More of your tax dollars at work
Remember those heartwarming commercials before last year’s election where Andy Griffith tried to assure seniors that Obamacare was really a great program? Just in case you’ve forgotten, you can view one of them here.
As we pointed out then, Sheriff Andy didn’t exactly tell the truth about Obamacare. He tried to assure seniors that their Medicare benefits wouldn’t change, but neglected to mention that if the senior was on Medicare Advantage, their benefits under that program would disappear.
He also told us that Obamacare would “strengthen” Medicare’s finances, but neglected to mention that the $500 billion taken from Medicare allegedly to “increase its longevity” was really being used to cover the costs of insuring millions of other Americans, and obviously couldn’t be used for both.
Well, now we know what you paid for this misleading propaganda…$3.5 million.
Don’t blame the likable Sheriff (other than for his blatant misstatements) as he donated his time. However, of that $3.5 million your Department of Health and Human Services spent $2.78 million for airtime, and $404,384.40 to the media consulting firm, Porter Novelli, for 668 billable hours of work producing the ads. Although there are probably some expenses in that bill, perhaps taking Mr. Griffith to dinner, still, $605 per hour does seem a bit steep.
My quarrel is not so much with the expenditure but with the final misleading product. It seems to me that if the government is going to use our money to educate people, the least it can do is tell the truth.
thanks to regulation, courtesy of and complicit in generating an unwieldy government, fabrication is an expensive proposition. truth and reality tend to be more cost effective, but anti-government. what is a fictional character in a non-fiction world to do? oh, right–spin a compelling story line and trust that the writers will resolve plot inconsistencies between the cliffhanger finale and the new season premiere. now regarding sheriff andy. . .
Ray Suarez did a propaganda report on healthcare in Cuba… He put a remarkably positive spin on mandatory visits by government doctors who check everyone in the house, inspect every room in the house… Sure Cubans may live a few years longer than Americans, but they're not running the 80 hour-a-week treadmill where they support an over-taxed employer and an over-taxing government, and they're not forced to gobble down fast food all day long because they're too busy to cook for themselves. State and federal government shouldn't ask for anything more than does the church- 10%!
I bet a lot of their longevity comes from their Castro approved restricted diet.
That "administration" is not too dumb, is it? And, as I said nothing has changed for me. And, some of those "currently angry" seniors may not be around in 2013.
Will their demise be directly because of Øbamacare, or simply the thought of what is to come?
If by "not too dumb", you mean fooling a bunch of lazy legislators, putting off the bad stuff until after Øbambi can manage to get reelected, and lulling a lot of seniors into a false sense of complacency (not to mention any names…;-) !!) by doing so, then yeah, they are smart.
Enjoy it while you have it, sammy. When you finally feel the effects, it will be far too late to do anything about it.
As the water surrounding the frog gets hotter and hotter. That's the progressive mantra, small change over a long period of time.
Norman Thomas
Socialist Party presidential candidate in 1940, 1944 and 1948.
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of Liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without knowing how it happened.”
Update that from "liberalism" to the new monicker of "progressivism" and you hit the nail on the head.
Just keep them fat and stupid before the slaughter…
So far, my Medicare costs, Medicare Advantage and coverage is no different from what it was before Obamacare was passed. I don’t see the sky falling. Is it falling where you are?
If this were a tsunami, the water is just starting to rush out into the bay. The big wave train is coming. Enjoy it while you have it, sammy!
Ahhh, Dims…I'm pretty certain that if Sammy is affected by medicare advantage cuts beginning in 2013, we shan't hear about it…it'll be the sound of crickets near and far.
Most of the plan gets implemented after next election. Dr. Obama wants to secure a 2nd term before he hands out the bitter pills.?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-bY92mcOdk
Oh, and see 25 second mark- roman columns, cradle to grave healthcare, 5 tonnes of confetti; can these morons do anything that’s modest, tasteful and understated?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BnLozS-TnM&feature=related
That’s because the administration?delayed the cuts to Medicare Advantage until 2013.? It wouldn’t do to have lots of angry seniors in November, 2012.
This wasn't even a PSA…It was fiction/fantasy/lies all rolled up into one. And who are they lying to? The elderly. To quote an oft used phrase from the left, "Shame on you".
My 72 years-young ma was spitting mad when she saw Sheriff Andy doing this PSA: she called me from TN, brought out her Funk & Wagnall's and spewed a few choice words about the commercial and O-Care in general. Not all seniors buy Obama's & the democrat's lies hook, line & sinker. And God bless 'em, these seniors vote.
It would be nice if we could put the whole topic to bed and be done with it once and for all–unconstitutional, yadda, yadda, yadda, repealed.
Nobody ever really misses something until it is gone….
When something affects me I deal w/ it. All the ink spent on this blog for over a year has not changed anything, but has kept a lot of people busy trying to tell me that the sky will be falling at some future date. That future is yet to come.
It should be interesting to see how you deal with "nowhere else to go".
“That future is yet to come.”
That’s profound Sammy!
?
No matter how much you spin a lie, it is still not the truth.
And maybe we should change "Tomorrow is promised to no one" to "Medicare is promised to no one"…or "time heals all wounds" to "medicare heals all wounds"…and my favorite: "time is the cure" to "Medicare is the cure". Or maybe the last should be a bit more broad, "Obamacare is the cure". My 20 year old daughter thinks about politics in Sammy's way: it doesn't affect me yet, so why worry? Shortsighted at best. But she has youth & inexperience as an excuse.
Andy, you're one of the first ones the death panels will throw under the bus.
All I read is a bunch of slogans. Where is the repeal you are pining for? Where is a new plan? Just beating up on an old horse, that must feel good.
Actually, I just want to keep the old horse, not beat it.
But you are right: slogans like "keep your own healthcare/doctor" and "costs will go down while coverage goes up" and "illegals/abortions won't be covered" that the Øbamaroids constantly espouse are tired lies that aren't working anymore in the face of reality.
And here I thought that the goofy hick act by Griffith was just an act. He is no different than Charlie Sheen when it comes to acting.
It's still the old horse: according to SOS's post the REAL changes will not take place till 2013. By that time, I recon, the "new and improved" Congress will have come up w/ a new horse (LOL).
Your point is…..?
@sammy…you don't think this was "original" legislation (2000+ pages worth) from Obama, Pelosi & the dems, do you? They couldn't read the 10 pages of the AZ law addressing illegals in that state before opening their yaps and calling it unconstitutional. There's NO way they wrote 2500 pages of legislation. I suspect this is Hillary Clinton's old horse from the 90s, tweaked in a few places & resurrected from the glue factory with a new label slapped on it. The "new and improved" congress won't have to come up with a "new horse"…the majority of people in the U.S. will be more than happy to go back to the way things were before this was passed under the cover of darkness.
winnie888: how do you go back to the way things were, unless what is on the books now gets repealed or re-written? You have a magic wand and make Obamacare disappear?
Repeal was implied…
They are changing it as we speak: see the Sebelius story.
Good luck, winnie888! Bingo gives better odds.
So the house always wins? What if it is someone else's house, i.e. in Republican hands?
TRUTH? You want the truth from government? God doesn't have enough money to buy that from them.