Durst writes: "The official party line on Obamacare is 'repeal and replace,' but nobody has anything to replace it with. Ask for specifics and Republicans mumble and fidget."
Political satirist Will Durst. (photo: WillDurst.com)
The Could Care Less Party
15 July 12
ll of America should drop to its knees and thank the GOP for attempting to provide us with replacement fireworks. As you undoubtedly know, cities all over the country this year were forced to cancel Fourth of July festivities due to fear of fire, glitchy computers and twitchy bureaucrats. Like there's another kind.
The Republican House took great pains to salve our sensory-deprived souls by trying to set off enough indoor fireworks to make the San Diego Big Bay Bust look like a fluttering votive candle. It was designed to be a spectacular explosion fueled by ego, obstinacy and behavior so self-absorbed, the casual bystander might assume we were in the middle of an election year.
For the 33rd time, all House business slammed to a grinding halt to accommodate another vote to repeal Obamacare. Again. Thirty-three times. Let's look at that, shall we? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.
You got to give the majority party credit for being able to flog this dead horse without getting any flying bits on them. Thirty-three times is at least 32 times more than the administration ever tried to sell this bill to a public overwhelmingly in favor of its component parts.
They persevered even though everyone knows there's a better chance of flamingoes flying out of monkey butts than the Senate ever signing on. And getting past a presidential veto, substitute polka-dotted pterodactyls for the flamingoes.
As political theater goes, this sad summer-stock production fizzled with tired choreography and a script duller than Shakespeare in modern dress performed by third-graders in Mandarin. No wonder they keep trying to cut funding for the arts, they're deathly afraid of the competition.
They rationalized this particular Theater of the Absurd production by claiming the necessity to make a statement. And indeed a statement has been made. That Congress is broken and impotent and hopelessly in need of adult supervision. Even as we speak, you can hear their 8 percent approval rating clanking down the basement steps to unimagined depths. And they could care less.
It has been estimated this extended season of Cirque de Folly has taken up two cumulative weeks of business at a cost of $24 million a week. That's what it takes to keep the congressional gears oiled and moving. Nearly $50 million to hammer home a point more tedious than slogging through the instruction booklet for an Egyptian-made solar generator.
We're not even talking about more millions wasted to appease the base by blatantly restricting women's rights. This is all perfectly good money that could have been spent on further tax cuts for the rich. Even with inflation, $50 million worth of oil subsidies could go a long way. Any idea how many car elevators you could buy with that kind of money?
The official party line on Obamacare is "repeal and replace," but nobody has anything to replace it with. Ask for specifics and Republicans mumble and fidget and get as vague as Donald Trump talking about the importance of ethics while closing the deal.
First there was Romneycare, and now we got Obamacare, but if the hard-line conservatives get their way, this country is going to end up with We Don't Care. Less Care For You. Could Care Less. Just might have to rename these fiscally responsible charlatans as… The Care Less Party.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
 15 June 2013
|
 15 June 2013
|
 15 June 2013
|
 16 June 2013
|
 16 June 2013
|
 16 June 2013
|
 17 June 2013
|
 16 June 2013
|
 15 June 2013
|
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
Because they're now the Democrats.
Saying they *could* care less means that they do care some, which is quite the opposite of the point you were trying to make.
Seriously, are there no copyeditors employed in journalism, any more?
Grammatically you are correct. But, Mr. Durst was actually using sarcasm of an esoteric sort. The phrase "Could care less" is commonly used in place of the proper "couldn't care less". So what Mr. Durst accomplished was to satirize the common usage by using it as a title to an article that means the complete opposite of the article's intent. Thereby satirizing not only the Republicans and their amazing ability to openly say what the listener wants to hear, but in actuality they say the opposite.
Hats of to Mr. Durst's clever use of English language and its extremely flexible communication modes.
I am tired of arguing against non-existent alternatives.
First thing that has to go is the mandate.
The GOP already did that with the misnamed PATRIOT ACT during Buffoon Bush's administration that had total control of the 108th Congress.
Ridiculous. It doesn't need replacing. Simply lower the age of Medicare eligibility to zero, and patch up the leakage caused by compromises to the private medical insurance industry over the years, and we would have a first-class health care system that would rank with other industrialized countries. And at much less cost than either the current system or Obamacare, which is essentially a government guarantee of continued private insurance profiteering.
See Physicians for a National Health Program for details. http://www.pnhp.org/
There is the rub in Roberts' decision. If he invalidated the mandate, the Dems had the option to pass new legislation next year that would be essentially the same as Obmamcare only Medicare would be enabled for all as a public option.
Roberts decision essentially disallows that from happening.
As happy as I was that Roberts swung over, he did leave behind some poison pills.
So who speaks for the American people on health care? None Of The Above (NOTA)
But of course Re[publicans have been arguing that Medicare is evil since the 1960s.
Quick question: Who said, "If Medicare passes, you'll be able to tell your grandchildren what it was like in this country when men were free"?
Answer: St. Ronald of Hollywood, AKA Ronald Reagan.
"You're fire(d) unemployed" lol
RSS feed for comments to this post