On the verge of losing the debate on health care, Coburn decided to threaten Democratic members of the U.S. House who changed their vote from "no" to "yes." Coburn says he'll use Senate rules to punish these folks.
Coburn, apparently, thinks he's on a mission from God. News Flash: He's not.
He is grandstanding, however, trading statesmanship for pandering and hoping that the good people of Oklahoma won't notice how petty he has become.
But you can fool some of the people some of the time. As evidence, we reprint this weirdness from another Tulsa blog, one that supports Coburn's hyperbolic rhetoric:
Thus Americans are gathering in; defense of their Constitution, opposition to the targeted destruction of the finest quality healthcare system in history of mankind, and stinging rebuke of the current Marxist Administration of President Barack Hussein Obama.Wow! Someone around T-town is off their meds. (Probably can't afford them!)
As it happens, the U.S. health care system works best for people who have the means to pay for it—tough luck for poor people or anyone else who suffers from a major accident or dread disease.
5 comments:
...hoping that the good people of Oklahoma won't notice how petty he has become.
Don't kid yourself. He will cruise to re-election.
Probably... But once Oklahomans begin to benefit from health care reform, wait a generation.
That generation will say, "Don't take our Medicare OR our Health Care away," while still decrying socialism.
But I could be wrong. "Socialism" might be as popular in Oklahoma by then as "Conservatism" is now.
Here is Man of the West's take on my comment from his own site:
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"Basically, he (Tulsan) said to wait a generation and then, you'll never be able to wean people off it--government health care, that is. Oh, he couched it in terms of the people 'benefiting' from it for a generation, which is obviously highly debatable, but I think he's right in that other respect. If the Democrats get this passed, they know perfectly well it will ultimately become one more untouchable entitlement program that will help to keep their party in power--especially if, via comprehensive immigration reform amnesty, they get about 12 million new voters in the next few years.
"They might lose power this year, the thinking goes, but after that, it's perpetual Democratic one-party rule, baby! So the only problem, from their perspective, is getting sitting Congressmen to walk the plank for the sake of the party's future."
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So MotW feels Health Care Reform is no more than strategic maneuvering by the Democratic Party. Any reduction in human suffering (and reduction of the deficit, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's scoring) is purely incidental.
A measure that helps people AND reduces the deficit could help a political party? What an outrage!
Re immigration: Karl Rove as GOP strategist desperately wanted to bring the Hispanic population into their tent. He could read the numbers. But the GOP's strong xenophobic wing overrode this plan. They couldn't help but wreck his sensible plan.
Re: "it's perpetual Democratic one-party rule, baby!"... this is classic GOP projection. As you may recall, Rove had in mind permanent GOP power as a result of his machinations during the W era.
Too bad his party couldn't avoid showing its true colors way too soon for that to happen. (And the results of W's policies didn't help much, either.)
My comment was not so much about weaning Oklahomans onto affordable health care, as MotW seems to take it. It was poking fun at how far behind the times this state usually is, and its lack of comprehension that Medicare is accurately describable as socialism.
MotW has indicated in the past that he intends to take advantage of socialistic programs such as Social Security and Medicare, despite philosophically disagreeing with their very existence.
I presume that Health Care Reform is another benefit he will sensibly avail himself and his family of. Can't fault his practicality.
Speaking of Rove, he didn't exactly cover himself in glory this morning on "This Week" on the topic of health care:
Karl Rove: "This thing is paid for with Bernie-Madoff-style accounting. ... It's a gigantic disaster."
David Plouffe: "Karl and the Republicans would be familiar with that."
Rove: "You will bankrupt the country if this bill passes. ... For God's sake, will you stop throwing around epitaphs [sic] and deal with the facts for once, David? ... We will fight the election on this,. and the Democrats will have significant losses in the House and Senate as a result of this bill."
Plouffe: "If Karl and a lot of Republicans want to call the election already, they ought to break out that 'Mission Accomplished' banner."
Rove: "That's cheesy, David. ... You should not denigrate the mission of the USS Abraham Lincoln."
I heard Michael Steele use that same malaprop, "epitaph," on another network this morning. Coincidence?
Maybe "epitaph" sounds worse than "epithet," just as "fascist" sounds worse than "socialist?" Meaning doesn't matter, just random negative association?
By all rights, the GOP ink sac should be near empty by now. In the squid, it is located right next to the rectum.
But seriously, I was touched to observe Karl's deep concern for the possible losses to the Democratic Party if they pass HCR. Dems should certainly heed his words in the spirit in which they were intended.
I was going to leave a comment here, but it wound up being too long. I will turn it into a post instead, if you're interested.
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