Critics of health reform are following the script

How does a "public plan option" become a "Washington takeover"? How do "cost controls" become "rationing"?

Well, remember when we told you there was a Republican script for opposing health care, and a copy had leaked out? It seems that Republicans remember well. A recent report on NPR found GOP Senators following the script. Listen to three Republican Senators:

• "I think the one thing we don't want most is a Washington takeover." Lamar Alexander, Tennessee.
• "What [most Americans] don't want is a Washington takeover of health care along the lines with what we've already seen with banks, insurance companies and the auto industry." Mitch McConnell, Kentucky.
• "A Washington takeover of health care would result in a stifling of innovation." Roger Wicker, Mississippi.

New York Times economic columnist Dave Leonhardt takes on the other favorite Republican word to attack health reform and defend the status quo: Rationing.

"The r-word has become a rejoinder to anyone who says that this country must reduce its runaway health spending, especially anyone who favors cutting back on treatments that don't have scientific evidence behind them," Leonhardt wrote.

But, he continued, the talk of rationing "isn't really a substantive argument. It's a clever set of buzzwords that tries to hide the fact that societies must make choices."

Care is already rationed in America now - according to whether your employer offers coverage, according to what you can afford, according to what your insurance company decides to cover.

"All the noise about rationing is not really a courageous stand against less medical care," Leonhardt concludes.