Two Your Health

The LA Times just published a piece on Obama and health care. Let me reprint every quote, in order, that they use from any authority:

I think it is very hard because [Democrats] don't have the message machine the Republicans do. The Democrats still believe in Enlightenment reason: If you just tell people the truth, they will come to the right conclusion. [This quote is so awesome I should just quit while I'm ahead.]

The way politics works sometimes is that people who want to keep things the way they are will try to scare the heck out of folks, and they'll create boogeymen out there that just aren't real. We can't let them do it again.

Our challenge each and every day is to go out and make sure people understand that doing nothing costs the American people more in healthcare spending. . . . It makes our budgetary problems worse, it causes people to lose their coverage and lose their doctor. And we can change all that.

If you look back at the campaign, the credibility of the Republicans became a storyline in itself. And when people question your credibility, they'll also question the substance of what you have to offer.

It reflects the intensity of emotion that this brings out in people. It argues, in my opinion, against this rush to judgment.

This arose out of a provision in one of the House bills that allowed Medicare to reimburse people for consultations about end-of-life care, setting up living wills. Somehow it's gotten spun into this idea of death panels. Um, I am not in favor of that. I want to clear the air."

insurance companies are rationing care. They are basically telling you what's covered and what's not.

There is this rage out there. The right wing has tapped into it. I don't think it's necessarily just about healthcare. [The protesters] see they can get on TV by screaming.

Let me note this is not an editorial.

Actually, the non-quotation part of the article is worse. For example:

Based on the persistence of nagging questions, and of at least one outright falsehood, Democrats have a tough road ahead.

Obama took an easy shot Tuesday at correcting the record, addressing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's claim that Obama's plan would create "death panels" to decide who gets to live and die. There are no such measures in any of the bills under consideration.

I wouldn't even want to see this in an editorial.