Health Care Now: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend, Part 2

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about getting a decent Health Care Reform Bill passed, now. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

This is the Moment

The Democrats have worked hard with the Republican members of the Senate and their own conservative members to try an reach an accord in drafting a HCR bill.

With recent comments made by Sen. Joe Liberman, Sen. Ben Nelson and Sen. Chuck Grassley, it has become more and more apparent to me, with each passing day, the Democrats will not get the 60 votes needed to pass a true HCR bill. I believe every Republican will vote against any HCR bill presented, nor will the Democrats get all their own members to vote in favor.

We know that when the Republicans are in power they pay little or no attention to the health care needs of the people. Look what they did in 2003: They passed an unfunded $400 billion dollar Medicare Drug bill that resulted in increasing the country’s deficit and cost senior citizens thousand of dollars.

Majority Leader Reid, the American people started out on this journey with you, as the song goes with “High Hopes”, and now you are at the point of another song titled “This is the Moment”. If real health care reform isn’t enacted now, it could be another 20 years before it is addressed again.

Bear in mind Sen. Reid, President Obama’s original goal was to have a strong public option, coverage for all Americans, ending rejection for pre-existing conditions, eliminating the donut hole gap in prescription drug coverage, prohibiting insurance companies from imposing annual and lifetime caps on benefit payments, and limiting premium discrimination based on gender and age.

So where are you, Senator Reid? Do you accept a whittled down HCR bill, or do the Democrats take the bull by the horns and use the Reconciliation procedure to pass a real medical reform bill? Let the Republicans scream and yell, they will do it anyway, no matter how you shape the bill.

Many thanks again for another pointed, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You never fail to say what so many of us are thinking and feeling, and your perspective is invaluable.

Part One here.

VIDEO- Sen. Chuck Grassley: "I’ve lived off the public tit all these years"

By GottaLaff

Back on March 17, 2009, Chucky Grassley said the following: It's "irresponsible for corporations to give bonuses" when they're "sucking the tit of the taxpayer."

Apparently, he has a bit of a fixation:



H/t: MADNews101

Rep. Weiner: Sen. Chuck Grassley's pulling it out of his... Gr-ass-ley.

By GottaLaff

"A lot of my Democratic friends" are the problem with health care reform, said Rep. Anthony Weiner to Keith Olbermann just now on Countdown.

"I just don't get it, and soon Americans will weigh in... I'm glad Nancy Pelosi is hanging in there the way she is."

Me-oh-my! He just said Chuck Grassley is pulling stuff out of his... (he instructed us to fill in the blank).

Oh, yes he did.

I heart Anthony Weiner.

Christie Vilsack: “I’m well-qualified” to run for US Senate...v. Grassley!

By GottaLaff

Deather McAssley may find himself running against a serious challenger: Tom Vilsack's wife, Christie:

Christie Vilsack, the wife of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, sounds as if she may be the “mystery candidate” the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party said was poised to run for the U.S. Senate.

Chucky's colleagues trusted him to be just a tad more reachy-outy on health care reform, but instead, he talked about killing grandmas and death panels. See where that kind of talk gets a guy, Chuck?

Via Taegan:

Kay Henderson: "Having covered two Vilsack campaigns for governor and a (brief)Vilsack for president campaign (as well as watching both Vilsacks campaign for pal Hillary Clinton once Tom Vilsack dropped out of the race), I can tell you that the Vilsacks are well-matched. Tom Vilsack, as he once told me, loves to govern. Christie Vilsack, as I've observed, loves to campaign. She likes the process. She likes meeting people."

Grassley ‘resents’ Obama over healthcare

I think Grassley needs to brush up on the literal meaning of the word "insincere" 'cause it seems to me that he's pretty much the text book version of it. (see video for proof) This is exactly the kind of thing that would keep me out of politics since I'd have already hot footed it over to Chuck's office and put a finger in his face over it.

The relationship between Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), a key player in the healthcare debate, and the White House remains strained over barbs traded during the August recess, Grassley indicated Thursday.

Grassley blasted accusations made by White House aides that his ultimately unsuccessful efforts to work on a bipartisan healthcare bill with committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and others were insincere.

“I kind of resent that, when I’ve been very candid with the president of the United States” about his positions on contentious issues in healthcare reform, Grassley said.

Grassley also took direct aim at President Barack Obama, suggesting that he soured the chances for cooperation.

“I’ll tell you, there’s some things that the president has said since then that I took very personally,” Grassley said. “He gave some speeches during August in which he was associating me with efforts to make this a political document.”

VIDEOS- Hardball: Sen. Grassley chastised for ignoring Obama assassination threat

By GottaLaff



Chris Matthews is worried for President Obama's, and others', safety after this little stunt. What little stunt? Oh, nothing much, just Schmuck Assley allowing a WWII Vet to threaten Obama's life with a gun.



This has gotten so out of hand. How out of hand?

By his words, he seemed to be advocating something much stronger than a protest. Some in the audience applauded. One man booed.

That out of hand. People actually applauded a death threat.

The video below distorts the audio in portions of the man’s statement, but he apparently made reference to the “death panel” myth, suggesting he would be told to die after he “hit 80.” [...]

The Brady Campaign, an activist gun control organization named for James Brady, President Ronald Regan’s press secretary who was shot in the head during an assassination attempt, is not at all happy with Sen. Grassley.

From the Iowa Independent:

“It was a credit to the senator’s audience that they booed Mr. Eisenhower, but Sen. Grassley also has a responsibility as an elected official to categorically denounce Mr. Eisenhower’s statement and the sentiment behind it,” said Doug Pennington, assistant director of communications for Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Grassley may not have taken the threat seriously, Pennington said, since Eisenhower appears to be a senior citizen.

“Yet we recently saw 88 year-old James W. von Brunn shoot and kill a security officer at the Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Washington, DC,” he said. “Sen. Grassley should have taken Mr. Eisenhower and his words very seriously.”

Grassley is not fit for office. His words and actions of the past few days make that obvious.

I've about had my fill of hostile, violent nutcases and those who enable them.

H/t: Hippie_Cyndi

VIDEO: Grassley Admits No Death Panels Exist, Blames Obama For "Grandma" Phrase

By GottaLaff

First tell the lie, then perpetuate it, then defend it, then perpetuate it some more:

Sen. Charles Grassley explains to Bob Schieffer why he used comments about "pulling the plug on Grandma" at a health care reform town hall. He actually cited President Obama for first using that phrase at one of his own functions.

He also admits regarding the possibility of there being a "death panel": "It won't do that," but he insisted his constituents are "concerned" about it.

The other day, Stephanie Miller referred to him as Schmuck Assley. I think this pretty much validates her point.

Dueling VIDEOS: Grassley v. Dean on public option

By GottaLaff

Discussing Medicare/the public option, Chuck Grassley popped out with this:

"The government is a predator."

Um, Chucky? You work for the government. You are the government.
"Would he support a deal if you get what he wants out of committee?" Chuck Todd asks. "No," says Grassley.

Hear that? He said N.O.

He won't follow through, because it's more important to him to tow the party line. It's all about politics. Period. Even if it's a "good deal". Watch:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Now the voice of reason, Howard Dean: "Co-ops put money right back into insurance companies." The co-ops will be too small to play the game with gigantic Big Insurance.

"The people on the right are totally out of touch with what's going on."

He goes on to say, allow people under 65 to buy into Medicare. Thom Hartmann says the same thing. I've said the same thing, as I did again in an e-mail to the White House today. Watch:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And one more for the road. Apologies for exposing you to MoJo. Joe: "You would not vote for a final health care bill if it didn't have the public option in it?" Dean:

"Absolutely not, 'cause it's not health care reform."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) Blasts Palin; Death Panel Barbie's poll numbers down

By GottaLaff

Ooo, a Sarah the Quitter twofer! First, a smack upside the head by a Republican senator:

In a jab at Sarah Palin, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said that "critics of health care reform, the summer's hottest political topic, aren't helping the debate by throwing out highly charged assertions not based in fact," the Anchorage Daily News reports.

Said Murkowski: "It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels. Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn't (in the bill). There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill."

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, used similar fear tactics at a recently town hall meeting, according to Radio Iowa.

Said Grassley: "We should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on Grandma."

Chuck the Deather should know better, because he reads bills and stuff, which makes His Deathiness' remarks even more offensive than usual.

Dear, dear. If he's not careful, he may end up like Palin. What do people think of Death Panel Barbie these days? Not much:

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds that just 39% have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin, down seven points from a poll conducted in May, and it's also nine points lower than the 48% who now say they now view Palin unfavorably.

Said pollster Keating Holland: "Most of that change has come among Republicans and conservatives. GOP voters still like Palin -- two-thirds continue to have a favorable view of her -- but she is not as wildly popular among GOPers as she was in the spring, when eight in ten Republicans had a favorable view of her."

At least she has her FaceBook page to keep her happy.

AUDIO: Grassley Uses Kennedy’s Brain Tumor To Spread Fear Of Rationing

By GottaLaff

My patience has run out. People like Chuck Grassley perpetuate lies and more lies at the expense of the health and welfare of their own country. Country Last. Die Baby Die. They should all tattoo that on their rich, insurance-covered, old, white chests (sorry for the unpleasant visual):

[...] [E]arlier today during a radio interview with Iowa City’s KCJJ, Grassley steered the conversation with a caller toward rationing health care services among the elderly, one of the right wing’s favorite fearmongering tactics when it comes to health care reform. And as an example, Grassley cited Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) brain tumor. [...]

Among developed countries, the United States has the 10th highest death rate among cancer patients, higher than Spain and Sweden. But the larger problem Grassley ignores is cost. For Kennedy, access to health care is not an issue. Among most Americans, however, staggering health costs prevent more than half of U.S. patients from gaining access to medical care.

Think Progress has much more.

Classy how more and more self-serving Rushpublics are using a dying man to push their nasty, fear mongering, tasteless lies, isn't it?

VIDEO-- Grassley: Obama willing to drop public option

By GottaLaff

Um, excuse me? Are we to believe this?




Another WTF moment:

In a call with progressive bloggers a day before the press conference, Obama said he continues to “believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go.” In the press conference itself, Obama said a public option is necessary “to keep the insurance companies honest” and his view that by taking “some of the profit motive out,” you can get a “better deal” for consumers.

But in his interview with Hunt, Grassley claimed that Obama has told him privately that he is willing to consider “reasonable alternatives” to a robust public option.

Shallow Thoughts: Charles Grassley's take on Sotomayor

By GottaLaff

Today's Shallow Thought:

I wish I'd written this down at the time, but didn't, so this is paraphrased. Chuck Grassley was talking to Chris Matthews on MSNBC during a break in the Sotomayor hearings. He said (almost in passing) that the so-called controversial statements that Judge Sotomayor made in her talks weren't reflected in her rulings.

If that is the case, then what's the problem again?

That was today's Shallow Thought. Thank you for wading in.

Video: Face The Nation- Chuck Schumer guarantees a public option in the final health care bill

This is the whole segment with Schumer and Grassley, the bit where Schumer says this is at 4:20. When you're watching, remember that Grassley is the dick that said this.

What Chuck Grassley meant to say...

By GottaLaff

Yesterday I posted a Tweet from Chucky Grassley claiming he was "no nail" ... with implied exclamation points. Seems he has a regret or two. See, what he meant to say, see, was...

What Senator Grassley meant, his spokesperson tells me, was that he would greatly appreciate it if Obama would “let the legislative process work” and show a bit more “bipartisan” spirit.

Ohh, so now he would "greatly appreciate" an Obama bow to him and wishes the president would engage in some of that bipartisanship the Rushpublics have been initiating.

That Prez O! He's so unbipartisan! Those meetings with the Rushpublics were just an excuse to sit at long tables and horde more water bottles. What a selfish move by the Partisan President who somehow has a slew of Rushpublics in his own very cabinet.

I asked Grassley spokesperson Jill Kozeny what he meant. She emailed:

Senator Grassley has been urging the President to let the legislative process work so that health care reform legislation restructuring 17 percent of America’s economy will reflect broad consensus and garner bipartisan support from as many as 80 senators.

A good deal clearer, though perhaps not quite as colorful. One of these days Senators will figure out that tweets are, you know, public statements that are read by lots and lots of people, including reporters.

And bloggers.

And bloggers who Tweet.

Chuck Grassley drops a hint

By GottaLaff

I just caught a snippet of Chuck Grassley just now on MSNBC. He refused to give Andrea Mitchell details, but dropped this on her:

"He'd rather have a bipartisan compromise than get everything he wants in a non-bipartisan vote."

If that was about President Obama, which it had to have been, then I couldn't disagree more. Wouldn't the goal be to get everything you want? And since when have Rushpublics compromised at the expense of their own agenda?