Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher just served up a world-class smackdown on David Shuster's MSNBC show and it was beautiful to behold. She was on with Jillian Bandes of townhall.com (you can find your own link to that swill) to discuss all the ads being run for and against the proposed public option.
David set up the segment by noting that this is crunch time for all sides making their case for and against the public option. He played the Blue America Pac Ad (Yay!) calling out Senator Blanche Lincoln on her support for the insurance companies (Boo!) over her constituents -- and an ad by Patientsunitenow.com making the case that the scary Canadian system will give everyone brain tumors and the government will put your doctor in jail or something.
Transcript and video after the jumpski.
The following isn't word for word, but pretty close.
Dave started by asking Jane if she was satisfied with the impact of the Blue America ad.
I think that Blanche Lincoln has been feeling the pressure. I'm proud of the ad, and I have to add that I'm proud that the ad is directed by blogger Dave Day and written by blogger Digby.
I'm not wholly satisfied with what she had to say. I think she needs to firmly commit to a public plan and not the weaselly Kent Conrad coop plan that the insurance companies want but is just a recipe for keeping prices high and will keep the government from being able to negotiate and keep health care costs low. But I think it is having the desired effect.
Dave showed a graphic of what how much $$ is being spent by pro-and con-public option groups and asked Jillian what she thought of the amount of money being spent on this effort.
Well, David, you make my point for me. It is like a David and Goliath situation. On one hand you have conservatives who are concerned with patients' rights talking about things like rationing and costs and wait times and bureaucratic regulation of healthcare. On the other side you have big Pharma and they are the only ones sponsoring these political ads targeting legislators who are up for reelection on key bills coming up on health care.
It goes to show what sort of grassroots support is against the plan and what kind of big industry support is for it. I think where the ads are coming from and also the money indicates that really public support is swaying against the (public option?) despite the best efforts of congressional democrats.
David then asked Jane what message she would like people to take away from the Blue America ad.
I couldn't totally make out every word of her first sentence but it was a doozy.
I think the tone of that entire thing is crap.
!!!!! (It was popcorn time, folks!)
76% of the American public want a public plan. And as a 16-year cancer survivor myself I really find it offensive that people try to drag others into this and say that somehow our system that we have right now represents the 50 million people who are uninsured or that it does anything...
Jillian tried to interrupt by saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa..."
But Jane kept going:
...superior for people like me, for people like me who are at the mercy of bureaucrats
Jillian said, "I'm sorry I'm not a cancer survivor."
... that won't pay your bills ... but you don't know what you're talking about.
The discussion degenerated into a brief verbal scuffle and David asked them to talk one at a time. He then asked Gillian what about the 50 million people who don't have health care? Who is representing them?
David that's a totally false figure.
(Shuster is usually a pretty cool customer, but to his credit, he weighed in with a significant and spontaneous giggle-worthy eye roll.)
The 50 million uninsured consists of illegal immigrants and people who are already eligible for federal health care plans. And then you've got another 10 to 12 million who are already eligible for public plans and don't take advantage of them and you have another 10 million people who could be otherwise eligible for the plans Obama is considering but wouldn't want to do it anyway. When you break it down I think it's somewhere between 10 and 20 million who are actually uninsured and can't get insurance. The 50 million figure is totally false.
He gave Jane the last word:
The people in this country who have to go and face bureaucrats who will not pay their bills and have to face financial ruin in order to get themselves treated is criminal. Basic health care should be a basic human right in America. We spent two trillion on the banks last year.
Jillian starts sputtering but Jane continued:
Do you have any pride whatsoever? Do you have any shame when you go out there and say this stuff and when you interrupt people when they're trying to talk about their own personal experience?
Jillian said, "well you're accusing me of not knowing what I'm talking about because I'm not a cancer survivor."
There was a bit more crosstalk before Dave quickly ended the segment and went to a break.
All in all, it was pretty amazing teevee. Jane was absolutely terrific and, as always, a very impressive and effective advocate.
This Jillian chick was a piece of work, but pretty typical of the blathering fools they have out there in droves trying to scare people and drive the debate with the same old bilge they've been spewing for years. Oh, and the lies. The verbal gymnastics around the 50 million uninsured figure was truly stunning.
Boy, that was fast! Here's the You Tube link.
Update: Here's the Link to the Act Blue page in case you want to throw some love and cash to the campaign. It's a really effective ad.