WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has stopped telling a story of a pregnant woman's medical tragedy after an Ohio hospital challenged its accuracy last weekend. But recent accounts of the episode have omitted key details that suggest there was more truth in the essence of Clinton's tale than her critics, and even her presidential campaign, have acknowledged.
Since early March, the New York senator has often told campaign audiences a heartbreaking story of a young Ohio woman who began having problems with her pregnancy. She said the woman was twice turned away by a local hospital because she had no health insurance and could not pay a $100 minimum charge.
Since early March, the New York senator has often told campaign audiences a heartbreaking story of a young Ohio woman who began having problems with her pregnancy. She said the woman was twice turned away by a local hospital because she had no health insurance and could not pay a $100 minimum charge.
I'm not going to bore you with the story. If you really want to read it, click the link above. Otherwise, it's worth skipping in lieu of your personal time. Suffice it to say that Hillary re-told a story that she got second-hand. Those of us in the real world call that a bullshit story. At election time, politicians like to trot-out so-called "real world" stories about people just like you and me who are being screwed-over by some establishment icon like a hospital, oil company or big business. Generally, they're harvested from hearsay and about as accurate as the rumor that generated it. When you involve a woman, an unborn child and an un-caring health care system, you have the political equivalent of gold.
It probably broke Hillary's heart to have to stop telling the story even more than it broke the hearts of the people hearing it. Truth however, being what it is, demands it. Politics, being what it is, demands telling it. It's the age-old push and pull. The winner is the side that will gain her the most votes.
It represents the extent to which people will go to get a vote or spin their cause. For the record, Hillary isn't any different than any other politician. If they believe they can drum up sympathy over a commoner who is being screwed over by corporate America, they'll sell it, and a lot of the time, we'll buy it.
However, don't forget that corporate America is the primary factor that will get them elected to begin with.
It's a win-win. Unless you include us in the equation.
Here's an idea for a fascinating real-life tale of woe. Millions of Americans are out of work, cannot pay their mortgage, don't have health insurance and are as closeasthis to living on the street. Meanwhile, if they're lucky enough to be working, their bosses are raking in the dough, giving themselves hefty pay increases and raping their companies for every dollar that isn't attached to someone's wallet.
The distance between the wage-earner and his boss is wider than ever and growing at an exponential rate. The people with the real problems are screaming at the people who don't understand why they're screaming.
The best part of the tale is that you don't need to make up a name of a victim or a protagonist. They're everywhere and we all know one.
But you'll never hear that story and try as they might, the people we elect will tell us that they'll help us, but in the end, they cannot. I've been listening to their promises for decades and it just keeps getting worse. It's a financial one-way street.
Has anybody ever torn down a parking lot to put up a tree?
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