Meet Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA). In the ridiculous phenomenon that is Republican elected officials supporting extremist radicalism, Rep. Herger has taken the lead. Here's the give and take the good Congressman had with a spectator at his latest meeting after claiming that healthcare reform and cap-and-trade were threats to democracy:One of the attendees, who claimed he could trace his ancestors back to the
Mayflower, declared to Herger, "I am a proud right-wing terrorist."
The Republican congressman said with a broad smile, "Amen, God bless you.
There is a great American."
Remember when the Right was livid back in April because the Department of Homeland Security released a report on the rising threat of violent right-wing extremism? Remember Michael Steele calling it "the height of insult?"
It is exactly comments like this from Rep. Herger that has created the environment reflected by the Southern Poverty Law Center's latest report. What have they found? Conditions described as such:
A federal law enforcement agent told the center that he hadn't seen growth this
steep among such groups in 10 to 12 years. "All it's lacking is a spark," he
said.
It's time for the grown ups to act grown up.
6 comments:
I imagine sarcasm is easily lost when trasncribed to the written word, but don't you think it's pretty likely that the guy who claimed he was a terrorist was doing so because of the Administration/Democrats' labeling of all who disagree with government healthcare as extremists/terrorists/nazis/racists, etc?
This despite the fact that the majority of Americans are against government-run healthcare, as well they should be.
As for Herger (who I've never heard of before) he's wrong about healthcare reform and cap-trade being threats to democracy, primarily because we don't live in a democracy. They ARE however, threats to the free market. Cap and trade in particular is a huge attempt to cripple the U.S. economy, and anyone who doesn't recognize this is either sorely misguided, really stupid, or in favor of the demise of free market economies.
I think the guy who said it is probably the type of idiot who believes that the health care reform bill does establish "death panels" that will kill his grandma, that President Obama is coming after his 30-06 deer rifle and that is all not fair because the guy is a Kenyan!
I listend to some Rep. Congresswoman for Tenn. this morning on Morning Joe, who is typical of the problem. After assuring the panel she had read the whole act, she then proceeded to flat-out lie about what it says. Specifically in regards to the alleged death panel crap.
She may have "read" the act, but she obviously did not bother to understand or retain the information in it, not like she did the talking points memo she got from the CIGNA people. The only word she kept repeating over and over was mandate. When one panelist called her ass out by asking whether the Act required Medicare patients to get end of life counseling or whether it provided that if they wanted it, Medicare paid for it, her response went like this (I'm paraphrasing as I can't remember her exact words):
"Well...it's a...mandate for a change to the Medicare handbook."
What the hell is that? Then, sensing that answer was as full of shit as it sounded, she rebounded the only way she knew how--she lied:
"It mandates and requires they have this counseling." The majority of Americans are for Medicare, so it's not true to say they are against government-run healthcare. And let's get something straight, it's not being proposed that the govt take over healthcare per se. Reform is about the govt taking over funding of healthcare. And the fact of the matter is that the govt is doing it right now with a 4% overhead as opposed to 20+% by the "super-efficient" private-profit companies.
As for cap-and-trade, all I can say is this: it just shutdown the latest obsolescent boondoggle here in SC: Santee-Cooper's proposed Kingsburg Coal plant, right in my backyard. And I am very happy about it.
Unfortunately, most folks around here believe that they have to accept the false choice between poverty and pollution and wanted the plant. It would have been a tremendous waste of money, time and would have resulted in further polluting what is already an overly polluted dominant river of this entire region.
So bash it all you want, but it has its advantages.
Surely common sense would indicate that the comment was sarcasm (and no, I won't stop calling you Shirley). Callers to talk radio have taken to coining "mob" names for themselves to show how silly the effort to label healthcare opponents as (fill in the blank)has been.
Besides, I thought Obama's kinship with self-avowed proud left-wing terrorist (a real one!) Bill Ayers would have made the concept in vogue.
There's just little reason for me to have any faith in this reform movement, particularly since there are so many versions and nobody has any idea how it would be administered, interpreted, and funded. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the VA, these agencies do nothing to inspire confidence in me that taking over the whole enchilada is going to be a successful venture, practically or financially. Inevitably it would lead to rationing and downgraded health care, just as it has elsewhere. There's just no way around it.
As for cap-trade, the problem is that it's purpose has nothing to do with the environment. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) admitted as much when he called cap-and-trade “the most significant revenue-generating proposal of our time." Even Obama told us that our power bills would skyrocket as a result. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing, I tell you. (full disclosure: I work in the electric utility business- transmission, not generation)
Maybe you guys saved something by blocking a plant being built, I don't know. If only the politicians (yes, that means YOU Harry Reid) would realize that the best solution to clean, affordable and reliable power generation is nuclear, but that's another discussion. For now, all I can say is, if your lights and A/C go out, don't come knocking on your southern neighboring state's door! :-)
So right-wing talkshow callers are being silly as a sarcastic reponse to liberals making them out to be crazy? That's rich, Danny.
Close- they're being sarcastic in response to libs being silly about labeling healthcare opponents. I know it's probably hard to accept, but most of the people who have hesitations about current legislation are actually "normal" working, tax-paying citizens and not the lunatic fringe.
Case in point- the Communist party of America came out and officially endorsed Obama's position on government health care. Does that make all who approve of the plan (whatever it is) communists? No, of course not. And the effort to label all opponents as nazis, terrorists and racists is just as silly. I think most people just don't trust the federal government to "fix" what is currently not a perfect system but is still the best in the world.
The previous administration manipulated the system and lied to us. The current administration/congress has done exactly the same thing. Why would anyone in their right mind trust the government to take care of them? History suggests that it won't.
Here's the difference, Danny: who is out there on the right shouting down their crazies? And you can't blame the liberal MSM for only showcasing the crazies. The Fox cheerleading section is putting these yahoos on air nonstop.
I know completely sane and rational people who oppose reform. I think they are wrong, but I don't think they are crazy. But you've got conservatives who are supposed to be "serious" people getting up and publicly flat out lying about the bill. And worse than lying, they're throwing out ridiculously flammatory rhetoric.
Now, are there people on both sides doing that? Yes. But the difference is a large majority of the folks doing on the right are the elected leaders and de facto leaders of the Republican party.
I deal with Medicare, Medicaid, SS and VA benefits everyday. It is a pain in the ass. But you know what is worse? The fact if would cost me $580/mo to add Von (who has never missed a day of work to illness or been in the hospital) to my insurance. What. The. Fuck? That is ridiculous.
And the idea that the market or these companies on their own will somehow bring prices down is dead wrong. How do we know? Because it happened in forty years. It reminds me of the fights over tort refrom. Remember what the argument was? Hey...your healthcare bills are so high b/c of lawyers and these lottery-sized verdicts. You limit that and malpractice insurance will go down and costs will go down. This despite the fact that anyone who bothered to look at the actual facts knew that was bullshit. And anyone who ever bothered to look at the history of insurance companies would have told you that there was no way in hell a carrier was going to reduce premiums once they figured people would pay them in the first place.
How's that working out so far? Costs have continued to rise along with malpractice premiums. But...the insurance companies that funded the fight made out like bandits. They still charges ridiculous rates, but now their liabilities are lessened. Wooo-hooo.
And who's funding the fight against healthcare reform? You guessed it: insurance companies. I mean...how many times are we gonna take it in the ass from the same folks? We're beginning to look like the rape victim that was "asking for it."
Post a Comment