Motley Moose – Archive

The GOP has been very open about their plans to obstruct health care reform. They’ve actually laid out plans on how they intend to accomplish that feat. The only problem for them is that their obstructive efforts are as poorly thought out as most of their policy proposals.

The latest effort was an amendment cosponsored by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).that would force legislators onto the public option if it becomes law. They thought they could make the Democrats in the Senate look hypocritical. The only problem for them is that Sen. Vitter is a proven hypocrite and Sen. Coburn is dumb as a fence post.

The whole thing began to go awry when Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) asked to become a cosponsor on the bill. He apparently put in his request to their offices four times without getting a response. This is no surprise, since Sen. Coburn and Sen. Vitter had no intention for their amendment to be anything more than a political stunt.

It must be getting uncomfortable to be a Republican politician supporting Glenn Beck’s “Health Care Reform is Communist!” platform.   As congressman John Culberson (R-TX) is finding out, it’s all well and good until you start listening to the people who (might be) re-electing you.  Since only 1% of America watches Beck, simply parroting him may not be the wisest campaign strategy.

HT to BarbinMD at DailyKOS for so succinctly putting this one in her diary Culberson Push Polls A Tea Bag Full Of Fail

When asked if they support the Democratic Party efforts to reform the health insurance system, what do the voters in Congressman Culberson’s district have to say?

Really, it’s everyone’s issue: The health care crisis in this country affects all of us, even those fortunate enough to have coverage. But when it comes to health care and dealing with insurance companies, there are special concerns for women, especially if they are buying insurance through the individual market. Some of those concerns vary by state, making them all the more confusing, and unfortunately, a lot of women are unaware of these issues until they run into difficulties. Federal laws provide certain protections for women who receive insurance through their employers, but women purchasing insurance through the individual market face unique problems. They face institutionalized sexism in the form of higher costs, shoddy plans riddled through with gender-based exceptions, and denial of coverage based on a “preexisting condition” that may surprise some of you.

Once again, American politics continues to dominate UK politics, especially over the misrepresentations of our National Health Service. Today’s news is dominated by far right wing Tory, Daniel Hannan, who keeps appearing on Fox decrying the NHS, much to the chagrin of most the population of the UK, and his Party leader.

Meanwhile, I thought Obama’s defence of his plan was urgent, angry and completely on the money. I hope that lots of Americans saw this:

Michael Steele and the GOP sent me another survey today.  This time asking for my opinions about the state of healthcare in America.  As anyone who has read my thoughts on the topic would know, I am a hesitant supporter of reform and am generally fraught with concern about the implications of any solution to the current dilemma, so I am precisely the kind of moderate voter that the GOP should be trying to win over to its side on this issue.

Let’s see how well they do.