From www.politico.com
Tim Pawlenty foresees GOP surge if health plan is rejected
CHICAGO – Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty took an aggressive line against President Barack Obama’s proposed health care overhaul Friday and insisted that a rejection of the Democratic plan could usher in a Republican resurgence.
Occasionally when one gets so excited about something or someone, one has a tendency to blurt out things one would never say except in the heat of the moment. (You know. Like when you're having great sex and you suddenly scream out "I love you!") Such a misstep seems to have happened to Governor Tim Pawlenty. That would be the retiring governor Tim Pawlenty who came thiiisss close to being McCain's running mate. (What must it feel like to lose out to Sarah Palin?)
It is no secret that the governor has fallen big time for the idea of running for president in 2012. And in his zeal and boyish eagerness to please, he wanted to be the first one out there touting the upside to the failure of Obama's health care plan. Phuck the poor and the middle class. This is about us. The Republicans. the Masters of the Universe. The "me"-ness of such a mind set is emblematic of the Right's approach to the purpose and function of government. The concept of the "common good" for these people is synonymous with Marxism and socialism. They do not speak of "we the people" but rather "you the people". There central theme of their concept of the democratic form of government is "What's in it for me?" If the good Samaritan had been a Republican that poor bastard by the side of the road would have died where he lay.
It seems this concept of the individual's rights and freedoms is a holdover from the virulent hatred of communism and socialism which permeated most of the Republican rhetoric and rant during the 1950's and 60's. Any program or law that had the slightest whiff of social reform or welfare was quickly attacked and destroyed. Government existed not for the betterment of society as a whole but rather for the needs and wants of the individual. And as a result the Republican party has for decades fought every attempt the federal government has made to better the lives of the many rather than the few. Think civil rights, desegregation, equal housing, educational opportunity, Medicare, and so on and so on and so on.
So we should not be surprised to see the level of vitriol and lies that are being spread across the country by the Republican politicians and their manifold lackeys and toadies over the proposed health care reform bill. But what makes this latest attack on the common good unique is the willingness on their part to use the underlying racism of many in this country as a tool to whip up opposition to any and all things proposed by America's first black president. In their zealousness, they choose to ignore the fact that they are playing with fire. And if that fire gets out of control the entire country will be engulfed.
But hey, then they'll have an even better chance of taking back the country in 2012.