EckerNet.Com

It\’s been awhile since I\’m lampooned one of these, but today\’s was just too good to resist the temptation.

Kevin —

Mitchy boy!! Good to hear from you again (If we\’re on a first name basis presumably, we\’re close enough we can start inventing nicknames right?).

If we don\’t pass health reform, millions of Americans will be trapped in a broken status quo, unable to pay their bills or see a doctor when they need one.

Well see that\’s not correct. People can go see a doctor any time they want, the question is how to pay for it. For an answer to that, I\’d recommend get a job. Or else apply for any number of public assistance programs.

More and more employers will drop coverage for employees.

Well, presumably that would be accompanied by a rise in pay, since your benefits are frequently a significant part of your job\’s compensation. So cutting insurance coverage would be like taking a significant pay cut. I would take that extra pay and set it aside for medical bills. Or start looking for a new job if no accompanying pay raise.

And Medicare and Medicaid will blow a hole through our budget.

Since you admit Medicare and Medicaid are financial sinkholes that are bound to go bankrupt, why is one of the recent Democratic ideas to EXPAND this program?? Or is this trying to take advantage of the scientific principle that says that if you set enough money on fire eventually you gain the ability to fly?

There\’s too much at stake to not get this done.

So I hear. Democratic leaders claim this is the last chance to achieve socialized single-payer health care. I\’ve heard that before so understand my disbelief, although I\’d love it if it were true.

That\’s why OFA supporters have made 849,856 calls to Congress in support of health reform since August.

And that\’s why today, with the Senate locked in last-minute negotiations, our goal is to hit one million calls.

Hmmm, you might want to redirect those calls to the American public, because they have definitely soured on this shit sandwich of a bill. And I think Congress is starting to realize that it\’s not OFA that elected them, but the American public.

Can you help? Please call your senators now and help us \”ring in reform.\” Then click here to let us know you called.

I\’m not sure my request to ring in reform will help. Because what\’s being proposed is not \”reform\”. Reform suggests improving the current product. This legislation is more akin to a \”hijacking\” and I\’m not sure I\’m willing to support that.

Reform would be things like allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines. That alone would go a great way towards introducing competition and lowering costs. And that can be done WITHOUT a giant government bureaucracy run \”exchange\”.

According to our records, you live in Minnesota. Please call:

Sen. Amy Klobuchar\’s Minneapolis office at (612) 727-5220
Sen. Al Franken\’s St Paul office at (651) 221-1016

(Not your senators? Click here to look yours up).

I\’m sad to admit that yes they are my Senators. Last even remotely decent Senator this state had was probably Grams so I\’m a bit used to it I guess.

This holiday season, millions of Americans will go without desperately needed care simply because they can\’t afford insurance.

I\’ve known people that have had to do it, in fact my girlfriend is one of them that is currently without insurance and has been for awhile. Being without health insurance is tough, trust me I get it. But here\’s the thing, it\’s not a death sentence.

You prioritize whether something is truly needed. In the case where it is, you find ways in your budget to make it work, much as she has had to do, and is still doing without public assistance. In truly tough situations that is where family/church/charity comes in.

And I would also like to point out that it would be a lot easier to pay insurance if half our paychecks didn\’t disappear in taxes. And it would be easier to find a job if the government wasn\’t threatening employers with tax increases and new government regulations every 20 minutes.

But insurance lobbyists are desperate to pull apart the bill and derail reform, so your voice is needed now.

I think what you call \”pull apart\” and \”derail\” the rest of us call debate. There are a lot of awful things in this shit sandwich and the people should know about it.

If the bill was really so great, even picking it apart and holding it up to the light wouldn\’t \”derail\” it. It would allow people to see how wonderful it truly was. Instead, the more people learn about this bill, the less they like it. And that isn\’t insurance lobbyists doing that, it\’s the American public.

Your senators are fighting hard for health reform. Please call today, thank them for their work, and let them know we need them to keep fighting.

They are fighting hard for something the American public doesn\’t want. We\’re certainly not going to thank them for THAT! Instead we\’re likely to tell them to go stand in the unemployment line as their services are no longer desired.

Just dial the numbers above, then tell the staffers who answer where you live — so that they know you are a constituent — and that you support reform.

Oh I support reform, but this isn\’t reform. I think we already went over this.

Then click here to make sure you call is counted in the race to a million:

http://my.barackobama.com/RingInReform

What happens at a million? Straw turns to gold? Snow White wakes up? Dorothy meets the Wizard of Oz?

I presume it\’s one of those since you\’ve been telling fairy tales so far, I figured it had to be the theme of this email.

Thanks for standing up,

No problem, now if you guys could just sit down. You\’re mucking up the works for the rest of us.

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

Thanks Larry

[Crossposted at True North]