For the sake of argument, let's write off those who may not know or care to know when they're being lied to. But what about all the good, old school conservatives? Don't facts matter to them anymore? Or are they so intimidated by their more bellicose Republican brethren that they are unable or unwilling to summon up the strength and courage to speak out and demand a nobler brand of leadership?
If I were a Republican, I'd be damned disturbed by the kind of disinformation McCollum is peddling, like describing the costs of medical malpractice insurance and defensive medicine as a ??huge problem ? . Another lie. The truth is that independent estimates indicate perhaps a 1-2 percent impact on health care cost reduction, at best, resulting from what is called tort reform. Is it worth pursuing? Yes, and Democrats have never really argued with that, and so it will be part of the final health reform legislation. But to point to it as a huge problem while pretending that insurance industry abuses will somehow take care of themselves? Well, call it a shell game, call it a shill game, call it a con game - but see it for the dirty game it is, a game that the Attorney General of all people should not be playing for political gain.
When reporters asked McCollum about his own record on pursuing health care initiatives during over twenty years in Congress, he said, ''Look, you're asking me to cover many years being in Congress. I'm not going to do that this morning.'' Guess he was in a rush to take the rest of the day off.
Of course, McCollum has been more than ready to talk - pardon me, dissemble - about the health reform policy positions of his Democratic gubernatorial rival, state CFO Sink - even though she has been cagily careful not to state specific preferences for what form reform should take, noting that for now this is a national, not a state legislative debate.
Still, McCollum had this bit of reactionary rhetorical roasting to lay on his opponent recently: ??Sink is siding with the unions and their bosses ?? they know where she stands. On government-run health care, Sink is with the left wing unions. ? Paging Joe McCarthy"
Much like Crist's attempts to toss catnip at government haters, McCollum has continued pressing Sink to take a definitive position on a public option health plan. In a pair of idiotic, insulting publicity stunts this past week, he went so far as to ask the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who was visiting South Florida for a health reform forum, to do him the ??favor ? of getting Sink to state her position on the public option, to stop ??ducking ? the issue.
And what do you know; some freak wearing a life-sized duck suit shows up at a Sink press conference the next day. What a coincidence. The McCollum campaign claimed no prior knowledge of or involvement with the actions of the Duckman, who also remained tight-beaked on the matter.
Yes, maybe it's funny for a moment or so - or it would be if the stakes of this pitched battle being waged over health reform weren't so very high for so very many of us, for our families, friends, neighbors and fellow citizens.
But the stakes really are that high, and so the comportment of our supposed leaders of state government matters greatly. They are supposed to set a civil civic tone, to lead by example, rising above their personal and partisan concerns to establish a high level of honest intellectual and ideological debate - or, as has been the case with the tight-lipped but ever classy Alex Sink, they should know enough to stay the hell out of the fray until the smoke clears and we can start to figure out what it all means to Florida.
And that's the whole point. You can tell an awful lot about people, politicians and real vs. supposed leaders, by how they react to pressure, by how much empathy they show for those around them, by whether or not they're willing to stretch the limits of ethical behavior in order to achieve their own personal aspirations.
Need I say more about what has happened to the Republican Party, in Florida, as in the rest of the country?
If I were a Republican, I'd be damned disturbed by the kind of disinformation McCollum is peddling, like describing the costs of medical malpractice insurance and defensive medicine as a ??huge problem ? . Another lie. The truth is that independent estimates indicate perhaps a 1-2 percent impact on health care cost reduction, at best, resulting from what is called tort reform. Is it worth pursuing? Yes, and Democrats have never really argued with that, and so it will be part of the final health reform legislation. But to point to it as a huge problem while pretending that insurance industry abuses will somehow take care of themselves? Well, call it a shell game, call it a shill game, call it a con game - but see it for the dirty game it is, a game that the Attorney General of all people should not be playing for political gain.
When reporters asked McCollum about his own record on pursuing health care initiatives during over twenty years in Congress, he said, ''Look, you're asking me to cover many years being in Congress. I'm not going to do that this morning.'' Guess he was in a rush to take the rest of the day off.
Of course, McCollum has been more than ready to talk - pardon me, dissemble - about the health reform policy positions of his Democratic gubernatorial rival, state CFO Sink - even though she has been cagily careful not to state specific preferences for what form reform should take, noting that for now this is a national, not a state legislative debate.
Much like Crist's attempts to toss catnip at government haters, McCollum has continued pressing Sink to take a definitive position on a public option health plan. In a pair of idiotic, insulting publicity stunts this past week, he went so far as to ask the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who was visiting South Florida for a health reform forum, to do him the ??favor ? of getting Sink to state her position on the public option, to stop ??ducking ? the issue.
And what do you know; some freak wearing a life-sized duck suit shows up at a Sink press conference the next day. What a coincidence. The McCollum campaign claimed no prior knowledge of or involvement with the actions of the Duckman, who also remained tight-beaked on the matter.
Yes, maybe it's funny for a moment or so - or it would be if the stakes of this pitched battle being waged over health reform weren't so very high for so very many of us, for our families, friends, neighbors and fellow citizens.
But the stakes really are that high, and so the comportment of our supposed leaders of state government matters greatly. They are supposed to set a civil civic tone, to lead by example, rising above their personal and partisan concerns to establish a high level of honest intellectual and ideological debate - or, as has been the case with the tight-lipped but ever classy Alex Sink, they should know enough to stay the hell out of the fray until the smoke clears and we can start to figure out what it all means to Florida.
And that's the whole point. You can tell an awful lot about people, politicians and real vs. supposed leaders, by how they react to pressure, by how much empathy they show for those around them, by whether or not they're willing to stretch the limits of ethical behavior in order to achieve their own personal aspirations.
Need I say more about what has happened to the Republican Party, in Florida, as in the rest of the country?
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