, the architects of our recession are at it again, pushing a fear-stoking message based on falsehoods. They are delighting as the fear turns into public anger, and the cable news networks can't get enough.

Some have marveled at how the special interests and the right wing leadership have influenced the health insurance reform debate by fostering town hall tempers. I suppose they would call a political strategy based on misinformation smart. I prefer to call it tremendously cynical. It is the same sort of politics that took our country to war in Iraq.

President Obama has worked incredibly hard to communicate what health insurance reform would mean to every American, using his figurative megaphone more assertively and repeatedly than on any other issue. Many of us in Congress have worked to back him up.

We strive to communicate the facts -- facts about the reform we are actually pursuing, facts about what more of the same could cost our families. Unfortunately, facts and legislation don't often make for good television.

The projection that one out of every three dollars the average American earns could soon be consumed by health insurance costs doesn't make for good television. The legislative effort to stop insurance companies from denying valid claims or refusing to cover pre-existing conditions doesn't make for good television. The fact that we want Americans to have a real choice of health insurance doesn't make for good television.

What does make for good television is people, driven out of fear by a threat that doesn't exist, showing their anger and frustration at public meetings. They do this because they are told that health insurance reform will amount to a "government takeover" of health care, "socialized medicine" and the implementation of so-called "death panels." And the images of people angrily repeating this bill of goods they have been sold look better on TV than the response explaining what reform would really mean.

Let's get this straight, there is no truth to a government takeover, socialism or so-called death panels.

Instead, here are some actual facts that are truly frightening: until recently, our nation was on the brink of another Great Depression. Americans lost trillions of dollars -- that's trillions, with a "T" -- worth of investments and retirement savings with the collapse of the financial markets. Millions of American families have lost their homes to foreclosure over the past couple of years.

And the same people who steered our families into this economic ditch want to protect the status quo when it comes to health insurance. They want to "break" the president who is working to bring our nation to a place of economic security.

Let's not have short memories about what brought us into this recession and what it will take to create long term economic security for our families.

In this struggle of fabrication versus facts, those of us who think health insurance needs to be reformed should keep emphasizing what we hope to do and what would happen if nothing is done. But there's another set of facts we have to highlight.

We have to talk about and stand with our constituents who have approached us year after year, some in tears, to tell us how their health insurance simply wasn't there when they needed it the most. How their small business is drowning under the costs of providing their employees with insurance. How they are in a health care abyss between Medicaid and costly insurance.

How in New Jersey, an expectant mother was denied coverage for all of her pregnancy-related costs when her insurance company claimed she couldn't prove that her pregnancy started while enrolled in their plan.

These stories -- and there are millions upon millions of them across this land -- are the reason that health insurance reform is so crucial. These stories help illustrate why focusing on fabrications is so detrimental to our nation. These stories are why we can't let the people who created this recession force us to accept more of the same.

Follow Sen. Robert Menendez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SenatorMenendez

Comments

[FINJA]

I can't even have a reasonable conversation with many of the republicans I know anymore. These cable propaganda programs are literally attempting to make America screw itself over. They are convincing Americans to be extremely opposed to the man and the party that wants to help them. Hopefully Americans are not all dumb enough to fall for this right wing malarkey!

This is just getting retarded.

[plsps]

I agree. Ever time I talk with some one and they attempt to tell be to do something like listen to what Fox says or the Repubs must be right, I have to think are they off their rockers or do think I'm that so stupid that I would go along with them.

[Bernique]

Correction --"Will Durst, the comedian, has opined that the Republican Party will shrink to a size "where you can [fit them] into Grover Norquist's bathtub".

[Bernique]

Will Durst, the comedian, has opined that the Republican Party will shrink to a size "where you can drown it in Grover Norquist's bathtub". They're well on their way, Senator.

[1088]

Laws has to put in motion to clean up the Media, period! One person should not be allow to own many media outlets, period! FCC should be doing their job, period! The Dems should call out the Republican with their lies and should have daily talking points too. Dems need to come together and stick together no matter what. All the information that Rachel Maddow have found out, should go to all the Dems to show that they all were played by the GOP!

[Bernique]

1088 -- it baffles me that President Obama has not done anything to reverse the extravagant media consolidation that has taken place since President Clinton's Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is now obvious that it has been a disaster for public discourse in this country, enabling wars on false pretenses, banking abuses, spreading falsehoods on any and all subjects, with "opinion" emanating mostly from corporate, vested interests, who do not have OUR best interests at heart.

[FloresdelaHoz]

Today's GOP is not only rudderless but also clueless. The GOP is becoming a regional party.

[ProgressiveVoice]

Why is it we prohibit advertisers from making false claims but there is no prohibition on lies and misinformation in political advertisements?

Since "Tricky" Dick Nixon, the Republicans have used misinformation and lies to manipulate the public vote. More recently, they used various methods to remove from voter roles the people they knew wouldn't buy into the lies. Even more recently, there is ample evidence to support charges of election machine tampering.

Republicans have been using government policy to redistribute wealth away from 99% of working people to the top 1%, shift the burden of paying for government from the wealthy and corporations onto the working class, shredded the social safety net while increasing corporate welfare and advocated government intrusion into citizens' private lives. They have to misinform and lie and cheat - they can't get elected with honesty!

If we base our prohibitions on the harm an act can inflict, a Truth-in-P­olitical-A­dvertising law is criminally overdue.

[kendraro]

What the majority wants (single-payer) is being opposed by a loud but powerful minority - who will win? The suspense is killing us. (sorry)

Buck up, Democrats and do what we elected you to do or we will unelect you. Yes. I said unelect.

[NeoconGal]

Could someone post a list of politicians who have taken money from the health care industry?

[NationalTreasure]

it is not only the GOP who are trying to destroy healthcare reform it is the main stream media throwing the American public under the bus -- just as the main stream media did when it failed to do diligence about the need to go to war in Iraq and sold America a bunch of lies about Iraq

once again the the main stream media is allowing lies, half truths and GOP talking points to drive the news cycles in its coverage of healthcare reform -- which is not surprising since the main stream media makes trillions of dollars a year in advertising from big pharma dn the insurance induatry

[ComeOnAlready]

The best post on the matter I"ve seen yet!!

[Bowlingkev]

Sorry Senator, I know you’re preaching to the choir here at Huffpost but I don’t buy your rhetoric. My question to you is: What is the big hurry??? It took Pres Obama 6 months to pick out a dog for his kids but there seemed to be this big rush to pass an 1100 page piece of major legislation that NO ONE READ in a matter of days and weeks. I’m just not buying it. Currently over 80% of the American population are satisfied with their health insurance. Why is there no discussion about tort reform??? If you really want REFORM Congress should start with that – but then again, gee, over 50% of Congress are lawyers…hm­mm….what’s being proposed isn’t reform, it’s pure hypocrisy and the American people know it.

[Dosadi]

After trying to bring about reform for 50 years how can you twist your face to say anyone is hurrying? I'm serious. 80% of the people are satisfied with their healthcare? They have not experienced anything to compare it to. Of course they are satisfied. Duh! Tort reform, I agree, would be a good thing to bring about, but the entire house is burning so why just put out the fire on the porch? What is being proposed is the forst step in a race that is miles long. We have to put doors and windows on this house, then we can open those up in the future and do something. Be patient, this has to be done in phases and the first phase is to serve notice that things are about to change. The health care industry will come around in the next few years and try to fix things right before the fix is forced on them. Business 101 my friend.

[Mugzi]

Your statistics are skewed...78% WANT healthcare reform....almost 50M do not have healthcare...the spiraling cost of for profit health insurance is hurting the economy...even though we will have a healthcare law, it will probably take years to implement.

[pinkibus]

The big hurry? lol This idea has been around since Harry Truman. A lot of people have been struck off the books of private health care companies since then. They have died from inadequate treatment or their families have gone bankrupt to pay for needed treatment. Meanwhile the rest of the developed world goes on with universal health care.

As to 80% of Americans are satisfied with their health care policies. Well in the rest of the developed world everybody is satisfied. And it costs half as much. And as a result people live longer and fewer babies die. So yes. It is urgent. Just think - more money has been wasted and more people have been killed by lack of universal health care than by the wars in Vietnam and the Gulf war and the war in Iraq

Think about that and tell yourself there is no hurry.

[SallijaneG]

Actually, I believe that Teddy Roosevelt was the first to suggest a national health insurance plan.
The first women's rights convention (which included a request for the vote) was held in 1848; women's suffrage was not passed until shortly after WWI, and the Equal Rights Amendment was not ratified by the needed two-thirds of states in the 1970s. Civil rights issues, which I consider this to be, take a long time to see success. We can't give up, we can't let this bill pass as is. Please continue to fight with me for a true single-payer national system.

[fedupinfla]

Lemme guess....you watched that guy at the town hall say that line about Obama's dog, thought it sounded clever & decided to plagiarize it right?? Thats pretty lame pal.

Oh, and if GOP senators REFUSE to read the bill so they can claim "they haven't got to read it yet" too dam bad. If they're too busy twittering & making stupid speeches about "death panels" to do their job, maybe they should LOSE those jobs huh?!?

[yourmotherwasahamster]

over 80% huh? I'm having trouble buying it, but lets assume you are correct that over 80 percent of the population is even covered by insurance in the first place and that reliable polls have been taken and the statistics compiled properly (and that is a huge assumption). 50 million uninsured out of a population of 300 million means roughly 17 percent of Americans have no plan at all. That leaves a possible 83% coverage rate. So if 83 percent are covered--including medicare and medicaid recipients and those with VA benefits who comprise some fraction of that 83%, meaning that we are not comparing apples to apples since many of these satisfied customers are the beneficiaries of government healthcare-- and more than 80 percent reportedly are happy, does that leave less than 3% dissatisfied? i find that hard to believe. But assuming only a paltry 3% of Americans are dissatisfied with their healthcare coverage, that is still 9 million people. More than the population of the state of New Jersey or the country of Austria. Are you saying they should be ignored? tough luck 9 million fellow citizens, we don't give a damn about you!

[yourmotherwasahamster]

furthermore, if conservatives have decided that 9 million who are being poorly served can just go suck it and the 50 million (including children) who are not served at all by the current system are not worthy of help, then we have close to 60 million who need and want reform. that is 20% of America that NEED reform. The conservatives are basically telling 1 in 5 of us to piss off.

[Sundialsvc4]

Senator, one of the principles in "the Art of War" is: "do not permit your opponent to dictate the rules of engagement."

Swirling around "all this media noise" is ... the fact that it IS noise. Noise and nothing more. But with "polls" (and everything else that money can buy) trying to make it sound like "facts."

Especially, "facts that might influence your re-election." Yes, you and ninety-nine people just like you are the truest and most-intensive target of this campaign.

But what should guide your steps and your thoughts are this and only this: the ordinary people of the State of New Jersey. Not the powerful people. Not the well-connected ones. What is the VERY BEST and MOST EXCELLENT legislation that the United States Senate can possibly come up with that will be of the most benefit to the millions of people who live in the State of New Jersey?

"Creating excellent legislation." That's the only reason why you and your colleagues are where you are. But don't be focused on what will or will-not "keep you there." Focus on: the ordinary, otherwise powerless, people of the State of New Jersey. You ARE their "power."

[Sundialsvc4]

One more comment, sir:

We, the People, at least partially understand the extraordinarily difficult nature of the task that you, AND ALL NINETY-NINE of your colleagues (and all of the five-hundred-plus in the House) have pledged to do.

I started to say "maybe the Press does, and maybe it doesn't," but then I realized that I was using a great big brush. Oops. Sure is easy to do.

What I would tell you AND all of your colleagues (some of whom I fervently agree with, and some whom I despise and vhemently oppose), is this: "rise to your calling, and represent your State. Not the bribers and the peddlers of influence... your State."

And: "'Excellent laws,' ladies and gentlemen. The best, most workable, most enforceable, most well-balanced 'excellent laws' that you can craft. Pour your very best Professional Efforts into every single thing that you do, every single day, and that is all that any one of us can ask of you."

And... it IS "all that every one of us DOES demand of you." But you knew that, didn't you?

Keep it up, sirs and madams. Every one of you. This IS "how the process works."

[SallijaneG]

Senator Menendez, I am a New Jersey citizen. I have been a fan of your work in the Senate. As such, I ask that as a member of the Senate Finance Committee you push as hard as possible for a national single-payer system, to turn health care "for profit" into health care as the healing profession it should always be. I agree that we need tort reform, not to cut awards, but to make sure lawsuits have substance or, if frivolous and lost, that the loser pays all attorney's fees and court costs.
Stand up for me and my fellow citizens, and I pledge to stand with you come the next election. Together, let us stand on the side of love.

[DocTwain]

Senator Menendez, the majority of Americans, including American doctors (59%) http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_doctors_revolt want single payer. And an overwhelming majority want at a minimum a strong public option. The recent crooked polls brought out by the plutocrats don't change that. Even an internal RNC poll showed 70% of _Republicans_ want major healthcare reform.

THerefore all of the talk about death panels is a side show.
THe GOP is irrelevant and the town halls and tea baggers and birthers are irrelevant.
So is Fox News.

Democrats have enough votes, if they use reconciliation in the Senate, to pass single payer.

We expect you to pass it.
Accountability is for the Democrats.
Anyone who votes against single payer is an agent of the industrial cartels.
Anyone who votes against a strong public option is a plutocratic extremist, market gamer and racketeer.
Deliver single payer, or we will drum every one of you out of office.

[Mugzi]

We'll be lucky to have public option! It will help by eliminating pre existing conditions, eliminating the lose of healthcare with the lose of a job or an illness, eliminating bankruptcy driven by medical expenses, people can keep their insurance if they wish - choice...it may not be perfect, it is a great start!

[Bernique]

Mugzi -- Now is the time for bold reform. Not a quarter, not half, the whole loaf! I will not be satisfied with small measures that sound good. People are dying for lack of health care in this wealthy country, all for the greed of a few. It's IMMORAL!

Where are the Christian, "family-values" voters?

[howeverfaraway]

Senator- I am with those who propose putting out a couple of pieces of floater legislation. One that absolutley forbids any patient to talk about their end of life decisions with a doctor.
Also a piece that bans any form of socialized medicine- recinds Medicare, Medicaid and the VA. See how the fearmongers spin that as a good thing. When they are left sputtering and the poeple really realize they are being duped, only then there might be a chance at sensible legislation about those suubjects. Really, put it out there on the floor for consideration.
DO IT!

[gconners]

Of course they want to "break" him. Sen. DeMint (R-SC) flat out said so. "Healthcare will be his Waterloo and will break him." That's what this is about. Most of the shouting protesters don't even know what they're talking or yelling about.