Sandhusker
Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:August 16, 2009
Obama Says to Lower Volume in Health Debate
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
BIG SKY, Mont. — President Obama, on a four-state Western swing to promote his health care overhaul and visit national parks, asked Americans on Saturday to “lower our voices” in the debate, and accused the the media of paying too much attention to raucous protests at town hall meetings held by legislators.
“You know how TV loves a ruckus,” Mr. Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “But what you haven’t seen — because it’s not as exciting — are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country.”
Mr. Obama has been on a public relations offensive to persuade Americans that overhauling the nation’s health care system will benefit not only those who lack insurance, but those who have it . As he has said in the past, he argued in his address that his plan would end current insurance industry practices of dropping coverage when people get sick or denying coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.
But he also used his remarks to try to tamp down some of the anger and unsubstantiated rumors that have drowned out other discussion about health care, like the assertion that his plan would establish government “death panels” that would decide when to euthanize the elderly. Mr. Obama dismissed it as it “one of the scarier sounding and more ridiculous rumors out there,” adding that opponents had distorted a provision that would allow voluntary visits with doctors to talk about end-of-life care.
“When President Roosevelt was working to create Social Security, opponents warned it would open the door to ‘federal snooping’ and force Americans to wear dog tags,” Mr. Obama said. “When President Kennedy and President Johnson were working to create Medicare, opponents warned of ‘socialized medicine.’ Sound familiar?”
Mr. Obama conceded that there is “plenty of real concern and skepticism out there,” and that some Americans do not believe government should take a role in solving the health care problem.
“These are legitimate differences worthy of the real discussion that America deserves — one where we lower our voices, listen to one another, and talk about differences that really exist,” he said.
The man has said many things on this topic (and others) that simpley weren't true. What leads you to believe that he's telling the truth now?