Making the buzz at Obama's town hall in New Hampshire today was Diane Campbell, owner of a Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Kingston, NH. She held up two signs, one with a cross and one with a peace symbol, both featuring a Nazi propaganda poster with Hitler replaced by Obama, the word "Socialism" and the slogan "Hey America you want change? Hitler did to !!" [sic -- although another "o" is scribbled in. Kids, let this be a lesson: Good spelling is not required in the business world.]
According to the NY Times story, Ms. Campbell fears that her elderly, autoimmune deficient mother, and her sister born with only one limb, will have to face Obama's death panels and come up short. She likens her fear to Nazi Germany's killing of "everyone who wasn't perfect".
(Incidentally, this sets up a convenient fall guy should Ms. Cambpell's sick, immuno-compromised aging mother die of old age or illness, or her disabled sister die of complications from her disability, should it happen after health care reform is enacted. Instead of blaming natural causes or preexisting conditions for their deaths, she can blame Barack Hitler Obama.)
But wait for the punchline. According to the Wall Street Journal, that notorious bastion of socialism, Ms. Cambpell's mother and sister already have public coverage -- both of them receive treatment through Medicare.
Clearly, what's good for Diane Campbell's mother and sister is not good enough -- or too good -- for the rest of America.
This brings us to today's Republican Logic lesson:
- Obama is Hitler.
- Therefore, health insurance reform will resemble the Holocaust.
- Also, Obama is a socialist.
Diane knows all about how public insurance -- like the Medicare her mother and sister receive -- can hurt people. Not from their experience, mind you, but from an anecdote about someone else and the healthcare in another country: her pastor's wife's grandmother and friend, both of whom, chance would have it, died while awaiting treatment in Canada. (No word on who Diane's pastor is.)
So my questions for Diane Campbell are: Do you provide a health insurance plan to your store employees? Do you contribute anything to their plan? How much have those rates gone up since you opened your store?
PS: Too bad there isn't a Godwin's Law for public discourse.
PPS: Am I the only one suddenly missing George W. Bush's Free Speech Zones? I recall the once-patriotic conservatives were all for it.