Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Barney And Rachel Nail The Republicans The Way They Should Be Nailed Every Single Day

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If the media wasn't owned lock, stock and barrel by the big corporate interests desperate to maintain the status quo for their own sake, what you're going to see below is how real news and opinion TV would look every day instead of that drivel coming out of CNN, Fox and the broadcast networks.

Rachel starts off on her own-- well, not exactly on her own. She has a little help from Republican Governors Schwarzenegger (CA) and Crist (FL) representing virtually all governors of both parties with the exception of a tiny handful of secessionists and über-partisan hacks like Mark "Tango Dancer" Sanford (SC), Rick Perry (TX), John Hoeven (ND) and delusional presidential aspirants Tim Pawlenty (MN) and Bobby Jindal (LA), in talking about how useful and successful Obama's stimulus package has been in saving and creating jobs, not Inside-the-Beltway, where out-of-touch congressional ideologues spend their lives, but in America, which they all avoid assiduously. Governors of 42 states and 5 territories signed a letter to Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell urging them to give Obama their "assistance in protecting jobs and speeding economic recovery by extending the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA) enhanced federal match for Medicaid (FMAP) for two additional quarters." Yes, even far right Republicans like Haley Barbour (MS), Sonny Perdue (GA), Bob McDonald (VA), Mitch Daniels (IN), Bob Riley (AL), Dave Heineman (NE) and Sean Parnell (AK), when faced with the realities of real life Americans elected congressmembers Inside-the-Beltway are shielded from (they only talk to wealthy donors and lobbyists), aren't willing to throw their state's citizens under the bus for narrow partisan gain.

You'd never know it from listening to obstructionist GOP hacks like Boehner, Cantor, Pence, McCotter, Foxx, Issa, Ryan, McHenry, Schock, etc., but last year's stimulus bill created something like 2.1 million jobs in the last three months of 2009 according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Crist: "We accepted the stimulus money; I think all of my fellow governors did. I think it was the responsible thing to do for the people and it puts people above politics. In Florida alone, for example, it created or maintained at least 87,000 jobs."

Schwarzenegger: "I have been the first of the Republican governors to come out and support the stimulus money... and anyone who says it hasn't created a job can talk to the 150,000 people who have been getting jobs in California."

And then Rachel talked about the grotesque hypocrisy and partisan game-playing of Lindsey Graham, Tim Pawlenty and John McCain. Man, did she nail those three-- especially poor pathetic old McCain! And then she brought on Barney Frank, who's been working with Republicans in Congress since 1980 and has some understanding of what makes them tick, to drive a stake through their hearts. You've got to watch this:

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1 Comments:

At 6:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As health costs keep rising, Obama tries once again...

For all the Republican rhetoric criticizing health reform as a government takeover of health care, the House and Senate bills really went out of their way to keep the
free market in play. The plan President Obama unveiled Monday does enhance government's power - by giving authority to deny excessive premium increases by insurers.

Obama's proposal to create a seven-member rate authority to review premiums is sure to anger insurers, but until a wider health reform can be enacted, the proposed board would provide needed protection against unconcionable rate increases.

Politically, the new proposal puts Obama and the Democrats on the side of the consumer and against insurers, at a time when some annual ra te increases are approaching 40 percent and the five largest providers alone reported $12.2 billion in profits last year.

Obama can now dare congressional Republicans to defend the insurers when they meet for their health summit Thursday.

The rate increase in the non-group insurance market would be nowhere near as steep if health reform was already in place. The bills already passed by the House and Senate seek to bring down costs by rewriting the rules of the marketplace.

Obama's plan could benefit from one sensible Republican proposal - reform of medical malpractice to reduce nuisance suits and defensive medicine. But so far, the chief Republican contribution to the debate has been to try to stop reform in its tracks to keep Obama from achieving universal insurance.

On Thursday, Republicans can continue on that course to join with Obama in both limiting health care increases and extending coverage to 31 million Americans.

The Boston Globe 2/24/2010

 

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