How Not to Argue Your Health Care Position

by rrusczyk, Aug 12, 2009, 2:56 AM

I saw two pretty jaw-dropping arguments in the health care arena today.

First, here's Obama:

I don't have anything to say about this, since it's basically a self-refuting argument, and one I bet Obama wishes he could take back. (Or maybe I should say I hope Obama wishes he could take this one back... I want to think that our President realizes that this is a mistake, but I sure saw Bush make similar self-refuting arguments that he seemed to believe were irrefutable.)

Next, was Glenn Beck. I'm not in the habit of watching Beck -- I was at the gym, and as desperately as I wanted to change the channel, I couldn't. He spent the first 5-10 minutes equating Obama's health care plan with the eugenics movement from the early 19th century, and finished by essentially saying that Obama wanted to euthanize Beck's daughter (who has cerebral palsy). Slobber-knocking, really. I wish someone would euthanize Beck's career.

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rrusczyk wrote:

I wish someone would euthanize Beck's career.

People are trying. Several advertisers have dropped his show just in the last day or two; if he loses enough money for Fox that way, they might cancel his TV show.

On the Obama argument, I can see how it happened. He wasn't working from a fully scripted answer, and short-term memory betrayed him into saying the wrong thing about the post office and private shipping companies. It would work better to say that those companies compete by doing something different; where the government provides a reliable baseline, private companies do something extra.
There's still an underlying contradiction in the reassurances; any successful reform plan must by definition drive some bad private insurance plans out of the market. Change is scary.

by jmerry, Aug 12, 2009, 4:06 AM

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Yes change is scary. I'll also note that change is not by definition good (as Obama supporters seem to define it) or bad (as conservatives do).

And yes, there is a not-too-bad argument he could have made with the postal service, but I don't know if there's a good argument he could make considering the funding situation at the post office. But the argument he made was awful.

by rrusczyk, Aug 12, 2009, 1:58 PM

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Well, the US has over 15 trillion in GDP and something around 11-12 trillion in debt...and its gonna rise with healthcare. Almost all economists(excluding Obama's advisers) agree on that. *sigh* America is broke.

by cheeseyicecream, Aug 13, 2009, 6:02 PM