Did this guy die after this speech? We are too scared to check Google News to find out.
Wonkette operative “Vic T.” explains the video:
This is a 2 minute video of Republican State Senator John Carlson, an insurance agent in Bemidji, MN. He’s speaking in favor of a bill that slashes state workers health benefits in favor of “high-deductible” plans — the very kind he sells through his agency up there in Brrrrmidji.
He explains how state workers can come out ahead if only they would, like him, avoid visits to the doctor. He even spells out how he can come out “a thousand dollars ahead” if he has a heart attack. Awesomely stupid.
It’s great when Republican state politicians explain how to rip off the state government, isn’t it? At least he wears a beautiful toupee! [YouTube]
Really, we’re too scared to check Google News, especially after we found out about this, hours after we posted the “funny video.” Gah.
{ 129 comments }
Can I pay for his "wonderful" insurance plan with buckets of fried chicken?
Yes, and coins made from tallow and lard.
This is great news for the Heart Attack Grill!
Howz about glowing fish?
Only if you are Sue Lowden
Because my health insurance policy has a high deductible, I can be a more judicious consumer of health care, instead of running to the doctor for every little myocardial infarction. That's how you control costs, pansies.
My accountant also tells me that the Dremel tool and epoxy I bought for home dentistry use can be legally expensed from my Healthcare Savings Account.
"My accountant also tells me that the Dremel tool and epoxy I bought for home dentistry use can be legally expensed from my Healthcare Savings Account."
Funny, they won't let me legally expense Tylenol anymore. The fuckers.
Yes, it's probably best to have your doctor (vet?) prescribe the Home Dentistry and Minor Household Repairs Made easy Kit, just to be on the safe side.
Trans fats for EVERYONE! Party!
Bemidji sounds kinda Muslin. coincidence?
I think it's next door to Moosylvania.
I think I finally figured out the choice of intermission music: Sen. Carlson's life expectancy is even lower than Bonnie's or Clyde's?
Sad seizure lady post is gone, but I will say: Fox News never lets the facts ruin the fun, Ken!!
Then you know where to find them.
That was sarcasm. Clearly, I failed in the delivery.
I got it!
And yeah, I was happy to have a quick replacement for sad space-alien seizure lady.
Sorry, recent events in my social circle made me sensitive to the subject.
Could this be the same guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wldp2yDV51Y
To lose some weight, maybe he should stop wearing edible ties.
Gosh, I don't want pretty anchor lady to die, even if she is breezily and uncritically reporting on a tea-fiend crusade to ensure that thousands of people with brain tumors like hers can't get treatment for them.
Wouldn't much mourn the ham-fisted ape in the video above, though.
I don't know why we even provide benefits in the first place. If state workers have a health problem they should just run a slip-and-fall scam in somebody's driveway and con them into paying for it. Sheesh, whatever happened to good old American ingenuity and can-do spirit…
Bootstraps!!
He would but he can't bend that far. So I guess the taxpayers of MN have to support him. Teat sucker.
We couldn't get that lucky to have the stupid fucker die. It is because Jeebus hates people who care for others. Jeebus only likes people that defraud, defame, and are cruel to others.
Biggest selling point……if you can survive a year of living in MN, you can get $1000 in FREE MEDICAL CARE! Kind of. Well, not really. Asshole.
Too chicken to get a checkup? Just roll it over baby.
Looks like the good Senator has suffered cronic infucktion, also.
What's the current kickback for a reversible vasectomy?
The people of Minnesota used to be progressive. They used to have one of the best school systems in the Country. They used to predictable elect progressive democrats. They used to be credible for chrissake. Now they have Bachmann, Timmeh, this chunky monkey, Coleman. . .
Hey, I grew up in Wisconsin and I'm wondering the same thing? WTF?? Did the cheeseheads finally just go ahead and EAT all the progressives? Looks like this guy might have put away one or two.
Wisconsin has always had its Birchers, its Posses Comitatii. I'm sure Minnesota's just the same: the crazies have always been, they're just louder, now, stoked by Nixon & Reagan into fits of rage.
Fiscal conservatives would like you to know that a funeral is cheaper than most medical treatments.
And Costco sells coffins.
Wal-Mart sells bullets, too. They're even cheaper than funerals.
That works too. I guess I could get in a Hefty Bag out by the curb, pull the tabs and then do the deed. Wouldn't want to cause a mess.
Curbside pickup? Sounds dangerously close to socialism.
Oh, that's terrible. Just thrown in the trash?
Our super-rich overlords could make some very very high-end soap, socks, and lampshades out of you. Don't you ever think of others?
So that's why there are so many Holocaust deniers in the ranks of conservatism. They didn't think of it as genocide, but recycling. Who would have thought "Pitchfork" Pat Buchanan was a green at heart?
Oh, Alan Grayson, I miss you already.
That's what he said, hadji.
No 'Drag-conian' measures. Whoops Freudian slip!
I feel bad for the poor unionized EMS personnel that has to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on this bag of atherosclerosis.
Thankfully, that procedure has been changed. No mouth to mouth. But, we do get to repeatedly punch him in the chest. So, allz good.
oh that would be fun. "Live! dammit live!" [punch punch punch] "Stop hitting me!" [punch punch punch] "Don't die on me you sonofabitch!" [punch punch punch]
clear, shock…clear, shock…resume compressions…if you ain't breaking ribs, you ain't doing it right….clear, shock…repeat indefinitely….haha, the lard ass has colon cancer…whoops
Heck of a job, Wookie.
This is exactly the guy I want to take out a viatical bond on.
BTW, viaticals (a/k/a "death bonds:" http://bit.ly/hVFAiJ ) will be the next big securitization frenzy, since what do the poors have left anyway but human organs and a life expectancy to bet on?
(after watching) geez, if he weren't gasping so desperately, I just bet you could hear the high-pitched wail of blood jetting through the two or three millimeters of carotid he has left.
Fuck. Hope he has an oxygen tank welded to the back of his scooter.
I don't.
He should do away with all the pretense and just straight up ask poor people to die.
No money in that. He wants them to follow his alleged lead – buy insurance. And don't use it.
Somehow reminds me of the Chris Rock line about medical research – there ain't no money in the CURE, the money is in the TREATMENT.
High deductible health plans are a heckuva deal, if you know you're not ever going to be sick. The only better deal would be no insurance at all.
Oh and also, high deductible plans don't cover meds, so you pay the first dollar right up to your limit.
Don't ask how I know….
Cracker Barrel made a metric shit-ton of money off this guy.
It does look like he just up ended the place and opened his mouth under it.
Metric? That's SOSHULIZMS. Cracker Barrel made no less than an Imperial Standard Hoghead's Bushel per Fortnight.
Stop being such a credentialist bigot. It's discrimination against the unqualified!
Certainly the teabaggers are frothing about this clown telling folks to basically defraud the government. I wonder if they are sitting around his office in their scooters, waving guns around, and screaming about "Second Amendment solutions" yet.
They're waiting for Nordic Angry Jeebus to point out the applicable clause of the Constitution.
Hey der, Get me anutter Saah-sage, will ya? So. Bob, as I was sayin, ' Bearsss all da way to da Superbowl.
Who needs preventative care when a triple bypass only costs ya two large–amirite?
Plus this guy's got a punch card from the hospital. One more surgery and his 10th angioplasty is free. You can't afford to NOT be horribly overweight and out of shape!
That $1,500 should get state workers real far now that some doctors are charging $60,000 for a 25 minute consultation.
He has all the salesmanship of an insurance salesman.
I think he's working toward that… soon will be more money when it is mandatory.
Who would actually buy medical insurance from that wheezing fuck?!
Uh, yeah, said the girl from New Orleans.
Channeling Patsy from AbFab:
Oh for God's sake just die!
Also, I love how the other legislators are just sitting there. You can just hear them thinking "Finish! For the love of God, finish!"
abort! abort! abort!!
He's right and a home defibrillator costs less than open heart surgery.
The woman in the upper-right hand corner is going to need treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. And a new pen. She crushed that one while he wheezed out his argument.
Were all these douchebags dropped on their heads when they were little?
Have you ever been to witness the horror of your state legislature? You know, those empowered citizens we hear so much about? This guy is comparatively erudite.
Yay! The march towards full out, no-holds-barred fucking of the less well off and the stupid throws up these nuggets of the get-poor-quick cheese-dicks lame ideas for sucking the scum off the bottom of the pond. If you're sleeping through these stories, you have no excuse when they tell you that you've exceeded your pursuit of happiness allotment and would you please just die, but not before you've signed up for the extra special coffin deal that will only cost your survivors a measly two first born. Jeezus. Wake the fuck up everybody.
In other words, it's better to burn out than to fade away.
Needz moar deep fried bacon drippin's on a stick.
Washed down with deep fried beer
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/hunting/2010/...
Bemidji, eh? Sounds a little Arab-y.
I only watched that video for the Serge intermission music.
As the poster of this vid, I was wondering if anyone would recognize the music clip. You've restored my faith in humanity.
Yep, you get a box full of Légion d'honneur medals for that one.
Also the greatest rock video ever made, starring Brigitte Bardot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKfBJMIANsM 1967!
Really not a proud day for the Heartland, based on today's news at dear ol' Wonkette.
I had a high-deductible low premium plan with an HSA. Works peachy keen as long as your plan to not need any medical care for any reason works out OR you have however many thousands of dollars in the bank it will take to cover every last stinking dime of your medical care out of your linty pocket until the HIGH deductible is met.
I signed up for the low premium because you see, I didn't have enough money to pay premiums (also none in savings to pay for the uncovered care, but I figured cross that bridge if I got to it). I stayed away from the doctor, but unfortunately, my daughter could not.
Oh fuck fuck fuckity fuck. Poll: Read this article and then all about Maine and their brilliant plan to eliminate child labor and wage laws. Question: Is there any hope at all for this country or should everyone just give up and leave for someplace civilized?
I'm really starting to think this country is too far gone. The stupid seems to be growing by an order of magnitude every freaking day. It's time to start the diaspora but where do we go?
O Canada…Please, Canadian Wonketeers, please?
Canada won't have us, I'm afraid.
When the US catches cold, Canada sneezes. Go to Brazil or some developing place.
The problem with lefties is they always expect other people to suddenly wise up and realize the error of their ways. That's giving the general unwashed too much credit and it's never worked that way. They've really got to be on top of this and stop waiting to be the clean up crew after conservatives clog/blow-up the shithouse. Here's a novel idea: Let's force our politicians to do what we want. It'll take time and a lot of work but the other option clearly isn't working.
Stick around for the riots, that fat fucker won't be able to run far.
This year I went from having free / $20 co-pay insurance to $120/month high deductible insurance. Essentially, it's like having no insurance at all.
"Nothin' at all… Nothin' at all…"
"Stupid Flanders!"
Unfortunately, the message gets lost due to the messenger. I guess someone in visibly better health should have delivered it. The truth is there’s a lot of validity in what the senator is saying. I wouldn’t advocate completely staying away from doctors — obviously we do need them — but I’m one who believes the whole insurance/health care dichotomy is irretrievably fraught with corruption and crushing waste.
I take very good care of myself. I bike 13 miles a day, swim and weight train and I consume a very healthful diet. In our 40s, my wife and I are in better shape than most people half our age. I’m 178 lbs at slightly less than 6ft tall. My bodyfat stays around 12%. I can’t say, like the good senator, that I can’t remember when I went to the doctor, but I can say my visits (only preventive in the last 10 years) have been sparing. I haven’t had as much as a cold in over 10 years.
As far as health insurance, eight years ago we decided to stop paying the ridiculous premiums ($716 a month) my wife and I were being shafted with, and went with a $5,000 deductible plan ($141 a month) where we basically pay out of pocket for dr.’s visits and (thankfully zero) meds. I basically wanted to make sure major medical is in place in case of emergency but that’s it. Almost $80,000 in my bank account later including interest made on the difference (our premiums are up to $188 per month now), I’m thinking we made a couple of great decisions.
Now obviously this type of decision isn’t for everyone. If one has kids, pre-existing conditions, are of certain ages, etc. other considerations must be made. But it goes without saying that the screwing we’ve been receiving from the insurance and medical industries have been insane and we need to do something to stop it.
Senator Carlson’s just not the right guy to be saying so, for many reasons.
During the last 20 seconds or so of the video he was either reading a Teleprompter hung from the ceiling of the chamber or getting his words straight from God.
Where can I get his wheezing to the oldies video?
"Don't go to the hospital, that's where sick people go to die."
Ann Coulter says heart attacks are good for you, just like radiation. Best of all would be a nuclear heart attack.
I didn't realize her degrees in History and Law covered the latest trends in medicine…
Let's see. He'll have $1000 to go toward $45,000 quadruple bypass surgery which could be prevented by catching the problem early by visiting the goddam doctor (around $95) once in a while.
Yup, classic teabagger reasoning.
That, and not being obese.
But we all know that weight management and regular doctor's visits are part of the vast liberal conspiracy undermining 'merica.
Nanny State!!!1!!1
He can just take out a home equity loan on his double wide to cover the diff.
I regret that I have but one upfist to give that comment. Brilliant!
Those fellas behind Carson do not appear too trim either. How many Minnesota Rethug State Senators can use a common bathroom scale and don't have to use the Highway Department's truck scales to keep track of their
wastelineswaistlines?They probably go down to the grain scales at the Farmers' Elevator, like one of my brothers-in-law.
Denby is going to have a field day. Jameson all around, barkeep!
High deductible plans like this are awesome because they give people financial incentives to remain sick instead of seeking treatment.
Did I say awesome? I meant awful.
Then again, the Rapture is coming, right? Why care about your health when you're getting scooped up into heaven?
thats got to be a hair piece
Seriously, like flies to shit are snot-eating morons drawn to political office.
I do not fucking get that shit.
I think Hell needs another circle.
Probably for "Place where great chief paused to complain about the mosquitos".
I think he walked straight onto the Senate floor from his five-mile daily run, and was just out of breath, because no one is that stupid. I refuse to believe my lying eyes.
I have a high-deductible plan. I get what he's saying. It isn't the worst thing in the world but you can see why insurance companies love them:
I don't really have health insurance until I've spent $3,000 of my own money. If I get in a car wreck, sure, I'll be okay since those costs will swamp the $3,000. If I have regular small medical issues (or, say prescriptions), I don't really have health insurance because everything will be out of pocket at 100% of the cost.
that there is a fine specimen of manhood for the republican party to promote.
And all of this because AARP is cutting into his profits?
Does he tithe to some faith healer instead?
This fuckhead–along with all the other Republicans in the Minnesota legislature–is riding high on a cokehead fantasy that involves disemboweling every poor person in the state and burning their entrails in a furnace in which will be incinerated all environmental regulations and all programs benefiting the teachers and the Negroes.
He saved a shitload on that 'toupe, too.
In Bernidji, early detection is when you find your bloody cancer ridden colon floating in the toilet.
Among G7, Americans have the lowest life expectancy and visit the doctor least often. SURPRISE!!!
1) Never visit doctor
2) Hope you never have a health problem.
3) Profit!!
I love how he just blithely drops in that he doesn't go to the doctor. Yeah, because that's exactly what we need, a nearly 60-year-old man advisingother men of that age that they could probably do without regular check-ups.
What a jackass.
Who else was too distracted by the hair-helmet wig to follow his reasoning?
Honestly, even better than telling people to attempt to rip off the state government is simply the fact that he is literally legislating his own financial interests and cold making shit up to pretend that it's good policy.
I mean, it's sorta old hat now, but it's worth remembering that before Watergate, the Teapot Dome scandal was the biggest and most sensational political scandal in American history. For the past decade or so? It's been an average Tuesday.
Oh Joe, such a Teapotty mouth so early in the morning!
Back on topic: Everything you just said.
Also too: your recent mumblings about "uncertainty." Word.
CHOCOLATE RAIN
What the fuck is that nasty moisture sound that his mouth makes between words? Is that from smoking? This is a fat assed, smoking, chair melting into, cocksucker! What a piece of shit. Why are there so many insurance salesmen in state and local politics, too, also? It's like they learn how to bullshit their way through life and then decide to go pro in politics.
You can also save money by making your own water from hydrogen and oxygen.
#SCREW THE WATER DEPARTMENT
Yeah, I know, but he reminds me of the Chris Farley character. I expect him to start banging on his own chest. Fat fuck.
& this reminds me: Sheboygan, Wisconsin, & Shebergan, Afghanistan — going back, same linguistic root? Were the indigenous peoples of the U.S. the first Mujaheddin?
I just checked and this dipshit is still upright. The workers in these states have been forced to make financial sacrifices but just out of curiosity what did the legislators of these states have to sacrifice? Aside from their dignity?
Comments on this entry are closed.