The Many Lies of Keith Fimian: Second by Second

As I watched this video by 11th CD Republican candidate Keith Fimian, I heard lie after lie after lie being spewed out Here's an annotated version, with the time Fimian makes the lie and what the lie is.

0:25 "But good health care and government run health care are not the same thing." Two lies here, actually. First, the current health care reform plan has a "public option" in it that people could purchase - along with private health insurance plans - on an exchange, but that is not in any way the same thing as saying that the Democrats' health reform plan is "government run health care." That's just a lie. Second, just as a factual matter, we already have tens of millions of Americans doing just fine - getting "good health care" under "government run health care" - Medicare, Tricare, etc. - in this country. So that's also a lie by Fimian.

0:36 "I support health care reform." Sorry, but the Republican "plan" is not "health care reform." In fact, it's not even a plan, it's just a bunch of right-wing blather that adds up to nothing. Another lie.

0:44: "...with an even worse government-run health care system." Lie repeated from 0:25. No further commentary.

0:53: "I oppose this government-run health care bill before the Congress before because it is too expensive, it's too bureaucratic, and it takes too many risks for our economy and for our health." Several lies here: "government-run health care" (lie); "because it is too expensive" (CBO says it will reduce the deficit substantially); "it's too bureaucratic" (in what way exactly? more than the current system where insurance company bureaucrats decide whether you get coverage or not, whether you go broke or not, whether you live or not?!?); "it takes too many risks for our economy and for our health" (actually, that's exactly backwards, as it's the status quo system that takes the risks and the reform that will mitigate the risks).

1:04 "88% of all new jobs in the United States since 1993 have been created by small business, but small business will be squeezed in this power play." Three lies here. First, according to the Small Business Administration, small businesses "have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years," not the "88%" figure Fimian talks about. Second, in no way will small business be "squeezed." Third, this isn't a "power play," it's the result of an "election" (Fimian might have heard of that concept?) in which Democrats across the board ran on this exact type of health care reform and which the majority of Americans gave them a mandate to carry out.

1:18 "Connolly and Pelosi's proposal will guarantee that small businesses will be forced to jettison their private plans and put their employees on the government-run health care plan." That's a lie; there is nothing in this legislation that "forces" small business to choose the public option. Now, obviously, if the public option offers better value for the money, many people will want to choose it - I believe this is called "competition" - and why wouldn't they? But that's totally different than saying they will be "forced" to do so. That's a lie.

2:20 Another reference to "government run health care." Another lie.

2:40 "If government run health care is so good, let's try it in one state." This is both a lie and also clueless. The lie is that it's "government run health care" (apparently, Fimian thinks if he repeats that one enough, it becomes true). The "clueless" part is that we haven't tried universal health care in a state already. It's called Massachusetts, and the governor who signed it into law was...Mitt Romey, Republican!

3:00 "If the differences between how we seek a government run health care system will run and how it really runs are like the government's response to Katrina..." Again, "government run health care system" is a blatant lie. Second, the reference to Katrina is both ridiculous, as that was an example of mismanagement by a callous, incompetent Republican administration, and offensive. What next, comparing "government run health care" (which this isn't) to communism or even the Holocaust, as was the case a few days ago when Eric Cantor stood in front of giant placards doing just that?!?

3:13 "The Congressional Budget Office estimates the House bill will cost $1 trillion and $55 billion over 10 years..." Well, kinda sorta. Actually, the CBO estimates the net cost of this bill at $894 billion through 2019. This amounts to about $89 billion a year, about $60 billion per year less than we spend to fight the "Global War on Terror," and around $400 billion per year less than we spend on the U.S. Department of Defense. Is it worth it in order to reduce the number of uninsured in this coutnry by 36 million by 2019 and to reduce the deficit? Fimian doesn't think so, most Democrats do.

3:45 Fimian whining about a 5.4% surcharge on joint filers making more than $1 million is not a lie, but it's priceless. The Republicans: the "I've got mine so screw you" party to a "t."

4:00 Fimian rambling about a supposed "severe negative impact on job creation and on economic growth." This is a combination of "lie" and idiocy." In fact, what's had a "severe negative impact on on job creation and economic growth" is the current system, which makes U.S. health costs higher than our competitors and puts us at a huge disadvantage vis-a-vis other countries. Do we get any more for this money? Not according to study after study which have shown that other industrialized countries' populations are healthier than ours - for less money. No wonder why we've been running a huge trade deficit for years now, and why China has become our "banker." Fimian would continue this and even make it worse; anything else is a lie.

4:16 "Because the money for government run health care is not available today, we must reach into our future and rob our children of their future to pay for this madness." My god, where to even begin? 1) For the gazillionth time, it's not "government run health care"; 2) Fimian just got done saying how the money is available today, by taxing people making more than $1 million a year; and 3) what's racking up debt in our country is the runaway cost of health care costs, the current status quo that Fimian wants to maintain, in other words.

4:31 "...we will ultimately have no choice but to decide which treatments which patients get." Again, teh stupid, it burns!!! The fact is, the current health insurance system means that for-profit health insurance companies already "decide which treatments which patients get." They deny people for "pre-existing conditions," they set caps on how much they'll dole out in a lifetime, etc. The Democrats' health care reform plan will address these issues. The Republicans' non-plan will keep the status quo, in which you're at the mercy of a heartless insurance company that can simply stamp "DENIED" on your reimbursement application form. That's the system what Fimian wants to keep. Anything else is a lie.

4:55 "...let's face it, it's an agenda-driven outcome driven by partisan politics of the worst kind." Actually, that's exactly backwards. In fact, Democrats have been working hard for years to reform our nation's broken health insurance system, while Republicans have been resisting that effort for a combination of rigid ideological and purely partisan political reasons. Now, the "Party of No" is doing it again. Are we going to let them get away with it?

5:19 "If we're going to reform health care, let's not just ram something through, let's think it through." More lies. The fact is, we've been working on reforming health care ("thinking it through") since Teddy Roosevelt (or certainly since Harry S. Truman). Last year, Democrats swept U.S. elections with a clear mandate to enact health reform ASAP. How is Democracy now "ramming something through?" Answer: it's not; Fimian is wrong and/or lying.