Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Mark Schauer's Astroturf Supporters

Michelle Malkin (via the Jackson Citizen Patriot) reports on astroturf supporters of government health care being bussed in to a rally at Mark Schauer's office. The buses were organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

All aboard the Astroturf bus!

2 comments:

Communications guru said...

Wow, that’s you’re smoking gun? “rented vans and encouraged people to carpool to the event.” Wow. I’m stunned. I guess that dispels those polls that say 70 percent of Americans want health care reform is bunk, or that that the overwhelming victory in November when health care reform was a campaign issue was a fluke. Union members – regular middle class people – want health care reform, and its their union dues that paid for the vans. It wasn’t money from the $1.4 million a day the insurance lobby is spending o kill real reform through rightwing lobbying groups like “Americans for Prosperity” and “Freedom Works.”

If this fails, the health insurance companies will continue to line their pockets at the expense of good medical care for the middle class, and if this passes, the majority of the 50 million U.S. citizens with no access to health care will be covered. You’re complaining about working people pooling their money to get out and fight back against misinformation, show their support for a cause they have been fighting for 50 years and stop the shouting down of Democratic Congressman? Just sad.

Matt said...

From the WSJ:

8/24/2009
Insurers' Employees Counter Criticism

By VANESSA FUHRMANS and AVERY JOHNSON

The health-insurance industry is sending thousands of its employees to town-hall meetings and other forums during Congress's August recess to try to counter a tide of criticism directed at the insurers and remain a player -- and not an outsider -- in the debate over the future of the health-care system.

Among the throngs of Americans crowding the sessions across the country, the industry employees come armed with talking points about the need for bipartisan legislation and the unintended consequences of a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers.

But unlike the angry crowds shouting at politicians to keep government out of their health care, the insurance industry supporters have garnered little attention, and that's partly by design.

A "Town Hall Tips" memo written by America's Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, the industry's chief lobby, warns people attending the meetings to expect harsh criticism directed at health-plan employees. Stay calm and don't yell at members of Congress, the memo advises. "It is important not to take the bait," it cautions.

The town-hall meetings are an opportunity "to strongly push back against charges that we have very high profits," said Karen Ignagni, AHIP's president and chief executive officer. "It's very important that our men and women...calmly provide the facts and for members of Congress to hear what these people do every day."

Lary Loew, who heads Cornerstone Group, a Wheeling, W.Va., concern that administers health-insurance benefits for 600 employers, said he attended a recent town-hall meeting hosted by Rep. Alan Mollohan (D., W.Va.) because "my whole industry is being threatened." He said he was called on to rebut an advocate for national health insurance, who said her disabled daughter wouldn't be able to get health insurance after graduating from college.

read the rest at, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125107323271252625.html