Despite Steele Saying He’s Not Trying To ‘Scare’ People, RNC Poll Says Health Bill May Deny Care To Republicans
Despite Steele Saying He’s Not Trying To ‘Scare’ People, RNC Poll Says Health Bill May Deny Care To Republicans
Yesterday, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele appeared on NPR and quickly got into a testy back-and-forth with interviewer Steve Inskeep over the Republican Party’s tactics in the health care debate.
Towards the end of the interview, Inskeep asked how the GOP plans to explain the complicated health care issue to the American people in a way that “doesn’t just kind of scare people with soundbites.” In response, Steele angrily replied,”No one’s trying to scare people with soundbites. I have not done that, and I don’t know any leaders in the House and the Senate that have done that.”
The problem with Steele’s statement is that it simply isn’t true. The Columbian reports today that Raymond Denny, a 64-year old man from La Center, Washington, recieved a thirteen-question survey in the mail from the RNC, and that one of the questions implied that the health care reform bills before Congress would purposely discriminate against people who affiliated with the Republican Party:
As Politico’s Glenn Thrush notes, “Democrats haven’t suggested using party registration as litmus for care.” Reflecting on the question, Denny told the Washington Independent, “They word these things to solicit the answer they wanted. This one here we looked at and said, ‘Wow, that’s way beyond the pale of what should be done.’”
Of course the RNC survey is just one part of the scare tactics being used by opponents of health care reform. They have suggested that health reform could “pull the plug on grandma“, subject mentally ill children to “death panels,” and even herald in a new era of eugenics.
A spokesman for the RNC has now described the mailing as “inartfully worded.”
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‘It has been suggested…’
By whom exactly?
August 27th, 2009 at 3:48 pmAnd the odds of this story being picked up by the Corporate, right-wing media apparatus are..?
August 27th, 2009 at 3:48 pmBut… but… but… Michael Steele says he’s not trying to scare anyone, and he doesn’t know any republican leaders who are…
and Michael Steele is an honorable man.
August 27th, 2009 at 3:51 pmNow they have even more reason not to vote Rupublicon!
August 27th, 2009 at 3:52 pmI suggest denying ANY reformed health-care benefits to any citizen of any state either of whose Senators votes to deny it to ALL, and letting the citizens know that they are being denied because their Senator chose to deny it to all…
August 27th, 2009 at 3:52 pmIn a perfect world perhaps, but we know this is no perfect world.
(JUST KIDDING RIGHTIES)
August 27th, 2009 at 3:53 pmIt has been suggested that Republicans and certain Democrats are in the pockets of the Health Care industry and rather than vote based upon what’s good for their constituents, they vote on what brings the most money to their re-election coffers.
Oh wait, that’s not a suggestion, its the truth
August 27th, 2009 at 3:53 pmAdmire the phrasing “it has been suggested” that voter registration records could be used to deny coverage.
This is a variation on the Faux News favorite, “some say”.
They never tell us who “says” or who “suggested” it, do they? Funny how that works.
August 27th, 2009 at 3:53 pm“prompting fears”…
August 27th, 2009 at 3:53 pmby the same people who did the suggesting.
“Does this possibility concern you?”
1- If you’re not a Republican – NO
August 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm2- If you are a Republican, you wouldn’t take the govenment option anyway so – NO.
Death Panel = Republic Minority
Intelligence = Torture
Health Care Reform = Bigger Insurance Profits
Death Book = RNC Policy Manual
Public Survey = Predetermined Answers
Bipartisanship = My Way or the Highway
Do you believe anything that comes out of Republic mouths?
August 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm___ Yes ___ No ___ Huh?
Oh hell no!!! Not in my state bishes.
August 27th, 2009 at 3:55 pmSet the strawman up…
then knock him down.
Typical Republican tactic.
August 27th, 2009 at 3:56 pmI’d say this is an excellent idea! Those that don’t want any shouldn’t get any.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:00 pmYikes. That’s worse than some of the questions I had to ask when I was doing “non-partisan” polling.
“Do you support Jerry McNerney’s vote for the Stimulus Bill, knowing it spends $11 million to study pig odors?”
August 27th, 2009 at 4:01 pmLying sacks of dog doo-doo!
August 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pmIt has been suggested that registered Republicans have been sent odorless, vaporless gas in envelopes marked “Urgent: Obama wants socialized medicine! How we can stop him STAT!”. When opened and inhaled, the individual becomes catatonic and lethargic. Later, all cognitive and most motor skills are atrophied, and rendered useless. Eventually, said individual’s primary existence becomes one of a zombie, searching out “normal” humans to devour their brains.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pmDoes this concern you?
Oh good! I’m still in time for aaronk to swing by a whine, ‘But Democrats use surveys TOOOOOOOOOOO!”
August 27th, 2009 at 4:03 pmjust throwing this out there but wouldn’t that be counterproductive to healthcare reform, particularly the public options many progressives want? then again, logic never was a strong point of the current repukelican “base”
August 27th, 2009 at 4:05 pmIt’s ok. I’m sure Republicans could simply go the local emergency room to receive their health care — since they seem to believe that’s appropriate for everyone else.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:07 pmA classic example of push-polling.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:08 pmralph the wonder llama says:
and Michael Steele is an honorable man.
____________
Saying Mike is a “Man of Honor” is probably closer to the truth.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:11 pm“inartfully worded.”
But exactly what they meant to say.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:13 pmzxbe says:
A classic example of push-polling.
___________
Pushing the poll?
More like a classic example of “Ramming the pole”… either up, or down, depending on the rammer and the rammee, of course.
Just saying…
August 27th, 2009 at 4:15 pmlike we can’t see the handwriting on the wall as a result of this “poll”. the next round of commericals against healthcare reform will show a sad, lame, sick repukelican (grampy mclame would be a brilliant choice) being denied healthcare.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:15 pm“It has been suggested…”, sounds like some unsupervised summer intern at the RNC got out of control. The Repubs will be easy to bust on this one. They just went too far. Steele will be back-pedaling on this one by next week.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:16 pmscare, who us scare people>>> why thats a out right >>>> oh well maybe it is close to being a out right>>>>> oh etc…
standby, standby this maybe a maybe
even if you catch me in a lie, its not a lie unless i believe it and we know how much i believe. Micheal Hip-Hop Flip-Flop Da man Steel
August 27th, 2009 at 4:16 pm“inartfully worded.” ????
_________
“precisely worded” is more like it…
Mission Accomplished!!!
August 27th, 2009 at 4:17 pmRedneck
August 27th, 2009 at 4:18 pmNo
Class
“It has been suggested…”
by the same people who suggested that an unregulated free market economy would usher in an era of prosperity……
August 27th, 2009 at 4:23 pmHealth Bill May Deny Care To Republicans does this concern you – YES
It concerns me that it did not WILL ABSOLUTELY deny care to Anti-American Scum Bags who were against it till they need it.
Fcuk the Republic Fascist Party
August 27th, 2009 at 4:23 pmRepiggies will do anything to win, no matter how unethical or immoral.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they resort to murder in the near future.
Screw the repiggies, and screw the teabagger trash.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:24 pmzxbe says
August 27th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
A classic example of push-polling.
_____________________________________________________________
No, a “classic” example of push-polling is a poll that at least TRIES to look legitimate. This goes WAY beyond “classic”. I can’t remember the last time I’m seen anything so blatantly misleading and untruthful — even from the Republicans.
If this survey came from the RNC, and Steele is the head of the RNC, he needs to answer for it. So who’s going to hold his feet to the fire on this one?
August 27th, 2009 at 4:25 pmThey have done it in the past, in public. Why wouldn’t you expect them to do it again?
August 27th, 2009 at 4:28 pmSo where are the trolls to defend this slime? Or at the very least, accuse Democrats of doing the same thing (with no actual examples, of course)?
August 27th, 2009 at 4:29 pm“It has been suggested…” can safely be added to the list of Republican marketing phrases — along with “They say…”, “Some people say…”, etc.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:30 pmNot a bad idea when you think about it.
Better yet, if we can isolate the gene that causes a normal fetus to develop into a Republican, we could identify these problems and abort them before they are whelped.
I am just kidding. I think that Republicans are a result of poor parenting, they aren’t born with that handicap.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:30 pmDRxJ says:
…Eventually, said individual’s primary existence becomes one of a zombie, searching out “normal” humans to devour their brains.
Does this concern you?
Well, it concerns me. Zombies like to eat brains, so they will not attack Republicans, just Democrats and Independents.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:38 pmI would say that question has no relevance.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:38 pmIf that survey was sanctioned by the RNC,
the GOP just committed political suicide.
They seem to have another party in the works,though.
The Divisionist Party.
What is the problem? I thought Republicans wanted to be left out of the public option.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:39 pmRNC Poll Says Health Bill May Deny Care To Republicans
Who on earth could believe the words of such a poll?
Those that could engage in those actions stated in the poll?
August 27th, 2009 at 4:48 pmInartfully worded = Complete Bullshit.
But the idiocracy that follows them will believe it. Especially if Fox reports it as gospel. “But, Glen Beck said….”
August 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pmHonest to Dog – I HATE these people!!!!!!!
August 27th, 2009 at 4:56 pmshoeless says:
What is the problem? I thought Republicans wanted to be left out of the public option.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
____________
That’s what I was thinking. The government could save a ton of money by excluding Republicans from Medicare, too – more than enough to fund the public option. People so vehemently against socialism should have no complaints about being opted-out of government health care.
If this isn’t in the bill, it should be.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:57 pmmisscoleopteramolly says:
If this survey came from the RNC, and Steele is the head of the RNC, he needs to answer for it. So who’s going to hold his feet to the fire on this one?
August 27th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
_____________
Hmm. I wonder if the RNC health plan considers charred feet a preexisting condition…
August 27th, 2009 at 4:59 pm#18 ralph the wonder llama says:
I live in Vancouver remember seeing this story in the paper (it actually appeared in Tuesday’s edition). This GOP “survey” sounds like a fundraiser that is packaged to look like a survey. I say that based on surveys that I receive somewhat regularly from the DNC, DCCC, DSCC, and the ACLU. One important difference is that the surveys that I have received from the aforementioned don’t load questions with incendiary terms or partisan codewords. If not for the donation pitch that was included I would have said the GOP piece was more of a push poll.
August 27th, 2009 at 5:01 pmcorrection: It is being suggested that…
August 27th, 2009 at 5:01 pmhad enough says:
RNC Poll Says Health Bill May Deny Care To Republicans
Who on earth could believe the words of such a poll?
August 27th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
___________
The same idiots who believe that climate change is a hoax, the world is 6,000 years old, and Barack Obama was born in Kenya.
August 27th, 2009 at 5:05 pmIt has also been suggested that health care reform could give Obama the authority to enslave your children and indoctrinate them in the so called “Obama Youth”, prompting fears that your children might become part of Obamas euthanasia program. Does this concern you?
1) Yes
August 27th, 2009 at 5:10 pm2) No
3) Undecided
They keep trying to one-up themselves. This could be one of the worst ever! I know that my dear grandmother would have spread this “fact” to dozens of her friends by now. The damage has been done, and the “inartful” mercenaries deserve every negative consequence that comes their way.
August 27th, 2009 at 5:28 pmWow! Just WOW!
August 27th, 2009 at 5:35 pmI’d like to see a study done under controlled conditions, in which groups of self-proclaimed conservatives and liberals were exposed to really absurd lies like this, from sources each was predisposed to find credible and from sources each would find untrustworthy.
I’d like to see which side swallowed the biggest whopper without any reflection.
Anyone wanna place a bet?
August 27th, 2009 at 5:38 pmI smell Karl Rove. It would be just like him to hide behind the curtain while feeding this trash to the Idiot of Steele.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:07 pmFortunately only about eleven people will be reading this and of those, four of them are functionally illiterate and will mark “NO” because they saw the word “Democrat” and “rationed”.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:14 pmone of the questions implied that the health care reform bills before Congress would purposely discriminate against people who affiliated with the Republican Party:
And of course Republicans would believe it, because that’s exactly what Republicans do when they have power.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:18 pmBut then again….
I guess it is better than “does the fact that Obama hates white people and will deny them medical treatment concern you?”
August 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pmDemocrat-controlled health care rationing system.
Democrat – They always use that invective.
Controlled – Gov’t take over!
Rationing – They’re gonna pull Grandma’s plug!
I’m so sick of these lying fear mongers!
August 27th, 2009 at 6:47 pmThe mailer from the RNC is real..My dad got one as well..The question about voter registration being used as a screen for being eligible for health care by the “Democrat imposed rationing system.”
The republican lie machine is in full-tilt screech mode so picking thru the rubble to get to the truth will NOT be easy… the republicans deep down in their bones believe the truth will be their ruin so they try with every fiber of their existence to portray it as evil or something worse.. continue to throw them under every bus you can find….
August 27th, 2009 at 6:55 pmTo see and understand Republican politics the best I suggest you buy two copies of “Bogeyman: The Lee Atwater Story”. This documentary will inform you about smear politics, Willie Horton, push polling and other tricks of extreme dirty politics. You will be better able to understand the GOP. Even if you are GOP.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:24 pmWhat do you expect from a thug like Steele? He was an embarrassment to this state and the Republican Party as Lt Governor of MD.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:28 pmYa know, I read the question and get the message loud and clear.
Do ya know who else used to carefully craft their words to have them not directly imply violence but clearly communicate it on another level ?
Think of the “legitimate businessmen” who made “business offers” to shop keepers to collect a fee to provide “protection” for their businesses.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:41 pmThis looks and smells like the hand of Frank Luntz; the Karl Rove replacement for the Republican Party. Shameless, vicious, derogatory and a pitiful lie.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:09 pm.
“It has been suggested that Alien status and long forms will be used to determine if Martians will receive the Obama Socialist Marxist Fascist Commie Pinko Health Care bill being offered by Democrats, which ic currently being blocked by (R)epublican Obstructionists. Does THIS possibility put the FEAR in you?”
… Some people say!
.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:40 pmWashington and about a dozen other states don’t even include party affiliation on their voter registrations.
What is especially galling about the voter registration meme is that Republicans are projecting their own control of the Justice Department under W onto their fictitious claim about “Democratic control of health care”. Also implicit in this “inartfully worded” question is an assumption that Democrats will have enduring control of the White House and Congress. Let’s hope that assumption comes to bear. At least Republicans have the courts and corporate media as equalizers.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:30 amRepublicans would ONLY be denied medical treatment if they are stupid enough to believe the lies being sold to America by their OWN party.
August 28th, 2009 at 10:40 amI try to avoid stereotyping, but I must say that this unequivocally demonstrates the moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party, at least on the subject of health care reform.
They have obviously drunk deeply of their “Unitary Executive” fountain. Does any remotely rational person believe such discrimination would slip past the Supreme Court?
August 28th, 2009 at 11:35 amIs it my imagination or is the Republican Party “dumbing down?” It never ceases to amaze me how they can use/misuse scripture in “Biblical Proportion” to try and make a point. I wonder if God is laughing or crying.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:08 pmvery thanks for article!
August 31st, 2009 at 11:04 am