Across the country a funny thing is happening. Despite all the cries of "socialized medicine" and all the doomsayers that stated that America would be gasping her last breath if we got healthcare reform, support for the healthcare bill is going up. While I believe that the bill that was passed did not go nearly far enough, many claim it was a government takeover of the industry and it has been blasted since before it was passed. However, now it appears as if the whole country is figuring out what we here have known for a long time. The Right-Wing gasbags who preached doom and warned of the "government taking over your Medicaire" are completely full of hot air.
Today is Tea Party Day yet again. The day that the greediest and least patriotic among us will hold rallies across the country as well as descending upon Washington D.C. However, on this "Tea-Party" day I think it is very relevant to look at exactly who these folks are and what section of the population they represent. Luckily, a new NY Times/CBS poll goes a long way in doing just that.
I guess it was only a matter of time. After a long, drawn out healthcare fight in which a healthcare reform bill was passed now at least one Republican doctor wants to refuse to treat those who voted for Barack Obama. Quite ironically, this doctor live in the district of Progressive hero Alan Grayson who has found another doctor.
Through all the health care debacle Republicans really had no solutions whatsoever. Why should they?? As the party of the greediest and least patriotic of course they themselves had health coverage, or were even drawing that dreaded evil and demonic "government controlled" health care known as Medicare or Medicaid. Who cares if you cancer victims or Type 1 Diabetics or any other sick person went bankrupt or not?? Why it made much more sense for them to be forced to go to the Emergency Room and bankrupt our country than to cost a few insurance company profits did it not??
Remember when Rush Limbaugh said that he would leave the country if the healthcare bill passed?? Now, we all now Rush Limbaugh is a shameless liar and propogandist and now he seems to be backing out of his promise to leave the country. Of course, Limbaugh would fit in a lot better joining Mitch McConnell as a citizen of Communist China, but lo and behold here in America we will still have to deal with him firing up the mindless masses. I guess he was upset because the healthcare bill may not allow for doctor shopping to attain his beloved Oxycontin.
Well, the Healthcare Bill will soon go to the President's desk. While this bill does have some good to it, and will extend coverage to millions while hopefully keeping those of us with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage in retrospect this fight can only be viewed as a sorry saga for our country. Along the way you had Republicans and Democrats both confirming the worst stereotypes about their parties.
For well over a year now we have marveled at the antics of the Tea-Bag movement. Through it all one thing that seems obvious to folks like myself and many of the readers of our site is t that this movement is not centered around any kind of reality or sanity. One thing this movement has always seemed based in is greed. Now, the tea-bag movement has exposed it's other agendas, hate and racism.
In the Second Congresssional District of Kentucky things are beginning to heat up. Although there is no Democratic primary, there is a fine Democrat running named Ed Marksberry. Now, because he has no primary opponent Marksberry is not sitting still waiting for the race to begin. Yesterday he blasted the incumbent Republican Brett Guthrie for his inaction in solving the nation's problems and slowing our economic recovery by following who he really serves, Mitch McConnell and taking a page from the McConnell obstructionist playbook.
Despite some inner bickering, one thing Kentucky Progressives agree on is that Congressman John Yarmuth of Kentucky's Third Congressional District is Congressman awesome. A co-sponsor of HR 676 and constant friend to the working American Yarmuth has been a leader in the Congress since first elected in 2006. Yarmuth was at it again in a video released today, linking the lack of Universal Healthcare directly to the loss of jobs in his district and calling out Mitch McConnell for delaying the process of fixing a broken healthcare system.
Alan Grayson has been a godsend in a mostly disappointing Democratic Congress. Like John Yarmuth of Kentucky, he has been elected in a district that is not a cakewalk but still fearlessly stands up for what he believes is right. With the Healthcare fight raging on and getting closer to an up or down vote, Grayson is once again trying to speak for the will of the majority of the American people who would like to see at least a public option in the Healthcare bill that will eventually be voted on.
Its about time. For decades Progressives in Kentucky have been completely disgusted with the anti-American tactics used by Mitch McConnell and his minions in the Kentucky Republican Party who followed him like obsessed disciples. When President Obama first entered office I could not believe that a man as seemingly intelligent as he is could ever think he would be able to work with a man such as McConnell. Now, it appears after reaching out to McConnell and his radically Corporate Republian Party and pulling back a bloody nub just as we predicted here the President has had his fill. Thankfully, he is finally taking McConnell and his crowd to task.
We all know how loud, boisterous and idiotic the tea-bagger movement was in disrupting the townhalls last year with their rude behavior and little concern for fellow citizens views. With that in mind proponents of Universal Healthcare are also waging a campaign to be heard. Thousands of them rallied today in Washington D.C. to make their voices heard. It remains to be seen if they will get the same airplay as the opponents of Progress in our country.
Some of the most frustrated folks in America right now are the leaders of America's labor movement. They have good reason to be, as an all-out war has been waged basically by both parties upon them in the last several decades. After the last election, when they used so much energy and support working Americans won the White House and a huge majority in both chambers of Congress they had really hoped that the plight of working Americans would be addressed through healthcare, wages, an end to outsourcing and the Employee Free Choice Act.
After the much advertised "bi-partisan" forum on healthcare it seems to me one glowing fact remains for the American people to be blinded by. Republicans simply have no interest whatsoever in changing one of the most costly and least effective healthcare systems in the world. They also care very little about whether millions of uninsured Americans recieve coverage and ultimately seek Emergency Room treatment for illness, passing the cost on to everyone else. Now, it is time for Democrats to take off the gloves, come out swinging and fight with every power at their disposal to pass true healthcare reform.
The most hypocritical Senator for Communist China, Mitch McConnell is at it again. Yes, this man talks a good game about the American people while he outsources their jobs to oppressive governments who use virtual slave labor all while telling them we should "listen to" them. However, the sorry truth is that Mitch McConnell could really care less about what the American people think.
After months of leaving it to Congress to come up with the details of the Healthcare Bill the President Obama has released his own plan for healthcare. The only problem is that it widely resembles the plan put foward earlier by the Senate in many regards. While the House plan was far from perfect it was far superior to the Senate plan in many ways. Unfortunately, the President still seems to think that compromising with Corporate Democrats instead of using the bulley-pulpit for forcing real reform is the best route to go.
In Kentucky there is one person that working folks simply know as Congressman Awesome. With our depressing Congressional delegation, he is the one bresh of fresh air on the national scene. He is Congressman John Yarmuth of Kentucky's Third Congressional District in the Louisville area. He has been a godsend not only for Kentucky Democrats, but for all of those in the country who truly believe in Democratic ideals for our country. With the dangerous environment for incumbents, national Democrats need to do all they can do to help us get John Yarmuth re-elected.
Instead of fighting for real healthcare reform it seems as if long ago President Obama has settled in on a strategy of "reaching out" to Republicans and Corporate Democrats. This will include a televised debate on Feb. 25 between the two parties. Now, reaching out would not be such a bad thing, if it weren't for the Republicans simply not wanting any real reform in the system and doing all they can to slow and stop the process. Just a look at some Republican ideas lets you know this is yet again another practice in futility.
All through the healthcare debate last year Republicans made one thing perfectly clear. They simply would not accept any kind of meaningful reform and indeed just sought to delay the problem by making President Obama and the Democrats mad. Now, one leading Progressive is scoffing at the idea of bi-partisanship on healthcare and is offering the suggestion that could have saved healthcare if it would have been fought for, the public option.
I guess the lessons of last year have not completely set in. All the lies about "death panels" and "death books" and all the right-wing lunatics shouting like idiots at town-halls must be a distant memory. That is because it seems as if the President seems determined to repeat the failures of last year. Has he not learned when you reach out to Republicans all you do is pull back a bloody nub??
