On Obama’s 100th day in office the House passed the budget with absolutely zero yes Republican votes, continuing their run as the party of NO.
In addition, John McCain boasted about voting against the confirmation of Kathleen Sebelius to be Secretary of Health and Human services on Twitter:
voted against Sebelius – already moving toward socialized car companies, we don’t need socialized medicine!
What’s ironic about this is that one of the things that is killing the US auto industry is the cost of providing health benefits for their retirees. So if we had fixed our out-of-control and insanely expensive health insurance system, maybe the car companies wouldn’t have needed to get bailed out in the first place.
But what makes this even more ironic is McCain saying “WE don’t need socialized medicine”. McCain has been the beneficiary of this kind of health coverage all of his life. He was born, after all, in a military hospital (in Panama no less, but do any wing-nuts question his presidential qualifications?), grew up getting all his care on military bases, then switched to getting Congressional health care from the government. Gee, that “socialized medicine” must really be terrible!
I also need to point out the repeated false characterization of Obama’s health care proposal as “socialized medicine”. This is another case where the Republicans figure if they repeat something often enough, people will believe it. Nobody is proposing socializing doctors or hospitals. Obama isn’t even proposing a “single-payer government-run system” (like they have in Canada or England).
So when McCain says “WE” he really means is “I’ve got mine; the rest of you peasants can just rot.” Who needs a secretary of Health and Human services? I already get my free flu medicine from the government, who cares about you?
Incidentally, I’m very impressed that McCain is actually using Twitter. Welcome to the innertubes! And there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that his Twitter status is “still a loser”.
8 Comments
Like you say Obama’s plan is NOT socialized health care. But it should be. It really is time to put single payer health care on the table.
In the first sentence, you mean zero REPUBLICAN yes votes.
Otherwise, it makes no sense.
What djerrid said. (I’ve been grading final essays and exams all week: first year college stuff. Please don’t even get me started. 😉 )
Oops! Thanks for the correction. I think this is the first time I have fixed a post from the beach. Thank goodness for the iPhone.
Thanks for rubbing it in, IK.
Yeah, what Sammy said, Iron Knee. We nearly had snow last week. Send some of the warmth this way!
Brilliant, once again.
-the irony of the military and va systems being socialized health care systems
-the repeating of false characterizations enough times to become truth
-the wingnuts not uttering a word about Panama
I’ve only 3 things I would add:
-the public school system (socialized education) and the police and fire system (socialized socialized security) are brilliantly-working systems of “socialism” the right conveniently forgets about
-indeed, when you think about it, they use the word socialized to conjure up fears of Orwellian-type allusions of big brother” in people’s heads
-the more appropriate comparison for Obama’s health care proposal is Japan, where physicians and a good chunk of the health insurance sector are in the private sector and the government simply provides an alternative insurance program for those who don’t already get it through work. i happen to agree that the single-payer systems in Canada and the UK are superior, but that’s not to say that the Japanese have such bad model, either. Let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Warmth? Who said anything about warmth? Even in the summer, beaches here are never hot. In fact, it rained at the beach, but that didn’t stop us from exploring some really beautiful sea caves, watching bald eagles, and eating great food.