The RNC has decided that fear is the way to fight healthcare reform. They've launched a Web site attempting to "harness grassroots opposition to Democratic health reform plans moving through Congress."
The website, BarackObamaExperiment.com, is the first in a series of Republican efforts to reach out to voters and give them ways to contact lawmakers, radio shows and newspaper editorial boards. It paints Obama’s health care efforts as a risky experiment the country can’t afford.
"The Democrats want a government-run health care system that will control your health care, your treatments, your medicines, even what doctors you see. This grand experiment on America is a risk our country cannot afford to take," RNC Chairman Michael Steele says in an introductory video on the website.
As Politico points out, the messaging is built on the latest messaging memo from a GOP consultant Alex Castellanos, the supposed "Father of the Attack Ad." Castellano's advice to Republicans: "If we slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it, and advance real reform that will actually help. Key Message Point: We've got to 'SLOW DOWN the OBAMA EXPERIMENT WITH OUR HEALTH.'"
The only problem there is, of course, the Republican have no plan for real reform that will actually help. They have, as brilliantly skewered by Stephen Colbert a "four-page health plan with absolutely no numbers. But the have a nifty Web site. The picture of Barack Obama at the top is quite forbidding looking, I suppose. And they do have some scary rhetoric, because it is all about fear, the "devastating impact on all of us for years to come" that real health care reform will bring to America.
Meanwhile, Obama's political operation, Organizing for America, announcing a 50 state grassroots campaign to push healthcare reform.
The move is the most extensive effort yet by Obama’s reconfigured campaign apparatus to throw itself behind one of the President’s top legislative priorities — and to pressure members of Congress, Dems and Republicans alike, to deliver.
The action, which will start on Monday and conclude the following Sunday, includes door-to-door canvasses, phone banks, roundtable discussions and community gatherings, all designed to build grassroots support for Obama’s health care plan.
Notably, the new grassroots push will emphasize Obama’s call for a public health insurance option, which has emerged as a sticking point for some Dems in Congress. Some critics have questioned the White House’s commitment to the public option.
"During this Week of Action, we’ll continue to build support — person-by-person and block-by-block — for passing a plan this year that lowers costs, guarantees choice, including the choice of a public option, and ensures all Americans have access to quality, affordable care," OFA director Mitch Stewart said....
Hmmmm, a scary Web site vs. "door-to-door canvasses, phone banks, roundtable discussions and community gatherings." Which do you think is going to be more effective? It really does look like Campaign '08 all over again.
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