Baby Killers!
Today, after a flurry of media questions about the identity of the shouter, GOP Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer stepped forward as the offending shouter—though he stipulated he actually shouted, “It’s a baby killer,” in reference to the unamended health care bill, and has since apologized to Stupak for any suggestion that he personally was responsible for the killing of babies.
via “Baby killer” shouter steps forward, highlights internal GOP dilemma – Yahoo! News.
Again apologize for the inattention to the blog. I’m on a deadline and up against it at the moment.
But I do want to point out some interesting aspects to this health care story.
Only in America could we have a situation in which the GOP punts away a political opportunity by having a some Texas congressman shout “Baby Killer!” during a debate — and then the Democrats fumble that punt by celebrating the Republican-ness of the historic bill they just passed.
As she inched toward the triumphant win, Nancy Pelosi issued a fact sheet about the bill that cheerfully quoted an E.J. Dionne editorial. The passage:
An op-ed by E.J. Dionne on Friday reveals that the current health reform legislation pending before Congress was “built on a series of principles that Republicans espoused for years.”
The electoral-politics aspect of what just happened with health care is a bit strange. It seems to me that the Republicans capitulated entirely to Tea Party sentiment, a move that sets them up for a Sarah Palin candidacy in 2012, which in turn is a move that sets them up for a crushing general-election defeat. Meanwhile the Democrats spent the health care debate fleeing from their own base, a move that… well, I don’t know what it means, exactly, but it does make me a little ill. The whole picture is strange: Democrats running as Republicans, Republicans running as Turner-Diaries conspiracy theorists.
I don’t get what the Republicans have to gain by painting themselves as hysterical survivalist Ruby-Ridge loonies (Kentucky congressman Geoff Davis pulling out the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag was a move more larded with mawkish over-drama than your average drag-queen tribute to Edith Piaf). It feels to me like they played this one wrong.
It doesn’t matter, though. Should I decide to change my politics and become a conservative now that I’m exactly the middle-aged bourgeois/suburban tool I used to rail against, I can always vote Republican by voting Democratic. The new Democratic Party is an excellent substitute for the old Nixon/Ford Republican Party. They even passed Nixon’s vision of a health care plan. That there’s no Democratic Party left is a shame, but I guess one choice is better than none.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
To sanctify certain phrases is maybe idiomatic to democracies? I wonder…look the Romans held no fault with burning up…just about anything. And lasted a thousand years. Maybe we are just too Goody-two-shoes? Maybe J. Wright was right in that we are damned for being what we are…and just too forgiving.
Hey, is that true, the ace Democrat H. Truman wanted health care back then? I knew about his integration of the Army and his early Peace Corps ideas…but that too? If so, an ace TBS…
The Republicans fear the general public will just go back to their everyday lives and stop following politics as closely once this bill is passed and is not in the media every day. The Tea Party’s outrage stems mostly from this bill. Without the Health Bill being in the news everyday, they will have little to focus on and will be forced to fight against other things that are less divisive. The fact that the bill passed this early before the November elections is the best thing possible for the Dems as the general public will once again regain their general apathy towards Washington. However, Glenn Beck will find something to heat up his base, but I don’t it will be as passionate as health care. Also, MATT what are your thoughts on the NEW LEFT MEDIA channel on Youtube? They seem to say a lot without actually saying much.
some things never change.
shame we’ll never get that Neo-FDR we’ve been needing.
oh well.
i’d vote for the ghost of Nixon rather than see Palin or Boehner or any of those other assholes seize the reigns.
man, i really wish we could get a strong independent ticket. I’d totally vote for Sanders/Kucinich 2012.
Two steps back , One step forward in the past!
Should I decide to change my politics and become a conservative now that I’m exactly the middle-aged bourgeois/suburban tool I used to rail against, I can always vote Republican by voting Democratic.
Matt Taibbi channels The Who!
“Meet the new Boss — Just the same as the old Boss”
In response to another comment. See in context »I agree with you Matt, the politicians are behaving like changelings. It really feels to me like the ‘Invisible Hand’ of corporate influence on politics.
If I had to sum it up on healthcare ‘reform’ (NOT), I’d say that it is a masterful effort of misdirection worthy of any master close-up artist.
The Repugnicans lobbyists write a bill that the Repugnicans would conced to if their arms were twisted firmly. Anymore reform in it would require a knock down drag out fist fight, see.
And the only way to get a corporate friendly bill across the bough of the Progressive Caucus is to have Repugnicans act like the Democrats are winning one over on them, and pretend to fight it tooth and nail.
Meanwhile, our fearless leader is making backroom deals with every corporate lobbyist that can afford a ticket to the secret back room, you know like the one strippers take you to for a ‘private dance’.
So the Repugnicans get the bill that they would always have agreed to, since it really is the health care industry’s wet dream, the Democrats get a pyric ‘victory’, and everyone who feels like this bill is the complete sham it is can blame the Democrats, and the Democrats could have blamed the progressives had it failed!
Someone posted on a comment I made on another site, ‘rolling coup’. Also the phrase Kabuki Theater keeps coming to mind. The whole thing is making me sick, so I’ll probably soon find out exactly how this ‘reform’ bill actually works.
[...] months of tea partying, Stupak (“baby killer!!”), death panels, and “bipartisanship,” Congress passed legislation late Sunday [...]
I’m completely disillusioned with politics. The Democrats have become the Republicans and the Republicans have become…insane. I guess I’m a Libertarian now for lack of any other options. The Left is dead, Dennis Kucinich being about the only person left in Congress that even pretends to be a Liberal. And I sure as heal ain’t going to become a frickin’ Conservative.
What did Grover Norquist say about drowning the federal government in a bathtub? I’m right there with him. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe the federal government should be run to the benefit of the people but name me one person that would and actually has even a glimmer of a chance of being elected.
I’d pick no government over bad government. Come on Ron Paul, lets go ahead and abolish the Fed. Laissez-Faire capitalism is better than Fascism.
Should be hell not heal.
In response to another comment. See in context »I think that was the original title of the health bill…
In response to another comment. See in context »Libertarians are ‘conservatives that want to legalize drugs and prostitution’ I think Thom Hartmann came up with that one. You might want to reconsider.
In response to another comment. See in context »Actually my experience is that libertarians are liberals that understand economics…
In response to another comment. See in context »If Libertarians believe that markets are self-regulating systems, populated by rational actors, well, they’re ignorant of Economics, too.
In response to another comment. See in context »“understand economics”?
As practiced in the real world?
In response to another comment. See in context »Time for a new party!
In response to another comment. See in context »“…name me one person that would and actually has even a glimmer of a chance of being elected.”
Alan Grayson, Marci Winogrand, Harmony Wu, Krystal Ball, Ann McClane Kuster, Connie Saltonstal, Doug Tudor, should I go on?
Contrary to what Taibi says, the Democratic party is not dead. That’s an insult to Kucinich, Grayson, Sanders, Bennett, and many others who fought hard for the most efficient solution to our health care problems in this country, a public option.
The problem is not that the Democratic party no longer exists. The problem is that the crowd of Democrats that became Republican to get elected (e.g. Clinton, the Democratic Leadership Committee, Rahm Emmanuel, Obama) after Mondale and Dukakis, that crowd mostly runs the Democratic party. They’ve hijacked the party and become moderate Republican clones. But there are plenty of hard working Democrats who still believe in its core values and still work for the working class, the 95% of Americans who are not rich and never will be. Saying these traditional Democrats don’t exist trashes all their hard work. It is both glib and profoundly disrespectful.
The people I’vehttp://trueslant.com/assets/images/button-submitcomment.png listed above all are running against corporate Democrats this fall. Look them up. You can either complain or try to make a small difference by helping some or all of them replace Democrats who clearly don’t have the interests of the traditional Democratic party at heart. People are fighting back to regain control of their party. You’re welcome to join in.
In response to another comment. See in context »And all of those people will be fighting an uphill battle, not against the Republicans, not against the leaders of their own party. Even if they win, they’ll be marginalized by Obama and Co. And that’s even if they are truly progressives and not just saying whatever they think will get them elected.
I’m sorry but the whole situation is profoundly depressing to me. I was very involved in the 2008 election. The Democrats won overwhelming majorities in the House and the Senate, along with the Presidency and the best they could get us was Romney-care. A health care bill that would have put a smile on Richard Nixon’s face. Yeah, if that doesn’t say the Democratic party is dead, I don’t know what would.
Oh and Sanders is an Independent, not a Democrat.
In response to another comment. See in context »For what it matters, I’m depressed, too. We were sold a bill of goods in November 2008.
But politics is a numbers game like business. Get enough progressive traditional Democrats in Congress (and state houses), and politicians like Obama will face a stark choice: push traditional Democratic policies or don’t get elected. If the health care debate did anything, it smoked out which Democrats are DINOs. Now we can target them and vote them out, one by one if need be.
Public support also is there for traditional Democrats and their values, and has been for decades. That’s the reason Republicans and so-called Democrats have to hide killing Social Security behind dubious arguments about deficit reduction: the average person gets that nuking Social Security and Medicare would be a disaster on many levels.
People also are not entirely stupid about taxes: while everyone wants to be a millionaire, most adults know that only 1% of the population qualifies. Telling people taxing multi-millionaires at 15% will create jobs only goes so far. Eventually the Republican and conservative Democrat mantras will implode, as they have over the past few years. Basically it’s Hoover vs FDR.
In response to another comment. See in context »Unfortunately, way too many people just do not understand that the very wealthy are paying most of their income taxes at the capital gains rate. There are so many people that don’t even know what the top marginal rate is. The facts have been obscured.
In response to another comment. See in context »But, your point is well taken. There are candidates that are deserving of our support. Fight for them. I agree.
Sounds like you’re a member of the Green Party in spirit – welcome! Basically the old Dem line with some extra special attention to the disenfranchised and the environment. The big perk is that this party has even less influence than the current Democratic party. Or you can enjoy the same amount of influence Libertarians have.
Par-tay on!
And Matt, you’re living in the burbs now? Sacre bleu!
In response to another comment. See in context »Only in America could you have a year-long debate about how to go about fixing the dysfunctional health care system, and not address the actual problem which is that America is the only advanced country to leave distribution of health care in the hands of a profit-driven industry with financial incentive to avoid providing health care.
And not only ignore the problem, but make truly fixing the problem more difficult in the future by institutionalizing that industry as the means of future health care distribution.
Exactly! Ugh.
In response to another comment. See in context »I feel like I’m living in some alternate universe, one in which I’m supposed to be cheering this pathetic excuse for healthcare reform, but in fact know that it will be years–perhaps decades–before a public option will even be discussed again, even though the Dems say otherwise. I’m inclined to trust my gut. Did you see Dennis Kucinich on Bill Maher last Friday? He practically had to pinch his nose because the bill stinks so bad.
The nutters are already ripping him to shreds, but conservative David Frum made the obvious comment on the Health Care legislation today that other conservatives would not. I’m guessing he will be ducking spit and bricks shortly: http://www.frumforum.com/waterloo
I would like for Jared to be right, and Obama touched on that a bit already – the world won’t end, no death panels, etc, BUT if instead of focusing now on jobs and the economy, Obama and the Dems move to immigration reform, the Racist Nutters will REALLY go ballistic. Education reform (moving in the direction of a National standard of measurement) will also fly in the face of “State’s Rights” a big part of the Nutter’s anthem.
Yes, a real liberal/progressive party no longer exists, but the successful politicians (note I did not says Statesmen) know that their success is in driving just right of the center line. The biggest block of voters, labeling themselves “independents” now, are in large part are “old style” liberals – they have a soul and support social programs, but also expect some kind of fiscal responsibility. Even Bush tried to capture those votes with his “compassionate conservatism” message. It was a lie, but that isn’t the point.
Brings to mind the ancient Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times” the next few years are going to be interesting indeed.
Now that it’s clear that the ‘New Dems’ are the old ‘Tricky Dick Nixon’ Republicans I can vote third party with a clear conscience,and the Hell with the consequences if some nut bagger somehow wins.
With this set back for the Republicans and conservatives (not so much a setback as a black eye, which their egos won’t tolerate) it would be a good time to stoke them for making some changes to our Constitutional provisions. At this juncture, we might be too far gone to ever get both sides to agree on making a large structural change in our legislative structure.
But just as I saw 30 years ago how the U.S. system of health care was eventually going to bankrupt us, I’ve seen how our electoral processes have deteriorated our ability to govern prudently, and will never recover without fundamental changes.
-RLee
http://therleepost.blogspot.com
Kucinich WAS the democratic party; but he tucked tail yesterday and joined the elite.
Tax revolts – organized or not – should be the craze from here on out. This is the only peaceful means left to voice real dissent. Those blessed with a public pulpit need to take a stand by voicing such actions.
By leash or by blood the beast must be restrained.
Oh please, give it a rest. Tax revolts and violence. Feels good, fresh air and shouting, saves the mental effort of getting a clue. Smoke a joint, shoot at some stop signs, make tea party friends; then join us later when you feel like using your head.
In response to another comment. See in context »For the disillusioned Dems: check out the candidacy of Summer Shields for the CA Congressional 8th District, Nancy Pelosi’s district in the SF Bay Area. I ambled by by his little campaign table in the Marina area and heard words that included ousting Pelosi and even impeaching Pres Obama! His platform about repealing the bailouts works for me.
Not to act like a dick Matt but you sound Like Dennis Miller.
Good observation. Matt is smarter (and uglier) than Dennis. Same genre. As Matt continues to age, he will morph into a Goldwater pragmatist. Even he sees it coming!
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Baby Killers! – Matt Taibbi – Taibblog – True/Slant [...]
Watch the movie: The Lost City, with andy garcia
if you want to see the future….
The Marxists are coming out of the closets and woodwork…after obama nationalized the health care industry, they think their time has come….just look at all the marxists on this site
drooling over a health bill that immediately raises all their taxes….cool man, pay more, get less….the new democratic party motto
We even have one marxist on this site, intials, R U, who put his board in the water under the illusion he is riding the wave with the Anointed One
How close-minded. Why don’t you like borscht, Crazy Andy?
In response to another comment. See in context »Never trust a guy who hides his birth certificate….the best part of it, everything obama signed will be null and void when we finally get to see his birth certificate
In response to another comment. See in context »I just realized the downside of this country is that I have to stand up for the right of imbeciles like you to spout your gibberish. And that makes me hate this place more than the health insurance reform ever could.
In response to another comment. See in context »shhhh. I’m hunting wabbits.
In response to another comment. See in context »It’s gotten to the point where I actually scroll down after every article on TS to see what Crazy Andy has come up with. But come on, man, it’s getting stale. You gotta come up with some new tinfoil hat stuff or I’m gonna stop reading you.
In response to another comment. See in context »andy you’re nothing if not on-message: taxes blah blah blah blah obama’s birth certificate mwah mwah mwah mwah. Sheesh! Even Iowa’s Steve King has given up on the latter.
Thing is – liberals are pissed about this bill because it benefits insurance corporations. We’d more than gladly pay taxes if we thought we the people would get something worthwhile in return. Ah – Sweden.
In response to another comment. See in context »To hell with conforming to preset notions of politics and of left versus right. Part of the problem is all the people complaining aren’t willing to actually stand up and do something about it.
We live in a country where it takes a ‘transformative election’ to get average voter turnout past fifty percent. People get the government they deserve, and if people go, ‘eh fuck it,’ don’t be surprised when we get an ‘eh fuck it’ government.
You want things to change, get off your ass and do something. Create something new or get involved in a new political party or whatever. Don’t just sit and bitch about it.
The surprising thing is that anything health care related managed to pass that wasn’t a total giveaway, like Bush’s gift to big pharma. This bill as it stands has some nice things in it and it’s a safe bet changes will be made over the years to tweak it.
It’s surprising because of what passes for mainstream media today. Years ago Fox would not have gone unchallenged by other media like it does today and because of their success, and all the loudmouths they spawned, the formerly ultra-far Right is center Right today. And the old Left has been dragged across the median by default.
So when David Frum commits unvarnished truth, it feels like a throwback to yesteryear when sane people were members of the Republican party.
What I’ve struggled to understand is why wasn’t a public option passed? The Senate claimed to have the votes, The House claimed to have the votes. Obama said he would sign it “if it were on his desk”, which was interpreted as support when it was really indifference. He sat on the sidelines for a year then jumped in at the last moment to claim some kind of “victory”.
The thing Obama has proved best at so far is moving the goalposts and declaring it a victory pretty much across the board in my opinion.
Now the spin is that this is a first step to a public option or single-payer. This seems to me to merely be the flip of the rights argument that government-funded health insurance is the road to Bolshevist hell. They are both slippery-slope arguments.
Really in many ways this legislation strikes me more as insurance for the insurance industry that anything else.
Whats left of the optimist in me hopes I am wrong, but I’ve closely followed politics for nearly 30 years and the cynic in me keeps saying “yeah, right”.
I don’t think Obama really did care about the public option. How this was suppose to work was that the Democrats would offer the public option and then the Republicans would refuse to get onboard unless it was taken out. So then the Democrats would take it out and say, “Oh well, the Republicans made us do it but it’s okay because we finally have bi-partisan health care reform.”
The only problem is that the Republicans refused to play ball and just decided to stonewall everything. This forced the Democrats into a corner. Either, keep the public option and lose the support of the insurance industry or lose the public option and lose the liberals/progressives.
I guess Obama figured out that the Left was with him no matter what because who else will they vote for right? It’s not like the base will actually stand up for their principles. A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush and all that jazz.
I’ve pretty much figured out that economic issues are to Democrats what social issues are to Republicans. Nice to talk about during election years but once in office, just do whatever Wall Street tells you to do.
In response to another comment. See in context »I watched the debate, such as it was, on C-span last night. One thing that came through loud and clear was that the Republicans would never ever ever ever support any health-care bill. They are wedded to an ideological point-of-view.
It is my belief that what the conservatives really fear is that national health insurance will be successful. It would put the lie to their claim that government is the problem, an idea that found its pimp in Ronald Reagan.
On a personal note, I voted for Nader and would do so again. I thought at the time, and still believe now, that the “a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush” was a narrative pushed by the establishment because they fear a true outsider. To this day the Democratic Party maintains the fiction that Gore lost in 2000 because of Nader. Never mind that Gore actually won and Bush was appointed by a biased and compromised Supreme Court. It is convenient to maintain this narrative as it helps condition the public against a viable 3rd party candidate.
In response to another comment. See in context »I dont think you all caught this, but Obama was saying he supported/favored the PO in August even though he had already made a backroom deal with the Hospital Corporation’s lobbyists to eliminate it. NY Times…
Obama and the rest of the so called supporters of the public option, save a couple, were just bloviating platitudes to gather populist points.
In response to another comment. See in context »I didn’t actually catch the specifics but I figured out some deal must have been made to get rid of the public option. I can’t believe that a lot of Democrats fell for this charade, actually think that Obama is still on their side. But then again, the majority of Republicans still approved of Bush when he left office…
In response to another comment. See in context »Could this be why the Republicans in your country were unable to voice an alternative plan? Because all their good ideas were taken by Nancy Pelosi and their other Democratic rivals?
Seems that way to me.
Merraaaagghh? The Repugnicans HAD a plan? LMAO!
In response to another comment. See in context »Last night the “honorable” Stupak and his fellow “Pro-Life Democrats” voted FOR the Health Care Bill from the Senate with all its abortion and government overrides of Catholic morality for hospitals and medical workers language intact. Ostensibly this was justified because Rahm Emmanuel (?) “promised” an Executive Order that would prevent federal funds from supporting abortion (and maintaining the “conscience rights of medical workers”? and not “rationing health care” for the elderly, disabled, infirm, deformed, etc.??). FYI, no Executive Order can override a Law. Believing this biggest bunch of abortion advocates since Herod, i.e. Obama “punished with a baby”, Emmanuel, Sebelius, Pelosi, Reid, and all the White House “Czars” is exactly like believing in a Nazi promise to build Synagogues “after you surrender”.
Thus are lives, rights and morals sold for a “bowl of pottage”.
I understand that people have strong moral feelings about the issue of abortion. I think that is perfectly legitimate. However, whether one likes it or not abortion is a legal medical procedure and as such I believe it should be covered under any federal plan. I don’t think anyone should be forced to have an abortion or be forced to have a baby.
In a perfect world abortion world not exist but we must make do in our imperfect world. Abortions will happen whether or not they are illegal. The pragmatic solution is that they are safe and legal.
Also we do not get to pick and choose what our taxes support. If we did I would redirect my money away from the War Department.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Moore was great tonight on CNN. Also, Taibbi is always a great read: http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/03/22/baby-killers/ migueldeicaza – Tue 23 Mar 4:23 previous next billgates [...]
[...] Jouranalist Matt Tiabbi Published: March 23, 2010 Filed Under: Politics Tags: choice : democrat : party : republican : taibbi Leave a Comment Name: Required [...]
[...] Shared Baby Killers!. [...]
This seemingly strange tendency to move to the right–of Democrats to capitulate to Republicans, and Republicans to become ever more right-wing lunatics–is easier to understand when you consider that an essential component of “conservatism” is “playing it safe.”
Personally, I have no quibble with this aspect of conservatism, as prudence does indeed save lives. The problem is when it becomes a one-sided argument, the totality of one’s philosophy. If nobody ever dares reach toward progress, we’re doomed to stagnation and disintegration. It isn’t always easy to discern and manage the difference between courage and stupidity, or wisdom and cowardice.
It’s hardly controversial to say both Democrats and Republicans are allies of the health insurance companies. They set up a nice little operation where the Democrats propose a bill that looks fair but they know won’t pass, then the Republicans object to everything, and the result is something corporations will gladly live with. It’s nothing new, but since Fox News has been around mobilizing the wackos it’s become even easier.
I just woke up and quite frankly I am a little surprised. After reading and seeing certain Americans reaction to the passing of the Healthcare Bill I was all but certain that the sky would fall in or at the very least that all the world’s volcanoes would erupt in one giant orgasm of dissent. But instead, I woke up and my lights worked and my coffee tasted the same as it does every morning.
While I was totally against this Bill (because there’s no public option) at least there will be more Americans with health insurance. Of course, no one has told me how much my taxes will go up to pay for it, but again, in Washington D.C.; they don’t sweat the small stuff like taxes or debt.
And, although this Bill will not reduce healthcare costs whatsoever, I will offer my own two part healthcare plan that if performed by every American would reduce or bills in half. Do P90X and Tony says “do your best and forget the rest” and drink as much water as you can every day. Okay, I have a one part plan: Hydrate and you will visit the doctor less.
The only way your plan will get off the ground is if you specify patentable, prescription water.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Limbaugh told his listeners that HCR constitutes “reparations”. GOP Congressmen shouted “baby killers!” during deliberations. And in his characteristically subtle delivery, Glenn Beck described [...]
Bill Maher said it best: “The Democrats have moved to the right, and the Right has moved to a mental hospital.”
As noble as Obama’s bi-partisan attempts are, they’re not helping us. We shouldn’t compromise with crazy. Get this shit done!
I think Obamas bi=partisan attempts are merely Trojan Horses designed to make it look as though he is doing something, while waiting until the bill is watered down to the point that it meets corporate Americas satisfaction.
In response to another comment. See in context »The health industry lobby wrote this bill. They got everything they wanted. This whole bipartisan thing is just a ruse. The cooperation the Obama admin gave was to the industry hacks, not the Repugnicans.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Killers From Matt Taibbi at True/Slant: I don’t get what the Republicans have to gain by painting themselves as hysterical survivalist [...]
I am not voting lesser evil anymore. I have had it with that. I think the teabaggers are small and if we break with the dems now and join the greens the teabag republicans will become a third party mostly located in the south and some plains and mountain states. Ditch the dems. Don’t vote for something you don’t believe in because of lesser evilism!
I am sorry but being better than the republicans is not a motivator for me!
I miss the old Matt Taibbi before all the teeth and scars.
[...] Taibbi: The electoral-politics aspect of what just happened with health care is a bit strange. It seems to me that the Republicans capitulated entirely to Tea Party sentiment, a move that sets them up for a Sarah Palin candidacy in 2012, which in turn is a move that sets them up for a crushing general-election defeat. Meanwhile the Democrats spent the health care debate fleeing from their own base, a move that… well, I don’t know what it means, exactly, but it does make me a little ill. The whole picture is strange: Democrats running as Republicans, Republicans running as Turner-Diaries conspiracy theorists. [...]
The best thing about not being one to associate himself with a political party is that you cannot become disillusioned with them over their lackluster performances. BUT! But, I am holding out hope, as the right starts to devolve to a level slightly under Neanderthal Man (which they don’t believe in anyway) and they start trudging towards the Ragnarok that is a Palin 2012 (the fun part will be watching them deny that is who they will be propping up, but it’s happening) may finally push that party so far down the line and maybe even net the Dems a position that is the uber-filibuster breaker and that will maybe embolden them a little. Maybe then they’ll start listening to Kucinich more (the less crazy, more forward thinking version) and Rockefeller and even get Bernie Sanders in on the deal pushing a progressive platform. Maybe then, completely unfettered, they’ll turn this bill into a public option. It’s a long shot, but it’s the hope I’m holding onto.
This is slightly off the subject of health-care, but I too am a Palin watcher. While it would be both frightening and hilarious to watch her trainwreck of a campaign I don’t believe she will make a serious run. She has never finished anything major in her life; she is sure to drop out early if she runs at all.
The Palin scenario I foresee is that she will milk her unthinking followers for every dime then announce that she is withdrawing her name to work outside the process–ya know because of that media bias and all that–you betcha’.
Though she has a point. It sure is mean for those nasty ‘ol reporters to ask you tough questions like what you might read to stay up on current events. How dare they?!(just in case anyone doesn’t get it I’m being sarcastic–duh).
Sarah Palin is interested in enriching Sarah Palin. Her politics are as empty and shallow as a puddle on a hot summers day.
In response to another comment. See in context »The country never was a liberal nation the only time we have lurched that way was during the depressions that swept the Midwest after the Civil War caused by austerity in monetary policy, some of the urban centers during the onset of the Great Depression and the children of the suburbs gave America the last great lunged towards the Left with the rise of The New Left in the 60’s…America is a Right wing ideologue country, with way to many Scot Irish in this country to be civil…
the choice in the future America will be Right Wing Populism and Corporate/technocratic we can make the trains run on time Liberalism
the amusing thing about this is the only thing both of these folks can agree on is how much they hate “socialism, Marxism, communism,and anarchism”
Everything these politicians do is choreographed. Yelling something stupid is for instant notarity and appeasment of an ignorant constituency. I feel most of the intellectual conservatives are dead. I have noticed that media has tended lately to move to the isolated sensationalist monolog rather than a thoughtful debate. Not that I agree with Robert Reisch and George Will a lot, I sure like listening to these guys articulate an argument rather than Beck, Limbaugh, or the equivalent on the left that want to torture Cheney and his offspring.
About this health care bill… The company I work for sent an e-mail out last week telling everybody that our insurance costs will rise 20% directly due to the effect of this bill. I suspect they are using this as an opportunity to shift more burden of the health care cost to us. Just like not having a raise for 2 years in a row due to the economy. The opportunity that came to play was a supply and demand curve that effects us in the real world while in government the raises and do-nothing jobs keep coming without any fiscal responsiblity. I have to say the situation will naturally bring some resentment from anyone in my position towards the government. Much like when you get laid-off, you tend to think a bit more like a socialist. I know from experience that much of government operates without economic justification or even an awareness of appropriate economic metrics.
Well, the health care bill passed and I think it will do some good, but I believe in the long run the “money sponges”, who are not directly providing service, will pig out where the enormous money for the program is pooled (just like Wallstreet), and evidently selected parts of the working class will pay for it.
Shorter Taibbi: “The GOP is publicly and entirely embracing its base, and is losing. The Democratic Party is not, and is winning. Why are the Dems doing this?? The GOP is having more fun! My kind, anyway.”
I don’t think its entirely accurate to imply that the Democrats won by abandoning their base. They very nearly abandoned everything before turning it around. In the end they realized that walking would lose them every supporter they had left. So yes, they pushed through a bill that finally does just enough for the base to preserve their Party. For Democrats, this is an almost novel change in strategic thinking — sometimes what the base wants may be a good thing — sometimes you have to deliver something of what you sold to them up front.
In response to another comment. See in context »They came to this so late in the game that the bill still reeks, and that does not speak well, and to think they’ll take the lesson to heart is an act of sheer optimism. But:
the GOP very nearly won this one (contrary to what others are saying). I assert this. And I assert that the big thing that turned the tide is D’s learning that the more they compromised the weaker they became.
Next time, just maybe, they’ll be less inclined to give away their lunch money up front.
You don’t have to assert it much. It’s readily obvious the victory was narrow. (But it was also likely.)
Imploring Dems to be more feisty and more progressive is great. More, please. But so much of the energy put into these calls seems to be generated by a sort of outrage that I find generally deplorable: accusations of insufficient purity.
I think these purity-based arguments habitually overlook structural realities. Like, for example, the existance of Blue Dogs. Or the reason Dogs get elected. Instead, I think there’s a lot of wishful thinking that dilutes perfectly good idealism. And a lot of anger at the resultant frictions, which can get in the way.
I suspect a certain Oval Office occupant thinks this way, too.
In response to another comment. See in context »Maybe this new bill will send premiums spiraling so far out of control that the health insurance racket finally has to be dumped? This assures the next president is republican, of course, but perhaps in ten years, after we’re all equally in the poor house, national politics will be forced to deal in reality.
[...] Baby Killers! – Matt Taibbi – Taibblog – True/Slant [...]
Now that Democrats have transformed the healthcare system, ended the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, repealed the FISA laws, begun investigating the Cheney/Bush/Rumsfeld war crimes, closed Gitmo and have dismantled and increased regulation of the financial industries… it’s about time they got to work on gutting and ending Social Security.
Just watch over the next few months and years as …
- portions of this get amended and/or reversed as reality sets in,
- as unintended consequences are revealed,
- as political party powers change
- as our national debt balloons
“Our national debt ballons”? Uh yeah–think that has already happened. At $100 billion per year this will cost the U.S. government less than 1/6 of what it spends on the War Department.
Real health-care reform should actually increase tax revenue flow over the long term. Workers are happier and healthier without the fear of catastrophic medical expense. It should increase entrepreneurial activity as individuals will no be chained to their jobs for fear of losing coverage.
In response to another comment. See in context »Here’s great talk by Daniel Kahneman at TED (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory.html) that makes a point as to why universal health care would contribute well to society. You have to get into the video a bit, but the whole talk is worth observing.
In response to another comment. See in context »It’s a false dichotomy, anyway. People prefer watching fights to rational discussion of the issues, so a great divide between the Republicans and Democrats was manufactured, even though it does not exist. O’Reilly screaming at Al Franken gets the attention; as a result, everything is painted as a two-sided battle. If an issue can’t be marketed as right-left, it’s not an issue that will be covered.
George Washington, in his farewell address, said: “The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”
Today we say screw Washington. What did he know? It’s the Repugnicans and Limbaugh and Hannity that are the problem, we all know that. Or, if we don’t know that, we know it’s the Democraps and Olbermann and the socialists. Choose a side and prepare to be outraged! We want nothing but outrage — and the advertisements they run between the sessions of outrage.
I agree. I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching a game of bad cop/good cop on healthcare. The Republicans provide a monolithic wall of hysterical opposition providing cover for the Democrats and Obama to strike their back-door deals with the insurance industry to insure, well, their profits. Then this is sold as some kind of great victory against the implacable foe of right-wing obstructionism–instead of what it really is–a complete capitulation to corporate interests.
In response to another comment. See in context »Matt, it looks strange because it is. We’re witnessing the start of a rare political re-alignment, such as we’ve seen only a handful of times before. The teabaggers will lead a small group off the ledge, but the remnant will likely coalesce around someone rather like Obama, while the younger, more overtly progressive movement will capture the left. Net result will be a decidedly left-y orientation. Compared to today, it’ll be trotsky-ish!
[...] [6] http://socialistworker.org/2008/08/07/mccains-race-card [7] http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010…/baby-killers/ [8] http://voices.washingtonpost.com/pos…hting_for.html [9] [...]