Of all the people in the media, once again, the best rebuttal to the numerous GOP talking points on health care has come from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Last night, Lewis Black was on in his "Back in Black" segment to discuss health care. He laid out just about every single main right-wing talking point against real health care reform, and showed their utter stupidity and nonsense one by one. This is a must-see video, and should be used as a primer when talking with conservatives against health care reform.
Now, before someone says Black didn't offer substantive facts in his rebuttals, sometimes folks, when you're dealing with truly stupid talking points, the best response isn't one filled with facts and figures, but rather snarky dismissiveness. Showing McConnell's anecdote doesn't even qualify as an urban legend is brilliant IMO.
Update: Transcript! (h/t Cedwyn)
I've always had a great health care plan; I plan to someday care about my health. But I was all ready to support president Obama's health care reform until I saw these incredibly convincing arguments against it.
[House GOoP video]: 1 in 5 people have to die because they went to socialized medicine.
I've got bad news for you: 5 out of 5 people are going to die anyway. Now, I know that's supposed to scare me, but all I heard was socialized medicine means less traffic. Now, back when Clinton tried to reform healthcare, I learned to reject it from commercials.
[Harry and Louise Ad]
Who needs health care reform when you're so in love that you finish your partner's [gazes at Jon]
Stewart: What?
Black: Sentences! The word was sentences, dammit! It's like you don't even know me anymore! That's it...I'm staying at my sister's tonight!
The problem is a personal one for Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell
[McWeasel video]: I had a friend in Florida who had a friend in Canada that died because the government decided he was too old for a certain kind of procedure.
Your anti-health care anecdote is a friend of a friend? That's not even enough proof for an urban legend. I have a friend of friend who brought home a dog back from Mexico. Then he shaved it. It turns out, someone had stolen his kidney and replaced it with a polaroid of my toothbrush up Richard Gere's ass. Go figure! If you can't give me any evidence, then at least do the honorable thing and confuse me.
[1994 stylee flowchart video]
I'm so glad I don't have insurance, because that road map seems like a huge pain in the ass, which by the way, I've been suffering from for over 15 years. Should your ass bleed when you sneeze? I just admitted I have a pre-existing condition! Gosh...I'm so tired of all this health care talk and I know I'm not the only one. Noonan?
[Peggy Noonan video]: When I was a kid growing up, we never talked about health care. Why did America become obsessed with health care the past 20 years or so?
You're not fooling anyone, lady! You weren't a kid 20 years ago. When you were growing up, people didn't talk about health care because they thought that they got sick from witches! But you're right; when I was growing up, we didn't have ads about health care. We had ads like this.
[dancing cigarette video]
That was my Spongebob. And he could have taught me to dance or smoke. Believe it or not, I chose dance.