Tea Party audience applauds Paul’s ‘let them die’ debate comment
By ANTHONY PICCIANO
Tony’s Thoughts
Last night CNN and the Tea Party hosted another debate among the Republican presidential hopefuls. This debate was a bit more spirited than last week’s. Most of the candidates were gunning for the front-runner, Rick Perry. Mitt Romney continued to push Perry on social security. Michelle Bachman challenged Mr. Perry for a program he advocated in Texas requiring girls entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus, which causes a sexually transmitted disease that is linked to cervical cancer. She went so far as to say that Perry was catering to Merck, the pharmaceutical company that provided the vaccine and a donor to his past campaigns. Huntsman and Paul attacked Perry’s Texas record on government spending, taxes and jobs. And Santorum on his immigration position.
One disturbing moment was the way the crowd made up entirely of Tea Party members applauded letting a man in coma die because he did not have insurance to pay for his medical care. The exchange as reported in the Huffington Post was as follows:
“What do you tell a guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn’t have health insurance? Who pays for his coverage? “Are you saying society should just let him die?” Wolf Blitzer asked.
“Yeah!” several members of the crowd yelled out.
Ron Paul interjected to offer an explanation for how this was, more-or-less, the root choice of a free society. He added that communities and non-government institutions can fill the void that the public sector is currently playing.
‘We never turned anybody away from the hospital,’ he said of his volunteer work for churches and his career as a doctor. ‘We have given up on this whole concept that we might take care of ourselves, assume responsibility for ourselves … that’s the reason the cost is so high.’
The answer may have struck a truly libertarian tone but it was clearly overshadowed by the members of the crowd who enthusiastically cheered the prospect of letting a man die rather than picking up the tab for his coverage.”
Education was only mentioned once during the debate and that was when Ron Paul said the Department of Education should be abolished.
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Another example of “American exceptionalism” brought to you by the Tea Party!
Former Rep. Alan Grayson was correct when he said the Republican plan for Healthcare reform was “‘Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.’”
We’re so divided, we’re both devil and angel. We never know from day to day which we will be. One day we build the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the next, Auschwitz.
We’re so divided, we’re both devil and angel. We never know from day to day which we will be. One day we build the Cathedral or Notre Dame, the next, Auschwitz. Robert McKee
I do so wish people bothered to go back and listen to the context of things before jumping on bandwagons. So here’s the reality check transcript. (WB= Wolf Blitzer of CNN; RP: Ron Paul)
WB: Let me ask you this hypothetical question: A healthy 30-year-old young man has a good job, makes a good living, but decides “you know what? I’m not going to spend 200, 300 dollars a month for health insurance ‘cuz I’m healthy, I don’t need it”. But something terrible happens and all of the sudden he needs it. Who’s gonna pay for it if he goes into a coma, for example. Who pays for that?
RP: In a society that you accept welfarism and socialism he expects the government to take care of (it).
WB: What do you want?
RP: What he should do is do whatever he wants to do and assume responsibility for himself. My advise to him would have a major medical policy but not be forced…
WB: (interrupting) He doesn’t have it and he needs intensive care for six months. Who pays?
RP: That’s what freedom is all about. Taking your own risks.
[CHEERING FROM AUDIENCE] This whole idea that you have to prepare and take care of everybody…
WB: But congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die? [note: audience was still clapping from the prior statement].
Here is where it gets interesting. Within a very large audience, one hears maybe two or three voices cheering “yeah!” Not the whole crowd. Unfortunately for Huffington and lazy reporters who can’t be bothered to research out the full debate (which is on Youtube). Instead, what we see written about the incident is:
“GOP Tea Party Debate: Audience Cheers, Says Society Should Let Uninsured Patient Die”.
Not exactly honest reporting.
But in case you’re someone inclined to call it “splitting hairs”. How about a direct take from the Huffington Post article:
“Yeah!” several members of the crowd yelled out.
Paul clarified his own views on this question. But the “unbiased” Huffington Post article went on to state:
“The answer may have struck a truly libertarian tone, but it was clearly overshadowed by the members of the crowd who enthusiastically cheered the prospect of letting a man die rather than picking up the tab for his coverage”.
Here’s the problem: the audience was not 100% Teaparty. There’s an assumption that the people yelling “yeah” were yelling in favor of letting a man die.
However, this cheer came right after the question wherein Blitzer is “questioning” if Paul thinks society should let the man die. These could easily be people agreeing with Blitzers’ summation of Pauls’ response.
I bring this all up because I am beginning to grow weary of the amateurish coverage of events. I am not a trained reporter. I never went to journalism school. But I did have to write papers as part of my education and many of them involved doing research. I realize reporters have deadlines. But how hard is it to listen to an in-context replay?
Suppose, though, that these were evil, wicked, dastardly Teaparty people who were cheering at the prospect of letting people die. Two voices were all that can be heard. Most of what you heard was grumbling, perhaps even that Blitzer would even ask a physician, such as Ron Paul, M.D., such a ridiculous and leading question.
These reports (including the one published here) then ignore Dr. Paul’s response to Blitzer, who should be old enough to remember, as does Dr. Paul, a time when churches handled medical charity.
I can remember, back when I was a child in the 1960′s, my parents paying the doctor with cash, what they could afford, and the doctors office setting up a payment schedule. This was before the day of ambulance chasing attorneys and frivolous lawsuits which have forced doctors and nurses take out expensive malpractice insurance.
In a 2007 article in Amednews, it was noted that doctors are now practicing “defensive medicine”, meaning, to avoid lawsuits, they’re over testing patients. For example, a person goes to the hospital for a broken leg. He walks out having had a lung x-ray; a urinalysis; a breathing test to make sure there’s no pulmonary issue; an EKG, and probably three or four other tests which, while not pertinent to his leg, are necessary in case “something happens” while his leg is being set.
The article points out:
“Doctors, afraid of being sued, practice defensive medicine. That means they order tests and treatments so that if they are dragged into a meritless lawsuit, they can point to the extra workups and say they did everything possible. The Health and Human Services Dept. estimates that costs the nation between $70 billion and $126 billion annually”.
If that doesn’t perk your pocketbook, chew on this:
“Defending a medical liability lawsuit in which the defendant prevails at trial costs more than $110,000, according to a 2005 Physician Insurers Assn. of America claims trend analysis. Even in cases where the claim was dropped or dismissed, the defense costs average more than $15,000, that analysis showed. Those costs add up, considering that 75% of medical liability claims don’t result in patients receiving any money”.
Recently I had to go into the hospital for a minor biopsy on some skin lesions which could have been cancerous. Time was when this could have been done in-office with a local anesthetic and a nurse assisting. Total bill? Probably around $125.00 for the full cost of the visit and supplies (less if I have good insurance).
I got to see the cost of the surgery done in the hospital as required by insurers: $3,543.16. My doctor doesn’t like having to inconvenience his patients by making them go through all of the hoops required by malpractice insurers and the State Medical Board. But he has no choice. He could lose his practice and his reputation as a physician if things went wrong, or I got an infection, because the surgery was done in-office.
And did I mention that my surgery only took thirty-five minutes? You do the math.
All of this, every inch of it, ultimately falls on an unwillingness of people to take some personal responsibility. Granted, some people are at a financial loss. And there’s an agreement that they should be helped. But there are far more cases, such as the one imagined by Wolf Blitzer, of people who simply don’t want to plan.
So let’s see how long it is before some buffoon comes on here and accuses me of wanting people to “die”. What I want, and what Dr. Paul wants, and what many Americans, be they members of the Tea Party or not want, is for people in America to stop thinking they’re entitled to things they have not earned. Or, as President John F. Kennedy said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.
http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2011/09/video-watch-full-cnn-tea-party-republican-debate-from-tampa-fl/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb6aAiJUp9w
Nonsense Leah…Trying to rewrite history? Why was Gov. Perry “taken aback” (direct quote) by the crowd response?
What I want, and what Dr. Paul wants, and what many Americans, be they members of the Tea Party or not want, is for people in America to stop thinking they’re entitled to things they have not earned.
Yes, and what I and so many other Americans of conscience find appalling about you, the Tea Party and Dr. Paul is your apparent conviction that decent, affordable health care is just another commodity that must be “earned.” As for the suggestion that private charities are even remotely equipped to deal with this problem, I would suggest this is reflective of a person who has either completely lost touch with reality or has attained a level of doctrinaire cynicism to which most mere mortals can never aspire. Either way, casting cruel indifference to human suffering as a form of “freedom” is utterly despicable.
Try going to the links I provided Alan. Before you say nonsense and make false accusations.
Perry’s response was to the TWO men who yelled out “YEAH”. To what they were yelling and whom they were, Perry cannot say any more than you can.
Alan, you cannot dismiss the above commentary with a brush of your hand. Try researching and listening to the video without preconceived bias. Or is that too much to ask for?
And alan? I am not a tea party member. I am independent and conservative but with all of this nonsense I may just join a tea party group, if for no other reason that it pisses liberals off.
That in itself could be a reward.
u can start cryin now libs…us tea partiers gonna take whitehouse and the other house n 2012… your power will be gone… its gonna take years to get america back..u have took america down.. but no more
People make all kinds of mistakes that affect their health. Not having health insurance is just one of them. There are in additon more and more environmentally caused illnesses. Look at the epidemic of cancer near oil refineries, or the illness suffered by residents of New York who believed the Bush administration’s insitence that the 9/11 toxic plume was safe to breathe. And then there are the effects of living in a poor neighborhood with the well known absence of stores that sell healthy food.
Besides, having health insurance is way too expensive for a whole lot of people and by now people know that the insurers do everything they can to deny coverage..Even if you are covered, the co-pays and exclusions can bankrupt you. The majority of people who go into bankruptcy are there because of medical bills and the majority of them actually have insurance.
To get everyone covered and reduce the cost by about one third, put everyone on Medicare for All. Save the big slice of $$$ that go to the insurance companies andihave enough to improve everyone’s health. Conditions caught early cost a lot less to treat.
Anyone with a conscience knows that a death penalty for not having insurance is inhumane and immoral,. People should get the care they need even if they are a member of a group we don’t like(such as the Tea Party).