Rick Scott’s Silly Ad

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Rick Scott, the former hospital conglomerate executive otherwise known as Public Option Enemy Number 1, has a great blog post up over at the Conservatives for Patients’ Rights blog. CPR, which Scott runs, has been buying television ads that he says “[chide] the President that neither his plan nor the plans of Congressional Democrats can guarantee Americans that:”

  • They can keep their current doctor
  • They won’t wait longer for care
  • Their health care won’t be rationed
  • They can keep the insurance plan they currently have

In Scott’s blog post, he very cleverly notes that the White House has not “called out” the ad for misrepresenting the Democrats’ health care plans. In his speech last week, President Obama promised to “call out” people who were misrepresenting the health care plan. Since the White House hasn’t “called out” CPR, Scott argues, the ad must be accurate.

Here’s the thing: the ad is accurate, in a way. “Guarantee” is the key word. Obama and the Democrats can’t guarantee any of those things. But that doesn’t actually mean anything. No one can guarantee those things. Scott’s argument against reform would be true of any bill.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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