This video clip reminds me of the Dave Barry article “How to win arguments, as it were”
The ultimate debate winner (which has been overused by both sides of the political spectrum and is currently being overused by the right).
Compare your opponent to Adolf Hitler.
This is your heavy artillery, for when your opponent is obviously right and you are spectacularly wrong. Bring Hitler up subtly. Say: “That sounds suspiciously like something Adolf Hitler might say” or “You certainly do remind me of Adolf Hitler.”
The cameras follow and report on the screaming idiots instead of the reasoned response. In case you haven’t noticed I am not a fan of the public option in healthcare. What I would like to see in the way of reform is…
Allow interstate competition
I ask people to name 5 PA health insurance providers then ask them to name 5 car insurance providers, why not let health insurance providers compete on an even playing field.
Tort Reform
Over 500 billion is spent on lawsuits each year (PRI) less frivolous lawsuits means lower health care cost.
Encourage individuals to purchase their own health care
With people switching careers and jobs more than ever, health care that stays with the individual not the employer is preferable and allows regular people to choose based on their needs not a bottom line driven company.
Check out several sides to the story which don’t contain references to Hitler or Nazis.
Whitehouse side
Heritage Foundation side
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
“why not let health insurance providers compete on an even playing field.”
You know, life insurance policies are the same from company to company, from state to state. A policy that’s 2 years old pays, period, even for suicide. Even if you lied about everything on the application, and knew you had terminal cancer, it pays. The *only* adjustment they can make is if you lied about your age, and in that case, the payoff is adjusted to give the amount of insurance your premium should pay.
Fire insurance policies are the same from company to company, from state to state. You can get a Form 2 policy (fire), Form 3 policy (homeowner’s), a Form 5 policy (renter’s), and while the companies can add “riders”, the basic coverage is the same.
Auto insurance policies are the same from company to company, from state to state, too.
Most companies operate in 48 states. New York has tougher regulations and some choose not to do business there. Louisiana has law that comes from France, not Great Britain, and some choose not to do business there.
But health insurance? Every policy is different. There’s one exception: medicare supplement policies, because the federal government specified a variety of policies and allows insurance companies to pick the ones they want to sell. But otherwise, you can’t compare policies from company to company. You can’t even find out what they pay for, say, an appendectomy, even if you’ve been a customer for years, and you’re sitting on a gurney outside the operating room. It’s “we’ll take a look at the bills, and then decide how much we’re going to pay.”
MacArthur used to be the richest man in the world. He started out as the child of an impoverished widow, got rich owning Banker’s Life. He claimed that people that people look at his wealth and say that it’s surely impossible for a man to get that rich if he’s honest, and he said they’re right. He told stories about how, during the depression, he kept his company from going bankrupt by simply denying claims, no reason given, just denying them. If the customer kept after him, they’d end up getting at least some money after six months to two years, but a lot of customers gave up.
There are a lot of rascals out there that claim to be conservatives when, in fact, they’re simply scoundrels. There are three ways to keep businesses honest. One way is to regulate them strictly. One way is to let the customers punish them for their misdeeds in court, not just collecting their due, but extracting extra in the way of punitive damages. The third way is to hope and pray.
Conservativism is based on the idea that an orderly society benefits everybody, and if you set up the systems right, you don’t need to be oppressive to be orderly. I think punitive damages is better than harsh regulation. Harsh regulation affects every business, but punitive damages only affect the jerks who need to be punished.
Of course, there’s always the “hope and pray” option, but the technical term for that is “anarchy.” I don’t like anarchy, but if push comes to shove, I earned a minor in chemistry, and if it comes down to some other guy with an AK-47, and me with a bomb, I don’t need to aim nearly as well as some guy who’s throwing .22 caliber slugs. (Oh, and remember to stay away from guys with Kalashnikovs. They draw fire.)
The new WSJ/NBC poll out tonight says that 47-41, people don’t like the way Obama is handling health care reform – but that 60% think health care needs a major reform or a complete overhaul, while only 7% see no need for change.
To be fair, Hitler loved dogs, and I do, too. Does that make me a bad guy?