This is a short diary, fair warning...
I just saw a segment on Ed's show yesterday featuring Sue Lowden, who is running for Harry Reid's Senate seat. Do you remember that song by Don Henley, Dirty Laundry? Well Sue could have been the model for "... the bubble headed bleach blond (who) comes on at five..."
More below the fold...
Sue Lowden ended up on Ed's Psycho Talk segment yesterday for something she said last week. She was at a candidate's forum (in Mesquite, a teeny town NE of Vegas) where she repeated some of the same old disproved lies about the Health Care bill, stoking the fear and playing to the base. Then she went above and beyond, adding a new level of teh stoopid:
"And I would have suggested, and I think that bartering is really good. Those doctors who you pay cash, you can barter, and that would get prices down in a hurry. And I would say go out, go ahead out and pay cash for whatever your medical needs are, and go ahead and barter with your doctor."
Barter?! Sweetie, that went out with the covered wagons and cattle drives. But her campaign, in full-on denial mode, assured everyone that wasn't what she meant:
"Currently, there are number of medical doctors in Nevada and across America who already accept cash, check and credit cards. This isn't a plan, this is fact. Usually, doctors will offer a lower payment in an agreement with patients because it saves them the hassle of dealing with insurance companies and government-administered health care.
"This may come as a surprise for Harry Reid, but many doctors are also small business owners, and they have their own bills to pay.
Note that they couldn't resist a snark at Harry there at the end. It's not even a well-written statement. So, apparently she meant haggle, not barter. Well, there are some doctors in Nevada who will take a small amount off of your bill if you pay cash. But I don't think that the doctors who work in those big, glass medical centers would be very amenable to haggling about their fees.
I know Sue Lowden. She worked at KLAS TV at the same time my husband did in the 80s. She was known by her maiden name - Sue Parker - back then. She was nice enough but a bit of an airhead, IMHO. A mistake like mixing up barter and haggle is typical of some of her oopsies I witnessed. She left KLAS when she nabbed billionaire Paul Lowden, a Hotel/Casino owner. He started out as owner of the Hacienda (it used to sit where the Luxor is now), which is long gone, but went on to bigger and fancier places. I had no idea that Sue was involved with the Nevada GOP, but it doesn't surprise me. Once someone moves up into the super-rich strata, they often change in many ways.
Sue Lowden is a nice person. She was a good newswoman (not great). But I don't think she'd be a very good Senator. Mistakes made at that level can affect too many people.
Video at TPM.