Fred Thompson insults Michael Moore then refuses to debate him on healthcare -- study finds US last in healthcare among wealthy nations

Fred Thompson cowers from debate with Michael Moore

Although Fred Thompson fears a debate with Michael Moore over US healthcare, he sees fit to insult Moore's multiple award-winning works in a recent NRO article:

"Simply calling his movies documentaries rather than works of fiction, I think, may be the biggest fiction of all. " - Fred Thompson

If anyone was ever the subject of demagoguery by wingnuts, it's Michael Moore. You see, that's a normal reaction by wingnuts ... if they don't like the truth, they try to suppress it and swiftboat the messenger. Compared with left wing blogs, have you noticed how many conservative bloggers moderate and delete comments by fellow bloggers that offer contrary opinions? (i.e. Bob Krumm, Terry Frank, Mark Rose, etc... ) They live in a world of denial and self-supporting sycophantic rhetoric. When some bursts their 'Rush Limbaugh fantasy bubble,' they shut them out and if they can't, they smear them; hence the new verb, 'swiftboat.'

Thompson has become the fantasy candidate that conservatives are desperately clinging to. His clever video response to Michael Moore won instant praise from his faithful. Moore was undoubtedly pleased with the publicity as it will help his new documentary on US healthcare: SICKO. But why would Thompson see fit to insult Moore then smuggly hide behind his desk with Cuban cigar, refusing to debate healthcare issues with Moore? Here's why - Michael Moore was right about Iraq and 2 new studies show, he's right about US healthcare: it's the most expensive in the world and the least effective among wealthy nations, and it's gotten more expensive and corrupt under the Bush Administration.

U.S. health system scorecard issued by the Commonwealth Fund Commission:

"Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms on most dimensions of performance, relative to other countries. Compared with five other nations—Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom—the U.S. health care system ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. The U.S. is the only country in the study without universal health insurance coverage, partly accounting for its poor performance on access, equity, and health outcomes."

"The US spends twice what the average industrialised country spends on healthcare but we're clearly not getting value for the money," - Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis.

The study also noted that:

• 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the US population, have no health insurance, which contributes to the country's medical woes
• The US ranked last in most areas, including access to healthcare, patient safety, timeliness of care, efficiency and equity
• Americans were also last in terms of whether they had a regular physician.
  

Statistic show that healthcare costs as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product remained stable during the Clinton years but has risen abruptly and steadily since Bush took office. The state of healthcare in this country under Bush is simply bad and not cost effective. No wonder the Bush Administration is now trying to swiftboat Moore, simply because he went to Cuba to seek healthcare for 9/11 heros neglected and lied to by the US government and healthcare providers. No wonder Thompson doesn't want to debate. Moore tells us about Fred Thompson and his relationship to the healthcare industry . . . obvious reasons why he's ducking a debate :

Moore to Thompson on debate topics --

(1) Your work as a lobbyist in light of the fact that the health care and insurance industries have maintained the current health care system through their effective control of the political establishment.

(2) The fact that you raised hundred of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the health care and insurance industries.

(3) Discuss the fact, highlighted in yet another conservative outlet The New York Sun, that you inexplicably wanted to cut funding for AIDS research.

(4) Your relationship with the Frist family and by extension HCA, one of the nation's largest for-profit hospital chains. It has been reported that former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is serving as one of your confidantes on your potential presidential campaign. The Frist family has historically controlled HCA, which paid a record $1.7 billion in civil and criminal fines, including a $631 million penalty for Medicaid fraud – in other words, ripping off the taxpayers.

Michael Moore slamdunks Fred Thompson, and the wingnuts are too oblivious to see it.