More Bad Symbolism: Biting The Hand That Heals Them

Ken AshfordBloggingLeave a Comment

I reported on some "bad symbolism" to emerge in the anti-health care rally in D.C. yesterday.  Dana Milbank reports another incident:

More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician's office — an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care — rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.

Milbank added that, by the end of the day, “medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care.”

Ironic.  A rally against government-run health care, and government-run health care comes to the aid of a guy who collapses at the rally.  That's almost like Glenn Beck praising his nurses yesterday — nurses who belong to the SEIU, which Beck often demonizes.

UPDATE — Steve Benen adds:

On a related note, I can't help but wonder how many of the lawmakers who spoke at yesterday's rally also like to stop by the Office of the Attending Physician — the elaborate, government-run health care office conveniently located between the House and Senate chambers, staffed with a team of medical professionals who are "standing by, on-call and ready to provide Congress with some of the country's best and most efficient government-run health care."

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), for example, hates government-run, taxpayer-subsidized health care, but he just loves the Office of the Attending Physician on the Hill.

I don't imagine this came up during yesterday speeches. I wonder why.