Quackery
QUACKERY....Ezra Klein is at a gathering of health insurance executives today and just listened to speeches by Andy Stern (union leader), Sen. Ron Wyden (liberal Democrat) and Rep. Dave Camp (reliable Michigan conservative). What happened was unexpected:
At some point, I'll sit down and write up some thoughts on each. But the remarkable thing was this: The hit of the day — in front of a crowd on insurance executives — was Stern. Then Wyden. The only reaction which verged on hostile was towards Rep. Camp.Read the whole thing. Camp marched through all the usual conservative talking points and Ezra says the suits in the audience remained.....silent. They were far more receptive to the liberal pitch than the conservative one.This is rather extraordinary, because Camp came in and gave a liberal's fantasy of a pitch-perfect speech for the insurance industry.
And I'll just add this: Camp's talking points are nearly identical to John McCain's litany of quackery. Insurance company execs may be conservative, and they may be self-interested, but perhaps even they've gotten to the point where they recognize quackery when they hear it.