Republicans Were Right When They Said Parker Griffith Can't Be Trusted On Health Care

Parker Griffith is having a tough time with his re-election battle in northern Alabama. The one-term former Blue Dog was the single most consistent aisle crosser in Congress, voting with the GOP far more frequently (on contested, substantive issues) than with the Democrats. He was especially incensed that most Democrats oppose abolishing the estate tax-- a crucial issue for this conservative, multimillionaire who has developed a political outlook based strictly around Greed and Selfishness. But Republicans in the district have a profound dislike for Griffith a dislike carefully nurtured by the national Republican Party and their noise machine. Take a look at the NRCC ad devoted to Griffith above. One day they are demonizing his and the next day he's St. Parker. Today he delivered the weekly Republican national radio address.

A doctor-- although the Republican Party has pointed out that he was a crooked doctor, milking the system and mistreating his patients for personal profit-- Griffith says he switched teams because the Democrats had lost their way on health care reform. First off, were the Republicans lying when they spent thousands of dollars to point out what a corrupt sack of shit Griffith was professionally? Or are they lying now? It's got to be one or the other. Rewriting history is a tricky thing and there's bound to be someone like Winston Smith around.

His speech today was pure right wing shillery: "a massive government takeover of healthcare," "higher taxes," "slashing Medicare benefits," "job killing"... and that was just the first paragraph! "It would," he avows, "put federal bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by patients and doctors" [though according to the GOP, certainly not corrupt, sleazy doctors like Parker Griffith]. Who is he talking to? People who haven't had any experience with the healthcare system in the last decade? Decisions are made by for-profit insurance company executives whose bonus schedules are determined by how many people they can turn down for treatment their doctors recommend. Who else can possibly believe these Republican lies but the totally ignorant and clueless-- and, perhaps like Griffith-- delusional or self-serving?