A Rising Chorus Lifts All Boasts

So apparently both Atrios and BM Matt are allupons over Ramesh Ponnuru's characterization of transit as anti-American.  With multiple posts from each.  All researched and linky too.  Probably lotsa other folks are incensed as well.  I appreciate that fighting back against the Mighty Wurlitzer / Right Wing Noise Machine sometimes requires repetition so I'd like to do my part, not only to amplify the message, but as a reminder to others as to what's actually going on.  Here is the real response that the National Review article should have gotten:

Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru are idiots.

UPDATE: via Brad at S,N!

Apparently the key to preventing terrorism is to make your enemies fear you with blatant displays of violence and militarism. Who knew!

Feast or Famine

Yeah, I know.

ME-gan McArdle is Universal Catastrophic Health Care

I still kinda like Yglesias despite his not spitting in McArdle's face before leaving the Atlantic.  But that's because I'm an optimist and one of those bleeding hearts that tries to see the good in everyone, giving folks the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.  I assumed that Matt's treatment of ME-gan is due to his being a passive-aggresive pansy who's frightful afeared of confrontation, even with a pathetic lightweight and brainless vapid wreck like the McArdle thing.  Srsly, I meant that in a good way, I'm totes about avoiding conflict and confrontation whenever possible (except for you, Whale Chowder.  Your due for a good thrashing, once I'm done having intercourse with your mother).

Then again, this sort of bullshit reminds me that I've been wrong about things before.  First, let me start off with the disclaimer that there is no fucking way I am going to read McArdle's bullshit.  No.  Fucking.  Way.

Okay, that out of the way, let's go on to tearing it apart.  I'm guessing that the gist of it is legally codifying the GOP answer to the uninsured - "Everyone has health care, you can just go to hospital emergency rooms."  IOW, if you have an easily treatable condition, all you've got to do is ignore it until it becomes serious and then they'll take care of you at Emerg.  ME-gan's kind enough to believe that if you're unlucky enough to be in this situation, you shouldn't also have to declare bankruptcy because of it (unless you have a shitty job and the lost wages while you're convalescing do in your finances - but she really doesn't hate poor people - she just wishes they would go away).  Yeah, that's a great fucking plan - if it were twenty-five years ago.  Wait, let me guess - ME-gan's plan also expands this coverage to people who have been diagnosed with very expensive to treat conditions (incidentally with no provision to screen people who aren't already seeing a GP regularly).  Fan-fucking-tastic.  Even if she's proposing to pay for this program with a special tax on asshole-douchebaggery that bankrupts Cheney and that Blackwater Xe Prince guy, I'd still think it's a useless proposal.

TL:DR version - ME-gan thinks that the best way to help the uninsured and down on their luck is to provide a benefit that helps folks in proportion to how much health care they already have.  Also, preventative medicine is a crock and you can keep costs down by letting things develop into Emergency Room situations before doing anything about them.

I've already acknowledged that I've been wrong before, so if I'm wrong about the ME-gan plan To Save The World And Make Everyone Happy, I'd be glad to recant.  Forgive me if I don't hold my breath waiting.

You Can See The Summit, But You Can't Reach It

As if six hours wasn't long enough, they actually stretched the thing for Injury Time.

There were some bright spots - Boston Globe has a list of zingers I quite liked.  It wasn't quite the smackdown that the GOP retreat was, but you certainly reminded us againabout who the adults in the room are.

But nobody watched.  Well, nobody except the hardcore political junkies who TIVO C-SPAN.  This thing really didn't reach many folks, and considering the importance of the issue, there is surprisingly little discussion about it.

And that's because of the foregone conclusion.  Headlines about the impasse still being in place or no breakthroughs being made or the way ahead for HCR being unclear - you could have written them a week ago.  The cynical view that The Process is all just political theatre - well it was true in this case, nobody's mind was changed.  Actually, if anything this has nudged some of the GOPpers further towards reflexive hate and obstruction as some of them are slipping into conspiracy theory land.

Take note you dumbfucks in the Obama Administration - your outreach attempt has only pushed the Republicans further away (insert Overton window commentary sotto voce).  Not only are they just not that into you, they are that much into anything you aren't.  Remember the ruckus about Big Pharma?  Remember how you guys were characterizing him as the Leader of the GOP?

This is one of the reasons I haven't had much to say recently.  The utter EPIC FAIL that has been the official stance from you guys is fucking killing my will to do anything but ignore it all and drink heavily.  Sure it's great to showcase how dishonest and incompetent the morans on the other side are - but NEWSFLASH - THOSE IDIOTS ARE WINNING.  Oh, what about being on the brink of historic legislation - what about all the good stuff you managed to not yet excise from the comprehensive reform package?  Who fucking cares.  Since the summer, the narrative has been pretty much conservatives having their way with item after item of this thing.  Even shit they wanted in in the first place, they've been railing against until you finally cut it out of the package.  Fuck, even though I am opposed to this piece of shit Senate bill you've carefully crafted, I'm starting to lean towards passing the thing before you guys slip a declaration of war against Iran into it.

Your winning debates and sounding reasonable and rational is still ending up with less and less progressive reforms.  No fucking wonder people are demoralized.  Not only that, but we've crept so fucking far to the right that the whole purpose of this thing has been lost.  You put "Expanding Coverage" as the fourth of four items for the summit.  Five and a half fucking hours into a six hour debate you finally get around to talking about the uninsured.

Note to the centre-leftsists who argue that we've got to get this thing done because the GOP is holding the uninsured hostage - Fuck You.  This isn't about the uninsured anymore, not even for "the good guys" - the uninsured are now just an aside, a "free rider" on this deficit reducing, cost cutting legislation.

So yeah, that's a big part of why I haven't had much to say recently.  I'm still full of fiery pissed-off-ness, but the fuckwads that make up Democratic Leadership, and I'm talking specifically about you Barry, have blunted my righteous anger.  Because as mad as I am at them, they are still far and away better than Bomb Iran.  So I've got no targets for my ire.  I'm Mad As Hell, but apparently I've Got To Take Lots More.  Because despite having the better arguments and more capapble side - we've lost so much from what was an opportunity to fix the greivous mess that is health care in the US.  And No One Is To Blame.

Second Post of The Year!!!

Yeah, I know.