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As Keith notes, the Senators who hate the idea of a public option for health insurance sure didn't have any problem voting for a public option to protect the profits of insurance companies against too many flood claims.

OLBERMANN: The Republicans who oppose health care reform and the conservative Democrats who oppose a public option have deeply principled, philosophical objections to the concept of government insurance—except when insurance companies benefit from it, as you‘ll see in our fourth story tonight.

The big arguments against the public option have been these: that the government is incapable of running an insurance plan, that the free-market provides consumers with better choices, that socialized insurance will have unfair advantages. But as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David K. Johnston recently reported, these arguments do not stop some of the big opponents of socialized insurance for voting for socialized insurance when that insurance is not for the wellbeing of people but of property and insurance companies.

After the president gave his national speech for health care reform, Louisiana Congressman Charles Boustany gave the Republican Party rebuttal targeting the public option, which Boustany calls “government-run health care.”

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When the GOP trotted out the hapless Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) to deliver the response to President Obama, the former cardiologist became just the latest Republican physician deployed to halt health care reform. As it turns out, the repentant Birther was an unfortunate choice to carry the GOP banner of tort reform, given his own history of malpractice suits. Of course, as his colleagues Tom Price, Tom Coburn and Bill Frist all show, when it comes to the politics of health care, Boustany isn't the only Republican doctor offering Americans the wrong diagnosis and bad prescriptions.

Georgia's Tom Price, a one-time orthopedic surgeon and current chairman of the Republican Study Committee, is a case in point. While the GOP tried to block the passage of Medicare in the 1960's and tried to slash its budget by 15% in the 1990's, today's Republicans pretend to be the defenders of the system Newt Gingrich famously said they hoped to see "wither on the vine." But in a July op-ed, Dr. Price reminded America's seniors why it is Republicans and not President Obama they should fear when it comes to Medicare:

Going down the path of more government will only compound the problem. While the stated goal remains noble, as a physician, I can attest that nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government's intrusion into medicine through Medicare.

Then there's Oklahoma Senator and unexpected Obama confidante Tom Coburn. As a Senate candidate in 2004, Dr. Coburn famously warned that "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom." Upon his arrival in the Senate, the former obstetrician was elevated to the Judiciary Committee despite having advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions. More recently, Coburn the C Street marriage counselor to John Ensign and Mark Sanford turned Deather:

In an interview with KOTV, Coburn said that he disagreed with Obama's dismissal of fears that reform will "pull the plug on grandma."

Coburn said that he'd offered three amendments seeking an "absolute prohibition" on rationing care based on effectiveness research.

"Why would you not want an absolute prohibition? Because you ultimately plan to ration care," Coburn said. "Their plan is to control costs by limiting options."

Last but certainly not least is former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

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(John Amato: Wow, this might even top Bobby Jindal for lunacy.

His plan for reinvigorating the economy of his district is known as the Prescription for Prosperity. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reports he attempted to purchase a "Lordship Title" from British scam artists.)

I think "Doctor" Boustany (as he prefers to be called) is an interesting choice for the GOP rebuttal. After all, not only does he seem to enjoy seeking legal redress for some colorful problems, he's also been the defendant in at least eight malpractice suits. From the DCCC:

Congressman Charles Boustany’s more colorful lawsuits suing con artists who told him he could become a British Lord and suing a construction company for “mental anguish” over a pool resurfacing job shouldn’t overshadow the fact that Boustany has been sued for medical malpractice by eight patients.

Boustany was found at fault by the Louisiana Medical Review Panel twice – including a two-year old child Boustany performed an unnecessary and debilitating heart operation on and a woman whose right leg was amputated as the result of complications from surgery – and patients were awarded damages totaling nearly $2 million.

Since 1992, Boustany has been sued for malpractice by eight separate patients. Boustany was found in fault by the state Medical Review Panel.

• Boustany was sued for medical malpractice for surgery performed on a child and found in fault by the state medical review board. The plaintiff received $600,000 in compensation as a result.

Melanie Malagarie sued Boustany for medical malpractice stemming from surgery performed on her young daughter, Leonette. When Leonette was an infant she underwent heart surgery for a condition called Tetrology of Falot. The surgery was described as being a “good result,” according to court documents. Shortly before Leonette turned three, Boustany recommended surgery described as a “complete repair of Tetrology of Falot.”

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Looks like Mike Stark has been having a little fun with our Congress critters:

Mike Stark has been up on the Hill all week whipping Democrats to hold fast on the public plan, and in his spare time, he decided to ask Republicans if Barack Obama was born in the United States. Not only do they not want to answer -- they run.

He asks Republicans Tom Price, Thaddeus McCotter, Jeff Fortenberry, Charles Boustany, Aaron Schock, Greg Harper, Mike Coffman and others what they think. Tim Murphy hides, looking at pens for 20 minutes to try and avoid him.

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As Think Progress noted, Jon Kyl admitted the Republicans strategy of not using the term "free market" health care and to instead use "hollow buzzwords" as prescribed by Frank Luntz. Exhibit A---Rep. Charles Boustany on Fox News the other day. Let's see how well he follow's Luntz's advice, shall we?

Wilson: You know I think we all probably can agree that health care is broken in some form and needs to be fixed, but many are the opinions about how you might go about that. The Obama administration is about to lay down a pretty radical plan for changing it. Is it a good plan or a bad plan in your estimation?

Boustany: Well first of all as a physician with nearly, over twenty years experience taking care of patients, often times the sickest patients as a heart surgeon, yes, we have a lot of things we need to do to make the health care system much more efficient to help patients and small business owners and families. I disagree with what the President is proposing.

Let me say what we believe should be done first and foremost. First I think it's very important that if you like what you have in terms of health care coverage then you should be able to keep it. And secondly, we need to put real emphasis on the doctor patient relationship because that's what's going to maintain quality and lower costs.

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