Swiftboating Healthcare Solutions

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Richard Scott, "a multimillionaire investor and controversial former hospital chief executive, has become an unlikely and prominent leader of the opposition to health-care reform," reports the Washington Post. But the public relations firm promoting Scott and his front group is a usual suspect. CRC Public Relations -- the conservative PR firm previously known as Creative Response Concepts -- is the firm "that masterminded the 'Swift boat' attacks against 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry." The firm is working with Scott and his group, Conservatives for Patients' Rights. "While disorganized Republicans and major health-care companies wait for President Obama and Democratic leaders to reveal the details of their plan before criticizing it, Scott is using $5 million of his own money and up to $15 million more from supporters to try to build resistance to any government-run program." The campaign includes television ads featuring "horror stories" of Canadian and British residents who "allegedly suffered long waits for surgeries, couldn't get the drugs they needed, or had to come to the United States for treatment" -- the same scare tactics industry groups used to respond to the 2007 Michael Moore movie "Sicko."