Republican Jackass of the Week

Meet Representative Tim Murphy (R) of Pennsylvania.

He and several other Regressive Republicans in congress were awfully understanding and unusually apologetic as they begged for patience regarding the myriad of problems that occurred for four months when Medicare Part D enrollment began back in 2006. Back then the rollout was a disaster, with sign-up problems and a website that didn't work properly for over four months.

So are they singing the same tune now that the ObamaCare website is having problems? Of course not. Just listen to the jaw-dropping hypocrisy from Regressive Timmy in the short clip below.  Lawrence O'Donnell from msnbc humorously pretends they're playing the wrong clip.

Did Obama Lie About ObamaCare?

The short answer is no.

Basic facts:

ObamaCare became law in March 2010.

Anyone who already had an insurance policy they were already satisfied with before that date was allowed to keep it. Period.

Policies as of March 2010 must adhere to new standards.

That being said, many insurance companies have CHANGED THEIR COVERAGE on those policies from before March 2010, and diminished their coverage, making them essentially new policies that, in many cases, do not adhere to minimal standards. These must, therefore, be upgraded.

Unfortunately, many people who claim to love their crappy old policies have never had to use them. Get a disease, need an operation, get cancer or have a horrific accident and suddenly you'll discover you're not covered. The reason you're being dropped in most cases is because your coverage is so poor it's worthless in these cases.

Current requirements include not kicking you to the curb if you have pre-existing conditions, no lifetime caps, free preventive screenings, etc. Old policies that have CHANGED and no longer adhere to current requirements are therefore not really the "old policies" that you had, but rather, new, changed policies. So they must be upgraded. In other words, you can keep your old policy but not if the insurance company decides to change coverage and screw you over. Unfortunately, insurance companies have a habit of changing coverage every year. Your credit card agreement changes every year, too. That's why you receive a long, multi-page, tiny print agreement every year.

If your insurance company has changed your coverage and made it into a crappy policy that doesn't meet standards any longer, of course you cannot keep it because it is no longer the original policy that you were satisfied with. Thank your insurance company for that.

The good news is there are a lot of companies now vying for your business, and many more policies available with better coverage, lower co-pays and sometimes even lower premiums.

Keep in mind some insurance companies are discontinuing certain policies of their own choice and blaming ObamaCare. As you all well know, these for-profit companies have been increasing your premiums, sometimes up to 20%, every year for decades. 

The idea of the individual mandate and more comprehensive coverage is to address the fact that many people have been gouged for years with insufficient policies, and because 30,000,000 uninsured people will now be covered.

We don't want 30 million people using the ER for regular doctor visits that TAXPAYERS have to pay for. People need to take responsibility for themselves.

Republican Jackass of the Week

This one's actually a Republican Religious Nutjob Jackass of the Week.

Meet Kevin Swanson. He's a far rightwing fundamentalist Christian who unfortunately has access to a microphone.

Pastor Kevin Swanson

And he's begging you to boycott Girl Scout Cookies because they... wait for it... promote lesbianism and abortion.

Apparently the Girl Scouts are "antithetical to a biblical vision for womanhood."

"Say no to the Girl Scout cookies," Swanson told his internet radio station listeners. "I don't want to support lesbianism, Planned Parenthood or abortion, and if that be the case I'm not buying Girl Scout cookies."

If "that be the case." Hmm. Sounds like he be home-schooled.

Maybe this religious nutjob from Colorado can join the other one from Gainesville.  One can burn Qurans and the other, Thin Mints.

Read more here if you like. Or just say out loud, "What a Jackass!" and move on.

Kevin Swanson: putting the fun back in fundamentalist!

See you in church, everybody!

Republican Jackass of the Week

We've endured a tsunami of Regressive Republican hypocrisy lately.

They shut down the government and then complain when government services, like maintaining war memorials, end -- and those memorials are closed.

They decry using military veterans as props while using them as props.

And now this latest gem.

A far rightwing Teabagger Republican running for Idaho's House of Representatives is running on a platform of shutting down all government programs including Medicaid.

Problem is, this Teabagger, and all 10 of his kids, are on Medicaid.

His name is Greg Collett (R), and he digs himself a few feet deeper by putting this on his website:

Let me set the record straight. Yes, I participate in government programs of which I adamantly oppose. Many of them, actually. Am I a hypocrite for participating in programs that I oppose?

Yes, Jackass, you are.

It's okay for me to be on Medicaid...

He goes on to awkwardly explain that just because he takes advantage of these programs, it doesn't necessarily mean he supports them. See? He's only trying to "stay out of jail, avoid fines and take care of his family, and these programs are the only practical choice."

Wow.

Greg Collett, Regressive Teabagger wannabe House member from Idaho: our Republican Jackass of the week.

Teabaggers Exploit Veterans

This week, the Million Vet March at the WWII Memorial in Washington DC was crashed and hijacked by racist Teabaggers. Original organizers simply wanted to make the point that war memorials and parks should be allowed to stay open during the shutdown.

As you know, the fringe Teabagger Republicans in the House have been planning on shutting down the US government for months; they have stated so and have been admittedly giddy since it began two weeks ago.

The government shutdown stops vital services for veterans, the elderly, and America's poor, but also furloughs workers who keep tourist attractions and parks open. This makes for a perfect, if not ironic, backdrop for Teabaggers to make a scene.

So the very people responsible for shutting down the government, including the war memorials, were the ones stomping around screaming about them being closed. And then they complained about using vets as pawns, while using them as pawns.

And the usual racist, Obama-hating rhetoric was spewed. We heard about "being Kenyan," "bowing down to Allah," and demands that the President "come out with his hands up." In addition, several Teabaggers/racists waved confederate flags outside the White House. This, you may recall, was the banner under which the slave-owning White Supremacists fought for the right to keep slaves. This is what was waved outside the home of America's first black president.

But they insist they're not racist. See?

Remind your Fox-watching, Teabagging relatives of this little incident the next time they pretend the Teabaggers are not, in reality, 21st Century Klansmen.

And of course, you can't have a racist, blame-Obama-for-the-problem-we-ourselves-created photo op without Canada's Ted Cruz, and America's Favorite Quitter -- the Half-Term Governor of Alaska, Failed Vice Presidential Candidate and Failed Reality Show Host -- running in front of cameras, now can you? That's right: The lovely Sarah Palin flew in from wherever Fox has been hiding her for the last six months to bash Obama.

You betcha.

From Addicting Info and Think Progress:

The trite hypocrisy and shear evil of the actions of the GOP’s Tea Party faction is more dangerous than many believe. It will incite violence. This weekend it wrapped itself in the military veil. The world saw Sarah Palin and the GOP exploiting military veterans. They did so as they attempted to project blame for the shutdown on President Obama.

Suffice it to say Americans are not buying it. Americans love their veterans and understand that a shutdown hurts them both economically and emotionally. Exploiting military veterans will backfire as others take notice and it brings more scrutiny. 

Apparently, the original organizers of the veterans’ march are displeased with the Tea Party’s co-opting of their protest. On the Million Vet March homepage, the organizers suggest a local organizer invited Tea Party and birther groups against the wishes of the veterans:

The political agenda put forth by a local organizer in Washington DC was not in alignment with our message. We feel disheartened that some would seek to hijack the narrative for political gain. The core principle is about all Americans honoring Veterans in a peaceful and apolitical manner.

MSNBC's Martin Bashir saw right through the charade.

Martin Bashir: We bring you an act of such brazen dishonesty and speciousness that it's hard to know where to begin.

Sarah Palin at Rally: Our vets have proven that they have not been timid. So we will not be timid in calling out any who world use our military, our vets as pawns in a political game.

Martin Bashir: Now, for most people, travelling three thousand five hundred miles from Alaska to the nation’s capital in order to grandstand at the Second World War Memorial, that your own political party has caused to close, would seem like a political game. … Keep in mind that it is the Republican Party that continues to shutdown the government, thereby curtailing veterans’ benefits. And it is the Republican Party whose sequester cuts have hammered the military. … The singular proof, that Sunday’s rally was solely about using the military as pawns in a political game.

Larry Klayman at Rally: We are now ruled quote unquote by a president who bows down to Allah. … and to demand that this president leave town, to get out, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up.

Martin Bashir: This is the political game Mrs. Palin and her allies have been playing even before this president was inaugurated. For them this is what the shutdown is really about.

 A closed park is inconvenient. It however is not the most severe pain being felt by veterans at this time. If Palin and the GOP were not simply exploiting military veterans, they would know that.

This government shutdown is affecting the well-being of veteran families and ordinary families. This shutdown has affected the payments of death benefits to the families of veterans. This shutdown is affecting the backlog of veterans’ disability claims. In effect, Tea Party Right Wing Republicans applied a significant amount of pain to veterans and their families in order to satisfy an irrational hate of President Obama. That is the height of exploiting military veterans.

Republican Jackass of the Week

Congressman Randy Neugebaur (R, what else?) from Texas.

The congressman was one of the many Regressive Republicans in the House who voted for the government shutdown, and then visited the WWII memorial and actually told a park ranger she should be ashamed of herself for the closure of the memorial.

WTF?

Here's the story.

Here's what I put on the "good congressman's" Facebook page:

You and the rest of these rightwingers gleefully shut down govt, including these people whom you feel the need to berate, because you folks tried -- and failed -- 44 times to repeal a perfectly Constitutional law that you don't happen to like. Now you geniuses want to defund and delay it by tying it to something totally unrelated -- the funding of the US govt. 
So you have a temper tantrum because ObamaCare cannot and will not be repealed, shut down the government, and then have another temper tantrum in front of a government worker at a memorial YOU caused to close down.
You're an embarrassment. RESIGN NOW.

 

Here's the link to his Facebook page. Have at it.

Boehner's Latest Government Shutdown

A few facts:

About 900,000 people's jobs and paychecks are affected by this latest partial government shutdown.

There are 435 US House members. About 40 of them are the far rightwing fringe Teabaggers.

The Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare, was passed in 2010. It was approved by the US House, the US Senate, signed by the President of the US and deemed Constitutional by the US Supreme Court.

Sad, drunken clown

John Boehner, the least effective Speaker of the House in American history, knows he has more than enough Democratic and Republican House votes to pass the Senate's "clean" bill (one that doesn't contain add-ons to defund or repeal ObamaCare) and keep the US government funded.

Despite all this, the cowardly Speaker of the House has refused to allow the Senate bill to come to a vote in the House, where it would easily pass. Why? Because he's scared to death of the Teabaggers, who would revolt. He'd probably lose his job as ineffective Speaker and go back to just being another ineffective Congressman.

So he's putting 900,000 jobs and paychecks on the line to save his own. This guy is an embarrassment.

President Obama is right. Allowing this bunch of radicals to defund or delay ObamaCare for a year would mean that any rogue member of congress in the future would be able to pick any established law, and simply because he doesn't like it, hold the US hostage until his demands to defund, delay or repeal it are met.

Funny thing is, despite all the Regressive Republicans' worst efforts, and despite the partial government shutdown, today is the day ObamaCare opens to the public nonetheless. Today's the day you can go to healthcare.gov and begin sorting through all the affordable options available to you.