“Your party gave us Sarah Palin and George W. Bush – dumb and dumber.”
Friday, February 5, 2010Posted in: American Politics, Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, I love that bitch like a fat kid loves cake
I do love Margaret and Helen’s blog. Those two old ladies talk so much sense.
Whether they are for real or not, who cares, but whoever they are, they have to be the most amusing, startlingly perceptive, forthright political bloggers out there. I love how they get right to the heart of the matter.
Their latest log is entitled “The Elephant In The Room Is A Kangaroo” and starts:
I really do like this President. He is young and smart… and I think he is trying his best under bad circumstances to do the right thing and create change for good. Not easy these days… Sort of like your convincing Howard that seeing a doctor annually at his age is still preventative medicine. You’ve both got a tough sales job ahead of you.
Lol, I think Howard is Margaret’s long-suffereing husband, for those of you not familiar with the blog.
I really do appreciate his trying to reach across the aisle – as they say – and get Republicans to work towards bipartisanship. But honey, that dog just don’t hunt. Trying to reach bipartisanship with this particular Republican Party will probably achieve bipolarism instead of bipartisanship.
Harsh? Well yes maybe I am being a bit harsh. Part of the problem? Well maybe that too. After all bipartisanship requires a little give and take from both sides. So who am I to suggest that the problem is mainly with the Republicans?
Good questions all of them – particularly because I was the one who asked them. You know me, Margaret. I’m always trying to play both sides of the same issue. Well what do you expect from a woman who invented the all pie diet?
To all my Republican readers out there – I have had quite enough of your nonsense.
If any of my regulars are Republicans, this would probably be a good time to surf away, because these ladies are really not fond of what the US Republican party seems to stand for these days.
Your party gave us Sarah Palin and George W. Bush – dumb and dumber. He’s the guy whose mission still isn’t accomplished and she’s the gal who couldn’t handle being governor of one of our least populous states. Even the “professional” wrestler was able to finish the job in Minnesota.
Your party had an issue with President Obama telling school children to stay in school and study hard. I guess a black man can’t be trusted with your children regardless of his credentials. And your party decided the tradition of separating church and state had an expiration date. You love the constitution but you seem to pick through that document the same way you pick through the Bible – with all the effectiveness of eating corn on the cob through a picket fence.
We are actively involved in two wars, but you just can’t understand why the deficit is so big? Regardless of what you have been told, every time a bomb is dropped, an angel does not get her wings. Hint: Defense spending represents almost one quarter of all federal spending.
I find it ironic that Republicans are screaming deficit, deficit, deficit!, when the war that they wanted is a huge part of the problem, and no matter how much the Repubs want to shift the blame onto Obama, the war is still George Bush’s war, and most of the jack-asses on Fox News were all for it.
Today’s Republican Party has an issue with abortion, but then fights against healthcare reform knowing full well that more than 9 million children lack health insurance. A stretch argument to be sure, but then again 18 19 Children and Counting is a big hit.
My party at least recognizes the need for increased access to birth control. Your party is pro-life right up until they cut the cord and then you turn your attention to electing judges who promote shortening the waiting time on death row
I’ve never understood why being a Republican means that you have to be against abortion. The arguments that are made against the right to have an abortion seem to be founded on certain religious beliefs, which makes it hard for somebody like me to take them seriously. I also find it ironic that a country that is founded on ideals such as freedom of speech, have certain sections who actively believe that a woman’s body is not her own to do as she wishes. That’s what the whole anti-abortion issue is really about. Suppressing women’s rights.
You actually have Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck as your spokesmen. Rush Limbaugh? Are you serious? Even the NFL didn’t want Limbaugh. And Beck… Glenn Beck? When people use the expression ”nuttier than a fruitcake” Glenn Beck is the main ingredient.
Republicans like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Anne Coulter are proof enough that some abortions are absolutely neccessary for the good of the world.
The Republican Party of yesteryear was respectable. You were all about a small government that carried a big stick. Now you are just despicable. You used to be the Party of Lincoln and now – honest to God – you make Archie Bunker look progressive.
It seems to me that most of the politicians who represent the Republican party aren’t interested in the welfare of the people they serve. For them, a lot of their decisions seem to be entrenched in opposing the Democrats at all costs, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. As long as they’re disagreeing with the Democrats, their work is done. I find that utterly selfish and despicable.
If it wasn’t for Fox News you would be irrelevent. That’s right. You have become a party that owes its entire existence to a cable news channel owned by an Aussie. Your mascot should be a kangaroo instead of an elephant. After all, the last guy you sent to the White House arrived there thanks to a kangaroo court ruling rather than an election. He then spent the next 8 years bringing our nation to its knees. How about sitting down and shutting your damn pie holes long enough to see if the guy in office now can actually clean up your mess. Honestly, you are embarrassing yourself.
Fox News. Big fucking sigh. I’m so glad the UK don’t have to put up with such unprofessional and unbalanced news coverage from our news programmes. The news readers over here at least attempt to report the news as it is, rather than lacing the reports with their own deliberate agenda.
Margaret concludes with this:
Look. My party has problems too. It’s biggest problem might be in attempting to please everyone, the Democratic Party seems to please no one. But diversity of opinions is something I am willing to work through. Bigotry and ignorance is not. I mean it. Really.
A-fucking-men.
Leslee
February 5
11:58 am
LOVE THIS POST!!! Karen, You ROCK!!!!
sallahdog
February 5
2:39 pm
this biggest problem with Republicans is they find hot button issues like abortion, immigration, they use inflamatory language to fire up the base, get them to vote and then really have no intention of following through on those issues(thank you lord for that)… but its a cynical grab for votes,instead of really focusing on strong solutions (I dont think either party is living in the real world)…
The Republicans will start changing their hot button issues, as their base keeps shrinking…
I am just frustrated that Republican or Democrat, they all just seem more worried about feathering their own nests and less about getting anything done… We cant afford 4 more years of gridlock…
Las
February 5
3:01 pm
Ugh, don’t get me started on Obama reaching out to Republicans. Not that I’m surprised, because Democrats are the biggest fucking pussies…they always, ALWAYS, kowtow to the idiot social conservatives. I mean, it was Clinton who gave as DADT; it was Clinton who gave us the Defense of Marriage Act; it was Clinton who gave us some ridiculous anti-immigration policies; and Republicans still loathe him and Democrats still adore that asshole? Obama can get rid of DADT with the stroke of a pen, but no, he’s too chickenshit to do it.
This is why I always have to hold my nose when voting Democrat. The Republican party may be evil, but at least they’re competent enough to get their evil deeds done. Democrats are utterly useless.
joannef
February 5
3:15 pm
Bravo! The sad thing about it is, as Las said, the Democrats are such a bunch of wimps that they let the minority – yes the GOP is the MINORITY party – plow right over them. If there’s a way to turn an overwhelming victory into a staggering defeat, the Democratic Party will find it. Sack up, Democrats! We didn’t elect you so you could cower in the basement!
Depressing!
Lori
February 5
5:38 pm
They just want them to be born. They could give a shit about what happens to them afterward.
What Las said.
Again, what Las said.
Melissa Blue
February 5
8:35 pm
At this point Obama needs to let go of his “can’t we all get along” stance. It’s helping no one. The other side will never ever EVER fucking like any ideas you put forth. Michelle just needs to knock him upside the head and tell him to nut up or shut up.
Julia Rachel Barrett
February 5
8:48 pm
Double A-Fucking-men! I am a moderate independent who detests what the Republican party has become and supported Obama for President before he announced his candidacy. I’m an American who wants all Americans to prosper, regardless of race, creed, or party. The Republican party, as it is currently constituted, would just as soon America was flushed down the toilet just to prove their point – and they don’t even know what the hell their point is – I guess it’s whatever Rush Limbaugh says it is. Who’s the patriot? It ain’t them.
casee
February 5
8:59 pm
I’m a Republican and I hate how they’re representing the party right now. Other than his response immediately following 9/11, Bush was useless.
Fox News is horribly biased. Bill O’Reily and Sean Hannity are commentators. I don’t care that they each have shows. The comment on news, they don’t report it.
That being said, Obama is even worse that Bush. He LIED about taxes not going up. With his new budget, corporate businesses will be hit hard. If you don’t think that’s true, you have your head in the sand. The effect will trickle down.
America is supposed to be the land of equal opportunity, not equal outcome.
Angelia Sparrow
February 5
9:08 pm
Uh, Las, don’t forget that before DADT, gay service members faced 10 years in federal prison if it was discovered they had committed perjury by lying on their forms.
There used to be a question “Are you homosexual or bisexual?” on the service admission form. In 1986, I answered honestly (10 years in federal prison, remember) and lost any chance at the Air Force career I had hoped for.
It’s time for a repeal, true enough. And no, it’s not penstroke simple. It has to go through Congress, because this is a law. What Obama can do is sign a stop-loss order, placing a moratorium on discharging gay service members.
@Cassee, I quit believing in “trickle-down” sometime around Reagan’s second term. Corporations have money. Who are we going to tax, people with money or people without? The poor have nothing TO tax.
Karen Scott
February 5
10:20 pm
@Casee Who is he taxing in his new budget? One of his election promises was that a large percentage of Americans wouldn’t be taxed. Wasn’t it 95% or something, is he taxing those people now?
You guys would be a whole lot better if you werent trying to police the world, but that can’t be laid at Obama’s door I’m afraid. These wars will forever belong to Bush.
The problem with the Democrats, as somebody wise once commented, is that they are a party that allows differing opinions to be aired, and that freedom ultimately leads to indecision and pussy-footing about. Too many polite cooks fucking up the broth.
It’s far easier for extremists and fundamentalists to be focused, their very hatred and intolerance is what unites them. This is why the Republican party find it much easier to mobilise themselves. In my opinion, some of the people who seem to be representing the Republican party these days seem to be no better than Muslim fundamentalists who believe that all westerners are infidels.
Karen Scott
February 5
10:26 pm
Ahhh so he’s taxing the corporations heavily. Surely thats better than taxing people who already have nothing?
@Casee And there is no way on earth that after a year, Obama is worse than Bush, that’s just silly, and a tad myopic I think. Just because you didn’t vote for the man doesn’t mean that he’s any worse than that embarrassing fool that ran you guys into the ground for eight years.
Karen Scott
February 5
10:33 pm
I’ve always been a hard-core Labour voter, but even I recognise that the fool we have at Number 10 these days is not good enough to govern my country, so for the first time in my life, I will be voting for the opposition, because I believe Cameron’s a better candidate regardless of the fact that I’m not a core Conservative Party voter. Sometimes you have to step away and see the woods through the trees, and not get so entrenched in outdated ideologies.
Mireya
February 5
10:46 pm
@casee: ALL politicians lie about taxes… I have been voting since 1980 … have yet to see a single one, irrespective of party, that has not lied about taxes. You are very naive or very young if you believe the standard BS about taxes. As to the “trickle down” … I was kicked by a very LARGE CORPORATE lawfirm who didn’t care about my 10 + years of service … and trust me, they are NOT ailing financially. Taxes or not, they will continue firing people if that means they can further line the pockets of the 5 partners at the top of the food chain.
Karen Scott
February 5
10:55 pm
Well that’s true enough. Better than lying about non-existent weapons of mass destruction eh?
One lie led to less money in one’s pocket, the other lie led to young men and women needlessly losing their lives, it doesn’t really take a genius to figure out which was the worst lie.
So no, Obama is most definitely not worse than Bush.
Michelle
February 5
11:30 pm
Wonderful post. Another thing I hate is the focus of elevating morons and incompetents as “heros”-celebrating them as just one of the regular people(Palin/Joe the plumber)- while if you are educated and articulate you are an elitist. Why has mediocrity become all the rage. Its like the wolves have taught the sheep to attack their own protectors-or like lemmings running toward the cliff. People are losing their critical thinking skills and just believing what they want to believe. Oh, and if those pesky facts get in the way just ignore them as “opinions”.
Casee
February 5
11:42 pm
Who is he taxing in his new budget?
Anyone who claims the Making Work Pay tax credit by letting it expire. His campaign was adamant about how important this credit was to middle class families. Now it’s not going to help generate jobs so who needs it.
“For 95 percent of workers and their families — 150 million workers overall — the “Making Work Pay” credit will provide a refundable tax cut of $500 for workers or $1,000 for working couples. This credit will benefit over 15 million self employed workers and for 10 million low-income Americans, will completely eliminate their federal income taxes.” — Obama’s Comprehensive Tax Plan
You guys would be a whole lot better if you werent trying to police the world
I agree with you, but I also think that if we didn’t “police” the world there would be an outcry b/c we weren’t doing anything. I also disagree with your statement about the wars being Bush’s. Everyone is so quick to forget what it was like immediately following 9/11. How easy it is to forget what could happen anytime, anywhere. I want the war to be over as much as the next person, but if there’s any blame it should go to the people that deserve the blame.
And there is no way on earth that after a year, Obama is worse than Bush, that’s just silly, and a tad myopic I think. Just because you didn’t vote for the man doesn’t mean that he’s any worse than that embarrassing fool that ran you guys into the ground for eight years.
Obama is a socialist. That makes him worse than Bush. If you listen to the man speak, you would see that he wants to change all the values that our country started with.
ALL politicians lie about taxes… I have been voting since 1980 … have yet to see a single one, irrespective of party, that has not lied about taxes. You are very naive or very young if you believe the standard BS about taxes.
There’s nothing like being called naive and young in the same sentence. Maybe I am naive by thinking that we can actually follow the Constitution and not try to change things that don’t need to be changed.
I didn’t believe anything he said about not raising taxes. There are FACTS out there that prove that he lied. What I don’t like is when someone who doesn’t know the facts try to spout off “what Obama said” as fact. Democrats are still talking about how Obama is lowering taxes for the middle class. Lie.
My husband leans heavily to the right and even I, a self-professed Republican, can see that some of his views are absurd.
Amanda
February 5
11:47 pm
I love a good political discussion, because it is the one time where you can lay facts on the table, so lets get the facts out there.
1. When Bill Clinton left office he left the American people with a surplus of 570billion dollars. Alas GWButt-munch took over through a botched election. IE he ran to his BROTHER in FLORIDA and stole the votes there. And took our 570billion dollar SURPLUS and went on a spending spree like a woman with an unlimited balance on her Macy’s card.
2. GWButt-munch went into Iraq because “That’s where the terrorist are”…YEAH FREAKIN RIGHT! Bush…I mean Butt-munch went in there because Saddam took a pot shot at his daddy and he wanted to prove he could take him out. Well he did that, but left no clear plan for a rebuild and now Terrorism over there is rampid because there was no clear plan. Oh and don’t get me started on the WMD’s. Oh yeah and then there is that little bill that rolls over and more money gets sent there, remember 96.7billion we are spending…and you wonder why the deficit is up, pfft. Oh and wait one more, 9.8 million dollars went missing under Butt-munch’s watch over there too, oh and then there is the little company called HALABURTON! Who owned it Dick “go fuck yourself” Cheny.
3. If I remember correctly it was Butt-munch who ended the tax on corperations who go overseas to create jobs CHEAPER. Which in turn moved more of OUR Jobs to India and any other country where labor is cheaper.
4. Butt-munch has cut taxes on families making over 250,000 dollars. While telling us who make less, your gonna get a break too. Why do you need a tax break if you make that much money? You make more money than I will ever see and now you are going to complain when you have to pay more???? Makes no sense.
5. Universal Health Care….what is wrong with this idea? I would like to know how many of you who have commented actually have health care?? I can tell you I don’t, why? I can’t pay for it. I make 7 dollars an hour working part-time, the economy is so bad here you keep what you have and make do. How many of you can say the same? I have a bad heart, it’s a genetic defect, I have a bottle of pills I take every day, when I go without, I get so sick I am hospitalized Which in turn means at least a 3000 dollar hospital bill everytime I can’t get in to see the doc and my pills lapse. With a health bill for everyone, I would be able to go when I need to and get the care I deserve.
What else do you want to say about Obama??? I would hope you would say he is trying. You can’t fix 8 years of problems in one year, give him a minute to try and work it out.
joannef
February 6
12:06 am
.
Oy vey! From Rush’s open trap to your keyboard. Was that all helpfully mapped out on Glenn Beck’s chalkboard? And, BTW, FOXNews so-called news anchors are just as biased as their commentators. It has been shown again & again & again. You forget that it’s all on tape! But go right ahead and believe that Obama’s a Kommie. Do you still think he’s Kenyan, too? Or is it Nigerian? It keeps changing. Anything but native-born American works, I suppose.
Karen Scott
February 6
12:34 am
Let’s get the facts out shall we? Us going to war with Iraq had jack-shit to do with 9/11. The threat of terrorism wasn’t coming from Iraq, that’s what Afghanistan was about.
We were told that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they still haven’t been found. We were told that Saddam Hussein had links to Al Qaeda, nobody has managed to find those links, and the man has been dead for years now.
It was also claimed that Iraq was financially aiding Palestinian terrorists and their families, thus war was a neccessary evil. Have we yet found the evidence to corroborate this?
No, it really doesn’t. Obama could be a yogurt knitting, tree hugging, plaque-carrying died-in-the-wool socialist, and that would still not make him worse than Bush. And I don’t actually believe he is a socialist. I think that some Americans have been so brainwashed into believing that anything that smacks of helping the man on the street, is tantamount to socialism.
Republicans are forever talking about great American constitution, but only when it suits. Bush was aware of that same constitution, and he did everything he could to tear it to smithereens.
OK, so you’d rather Obama did nothing? Really? I understand that Republicans aren’t interested in decent healthcare for all, but at the height of the financial meltdown, are you telling me that you would rather Obama had sat back and watched the banks and the auto industry fail?
I would say that the values your country started with have been steadily eroding for the last few years, the difference was, it was a Republican in charge, so it was easier to pretend that everything was dandy.
My problem with Obama is that he’s trying too hard to appease people who’d argue that the sky was pink, just for the hell of it. He would be far better off governing more from the left, and at least keeping his base happy, because Republicans really don’t want him to succeed, no matter what.
Extremists either way are crazy, but I believe that the right wing variety are deadlier than their left counterparts.
Casee
February 6
1:15 am
You’re incorrect in your thinking that it is only families that make over $250k (It’s actually 200k) that will be paying higher taxes. When the company you work for gets hit with higher taxes, you won’t be getting a raise. Nor will your company hire anyone additional employees. Why should they? Their prices will also go up which will trickle down the line.
I’m not going to argue this. I agree with you about this to a point.
Helping the man on the street? You mean welfare? Food stamps? Medicare? The fact is that Americans are lazy. Why should a person work for a living if they can be taken care of by the government? We do help the people that need it and the people that don’t. People like me–working middle class–are the ones that end up paying for this when you come out on the flip side.
It’s the classic double standard. You say that Republicans don’t want Obama to succeed. When Republicans are in office, Democrats don’t want them to succeed. It’s so easy not to look any farther back than the last eight years.
I don’t want a government run healthcare plan. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that people should go without healthcare. Why not try to regulate it before jumping in and taking over? And yes, I have healthcare. I guess I should be punished for that.
If this statement was reversed, I would completely agree. But you’re to the left and I’m to the right.
Melissa Blue
February 6
1:33 am
Helping the man on the street? You mean welfare? Food stamps? Medicare? The fact is that Americans are lazy. Why should a person work for a living if they can be taken care of by the government?
See I have a problem with this argument. Not too long ago I was on Welfare, Medi-Cal and Food Stamps. The stereotype is that I would have been staying at home shooting out babies faster than I could blink with my hand out for money. In reality I worked full-time while going to school and raising my children. Surprise, surprise I paid taxes. If my weekly hours came up short (you are supposed to do a work-like activity for 32 hours) I had better come up with a missing limb.
So people like me are not only paying for it, in so many we are demeaned and have to hear this rhetoric.
Anon
February 6
1:51 am
I love how the right keeps screaming that Obama is a socialist? Don’t they get that we are only a representive democracy in our right to vote and the idea of majority rules?
Otherwise, the US is and has been for a long time a socialist country. Maybe not as pure as some European countries, but socialist non the less. So I don’t get what the far right are screaming about.
And this constant, “this isn’t the country I was brought up in” is such BS. Just go back in any point in recent history and they will see that at many points our rights as “free” Americans have been thrown out the window by extremist thinking. ie. the McCarthy era when people were forced to lie about their friends and turn them in. A time when the right to free speech was obliterated. So all that yap, yap about “my country” is just a wa, wa…I can’t get my way.
And,I don’t know, but I look at countries in Europe and Japan, which are more socialist in ideology and way of running things, and I don’t see how they are all suffering with lack of rights. In fact, residents of those countries have a fairly good standard of living compared to a lot of less socialistic countries and they still get to vote and have their say.
We’re not talking communism, but the way the far right keep spewing the term “socialism” it’s like it’s the worst fate ever. Puleeze.
The current far right are just crying like a bunch of whinny babies, having temper tantrums because it’s not how they want things.
And civil rights, Bush actually tried to change the constitution to take more civil rights away. And he did make it so that if you were even suspected of terrorism, you could be arrested without rights to habeas corpus. And rights to privacy, eroded even more under him.
The R-pubs keep yapping about how their rights are being taken away. What rights are they talking about? I see R-pubs trying to take more of my personal rights away at every turn, all the while trying to shove their extremely rigid moral ideas down my throat.
No party is perfect. But seriously, I don’t know anyone on this planet who could get this country out of the pit Bush left it in in one year. Especially not with more “tax cuts” and less regulation, which is the only thing the R-pubs ever bring to the plate. And we can all see where that got us.
Anon
February 6
2:10 am
Helping the man on the street? You mean welfare? Food stamps? Medicare? The fact is that Americans are lazy. Why should a person work for a living if they can be taken care of by the government?
That is such an old stereotype. Yes, there are people working the system. But more and more, especially in the last few years,vmore working class families are not able to even make enough to pay their bills. Nothing to do with being lazy.
I was one who worked more than full time, self employed. Yet, I still did not make enough to pay insurance premiums. So I went to gov. subsidized clinics just to be able to see a Dr. Lucky for me, I lived in a state that had a fairly subsidized health care system, or I would have been screwed. I had to claim that I was indigent. Really, how insulting was that, when I was working my butt off, even harder than most people to take care.
I know lots of people, families, who are hard working who are having a hard time getting by and that attitude that all people getting help from the gov are lazy bums is just rude and insulting. Most of those people would jump at the chance to have a decent paying job that would pay all the bills.
And I tell you what, since I was able to get help when I truly needed it, I have no problem with being taxed while I am making good money to help those out who are in the same position I was in.
Karen Scott
February 6
2:19 am
So are you saying that you would choose not to work, and would rather go on welfare if that was an option? Because I know that regardless of how well my government were able to look after me, that’s a not a path I would choose, indeed that’s not a path that the majority of people in my country and your country would choose, so I always find that argument to be spurious at best.
There are certain sections of society who would rather stay at home and claim benefits, but they do not in any way shape, or form, make up the majority.
Also, what I find distasteful when Republicans talk about the welfare state is the assumption that this public money mainly goes towards keeping abled bodied lazy people at home, when in fact, America, like the UK has an aging population, who need to be looked after. As well as your seniors, there are also the disabled people who actually can’t work? What would you suggest be done with these people?
I think even you must surely see that the hatred from the Republicans for Obama are at levels unseen during the Bush years. If not, well, there are none so blind as those who cannot see, but like you said, I have a more leftist point of view, whilst you’re firmly entrenched to the right. I suspect though that I’m closer to the middle than you are, and that makes all the difference in the world.
@anon This is so damn true, because quite frankly, any American who was born after the early 1930s has been brought up in an economically socialist state. I think that Republicans forget that the New Deal, wasn’t a 21st Century construct thought up by Obama.
The thing that people who quote the American Constitution forget is that, the constitution as it is now, has been amended several times throughout history, and as much as some Americans don’t want to face it, the edicts that were laid out in the original document didn’t always protect American citizens. Just ask the slaves.
The constitution has evolved over time, because it has had to. Time stands still for no man, and those who keep on harping on about the good old days, have probably never experienced those ‘good old days’. Denial really isn’t just a river in Egypt.
Melissa Blue
February 6
2:24 am
Karen, I don’t always agree with your stance, but today you are my hero.
Casee
February 6
5:58 am
Karen, I don’t argue politics very often but I have to say that this has been somewhat enjoyable. I respect what you’re saying even as I respectfully disagree.
B
February 6
10:37 am
You’ve very obviously never had to live with only welfare, foodstamps, or medicare to get by.
Lazy, is it? How are they lazy? How is it lazy that you can’t get a good job without an education and you can’t get an education on the paltry sum allotted by things like social security? You’re not paying for laziness, you’re paying for greed and ignorance, and very little of that is on the part of people who struggle along with things like medicare.
I should know. I’m disabled, which has allowed me social security. Sounds good, right? Only I couldn’t make too much money or they’d take me off social security and I couldn’t get a job good enough to be off social security because I had no education. And I sure as hell couldn’t afford education when all my SS money had to go to keeping a roof over my family’s head. I tried, and ended up with not much education and an assload of debt by the time I was 21.
Being disabled also meant this: After my father committed suicide, I was dropped down to medicare from medicaid. Medicare is shit in comparison, it covers so little. Had I been a disabled person with 2 living parents, I would have stayed on medicaid. How does that make sense? How does it make sense to punish children (I was 9, at the time) for things they couldn’t begin to have control over? Because that’s what America’s system does right now. It punishes everyone not lucky enough to be born with decent money.
How about medicare part D? Talk about dumbfuckery. You know, my mom could micromanage my medications down to the day to make sure we didn’t have to pay much outside of coverage. A lot of people weren’t so lucky. Part d is so stupid and convoluted and hard to understand. My mom came home from the pharmacy all the time with horror stories about older people who were so confused as to why their medications were so expensive all of a sudden. They didn’t understand that their coverage had run out. On medication. It’s okay to deprive Granny of the heart medication she really needs because she’s 80 years old and “too lazy” to work?
When I was 14 my family lost our house to bankruptcy. We were going to food banks in order to be able to eat. We still weren’t poor enough to be on Welfare and I shudder to think what it takes. How the hell are those people supposed to stop being “lazy”, as you put it, when they can’t afford anything better?
The image of them as exploiting the system is patently false and based in ignorance and selfishness. I knew a lot of people as poor or poorer than me and you know what? The only family I knew that exploited the system was Republican.
Try walking in someone else’s shoes before you judge them and presume to know what they’re all about. Don’t just regurgitate the lies that get spewed by the ignorant and the manipulative.
Jennifer
February 6
8:20 pm
Oy! I’m so sick of hearing that Obama is changing all the values this country started with! Have you people ever opened a history book? We’ve made amendments to the constitution for the very reason that we, as a nation, change over time.
My God, if we didn’t change some of those great “values”, we would still have slavery, illegal search and seizure, women wouldn’t vote, no labor rights…the list goes on and on. But, the more I hear this new breed of republicans speak, the more I think they really do want to go back to those old “values”.
And, as to Casee’s incredibly ignorant statement regarding government assistance, I think B. said it better than I ever could.