THE HEALTH CARE CARNIVAL OF DESPAIR:

• First, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and the Republicans DEMANDED that the current Democrats’ health care bill be posted online for 72 hours prior to the vote.  Boehner quickly, and sheepishly, backed down when asked if the GOP would do likewise with their bill.  The problem: they had no bill.  They’d been claiming for over six months that they had their own plan…but had produced nothing.  Zip.  Bubkus.  Even conservative economists start voicing their concerns: without a GOP alternative bill…they look REALLY bad, especially going into the 2010 and 2012 elections.  On CNN, Boehner gets even more defensive…when cornered, the best he can offer is that they have “eight or nine ideas about how to make our current health care system better.“
• Then…a miracle:  the GOP announces it will be releasing its own health care reform bill.  Now, remember the stimulus debate?  Remember how the Democrats had a plan and the Republicans didn’t?  Remember how the Republicans then made themselves look even WORSE, by claiming they had a plan…and it turned out to be just a flimsy political statement with no numbers, no data, no specifics?  Well…they surely wouldn’t make that mistake again…oh wait, I guess they did.  Their “triumphant” alternative to the Democrats’ health care bill?  It doesn’t force insurance companies to insure people with pre-existing conditions (something the GOP has claimed to support), it wouldn’t provide insurance to a SINGLE one of the FORTY MILLION uninsured people in this country, and…wait for it…it costs MORE than the Democrats’ plan.  Wow…less benefit…more cost…way to show us all that you’ve really embraced the whole “fiscal conservatism and responsibility” thing.
• Now, if you’re like me, you might well ask: With the soaring price of health care, the number of uninsured, and the number of people dying because they are uninsured…why would the GOP put out a plan that fails to address ANY of these problems?  The answer: They don’t admit to the problems…or they simply don’t care.  Representative Steve King (R-IA) was asked how many people in his district were uninsured and could only mutter, “My district…The people in my district are calling for freedom.“  House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that the recent, full endorsement of the Democrats’ plan by the AARP and the AMA doesn’t mean anything to him or the other Republicans.  That’s right: The largest groups representing seniors and doctors, groups that almost always lean heavily conservative and have usually opposed health reform in the past…they back the bill, and it’s meaningless to Cantor and the GOP.  Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) showed he didn’t care AT ALL when he said earlier this week that he doesn’t see what the problem is…because “everyone can show up at the hospital.“  Jim…those emergency room visits by the uninsured are one of the number one financial drains on the system, and if you were paying ANY attention, you’d know that:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZIr6w1_AVU

THE POLITICIZATION OF…WELL…EVERYTHING:

• Have you noticed? It seems that the GOP/RNC/FOX are willing to politicize anything?  Shamelessly…and in a way that, if the Democrats did so, they would certainly be positively livid?  A few very current examples follow…
• Yesterday, something truly awful happened.  At Fort Hood, Texas, a soldier went on a shooting spree. When the dust settled, thirteen people lost their lives…thirty-one people were wounded…many more would be emotionally scarred…and conservatives, well, they saw the usual opportunity to make political hay from the tragedy.  It started with cries of “terrorism,” even from some GOP members. Then when they found out the shooter was a soldier, a Muslim soldier, their cries changed to “domestic terrorism!“  World Net Daily‘s Jerome Corsi, renowned for creating conspiracy theories out of thin air with no regard for reality, quickly claimed that the shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, had ADVISED Barack Obama.  Turns out that Hasan only attended a seminar as an audience member, that was held by a task force that advises Obama…but that’s close enough for Corsi.  Fox & Friends explored the idea of whether or not there should be “special screenings” for Muslims that serve in the military, and Gretchen Carlson floated the idea that if not for “political correctness” towards Muslims, Hasan might have been stopped.  This should sound familiar…conservatives often use “anti-political correctness” arguments to justify racial profiling and other discriminatory tactics used against “non-white, non-Christian” Americans.  Today, I already spotted conservative friends parroting this talking point on Facebook…condemning the supposed “pc mentality” that they hold truly responsible for the killings.  It was Geraldo Rivera that stepped in to point out that it was more likely “government bureaucracy” and not “political correctness.”  Comment: you know your talk show is more than a little flaky…when GERALDO RIVERA is serving as the “voice of reason.“  Interesting side note: the military also appears to have trouble keeping biker and street gang members out…not because of “pc” OR “bureaucracy“…but because they are so desperate for new recruits.
• Want to know what happens when you’re enough of a jackass to politicize rape?  Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was one of the GOP senators to vote against Senator Al Franken’s recent bill, that would force government contractors to allow their employees to report rape or harassment.  Here’s what happened when Vitter runs into a victim of rape:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6YZ1wP1978

• How do you politicize the stimulus package?  Well first…you call it “socialism” and say you’ll refuse to accept it in your state.  Then, of course, you accept it.  Then you travel amongst your constituents, taking credit for all the jobs and programs that it creates/saves.  Then…you pronounce the plan a “failure” and apply third-grade level math to the numbers to “prove” your point.  For example, the latest GOP “numbers“…subtract some of the benefits created by the stimulus from the total cost of the bill…and they claim the amount left over is the “shortfall.”  The problem with this, besides the obvious over-simplification…the cost of plan is divided over ten years, but they are only subtracting ONE year’s worth of benefits.  As one writer put it, “it’s as if the 10-year cost of George W. Bush’s big tax cuts were compared with the benefits to the economy that only accrued during the first year.“
• Swine Flu?  Ready for “politicization,” if you ask the Republicans.  Representative Joe “You Lie” Wilson (R-SC) recently attempted to blame the shortage of H1N1 vaccines on President Obama (all experts cite supply problems).  Perhaps Joe forgot: He voted against vaccine funding.  Why is he so upset now…when he obviously didn’t think it was too important back when they were voting for the funding?  Oh yeah…his wife has Swine Flu. It’s the two things you guys NEVER seem to understand, Joe:  First, it is always better to spend some money up front to PREVENT something from happening…than it is to pay a lot of money and tears AFTER it has already happened.  Second, that thing you don’t want to help “the other guy” with, because it’ll never happen to you?  Yes, it can happen to you.
• Remember the census worker who was found hanged?  The conservative officials of that county, rather than admit that the violent, anti-census rhetoric of some GOP legislators and FOX News may have claimed an actual victim…are still treating the case as if it might be a suicide.  That’s right, instead of admitting that some goofball got swept up in the anti-government incitement of Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Glenn Beck…they’re saying that this poor guy probably stripped naked, carved “FED” on his own chest, duct-taped his hands, and hanged himself in a public area.
• She was the GOP’s darling.  When Carrie PreJean lost the Miss America pageant, after answering that she did not support gay marriage, conservatives shouted “political correctness at work!“  They invited her to speak at conservative fundraisers, Republican events, and other gatherings…and she would regale them with tears and nonsensical statements about her First Amendment rights being violated (ummm…Carrie…the government never stopped you from saying ANYTHING).  But now…it’s amazing how one little SEX TAPE, and you’re just not the spokesperson they were looking for anymore.  It’s so hard to maintain the appearance of holding the high ground…well, especially with all the affairs…oh, and the hooker scandals…oh, yeah, and don’t forget the little boys, and the airport bathrooms….oh, heh, and getting caught in the cemetery with a hooker AND sex toys.
• I’ll keep this brief: Want to know how best to politicize health care reform?  Ask Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT).  He tried to put an amendment into the health care legislation, that would force insurance to treat medical treatment and “Christian Science prayer treatments“…EQUALLY.  Some have said that this would violate the “Separation of Church and State.“  Duh.

THE RECENT ELECTION…EVERYBODY WANTS TO TELL YOU WHAT IT MEANT:

• Did you even know there were elections this week?  If you did, it was because the media certainly wanted you to get into all the “drama” they generated about them.  I’ll provide the short version: Two governors races…one with a wildly unpopular Democrat who is rich, tied to Wall Street, and who failed to make good on promises of tax cuts.  The other governor race…Virginia: Enough said.  There were also two state legislative races, one in a New York district that has voted Republican for more than one hundred years, and the other race in California.  Now if you listened to conservative/liberal/moderate media…these races would tell EXACTLY how American feels about President Obama, Republicans, and Democrats.  Well…not really.  Read on.
• THE RESULTS:  The Republican candidate beat the unpopular/rich/Goldman Sachs Democrat for the New Jersey governorship.  The Republican beat the Democrat for the governorship of Virginia, for obvious reasons involving, well, Virginia.  The Democratic candidate won the California legislative seat, and the Democratic candidate won the seat in the highly conservative New York district.   Oh yeah…and Mayor Michael Bloomberg managed to buy back his office as mayor…but few people cared.  In truth, only one of these races, the New York legislative race, even involves ANYTHING worth talking about.  So what did the “liberal” media report:  headlines everywhere reported a “Republican Sweep,” and proclaimed this a sign of the “disillusionment of voters” with the president.  Stop…roll back the tape…what was that? Is the media so desperate to create sensationalism and conflict…that they would proclaim the GOP “reborn, revitalized, and ready to rumble,” based on THESE election results?  Jon Stewart of The Daily Show tackled the issue of the media’s coverage:

• As I said, the New York legislative race was the one that was at all “revealing.”  The short and sweet: GOP offers up a candidate, endorsed by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), and the Democrats do likewise (but the Democrats know they have NO change of winning the seat).  Sarah Palin, and the “wing-nut brigade,” throw their support behind an “Conservative Party” goofball who adores Glenn Beck (even calls him a “mentor”), and who doesn’t even live in the district.  Rush Limbaugh accuses the GOP candidate of committing “widespread bestiality.“  Boehner and other Republicans hedge on whether they now support THEIR candidate, or the conservative goofball.  The Republican candidate…she gets disgusted by her own party, and throws her support behind the Democratic candidate…who then wins the election.  Some say the current attempts by conservative purists to oust ANY Republican candidates who are at all moderate, or even simply reasonable…is a mistake.  At least, looking at these results…they appear to be correct.
• If there is one thing Republicans SHOULD know by now…it’s that they can’t look to RNC chairman Michael Steele for sound guidance.  After the elections, Steele first proclaimed that there are NO ideological divisions within the Republican Party (which we clearly know now to be false)…THEN, Steele calls the results of the elections evidence that the GOP is now “transcendent“…THEN Steele admits that all the intra-party fighting (which he said did exist) was “stupid” and that it was causing them to “screw” themselves.  Steele would find out what it is like to be truly screwed, when he was interviewed on Morning Joe alongside Lawrence O’Donnell…who congratulated him on leading his “party to a disastrous loss:“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcYuJX-hzQo

Hopefully we’ll be back to more regular, consistent posting next week.  Have a great weekend.

So.  What is a Republican to do?

Launch a fruitless counter-offensive, that will be hindered by the fact that, over time, Americans are becoming more knowledgeable about the subject of health care?

Launch their own campaign to pass an important bill in some other policy area of their choosing?

Join in health care talks, so at least when the bill passes they can try to claim they were involved, and not simply obstructing?

Keep quiet on policy issues, meanwhile starting their campaigns for re-election back in their home states and districts?

No. No. No. Definitely not.

They’ll do what they have found so effective in the past…they’ll try to distract.

AFGHANISTAN: After a brief hiatus, former Vice President Dick Cheney has again emerged…to question President Obama’s “war credentials” and to claim that we are “less safe,” despite all reports and studies to the contrary.  In his latest effort to both criticize and distract, Cheney accused the president of “dithering” and of hurting the troops while helping the enemy: “Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.“  Perhaps the former veep is simply unfamiliar and uncomfortable with gathering information from generals and experts, in an attempt to make good decisions based on a thorough understanding of the situation, instead of making quick decisions based only on gut feelings and prayer.  Who better to respond to Cheney’s claims than National Security Network Senior Adviser Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.): “The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters. They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it.  2.  Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.  The only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy ‘experts’ have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy. While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan. Simply put, Mr. Cheney sees history throughout extremely myopic and partisan eyes.“  Cheney’s statements also resulted in a rather entertaining exchange between MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and Joe Scarborough:

THE ECONOMY: When they’re not claiming that the stimulus has failed, while simultaneously taking credit for its successes (latest example in a growing trend here, courtesy of Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.)), Republicans are either criticizing Obama for failing to impose strict new regulations on banks and Wall Street…or they are criticizing Obama’s efforts to impose strict new regulations on banks and Wall Street.  Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has proposed an amendment to the House Financial Services Committee’s new Consumer Protection bill…that would allow federal bank regulators (who many have claimed are a bit too friendly with the Wall Street institutions) to “veto” any of the protections in the bill if they thought the protections might threaten the “safety and soundness” of the financial institutions.  Translated into normal people-speak: Hensarling thinks that risky schemes, if they provide a bank/institution’s a lot of money, should be allowed…customer protection be damned.  Hensarling said: “The safety and soundness of the system, taxpayer protection, ought to trump the ability to ban financial products. And let’s face it, I understand the chairman said that this new CFPA would not have the ability to set goals, but if you control the product mix, if you can ban products, if you can modify their terms, of what some have estimated could be as much as 10 to 15 percent of our economy, then yes, I conclude you can adversely impact the safety and soundness of these institutions.”  Again…this distraction is not likely to be successful: the American people are less likely to support a legislator saying we ought to protect banks’ ability to make profit at our expense…and more likely to support a president who is about to bail out small businesses, and to restrict the salaries and compensation of bailed-out CEO’s.

IMMIGRATION: When in doubt, the GOP loves to fall back on an old standard: xenophobia.  It’s perhaps odd that there are some within the Republican Party (hint: her name rhymes with Lishelle Mockman) claiming that the U.S. Census is some insidious attempt for President Obama to gather all of your precious personal data…and there are other Republicans, like Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT), who now want the Census to ask EVEN MORE questions.  Specifically…they want to add questions regarding citizenship and legal residency status.  Opponents claim that this would dramatically reduce participation in the Census…and that THAT is perhaps the true goal of the amendment’s proponents.  Perhaps the GOP thinks that because Obama has taken few steps to address immigration issues, that the issue is ripe for creating distraction and dissent…they are neglecting, of course, that all polls show that “immigration” is pretty low on a lot of Americans’ lists of “political priority,” and that current studies show that the recession has resulted in fewer and fewer people even trying to come into our country.  It’s also ironic…that the GOP would choose Hispanic Heritage Month, when the media is flooded with positive stories about America’s Latino community and their contributions to our country, as the right time to try to play off of some people’s bigotry towards Hispanics.

RANDOM WINGNUTTERY: Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) thought it wise to insert himself into the merry little war between the White House and FOX News.  For those who’ve not been following this story, it began with a statement from a White House advisor, insisting that FOX News contained no actual “news” and was instead serving as a media outlet for GOP talking points.  This was, of course, an unnecessary point to make, seeing as most people already know this to be true about FOX…and those who don’t, will never accept it as true because they never watch anything EXCEPT FOX.  The gauntlet having been thrown, the debate has resulted in a series of back-and-forth retorts amount to little more that “Yuh-huh!” and “Nuh-uh!“  Anyone with any political savvy or simple good sense would know not to become embroiled in such a fray….enter Senator Alexander.  From the Senate floor, Alexander cautioned the President against forming some sort of “enemies list” containing the names of political opponents, and organizations like FOX News.  Of course…there is absolutely no evidence that the President has any such list, nor that he is intending to formulate such a list…which is why many, such as Nashville journalist and blogger Jeff Woods, did not take long to criticize Alexander’s “advice” to the President.  Instead of rushing to FOX’s defense, Lamar may want to do what the rest of his party is doing…distancing themselves from the network, and other rabidly conservative outlets.  Here’s Lamar’s speech, just for laughs:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y1FU2WGDrM

It’s easy to see why these tactics will prove less effective than in times past:  America’s attention right now is squarely on health care…and the GOP is partly responsible for that. In stirring up the right to believe that the health care issue is a “struggle to save America from communism/fascism/tyranny“…in scaring seniors into believing that “the government is trying to kill you“…in telling recession-weary Americans that regulating/reforming insurance companies will spell “financial doom” for small businesses and families…the Republican Party has convinced the American people of something that Democrats also wished for our citizens to realize:  our nation’s health care system’s problems are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT.  By not listening to the American people, and not realizing that the overwhelming majority of people think health care reform is absolutely necessary and needs to happen RIGHT NOW, Republicans don’t seem to realize that we are locked into this one, particular battle until it is concluded…and little else will draw our attention away.

While we have certainly examined this trend before, it seems we must keep revisiting it in hopes that, sooner or later, everyone will understand the very simple reason behind the GOP’s downward spiral.

It’s simple:

- All since January of this year: A staffer for Tennessee State Rep. Diane Black (R-Gallatin) sends out a racially insensitive email…she doesn’t apologize, and isn’t terminated.    Representative Roy Blunt (R-MO) tells a monkey joke at a the 2009 Values Voters Summit…and then makes it clear that he’s talking about President Obama.  Kansas Republican legislator Bill Otto puts a clip on YouTube called “Redneck Rap” where he criticizes the President and then refers to opossum as the “other dark meat.“  Diann Jones, a Texas GOP official, criticized a tax on guns as “Another terrific idea from the black house and its minions.“  Audra Shay, at the time running to be head of the Young Republicans, encouraged and laughed along with racist jokes on her Facebook page and made her own joke about Obama “in a noose“…even after these comments went public, she won the position.  GOP activist Rusty DePass responds to a news story about an escaped gorilla…joking that it is “just one of Michelle’s ancestors – probably harmless,“ and the Republican Party does not apologize.  The chairman of the RNC, Michael Steele, says that he is going to lure African-Americans to the Republican Party with “fried chicken.”  When asked why he is the only senior official from Louisiana not to rebuke a judge for refusing to marry an interracial couple, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) would only respond, “I don’t think that’s the case,” then got on an elevator, declining to make further comment.  Don’t wonder very long why many of the 40.9 million black people in the United States are not identifying themselves as Republicans.

- All since January of this year: Senator Kyl (R-AZ) says that maternity shouldn’t be covered by health insurance, because he and other men “don’t need it.“  Senator Al Franken (D-MN) sponsors his first bill, which states that government contractors that attempt to force female employees not to report harassment and rape, should be penalized…and 30 Republican senators vote AGAINST it.  Republican Robert F. McDonnell, the man running to become the governor of Virginia…wrote a thesis claiming that women should not work, and should stay in the home, and that government credits for child care expenses are part of the “problem.”  The National Republican Congressional Committee said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) should be “put in her place“…and not a single female Republican legislator (or male Republican legislator, for that matter) was willing to denounce the statement.  No fewer than three high ranking Republican “leaders” are discovered to be cheating on their wives, brazenly, and are all connected to the bizarre, “weirdly-Christian,” C Street house, where it appears infidelity was not only encouraged (using the justification that as ‘men of power,’ they DESERVED to do it), but it was also allowed to occur in the building and was covered up by other members.  Don’t wonder very long why many of the 150.6 million women in the United States are not identifying themselves as Republicans.

- All since January of this year: Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Justice Sonia Sotomayor a racist during the confirmation hearings…and another Republican made the “Ricky Ricardo” reference that she’d have “some ‘splainin’ to do.“  Former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo called Sotomayor a member of the “Latino KKK.”  The RNC put out a press release for Hispanic Heritage Month that had obviously just been run through a translator program and was rife with translation, grammatical, and spelling errors…and the ad they put out featuring prominent Hispanics, didn’t include Justice Sotomayor.  Two RNC officials defended Senator Jim DeMint’s failure to “bring home” funds to South Carolina…by saying he was just acting like “a jew” with our country’s “pennies.”  Representative Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) wrote the forward for a new book which claims there is a “Muslim conspiracy” to take over our government, and Myrick and other Republicans held a press conference to ask the Sergeant Of Arms of the Congress to investigate any Muslim interns.  Republican Representatives and Senators cheered on a Tea Party gathering in Washington, D.C…despite the fact that many protesters held sign bearing anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-foreigner slogans and images.  RNC Chair Michael Steele claimed, ridiculously, that gay marriage would hurt small businesses.  Representative Steve King (R-IA) said gay marriage is socialism…and later claimed that the Hate Crimes legislation to protect homosexuals would protect other, what he called, “perversions“…and then he compared homosexuality to bestiality, necrophilia, and pedophilia.  Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is now trying to get gays to support him in the fight against health care reform…despite the fact that he has called the “gay agenda” the “greatest threat to our freedom that we face today,” and also once said, “Lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it. Think about that issue. How is it that that’s happened to us?“  Don’t wonder very long why many of the 44.3 million Hispanics…and the 5.5 million Jews…and the 8.8 million gay/bisexual/transgendered people…and the 6.5 million Muslims in the United States are not identifying themselves as Republicans.

And these incidents…are just the SOME of the RECENT ones involving politicians and other political officials.  I’m not even including the race-baiting and fearmongering from the presidential campaign, nor any of the numerous incidents involving the right-wing media.

In the end…it’s simple mathematics.  Each of us was taught in grade school that America is a “melting pot.“  The problem is…it’s not stirred very well.  There are clumps: enclaves of single-race, single-religion, single-creed people all across this country.  Within those caches of homogeneity, people often fall into the simple trap of forgetting that, while within their clique all may share very similar profiles and opinions…the rest of the nation varies considerably.  For example, when you have lived most of your life in a small town or suburb where everyone is white, goes to the same evangelical church, votes Republican, watches FOX News, and opposes homosexuality…it may be hard to imagine that there are a VAST number of American who are not white, go to some other church (or don’t attend at all), vote Democrat (or Independent, or not at all), think only fools watch FOX News, and support (or simply show tolerance towards) gays.

Those people also live in America, and millions of others representing every possible race, ethnicity, sexuality, creed, and lifestyle…and they are full citizens with full lives, equal rights, and one vote apiece.  And forgetting that they vote, not just in the polling place but with their wallets, will lead to the continued withering of the Republican Party.  It’s simple math…and simple politics…and there’s no excuse for the GOP not knowing this.