The Story Of Wendell Potter

In 1994, you would have been angry with Wendell Potter. Hell, you may still be angry with him if you are familiar with him.

Being the head corporate communication figure of CIGNA, Potter played a massive role in what we all know now: Clinton halth care reform defeated and to this day, an awful, immoral and (mostly importantly for some) fiscally unstable health care system.

He thought what he was doing, and what he continued to do throughout this current decade, was the right thing to do. He was fighting the good fight in his own opinion, a perspective that led to him fighting against Michael Moore's film "Sicko" by training those to combat the filmmaker with taking points to damage any credibility he would generate from it.

That tricked worked, because it led to shills Sanjay Gupta (and Wolf Blitzer) trying to smear him in those now infamous CNN interviews a few years ago, only for Moore. (CNN for you nowadays, but must of you know that of course.)

Well compensated and certainly with great health care himself, everything was all peachy for Potter, remaining stuck on the idea of being on the side of the insurance companies and his for profit buddies.

Than a 2007 health care fair in his home state in Tennessee changed him.

It showed him not to see deceiving numbers. Instead, it told him right there and then, to see the people.

He talked about that moment with Moyers, his first interview.


Then Potter went on to do an interview with Amy Goodman, who pressed him on his role in trying to make Michael Moore look like a fool for "Sicko."


Then, after Bill and Amy interviewed him, Ed Schultz became the first person on MSNBC to interview Potter:


After Schultz, Countdown, while Keith was off, had Howard Dean interview him:


And then just last week, Rachel finally had him on her show:

After those interviews, Potter's past of facilitating the downright selfish and greedy based of of ho-hum ignorance has been replaced with a sense of trying to fight against the side he used to be on.

It is a fascinating story that only the few "in touch" news people like Moyers, Goodman, Schultz, Olbermann (via thanks to Dean), and Maddow will give a voice to. Because while they give Potter a platform to express the truth that the rational in you desires, the rest of the out of touch corporate media will continue to talk about poor messaging and fail to bring you the news because that's what they are paid to do.

(Only Carlos Watson outside of those five have given potter a voice, and this is Watson: A nice guy who is who will give a platform to both the truth tellers and the liars, and let it go unfiltered for a majority of the time, just like most of the rest).

And in essence, Potter still remains one of those "Greatest Story Never Told" figures to most of America. But hopefully here that will not be the case, with his story.