Monday, January 10, 2011

Rep. Steve King's comments on Friday

Prepare yourselves for a continuing saga of Repubs trying to convince the country that Obama is a Socialist and that 'liberals' are anti-American.  

It's been a while since I've remarked on political events; my baby has me in a whirl, but I just have to comment on Rep. Steve Kings comments on the floor of the house from Friday (3hr 35min mark).  He was one in a line of speakers debating the repeal of the health care bill. He prefaced his remarks about health care with a vivid memory of the "anti-American" people who protested the war in Iraq in 2003, and the vile image of an "Asian-American hippie" who cleaned his camera lens with a mini silk US flag.  "Where were the critics then?" he asked, "when flags were used as grease rags to clean the lens of a camera that is taking pictures of anti-Americans joined together to protest the saving of our freedom."  Wow.

The vivid image that comes back to me from his illustration is the fear many American had of being unconstitutionally round up and imprisoned for being labeled anti-American; the image of Michelle Bachman calling for an investigation of congress to weed out anti-American representatives; the unconstitutional legislation that made it possible for campus protest groups to labeled terrorists.  Holy bananas!  I say, "Where were the critics then, complaining about the taking of freedoms and liberty, and the path to tyranny taken by the Bush, 'The Decider.'"  Geez.  It is a little comforting just to forget about the Bush decade, isnt' it?

Let's move right along to the rest of King's comments from Friday.  He didn't really talk much about the substance of the health care bill, but he made a parade of comments linking the Obama admin to socialism and Democrats and their supporters as anti-American.  I will just make a list here of things the Rep. complains are perpetuated by "capitalist-hating, anti-Americans" and some things he said in his speech:

-FEMA's flood insurance, (he evoked the Bay of Pigs here, saying that "around the time of the Bay of Pigs, free market hating legislators enacted federal flood insurance)
-the recent changes in student loans, which took out the middle man (note, the loans were from the gov't to begin with, but managed privately for exorbitant fees, the new legislation just removes that middle man.) 
-of course, the new health care bill, which 'will ban certain people's insurance plans, and create "death panels,"'
"Obama wants to pay people to council people to accept death, when there is medicine there that may be able to save their lives. I don't think that is the business of the Federal government; to pay people to council others to die quicker." He mentioned here that Donald Berwick was appointed because he has the same 'death panel' ideology, "he is there for a reason," said Rep. Steve King.

The Right's death panel propaganda was put to rest a while ago, but Republicans have had new life breathed into them since the election.  Lets not just stand by and watch as they double up their irrational arguments and behavior of the past two years.  Lets single out these crazy antics and those who perpetrate them and let them know it is not okay. 

He ended by saying the Obamacare bill must be ripped out by its roots.  It must be ripped out by its roots to "Save America, save what is left of America because our liberty has been ripped out, the constitution has been violated."  Apparently Steve King and Michelle Bachman were the first to submit bills to repeal Obamacare; both were so quick to want to be the trumpeters of the born-again Republicans.  I am sure they would take that as a complement, and to those who would take it so,  let me say, "How clumsy of me, I meant to accuse you."

In previous blogs from www.katsmorningcup.blogspot.com, I laid my argument for what the common good encompasses and that is: health care, education and protection from crisis.  Each of the categories Rep. King railed against are valid areas of common welfare, as is commonly beneficial for all individuals and for our nation as a whole.