In a town hall in Red Bank, New Jersey on Tuesday, more classless hate was directed at those in favor of health care reform. This time the target was woman in a wheel chair trying to describe her plight to Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone. Brian Donahue of the Star-Ledger reports on town hall and the disgusting behavior of some of the attendees.
So. Here's a woman who is desperately trying to keep her house while paying for expensive prescription drugs, not unlike the woman in Tom Coburn's town hall meeting last week who was trying to care for her husband with traumatic brain injury. In that meeting, Coburn idiotically suggested that she get her neighbors to help. In this particular case, the raw hate of this woman's hecklers is breathtaking. She simply needs help, and the health care opponents are so consumed with their position that they actually mock her. A woman in a wheelchair. The asshole in the back of the room takes the cake when he says to Donahue that the woman in the wheelchair has "more rights than I do". Jesus.
Such are the fruits of hate speech pouring forth 24/7 from Fox Noise, talk radio, and indeed GOP leadership itself as it pulls out all the stops to serve up a defeat for the President. Anyone who disagrees with these people is dehumanized and becomes simply a target of ridicule with zero regard for her plight. Common decency is dead. Civil discourse impossible. Truth and fairness have no place.
What we are witnessing here are glaring examples of real death panels. Unfortunately, they are being created and run by our own neighbors to protect profits of corporations at the cost of human lives.
So. Here's a woman who is desperately trying to keep her house while paying for expensive prescription drugs, not unlike the woman in Tom Coburn's town hall meeting last week who was trying to care for her husband with traumatic brain injury. In that meeting, Coburn idiotically suggested that she get her neighbors to help. In this particular case, the raw hate of this woman's hecklers is breathtaking. She simply needs help, and the health care opponents are so consumed with their position that they actually mock her. A woman in a wheelchair. The asshole in the back of the room takes the cake when he says to Donahue that the woman in the wheelchair has "more rights than I do". Jesus.
Such are the fruits of hate speech pouring forth 24/7 from Fox Noise, talk radio, and indeed GOP leadership itself as it pulls out all the stops to serve up a defeat for the President. Anyone who disagrees with these people is dehumanized and becomes simply a target of ridicule with zero regard for her plight. Common decency is dead. Civil discourse impossible. Truth and fairness have no place.
What we are witnessing here are glaring examples of real death panels. Unfortunately, they are being created and run by our own neighbors to protect profits of corporations at the cost of human lives.
Nah, I say Canada. At least they have single payer and a city like Vancouver would really be nice to live in. It's funny how much the GOP strategy appears similar to that of Emperor Palpatin. Cry socialism long enough and no one notices they've just become subject to fascism.
For years I've ignored the stuff about how easily fascism could take root in our country. That is, until the last few months when I saw how easily an ignorant population could be so easily swayed by powerful people telling the Big Lie.
A pretend populist right winger, say a Sarah Palin, could take these issues - the bailout, corporate bonuses, "nationalization" of health care, seniors fear of health care rationing, the Obama birth certificate issue - and probably easily win an election with these people on her side.
I've said it before, but will say it again - the GOP remains a potent political force only because so many voters obviously lack the ability to comprehend, for whatever reason, what is in their own best interests.
Migrating to Mexico for my remaining years is looking better all of the time.
I watched this last night and had to ask myself what the hell happened to common courtesy ? Even if the woman wasn't in a wheelchair, she should have been given a chance to speak her mind without being shouted over by these disrespectful yahoos. And the asshole at the end took the cake. Yea, those damn handicapped people with all their rights, taking all the close parking spaces and wanting ramps and handicap accessible bathrooms, where do they get off ? The only way these people give a damn about anything is if, and only if it affects them personally. Otherwise, to them, the lady in the wheelchair, the lady whose husband had the brain tumor and anyone else who can't afford medical treatment are just lazy good for nothings who probably did something to end up that way and are now trying to take their freedoms away. In a perfect world these assholes loved ones would contract a disease that without treatment would be fatal and then their insurance company would drop them in the interest of inflating the CEO's bonus.
Artemus, I am sure that Sparkle is quite proud of all of this town hall bullying. To her small little mind, this means that she is "correct" in her condemnation of all things Obama.
What a truly pathetic country we have become if this is how we treat our fellow man.
I am ashamed.
Saw it on Olbermann. That has got to be one of the most disgusting things I have ever witnessed. Absolute human slime. They'd have to improve their behavior to rise to the status of ignorant trailer trash. I hope the GOP and assholes (which is what I called her) like Texas Sparkle are proud of what they have produced.
An excellent example that mental disabilities are often more debilitating than physical ones.
I am ashamed of us all. There will never be another propitious time to break the stranglehold of the insurance companies than now. It's like paying "protection money" in the Hood to gangs or the Mafia. What is it that people don't get? And the poorest of the white trash scream the loudest in utter miscomprehension, as if they are going to lose the jobs that they don't have!
Watching all this makes ME feel like white trash, for there is seemingly nothing I can do about it, and I am a worldly person in a white body with liberal leanings but conservative teachings. I am becoming enraged with the incivility witnessed by the media. The mechanics of reason are seemingly out of control, the fabric of society is being torn asunder, and we are best described as being the Sheeple behind all of it. Baaah.....
Makes me want to be a black Sheeple!
Scott-Or perhaps mandate limits on % which could go to exec pay, mgmt pay, etc. i read a few years back that for ins co.s in Europe/Canada admin, overhead was 7-9% on average, the States: 30-37%. Quite a jump. Im sure those foreign execs arent hurting either (3 homes instead of 6, NO Argentinian mistresses!).
I wish Donahue would have asked that jerk-off if he would like to trade physical condition with her? That pop-tart probably never even voted until last Nov, and we all know why...
I am in the process of having a debate on facebook with my conservative friends. Some of them are spewing the same garbage, but some of them are renewing my faith that some conservatives actually have intelligent points to make. In particular, they are arguing about costs which is a legitimate concern. I wonder if we could do a hybrid of what Switzerland does. Switzerland has no public health insurance, but the private companies are barred from turning a profit. I don't know if that could be done in America, but maybe we could limit their profit margins and mandate that no one be turned away for preexisting conditions. Maybe you could then do a scaled expansion of CHIPS and Medicare and begin to cover everyone that way.
The hate has become so palpable that just reading or watching some of these accounts sends chills up and down my back. At some point between now and the passaage of a Healthcare Reform Bill some nut job is going to pull a gun and start blasting. Theres a lot more hate in these political meetings than there was when the nutcase in Pa started shooting in the fitness club.