Ignoring all the important parts, does Murray really pronounce 'historic' with the cockney silent 'h' that necessitates using 'an' instead of 'a' with it?

Anyone who's concerned with the state of health care and our apparent inability to cut out the middlemen and pool our resources ourselves -- via our elected government -- really should go read Bill Moyers' PBS interview of the former VP of PR for CIGNA. The insurance companies are concerned primarily with their own profit, and that profit is not an indicator of the quality of care they provide.

Following is a section of the interview that deals with the strategy CIGNA developed to misinform the public about public health care systems:

BILL MOYERS: We obtained a copy of the game plan that was adopted by the industry's trade association, AHIP. And it spells out the industry strategies in gold letters. It says, "Highlight horror stories of government-run systems." What was that about?

[Note: You can download the documents by clicking here and here (PDFs)]

WENDELL POTTER: The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you're heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening. If there were a broader program like our Medicare program, it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern.

BILL MOYERS: And there was a political strategy. "Position Sicko as a threat to Democrats' larger agenda." What does that mean?

WENDELL POTTER: That means that part of the effort to discredit this film was to use lobbyists and their own staff to go onto Capitol Hill and say, "Look, you don't want to believe this movie. You don't want to talk about it. You don't want to endorse it. And if you do, we can make things tough for you."

BILL MOYERS: How?

WENDELL POTTER: By running ads, commercials in your home district when you're running for reelection, not contributing to your campaigns again, or contributing to your competitor.

BILL MOYERS: This is fascinating. You know, "Build awareness among centrist Democratic policy organizations--"

WENDELL POTTER: Right.

BILL MOYERS: "--including the Democratic Leadership Council."

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely.

BILL MOYERS: Then it says, "Message to Democratic insiders. Embracing Moore is one-way ticket back to minority party status."

WENDELL POTTER: Yeah.

BILL MOYERS: Now, that's exactly what they did, didn't they? They--

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely.

BILL MOYERS: --radicalized Moore, so that his message was discredited because the messenger was seen to be radical.

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely. In memos that would go back within the industry — he was never, by the way, mentioned by name in any memos, because we didn't want to inadvertently write something that would wind up in his hands. So the memos would usually-- the subject line would be-- the emails would be, "Hollywood." And as we would do the media training, we would always have someone refer to him as Hollywood entertainer or Hollywood moviemaker Michael Moore.

BILL MOYERS: Why?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, just to-- Hollywood, I think people think that's entertainment, that's movie-making. That's not real documentary. They don't want you to think that it was a documentary that had some truth. They would want you to see this as just some fantasy that a Hollywood filmmaker had come up with. That's part of the strategy.

BILL MOYERS: So you would actually hear politicians mouth the talking points that had been circulated by the industry to discredit Michael Moore.

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely.

BILL MOYERS: You'd hear ordinary people talking that. And politicians as well, right?

WENDELL POTTER: Absolutely.

BILL MOYERS: So your plan worked.

WENDELL POTTER: It worked beautifully.

Oops. The AHIP (health insurance industry trade association) strategy papers Moyers cited are here and here.

Cue deluge of anti-reform FUD from assorted unregistered commenters with never-seen-before taglines. 3... 2... 1...

About time!

Now for the deluge of America-hating neocons paid by Big Pharma and Big Insurance to attack, just like they did when Medicare was proposed after WW II.

Murray is making the right noises but for who? She is figuring prominently on a new series of television spots brought to you by the fair and balanced people at AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans). Since Murray is up to be rehired it looks like Murray Campaign 1.0 to me...

This is the same Senator quoted in the Seattle Times during the break as being "...surprised to hear from so many people who had insurance but were worried it wouldn't be adequate in a pinch and that the premiums would keep rising sharpley". Further Senator Murray suggested that "The best step forward we can take is to help people feel more secure with the coverage they have,".

Perhaps the Senator enjoys the attention being given her "reform" efforts by AHIP just a bit too much.

Seattle Times, September 11, 2009 "No rest on health care for public servants" Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers