Fox "Reporters" Pushing the Republican Agenda in the Face of Healthcare Reform Passage
Reported by Julie - March 21, 2010 -
Fox News is, predictably, hard at work trying to aid and abet Republicans in, first, casting a dark shadow over the passage of healthcare reform, and laying the groundwork for their efforts to repeal, derail or obstruct the final details of the bill's passage. They're standing firm, refusing to let a little thing like the historic passage of healthcare reform -- reform that not a single Republican voted for -- get in the way of pushing the right-wing agenda.
Aside from looking like she was about to burst into tears, "reporter" Megyn Kelly repeatedly queried how the Republicans would "attack" the bill once it was passed, and continued to push the poll numbers that she claimed demonstrate Americans are overwhelmingly against the passage of this legislation.
Neil Cavuto interviewed Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri, who declared that 30 million people will be added to the healthcare rolls, "almost all of whom will be subsidized." Cavuto stood silently by as Carcieri declared the bill "unconstitutional," and said that the Democrats are "on thin ice" and the "fight will just begin" when this bill passes.
Cavuto also gave a platform to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollom, whose state objects to forcing people to buy health insurance. Claiming it is a burden on the state, McCollom stated that he believes other Attorney Generals around the country will also be doing this.
Cavuto asked former Democratic Representative Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (who was elected in 1992 to represent a heavily Republican area of Pennsylvania, and lost in 1994 for providing President Bill Clinton with the final vote on his tax-hiking budget), "Are a lot of Democrats gonna pay at the polls?"
Margolies responded, "Are we gonna lose a lot of members because of this? Not a zero sum game, it's hard to tell . . . but I think that if the members go back and explain why they voted this way . . . their constituents may back them."
Cavuto tried to argue, "You tried that . . . you tried to explain supporting . . . Bill Clinton," to which Margolies responded, "When we did polling on it it was split in a much more positive way than we thought . . . ."
Cavuto tossed out that, "The sentiment and the rage is building . . . [they are saying] you will rue this vote, you will rue this day . . . ."
Margolies pointed out that the people you hear from are generally people with negative opinions, and not people who are supportive.
Cavuto, clearly in the hope of portraying the Dems as divided, gave a platform to the "one Democratic Congressman," Massachusetts Representative Michael Capuano, who didn't join Pelosi walking in lockstep outside the Capitol Building for the vote. Capuano simply said that he's not one who likes the politics of "theater," and went on to say, "It's part of what goes on and I respect it," but explained that he tends not to get involved.
Cavuto questioned Capuano about his impressions of the comparison to the civil rights movement and civil rights legislation and the current healthcare reform legislation.
"History will tell," Capuano said simply.
Greta van Susteren featured Republican Congressman from Indiana, Mike Pence, a famous waffler on healthcare reform, who made the statement, unchallenged by van Susteren, that "Everybody knows now" there is abortion funding in the bill. Pence repeated this claim, saying that the President signing the executive order is a "tacit admission" that there is abortion funding in the bill.
"Nobody's gonna be fooled by this," Pence said. ". . . The American people are on our side, we know they are . . . they don't want a government takeover of healthcare and Republicans are on the side of the American people in this fight."
van Susteren, crack reporter, elected not to mention that polls show people are split evenly on support for the bill.
van Susteren also gave a platform to Fox News contributor Rick Santorum, who claimed that the Executive Order is not "worth the paper it's written on." van Susteren helped Santorum along on the notion that the President could sign the Executive Order on abortion funding to satisfy Stupak, then turn around and rescind it. van Susteren queried whether Democrats could be that "diabolical."
van Susteren gave a few minutes to Democrat Barney Frank, who said that the "vote may be delayed" because of the Republican procedural objections.
Frank volunteered, "I was disappointed at the demeanor" of the tea party protesters, and went on to say, unprompted, "[I was] disappointed at the angry hatred and bigotry . . . I'm not surprised at the number but I'm disappointed at the demeanor."
van Susteren chose not to follow up on this topic, and moved on to something else.
Pushing the right-wing agenda that patient care will be rationed and doctors will be harmed by this legislation, van Susteren gave mic time to Tennessee's Republican Congressman Phil Roe, who said that in his state, "We're actually rationing care . . . eight doctor visits for the entire year and the state will pay a hospital $10,000 total." He went on to bemoan the fact that 45% of the people got on the public plan and dropped private insurance -- more a testimony to the effectiveness of government funded healthcare, rather than the opposite thing.
Claiming that if the bill passes there will be an "all-out slugfest," van Susteren announced the next guest, another (shocker) Republican senator.
Enter George Lemieux, a Republican senator from Florida, who said, "A point of order will be made and for them [Democrats] . . . they don't have 60 votes." Lemieux went on to say that packaging all this "bad stuff" together, "there's gonna be some consequences."
Lemieux claimed that the "abortion issue is not proper for reconciliation," and said, "There's not gonna be one Republican who votes for this bill, Greta, in the House . . . in the Senate." Uh, yeah -- duh.
"We're just trying to put up a good defense against this bad bill," Lemieux said. "All this really is putting 30 million more Americans into healthcare . . . we should try to fix the programs we have . . . ."
van Susteren chose to make no comment on the veracity of Lemieux' comments, or question exactly what the Republicans' proposed to "fix the programs we have."
van Susteren allowed Lemieux to cast aspersions on the President's integrity around the Executive Order he will sign to satisfy Stupak, saying, "Congress makes the law, an Executive Order cannot conflict with current law . . . an Executive Order is only as good as the president."
Fox News, whose motto should be, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."
