The tea party people have been saying their opposition has nothing to do with racism. I've thought differently all along. But what happened today in Washington, I think bears out my worst fears, that racism is at the core of the opposition to health care reform, and any other major changes President Obama has on his agenda.
"Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that healthcare protesters at the Capitol directed racial epithets at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked outside.
Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called Lewis the N-word.
Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby members at the 11th hour.
Lewis was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King. Jr. "
10 comments:
Sure, talk about a few nuts, anything to avoid talking about the colossal fraud Obama and the Pelosicrats are perpetrating on us.
Collect 10 years of taxes to pay for 6 years of health care.
Cut medicare reimbursements to make the bill "deficit neutral" then have another bill that restores the fees.
You guys need to pull your heads out of your MSNBC and HuffPo and start reading CNN and ABC.
Silverfiddle, well, at least it's paid for, which is more than anyone could say for Medicare Part D, which was not paid for and Bush suppressed the real cost of to the American taxpayer.
There is no cut in medicare reimbursements.
32 million people will get covered, that's saying something. Much more than the Republicans can say they every did.
Silverfiddle - It is interesting to note that the very arguments you are forwarding was also the rallying lament when both Social Security and Medicare was passed years ago. I am not happy with this bill - but only because I don't think it goes far enough. I am for single payer/universal health care. On balance, it will benefit us. IF any of the provisions you have so railed against - come to pass, I think you will see a swift correction made in the law. I wish you had exhibited the same outrage when the Republicans passed Medicare Part D - a "colossal fraud" on seniors instigated by big pharma. Also a budget buster!!
It is not unreasonable to come to the conclusion that "many" of the people opposing this - or any health care reform - have ulterior motives. The most blatant is racism. Along that line is the industry backed "push back" who are using the tea party as a front to protect their greed. Mix in a healthy dollop of paranoia, Libertarianism and ignorance - and eureka, you have a solid opposition. The Republicans have been masters at exploiting this movement. I have said it before, and I will say it again. It is not 'big government' we need to worry about, it is 'big business'.
"it is interesting to note that the very arguments you are forwarding was also the rallying lament when both Social Security and Medicare was passed years ago"
And they are broke too! Excellent point. We are borrowing money to fund these programs and it will only get worse.
I just don't understand how you can have so much faith and confidence in government. Look at what liberals have done to your state. You bled out around 70,000 jobs over the past decade. Where did they go? China? India?
No, they went south, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Texas...
Silverfiddle, Social Security and Medicare funding can be fixed. One thing we can do that would fix SS overnight is to eliminate the cap on the SSI tax. Why should people making over $92,000 or so not pay the same tax as everyone making less than that?
Medicare can also be fixed. You go ahead and try to eliminate those two programs and see what happens to the Republican vote. They will lose every senior citizen in America.
In fact, Republicans had a chance to vote to eliminate Medicare and NOT ONE Republican voted to do it. That is they height of hypocrisy. If Medicare is such a terrible program, why didn't one Republican vote to eliminate it?
First of all, I'm not a shill for any political party.
Second of all, please direct me to a website that shows how the current system can be fixed.
Projections I have seen show Medicare, medicaid, social security and interest payments eventually consuming 100% of the budget if responsible adults don't step in and make some tough decisions.
Past performance, regardless of party, points to another colossal failure.
Speaking of taxes, almost 50% of the population pays no income taxes. Do you recommend they step up and pay their fair share as well?
silverfiddle - funding social programs is always an ongoing problem. Why? Simple - people have to pay for it and far too many expect a free lunch and far too many are selfish and don't want to pay for it. We will inevitably get into a circular argument when it gets to paying taxes - the rich paying their fare share, ad finitum! These programs such as social security and Medicare are inherently good ideas. What it boils down to is the ideological divide that separates us - social good for the commons or 'laissez faire capitalism. I doubt we will ever bridge that gap. I still see it as the "me" vs "we" mentality.
silverfiddle, you blame we liberals for the plight of Michigan's economy. I say you suffer from "plantation mentality". Aside from the fact that as many jobs got shipped overseas as has "gone south", the specter of union labor comes to mind. You seem to feel that a demand for fair compensation for our labor as unions try to extract for their members, is somehow ruinous to our economy,yet seem to think it is perfectly OK for companies such as the Trans-national corporations to reap unheard of profits for the upper echelons of management and stock holders. Obscene profits are OK, but living wages are not!! That is what I refer to as the Plantation mentality.
As a final 'aside' - my faith in government is neither blind or limitless. My distrust of big business however, it great. They are impervious to public pressure except in rare cases, where as government use to be receptive to the people. I hope we can return it to that again. At least we have a shot with government - there is little hope we can convince big business to develop a conscience.
"You seem to feel that a demand for fair compensation for our labor as unions try to extract for their members, is somehow ruinous to our economy"
You said it, I didn't. So how has it worked out for you so far?
As for corporations and bonuses and all that, I don't give a shit how much a CEO makes as long as he makes it honestly, and that is where good government comes in.
A good government doesn't crawl into bed with wall street and rig the game for the ones who laid out big political contributions (bribes).
A good government sets the rules and referees them. We don't have that in this country, we have crony capitalism.
Why didn't they just outlaw the insurance industry and go to single payer? Because there is too much political money to be made milking them in return for favors.
Look around. We are over governed. Governments worldwide have overpromised and underdelivered. You can bang on about greedy corporations, and in some instances I would agree with you.
But it's the government's job to set the rules and enforce them. Instead, they busy themselves telling me how big my toilet tank must be and what kind of light bulbs I can buy.
btw, I already know I won't get social security
Jay-Ney is such an articulate spokesman for the Democrats...
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