Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Published on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann
Legislators For Sale
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
© 2009 MSNBC
Comments are closed
46 Comments so far
Show AllWhy has Olbermann finally come out and said exactly what needed to be said about our corrupt Congress?
Because he knows that GE has numbered his days and he was determined to get this message out before they dropped the ax.
Of course, nothing that he says in this clip is news to any of us on this site. However, we constantly complain that our arguments about healthcare financing never see the light of day in the mainstream news. Now they have.
There's no doubt in my mind that (1) Olbermann will soon be shown the door and (2) the rest of the coiporate media will sequester this commentary.
Give Olbermann his due. Sometimes he disappoints me but not this time.
q
I really hope this doesn't happen to KO. He will be most welcome on HBO or PBS, I'm sure. But the problem is we need people like KO and Maddow on at least basic cable, if not the prime non-pay-for-service networks (yeah, dream on). I, too, had been disappointed in Obermann lately and Maddow. They weren't talking at all about health care, and KO had spoken eloquently on this subject already months ago (I will try to find the clip and put it here). I was glad he mentioned PBS, which has been doing such an excellent job on health care and getting the information out there -- if only Americans could pry themselves from the crap on TV and tune in once in a while.
I have sometimes been amazed at what KO has been allowed to say and get away with on network TV. If he was on ABC he would have been shown the door ages ago, just for disagreeing on Obama on anything. Of course, when I read the articles the "truce" for KO and O'Reilly that's when I started to get nervous.
I just hope that if he gets canned from MSNBC he is not silent about it. Bill Maher isn't silent at all about why he was canned from ABC for being "politically incorrect" about Bush.
This will all come out one day..
just like this story here:
2/14/09:
"Profits before the poor? Drugs giant offers an answer to the toxic question facing a 'heartless' industry"
by Sarah Boseley
The Guardian
oh yea...I found so much more ..
sooner or later, it all comes around.
If you screw around with the world, and rob people blind, I hope it comes around.
like they say, "what goes around, comes around"
well, its coming around.
Yes, Olbermann really let fly. Watched it live, and was surprised and pleased.
Are they called Blue Dog Dems because they hump the proverbial corporate leg?
It's because the Repubs have them on a leash with one hand while the other has them by the balls.
Classic! We should make shirts!
That new stench coming from corporate boardrooms and congessional offices is not just their usual filthy breath; following Keith Olbermann's little chat, there's been a great spoiling of trousers. But, given their personal habits and mindsets, they may not notice.
Thanks and good luck to you too, Keith.
I watch Keith and Rachel every night. The only two news shows that I watch. Even though his comments were truthful last night. I don't think it probably did much good against the corporate machine that's taken this country over. I personally don't think health care will ever happen in this country. No one seems to care if people have no health care but working people who are forced to take up the slack for those who can't pay. It's more important to waste Trillions and a war we didn't need than to see to it American's have good health care. There are to many people in this country with the Republican mind set. Until that non-caring corporate element is weeded out of our society the system will never change.
We have to realize that our problems are not due to people with a 'Republican mind set'. This implies that Democrats are somehow better than the Republicans. Blue, or just muddy brown, Democrats are all members of the same corporate party as the Republicans. All of them, the whole Congress, are of the same corporate party. The D or R after their name means NOTHING. They are all bought and paid for by the corporations for whom they work.
I hope what Olbermann said at the end is correct. If your 'representative' doesn't vote for Single Payer Health care that the people want they may join the millions of us in line at the unemployment offices. If your 'rep' just voted last Friday for $636 BILLION dollars for the wars in just next year; you must not return that paid mercenary of the Corporations back to Congress. Health care is too expensive, but there is no limit to the funds spent to kill people? Vote them out!! And get over your mistaken idea that there is any difference between a Democrat and a Republican. They work for their paymasters---not for us.
matthew loughran
hey wantrealdemocracy for the the two corporate parties Dim or Repug you have to remember the bowl of shit rule. they are both like bowls of shit the only difference is which smells worse.
i support the green party here in texas and hope more of everyone here does in the coming years. your futures and health will depend on it. the green party is the only party that has single payer health system as a part of its national platform.
the two corporate parties don't give a shit about us but they are full shit though.
matt
Oberman has the guts to tell us like it is about the corporate influence on so many of our BOUGHT congress people. MSNBC don't buckle under GE pressure. The American people need Oberman:s voice.
"MSNBC don't buckle under GE pressure"
That's like asking my arm to resist the nerve impulses coming from my brain. Since GE owns MSNBC, I don't think management/TV anchors will or even can do that (since if they're fired, GE will then find complacent people to enforce its decisions/anchor its shows).
Finally someone on natioanl teevee comes out and tells it like it is. Good job Keith. I just wonder if the parent corporation of MSNBC isn't pleased with this as well. One of you conjectured earlier that Olbermann would be shown the door for this "startling revelation". I disagree as this fits right into GE's corporate profit model. GE is a maker of all kinds of high tech medical equipment (MRI machines, etc). Just think what 40 million new paying customers would mean to the medical equipment market. Sorry if I come off with my usual cynicism but that is the only reason I can see that KO got to say his piece. Notwithstanding, I pray every day for universal health care in this country. I have been fortunate to have been insured most of my life. I just cannot see any justice in denying care to those of us with modest or meager means. Separation of lobbiest and state! Universal single payer health care now!
Olbermann finally speaks up about the healthcare swindle going on in Congress, but he implies that Obama's "plan" is somehow subversive to corporate interests. Nothing could be further from the truth. He rightly excoriates the Blue Dog whores for Big Insurance and Pharma, but Obama is fine with these pigs. He wants the big insurers to be as much a part of the non-solution as the Clintons did in the early '90s with their own corporate-friendly "reform."
Olbermann needs to get just a bit more radical in his critique of this ongoing fraud, by implicating Obama as part of the problem, and stop pretending that we have a progressive president who is being undermined by a Congress held hostage by the corporations. The executive branch is equally hostage to these criminals, and both branches seem perfectly content with their lot. After all, the money train makes scheduled stops at all their houses.
Loved it! Keith, do you think you can do another health reform story that will list the states that utilize either state or county funds for free healthcare to its citizens compared to the states that do not have this option? I've personally utilized free or low-cost healthcare in the states of California and Illinois, but had not such luck in Missouri, even Georgia. I can only guess what's available in Florida, Arkansas, Montana...lol
What I'm not hearing in the news are the states that have similar models of universal health care for low-income and no insurance folks. I'm wondering how the GOP would spin that one. Maybe they'll call it the "sliding scale debacle"? lol
Poor Keith. He spent 2008 advocating for Obama, who took over 80 million from the Health Insurance Industry to help his election. I wonder if in Olberman's mythic world view Obama qualifies as a "legislator for sale?"
Hypocrisy is staple for the herd feeding from the same polluted trough like Keith.
I see that you are persisting in your effort to disparage all reputable progressive commentators on this site. As usual, you're wrong.
Please substantiate your claim that Obama received $80 million from the "Health Insurance Industry." I have seen the figure $18 million several times so perhaps you're just inflating it.
q
try this one:http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/good-doggie-blue-dogs-rewarded-substa
"Good doggie! Blue dogs Rewarded with Substantial Donations from Insurance, Big Pharma Lobbyists"
article by: Susie madrak/crooks and liars.com
You do know that nobody here defends the Blue Dogs in any way, right?
We cant defend the Blue Dogs Democrats. We are to busy defending the Red Dog Republicans behind closed doors. After all they are the ones that got us into this mess.
Yes, there's a LARGE difference between $80mn and $18mn, or $19mn as the article below says; but as that article also says, while other people have have reported the same, Obama received more from the "health" insurance industry than all of the other candidates combined. This does say much; even if it's not as much money as $80mn.
Yesterday, a reader correctly pointed out a CD copy of an article by Bruce Dixon at BAR.
"Top Ten Ways To Tell Your President & His Party Aren't Fighting For Health Care For Everybody",
by Bruce A. Dixon, July 29, 2009
http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/
top-ten-ways-tell-your-president-his-party-arent-fighting-health-care-everybody
EXCERPT:
1. Their plan doesn't cover the uninsured till at least 2013.
...
2. Their “public option” isn't Medicare, won't bring costs down and will only cover about 10 million people.
...
3. The president and his party have already caved in to the drug companies on reimporting Canadian drugs, on negotiating drug prices downward and on generics.
...
4. The president and his party have received more money from private insurers and the for-profit health care industry than even Republicans, with the president alone taking $19 million in the 2008 election cycle alone, more than all his Repubican, Democratic and independent rivals combined.
...
5. The president's plan, and those of Republicans and Democratic blue dogs too, will require families to purchase health insurance policies from private insurers.
...
6. The president's plan, and those of Republicans and Democratic blue dogs too, could force you to buy junk insurance.
END OF EXCERPTS
Etcetera. It's certainly better to simply read the whole of this above article.
I haven't viewed the "Legislators for sale" video yet, but assuming reader Ephraim has viewed it and is likely right about Olbermann promoting Obama's "health care" plan or proposal, why is he doing this? What makes him think it's a plan Americans should think is good for the majority of the population when it's evidently not?
speaking of "hypocracy"..try this one: "Good Doggie! Blue dogs Rewarded with substantial Donations from Insurance, Big Pharma Lobbyists" by Susie Madrak/crooks and liars.com..here you go: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/good-doggie-blue-dogs-rewarded-substa
$18 million. But you're still right, BodhiHawk. He points out that Obama's been bought, yet still pushes "the public option". Public option vs. nothing. What's single payer again?
Backing the President's plan is not exactly left-wing or radical.
KO is a step above most talking heads on cable. But he's still a propagandist. He has lines his employers won't let him cross.
Hypocrisy is only if he "knowingly" advocated for a person who would not perform as promised. Perhaps Mr. Oberman, like so many others believed "candidate" Obama's rhetoric. Me? I voted for an honest man - Ralph Nader. Yes, I knew that he didn't have a 'snowball's chance', but at least one can believe what comes out of his mouth. I suspect that Keith Oberman wants to be an honest reporter, but like so many others, he does have corporate masters....
All is not lost however, check out the "Drudge Report" about President Obama's plans for corporate heath care....
Troll
Poet
i love keith and am a fan from way back in his espn sports
casting days. however i have a serious problem with this
rant. keith neglected to report on chuck schumer carolyn
mccarthy and a few other dimocrats right here in the nyc
area.from 2006 thru next years election cycle it goes like
this.steve israel d. huntington ny 259,850
mccarthy d. mineola ny. 295,075(she's nurse by the way)
gary ackerman the congressman from the telecom industry
and israel(he doesn't believe in internet neutrality
wants the free market to determine the market place. told me so in a email he sent me after a letter i sent him on this
matter). 173,524 and just in case you think i,m picking
on dims. lunatic war hawk peter king seaford ny. r. 187,593
and our newest senator hillary clintons replacement
kirsten gillibrand since only 2008 she,s raised 295,873
( she,s an nra advocate from just outside nyc.go figure
just for those folks who think we are all ny liberals)
so keith i love you brother your very entertaining
and a real passionate guy at what you do. just report the
whole news not just the repuglicans.and keith calm down
one of these days i expect you to jump up on your
desk and start screaming " i'm mad as hell and i'm not
going to take it anymore" william holden already did
that in 1976.
Actually, that was Peter Finch who was mad as hell, etc. William Holden was his boss in the movie, Network.
Poet
About $250,000,000 a year more our military establishment to kill; ??? to save thru health care.
I have Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield. My portion of the ER bill I rec'd is approaching $1000! My advice....if you have insurance, do NOT go to the ER unless you are bleeding profusely!! Or at least, don't give them your insurance ID card.....(hope you have a fake ID you can use)....otherwise you will be FORCED to PAY FOR THE UNINSURED when you get your bill ! ! ! ! When I talked to Anthem about how outrageous the bill was, they said "PAY UP OR ELSE"!
Oh, and I was asked for payment WHILE I WAS IN THE ER BED AWAITING TREATMENT! !
As special comments go this one was longer and better than most of Olbermann's comments. That's because his facts and the logic behind them are irrefutable. We can all know who gets how much from who in campaign contributions and we also surely know that "he who pays the piper calls the tune".
I wish Keith would use this special comment as a template to go after other issues like coal regulation, food and drug safety, the "stimuluis package", and the Pentagon budget.
Most of all he needs to go after Barack Obama for promising "change you can believe in" and then delivering ideas and proposals that nobody except his highest paying financial patrons support.
Keith this was a good beginning now more follow-up is needed.
Poet
My thoughts as well. Elected pigs fail to represent the interests of the people in/on _____, ________, ______, and _______, etc. (fill in the blanks). Health care is just the latest outrage.
These congresspeople and senators are the epitome of democratic failure and the pinnacle of shills in a kleptocratic plutocracy.
How refreshing to hear from a "News Hawk" something close to the truth, with verifiable numbers, no less. Good work Keith!!! Hang tough.
Great! These news guys are starting to get it. Yes the money, but the great fear for the bald face liars, is not being reelected. They take the money and are beholden, because they believe voters do not matter and for the most part they are correct. Yet if people like Keith carry the truth to a direct confrontation on what they covet more than money, reelection, they WILL unhinge quickly from the golden door and emerge in the light.
The Greens remind me of Move-on, they have yet to raise a legit issue. It is time to "Move-out" of the Democratic Party and
let them run without our help. Most of them are like Senator Dodd who wears the AIG Uniform and could care less about the
working classes. It was Clinton, Dodd and Phil Gramm who removed the regulations on the Banking and Financial systems only to benefit themselves. Clinton did not impress me with his trip to Korea, as both he and Hillary would love to impress us
after the doublecross that they handed to the working classes
by outsourcing our industrial base to China and other third world countries. Who will tell the people??
Was Olbermann talking about the Green Party, I must have missed it. I'll double check....
Nope, nothing about Greens. Are you lost? Or, do you just randomly post what ever you're thinking where every you happen to be?
Glad as hell to hear this kind of reporting which invokes true investigative reporting and it put a quietus of sorts on the of late olbermann/o'reilly feud or whatever it was other than an extra expose of conservative corporate manipulation of information, and to actually have an msm channel disperse this to the wider audience of the people should create some pause for thought about healthcare AND the true endeavours of the people we elect to work for US, not corporate america because that is the problem, corporations.
If only there were someone who took to task to shut down the lobbying sector, totally, at all levels of government, local, state and federal, then supposedly this country can begin to get set back to right and functional for the people.
Keith Obermann's message aside, this style of reporting does not make for good journalism. These myriad shows with people virtually shouting, speaking with a furrowed brow, sensationalizing their content and attacking their subjects are reflections of how low mainstream journalism has sunk.
Continuing to grow quality indepdendent media is a solution.
PAProgressive I agree partly with what you say about Olbermann's total show, Countdown. It is filled with a lot of silly trifling trivia type factoids that are an insult to any adult with more maturity than the average hormone-soaked jr. high school student or late-night TV monologue foolery like Letterman, Leno, etc.
Except that this particular comment on this particulatr subject has been so long overdue that it needed to be said and pretty much exactly as KO said it. His information is certainly open and available to all. Those astronomcal money figures, the absurd quotes, and of course the positions of those representatives cited are all on the public record and usually ignored by the MSM.
For those who want a more tweedy and academic approach to the same set of facts try propublica.org which is a web site that engages in real original investigative journalism.
Poet
Thanks, I'll check it out.
CQ from Maine:
So GE is not so much into health care. Who knew?
We won't get any kind of improvement in government until we get real public financing of federal and state elections. And until all candidates must be vetted by a Board of Trustees--who can't be bought and/or controlled and who look for candidates who are selfless, just and smart as hell. How hard could that be? Actually we should just do away with the elections all together--what we have now is stupid, selfish people electing egomaniacs or kleptomaniacs. Maybe this isn't the "End of History and the Last Man". Maybe it is liberal democracy that has run its course. It took two hundred and fifty years but the whole thing has been divided up between the banks, the insurance companies and the defense contractors. Olbermann for Overseer! Or at least speechwriter on healthcare for Obama. Nevermind. . . .
If one's political, social, and economic system is not peroidically updated or protected by a vigilant majority to reflect the increasing demands for more equality and freedom, it will end up only a tool for those with the most power. Hence the idea of every generation needing a revolution.
Democracy, liberal, social or otherwise isn't running along its natural course to its grave because of the events of the last 30 years; captialism has run its natural course to global ruin.
Either we make healthy people and have a strong country, or we make a healthy profit and have a weak country.
Weak countries don't last.
peacekeepertwo, The Blue Dogs, and Republicans may lose their job's, But they get to keep their Corporate Bonuses. The fact the Matter is, Lawmakers make a living off of disception.
That's it......Politics is played out in this progressive technological world of ours.
Google Video Search Zeitgeist for more information about the Resource-Based Economy.
I am all for this system. Who is with me?