Give up, GOP ~ Obamacare is Here to Stay

Just a few days ago Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Kentucky said that the Fall 2014 elections would circle around the failure of Obama's signature health plan known as Obamacare. Paul Ryan in his most recent scary budget plan calls for a repeal, but strangely also includes ways to amend Obamacare, so citizens can keep what they like but get rid of the rest. Somewhere Ted Cruz and Michele Bachmann and others are mumbling to themselves that the purest of pure Tea Party members still deserve a full repeal, as well as the impeachment of Barack Obama, who was never fit to be President in the first place.

Yep, they can plan, they can chew and re-chew their grumblecake, they can churn out nonsensical budgets with thousands of pages, they can vote to repeal Obamacare for the fifty-fifth time or whatever - but as President Obama said recently, Obamacare is here to stay. End of story. Get off it. Move along. Move Forward in spite of yourselves.

And the best thing ever is this New Yorker Cover, showing Ted Cruz, Bachmann, House Speaker John Boehner, and especially Mitch McConnell lining up as whiny toddlers as grown-up President Obama makes them take their medicine. As a piece of political art, it's sublime. And like Obamacare, it's forever.

From New Yorker artist, Barry Blitt:

“This whole enterprise was just an elaborate excuse,” says Barry Blitt about his cover for this week’s issue. “I enjoyed drawing Ted Cruz, John Boehner, and Michele Bachmann as petulant children—and I especially wanted to draw an open-mouthed Mitch McConnell being spoon-fed his meds.”

Snark in Pictures - Thanksgiving, Pope Francis, Filibusters and Obamacare

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

ACA for Idiots ~ Obama Explains it all Again to Bill and the Demo-Rats

First the Republicans demonized Obamacare as "Death Panels" and "Socialism."

They even tried to shut down the government in order to "repeal it." Didn't work.

It's true there have been problems with the website, but what website in history didn't have glitches? The poutrage from all sides on social media is astonishing since Twitter and Facebook have their own share of problems from hackers and spammers to the KoobFace virus.

But Obamacare has to be held to a higher standard. Why? Because of Obama Derangement Syndrome. This is ridiculous. People on the Left - especially in the media - have whined because the website didn't have Muzak, and whined because the roll-out was a "dismal failure."

The New York Times even compared the bad rollout of the ACA website to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which killed thousands and left thousands more stranded without food and water. Really, New York Times?

Obama even apologized on TV to Chuck Todd of MSNBC in a cringeworthy interview which never should have happened. There's no reason to apologize to media shills since Obamacare hasn't even taken effect yet, and people are still mostly shopping for plans. I have no doubt these kinks in the system will be worked out by January. Millions have already gotten new coverage under the program, including young adults who can now stay on their parents healthcare plans until age 26. Like my daughter for instance, who stayed on the family coverage while in Law School and who now has to buy her own plan as a practicing attorney. Her financial adviser just told her today her best bet for coverage in the coming year is . . . wait for it . . . Obamacare.

Apparently President Bill Clinton didn't get the memo. You remember Bill, the guy who wasn't able to pass his own healthcare initiative while in office, but has now decided to babble about Obama's failure to launch. This has been another moment of chagrin for most Democrats who want to keep our party together in 2014. The hotter heads among us are already saying they will not vote for Hillary in 2016 if Bill is going to attack Obama. That can't be good.

From The Week

President Obama can thank Bill Clinton for the psycho-drama.
Instead of putting some steel into the spines of wavering Democrats, Clinton this week took the opportunity to rebuke the White House for its broken promise that no one would lose their health insurance under ObamaCare. The comments unleashed a no-holds-barred Democratic freak-out, pushing Obama to announce on Thursday a plan to make good on that vow.
. . . As one of the Democratic Party's most respected figures, his word still carries weight among the party faithful, particularly in red states where Obama is kryptonite. So when Clinton publicly chided the administration, it gave congressional Democrats acres of cover to do the same.

Yesterday it all came to a head as there was a revolt among Blue Dog House Democrats like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana who are trying to assauge angry vociferous voters in their districts whose health plans have been cancelled. This has actually affected a small number of Americans but you would think it was happening to every single person from the way the media is covering the story. The Emoprog media, Clinton and these turncoat-Demo-Rats apparently don't even understand what the whiners are whining about, or how ACA Obamacare works.

Why were the plans cancelled by these companies? Because their plans were craptastic to begin with, with high deductibles and almost no hospital coverage. The insurance companies who did this to customers weren't in compliance with the new law, so therefore had to cancel these ridiculous plans. Shall I add that any of those plans could have been cancelled for ANY reason even without Obamacare. Now that we have a "marketplace" of plans, all those policy owners have to do is go search out a new plan instead of whining to Fox and to their local Congressman.

And Bill Clinton needs a course in "ACA for Idiots."
Here's one good explanation of the whole deal from New Republic.



But of course President Obama, who is the nicest and most patient President this country has EVER had, at least in my lifetime, explained it all again in terms even an ex-President can understand. And he said if those silly people want an extension on their horrible coverage, they can have it. I'm not as nice as Barack Obama, so I say to them: Good luck with that. See you next year when you smack your head and sign up for Obamacare.

I'll let the President have the last word - Listen, People!!!

“I’m accused of a lot of things, but I don’t think I’m stupid enough to go around saying, ‘This is going to be like shopping on Amazon or Travelocity’ a week before the Web site opens if I thought that it wasn’t going to work.”
. . . And you know, buying health insurance is never going to be like buying a song on iTunes. You know, it’s just a much more complicated transaction.”

Daffy GOP May Have Finally Gone Too Looney Tunes for America

Last week things in our reality-based centrist country seemed to reach a tipping point as John Boehner and the House of Representatives nearly let the government of the United States go over a cliff because the conservative Tea Party refused to negotiate over the repeal of Obamacare. Never mind that it was impossible to repeal Obamacare, which has nothing to do with the budget anyway. Reality means nothing to orange technicolor cartoon characters like Boehner. If the Koch Brothers or the Tea Party say "Beep Beep" he will jump right over a cliff, no problem.





This time Boehner didn't even have the Acme Tunnel Art Set to paint a get-away for himself on the rocks. In fact, he acted the part of Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius, so convincingly he nearly killed his own Party in a puff of dust at the bottom of the canyon. The "box canyon" that is - the dead end where he and the Tea Party found themselves when Obama refused to negotiate with cartoonish terrorists who don't live in the real world.



People have been predicting the end of the Tea Party since it began. It all started back in 2008 when Sarah Palin appeared on the scene as a Vice Presidential candidate, giving speeches peppered with bizarre metaphors about Musk Oxen and talking about about "Real Americans" (herself and dog-sledding hunter-husband Todd) versus the rest of the country. Her followers, who also considered themselves "Reel 'Mericans" were a mixture of tax-hating Libertarians waving serpentine "Don't Tread on Me" flags, white racists carrying Curious George dolls named "Little Hussein," the Birthers, the Joe the Plumbers, the "Muslin" haters, the Evangelical Holy Rollers. Everyone poked fun at it, from Saturday Night Live to Jon Stewart, but unfortunately the Tea Party was able to win important House seats during the 2010 election giving Republicans the edge. Through red gerrymandered districts, the country is stuck with some of these rodeo clowns. Luckily, the GOP realizes they are stuck with them as well.







This past week, it was no accident that Palin, who now holds no elected office and may never again, suddenly re-appeared on stage with GOP gadfly and "Green Eggs and Ham" lover Senator Ted Cruz on the Washington Mall. They were protesting the very Shutdown that the Teapublicans dreamed of and finally caused by holding the government budget hostage.

Palin is Tea Party royalty, much like the insane Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland who screams "off with their heads" - meaning the government - on every occasion. Ted Cruz, whether he was born in Canada or not, is now the Tea Party King just for "standing up to the establishment," meaning any GOP member who isn't a stark-raving maniac. Together, Cruz and Palin were the Tea Party Dream Team, storming the barricades of Federal Monuments in an act of defiance that they see as a Patriot's gesture, and the rest of the country sees as an illogical embarrassment.



Waving Confederate Flags in front of the White House - never a good idea! Too Bad Foghorn Leghorn wasn't there to explain it to you, son! Many southern GOP Congress people were missing in action that day - there is a line you can cross, even in the Tea Party.



But at least Palin and Cruz admitted they were mostly trying to raise money for the 2016 Presidential race, proving once again that the GOP believes it deserves government money and benefits, not to mention power. They just don't want anyone else to share it.



None of the Cruz/Palin grandstanding even mattered. In the end, the clueless Tea Party couldn't repeal Obamacare, which is the Law of the Land. The Tea Party Representatives began to sound like that Looney Tune of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny screaming "Duck Season!" and "Rabbit Season!" until Daffy is so confused he begs Bugs to shoot him in the head. And that's kinda what happened - with Boehner in neutral, the grown-ups in the Senate had to step in and save his bacon. Then Nancy Pelosi got nearly 200 Democratic Reps to vote with Republicans to stop the shutdown.



The GOP has become a Party without a head. All they have is Droopy Dog RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who was appointed, not elected. Paul Ryan could have stepped up sooner, but he is trying to save his own career. Tea Party voters only had one thing to say on forums, blogs and on the news - they "like" it that Cruz was being obstructionist. "That's what we sent him there for," they said, ignoring the fact that the shutdown was hurting innocent Americans all across the country. It was all about "showing Obama" who was boss. Putting the uppity Negro back in his place, at the expense of closing down our own government.

Is it any wonder Harry Reid chose to call them a "bunch of anarchists?" People like Palin and Cruz want to run the government by destroying the government. Forget Daffy Duck - they sound more like Marvin the Martian. If they had a Space Modulator, they'd probably be pointing at Washington before demanding the reinstitution of slavery in Virginia, like some antebellum Dr. Evil.



Republicans focused on blowing up the Earth, that is, their own heads - that is, their leadership - fought against John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and old-timers like John McCain, once Palin's running mate, now considered too-far-left to be a "real conservative."

But what did Cruz and Company gain, except for some impromptu fundraising? Nothing, as Rachel Maddow pointed out in the graphic below. The only thing the House Tea Party received from the Obama Administration was income verification for people signing up for ACA Obamacare - because, guess what? That was written into the law already! So in effect, they got nothing. Zippo. Yet they kept thinking of new demands, which made them sound even more deranged.



But how bad is the damage, really? Haven't we heard the prediction that the GOP is over, done with, finished too many times to count? Don't the Right Wingers always take a moment to say a few Apocalyptic prayers and come roaring back with a new scheme?

Michele Bachmann, who is the Minnesota version of Sarah Palin, has crashed and burned due to campaign finance problems, and isn't running again. But her conservative district will probably try to find some other gal with a grating midwestern accent and a religious fervor for conspiracy theories. But even Bachmann has to realize that no matter how hard she prayed, Obamacare was never repealed. Isn't that also an answer from God? Could it be that God wants the poor to be cared for, as it says in the Bible by, you know, Jesus Christ?



It could just be that this time the Tea Party Jihadists took their holy war just one Tasmanian Devil hissy fit too far.


Ultra-Conservative Pundit Michelle Malkin on Fox News
via Daily Kos

At least now we don't have to wonder what the Tea Party will do when cornered - when the going got weird, the weird turned pro! They snarled and starting spinning and lying and whatever they had to do. And now the general public has had a glimpse of the real Tea Party that cannot be forgotten so easily.

Not only was their idealogical last stand about denying health coverage to sick and possibly dying people, they openly stated that Obamacare was just the first thing they wanted to repeal or destroy. They wanted President Obama to cut "entitlements" (dreadful word) such as Social Security and Medicare for the elderly. Meanwhile, they also wanted to protect Koch Brothers interests like Big Oil and the Tar Sands Pipeline. All this comes after a session in which the GOP cut Food Stamp money for the poorest Americans from the farm bill, and cut WIC benefits for mothers and babies. Yet they wasted $24 Billion on this useless Shutdown based on ideological nonsense.


To quote ditzy GOP pundit Peggy Noonan in her last post before Romney lost the election last year, you can feel the change in the air. Or see it in the polls. Well, Peggy Noonan never believed the polls about Mitt Romney, and she probably won't believe the polls now. But the truth wins, as we saw in 2012, and it's winning again. The GOP lost and it's time to say "That's All Folks!"

Obamacare Sign Up Begins Today!!!!

We had to endure years of waiting and a government shutdown by the Tea Party wing of the GOP, but as of today Obamacare is law and now folks can start signing up for exchanges in every state.

www.Healthcare.Gov

Find the Marketplace in Your State

Don't get discouraged if the websites go down. That is actually a good sign that millions are logging on to finally get health care. The actual coverage doesn't kick in until January, and you have until December to sign up, so don't panic.

It's 8 a.m. in the east. At this hour, Obamacare is live http://t.co/pdECi7EtRS
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) October 1, 2013

Help get out the word about the #Obamacare health care exchange. Join me and change your avatar to this. #GetCovered pic.twitter.com/BycvPVif3i
— D Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) October 1, 2013

Obama Jokes about GOP View of Obamacare

The President spoke in Maryland yesterday about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) about to kick in for millions of Americans. He also had a few laughs at the expense of the GOP loonies who keep trying to repeal or stop Obamacare, even if they have to shut down the government.

 Just this week, we had Senator Ted Cruz R-Texas attempting a Filibuster (or Fauxlibuster or Sillybuster) to somehow stop the process of implementing Obamacare, with help from Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. Members of their own party from John McCain to Senator Bob Corker R-TN have stepped in to tell him off for his idiotic stance that has divided the Republican Party. Huffington Post reporter Ryan Grim also reported that Cruz himself doesn't need the Senate Health Care plan because - guess what? - he is covered by his wife's elegant-gold-plated health care plan from her employer Goldman Sachs. Sorry Ted Cruz - you fail at all the things, you big phoney hypocrite!

Quotes and Tweets on SnarkAmendment:
Smackdown: Sen. Bob Corker Vs. Ted Cruz on Obamacare
Line forms to criticize Ted Cruz after Filibuster Attempt
Talkative Ted Cruz fumbles to Fauxlibuster Finish Line
Green Eggs and Sham ~ The Ted Cruz Fauxlibuster Continues
Ted Cruz Attempts to Filibuster Obamacare

The Tea Party members quoted by the President include Rep. Michele Bachmann R-Minn. for saying Obamacare will "literally kill people" ; Rep. Bill O'Brien R-NH who compared ACA to the Fugitive Slave Act ; and Rep. John Fleming R-LA for the hyperbolic statement that Obamacare is the biggest threat to our country EVER, in history, EVER!

Transcript at WhiteHouse.Gov

THE PRESIDENT: It is interesting, though, how over the last couple years, the Republican Party has just spun itself up around this issue. And the fact is the Republicans’ biggest fear at this point is not that the Affordable Care Act will fail. What they’re worried about is it’s going to succeed. (Applause.) I mean, think about it. If it was as bad as they said it was going to be, then they could just go ahead and let it happen and then everybody would hate it so much, and then everybody would vote to repeal it, and that would be the end of it.

So what is it that they’re so scared about?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: You! (Laughter and applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: They have made such a big political issue out of this, trying to scare everybody with lies about “death panels” and “killing granny” -- (laughter) -- right? “Armageddon.” So if it actually works, they’ll look pretty bad. If it actually works, that will mean that everything they were saying really wasn’t true and they were just playing politics.

AUDIENCE: That's right!






THE PRESIDENT: Just the other day, one Republican in Congress said we need to shut this thing down before the marketplaces open and people get to see that they’ll be getting coverage and getting these subsidies because -- and I’m going to quote him here -- he said, “It’s going to prove almost impossible to undo Obamacare.” (Laughter.) Right? So in other words, we’ve got to shut this thing down before people find out that they like it. (Laughter and applause.) That’s a strange argument. Don’t you think that’s a strange argument?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

THE PRESIDENT: And the closer we get, the more desperate they get. I mean, over the last few weeks the rhetoric has just been cranked up to a place I’ve never seen before. One congressman said that Obamacare is “the most dangerous piece of legislation ever passed.” (Laughter.) Ever. In the history of America, this is the most dangerous piece of legislation. (Laughter.) Creating a marketplace so people can buy group insurance plans -- the most dangerous ever.

You had a state representative somewhere say that it’s “as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the Fugitive Slave Act.”

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE PRESIDENT: Think about that. Affordable health care is worse than a law that let slave owners get their runaway slaves back.

AUDIENCE: No!

THE PRESIDENT: I mean, these are quotes. I’m not making this stuff up. And here’s one more that I’ve heard -- I like this one -- we have to -- and I’m quoting here -- “We have to repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens.” Now, I have to say -- that one was from six months ago -- I just want to point out we still have women -- (laughter) -- we still have children, we still have senior citizens. (Applause.)

All this would be funny if it wasn’t so crazy. And a lot of it is just hot air. A lot of it is just politics. I understand that. But now the tea party Republicans have taken it to a whole new level because they’re threatening either to shut down the government, or shut down the entire economy by refusing to let America pay its bills for the first time in history -- unless I agree to gut a law that will help millions of people.

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE PRESIDENT: Think about this. Shutting down the government just because you don’t like a law that was passed and found constitutional, and because you don’t like the idea of giving people new access to affordable health care -- what kind of idea is that?

DNC: Stunning Inspirational Speeches

Last night left no doubt that the Democrats have inspirational speakers who know how to touch the hearts of the base, or anyone else who might be watching. And it's not just Michelle Obama.

Stacy Lihn talking about her family's need for President Obama's healthcare plan.


Lilly Ledbetter and her struggle for equal pay.


Deval Patrick ~ the bullies win if we have no backbone.


Julian Castro and the immigrant experience.

Ryan's Plan ~ Screw Everyone Under 55

Since I just turned 52 a few weeks ago and my husband is 49, Paul Ryan makes my blood run cold. He wants to keep Medicare for his Mom's generation, but destroy it for the late baby boomers who were born after 1959. How conveeenient!

Here it is from his own Twitter account:

Medicare should not be used as a piggy bank for Obamacare. Medicare should be the promise that is kept to current seniors. Period.
— Paul Ryan (@PaulRyanVP) August 18, 2012

Get that? Current Seniors, not Future Seniors. Appeal to the safety of those currently receiving Medicare, since they are more likely to vote Republican, but throw the rest of uf under the bus.

This way our children will always be poor because they have to take care of us, our grandchildren won't thrive because all family money will go to hospitals and big pharma and nursing homes, and the only people who have a chance in the future are those like himself and Mitt with inherited wealth and no need for Medicare. The rich get richer and more powerful on tax cuts, and the middle class ceases to exist.

Ryan couldn't have been more honest and yet more repugnant today, using his mother as a prop for the sympathy vote, promising to save Medicare for his Mama and her friends - wealthy people who don't need help - but cutting the rest of us off with only "vouchers" that we can't afford on Social Security. Oh yeah - he wants to cut that, too.


Candidate Paul Ryan's Florida Speech, via MSNBC

Like a lot of Americans, when I think about Medicare it's not just a program, it's not just a bunch of numbers, it's what my mom relies on, it's what my grandma had. Medicare was there for our family, for my grandma, when we needed it then; and Medicare is there for my mom while she needs it now, and we have to keep that guarantee.

Our solution to preserve, protect, and save Medicare does not affect your benefits. Let me repeat that. Our plan does not affect the benefits for people who are in or near retirement.

. . . bureaucrats will not mess with my mom’s healthcare or your mom’s healthcare.

It’s a promise that was made and it’s a promise that must be kept. To save it for this generation, you have to reform it for my generation so it doesn’t go bankrupt when we retire.

Save Medicare for this generation - not the next generation. You got that, folks??? He truly couldn't give a flying flip about the rest of us.

From the Tampa Bay Times

Behind him hung a big sign: "Protect & Strengthen MEDICARE."

Above him circled a single-engine plane with a banner: "Paul Ryan keep your hands off our Medicare."

The Villages is a massive retirement community about 50 miles northwest of Orlando, and one of the biggest Republican strongholds in Florida.

A fire marshal estimated 10,000 people attended the event, though the crowd appeared smaller. Four years ago, newly minted vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin came to The Villages after the Republican National Convention, drawing a crowd estimated at 25,000 to 60,000.

The seniors holding anti-Obamacare signs and sipping breakfast-hour cocktails Saturday morning in the village square consistently said they applauded Ryan's talk about entitlement reform, and noted that it did not affect anyone 55 or over.

Wow - that's just great. Turn the seniors against the next generation, their younger brothers and sisters and cousins, Obama's generation. Put us in poverty forever.

But we will not thank you.

After today, there is no doubt that Ryan really is a follower of Ayn Rand making an appeal to selfishness. It makes him happy to have Medicare take care of his Grandma and his Mom, but screw everyone else. The 99% are just parasites who deserve to die off anyway.

"Let Them Eat Cat Food"

It's a Darwinian approach that even Sarah Palin would say is right up there with "Death Panels."

Of course, an optimist would say that such speeches may be the death knell of the Romney/Ryan ticket, too, because he isn't mincing words about what he wants to do. He's not as good a liar as Mitt, and that may be his downfall. Hope springs eternal that people hear this stuff and begin to have doubts.

Will the seniors buy what he is selling? Seniors are usually more conservative nationally and locally. They are famous for voting against raising taxes for schools because their own kids are grown and their grandchildren go to private schools. Not one dime for anyone else, they will say, especially for anyone of color.

Sadly, yes, it might work. But we can still fight back while we can.

This guy is the coldest fish to come along in a while. Anyone who is still on the fence after that speech just isn't paying attention.

Mitt and his Lying Whiteboard

You'd think Romney would have learned not to put things in writing by now. /snark


The Official Obama Response:

Right Wing Heads Explode Over Romneycare Gaffe

Apoplexy is probably the correct scientific term for the reactions of the far right over yesterday's statements of Andrea Saul, Romney's spokesperson.

Saul committed the sin of telling the truth, which is that Mitt Romney is proud of his achievements as Governor of Massachusetts, including the dreaded "Romneycare" insurance plan. But we can't just blame Andrea Saul since Romney also talked about his "experience with insurance" on the same day.

Saul was attempting to give an official response to an ad from the Obama campaign, about a GST Steel worker who lost his job thanks to a forced Bain closedown of the mill. Later he lost his wife to cancer, and blames it on their lack of health care.

When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my healthcare, and my family lost their healthcare. And a short time after that my wife became ill . . . and I took her up to the Jackson County Hospital and admitted her for pneumonia and that’s when they found the cancer and by then it was stage four/It was, there was nothing they could do for her. And she passed away in 22 days.
~ Joe Soptic, former employee of GST Steel

Romney Press Secretary Andrea Saul responded on Fox News

“To that point, if people had been in Massachusetts, under Governor Romney’s health care plan, they would have had health care."

Romney also mentioned his Massachusetts plan on the campaign trail in some kind of lame attempt to take it back from Obama, possibly the "etch-a-sketch" moment as he tries to move back to the center. Notice how the crowd claps tentatively, as if confused. I can understand that. The rightwing talking point is that "all health care is bad" even if you need it desperately and want it for your family. Major cognitive dissonance.

But basically Romney's constantly shifting views on Obamacare are the real problem, not anything that Andrea Saul said, since apparently she was just backing up the candidate. How can Romney be against Obamacare, but pro-Romneycare when they are basically one in the same?


Heads exploded with outrage:

OMG.This might just be the moment Mitt Romney lost the election.Wow. politico.com/news/stories/0…
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 8, 2012

What conservatives are doing re Andrea Saul's comment is the same as how you housebreak your dog. Romney needs to know not to go there.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) August 8, 2012

This isn't about health care! They're out there saying that your guy killed this woman! And your answer is 'well, she'd a had healthcare if she lived in Massachusetts'?
. . . Andrea Saul’s appearance on Fox was a potential gold mine for Obama supporters. They can say, ‘Romneycare was the basis for our health care.'
~ Rush Limbaugh quoted by TPM

Spokeswoman Saul said these words that were followed by a thunderclap of hands smacking foreheads around the nation.
. . . Lord, lord, lord! The last thing conservatives want to talk about, even less than Romney's tax returns (because at least there, they have a common enemy in Sen. Harry Reid), is Romneycare's similarity to Obamacare. Saul's comment turns Romney into the conservative's worst nightmare! Their main complaint about Romney all the way back to the primary season was his implementation of Obamacare on a state level would make him an ineffective messenger on repealing the president's legislation.
~ Bill Schmalfeld on Digital.com

Bob Shrum explained it best on Hardball:

Today they endorsed in essence the central idea of the Affordable Care Act. They've done it because they're in a lot of trouble. . . . they've lost the Long Hot Summer, they've ended up in a situation where Romney's upside-down in his favorable/unfavorable. These Bain ads are really hurting him. And they come up with this answer. It seemed opportunistic, but it was stupid. . . . When you run as somebody you're not, it's hard to keep straight who you're supposed to be.

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Next, Ann Coulter's head exploded while ranting to Sean Hannity of Faux News, and she called for Romney to fire Saul as spokesperson, which hasn't happened yet. Stay tuned for further developments.

“Her response was not that it was despicable, not that Bain… that Romney had left Bain five years earlier or the woman died five years after the plant closed and didn’t even get her insurance from her husband, her response was, ‘Well, if she had lived in Massachusetts with Mitt Romney’s health care plan, she would have had health insurance.’ Anyone who donates to Mitt Romney, and I mean the big donors, ought to say if Andrea Saul isn’t fired and off the campaign tomorrow, they are not giving another dime, because it is not worth fighting for this man if this is the kind of spokesman he has… There’s no point in you doing your show, there’s no point in going to the convention and pushing for this man if he’s employing morons like this. This ad is the turning point and she has nearly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat! She should be off the campaign.”

They had a good discussion of Coulter's hissy fit on MSNBC's Last Word, making the point that if Andrea Saul has to resign over this, why not Eric Ferhnstrom, who coined the infamous "Etch-A-Sketch" phrase earlier this year in a major gaffe? Isn't it possible that Saul's statement is part of Ferhnstrom's strategy to move to the center anyway?

And what about that guy named Gorka, who told reporters to "kiss his a$$" at a "holy site" in Poland. Or maybe Dan Senor, the so-called "foreign policy adviser" who gave Romney some really bad advice about his Israeli speech that ticked off the Palestinians.

If Romney fires one, he might have to fire the whole gang. And while he likes firing people who provided services to him, I don't think he can really overturn his entire campaign at this point. People on Twitter are even joking that Romney should just fire himself. LOL

 

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Limbaugh vs. Fluke ~ Guess Who is Winning?

Rush the big, fat pimp-brained wonder sounds jealous these days that Ms. Fluke is touring with a popular president, while he and his wayward followers are pushed to the side of the lunatic fringe.

That's the power of women, my friend. And Democrats.

How's that advertising thing going, Rush? Lost any radio stations lately? Yep:
Limbaugh Loses AM Station in Philadelphia

Limbaugh also wants to take credit for bringing "attention" to Fluke - yeah, right. Although it's a testament that she keeps her cool and keeps moving "forward" in spite of the bullying. When I listen to her, I think that Sandra Fluke might actually be President herself someday, while all Rush will be is a dusty footnote, an ugly big-headed statue pushed into the basement of the Missouri statehouse, and a symbol of hatred who drove the Republican Party straight into the ground.

Who wins? Ms. Fluke, of course.

Obama's out there today, he's at a fundraiser, and guess who is introducing him? Well-known contraception expert Sandra Fluke.
. . . When I say the name Sandra Fluke, what's the first thing that pops into your mind? The first thing that comes up is my name! ... I should be getting a finder's fee.
Rush Limbaugh 8-8-2012

I really think it's an interesting request to take credit for the voice of a woman you tried to silence. I don't think that's going to work out well.
. . . The women of America are speaking out about these policies not because of anything that Mr. Limbaugh has done but because they really care about access to the health care that they need, and they care about all of us having that health care.
~ Sandra Fluke on MSNBC's The Ed Show

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Congressman's Brain Explodes Over Contraception

Contraception - what a concept! No one in the United States has ever practiced contraception, right? Only selfish women benefit from it, not the noble men of our land who all want six or seven children that they have to support for 18 years plus college and beyond. No one benefits except . . .

No, I can't go on with that. Here's the story: when new rules that insurance companies must cover contraception were enacted today, a Congressman said some really stupid bu!!sh*t. Put this in the "you-can't-make-this-stuff-up file. Why would anyone in their right mind say something so bizarre? Oh . . . never mind . . .

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From Huffington Post

Criticizing President Barack Obama's health care reform law on Wednesday, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) likened the requirement that private insurance plans provide contraception coverage to two of the most devastating attacks on American soil.

"I know in your mind, you can think of the times America was attacked," he said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "One is Dec. 7, that's Pearl Harbor Day. The other is Sept. 11, and that's the day the terrorists attacked. I want you to remember Aug. 1, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."

Wednesday marked the first day private insurers must include birth control coverage without charging a co-pay in their plans, per requirements in the Affordable Care Act. The change will affect most women on private health plans, with some exceptions. More than a dozen Republican members of the House of Representatives, mostly freshmen, held a press conference to blast the law for what they said were violations of religious freedom.

London Olympics Tribute to National Health Care

The opening ceremony of the London Olympics is an extravaganza par excellence - you've got to see it!!! It was everything I hoped it would be, eccentric, trippy, colorful, historical - all of it, from the Shakespearean reference to "The Tempest," to the Queen arriving with James Bond, to the flights along the Thames and all the little hat-tips to Pink Floyd, Monty Python, Harry Potter, Mr. Bean, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and of course, the Beatles.

We enjoyed every minute of it, but especially the democratic aspect, the idea that everyone got to participate even in a small way, which is the brainchild of designer Danny Boyle. In an interview following the ceremony he told Meredith Vieira of NBC that he loved the idea of the Olympic Torch being carried past the very people who built the Olympic arena, which is built on the once-wasteland of East London. And indeed, an Olympian ran with the torch past rows of ordinary people in hard hats, connecting them to what they had built, and as he put it, connecting them to the Queen herself.

But the heart of the whole show for me, and the part which really shamed the U.S. was Boyle's spectacular tribute to the National Health system in the UK, which rendered me speechless for a few minutes. It was all about doctors and nurses protecting children from their worst fears and nightmares, symbolized by literary characters such as Voldemort, Captain Hook, the Child Stealer from Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, and the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland. When I recovered my senses, I assured my own children that they will probably never see such an outpouring of creativity to celebrate a social program in the United States, more's the pity.



I hope that most Americans were watching and got an eyeful, especially everyone in Congress or the Senate who voted against President Obama's healthcare plan, everyone who held hysterical prayer groups on Facebook in hopes the Supreme Court would strike it down, and every member of that Court who wanted to trash our only safety net for the uninsured. Our flawed system in such a rich country is the shame of the world, and while Britain's health plan may not be perfect, most people there have grown up with it and never had to choose between buying glasses or going to the dentist, between buying food and buying medicine. No one suffers because they don't have insurance - everyone has it!

Because of National Health, the Brits have a different reality than we have in the United States, and it made me think that instead of scary literary characters, we have scary lawmakers and judges who don't care whether children are protected. Mitt Romney was in the audience watching, and I hope the words "repeal Obamacare" were ringing in his ears.



Director's Tribute to "Amazing" NHS

More than 600 real-life nurses and other healthcare workers joined Boyle's army of volunteers during the extravaganza.

. . . Boyle said: "One of the reasons we put the NHS in the show is that everyone is aware of how important the NHS is to everybody in this country. We believe, as a nation, in universal healthcare. It doesn't matter how poor you are, how rich you are, you will get treated.

"One of the core values of our society is that it doesn't matter who you are, you will get treated the same in terms of healthcare. We all end up there. You can be in all these private hospitals - if anything serious happens to you, you are in the NHS. And that felt like something that we thought was a great thing to celebrate.

"We are almost unique in having universal healthcare. It is something that is very dear to people's hearts. All types of government fight like billy-o, to control it, to cut it, to deal with it. But there is something about it - it is so embedded in us that we have decided to keep it. It is an amazing thing to celebrate."

Boyle said that the volunteers who came from the NHS were "proud people", adding: "They work for something that they truly, truly believe in. We're delighted to add to that by saluting them. All of the volunteers have made a special sacrifice to be with us but these guys are extraordinary.



"They turn up after shifts - you know what they are dealing with every day, they are dealing with mortality and sick children - yet they turn up and they have made it absolutely amazing."

. . . Lottie Pink, from Kingston, south west London, was one of the patients from the hospital who took part in the show. The 10-year-old was treated for a brain tumour two years ago and returns to the hospital every few months for check-ups.

She said: "I am proud to represent all the great work the hospital does. Without them, I would not be here.