I am not sure where our Congressional Representative is getting his information from, but he is clearly not living in the same reality as the rest of us when he talks about health care reform. 

Our smooth talking Representative was on the Ed [Schultz] Show July 15, when he dropped this bomb on us: “During the last year, 2008, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and President Obama all talked about health reform being a major objective of their administrations should they be elected.  So, every one of the major candidates said this is where we ought to go.” He then acknowledged that not all the candidates agreed on the specifics, but the implication here is that everyone, including John McCain, favored the health care policy making its way through Congress right now.

What Hoyer is failing to do here is to make a distinction between the need for health care reform in general and health care reform as presented in this bill! Yes, there is a consensus on both sides that the current system is broken and needs to be fixed, but those who oppose this bill have a very different vision on what is needed. So for Steny Hoyer (D-Md. 5) to say that this is what people overwhelmingly want is either a lie, or a stunning demonstration of just how out of touch he is with the people he is supposed to represent. 

Schultz then quoted a number, saying that 58% of Americans are willing to see the wealthy pay more to cover the costs of this plan, a number Hoyer takes and runs with. Amazingly, he uses that figure to say that the majority of Americans support this measure, which is again, a lie or a statement made in utter ignorance. For one thing, according to a Rasmussen poll released late last week, only 48% of voters favor taxing the wealthy to pay for the plan while 44% oppose it. As for supporting the plan itself? Rasmussen reports that 49% oppose the plan while 46% support it. Even accounting for different polling methods between different firms, this hardly indicates any sort of majority support for the plan or for taxing the wealthy to pay for it. 

This is not a popular measure and it does not enjoy overwhelming support. While everyone wants an improvement over the current mess we have, this bill is not the answer, and for our Congressional Representative to try and pass it off as some broadly backed proposal is just disingenuous. But, this is the inevitable result of being in congress for over a quarter of a century – it is impossible to stay grounded and in touch with the will of the people.