Robert Broadus & Joe The Plumber
On Neal Cavuto’s show today he had this man, Robert Broadus on as a guest. The setup for Broadus’ appearance was healthcare, specifically a question he had asked in a recent meeting with Sen. Ben Cardin.
“I decided not to get the health insurance. That’s working out for me because I’m able to save that extra money and give it to my family members and use it on myself. Senator Cardin, I want to know are you going to tell me an individual…that I have to buy health care or else you’re going to fine me $2,500 every year I don’t get it? Our founding fathers assured us we have a Bill of Rights and I want to see you uphold that,” Broadus said in an increasingly emotional voice and to scattered applause.
Cardin responded by asking Broadus what would happen if he became sick, broke a bone, had a car accident and ended up in an emergency room.
“You don’t pay. You are part of the population that shifts its costs over to a person who does pay, and they’re paying for you,” Cardin said.
Now, Sen. Cardin easily answered this idiot question, but the thing is when Cavuto brough him on he neglected to mention that Robert Broadus is a former Republican candidate for congress in Maryland’s 4th district (where I live) – Fox News identified him just as a taxpayer (as did WUSA-9). Broadus didn’t just lose the election, but came in third in the GOP primary (the eventual winner got crushed by Donna Edwards in November).
This loon has gone on to be a Tea Party enthusiast, and is now “running” as some sort of Ron Paul libertarian type. In other words, a Class A nimrod. On his endorsement page, he touts a quote from Joe Banister, a former IRS agent turned tax evader whose license as a CPA was revoked.
This is the kind of person Fox and Neal Cavuto brings on to represent “the regular citizen” in opposition to health care reform. A conservative fringer, serial candidate nutjob with some wacky views about the government and its place in our society.
Robert Broadus (and Fox News) is what is wrong with America.
Angry Taxpayer. Wow, that’s just rich.
And Fox News wonders why they never even get an Emmy nomination?
Your open minded response shows what is truly wrong with the left. You want the freedom of your own beliefs while ridiculing the beliefs of others. Robert’s point was that a government that promises you benefits at the point of a gun, is pleasant tyranny at best. “Do what we want or else” is the mantra of the brutish thug, not a representative of a free society. To assume that the government knows best is dangerous. Was that not you argument against the Iraq War?
Americans do not want government-run healthcare, they want affordable healthcare. I do not know what your professional background is, but in mine is in engineering. We do not propose solutions to problems we do not understand. I have yet to hear any coherent discourse on why the cost of health care is so high.
Instead of outlining the potential causes and providing empiracle evidence, the far-leaning-left propose arbitrary deadlines and advocate a legislative process that amounts to vote-now, read-later. It is idiocy of the highest order, only one step below those that blindly support it, and by so doing craft the rope that will soon hang them.
You rightly point out the fact that Robert Broadus has a politcal history. Nice work. I think this is important information that should have been researched and disclosed as part of true journalism. Would that you apply the same diligence in the parade of distortions that stream constantly from Obama’s propaganda machine, only to be echoed by teleprompted parrots.
The fact is the government cannot keep pace with Medicare as it is. They have neither the insight nor acumen to handle a small portion of the health care needs, and yet we are being led to believe that this failure justifies turning trillions of dollars into their hands!
NPR had a review on a great book – “Where does the money go” that details how the government spends the money it receives. If you take the time to read the statistics, look at the CBO numbers, factor in the BEA reports, it is very clear this is economic fantasy.
Thanks for pointing out the spec in our eyes, I wish you well with the plank in yours.
You want the freedom of your own beliefs while ridiculing the beliefs of others.
So you’re suggesting there’s something wrong with that. Well, I’m going to go ahead and ridicule that insane belief. Are you fucking serious?
Thanks for pointing out the spec in our eyes, I wish you well with the plank in yours.
Mm-hm. Hey, y’know what Jesus totally fucking hated? Helping the poor get health care.
Americans do not want government-run healthcare, they want affordable healthcare.
You write that based on…what, exactly? Care to share?
To assume that the government knows best is dangerous. Was that not you argument against the Iraq War?
Um, no. We feel that the government should still run the military. The arguments against the Iraq War were, amongst others:
–It’s a really fucking stupid idea
–Inspectors repeatedly did not find WMDs and repeatedly said they needed more time to find the WMDs (there weren’t any)
–Iraq was not a credible threat of any sort
–The Cheney Administration was a deceitful bunch of incompetent boobs
(Guess what? We were right. Sorry everybody who’s lives were permanently ruined. We tried to warn the dumbfucks and their ovine followers.)
“Do what we want or else” is the mantra of the brutish thug, not a representative of a free society.
What the hell are you talking about? (Please try to keep it to 25 words or less. Pretty please.)
The fact is the government cannot keep pace with Medicare as it is.
And you propose…nothing.
instead of outlining the potential causes and providing empiracle evidence, the far-leaning-left propose…
Did you provide any empirical evidence in your rant?
Holy fuck are you stupid.
“Empiracle” evidence. Snort.
TWIMC: Indeed has once again demonstrated that his blind and zealot-like thinking, has eroded what little brain power God provided him.
Tell me why anyone takes him seriously or even responds?
You want the freedom of your own beliefs while ridiculing the beliefs of others.
If I can recall, Broadus still has the “freedom” to express his beliefs. We’re just here on a regular basis to point out things that are so abjectly stupid that it makes your brain hurt. So please don’t act indignant when its pointed out that Broadus is a moron. Thanks for stopping by.
Bwhahahah! “I don’t want to pay taxes, but I want my streets paved, my drinking water free of human waste, and my child to be able to at least attend public school….and oh yeah, GO MILITARY!”
He must be from Vulcan. His logic is bullet proof.
Get it straight, PD: when right-wingers criticize normal people it’s just criticism. When normal people criticize right wingers it’s censorship.
Indeed has once again demonstrated that his blind and zealot-like thinking, has eroded what little brain power God provided him.
Mm-hm. Thanks for that example-free insight.
I’m guessing that joaquin was reminded about what a jackass he was for supporting the Iraq Invasion.
Shorter joaquin: Waaaaaaa!!!! A blog commenter mercilessly mocked some dumbass wingnut for being a dumbass wingnut! And he brought up specific examples and everything! It’s not fair! Leave Brett alone!!
I have yet to hear any coherent discourse on why the cost of health care is so high.
Perhaps you should broaden your sources of information. If you haven’t heard any discourse on why the cost of health care is so high, you also may not have heard that we, as a a nation, spend twice as much per person for health care than any other industrialized country.
Jingoist claims of “greatest health care in the world, baby!!” aside, we do not get twice as much care for our double expenditure. All told, our country spends somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 to $3 trillion a year on health care. If we’re spending twice as much per person for pretty much the same care provided in other countries, that means about $1 trillion or more is wasted–if we’re using benign terminology–every year.
Why does it cost so much? It’s complicated, but here it is in my own simplified form:
1) Health care costs for individuals or families are highly uncertain. If you don’t get sick or get hurt, you’re costs are minimal. Trip over the dog, and you might be looking at a $10,000 emergency room bill.
2) To reduce uncertainty, individuals and families obtain health care insurance. Insurance spreads the risk. Policy holders pay small, predictable costs to remove the risk of large, unpredicted costs.
3) The existence of large pools of available money provide an incentive for doctors and hospitals to overprescribe services. There’s no incentive–and no facility–for policy holders to question whether these services are necessary.
4) Fee-seeking by health service providers leads to overutilization of the system. Insurers must a) collect more money from policy holders and/or b) restrict the services provided.
5) Cost of insurance coverage rises. The increase in the cost of health care insurance benefits provided by employers sucks up a large part of increases in wages for middle class workers–maybe even more than all the increase, making the cost of coverage higher for both employers and employees. The cost of insurance rises beyond the ability of individuals to pay for it. Health care for individuals and families becomes employer-dependent.
Rinse. Repeat.
Now just a couple of years back, conservatives thundered about the unfunded liability of Medicare benefits. It is not mismanagement of the Medicare system itself that creates the problem, but runaway costs within the broader healthcare industry. Medicare isn’t failing because it’s wasting money. It’s failing because costs keep rising faster than anticipated.
Now we have a proposal to actually try to do something about runaway costs! Are conservatives interested in engaging this policy discussion? Or are they interested in singing old Abba tunes?
And OW, “Robert Broadus is What’s Wrong with America”? That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?
Sure, Ego Trippin’ wasn’t very good, but blaming a rap album for all of the country’s problems is going way overboard.
What? Robert? Not Calvin?
Nevermind.
Aw heck! What happened to all that “coherent discourse” we were going to have?
Thank you Brett for shedding light on this topic. To dipshit above asking what you would do, nothing? I think that sounds pretty good considering 75% of americans are happy with their health care. Doing nothing is better than signing a bill that has not been read.
Lets not make this another stimulus nightmare and rush this in before congress has a chance to read it. Sure glad we got that one through quickly so unemployment wouldn’t go above 8%.