Not everyone on the left is in denial of the town hall protests and propagating the notion that any opposition to ObamaCare is manufactured "Astroturf" from the right.
Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, now a Bloomberg TV contributor, said that the issue of public sentiment isn't settled. Some prognosticators have concluded that everyone wants President Barack Obama's brand of health care reform.
"I think it's still a toss-up ball quite frankly," Daschle said on Bloomberg TV Aug. 11. "I think everybody is looking to see who gets to be on the offensive and there is a critical effort on both sides to do that. Whoever is usually on the offensive as you go into the legislative fight is the winner. And so, that's really the key - who can be on the offensive as we go through the next critical weeks."
According to Daschle, the struggle in the public forum is part of democracy and with something as major making its way through the legislative process, this is to be expected.
"This is really the noise of democracy, Peter," Daschle said to Peter Cook. "This happens on all the major transformational debates. It's part of the process. It's not messy, sometimes it's ugly, but nonetheless it is something that's part of what I think has become the American scene."
Daschle conceded some of the public outrage, put on display at town hall meetings nationwide, is authentic - and not completely staged as some have alleged.
"Well, some of it I think is authentic," Daschle said. "There is a concern anytime you got something, you're trading for something you don't know completely how to describe, you're concerned and there are people that are understandably concerned."
Daschle did take a shot at what he called "extraordinary hyperbolic predictions" about the potential outcome of an Obama health care plan, and used the buzzword term "scare tactics" to describe them.
"What exacerbates it of course are all the rumors and all the extraordinary hyperbolic predictions about how this is all going to turn out," Daschle added. "And that scares people. Obviously when you're talking about your personal health, and you're inclined to be concerned anyway, when you get these scare tactics on top of it, it makes for very volatile politics."
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Daschle must have been very
August 11, 2009 - 16:11 ET by NewsbusterbrownDaschle must have been very saddened to have to admit that.
“There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
The sad part is that we're
August 11, 2009 - 16:24 ET by mattmThe sad part is that we're even contemplating a government takeover of healthcare at all. We should be talking about getting government out of it, and out of as many other areas as possible.
Well, wait just a second
August 11, 2009 - 16:32 ET by KC MulvilleThis is not, as the Democrats would like to portray, a case of people fearing "the future." That dismisses the concerns of opponents as psychological immaturity.
This is just another spinning tactic. They just can't accept the possibility that these proposals are being rejected on the merits. What's worse, the bills haven't been formally presented yet, and so it's obvious that this expression of hostility is a sign that people don't trust the Democrats. The Democrats themselves can't deal with that, for selfish reasons. How can they accept the idea that America doesn't trust them?
Psychologically, the Democrats' whole worldview is built upon two myths: (1) they're smarter than the rest of us, and (2) we secretly want them to make all decisions for us. These town hall meetings destroy both assumptions. (1) They go to the meetings and discover that the public has read the text, and know the details, of the legislation they've left to their staffs to read. (2) People angrily reject the idea that we will accept their decisions without review.
Daschle the tax cheat raises his ugly head
August 11, 2009 - 21:28 ET by jefflebowskiHopefully, Daschle will use the $$ from Bloomberg to pay his taxes. Or do Democrats still not have to pay taxes?
Angry White Dude
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Tom Daschle has no principles, this is revenge
August 11, 2009 - 21:28 ET by Jabba the TuttTom Daschle was named by Obama to be Secretary of HHS. He had the misfortune to be the 'tax-cheat too far' and had to withdraw his name. He didn't realize that a corporation that supplied him with a car and driver was giving him income to be taxed.
Tom Daschle had also written a book on how to get "Healthcare Reform" enacted around the public. He saw how HillaryCare got cut to shreds, once people could get their hands on the actual plan. So, Tom "Dr. Smarts" Daschle came up with the idea, 'don't have a plan and then they can't criticize it'. Daschle wanted to enact healthcare, then let the bureaucrats come up with the plan and implement it.
Barry Obama and his team didn't listen to Dr. Smart, they followed the HillaryCare template and look, the plan is getting torn to shreds. Hell, Obama (the world's best teleprompter reader) is doing even worse than Hillary did with it and Obama doesn't have to deal with a sharp Newt Gingrich and friends. He's facing a comatose GOP and he still can't get the job done.
Daschle, with his comments, is telling Obama "I told you so". It's revenge, baby. Revenge!
Glad you were not taken in
August 12, 2009 - 15:40 ET by stratmanGlad you were not taken in by Daschle's spin, KC.
Daschle gives a little, ever so slighty, about the authenticity of the protestors, but his main pont was about "scare tactics", which he presented clearly as the meat of his statement. He is a willfull tool of Obamacare, pressing the Party Line in his patented soft spoken patina. And why not, Daschle is responsible for this mess of a reform in its infancy and then some afterwards.
My guess is that Daschle is still heavily involved in policy with the Obama administration although he is now a high paid consultant in a private citizen capacity rather than low paid bureaucrat. The most likely thing preventing Daschle from having a heavier hand in Obamacare is the ego of Zek Emanuel.
I trust Daschle about as far as I could throw him. Actually, not even that far.
The Backlash
August 12, 2009 - 00:02 ET by KC MulvilleYou know why these town halls have ignited anger? Because these politicians came to the town halls as agents of the Democrat party, not as servants of the people in the hall.
They came to sell a Democrat policy to the people, not to listen to their constituents. Their allegiance is to their party, not the people they represent. It's not supposed to work like that. We send them to Washington to advocate for us, not for them to advocate at us on behalf of the Beltway. They're selling it to us, instead of asking us what we want them to do.
I say we
August 12, 2009 - 09:30 ET by jessieHI say we vote on it. Let congress make up the healthcare bill and give us 2 weeks to review it. This is too important to leave it up to the buffoons in Congress.