The Foundry

Those pushing big government-run health care have started a Gimmick of the Day Club.

Desperate to find support, they trot out a new variation almost daily. However they repackage their bad ideas, they feel confident that most media will hail each “new” variation as a breakthrough:

• The “trigger” is the hokiest, basically delaying implementation unless something drastic happens (like the sun rising in the east).
• The “opt-out” is as credible as expecting the Mafia to tell shopkeepers that they’re free to stop paying tribute at any time. It’s a sham.
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided product branding is the key. Just re-name government-run care as the “competitive option” or “consumer option.” Opposition will melt away and citizens will swoon in delight. But nobody should be fooled by that.
• Senators are offered a chance to vote both ways. Several could vote “no” on final passage, but “yes” to break a filibuster.

Each announcement continues the peekaboo strategy since the details remain hidden behind closed doors. We’re allowed to glimpse an ankle here, a shoulder there, as though this were striptease rather than a trillion-dollar enterprise.

Each new gimmick shows their desperation and adds to the public confusion.

What will be next? Probably some minor tweak that will be hailed as a major plot development. This isn’t progress; it’s slow-motion soap opera.

Cross-posted at The Conservatives.