The Obamacare Inquisitions: A Brief, Brutish History
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is just the latest creepy keeper of the Obamacare enemies list. The White House has been keeping tabs on individual and corporate critics of the federal health care takeover for more than a year. It started with the health czar’s Internet Snitch Brigade. Remember?
Last August, the White House Office of Health Reform called on its ground troops to report on fellow citizens who talked smack about the Democratic plan. Team Obama issued an all-points bulletin on the taxpayer-funded White House website soliciting informant e-mails:
“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”
Then-health czar office spokeswoman Linda Douglass appeared in an accompanying video singling out conservative Internet powerhouse Matt Drudge. Why? Because his website featured a video compilation of Obama and other Democrats — in their own words — exposing the “public option” as a Trojan Horse for government-run health care and the elimination of private industry.
The Obama dog whistle rang out loud and clear: Report online dissidents immediately.
Calling on the White House to cease and desist, GOP Sen. John Cornyn pointed out that “these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program. … I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward e-mails critical of his policies to the White House.” The flagging operation was shut down, but a plethora of federal disclosure exemptions protect the Obama administration from revealing what was collected, who was targeted and what was done with the “fishy” database information.
In February, the White House coordinated a demonization campaign against Anthem Blue Cross in California for raising rates. Obama singled out the company in a “60 Minutes” interview, and Sebelius sent a nasty-gram demanding that Anthem “justify” its rate hikes to the federal government. A private company trying to survive in the marketplace was forced to “explain” itself to federal bureaucrats and career politicians who have never run a business (successful or otherwise) in their lives. Sebelius went even further. She called on Anthem to provide public disclosure on how the rate increases would be spent — a mandate that no other private companies must follow.
We already have a federal pay czar requiring companies to justify their pay raises and claiming authority to claw back bonuses already paid. Will the White House next demand that other businesses — not just health insurers — justify price increases deemed unreasonable, excessive or “extraordinary”?
On Capitol Hill, Democratic chief inquisitor Henry Waxman trained his sights on executives from Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon and AT&T in a brass-knuckled effort to silence companies speaking out about the cost implications and financial burdens of Obamacare. He scheduled an April 21 show trial of corporate heads who dutifully reported writedowns related to the Obamacare mandates. Obama Commerce Secretary Gary Locke joined in on the witch-hunt, pummeling the companies on the White House blog and TV airwaves for their “premature” and “irresponsible” disclosures.
After the Democrats’ own congressional staff pointed out that the companies “acted properly and in accordance with accounting standards” in submitting filings that were required by law, Waxman called off the hounds. But it was a temporary reprieve. Sebelius’ threat last week against individual market health insurers who raise rates to cope with new federal coverage mandates will be far from this desperate administration’s last.
As health costs skyrocket, doctors abandon the profession, hospitals lay off workers and private insurers shut down, the only way to quell the Obamacare backlash will be through an even more thuggish campaign to demonize, marginalize and silence nationwide dissent.
Well, it's nice of Jim Geraghty at Rich Lowry's NRO to try and tell us what a wonderful, somewhat conservative Republican Mike Castle is. Think about it, folks. In the video Jim posts, one I also posted, Castle basically claims we are now in the era of bi-partisan national health care, whether we like it, or not. And that doesn't bother NRO, they actually think it's a good thing.
It's time to admit what a dismal failure Rich Lowry is. It isn't as if it's a big secret in conservative circles. National health care? Obviously, that's no problem, according to Lowry's NRO. The truth is, NRO isn't capable of leading anything when it comes to a movement, not a conservative one, any way. I don't even want to think of the kind of movement a conservative should associate with Lowry's NRO today.
As for what they don't want you to know about Mike Castle, how's this from Redstate, for starters, with more below. Castle has forty years in, allegedly, as a public servant. How many honest people who work hard for a living every day are able to accumulate personal wealth in excess of 8 million dollars on what is little more than an honest pay check? Why isn't NRO interested in whatever corruption could lead to Castle accumulating that kind of wealth as a member of the House?
He is a forty year career politician who happens to call himself a Republican, as once did Charlie Crist, Arlen Specter and Jim Jeffords. Mr. Castle is a habitual tax raiser. He is unwaveringly pro abortion and he has earned an F- rating from The NRA. He voted for TARP, Porkulus, the auto and banking industry takeovers, Cash for Clunkers as well as Cap and Trade. Most recently, he co-sponsored the disclose act which is nothing more than an assault on the first amendment designed to muzzle his political opposition.
While on the topic of opposition; Mr. Castle has made it clear that were he elected senator, regardless of his political affiliation, he has no intention of opposing current Democrat policies. This is entirely consistent with Mike Castle’s long liberal record of growing government.
In his forty years as a “public servant” Mike Castle has managed to accumulate for himself an estimated $8 million dollar personal net worth. Now he has decided to make an issue of his conservative primary challenger’s finances.
NRO doesn't, as Buckley intoned, stand athwart history and yell stop, any more. They stand outside corporate and donor offices saying, how much? That, when they're not standing outside establishment Republican's Hill offices saying, can I please come in? Look how nice we were, endorsing John McCain! Look at how we embarrassed ourselves to help elect your pick, liberal Mike Castle in Delaware.
We're NRO. We're the conservative voice of American politics (wink wink). Okay, really, we're just Republican whores and we have absolutely no shame about it. Just keep the cash and the access coming, we'll be good little boys and girls.
As if John McCain wasn't enough and perhaps arguably excusable - now it's liberal Mike Castle, too? They're smart enough to know Castle plays the usual games with his voting, providing just enough cover to remain a Republican, while selling us out on everything that truly counts. An F rating from the NRA. He voted for the Disclose Act, Cap and Trade, S-CHIP, against the surge. He's fully in bed with the SEIU. Read it at link.
And that's who Buckley's NRO is schilling for today? What a disgrace as an allegedly conservative magazine. Bill Buckley wouldn't line his bird cage with the establishment rag Lowry has made NRO into today. While we're throwing out corrupt politicians, we might do well to throw out Lowry and some of the GOP flacks and hack writers at NRO so willing and quick to sell out conservatism today, as well.
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