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Why? Because some of you and your associates have been deeply engaged in spreading the kind of baseless fear and confusion designed to scuttle any real reform.
Fellow citizens, why would members of Congress choose to walk right on by, so to speak. Why would they be sabotaging what they claim to support; namely, an urgent effort to give ALL Americans the opportunity to get the health care they need--and not just us, the privileged.
The Money
Follow the money, someone said. And that applies in spades to this situation.
A whole lot of money is at stake. Senior executives of insurance and drug companies do not want to endanger their multimillion-dollar annual salaries--with million-dollar bonuses thrown in for good measure.
They have been able to thwart efforts toward meaningful reform--until now.
They are not physically present in this chamber this evening, but some of their surrogates are. And their money is.
Let me be clear. If Americans knew how much money the insurance and drug industries give to some of you sitting here this evening, they would understand--and be appalled.
Fellow citizens, you may wish to inquire about how much money your Representative and Senators receive from firms with a strong vested interest in preventing meaningful change in a health care system that excludes so many and, still, is so outrageously expensive.
Sad to say, many of you here this evening do choose to walk on by--choose to give priority to financing your next election campaign rather than to the health needs of the American people. You have been setting up straw-man objections to new legislation and then knocking them--and the legislation--down, leaving many of your constituents in total confusion.
Straw Men
I served here in Congress. And I know that in this rarified atmosphere it is easy to become convinced that, like the children of Lake Wobegon, all of us are above average--evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
Whether above average or not, you cannot plead ignorance. Nor does it require a PhD to recognize as fraudulent the scary gossip that is so widely circulated and so wildly untrue.
You know what I'm talking about; ideas like:
--"Death panels" will decide to get rid of grandma before her time;
--Illegal immigrants will overburden the health care system; or
