November 7, 2009
Height of Irresponsibility
In a flaunting and thoroughly cyncial act caught in DC on Friday, we see a GOP Congressman literally throwing (health)care (legislation) to the wind.
Certainly, a great model for the American people of democracy in action.
(image: Jose Luis Magana/AP. caption Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas throws the Health Care bill to the crowd on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, during a health care reform rally.)
13 Comments Leave a comment
Serr 8d said:
I guess he couldn’t find a match.
Maybe he’s tossing the bill because he couldn’t find Tort Reform anywhere in it; something that’s badly needed, but generally ignored by bill’s primary authors. You know, Social Democrats.
Oh, and we are NOT a Democracy. We elect representatives to represent us. Makes us a Representative Constitutional Republic. I called my Representative, Bart Gordon (D) just now. His phone-answerer-person assured me he was voting against this sorry bill.
And I thought you Dems had plenty enough far-Leftist Representatives to get this bill passed! Why are you only dissing the loyal (R) opposition?
g said:
I find it unsettling that elected representatives have decided it appropriate to encourage an angry mob to confront other elected representatives in the halls of Congress so they can influence their votes by intimidating them.
It doesn’t matter what the issue is about – once you open that can of worms, with one side urging mobs to physically intimidate their peers who happen to oppose their point of view, you’ve broken down any shred of integrity the process has. The next step would be bigger, scarier mobs on both sides of the issue, and that way lies civil war.
Serr8ed, objectionable as he, has it right this time – call YOUR representative and tell him/her what you think – My representative happens to be voting FOR the bill, thankfully.
I hope that Serr8ed would agree that for one representative to enlist an angry mob to scare another representative how to vote is wrong.
bystander said:
Isn’t he so very pleased with himself? Look at me, Ma! Wheeee!!!! Drama Queens. The GOP has a full stable of thespians and nary a legislator in sight. Can we get them all movie/daytime soap contracts to satisfy their narcissistic needs so what’s left of the loyal opposition can get on with rebuilding the party? What are they down to? Two or three?
DennisQ said:
This is Congressman John Culbertson who won’t say whether he would have voted against Medicare in 1965. MSNBC’S Lawrence O’Donnell allowed Culbertson to rant on about apple pie, motherhood and the flag, but at no point did the Congressman answer O’Donnell’s direct question.
Incidentally, when right wingers talk about tort reform, they’re really advocating a cap on medical malpractice awards. They really ought to call it that, because they don’t mean to “reform” tort law in any other context. If you defame a celebrity, that person will hit you with a million-dollar lawsuit, and collect if the jury finds in their favor.
Aurora said:
His posture echoes a picture from the end of WWII where an indignant woman (Belgian, French…) is denouncing a collaborator. My mind saw,’traitor, collaborator’ before I took in the subject matter in this photo.
Curious experience to realize how something I saw in Life magazine as a small child had that much power over my perceptions today.
j said:
It wasn’t a mob, and the people weren’t angry. It’s a shame people who don’t want to make decisions themselves are letting people (who are NOT looking out for their best interests) make decisions for them. This bill is not about health care. It is about personal liberties and personal choices. People deserve a lot of things, but they need to pay for them. There is a big difference between rights and privileges. You don’t pay for the rights. You MUST pay for privileges.
soineedaname said:
Your disingenuous attempt at framing is belied by the facts.
When the protesters continuously bring disgusting signs to their rallies comparing HealthCare Reform to the Holocaust, including a graphic photo of the horrors of Dachau overlaid with the inscription:
“National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany – 1945″
[http://twitter.com/eliewieselfdn/status/5484104083
Then by any criteria the TeaBaggers have clearly meet the threshold of an angry mob.
jhwhit said:
he’s a litterbug
Rafael said:
Tort reform is Republican pipe dream based on erroneous, misleading and exaggerated reports. Just a matter of closing the courts to citizens and protecting corporate wrongdoing.
And what do you thing a Representative Constitutional Republic is?
A D E M O C R A C Y.
Wordsmith said:
When I was stationed in Germany (Augsburg) we went to Dachau. That picture poster at the rally matches one I have on a slide taken in the museum. The comparison is sick; there is no comparison. Their point is manufactured drama to bolster a lie using the imagery of an evilness that’s can only be defined (as one poster called it) Satanic. They’ve taken something that’s the polar opposite of the health care debate to illustrate a “consequence” of what we will get if health care for all comes to Amerika.
Reece said:
WHEEEEE!
yg said:
i’m surprised they didn’t make a bonfire out of the bill, alongside their burning crosses.
Rima said:
I don’t think Republicans are allowed to carry matches.