Bad Deeds for 2/16/2010

 

Limbaugh Stays on the Ugly Side – During his Feb. 15 broadcast, Rush Limbaugh spun his reality-bending spiel after suggesting that big-box retail chain Walmart lobbies Washington lawmakers to keep Obama from “nationalizing” them — a statement that, if not a joke, can only be characterized as transparently false.

“The last time this happened was World War II,” Limbaugh said. “But that was because there was a war on and it made sense. But there’s no war on right now, other than the Taliban wing of the Republican party and its war against Obama and the Democrats.”

Of Republicans’ conflict with President Obama, Rush said, “but that’s hardly World War II,” then paused. “Although …” he began. “Well, wait a minute. Country is under assault, more so than we were during World War II, other than the Japanese. But the Germans never attacked us, the Japanese did.”

It is not the first time Limbaugh has employed wildly exaggerated World War II analogies to attack his countrymen. In August he began comparing Democrats to Nazis amid the health reform debate, suggesting that President Obama’s supporters are “brownshirts.”
(That’s not nice. – JLV)

 

Fox News Sponsoring Political Action Conference – Despite claims that they only report the news and do not support any particular group, Fox News is listed as a sponsor of the Xtreme Politically Active Conservatives (XPAC) lounge at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. says in a video uploaded to the group’s Facebook page, XPAC’s Hope Ammen says, “You’re also going to get private meet and greets with young people who are getting out there to slap liberals.”
(That’s not nice. – JLV)

 

Ann Coulter Calls Vice-President Biden ‘a Drunken Irishman’ – In defending former Vice President Dick Cheney against criticism from current Vice President Joe Biden, the controversial conservative commentator fell back on an old ethnic stereotype: The drunken Irishman. “It almost is kind of effective to send out this drunken Irishman to respond to Dick Cheney,” Coulter said, referring to the war of words between the two vice presidents on this Sunday’s news talk shows. “It’s like sending out the White House dog. It’s saying, ‘We so don’t respect you, we’re sending in Joe Biden.”
(That’s not nice. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? – JLV)

 

Republican Leadership Demands That White House Post Health Care Proposal Online, Then Attacks White House for Doing Exactly That – On February 8th, Republican House leader John Beohner sent a letter to the White House, demanding that the White House post online any health care proposal it wished to discuss at the health care summit:

“If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours beforehand?

So, four days later, the White House accepted this demand, and announced it would post a legislative proposal online more than 72 hours before the summit:

“Since this meeting will be most productive if information is widely available before the meeting, we will post online the text of a proposed health insurance reform package.”

So, naturally, the next day, Boehner attacked the White House for giving into his demand:
“A productive bipartisan discussion should begin with a clean sheet of paper.”
(That’s not being constructive. – JLV)

 

We Have Demands! You’ve Met Our Demands? In That Case, Let’s Start Over. – In October, John Boehner issued the minority party‘s four demands for what they wanted out of health reform:

• Number one: let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.
• Number two: allow individuals, small businesses and trade associations to pull together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and unions do today.
• Number three: give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs.
• And number four: end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care cost.

So what happened to these four items? Let’s see:

• Number one: As the “Washington Post” points out, the Senate version of the health reform has a whole section relating to the offering of plans in more than one state. Individual states can band together and allow insurers in one of those states to offer plans in all of those states, buying across state lines is in the bill.
• Number two: The health care bill includes health insurance exchanges. The more people that are allowed to participate in these exchanges, the greater the risk pool becomes and the lower the costs get. So, they‘re two-for-two with the second Republican demand already in the bill.
• Number three: Also in the bill. Section 1332 of the Senate bill is called the “Waiver for State Innovation.” Again, it allows states to opt out over the whole shabang if they can prove they have a better and cheaper way to do it.
• And number four: Yes, the Senate bill calls on individual states to develop new ways to deal with malpractice lawsuits—alternatives that could potentially be funded by Congress.

The Senate health reform bill addresses everything that the Republicans have identified as their main concerns for policy on health reform. And the Republican reaction is: the bill must be scrapped and start over.

Republicans think that it is great politics to derail this thing, even though it‘s got all of their demands in it.

And then Rep. John Boehner, Minority Leader of the House, has the gall to say, “There has been no attempt, not one attempt, by the administration or the Democrats in Congress to actually sit down and work with us.”
(That’s not being constructive. – JLV)

 

We Need to Talk! Well, Maybe Not. – John Boehner says he wants the administration to meet with Republicans and hear their ideas.

So the president says let’s meet and talk.

And Boehner says,”I don‘t want to walk into some setup. I don‘t know who‘s going to be there. I don‘t know how big the room‘s going to be. I don‘t know how—what the setup‘s going to be.” Yes, those were his actual words.
(That’s not being constructive. Are you starting to see a pattern here? – JLV)

Regards,

Jim

[It’s not about being nice, or bieng constructive, or being consistent – it’s about doing whatever it takes to defeat anyone who is not their president.]