Hugh Hewitt on Health Care

I read his stuff, if only to get some perspective on the other side of the street. He writes today:

Kerry decision to have his television commercial focus on health insurance paperwork and his speeches focusing on patients' bill-of-rights seems so out-of-sync with the times in which we live as to cause you to wonder whether his own internal polling numbers are looking at(sic) are so bad as to defy common-sense strategies of keeping it close and hoping for some breaks. Zarqawi yesterday was warning of war with the infidel until the rule of Islam spread over the earth, and Kerry is talking about W's opposition to a Texas proposal on HMOs when Bush was governor. If the Washington Post/ABC news poll from earlier this week --showing the President no longer enjoying an advantage over Kerry on matters of terrorism--had been remotely accurate, wouldn't you have expected Kerry to follow up his surge with forceful rhetoric? Instead he is talking about controversies --small ones, at that-- from Bush's Texas years? Yeah, that'll excite the public.

This is a part of his larger view on the campaign, which according to him should be solely about the war on terror. This is from his latest book: (via Infinite Monkeys)

...The war in which we find ourselves is likely to continue for many election cycles. It is the single issue on which the campaign of 2004 ought to be conducted, and almost certainly the single issue on which the campaigns of 2006, 2008, and beyond ought to be conducted.

There are so many things I want to say to all of this. First off a recent Gallup Poll shows that health care is the third biggest problem facing Americans today, behind the War on Iraq and Terrorism in general. Zogby has a news alert on their site stating that "a new ‘Investor Anxiety-Confidence Index’ produced by Zogby International and PBS’ Wall $treet Week with FORTUNE reveals that the investor next door would be more likely to unload stocks if they lost their health care benefits than if there was another terrorist attack in the U.S." We head to Pennsylvania, a key battleground state for the results of another poll on Health Care issues:

Fully half of those who participated in the April poll (50%) said the rising cost of health care was a big problem for their family; about one-quarter (24%) said it was the most important problem they face. Health care (including Medicare) costs ranked below only the economy and Iraq in importance as a voting issue for registered voters in the upcoming November Presidential election.

Clearly concerns on health care are not that pressing in our society today.

Futher, by bringing up Bush's flip-flop on the issue, it creates doubts about his honesty and truthfulness, something the Republicans have been trying to do since Kerry emerged as the Democratic nominee. Demonstrating Bush's lack of support, support, then lack of support again for health care rights in America, it paints a picture of a man seemingly unconcerned about the people in general. Once you see a man in this light, you are forced to question his views on everything, including the war on Iraq and the war on terror.

I would dare say that the blurb from his book was written well before the latest WaPo/ABC poll that showed Kerry even with Bush on who is trusted to lead the fight on terrorism. When he wrote it, however, Bush held a strong lead. It is no wonder Hugh would have wanted to trumpet that aspect of the election.

Bush and Cheney say now it is the job of tgovernmentent to make America more secure. When I could not afford insurance I certainly did not feel secure. Even now that I have health care coverage, my out of pocket cost still make me think twice about visiting a doctor's office.

Certianly the war on terror is and will be a major issue in elections to come. But it seems that Hugh and co. would like to bang the war drum so loudly it drowns out the other concerns of the rest of the nation. Health care will continue to be important issue to Americans who struggle to provide it for themselves and their loved ones as well. If Hugh does not have that worry, then I am happy for him and any family he can cover. Claims that health care ads are out-of-sync with the time, however, show that Hugh Hewitt is out-of-sync with America.