VIDEO: Conservative group targets Obama's vacation

By GottaLaff

The other day I posted about a memo regarding the impending Swiftboating/John Kerry windsurfing campaign against President Obama, using his Martha's Vineyard vacation as a springboard. I truly hate to say it, but I told ya so:

Conservatives for Patient's Rights, a group founded earlier this year by former health insurance executive Rick Scott, says it will spend close to $150,000 next week to air a 30-second television spot in the Boston media market coinciding with Obama's vacation in the area.

Among the stations the group plans to air the ad on is NESN, the network that will broadcast the four-game series next week between Obama's Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox. [...]

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs brushed aside the ad at Friday's daily briefing.

"I don't think the American people begrudge the president taking some time with his family that's well earned and well deserved for a few days to see and spend time with them," said Gibbs.

Yet another reason why you should re-read this earlier post and take action.

Anti-Reform Group Internal Memo: “Rumors Of Death Of Public Option Greatly Exaggerated”

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge; via)

Rick Scott's group, CPR, has put out a memo, and it is all too reminiscent of 2004:

In a clear sign that conservatives are worried that the public option could still survive, an internal memo from a top anti-health care reform group claims that “rumors of its death” have been “greatly exaggerated,” discusses plans to run new ads targeting it, and vows to redouble efforts to foment opposition to it at town hall meetings. [...]

The memo discusses a “Martha’s Vineyard ad strategy” that’s set to kick in next week. According to a source familiar with the group’s plans, this is a reference to a planned national ad targeting the public option that will reference the President’s vacation.

Shades of the Swiftboaty anti-Kerry wind surfing campaign? Oh yes, yes indeedy:

“Rumors of the death of the public option have been greatly exaggerated,” reads the memo, which is likely to be taken by liberal groups pushing for the public option as a sign that they need to redouble their fundraising and organizing efforts.

Read the memo. It's all there in blech-ch and white.

And speaking of blech-ch! Here's a brief refresher course on Ricky, plus another reason why you should re-read this earlier post and take action:

CPR chief Rick Scott was ousted as a hospital exec amid a 1990s fraud probe, and the memo will alarm pro-reform forces, because it shows that the anti-reform camp is beginning to sense that victory is within reach on their top goal: Killing the public option.

Don't fret, don't whine, don't cry. Just get on the phone and call.

Conservatives for Patients Rights makes it easy for town hall mobs

By GottaLaff

Rick Scott--remember him?-- has been busy:

(click on images to enlarge)

Those are screen grabs I just took of his web site.

Rachel Maddow did a fantastic segment about who's pulling the strings at the town hall protests on her show last night. Paddy posted the video here.

Wackadoo, wackadoo...

Conservative group warns of 'government control' on healthcare

Booga booga. Yeah, we're going to believe a group who's head was forced to resign from a healthcare company over alleged fraud.

The latest from Conservatives for Patients Rights -- which says it's putting $1 million behind the spot -- warns that "government control" of patients choices is buried in the stimulus.

The ad is an attempt to hit changes at what was also the Clinton Administration plan's weakest point, the preference of a majority to keep choices in the hands of themselves and their doctors. But CPR remains fairly isolated from healthcare industry groups that are mostly keeping their powder dry and hoping for an acceptable deal.

Conservatives Launch $600,000 Ad Buy Against Obama's Health Plan

I was looking around for something interesting, and just heard this ad on my teevee. It's a cheesy ad on a cheesy website set up by a con man. Bravo Conservatives!!

Is Congress moving too quickly to stick major healthcare changes in a budget bill on the fast track for approval? Foes think so, and one, Conservatives for Patients' Rights Action Fund, tells us it is willing to spend $600,000 on ads to stop quick action. The group's angle: Compare the speed at which the bank bailout bill was passed with the pace of the healthcare plan.

The fund argues that the bailout moved so fast that nobody caught the AIG bonuses. "After the embarrassment of the AIG bonus scandal, these same people are now talking about ramming a $634 billion healthcare plan through Congress, and we still don't have any details," says Rick Scott, the fund's founder. The ads will run on CNN and Fox.

Matt has more background here.