FACT CHECK: LaTourette's claim to support health care reform ISN'T B.S., Tim

Tim Russo over at BloggerInterrupted is getting the HuffPo love:

Steve, why don’t you just save us all the trouble of massaging your ego and admit you will NEVER vote for ANY health care reform bill?  Are you really that sorry of a human being, Steve, that you have to wheel into a room a bunch of 80 year old grandparents to sit and listen to you pretend you’re undecided?  Bitch, please.  Just admit it, it’ll be fine.  No one will hurt you.  And you’ll be happier, you can go in the corner with the teabaggers, wave birth certificates in the air, and not have to look at your duplicitous face in the mirror in the morning.

Meanwhile, over at Congressman LaTourette's congressional website discussing health care:

We also have far too many Americans who lack health insurance or are under-insured.  The lack of health insurance coverage is estimated to cost our country between $65 and $130 billion annually in lost productivity, emergency hospital visits and other related losses.  Those who are fortunate enough to have quality coverage oftentimes are paying enormous premiums, spending a sizable portion of their income on this coverage. 

I have introduced legislation with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur that will help increase the opportunity for people to purchase affordable, quality health insurance.

The HealthCARE Act, H.R. 956, will establish insurance pools at the state level very similar to the program used by federal workers.  Small businesses will be able to purchase coverage for their employees, and lower-income individuals will be eligible to participate.  The cost would be subsidized at the same level as the coverage federal employees and members of Congress receive. The legislation also establishes a committee to explore what methods would be most effective to expand the program to increase the number of people having health insurance coverage.  My ultimate goal would be to ensure that this type of program can cover any citizen who wants it.

I also recognize that Americans continue to pay too much for their prescription drugs.  I support legislation that will let you buy safe, FDA-approved drugs from Canada if you choose.  The U.S. safely imports food, wine, toxic chemicals and countless implantable medical devices from other countries, and we can do the same with prescription drugs.

So, clearly, LaTourette's answer to Tim's question was honest.  There are health care reform proposals that he clearly would support.

Does that mean I think he'll support the main health care insurance reform bill in the House that includes a public option?  Noooo....LaTourette clearly states that the bill in its present form does not get his support (although the video clips released so far does not demonstrate a fundamental hostility to even a public option necessarily.)

But that's not the same thing as saying he's not willing to vote for ANY health care bill, which is what Tim asked twice and LaTourette dismissed twice as untrue... albeit in a rather blue manner.

If we're going to call out the right for their gross misrepresentations on health care, we should be willing to do the same thing for our own.

But then again, Tim's error isn't even in the same league as saying that Obama wants to steal your money out of your bank account to pay for health care reform, kill your grandmother, and force you to meet with government agents every five years to discuss your childrearing.  Those are far more egregious and deliberate errors.

And there's another practical difference, we're willing to call our own out on this.  When LaTourette uses the excuse that he doesn't call out against the rhetorical excesses of Glenn Beck, Limbaugh, etc. because they're entertainers, he's dodging the reality that their followers don't think they're merely entertainers.  He also forgets that despite our own amusement at how such a flawed political figure could so quickly rise to be on a Presidential ticket, Sarah Palin is not an "entertainer," and she's been repeating the same lies.  A real leader doesn't sit silent, applaud the mayhem (on tape), deny he applauded the mayhem (on tape), and then says he doesn't feel the need to speak out against the disinformation from "entertainers."

Nobody is entertained by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric... they're only incited.