Associated Press
If we put aside everything we know about the politics of the last three years and consider the debate over health care policy in the abstract, "Obamacare" should be the most popular thing in the country. That may seem absurd, but hear me out.
For 100 years, national leaders have been trying to get health care reform done, and for 100 years, officials in both parties have come up short. As the system grew more dysfunctional, costing too much and covering too few, public demand for reform intensified. It served as a driving issue in many campaigns, including presidential races.
In 2009 and 2010, President Obama helped oversee a slow, deliberate process, with outreach to both parties, which led to a comprehensive law filled with popular ideas, many of which have enjoyed bipartisan support for decades. After a century of trying, Obama finally made reform a reality, and millions are already benefiting. It was, as Vice President Biden put it, a big bleeping deal.
And yet, most Americans, even those who gain the most from the Affordable Care Act, hate it.
How can this be? While we wait for the Supreme Court's decision on the law's fate -- a ruling could come within the hour -- there are two broad angles to consider. The first is that well-financed misinformation campaigns work.
[The success of the law's opponents] may stem in large part from more than $200 million in advertising spending by an array of conservative groups, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($27 million) to Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS ($18 million), which includes the billionaire Sheldon Adelson among its donors, and the American Action Network ($9 million), founded by Fred V. Malek, an investor and prominent Republican fund-raiser.
In all, about $235 million has been spent on ads attacking the law since its passage in March 2010, according to a recent survey by Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group. Only $69 million has been spent on advertising supporting it.
Millions of Americans, especially in key battleground states, have turned against the law because they've been told to hate it. Voters have heard so many negative claims about "Obamacare" so often, they've started to believe them -- even though the claims aren't true. $235 million, in other words, can change a lot of minds, and convince people who want and need health care reform to reject a law that would serve them well. The right relies on well-financed propaganda campaigns because well-financed propaganda campaigns work.
The second has to do with the media.
The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism published a very interesting report this week (via Sargent).
An analysis by PEJ of the language used in the media (PEJ research) reveals that opponents of the reform won the so-called "messaging war" in the coverage. Terms that were closely associated with opposition arguments, such as "government run," were far more present in media reports than terms associated with arguments supporting the bill, such as "pre-existing conditions."
To conduct the analysis, researchers examined and identified three of the most common concepts being pushed by opponents of the bill and the three concepts being promoted by supporters and then examined the news coverage for the presence of those concepts and language. The concepts used by opponents were nearly twice as common as those used by supporters.
It's a recipe for a distasteful cocktail. Take a quarter of a billion dollars in far-right advertising, throw in media reports that internalize Republican frames while focusing on politics over policy, and add a pinch of scared congressional Democrats who are afraid of losing, and the result is widespread confusion, ignorance, and opposition to measures the American mainstream has been demanding for years.
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"add a pinch of scared congressional Democrats who are afraid of losing"
I would include more than a pinch. The repubs misrepresented and outright lied about healthreform . Democrats did little to counter this.
If I conducted a poll , a majority of Americans would incorrectly answer the following questions.
Healthreform increases or decreases the deficit? Or is it deficit neutral.
HCR allows access to undocumented residents.
HCR includes death panels.
HCR was passed by a legislative trick to circumvent republicans.
If there are so many negative misconceptions about your parties historic signature achievement - that is a big problem.
I didn't even bother to read this from Steve. Because we know why the ACA is unpopular: politically chickenshhit, impotent, incompetent Democrats. Rather than waste time, I'll just repeat what I said yesterday:
How much more evidence does one need to understand the political impotence of Democrats. This is the party that supported and passed legislation whose individual components are popular and yet the legislation, by name and reputation, are massively unpopular?
This is the sign of an politically impotent and incompetent party. Republicans say "boo" and Democrats run from their own popular legislation and allow it to be pilloried without defense during the 2010 campaign season.
Meanwhile, Republicans are proposing policies that are massively unpopular (cuts in federal spending, SS, Medicare, threatening the kill the EPA, denying global warming, and on and on and on) and yet, they are expected to retain the House, most likely take over the Senate, and, ..., wait for it, any day now, Mitt Romney will be leading in the polls.
Again, is there any more damning evidence that can be brought to bear to show just how pathetic Democrats are.
You can certainly count on Democrats. That is if what you're counting on is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory when you had the advantage. You simply can't get more pathetic.
What beliefs do Democrats hold fast and what beliefs do they promote? Seriously, those are important questions to which I can find no good answer.
The Democratic party is little more than a bunch of career politicians trying to hold on to their jobs. The current national leadership lack a coherent thought beyond doing whatever it takes to stay in office.
As much as I find the current Republicans disorganized and more than a little nutty, I have to admit they are doing some things right, like proudly holding on to and promoting their beliefs. Democrats don't seem to have beliefs of any sort.
Well said. I agree with you 100%.
I don't think you're correct, Ron Byers. I think, by and large, Democrats correctly understand the required relevant role of government in society. And, all things considered, set a proper course for ideas and policy of the government. That is in extreme contrast with Republicans, who merely wish to kill the government and return the country to 1789, and a Constitutional interpretation that is not up to the challenges of 2012.
The problem with Democrats is the courage of their convictions. They are, unfortunately, unable or unwilling to stand up to bullies. And because of this, they are getting ready to piss away everything Democrats did in the 20th century and that the country learned the hard way that contributed to the U.S. becoming the dominant country in the world.
America, to its everlasting discredit, loves them some nauseating alpha males. If the Democrats don't get a testosterone injection, and get it soon, November is going to be a rout. And the 20th century will be gone.
I sincerely hope everybody here is making Democrats aware that we know they're cowards and need to develop a backbone. People respect backbone; they don't respect sniveling, whimpering, cowering little scaredy cats.
Beliefs? You mean like the belief in Santa or God?
I guess my "belief" is more reality based. I believe that we the people are inclined to follow rather than lead. We tend to circle our wagons around our own self interests and worry far more about here and now than tomorrow. Sure both parties elect politicians and politicians all seem to be of the same breed.
As long as we can't be bothered with tearing down the infrastructure of out own party so as to create a system that allows more people to have a voice in who will run we might as well shut up. If we can not be bothered with calling our reps to remind them that they serve us we may as well surrender our right to vote.
Talk is cheap but laws can be bought by rich scum. Waaaaah!
Ron Byers: As much as I find the current Republicans disorganized and more than a little nutty, I have to admit they are doing some things right, like proudly holding on to and promoting their beliefs.....
Right...Republicans hold onto their beliefs until the Democrats compromise with them and adopt some of their long standing "beliefs". When Democrats are willing to work with the Republicans on policies they initially spearheaded, then Republicans are quick to abandon their beliefs, throw their hands up in protest and start trashing ideas and policies they once claimed they wanted enacted. The Affordable Care Act is a prime example of this.
Another example would be Mitt Romney hiring Richard Grenell only to toss him under the bus when the religious right objected to his appointment because he was gay. Another example of Republicans proudly holding onto their beliefs.
<<politically chickenshhit, impotent, incompetent Democrats. >> are not THE cause of the unpopularity. Where are Dems supposed to champion "Obamacare" for all the public to see? On Sunday Morning shows with 4 Repugs and 1 Dem who no one has ever heard of? Who's spending mountains of their personal $$$$ countering millions spent to demonize Health Care reform? Dems could give hours of speeches and powerpoint presentations in support of the act, but no one would hear or see them on the tube. The Media shares a HUGE blame.
Call me crazy, but I don't understand why conservatives hate the Affordable Care Act so much. I soft of understand opposition to the "individual mandate," but what about the other parts? Will it really cost businesses that much more money? Will it reduce insurance company profits that much? Or is the opposition simply because the bill was passed by a Democratic administration?
And the rub of it is, @themiketones, the individual mandate was originally a GOP idea.
It was Obama that got it done thus it must be undone!! What don't you understand about that?
Conservatives hate ATA so much because it requires everyone to buy for-profit health insurance, which you're aware, if you've ever tried to get your insurance to pay for your health care, is a protection racket. Besides, people would have bought insurance already if they HAD THE MONEY. Passing a law that says that they suddenly DO have the money is pure BS.
Having said that, upholding the ATA is hope of the very modest reform it does make is also BS, because it's going to be unaffordable & it's not going to be universal. If there were so other solution, it might be acceptible (unless of course you're one of the millions who's still not going to get any health care). However, there's an excellent solution, called SINGLE-PAYER, which is what the civilized nations of the world use to deliver health care to ALL their citizens for half the price of what our health care costs per capita (even though millions of us aren't getting any of that care). It's not that the dems are feeble, they're complicit. There is only ONE party, the party of Corporatocracy. The 1% owns all the layers of our for-profit health "care" non-system, and they don't want to give it up; and they own most of Congress, and they own the mainstream "news" media. Of course they're going to make all this sound as confusing as possible. But it's really very simple.
Why do we pretend that this
has nothing at all to do with this
Remember in the late 1990s, when people worried about consolidated corporate ownership of major media? Yeah, turns out, that really is a problem for a democracy...
"...the result is widespread confusion, ignorance, and opposition to measures the American mainstream has been demanding for years."
So much for that "librul media bias". Truth is corporate ownership & consolidation of the media turns out NOT to be good for democracy, but we already knew that - didn't we?! Let's face it Americans have become dumbed down and lazy when it comes to researching information, many (e.g. tea-potty) want to be spoon-fed what they should know and told what to do! Except when it really comes down to "what they do" vs. what everyone else should be doing!
Maybe it's me but isn't this how facism starts off; propaganda, diverting the sheeple's attention away from the real issues onto faux nonsense, usurping their true freedom to be informed and have debate on the issues, dividing the electorate by "other", et. al. - all so that the elites can pillage and plunder at their pleasure even as the rest of US suffer! I'm always amazed and saddened by the sheeple that either choose to remain ignorant, or the ones that have swallowed the kool-aid and are convinced that cutting off their nose improves their face!
Well, Americans will be getting what they deserve. If this goes down there will never be another attempt to fix health care, and they will likely lose Medicare over this. No one in government will even attempt to address the issue again, ever.
Apparently you CAN fool all of the people all of the time where government and health care is concerned. All it takes is a few hundred million dollars in ads by the C of C, Crossroads GPS and the people became putty in their Goebbelsian hands.
Serves us right if we lose it all, and Ryan wins... We will have shown ourselves way too stupid and gullible to be listened to again by any one in power from this moment forward.
Never say never.
It may have to get a LOT worse before it gets better, but a flash point exists where enough people become personally impacted to demand a real solution in the form of a single payer system, a concept which didn't even get a seat at the table during the ACA negotiations.
The real problem is not just the powerful interests behind the misinformation campaigns or their strategy of reshaping the vocabulary of Americans with their own forms of Newspeak. The real problem driving the success of misinformation is the inspiration on someone's part that our long time reliance on IDEOLOGIES, so convenient in wars and rumors of wars (Cold War, anyone?), were a perfect tool and have been raised to the level of truth and verity. One does not have to think too much if a good solid ideology has become the boilerplate bludgeon one can swing without engaging their minds.
Harsh? I think not. Ideologies have corrupted the critical thinking processes of most people today. For all the spouting off about independence from the Tyranny of Big Government or the Tyranny of one party or another, there has been a too easy acceptance of the Tyranny of Ideologies and those who manipulate them and the people who put their faith in them. The real enemies of the people are themselves and the fact that they were born human and fallible - and gullible. Critical thinking about issues could help tremendously, but such thinking has to be raised in esteem to at least the level of ideologies, or we should not expect positive change that moves any people forward, not backward. JMO
In Britain there is a Board of Advertising Standards to which citizens can refer false or misleading advertising. They have the power, if the complaint is justified, to require advertisers to remove, or correct advertisements if they wish to continue publishing them. It covers all forms of advertising, even political advertising and has been effective in many notable instances. CocaCola, for example was require to remove the term 'health drink' from some of its promotions when their claim of low sugar content was proved to be false.
It would seem that such oversight is urgently needed in the American political scene. Is it First Amendment fundamentalism that prevents this happening?
We used to be like that, President Reagan changed the laws to allow the likes of Fox News and the rhetoric spewing shows they support. Before that the media was held to a truth and non-biased standard.
One of the problems is that the mainstream media allows itself to be manipulated by the right wing propaganda machine that is Fox [Fake] News. All Sarah Palin had to do was label them – "the lame stream media –" and the major media outlets begin to allow the Fox [Fake] News tail to wag the major media dog. Major media will not ask relevant questions or call Republicans out about the lies they are spreading. Mitt Romney says that "the stimulus did not work," in spite of evidence that it has improved the economy. He and other Republicans repeat this lie repeatedly during major news interviews without opposition or consequences. The same thing went on during the health care debate.
Yep... it's definitely time for truth in advertising, not that it's going to happen any time soon, or ever in this country. We have totally turned the US of A over to the moneyed interests, and it's going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible to get it back. We believe what they tell us to believe... we buy what they tell us to buy... we jump when they say jump... and we barely even notice that there are "hardly any rats." Can you imagine the outcry if someone seriously proposed that the FCC establish and enforce laws that prohibit false information from being disseminated on the PUBLIC airwaves? I mean, what kind of country would this be if everyone heard the truth sometimes??
Someone is surprised that the otherwise-unemployables of "the media" are smart enough to know which side their bread is buttered on? They may be morons, but they're not entirely stupid.
And of course, it helps that "no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
America, the most ignorant empire since Rome.
The other factor tipping the scales in favor of those opposed to ACA is that ACA, while including many good things, falls short of what most liberals and progressives hoped it might be, from moving to a single payer system to at least providing a public option. Democrats, therefore, just don't have the fire to defend the law with the fervor of those opposed to it. In fact, a reasonable argument can be made that the Supreme Court overturning ACA is to the left's benefit both in terms of policy and politics. Politically, once the media finally reminds the public of the good things in ACA, it should move the public opinion needle slightly to the left, particularly by reminding them that the GOP has no alternative to address their concerns and also by reminding them how important Supreme Court nominations are in the context of a presidential election. In terms of policy, overturning ACA doesn't mean our dysfunctional health care system suddenly becomes functional, rather it underscores that the only real long-term answer is likely a single payer system. In fact, I would argue overturning ACA will be the most important step taken toward a single payer system. The short-term embarrassment to the President by losing ACA will be just that -- short term.
I have to admit that a USSC repeal of ACA could open the door for a serious debate about a single-payer system which was INTENTIONALLY shut out of the debate by BOTH SIDES.
Yes, a lot of people would suffer, but misery sometimes is the best political cattle prod.
Do you REALLY think a repeal of the ACA would lead to a "serious debate about a single-payer system?" With this Congress? What planet are you on? It just won't happen unless Dems gain control of all three branches of the government by supermajorities.
Many of these "sheeple" usually do not vote because they are "sheeple" unless there is a sandwich and a beer involved.
Hospital emergency rooms are overloaded with issues that should be addressed in an urgent clinic due to no health care insurance. Emergency room visits add millions to our health care budget. There are many programs in the ACA designed to provide preventative care those who are a burden on the system.
The ACA is an entirely complex bill that even Senators do not want to read through. There is a wealth of information about the ACA on line. Find out. I cannot send my links.
I observe that the opposition to "Obamacare" mainly comes from rural areas, mostly republican, and in those areas from people who are the very victims of the current system. Those folks have no problem with mandatory car insurance; but do not seem to understand that a mandatory health insurance system would help keeping the cost of healthcare low. Why? Because they believe the trash funded by those republican super PACs. No American are not dumb, many of us are quite naive though.
Those who oppose ACA are the ones who are freeloading off the rest of us who do carry insurance.
Here is the irony of everything. The folks who are using most of the government benefits are opposing them ....
Be careful what you wish for people, you might get it.
A large part of the problem with people being against the ACA is misinformation put out by the right wing lunatics. Here is an example which was posted by my niece just yesterday and she actually believes this stuff: One of her reasons for being against the ACA is "1. By March it will be mandatory to have an RFID chip implant. This will contain your bank account information, health insurance information, and it can be used to track your location if you become a missing person." and then there is this "4. Higher taxes. Bush tax cuts have pretty much been eliminated, and higher taxes will be ridiculous...and I'm sorry but I have been in the ER enough to not want to pay higher taxes that will cover someone's bill for when they come in with a hangnail or poke themselves in their eye too hard (which unfortunately happens quite regularly, if you don't believe me seriously go into an ER waiting room and ask people why they are there)." Where does one even start to explain the idiocy of these statements. This comes from a very bright young woman but she listens to Mike Huckabee and Rush Limbaugh and I am quite sure she watches Faux News as her news source so no amount of logic, facts, or reason is going to change her mind on these fallacies.
Amusing.
The scare tactics of the Fright Wing about the ACA can only work on uneducated people. Those uneducated people are crammed into one political party.
And you know which one that is.
One more comment. If the SCOTUS strikes the mandate down or strikes the entire thing down, the Dems could then run on a platform touting Single Payer as the one and only answer.
That would force Obama to win in Nov.
Unfortunately, I doubt he's got the balls to do it. After all, any and all mention of single payer was summarily dismissed from any official discussion during the YEAR LONG debates and informational hearings on the subject.
See? I just solved Obama's election problem for him: PUSH SINGLE PAYER AND YOU WIN.
No one seems to have a problem with an individual mandate for our car insurance. How it comes that some are fighting against an individual mandate for their health coverage? I guess it is because their cars are more important than their health. Not my case. Even though I became an American citizen years ago I kept my French health insurance; which in case of serious illness will pay 100% of the bill and is required to keep me insured afterward, at no additional cost. As Bill Maher said once "we should steal that system from the French"
most of the above may have some truth to it but there's a lot missing... aside from that, the thing that has been driving me crazy throughout the process is, if you start back during the '08 campaign, Obama made the point very clear, one of the main reasons we were losing jobs at such an accelerated rate was because the cost of Healthcare was going up so fast that employers couldn't afford to to cover the cost. So, he proposed reforms to the system that would reverse those trends. Most of his outlined proposals to do that remained in the eviscerated bill but the objective was lost in the conversation that was forced to defend it. Yes, the motivation on the right was to delegitimatize Obama, but the defense was all over the place and never focused on the original objective, to bring down the cost so employers could continue to afford to cover their employees. You, Rachel, as much as I adore and respect you, are as guilty of that as everybody else. Its not too late to start making this point but I feel like just another troll under the bridge 'cause nobody's getting it.
I believe the big difference with the car insurance mandate is, if I am not mistaken, that is a state by state law rather than federal. Somehow that makes it ok... which makes no sense. But it explains why Massachusetts can already have (very effective) health care reform in place, ironically thanks to Mittens, who can now not even express pride in his own successful legislation. My mother and sister are both health care professionals in New England and have said that it has for the most part worked. And they are Democrats who did not like Mittens as governor.
You may be right but I don't know of any state where car insurance is not mandatory. Alaska may be?
I believe that I have the solution. Let's petition for representatives and senators to "enjoy" the lowest health coverage available in the country. Soon everyone will be covered, I guarantee it.