Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and Victoria Kennedy, the late senator’s wife, are expected to be named co-chairs this week of a $125 million campaign White House allies are rolling out to defend health reform amid growing signs the party is failing to get political traction on the issue.
The extraordinary campaign, which could provide an unprecedented amount of cover for a White House in a policy debate, reflects urgency among Democrats to explain, defend and depoliticize health reform now that people are beginning to feel the new law's effects.
The Health Information Center is being started by Andrew Grossman, a veteran Democratic operative who founded Wal-Mart Watch, a labor-backed group to challenge the world’s largest retailer.
Even without issuing one press release, this "Health Information Center" misleads by ripping off the name of a "National Health Information Center" which is run by the federal government.
Here is the link to the site www.health.gov/nhic/. According to the site NHIC puts health professionals and consumers who have health questions in touch with those organizations that are best able to provide answers. NHIC was established in 1979 by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), Office of Public Health and Science, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NHIC also provides key support for the healthfinder.gov Web site, your gateway to reliable consumer health information.
And what does the new Health Information Center funded by cash raised by the Democrats claim to do:
The center’s rollout is part of a Democratic Party-wide effort to bolster support for health reform as the provisions begin kicking in.
Democrats and the White House will hold more than 100 simultaneous events nationwide as President Obama plunges back into health reform, selling the historic plan all over again as its provisions kick in. More than 10,000 people will be on the phone with the president as he holds a “national tele-town hall” meeting, 22 minutes from the White House at the Holiday Park Multipurpose Senior Center in Wheaton, Md.
This is, as noted above, an effort to "depoliticize" the implementation of the new health care law.
Which is why you want to call the propaganda effort THE HEALTH INFORMATION CENTER and not the Campaign to Neutralize Healthcare As An Issue In The Midterms Center
Calling it the Health Information Center reminds me of the restaurant Eddie Murphy worked at in "Coming to America" named McDowells. Cleo McDowell who runs the restaurant explains why McDonalds might have a problem with the name:
"Me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds."
(I couldn't find the clip of this scene on youtube but here's another slice www.youtube.com/watch)
McDonald's. McDowell's. National Health Information Center. Health Information Center. What's the difference, right?
Oh, and there is also a Health Information Center on the web. www.healthinfocenter.org
If you have to hide what you really are and what your real goals are, how can the NATIONAL HEALTH INFORMATION be trusted?
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38199.html#ixzz0qC8awJUU
