Quote:

---

Because of an appeal during his special comment on health care, Keith Olbermann has helped raise $1.2 million for free health care clinics, resulting in new health fairs in Little Rock, Kansas City and New Orleans.

"I propose tonight one act with two purposes," Olbermann said then. "I propose we, all of us, embrace the selfless individuals at the National Association of Free Clinics. You know them, they conducted the mass health care free clinic in Houston that served 1,500 people. I want a mass health care free clinic every week in the principle cities of the states of the six senators key to defeating a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate."

Olbermann said he wanted "Sens. Lincoln and Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock....Sen. Baucus to see it in Butte....Sen. Ben Nelson to see it in Lincoln....Sen. Landrieu to see it in Baton Rouge...Sen. Reid to see it in Las Vegas."

Wednesday night on "Countdown," Olbermann announced that, thanks to the generosity of "Countdown" viewers, a health fair would take place in New Orleans on November 14. This is on top of health fairs already planned for November 21 in Little Rock and December 9-10 in Kansas City.

How did this idea come about?

"We were looking for something to relieve the frustration so many people felt," Olbermann told the Huffington Post. "I thought of an insurance strike, but insurrectionist as that might sound, it would endanger lives. So Rich Stockwell, one of my Senior Producers, suggested that the Free Health Clinics group turns every dollar donated into five in services. Thus if we helped them stage clinics in the key cities, we'd get help to thousands of people, we'd relieve that sense of near-paralysis, and we might even put some pressure on those Democratic Senators who won't even commit to precluding a filibuster. So this one was Rich's."

As for the re-brand of the Public Option as "Medicare for Everyone" — which Rep. Jim Clyburn attributes to the "Countdown" host — Olbermann said, "I'm sure that originated elsewhere but I think I might have been the first to put it out there nationally."

"Get a Blue Dog to support the option and raise a million-two," he added. "I'm pretty happy with that Comment."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/22/keith-olbermann-helps-rai_n_3
29979.html?

---

Quote:

---

MSNBC Goes Into Astroturf Mode: Advocates Using Free Clinics to 'Shame' Senators

Olbermann, Maddow exploit poor people to target Democratic senators reluctant to support a public option.

Remember back just a few short months ago – when thousands, if not millions, of Americans were protesting out-of-control government spending and other policies favored by President Barack Obama’s administration?

Surprised by the resounding turnout, the usual lefty talking heads on MSNBC, specifically on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” explained the protests away as being fake grassroots or AstroTurf.

Fast forward to Oct. 7, when both Olbermann and Maddow started laying down AstroTurf of their own. They encouraged free health care clinics to be held in the states of six Democratic senators that are not in lockstep with the left-wing agenda on health care reform.

The clinics themselves are a worthy endeavor. However, Olbermann, used a long-winded hour-long Oct. 7 “Special Comment” to set this up and encouraged the clinics as a tactic to circumvent “a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate.”

“So I propose tonight one act with two purposes,” Olbermann said. “I propose we, all of us, embrace the selfless individuals at the National Association of Free Clinics. You know them. They conducted the mass health care free clinic in Houston that served 1,500 people. I want a health care free clinic every week in principle cities of the states of the six senators key to defeating a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate.”

Olbermann is an employee of NBC Universal, which is a subsidiary of General Electric (NYSE:GE). And GE is the world’s largest company, according to Forbes magazine. Olbermann and his MSNBC colleague Rachel Maddow, using their television megaphones, paid for by GE, are engaging in their own style of AstroTurfing.

The specific tactic, as Olbermann explained, is to target six Democratic senators –Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., Max Baucus, D-Mont., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., Mary Landrieu, D-La. and Harry Reid, D-Nev., by shaming them with these free clinics.

“I want Sens. Lincoln and Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock,” Olbermann said. “I want Sen. Baucus to see it in Butte. I want Sen. Ben Nelson to see it in Lincoln. I want Sen. Landrieu to see it in Baton Rouge. I want Sen. Reid to see it in Las Vegas.”

“I’ll donate,” he said. “How much will you donate? We enable thousands of our neighbors to have just a portion of the bounty of good health and we make a statement to the politician, forgive me William Jennings Brian, ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of America this crown of insurance. You shall not crucify man kind upon a cross of blue.’”

“We think these events will be firmed up presently,” Olbermann said. “You will be able to link from our website. Trust me. I will remind you.”

Maddow reiterated Olbermann’s plea on her Oct. 7 show. “He’s specifically talking about a technique that would increase political pressure on six senate Democrats who are key to allowing a vote on health reform,” Maddow said. “The proposal, as Keith said, is to hold massive free health clinics weekly in the capital cities of the states represented by these key six Democratic senators. Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.”

This according to Maddow would show once and for all what an abysmal failure the American health care system is, despite a recent Gallup poll showing that “80 percent are satisfied with the quality of medical care available to them, including 39 percent who are very satisfied.”

“As has occurred in other states, doctors and nurses would donate their time to provide free care to thousands of constituents of these senators to regular Americans in these states who can not afford health care as it is provided by the health care non-system that we’ve got now,” Maddow said.

Maddow alluded to a similar clinic held in Houston last month that drew 1,500 looking for treatment. This blatant exploitation of the poor, she said, would be an opportunity not only to give away health care, but to “shame” politicians into agreeing with her left-of-center ideology.

“The strategy at work here is that if funds can be raised to hold clinics like these in Arkansas and Montana and Nebraska and Louisiana and Nevada, it will be a way of doing well by doing good. Americans who are un-served by the current system will get some health care and this dramatic heart-wrenching means of providing it to them could shame their senators into getting out of the way of reform.”

---

Quote:

---

While 52% of the general public consider that it is necessary to create a public health insurance plan to make sure that all Americans have access to quality healthcare, support for a public option is very strong among African-Americans (80%), Hispanics (71%), those with a household income of less than $25,000 (65%), those who are not employed (64%), adults under 35 (60%), and parents of a child under 18 (59%).
• In contrast, majorities of those with a household income of $50,000 or more (55%), Midwesterners (50%), full-time workers (51%), and non-Hispanic whites (52%) are of the view that a public plan is not necessary to achieve universal access to quality healthcare.
• Additionally, there is a strong link between party affiliation and support for the public health insurance plan. Democrats are most likely to say a public plan is needed (74%), while Independents (46%) and especially Republicans (26%) are less inclined to agree.

---

Quote:

---

More Americans support creation of a new government-run health insurance plan to compete with the private insurance market, a new Associated Press poll finds, but the level of enthusiasm depends on how the question is asked.

Tell people that letting the government sell insurance would be cheaper for them, and a majority is in favor.

Tell them the government would be making decisions about what medical care they could get, and support sinks.

---

Quote:

---

When given a three-way choice among private plans that use tax credits or subsidies to help the poor buy private insurance; a new public health insurance plan such as Medicare; or a mix of the two; 63 percent of doctors supported a mix, 27 percent said they only wanted private options, and just 10 percent said they exclusively wanted public options.

---