Selling Bills of Goods

That happens to be something of a dated expressions, but a bill of goods capsulizes what the right wing is throwing out there. It implies there is the sign of a sale, but not the 'goods'. Again and again, the lies are being substituted for facts, and more and more, the wingers show they can't produce.

'Drill Here, Drill Now' is widely acknowledged to be a ruse, yet it is the selling point for the McAyn campaign. There is no pretense that anything that actually works is being offered to meet the crisis in gas prices that is driving U.S. families into desperate straits. The only concern McAyn has shown is about gas companies.

As wage earners are learning, the tilt to industry has seriously undermined their ability to support themselves and their families. The Sideshow has a discussion about this, that has several commentors reporting they aren't making it. This is increasingly common, and has merited nothing from the right wing but their insistence that 'fundamentals are sound' - fundamentals of business,only.

Now the insurance industry is trying to hop on health care, and make it their own vehicle. The only way that can happen is through lies. You guessed, that's what they're coming at you with, the pretense that health insurance equals health care.

Harry and Louise are back for an encore.

A series of political ads starring the fictional couple back in 1994 helped sour the public's view of President Clinton's plan for universal health coverage.

Now, the two are back asking the presidential contenders to make health care their top domestic priority.

The latest Harry and Louise ads, starring the same actors as the earlier ads, will run during the Democratic and Republican Party conventions. While the kitchen table scene will look familiar, the concerns they raise will differ. Previously, Louise spoke of rationing — "you know, long waits for health care and some services not even available."

This time, she complains that someone the couple knows has cancer but no health insurance.

Harry, shaking his head in sympathy, complains "too many people are falling through the cracks."

Louise concludes: "Whoever the next president is, health care should be at the top of his agenda, bring everyone to the table and make it happen."

The groups sponsoring the new ad include one group that aggressively fought the Clinton efforts back in 1994 — the National Federation of Independent Business. There's also a major supporter of the Clinton plan — the advocacy group Families USA. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and trade groups for hospitals are also sponsors.

Health insurers paid for the previous Harry and Louise ads.

The interests are the same, which AP ignores. The health plan being promoted is to subsidize health insurance, not deliver health care to U.S. families.

The attempt to enlist financially threatened voters in the destruction of their own support system is increasingly blatant, as the right wing gives up on informed elements like bloggers. As I pointed out Sunday, financial interests are promoting a 'documentary' to sell you on ditching 'entitlements', their name for the public interest.

It becomes discouraging, but this is no time to give up. When we are pinched, we need to redouble our efforts to bring balance back to our political, and economic, life in this country. Tempting as it may be to tilt at windmills, we have enough reality to deal with to avoid going full bore against the enemy. That enemy is the right wing, more every day closer to this election.