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FINDING A VOICE by Ann Davidow
Many Congressional players seem to have created a self-perpetuating lampoon of themselves. If only they were actually funny instead of ineffectual knuckle-dragging panderers trolling for votes from an electorate that mistakes mind-numbing rhetoric for substance.
Republicans have perfected the ability to infect the national debate of their choosing with twisted logic and false information and have been able to turn opinion about health care and other issues to their advantage.
Republican Jean Schmidt from Ohio held forth in the House about abortion, an exercise totally devoid of factual content. It isnt so surprising that polls indicate a distaste for the process of abortion even if they come down on the side of a womans right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. But it has been a conservative tactic to characterize pro-choice advocates as being pro-abortion which has never been the case. What is amazing, however, were assertions by Schmidt and nutty Representative Michele Bachman from Minnesota that proposed health care legislation allows taxpayer funds to be used for abortions when specific language states the opposite.. Reaching for political advantage takes precedence over rational debate and the truth; long-winded rants in the House were celebrated no doubt by a host of supporters, the truth be damned.
The hilarious interviews in which Representative Massa engaged have monopolized media attention over a minor Democratic player who seems to have lost all sense of reality in a torrent of self-deprecating, conflicted statements. Laugh we may at the absurdity of Glenn Beck at Fox trying to provoke instances of corruption in his party out of a rambling Massa and gasp we may at CNNs Larry King asking him if he is gay, but it is unsettling that audiences are content to be regaled by such irrelevances..
Never mind that Massa has already resigned and that he is ill. John Boehner and other Republicans hope to drag the issue into the mid-term elections. And true to form Rush Limbaugh amused himself and perhaps some of his addled devotees by playing with Massas name in the context of former slave owners. How easily entertained the American public is.
Clownish dissemblers have so distorted the public debate that a host of earnest supporters calls in to programs and tweets away about how the administration is leading us down a path toward Socialism. Imagine they say that the president would attempt to dictate how much banks should pay executives. Whats a few million here or there to sustain our too-big-to-fail institutions? Is there ever too much money in the hands of a few, the likely job providers of the future? Does anyone believe that canard?
And doesnt turning over the administration of student loans to the government make better sense than allowing banks to play middle-men and eat up funds along the way? Why is there opposition to such a proposal and on what phony premise are some in Congress opposed to the establishment of a consumer protection agency to monitor the financial sector? Just another bureaucratic black hole is the cry although clearly it is the best hope of putting some teeth into any new regulations.
At the beginning of discussions about health-care reform opinion supported the idea especially the public option.
But in Congress that notion wasnt even on the table, and slowly but vociferously conservatives turned the issue on its head and made it into an anti-Socialism, anti-government debate filled with animosity and claims that failed to articulate what was actually involved - - witness the cries about Socialism and the hands-off-my-Medicare non sequiturs chanted so loudly at Tea Bagger events.
Adding to the absurdity of the political place in which we dwell, conservatives constantly describe our health system as the best in the world. Dont people come from distant places seeking specialized treatment and care? But you know what, everyone pretty much accepts that if you can afford it great medical care is available in this country. Those foreign dignitaries that make the trip here can afford the plane fare, the surgery and hospital accommodations - - not so uninsured regular folks who live here.
In general the conservative attitude is markets will adjust, leave them alone; the number of uninsured is greatly exaggerated by liberals and as Floridas Representative Alan Grayson describes the Republican philosophy - - homeless, move in with your parents, out of work get a job. Now thats funny stuff.
Many Congressional players seem to have created a self-perpetuating lampoon of themselves. If only they were actually funny instead of ineffectual knuckle-dragging panderers trolling for votes from an electorate that mistakes mind-numbing rhetoric for substance.
Republicans have perfected the ability to infect the national debate of their choosing with twisted logic and false information and have been able to turn opinion about health care and other issues to their advantage.
Republican Jean Schmidt from Ohio held forth in the House about abortion, an exercise totally devoid of factual content. It isnt so surprising that polls indicate a distaste for the process of abortion even if they come down on the side of a womans right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. But it has been a conservative tactic to characterize pro-choice advocates as being pro-abortion which has never been the case. What is amazing, however, were assertions by Schmidt and nutty Representative Michele Bachman from Minnesota that proposed health care legislation allows taxpayer funds to be used for abortions when specific language states the opposite.. Reaching for political advantage takes precedence over rational debate and the truth; long-winded rants in the House were celebrated no doubt by a host of supporters, the truth be damned.
The hilarious interviews in which Representative Massa engaged have monopolized media attention over a minor Democratic player who seems to have lost all sense of reality in a torrent of self-deprecating, conflicted statements. Laugh we may at the absurdity of Glenn Beck at Fox trying to provoke instances of corruption in his party out of a rambling Massa and gasp we may at CNNs Larry King asking him if he is gay, but it is unsettling that audiences are content to be regaled by such irrelevances..
Never mind that Massa has already resigned and that he is ill. John Boehner and other Republicans hope to drag the issue into the mid-term elections. And true to form Rush Limbaugh amused himself and perhaps some of his addled devotees by playing with Massas name in the context of former slave owners. How easily entertained the American public is.
Clownish dissemblers have so distorted the public debate that a host of earnest supporters calls in to programs and tweets away about how the administration is leading us down a path toward Socialism. Imagine they say that the president would attempt to dictate how much banks should pay executives. Whats a few million here or there to sustain our too-big-to-fail institutions? Is there ever too much money in the hands of a few, the likely job providers of the future? Does anyone believe that canard?
And doesnt turning over the administration of student loans to the government make better sense than allowing banks to play middle-men and eat up funds along the way? Why is there opposition to such a proposal and on what phony premise are some in Congress opposed to the establishment of a consumer protection agency to monitor the financial sector? Just another bureaucratic black hole is the cry although clearly it is the best hope of putting some teeth into any new regulations.
At the beginning of discussions about health-care reform opinion supported the idea especially the public option.
But in Congress that notion wasnt even on the table, and slowly but vociferously conservatives turned the issue on its head and made it into an anti-Socialism, anti-government debate filled with animosity and claims that failed to articulate what was actually involved - - witness the cries about Socialism and the hands-off-my-Medicare non sequiturs chanted so loudly at Tea Bagger events.
Adding to the absurdity of the political place in which we dwell, conservatives constantly describe our health system as the best in the world. Dont people come from distant places seeking specialized treatment and care? But you know what, everyone pretty much accepts that if you can afford it great medical care is available in this country. Those foreign dignitaries that make the trip here can afford the plane fare, the surgery and hospital accommodations - - not so uninsured regular folks who live here.
In general the conservative attitude is markets will adjust, leave them alone; the number of uninsured is greatly exaggerated by liberals and as Floridas Representative Alan Grayson describes the Republican philosophy - - homeless, move in with your parents, out of work get a job. Now thats funny stuff.