Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

We've led off with the health care reform brouhaha quite a bit lately. Now, granted, there's been plenty of stupid en flambe surrounding health care, and it's important - but let us not lose sight of the fact that when the overwhelming stupidity began there, it didn't end elsewhere. It seems, in fact, that Cons have a bottomless barrel of the stuff they just keep pulling from.

Sen. DeMint seems to have a firehose attached to it:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) appeared on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show today to continue his near daily rants against President Obama. DeMint, who has repeatedly boasted that he will “break” Obama by defeating health care reform, has made a habit of comparing government under Obama to fascism. This time, DeMint told Hewitt that immigrants from Iran tell him that America is going “down the road” to the type of government they had fled from:

DEMINT: And we’ve seen a lot of countries over the years collapse when they’ve gone down the road that we’re going down. Probably the most heart-wrenching experiences I’ve had over the last several days is when naturalized American citizens who have immigrated here from Germany, Iran and other countries, they come up to me and they say why are we doing what so many have fled from? Why don’t Americans see what we’re doing? And I’ve realized that these people who’ve lived under socialist type economies, and totalitarianism, they know where we’re headed if we don’t turn things around.

And as if that weren't enough burning stupid for one hour, he poured some gasoline on the blaze:

“The president is on a rampage with an agenda that has surprised everyone,” DeMint said.

First, Jim, produce these Iranians and Germans who say we're on the road to totalitarianism. Parade the persecuted people; let us peruse them. I have a feeling they're as mythical as Delay's quadriplegics.

Secondly, only a nitwit who wasn't listening for the last two years would be surprised by Obama's agenda. Everything he's done, he talked about extensively. It is, in fact, why we elected his ass. It's a sad commentary on the state of American politics if a president's considered to be "on a rampage" that "surprised everyone" when he takes the actions he said he would.

But getting back to your original blather, Jim, seriously: what the fuck makes you believe we're becoming just like Iran? What evidence do you have? Do you have any? Any at all?

Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me:

One of the right wing’s favorite petty complaints about the Obama administration is over its dress code. Former Bush chief of staff Andrew Card has said that President Obama has brought a “kind of locker room experience” to the White House. The Washington Times yesterday published an account from an “observant source” who complained that “[f]lip-flops, tennis shoes, unbuttoned dress shirts with ties, and casual wear are now in style at the White House. Razors are out for men. Many male staffers seem to shave every couple of days.” Today, Andy McCarthy at the Corner takes another shot and in the same breath, invokes a comparison to the Iranian regime:

Derb, I’ve noticed that President Obama frequently forgoes the necktie — lately, even in public appearances. That reminded me — I have no idea why — that the Iranian regime has shunned the necktie ever since Khomeini pronounced it a symbol of Western decadence.

Do you people wake up at night screaming for Mommy and Daddy because you're convinced the big bad Iranian regime's under your bed? Seriously.

And what the hell is this obsession with attire? I mean, Casual Fridays is the doom of the government, no necktie = Iran ZOMG!1!! (although GWB could go necktieless without inducing hysterical fits), and the media went apeshit over the First Lady wearing shorts while vacationing in Arizona. Arizona. August. Fucking vacation. Hello. Do you people have even a fragment of sanity left?

Nevermind. The answer's obviously no - otherwise you all wouldn't be excited over this particular Marvel team-up. Whose bright idea was it to stick Bachmann and DeMint in the same room? Don't you people realize you could've brought batshit insanity to critical mass and caused a catastrophic tear in the space-time continuum?

You don't care, do you? I mean, we're talking about a political party that allows David "Diapers" Vitter to parade around his inane ideas, like reform = trying to destroy Canada's prescription drug system. You've got Chuck Grassley running around like a supreme idiot, making ridiculous demands:

Senator Chuck Grassley now appears to be throwing the gauntlet down before the White House in a way that seems explicitly designed to make trouble for President Obama at an extraordinarily sensitive moment — which will fuel charges he’s not negotiating in good faith.

Specifically: Grassley’s now demanding that Obama publicly repudiate the public option right now to prove he’s truly interested in bipartisan compromise. That, to me, is the most interesting news in this extraordinary interview Grassley gave The Washington Post:

In recent days, however, some Democrats have accused Grassley of trying to undermine the reform effort, for example by refusing to debunk rumors that the Democratic health bills would create “death panels” empowered to decide whether the infirm live or die.

On Wednesday, he denied those claims and fired back at Obama, saying the president should publicly state his willingness to sign a bill without a controversial government-run insurance plan. Such a statement, he said, is “pretty important … if you’re really interested in a bipartisan bill.”

Are you fucking kidding me, Chuck? The President may not have spanked your fucktarded little ass yet, but that doesn't mean he's going to commit political suicide for you. Don't mistake lack of effective discipline for love.

And this from a man who thinks that millions of Americans should be denied meanigful health care reform because a few misguided dumbshits have especially capacious lungs.

He is trying to derail health care because of idiots like this:

Eric Zimmermann reports on a town-hall event Hill held in his district yesterday.

"You'll have choices, regardless of what the detractors tell you," Hill said. "They are lying. That's a strong word, but it's true."

Thank you, Baron Hill. When Blue Dogs get sick of conservative misinformation, you know it's getting out of hand.

As for what got Hill going, this exchange seemed to set him off.

"I'm not a Democrat or a Republican," the man said. "I consider myself a political atheist. But from what I've heard about the plan on TV, there's a lot about it that I disagree with."

"What part do you not like?" Hill asked.

"Well, just some of the stuff they have been talking about on TV," the man responded.

"OK, and what was that?" Hill asked.

But the person couldn't come up with an example of what he disagreed with.

Poor fools. Some of them can't seem to remember the lies the Cons have shoved down their throats unless they hear them in the form of a poll question:

I’ve now obtained a new poll that finds a majority of Republicans believe the health care reform bill will force old people to decide in advance how and when they meet their maker.

The new poll, to be released later this morning, was sent my way by the Indiana University Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research, and here’s a chart of this key finding (click to enlarge):

The poll finds that 53% of Republicans believe that “the government will require the elderly to make decisions about how and when they will die.” By contrast, only 31% of independents and 14% of Democrats believe this, according to this poll of 600 adults nationwide.

Note the word “require.” A majority of Republicans believes that the health care reform will force old people to decide in advance “how and when they will die.” This is far more out there than anything we’ve seen polled before.

And that's not the only whacky lie Cons have gotten their base to swallow hook, line and sinker. No wonder they treat the American public at large like total fools.