Republican Jake Eaton is organizing a protest against the "government takeover" of healthcare for Obama's town hall in Bozeman Aug. 14.
I believe republicans do want health care reform. They know the costs of Medicare/Medicaid are out of control. But here's the thing, they don't want Obama to enact health care legislation because that would be a big win for the democrats, so they're rallying their "patriotic Americans" (political pawns) under the guise of a "government takeover" to stop Obama's health reform -- waterloo.
Republicans know exactly how to activate these people, which is why they haven't been speaking out against the birthers and the haters. Republicans need those people.
Republicans attach "patriotism" to anything it is they want to get done. They understand their audience. These people don't want to be educated. They don't want facts. They are what they are. Democrats have a courage problem. They need to come up with a smarter strategy.
The problem now is that health care is so highly politicized that we can't even have intelligent conversation about how to truly tackle the problem. I'm just hoping that the people who are working on reform have their heads down and aren't minding the politics of it all.
But if republicans can derail Obama's health reform, you can be sure republicans will eventually take up their own health reform. Somewhere along the line, reform needs to get done.
When President Barack Obama visits Bozeman next week, the local arm of a national group opposing health care reforms before Congress will be there as well, organizing a protest rally.
The rally and tour, complete with a bus featuring a red hand and big lettering that says “Hands off my health care,” is part of a national effort organized by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group with ties to the Republican Party.
In Montana, the effort is being coordinated by Jake Eaton, former executive director of the Montana Republican Party.
“We're organizing people against these (health care) proposals because they're bad for America,” he said Friday. “Montanans are coming out and speaking their mind and making their voices heard.”
The bus tour, formally led by an AFP project called Patients First, is blasting the proposed reforms as a “government takeover” of health care that will lead to “government bureaucrats” making decisions about people's care.
Eaton said AFP officials and some local people will be on the bus, which will stop for rallies in a dozen towns.
Obama is coming to Bozeman next Friday, and is expected to conduct a town hall-style meeting to promote health care reforms that aim to expand coverage to the millions of Americans without health insurance, reform insurance markets, reduce health care costs and gradually overhaul how health care is delivered.
The White House confirmed Friday that Obama will be visiting Bozeman, but further details of his visit haven't been released.
Patients First already had been planning a Montana bus tour to rally opposition to health care reforms, and readjusted its schedule to make a stop in Bozeman to correspond with the president's visit, Eaton said.
The four-day bus tour from Friday through next Monday, Aug. 17, has scheduled stops in Billings, Helena, Butte, Great Falls, Roundup, Lewistown, Forsyth, Dillon, Whitehall and Miles City.
Overall, the group is spending $1 million on bus tours in 13 states, said Abby Markham, a Patients First spokeswoman in Washington, D.C.
Read more at the Missoulian
