After viewing the Countdown: Special Comment on health-care reform, I take back some of the nasty things I’ve said about Keith Olbermann, but he’s still a demagogue in a nice suit.
Olbermann’s proposal of free health clinics in the states of the holdout Senate Democrats? The image of sick constituents lining up for health care instead of angry constituents shouting “read the bill!” may cause the Senators to rethink their positions and do the right thing. (Sidenote: Rachel Maddow refered to the idea as clinics in state capitals but Olbermann refered to Butte, MT when mentioning Baucus, neither the capital, his hometown or current residence as far as I know) Who said “Canadians may have to wait in line for health care, but at least they have a line to wait in?”
Olbermann’s personal accounts of recent hospital visits were particularly moving. Long story short, he has lots of money so he bought the best doctor money could buy for his father, ran into an old acquaintance selling his farm to pay medical bills, and feels guilty about it. I had someone very close to me spend a lot of time in a hospital but the insurance always covered everything, leaving me free to focus on things such as impending mortality. I may have been too young and dumb to have considered the cost anyway. Either way, at present I cannot imagine the ordeal involving financial struggle as well.
I spent most of the show working on another post and reading the news, did anyone actually spend the entire hour staring deeply into Keith’s eyes? If so, tell me how you felt afterward.
