I was watching The Daily Show tonight and managed, barely, to actually watch Stewart's interview with Bill Kristol. It was excerpted and the full video isn't up on Comedy Central yet, but it made me understand some things about the media, the health care debate and the Republican party.
Kristol was clearly edgy and uncomfortable throughout the interview. Not only did he seem to playing defense, dodging landmines, but he certainly didn't sell his position. He didn't look like someone who passionately believes he's in the right. Why then go on the show, especially when he saw the kind of treatment Jim Cramer received?
I think he was there because he can't afford not to be. Kristol may be a bought whore of the plutocrats, but he's not stupid. He can see the American demographics same as everyone else and while the Boomers may still be the 800-pound gorilla of the electorate, the Republicans don't own them. In fact, Republicans may be losing them as more and more people of my parents' generation realize the health care abyss yawning before them.
As a result, he has to turn to younger voters, who are generally more concerned with the economy and the job market than affordable health care. He knows that the Republicans took it in the groin in the 18-22 vote in 2008. He knows that studies show that how you vote in that first election have a profound effect on how you'll vote for the rest of your life. He knows that conservatives are disastrously behind in understanding the new media and that their carefully crafted control of traditional media is being rendered obsolete just when they need it the most. He has to appear or forfeit the next generation of voters. He can't Twitter, he can't use Facebook. At least on the Daily Show he can smile and pretend to be the kindly uncle explaining why the world is actually a harsher place than us young'uns realize.
It didn't work. They started out with some fairly routine punch-counterpunch on Palin's resignation, but it was clear that that was just the undercard. Kristol did try to make the point that it's more honest to prep for a presidential run while one is not in public office, which is probably going to be the new spin on her resignation.
Health care was obviously the main bout and they both came out strong. Stewart opens by "crediting" Kritol for slaying Hillarycare and jokingly accusing Kristol of "hating America." Kristol returns with the standard talking points, "huge tax increase, huge mandates on everyone, rationing of health care." Kristol's solution? "Targeted legislation," which is revealed to be nebulous ideas on making health care more portable and making it so "you can't be denied for having a pre-existing condition." Last time I checked the Republicans were saying that these were bad ideas too, that they represented an undue interference in the marketplace, but I'm just a middle-class dude from the Midwest. Maybe I'm too stupid to understand the finer distinctions.
My "scream at the TV" moment comes when Kristol says the following:
"One reasons the prices are going up is the government programs - medicare, medicaid - their costs have gone up faster than private insurance."
Huh-whaaaaa? Kristol claims that this "has been pretty thoroughly documented over the last twenty, thirty years." I have an alternate explanation.
UnitedHealth earned $859 million, or 73 cents per share, for the quarter that ended June 30. That's up from $337 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.
Last year's second-quarter results included settlements in two class action lawsuits related to UnitedHealth's former stock option granting practices. They resulted in a pretax charge of $922 million, or 47 cents per share, for the quarter.
Revenue rose 7 percent to $21.66 billion from $20.27 billion on increased premiums, which grew partly due to price increases. Services and products revenue also improved. UnitedHealth is the largest commercial health insurer based on revenue.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast, on average, a profit of 70 cents per share on revenue of $21.77 billion. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Investment income fell 36 percent in the quarter to $153 million, which reduced earnings by 5 cents per share.
The insurer's commercial health insurance enrollment fell to 25 million in the second quarter. That represents a 2 percent drop from the first quarter and a 6 percent decline from the same quarter last year. UnitedHealth attributed that mainly to economic pressures that forced clients to either cut jobs or trim benefits.
(emphasis mine)
As usual, we're being fed an outright lie. Costs are rising because the insurers can see that regulation is coming whether they like it or not and they're milking us for every last penny they can before the changes. (Shades of Goldman-Sachs, anyone?)
The money quote comes when Stewart mentions that the US military enjoys a government-run insurance system that seems to do pretty well.
Kristol: "Well is military health care really what you... well, first off it's expensive. I think they deserve it, the military."
Stewart: "On the other hand, the public, do not."
Kristol: "The American public do not deserve the same quality of health care as soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Kristol makes a comment about soldiers requiring care that the average citizen does not need that I am too tired to transcribe.)
Stewart: "Are you saying that the American public shouldn't have access to same quality of health care that we give to our veteran citizens?" (Stewart might have said "better" rather than "veteran." I can't quite make it out.)
Kristol: "Yes, absolutely."
There's some crosss-chatter, then Kristol says:
"One thing, I think if you become a soldier you deserve... They get paid less, they don't have the nice houses, John. One of the ways we make it up to them since they're risking their lives we give them first class health care. The rest of us can go out and buy insurance."
I think Kristol is going to regret that line when he hears himself in the replay. I know that if I were the person interviewing him my first question would be to ask him why he doesn't think American soldiers deserve a living wage to go with their health care. We all know that foreclosure rates are higher among military personnel, but we can't tax the one-percenters another dime? Stewart ends the health care portion with:
"So what you are suggesting is that the government could run the best health care system for Americans but its a little too costly so we should have the [shitty] insurance company health care... or no health care."
(They bleeped out the profanity.)
Kristol tries gamely to walk it back and make it about veterans, but it's weak and almost certainly ineffective with the people watching the show. God, I wish Stewart was a tactical advisor for the Democratic party. Can you imagine Pelosi saying that on the capitol steps? How awesome would that be?
**Update** - Here.
Sadly, my diary-fu is weak, so I lack the knowledge of how to embed directly. I keep getting formatting errors,