Gosh, it’s almost like actions sometimes have consequences:
After their plan to privatize Medicare helped a Democrat win a vacant New York congressional seat, House Republicans are vowing to prevent the 2012 election from becoming a referendum on the proposal.
Democrat Kathy Hochul scored an upset in a traditionally Republican western New York district May 24 after hammering opponent Jane Corwin for endorsing the Medicare plan approved by almost all House Republicans.
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"By not voting to dismantle Medicare, the Democrats have ended this valuable program"
It's starting already.
You know that line about destroying the village in order to save it worked SO WELL in its day.
Well, you do have break (the backs) of 30 million people or so to make an omelet.
Mmm, back omelets, my favorite!
A "vow," huh? Those guys are AWESOME at keeping their vows, as any number of former Mrs. Gingriches, Giulianis, Reagans, and so forth can attest. I forsee absolutely no problems with this strategery.
All talk. Or, in the case of the GOP, a vowel movement.
I just want you to realize this comment almost made coffee come out of my nose. Would that I had more than one p to give you.
Reagan was only married twice. That's practically faithful when it comes to Republicans. Nixon was only married once, the prude.
His one redeeming quality, in my opinion, was that he evidently truly did love his Pat.
Actually, if you go to the Gerald Ford museum in Michigan, you will see an exhibit where the Fords were photographed together in bed.
After the rumors that the Tricky Dicky and his wife did not have sex, they wanted to show America that their new president sleeps with his wife…
"We had to destroy
the villageMedicare in order to save it."/shorter Rethuglican meme
you beat me, dammit.
Thi$ i$ good new$ for Frank Luntz.
If the guy wasn't such a douche his skills would be almost admirable – Craft the message. Repeat the message. When questioned, repeat the message. People hate "vouchers"? No problem, they are to be known forever more as "coupons". We all love coupons!!!
Not so fast! The Spanish for "food stamps" is cupones de comida, & no RIL MURCAN loves food stamps. (Not officially, anyway.)
Hey, I got one for 30 cents off my chemo treatments! Sweeeeeet.
"Gift cards."
Like one of those $25 swipe cards for Bennigan's you give to your niece or nephew for college graduation?
Come on Jr., get it right: They're only going to destroy Medicare for people under 55 y.o.
Sheesh, you're never going to get a promotion until you start getting your facts straight; It's not like this is Fox News you're working for.
I guess we can call this a GOPer Post Op Transformation.
Vows, huh? Like my vows to stop drinking when I get a hangover, to not take the ugly girl home from the bar at closing time, to exercise more and eat right? That kind of vow? Good luck!!
And call your mother once in a while, for God's sake. The old girl lives for those calls.
Great. Pack your bags, Baldar, you're going on a guilt trip!
I was thinking "vow", like "voopie!"
"stop drinking when I get a hangover"
I think I see your problem here. It's the stopping that resulted in the hangover. Keep that old horse before the cart and you're in good shape.
As long as the government keeps its hands off my Medicare, it's all good.
Ending Medicare for people under 55 means that thousands of disabled veterans, some of whom have had their brains scrambled, will be without health care unless they want to wait at the nearest VA hospital ER for several days at a time.
Important safety tip for the GOP: Some of these guys still know how to use powered equipment and firearms. They also have relative caretakers who vote.
What do you expect? The GOP only 'supports our troops' when they're killing brown people.
So, they have the same attitude toward their warriors as the NFL ownership has toward its players.
I suppose it's not surprise, then, that Roger Goodell's dad was a Republican Senator from New York. (Also, a Gregg Easterbrook sex-fantasy.)
The VA's next on the Republican Demolition List, it seems pretty clear. It's Socialized Medicine® in the purest, sweetest form. And they've gotten way better at doing the right surgeries on the right patients, not losing guys, etc., since they switched to — wait for it — electronic medical records.
When are these veterans going to start taking care of themselves for a change?
Maybe they should have thought about that before they volunteered to get disabled.
Even Republicans don't want them (oh, wait, "us") to start taking care of themselves.
Love the article title, "Republicans to Hone Medicare Pitch…"
Yeah, a little honing will make offing Grandma seem much more acceptable.
(Or maybe they just going to sharpen the knife.)
I don't know how they're going to do better than "Soylent Green is OLD people!"
I saw some douche on the tv's last night who actually suggested, rather than slink away from the Ryan Plan, Repubs should double down on it. Obviously, the guy wasn't an advisor to T-Pa….zzzzzzzzzzz
One of the trolls on Yglesias' blog said this about the special election (from http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/privati... ):
"No, the problem was that Corwin wasn't conservative enough, thats why the Tea Party Candidate walked away with 9% of the vote, which would have made a difference.
A candidate willing to take the tough steps (outright elimination of medicare, medicaid and food stamps and eliminated estate taxes altogether ) would have won. "
With the teabaggers, we have a new breed of wingnut, who are so dense they think the public would love their wildly unpopular ideas and so doesn't have the sense to hide what they really want.
Monfledermaus is a man, or woman, of the people. (S)he lives in a double-wide, but could afford a palatial estate. So, she knows what the people want — while being able to afford it, her/himself, too.
I have a friend who lives in the Faux News echo chamber … he's similarly detached from reality, thinks the whole country is solidly behind the bagger (i.e. Koch) agenda.
I'm thinking this might be a good thing — I'd rather surprise them on election day than have them realize what's actually going on.
Yes, let's just keep jollying them along.
Republicans to Hone Medicare Pitch
They are actually going to hone their ax to a sharp edge to make it easier to chop off granny's head.
Right before they roll her over the cliff?
"Republicans to Hone Medicare Pitch"
Here's a coupon, Grandma.
Good luck shopping around for healthcare with it (especially since you don't have an internet connection).
Maybe Grandma can buy a vitamin or something….
Que Roy Orbison: I'm Ryyy – yyyy – yyyan over you.
"What? The people want the things that they have paid for? What is wrong with them… don't they realize that a smaller government just means Rich folk get it all and regular people get JACK SQUAT?"
Duh!
Whatever happened to that mandate from the voters?
That was just a simple, honest misinterpretation. They thought they received voter approval to leave their little hamlets, move to DC and engage in debauched man-dating…
Schock n' Awwwww.
This is totally irrelevant to the subject at hand, but "Schlock and Awwwww" would be a GREAT name for a blog about cute baby animals.
It devoured itself, letting a Democrat coast in with a plurality.
It got old.
It turned out to be a manatee from the voters, not quite the same thing.
Mandates from the voters only count when the Prez isn't urban.
The Republicans have always hated Medicare and worked to dismantle, but for some reason pointing this out has been considered unfair. Well now they've actually all voted to destroy it and it's on, assholes.
It's "unfair" because it's true. Considering the MSM's coffers are filled up with money from boner pills and badly acted health insurance scam ads, they prefer to side with the GOPers.
We require balance.
See also: climate change, debate of.
Earth: round or flat? Both sides have good arguments.
Christopher Columbus was an untrustworthy greaseball.
And Eratosthenes was actually a dirty Libyan, and had the audacity to argue that barbarians were not inferior to Greeks while claiming he had measured the circumference of the alleged sphere.
Earth: round or flat?
Teach the controversy! http://controversy.wearscience.com/img190/turtle….
Actions have consequences? Only in a world viewed through logic and rationality. If you've given up those, then you can pretty much do whatever you want and not expect anything to happen. I think that's the only explanation for why the House GOP acts the way they act.
They're not perfect, just forgiven.
yeah, but MUZLINS!1!!1!!!
9/11 NEVER FERGIT!!!!
He's back!
http://www.theonion.com/articles/update-giant-bin...
Looks suspiciously like an angry version of the giant Jesus who was caught looking into the top windows of the UN building several decades back.
and…TEH GAYS!!111!11!!!
Sigh. If only that weren't true. Look to see DOMA referendums again on the ballot in 2012. Dunno who I hate more, the GOP or fundiXtians. Just read an article that highlighted how the Repubs think that they have a shot at taking the Senate 'cause 23 Dems are up for reelection. Barry had better warm up the ol' veto stamp.
Too late, fuckers. Once you go "Death Panel" there is no turning back.
Yeah, the denture cream is definitely out of the tube.
Yeah, the Depends have already been filled.
How is Sen Vitter doing these days?
The five senate republicans who voted against the Ryan plan last night were:
Ken Buck (R) Colorado
Sharron Angle (R) Nevada
Christine O'Donnell (R) Delaware
John Ensign (R) Nevada
Olympia Dukakis (R) Maine
Vote them all out now.
Now that is a mind bomb comment.
"Gosh, it’s almost like actions sometimes have consequences"
Yep – there's a first time for everything.
AH! Well here's something Republicans need to embroider on their pillows: There is no such thing as a Free Lunch. When you buy off one group of voters, you piss off another. You should always do the math before you open your mouth.
But as far as they know, the health coverage they get IS free. It's one of the unalienable rights of politicians to be taken care of by the health fairies.
Like that GA congresscritter who, when confronted by an angry constituent demanding to know why he took the government-provided health insurance if he was against it for everybody else, said, "Because it's free!"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/25/rob-wood...
Reminds me of Tron pleading "the fif".
Oh, they did the math… "So many dollars."
For God's sake, if this douchebag's Democratic opponet doesn't run an ad quoting Simpson as saying "That's true, we are ending Medicare as you know it…" then said opponent should quit politics and become a kindergarten teacher, because he has no business in politics.
No no no, you don't want someone that stupid teaching kindergarten, teaching kindergarten is important, not to be left to that kind of idiot.
Cause Dems would never, ever blow an opportunity like this one, right? There's enough "Shit Bush says" books out there to fill out Wasilla's Public Library. Somehow though, the village idiot managed to stay in office for 8 years.
How exactly is it that they plan to "prevent" the 2012 election from becoming a referendum on their policies? Are they going to hold their breath until they turn blue, and stamp their little feet? Will they scream real loud?
Maybe: Jedi Mind Trick.
Obi-Wan's already dead, though.
http://laughingsquid.com/darth-vader-announces-th...
So is reagan, but it hasn't stopped him…
These are not the 'roids you are looking for.
"Are they going to hold their breath until they turn blue, and stamp their little feet? Will they scream real loud?"
Add a whole mess of racist dog whistles, and you pretty much have it.
By November they'll probably be well beyond dog whistles, as Obama leads Palin by more than LBJ beat Goldwater in the polls and the teabaggers will hold rallies where just scream the n-word over and over again.
Its sad and scary because its true.
Now just imagine an unending stream of those spots on TV until November. It would crack even the most drug-addled, disease ridden, welfare receiving librul.
Oh please… PLEASE… hey, what comes AFTER blue?
SInce we're dealing with democrats here, this will be "prevented" from being discussed mostly by the d-candidates themselves. Also, too, lamestream media.
I believe that they plan to lie.
obviously the Repug politicians need to screech about guns, Jesus, and gays more to divert people's attention away from their real evil plans such as actual death panels for the un/underinsured etc.
Gosh, it’s almost like actions sometimes have consequences
Well, you can hardly blame Republicans for being unfamiliar with the concept. Actually wait yes you can.
In the bible, if you're not done killing people, you can even stop the Earth's rotation with no consequences. I can totally see where they're coming from.
*reaches for 600 mg ibuprofen*
A "Logan's Run" program would cure this, also, too.
Ryan and his ilk ought to know better, that there is a reason Lipton had put the wizened image of its founder on their boxes for many, many years: the oldz love themselves some tea. If you publicly threaten to fuck with GrannyCare, you might as well call the movement you pander to the goddamn Bug Juice Party, cuz Gladys will hop on her Rascal and ride over to the other camp faster than you can say, "Touched by an Angel marathon."
They cannot stand that Darkness in the White House, but they love them some Della Reese.
If they would just simply explain that they need to destroy Medicare so that they can give more tax cuts to the rich, then I'm sure that the voters will understand.
Because we all will be rich one day, so we're paying our tax-cuts forward.
I think the idea is that we all will be dead one day, and the sooner the better. So as to leave more stuff for the billionaires.
Since they'll be wrapped in their "Golden Fleece" snuggie, the could give a fuck about the rest of us. What's next? Bald Eagle Ala King served at the next GOP fundraiser?
Up fists for everyone!
My employer's health care provider just called to cave in and reverse themselves on certain matters after I wrote several letters cting the "Patient Protection and Afordable Care Act" including one from my Congressman – the Great Frank Pallone.
The bimbo on the phone alleged the 'technical error' was made by the firm they retain to review claims (slash and burn them).
Yay! Stick it to the man!
Yay! Stick it to the man!
"But sir, you ARE the man."
"I know."
"So you're sticking it to yourself."
"…Maybe…"
Newt's First Law of Lotion:… EEWW…. I just frew up a little…
I really give a shit about the Medicaid part of this "brave and courageous" bill as well. Since when in this fucked up country, is it brave to hatchet the poor and the disadvantaged? Go after the fucking rich, that would be brave.
Matt Yglesias had an interesting post on this Would-Be Medicare Eliminators Call The Truth “Mediscare” Because They’re Afraid It Works. So, of course they don't like having the truth presented so … directly. It's rude!
I see, from the block-quote in the link, that retrograde language maven William Safire enjoyed neologism on his face.
Hard to remember now, but Saint Ronnie of Santa Barbara once proposed privatizing Soshecurity, and had to back down immediately in the face of the ensuing firestorm of opposition from the Olds. Which shows that, dumb as he may have been, he had more sense than today's House Republicans.
When the teabaggers said "keep your socialist gubmint hands off my medicare," they meant it!
did they seriously think the dems weren't going to go all 'death panels' on them? after two years of the worst tricks and political irresponsibility?
live by the sword, die by the sword motherfuckers?
Apparently the Repub concept that the more bad you do to the people, the more ardently they'll support you, has reached its limit.
I have to say, I really respect Nixon for that.
If Nixon was not a sociopath and I was old enough at the time, I would have voted for him. But I have been told more than once that I must clearly be to the left of Mao since I noticed Andy Breitbart is a serial liar.
Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
From the Bloomberg article:
Ryan released a five-minute video yesterday in which he provided a tutorial on the financial problems facing Medicare.
Medicare is “headed for a painful collapse,” the Wisconsin Republican said in the video. “We can save Medicare, but we have to reform it so that it delivers the high quality we expect at a price we can afford.”
I guess it all depends on what your definition of "we" is…
Quality, also. And reform, too.
We can "save" Medicare, but we have to "reform it" so that it delivers the "high quality" we expect at a price we can "afford.”
Works much better if you can imagine Ryan air-quoting the bullshit in his statement…
And plans to end Social Security to secure further tax breaks for the Koch brothers may also raise some eyebrows.
"Trying to prevent the 2012 election" rings true.
"I wonder how those profoundly ill have the energy to deal with the amount of crap they routinely throw at us. "
They don't. Hence the deaths and bankruptcies. Lovely system, isn't it?
The GOP will only conclude that they need to lie more and be more deceitful next go around.
Why was single-payer always kept off the table,
do we have to pay insurance corporation profits
record insurance corporation profits
Record Big Pharma Profits Too ???
I'll just say this once. Fuck the Republicans.
I lied. I'll say it whenever I want.
If the Repugs ever learn not to overreach this Country will be theirs to destroy.
I'd feel all good and happy about the rethugs finally screwing themselves, but I vote in the south on a diebold machine.
Even without these things, I don't know if you've all noticed, but our "president" appears to be brown, and he's married to a negress.
These fuckers could start putting the elderly in prisons and call them assisted living. It just does not matter.
“We knew that the first person that threw something on the table was going to get the living crap beat out of them” and “we might be beat up in the elections in the future,” Republican Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho said in an interview. “But you got to be willing to take that if you want to reform the system.”
"But you got to be willing to take that if you want to get a well-paying, no-work, Koch-funded think tank job after you get voted out." CORRECTED.
If cuts are necessary, I say we trade Medicare cuts for cuts in corporate farm subsidies and ethanol subsidies. Sick people need Medicare. Rich people don't need subsidies.
At that well in Syene. Ah, good times….
Oh the Irony… The Tea party may yet be the movement that saves America! (by pulling 10-15% of the electorate permanently into a sub-pocket of uncooperative madness, allowing a genuine two party system to develop eventually.)
Well, they're pulling 10-15% of the Republican base off-planet … I'm not sure how the two-party system will adjust to that, actually. One hopes that the far-rational wing of the GOP will figure out that they need to move toward the center, where the on-planet votes are, if they hope to compete.
Democratic and Workers' Party!
If that ever happens it will be another generation or two at least. The current crop of GOP is profoundly stupid and paid for.
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