After over a year of Republican obstruction, whopping lies, Halloween type driven fright frenzies, hate fests, death panels, clown shows, biased news coverage, tea parties, Dick Armey and his Freedom Works and other shills for the health insurance industry,the American people will finally be able to realize a long and overdue life line known as health care reform.
Thirty three million Americans will soon be able to afford health insurance coverage.
Wow. What a step forward for a first world country that does third world access to affordable health care.
Unfortunately for Texans the ruling GOP here is totally on board with third world health care.
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Jed Lewison over at Daily Kos writes:
The subtext of Gibbs' statement couldn't be more clear. Not only did he basically declare victory on the question of whether health care reform would pass, but he did so on Fox News, the biggest media cheerleader against reform.
In political terms, Gibbs wasn't just saying "we won" -- he was also saying "you lost." Despite months of biased coverage, partisan political attacks, and a steady stream of outlier polls from Rasmussen, despite the best efforts of Sarah Palin, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell, Republicans lost, demonstrating their political impotence beyond any shadow of doubt.
Thus far, the conventional wisdom has been that Republicans are enthusiastic and Democrats are demoralized. Thus far, that conventional wisdom has also basically been accurate. But the thing you have to remember is that thus far the Democrats have failed to pass health care reform. Republicans were actually winning, against all odds.
But in this coming week, all that changes. Health care reform will pass. Democrats will have demonstrated their ability to tackle big issues. Republicans will have demonstrated their irrelevance. After reform passes, there might be an initial surge of excitement among Republicans, but that will quickly fizzle in the wake of the GOP's failure to stop reform.
Predictably, John Cornyn said the GOP will run to repeal health care reform in 2010. As we know, Texas has the highest number of uninsured residents. This statistic does not seem to move John Cornyn one bit. Our Senator does not care that fewer Texans will die early because they can soon afford to pay for health coverage. No, John Cornyn is perfectly OK with the status quo.
In other words John Cornyn cautions his uninsured constituents to stay well and healthy all of the time. Always. Try not to get sick. Ever. If God forbid one were to get sick, one should by all means die early.
Once again I pose the question. Why do people continue to vote for lawmakers who obviously cannot stand them?
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said in a press briefing at the Ronald Reagan Republican Center today that his party will offer repeated points of order on the Senate floor challenging the legitimacy of budget reconciliation items in a package of fixes to the Senate-passed health care bill. He said his candidates in competitive races from California to Florida "should and will run on" repealing the legislation.
I guess John Cornyn forgot that Bush's tax cuts are a product of the budget reconciliation process several years ago. What the Senator considered appropriate then is suddenly inappropriate today. Come on John, make up your mind. You did something under Bush that you are screaming about now that your Party no longer holds the reigns of power.
Poor you and your sugar daddies.
And as far as irresponsible spending is concerned, what was John Cornyn thinking when voted for W.'s war in Iraq? I guess he wasn't thinking about costs at all.
Cornyn goes on to tell us how he and the GOP plan to attack health care reform when on the 2010 campaign trail.
On the merits of the bill, the GOP will tell voters in ads and campaign mailers the health care plan's benefits kick in far down the line, while tax increases on the wealthy begin right away, Cornyn said. He detailed an NRSC tally sheet listing all the Democrats who have said health care reform would lower costs.
"Every [GOP] candidate who is running a campaign in November 2010, that will be one of the first questions and the first ads that will want to ask, 'Are your health care costs lower now by virtue of passing this health care bill?' I think the answer to that will be no, they are not," he said.
Note Cornyn's deep concern for the wealthy. Hey dude, what about the sick and the dying? Have you no mercy?
Crickets will continue to chirp forever, at least as long as John Cornyn serves as our U.S. Senator.
The Republican Party demonstrates time and time again that it works for corporate interests and lobbyists that funnel big bucks its campaigns. This is a black and white fact that is so normal and acceptable to Republicans that few if any are even embarrassed by it.
It seems to me that brains and Faux is an oxy-moron.
Next up: Immigration Reform.
On another subject, in Sunday's edition of the Houston Chronicle clergy in the Houston area asked Senator Cornyn to take the lead on immigration reform. The clergy view immigration reform as a biblical and moral imperative.
The men of the cloth wanted to talk to him about what they see as the biblical and moral imperative of immigration reform. But they also wanted to send a practical political message.
At a time when anger is the currency of the political realm, much of it aimed at illegal immigrants, the religious leaders were saying to Cornyn that they will have his back if he risks becoming a target of that anger by helping craft and pass comprehensive immigration reform.
The meeting and the postcards are part of a number of organized movements bubbling up around the country, a stirring that led President Barack Obama this week to hold meetings with two senators, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and some immigration activist groups to reassert his commitment to reform.
The church- and synagogue-based community organization TMO has been working with churches in the area for more than a year to educate members on the painful realities of immigration. Presentations include experts like veteran immigration attorney Charles Foster, who was working with President George W. Bush on an immigration reform law when 9/11 doomed it.
I applaud the clergy's efforts for having this conversation with John Cornyn, but, sadly they had not better get their hopes up. John Cornyn has absolutely no intention of working with President Obama on anything.
His response to the clergy: pass the buck to Obama.
Cornyn told DiNardo and the other religious leaders, as he has repeatedly said in public, that it is up to Obama to make immigration reform a priority. He also noted that he had expected to hear from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who has been working with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on crafting a bill.
John Cornyn happens to be the ranking Republican on the U.S. Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Refugee, Border Security subcommittee and yet he obviously has no intention of productively serving as one of its member. Can someone remind me why we have to pay his salary as well as his health care benefits and pension?
If John Cornyn and other U.S. Texas lawmakers hate Washington so much, why are they there? Why do they run for federal offices?
Get ready for another long hot sizzling summer of fright frenzies, hate fests, a plethora of circus clowns, and tea parties folks. Once President Obama starts to move on immigration reform, the health care circus will seem like a tiny tempest in a teapot.
One has only to read the comments in the online version of the Houston Chronicle above to get a sneak preview.
