Big Dogs Weblog

The Democrat’s Straw Man

by Big Dog on Sep 9, 2009 at 12:45 Political

The Democrats want health care under their control and they are willing to lie and deceive to get that accomplished. Despite the huge numbers of constituents who expressed opposition they are pressing on with their plan to hijack health care and gain further control over our lives. One method they employ is to use a straw man argument. They present two options, one of which is not true, and then attack the “straw man” they have established. Here is an example in a quote from Obama:

We have never been this close. We’ve never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. And because we’re so close to real reform, suddenly the special interests are doing what they always do, which is just try to scare the heck out of people.

But I’ve got — I’ve got a question for all these folks who say, you know, we’re going to pull the plug on Grandma and this is all about illegal immigrants — you’ve heard all the lies. I’ve got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? What’s your answer? What’s your solution? And you know what? They don’t have one. Their answer is to do nothing. Their answer is to do nothing. And we know what that future looks like: insurance companies raking in the profits while discriminating against people because of preexisting conditions; denying or dropping coverage when you get sick. Barack Obama News Blog

In this instance we are led to believe that the two options are the reform Obama wants and doing nothing. He further illustrates this “do nothing” idea by claiming that those opposed have not offered any other options. It is reform the way he wants it or nothing.

Then he and his sock puppets go on to attack the do nothing approach as if it is a legitimate target. The truth is that there are many other options out there and they have been proposed. A handful of other options were proposed when Obama was a Senator and he VOTED AGAINST ALL OF THEM.

My Congressman, Frank Kratovil, took the same approach in a letter he wrote to me not long ago (in response to my call to his office). He said that we need reform and that we could not stick with the status quo. Here again, the options are the reform or nothing and this is just patently false. Once again, a number of bills were proposed in the past and Obama, as well as many other Democrats, voted against them. In voting against them it was they who wanted to do nothing.

I heard Harry Reid say that health care was sick and we needed to have reform and that doing nothing was not an option. Here is a different spin on the same straw man argument. Most folks universally agree that there needs to be changes to health care affordability in this country and many people have ideas. The problem is that the Democrats, the ones who wanted to work together, are not willing to listen to other ideas.

House Republican Leader John Boehner said that Republican leaders have not been invited to the White House to discuss health care since April. He indicated that the Republicans sent a letter to Obama in May stating that they would like to work with his administration to find common ground. The Republicans received what is described as a tersely worded letter indicating that they [Obama and the Democrats] had health care reform under control. [The Hill]

So when Obama says that his question of “what are you going to do?” is not answered because the Republicans do not have ideas and only want to keep things the way they are he is LYING. Barack Obama was presented many options when he was a Senator and he voted against them. He voted against giving things that would have been less costly a chance to succeed before he went all in with his complete take over of health care.

Obama does not want to hear differing opinions and he does not want to hear other ideas and he certainly does not want to let Republicans have a seat at the table because he has his own agenda that involves more control over our lives.

He is lying when he says that those opposed want to keep things as they are. He is lying when he says that there have been no other ideas offered. He is lying when he says that it is either his way or doing nothing.

He and his toadies are setting up straw men and beating them back down in order to deceive the public. Obama ignored reform when he was a Senator as did his Democratic colleagues.

Hold their feet to the fire and do not fall for the straw man argument. Recognize it and call them out on it because they are trying to deceive you in order to gain more control over your life.

Wake up America.

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Tags: Democrats, health care reform, lies, Obama, Republicans, straw man