As my feature on Dick Gephardt was going to press, I got an e-mail from a source directing me towards this MSNBC appearance by the former Congressman. At the time, Sam Stein at the Huffington Post wrote up a good summary, with the main take away being Gephardt's calling the public option "not essential".
Yet, what struck me most in watching the clip was not what Gephardt said, but what Dylan Ratigan didn't: that Gephardt's opinion on healthcare reform cannot be presented without some serious caveats about his lobbying work. Ratigan does some good work from time to time (see, for example, this from just a day or two ago), and I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt here and say this was some oversight in vetting guests. However, there's a great story (like a Pulitzer winning one, say) on how cable news does such a terrible job disclosing the true interests of its guests and "experts".
I also really like Gephardt's line on being "more confident now than I've ever been" that healthcare reform will pass this year. As I mention in my article, it was only back in April that Gephardt was telling Democrats to throw in the towel and go for incremental reform.
Anyway, if you've read my piece, this clip does a pretty good job proving my point about the way "expert" status can be manipulated. Fact is, many lobbying firms eagerly advertise their principals as being able to act as experts for the media on issues relevant to their clients, making anything they publicly say or write an extension of their job promoting the narrow interests of their wealthy clients.
So, if you see a lobbyist on TV, he's there for a reason:
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Update 1: Forgot to add earlier that Gephardt also lobbies on behalf of GE/NBC Universal. From Roll Call:
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