The President and the Speaker of the House Are Lying to Us

The President and the Speaker of the House Are Lying to Us
Janet Mefferd
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

In the high stakes game over the government takeover of Health Care, growing attention has been paid to what this legislation would mean for the cause of life. Syndicated radio host Janet Mefferd discussed the latest with Dr. James Dobson.

Janet Mefferd: I’m curious to find out, before we get into some of the details, what tends to bother you more at this point—the bills themselves, or the process that the Democrats have been putting it through?

Dr. James Dobson: Well, it’s hard to choose between those because they are both terrible, but I think I would have to go to the top of the list for what it will mean for abortion. This may be an offensive statement to some—and I hate to have to do it—but I think that our president and the Speaker of the House are lying to us about the provisions in this bill. You know, it’s got 2000-plus pages in it and people haven’t read it, they haven’t seen it. Even our representatives haven’t read it. And so the leaders of the Democratic party can tell us anything and people are being sucked in; but those who know tell us that this will result in federal money—yours and mine—being allocated for the support of abortion—and I can’t live with that.

Mefferd: I can’t live with that either and I was really amazed to see what Bart Stupak said over the weekend about what some of the Democratic leaders told him. They said that, “If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born and therefore, it will cost us millions more,” and he said “money is their hang up.” It sure doesn’t seem to be their hang up when it comes to a trillion dollar health care bill. Do you think it’s about money?

Dobson: Well, it is about money and it is anti-life, not only with regard to the unborn child but taking $500 billion out of Medicare. That means that some people are going to be opted out. I mean, imagine going in saying, “I’m having chest pains, and I had a heart attack four years ago, and I had a stroke six years ago, and I need to be treated”—what are they going to say? Somebody is going to lose in that and it’s the ones that need it the most. It’s the elderly that are not respected by this community, this anti-life community. It’s wicked. It’s wrong. And we have to oppose it right now.

Mefferd: I am really concerned about this Coalition of Blue Dogs. Bart Stupak apparently is holding firm, but this is the group that is being targeted by the Democrats to bring them over to their side and get this health care reform through. Do you fear that this coalition of pro-life Democrats will cave?

Dobson: Of course I do. History has showed that when you have one party in the majority by a large margin, and if the vote is close, those with the power usually win because they can offer all kinds of things, either under the table or legally. They can offer them help getting re-elected; they give them money for their election campaigns. There are all kinds of things that they can offer. They are under a great deal of pressure. Speaking of Pelosi, she has such enormous power in the House, she can just make life miserable for people who oppose her. I think that there is a high probability that they are going to cave, unless they are more afraid of their constituencies than they are of the Democratic leadership….

Mefferd: Nancy Pelosi had been on with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC not too long ago saying that this will not cover abortion. That is really not true.

Dobson: It’s not true at all. I heard that. I happened to be watching and I wanted to throw my shoe at the TV because she knows that the American people don’t have access to this information so she can tell them anything she wants—but she is lying. I am reading you something right now that says that the legislation that President Obama is pushing provides federal subsidies for health plans that cover abortions, authorizes plans that cover elective abortions and funds community health care centers to the tune of $11 billion taxpayer dollars, without any restriction. Planned Parenthood can get access to that money. I’m telling you that they will be like pigs at a trough, just grunting and squealing and eating up American taxpayer money.

Mefferd: That’s right and whenever they talk about this whole thing being deficit neutral and it’s not going to be so expensive, nobody really believes that. We know what has happened with Social Security and Medicare. I can’t imagine anybody with a brain would look at this and believe them.

Dobson: There is not an example of it that they can point to. Unfortunately, once a piece of legislation like this passes that creates a new entitlement, you can never back it out, at least it hasn’t been done in the past and it won’t be this time either. It’s all hanging in the balance, and I think they are going to destroy the economy and limit the resources available to future generations. I am also extremely concerned about the fact that they are going to add millions of people to the federal insurance programs without increasing the number of physicians that are going to provide that service. There is inevitably going to be rationing and bureaucratic decisions about who is and who is not going to be given care. There is a lot to be concerned about here….

Mefferd: If this was such a good deal for all of us—young, old or in between—I don’t think they would be pulling the stunts they are pulling. When they are talking about this “Slaughter solution,” which would have the House deem the Senate bill passed without actually voting on it, which is unconstitutional. It just shows that this is not on its face a good idea that the American people support.

Dobson: Isn’t it amazing that they know that the American people don’t want this to happen and that’s why some commentators are calling it “cram down legislation.” The price the Democrats are willing to pay to pull off this coup is nothing I have ever seen in my lifetime. They know they are going to get massacred in the elections in November, but it doesn’t matter if that is what it takes. They have tried to force universal health care on the American people for more than 40 years, and now they have it in their grasp. Nothing is going to stop them except an outpouring of opposition from the voters, and that’s why I am glad to have this opportunity to talk to you today, because maybe we can influence 50,000 people to make phone calls.

Mefferd: I absolutely agree. We are working on that here. We have a “Say No to Obama” link on our website and we are trying to get emails to Congress because a lot of people feel powerless. You are not completely powerless. It’s really important to do everything that you can, because I think Dr. Dobson—I’m sure you are like this with your children and your grandchildren—it’s one thing to worry about your own health care, but it’s another thing to look at those precious ones in your family who are coming along in the next generations and you think, “What will their lives be like if this becomes reality?”

Dobson: And look what has already been spent in the last year. It is breathtaking what they have done. They are turning us into a socialistic nation. That is why they are so anxious to get this health care passed, because this will be a gigantic step in the direction of getting us into socialism.

Mefferd: I think you are right because they are already talking about immigration reform following this. Everything they do seems to be some huge transformation of a portion of the American economy, and I just don’t understand why those who voted for Barack Obama are not standing up more and saying, “Wait, this isn’t what we voted for.”

Dobson: Well, apparently a lot of people are, but not enough, and especially this week. Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address that this is a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” That means us. Those people in Washington work for us. We don’t work for them. They can’t make decisions that we are largely opposed to. We have got to stand up and be counted.