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GOP: The "Let Them Eat Cake" Party

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Economy
Posted on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:34:09 AM EST
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Jed Lewison has a video roundup of Republican refusal to extend a helping hand to the unemployed in the midst of the worst economic times since the Great Depression:

Herbert Hoover lives, and he resides in the GOP.

Speaking for me only

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    GOP: The "Let Them Eat Cake" Party | 22 comments (22 topical)

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    I wonder (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by cal1942 on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:59:33 AM EST
    how Fox News is playing this?

    If Democrats don't play this non-stop they're as insane as Bunning.

    It's amazing that Bunning, who's where he is only because he was born with a unique physical ability to excel at a child's game, could stand up there and insure that those not so blessed, who've had to actually do adult work for a living, fall into still deeper misery.

    Harry Reid pulled it last week... (none / 0) (#20)
    by jedimom on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 05:49:45 PM EST
    Harry Reid pulled the bipartisan jobs bill last week which had the extension of UE and COBRA subsidies in it

    Harry Reid rewrote the bill down to 15b and Harry Reid is the individual who cut the UE.COBRA out

    we would have had this extension A WEEK AGO were it not for Harry Reid

    typical political BS

    Reid pulls it knowing the GOP wont vote against it when it comes up today NOT PAID FOR

    but Bunning is an actual maverick, Mitch McConnell fights with him constantly

    so if Bunning is Mr Insensitive elitist so is Harry Reid

    Parent

    Bunning (none / 0) (#21)
    by jedimom on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 05:51:24 PM EST
    not that I am a Bunning fan by any means

    but the sheer hypocrisy of this point is so blatant

    My fave Bunning rant is his towering outrage at TARP/AIG all of which he always votes against..

    he was all, "I woke up saw the headline and thought I was in France!!!"

    lol....

    Parent

    it's ridiculous that Senate Dems folded on this (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by desmoinesdem on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 11:47:43 AM EST
    They should have fought harder. These benefits are a lifeline for millions of people.

    Herbert Hoover (none / 0) (#10)
    by BDB on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 01:28:28 PM EST
    doesn't just reside in the GOP.  The entire response to the financial crisis - from both parties - has been Hoover-esque or perhaps even worse.  It will continue to be so because neither party lives in the same America as the rest of us.  They live in elite America, which is doing just fine.

    Parent
    This matches the doctor who spoke for Repubs at (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by jawbone on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 01:28:42 PM EST
    the Health Summit yesterday.  

    This doc from MT(?) said that patients with health savings accounts (HSA's) were the savviest customers, that they always asked how much something cost and when it was too expensive the decided not to do whatever was being recommended.

    Self-denial of care -- it's the Republican way.

    Self-denial of food, housing, clothing, transportation -- that too is the Republican way.

    With this attitude, we will need poor houses, (none / 0) (#12)
    by jawbone on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 01:30:04 PM EST
    Soylent Green, and ice floes....

    Hey, it's how to cut costs!

    Parent

    The new "Just Say No" campaign (none / 0) (#13)
    by Cream City on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 02:07:48 PM EST
    aka I-know-more-than-an-M.D.

    Of course, I question my docs on what they want me to do.  But not to tell them that they don't know what they're doing, after a dozen and more years of med school and more -- the "more" being that experience thing that matters to me. . . .

    Parent

    The doc is Sen.John Barrasso, Rep-WY -- transcript (none / 0) (#15)
    by jawbone on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 03:11:55 PM EST
    of his remarks is here.

    As someone who was dropping in and out, I didn't catch any reference to his political office and he opened his statement as if he were just a doc. Heh, bcz doctors are supposed to have high cred with the public on health care issues....

    Here's the part about what I recalled as HSA's; he actually is talking about people with catastrophic coverage.  The great instigator of self-denial.

    ...Mr. President, when you say, with catastrophic plans, they don't go for care until later, I say sometimes the people with catastrophic plans are the people that are best consumers of health care, in using -- the way they use their health care dollars.

    Because a lot of people come in and say, you know, my knee hurts; maybe I should get an MRI. They say -- and then they say, "Will my insurance cover it?" That's the first question.

    And if I say yes, then they say, "OK, let's do it." If I say no, then they say, "Well, what is it going to cost?"

    And "What's it cost?" ought to be the first question. And that's why, sometimes, people with catastrophic -- catastrophic health plans ask the best questions, shop around, are the best consumers of health care.

    Best consumers of health care? Yeah, right -- bcz they can't afford to get diagnosed properly or get treatment unless it's killing them, as in painful or dying.

    Barrasso is an ortho -- they like to make cuts, no?.

    Parent

    Here's the exchange w/ BO on HSAs and Cat Plans -- (none / 0) (#17)
    by jawbone on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 03:22:38 PM EST
    I think Barrasso may have been thinking of fed employees w/ more usual insurance, but who put aside pre-tax dollars to use for anticipated medical expenses (OTC drugs are included, iirc, along with health clubs, glasses or contacts, etc.)--but I don't know that for sure. Nor does 16,000 sound like a large percentage of fed employees, right?  Anyway, from link above, here's the transcript:

    OBAMA: The -- I mean, let me just -- there's one thing I've got to -- there are a number of issues, as usually, that I've got significant difference with.

    I just am curious. Would you be satisfied if every member of Congress just had catastrophic care? Do you think we'd be better health care purchasers?

    I mean, do you think -- is that a change that we should make?

    BARRASSO: Yes, I think -- I think, actually, we would. We'd really focus on it. You'd have more, as you'd say, skin in the game...

    OBAMA: Because...

    BARRASSO: ... and especially if they had a savings account...

    (CROSSTALK)

    BARRASSO: ... a health savings account. They could put their money into that and they'd be spending the money out of that.

    OBAMA: Would you feel the same way if you were making $40,000 or you had -- that was your income?

    Because that's the reality for a lot of folks. I mean, it is very important, when you say to listen, to listen to that farmer that Tom mentioned in Iowa, to listen to the folks that we get letters from.

    Because the truth of the matter, John, is they're not premiers of any place. They're not sultans from wherever. They don't fly in to Mayo and suddenly, you know, decide they're going to spend a couple million on the absolute best health care. They're folks who are left out.

    OBAMA: And this notion somehow that for them the system was working and that if they just ate a little better and were better health care consumers they could manage is just not the case.

    The vast majority of these 27 million or 30 million people that we're talking about, they work, every day. Some of them work two jobs. But if they're working for a small business they can't get health care. If they are self-employed, they can't get health care.

    And you know what? It is a scary proposition for them.

    And so we can debate whether or not we can afford to help them, but we shouldn't pretend somehow that they don't need help. I get too many letters saying they need help.

    And so I want to go to...

    BARRASSO: Mr. President, having a high deductible plan and a health savings account is an option for members of Congress and federal employees...

    OBAMA: That's right, because members of Congress get paid $176,000 a year.

    (CROSSTALK)

    BARRASSO: ... 16,000 -- 16,000 employees take advantage of that.

    OBAMA: Because they -- because members of Congress...

    (CROSSTALK)

    BARRASSO: It's the same plan that the -- that the park rangers get...

    OBAMA: John...

    BARRASSO: ... in Yellowstone National Park.

    OBAMA: John, members of Congress are in the top income brackets of the country, and health savings accounts I think can be a useful tool, but every study has shown that the people who use them are folks who've got a lot of disposable income. And the people that we're talking about don't.

    So... (CROSSTALK)

    (Cat Plans = Catastrophic Plans)

    Parent

    This is the last stop (none / 0) (#1)
    by andgarden on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:37:53 AM EST
    on the "Republicans take back the House" express. If Dems whimper and go home this weekend, they will have missed a huge opportunity.

    Heh. A pol is a pol. Republicans are being pols. (none / 0) (#5)
    by Dan the Man on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:59:04 AM EST


    Parent
    Let them eat cake (none / 0) (#2)
    by coigue on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:43:20 AM EST
    this should read like George Bush eating cake while Norlans drowns.

    I hope the Dems... (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:52:27 AM EST
    ...are editing up a nice new batch of attack ads on this.

    How lucky is Obama?  To be such a poor leader, but to be graced with an opposition with less than no ideas and place.  This stuff is all but on a platter for him, waiting for him to finds his nads and get angry for the people.

    That would mean, of course, he has to believe that getting angry for the people is sometimes necessary.

    I don't know if he does.

    It happens (none / 0) (#4)
    by Socraticsilence on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 10:54:30 AM EST
    God, the only thing that would be better is if the GOP found Newt 2.0, but I think they probably learned from that fiasco the first time around.

    Parent
    I'm not sure. . . (none / 0) (#8)
    by RickTaylor on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 11:54:41 AM EST
    that Herbert Hoover deserves that comparison.

    He's like (none / 0) (#9)
    by Salo on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 11:59:59 AM EST
    I wasn't that bad surely! A actually responded to New Orleans and I had ficking huge Dam built.

    Parent
    Hoover's Carter (none / 0) (#18)
    by Socraticsilence on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 04:24:21 PM EST
    a better man before and after the Presidency than actually as President.

    Parent
    I think I read somewhere (none / 0) (#14)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 03:03:11 PM EST
    that Bunning supports the measure, he simply does not support passing it unfunded. He says he will support it if it is funded, and he suggests using some of the unspent 400B stimulus funds...

    McDermott's statement re Bunning (none / 0) (#16)
    by shoephone on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 03:12:46 PM EST
    McDermott has sponsored the unemployment benefits extension in the House (twice). Here's his statement regarding Bunning's hostility to the measaure:

    "Today, one Republican Senator, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, is attempting to single-handedly cut off jobless aid to American workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own. With unemployment at nearly 10 percent and millions of families depending on this support, Senator Bunning's hold on this legislation is inexplicable. Sen. Bunning may have earned himself a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but his recent actions show he may be better suited for the Hall of Shame in Congress."  

    "Make no mistake--Congress will extend this program and we will provide the emergency funds necessary to do so.  In the meantime, States will be forced to send out notices of benefit termination and go through procedures to temporarily terminate existing programs, only to restart them again when Mr. Bunning has stepped down from his soap box.  This bureaucratic headache will be time consuming, inefficient and expensive to cash-strapped States, making Mr. Bunning's opposition particularly ironic.  He opposes these benefits because they have yet to be offset, yet he is driving the cost up in the meantime.

    "But most importantly, Mr. Bunning is holding hostage the millions of laid-off Americans who deserve to know if they will be able to make their next electricity or mortgage payment."

    Go Jim!

    paygo (none / 0) (#19)
    by jedimom on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 04:32:56 PM EST
    he will vote for it, he just wants it paid for

    paygo was just brought back, was it not?

    so why not use it?

    I need the COBRA extension but it would be ever so nice if they cold even pretend to give a fig about paying for this.....

    Bunning (none / 0) (#22)
    by WS on Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 09:45:49 PM EST
    didn't care about the deficit or paygo when he voted for the Bush tax cuts that caused a two trillion dollar hole in the budget.  

    It's obvious Bunning only cares about maintaining obstructionism for obstructionism's sake.  

    Parent

    GOP: The "Let Them Eat Cake" Party | 22 comments (22 topical)

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