Deadly serious deja vu here.
Time to go mano a mano with the right wing extremists determined to stick a knife in the back of the American Cancer Society.
First, some critical history about how the right wing killed the Clinton Health Plan in 1993/1994.
It's happening all over again. Today, they're targeting the the American Cancer Society. Tomorrow, as sure as day follows night, they'll be targeting all the Democratic healthcare reform plans.
This carefully orchestrated campaign of lies, deceit, fear, smears, swiftboating and disinformation is being led by the very same people who crushed the 1993 Clinton Reform Plan.
Please keep the name Elizabeth McCaughey in mind as you read.
This is an excerpt from a JONI (Journal of Netroot Ideas) article which was written for YearlyKos by blue jersey mom about the campaign to defeat the 1993 Clinton Health Care Plan.
LOST OPPORTUNITY
The Harry and Louise ads were not the only sources of mis- and disinformation about the Clinton health care plan. Elizabeth ("Betsy") McCaughey wrote an allegedly non-partisan article about healthcare reform in the February 1994 issue of The New Republic. The article, titled titled "No Exit" claimed that the Clinton health care plan would make it illegal for an individual to pay cash to a doctor for services.
The claim was picked up by George Will in Newsweek and spread throughout the mainstream media. In fact, one of the first provisions of the Clinton Bill stated that "Nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting the following: (1) an individual from purchasing any healthcare services." McCaughey subsequently announced her intention to run for Lieutenant Governor in New York as a Republican.
Let's take a look at the lies--the old ones and the new ones. This is all they have left. The nation is collapsing after eight years of Republican crimes, corruption and malfeasance, so they resort to the tried and true remedy--frighten and mislead the American people.
Flash forward to 2007. Elizabeth McCaughey is still hard at work doing her dirty deeds. She's written a similar screed denouncing universal healthcare, this time against the American Cancer Society. This time for the op ed page of the Wall Street Journal. She wants you to know that she's the right wing is against the newly announced American Cancer Society decision to devote its entire advertising budget to the collapse of our healthcare system. Please note: The op ed is behind the WSJ firewall, but here it is, in its entirety on a blog.
This is the same woman who as a fellow at the extremist right wing think tank The Manhattan Institute wrote the legendary article, "No Exit," in The New Republic in 1993. In this article, she claimed to have read the entire Clinton health care plan and deduced myriad nightmare scenarios which would befall the American people were the plan to be signed into law. This is the same "Betsy McCaughey Ross" who, solely on the credential of having discredited the Clinton health care plan, was elected Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1995.
These were the 1993 lies. Please keep in mind the only bullet these people the extremist opposition has in its empty chamber is fear. But fear is a very potent and dangerous weapon. Fear worked in 1993. We cannot and will not allow that to happen again. What follows is a brief excerpt from Ms. McCaughey's 1993 lying manifesto No Exit.
If you're not worried about the Clinton health bill,
keep reading. If the bill passes, you will have to settle
for one of the low-budget health plans selected
by the government. The law will prevent you from
going outside the system to buy basic health coverage
you think is better, even after you pay the matidatory
premium (see the bill, page 244). The bill guarantees
you a package of medical services, but you can't have
them unless they are deemed "necessary" and "appropriate"
(pages 90-91). That decision will be made by
the government, not by you and your doctor. Escaping
the system and paying out-of-pocket to see a specialist
for the tests and treatment you think you need will be
almost impossible. If you walk into a doctor's office and
ask for treatment for an illness, you must show proof
that you are enrolled in one of the health plans offered
by the government (pages 139, 143). The doctor can
be paid only by the plan, not by you (page 236). To
keep controls tight, the bill requires the doctor to
report your visit to a national data bank containing the
medical histories of all Americans (page 236).
Speaking of the Manhattan Institute, as a very incredible aside, does everyone know that White House shill disgraced New York Times reporter Judy Miller is now an
adjunct fellow of this awful organization? I wasn't aware of this until about ten minutes ago while I was checking out their web site.
Back to the courageous policy decision of the American Cancer Society.
This is the circa 2007 garbage from the same woman, Elizabeth McCaughey. Published in the Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal.
Last week the American Cancer Society announced it will no longer run ads about the dangers of smoking and other cancer-causing behaviors and the benefits of regular screenings. Instead, the Society will devote this year’s entire advertising budget to a campaign for universal health coverage. John Seffrin, the Society’s chief executive, said, "[I]f we don’t fix the health-care system . . . lack of access will be a bigger cancer killer than tobacco."
Sadly, these ads will waste money that should be used to continue the Society’s educational campaign about prevention and detection. The evidence shows that universal health coverage does not improve survival rates for cancer patients.
http://martygrn.wordpress.com/...
What follows is the letter to the editor from The American Cancer Society in response to Ms. McCaughey's predictable attack.
Cancer Society Was First To Issue Awareness Ads
September 24, 2007; Page A17
Betsy McCaughey ("Cancer Killers," editorial page, Sept. 14) says the American Cancer Society's new awareness campaign to make sure all Americans have access to quality health care would be better spent educating Americans about cancer prevention and early detection. The society was the first traditional health charity to engage in paid advertising and, to be sure, for years our ad budget, which is less than 2% our revenues, was spent raising awareness of things such as colorectal cancer and breast cancer screenings and tobacco prevention. These and other efforts to emphasize the lifesaving benefits of prevention and early detection measures have proven effective. But they are not enough.
Today, 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and untold millions of others have insurance that will prove inadequate when faced with a diagnosis of cancer or another major illness. Research proves that people without insurance are more likely to be diagnosed at advanced and less curable stages of cancer. That's why we've launched a nationwide public education and awareness campaign this month. We support a health-care system that gives all Americans access to prevention, early detection and treatment services. We openly acknowledge that such a system can be achieved in different ways. Our objective is to help define what the country needs and to encourage an open and productive dialogue about how to achieve it. The solution could be private, public or some combination of the two. What we are certain of is that the answer should be in the hands of the American people, and that elected officials must take the lead and work with all concerned to find an answer that saves more lives from cancer and improves our health-care system.
Richard C. Wender, M.D.
National Volunteer President
American Cancer Society
Los Angeles
http://online.wsj.com/...
I'll leave you with this.
Elizabeth McCaughey is now a "scholar" at another extremist think tank, The Hudson Institute. The Hudson Institute prominently announces on its web site things like celebratory dinners featuring Bill O'Reilly.