Goddess bless whoever put Rand Paul on the same committee assignment as Al Franken and Bernie Sanders.
Key moment:
Sen. Paul: "Um, I appreciate the, the great and very, uhm, collegial discussion, and we do have different opinions, you know, some of us believe more in the, uh, ability of Government to cure problems and some of us believe more in the ability of private charity to heal these problems, I guess what I still find curious is, though, that if we are saving money with the two billion dollars we spend perhaps we should give you twenty billion, is there a limit? Where would we get to, how much money should we give you in order to save money so if we spend federal money to save money where is the limit? I think we can reach a point of absurdity."
Sen. Franken: "Uh, I think you just did."
Because Senator Rand Paul has been officially clowned by the best.
First, here is a quick question for you.
If you could either save 9 Million Somalians from starvation or cut spending in the budget, which would you choose?
Now change the word Somalians with Americans. And ask yourself the same question.
If you could either save 9 Million Americans from starvation or cut spending in the budget, which would you choose?
Hold on to that thought. There is going to be a quiz on this later.
Now watch as Senators Bernie Sanders and Al Franken take turns making Rand Paul look like a heartless fool.
Transcript and more below the fold
Rand Paul is a sociopath. Given the choice of saving millions of American senior citizens from starvation or saving a dollar of federal spending, Rand Paul prefers the dollar. Heartlessness, cruelty, and an F in math. These are the gifts the GOP wisemen carry to Teabagger Jesus.
And Teabagger Jesus is a monster who loves greed and hates social justice.
Bernie Sanders and Al Franken! Wondertwins ACTIVATE!
More below the fold
Sen. Sanders: "Making sure that seniors have the nutrition that they need is not only the right and moral thing to do, it is the financially smart thing to do. It is estimated today that 5 million seniors face the threat of hunger, 3 million seniors are at risk of hunger, and 1 million seniors go hungry because they can not afford to buy food. But in some cases it is not just money, in some cases it is having the transportation to get to the store, in some cases the ability to think through, when you are 85 or 90 and alone, what kind of food you need and how you purchase it.
Persistent hunger and malnutrition leads to multiple chronic diseases, resulting in extensive hospital stays and premature nursing home placements. There are some studies out there, not quite sure, about a significant percentage of seniors today who are in nursing homes who need not be in that expensive care if they had good nutrition and somebody visiting them on a regular basis. That seems to me to be pretty dumb."
If we keep people from going hungry we end up spending waaay less on health care later. The math adds up to me. Unfortunately, Republicans don't do math. Subtraction and division, sure, Republicans are great at that, but addition, not so much . . .
So we can help Seniors from starving at the American taxpayers expense, or we can force them into a massively expensive, unnecessary for profit system. Yeah, seems pretty dumb to me too. Guess which side Republicans are on.
Senator Al Franken continues . . . and then Senator Rand Paul offers a "thought".
Sen. Franken: "Make no mistake about it, the Older Americans Act saves money, it allows seniors to stay in there homes who wouldn't otherwise be able to stay in there homes."
Of course, keeping people in their homes is something Rand Paul has an objection to.
Sen. Paul: "It's, it's curious, uh, that only in Washington can you spend two billion dollars and claim that you're saving money. Here's a thought, perhaps the two billion dollars we spend on OAA, if we subsumed that into another program and didn't spend it, that might be saving money."
6 Billion for Oil Subsidies? Natch! 2 Billion to keep Gramma from going hungry and getting sick? What am I, made of money?
First of all, what kind of sicko is against feeding the hungry? How is that Christian? And how does Rand Paul call himself a doctor?!?!
Rand Paul skips the saving people part, American people, and goes to the part he really cares about, saving money. Because a dollar is a terrible thing to waste, where as lives are only precious between conception and birth.
Heartless.
And then Bernie gets pissed . . .
Sen. Sanders: "Senator Paul has suggested that only in Washington do people believe that spending money actually saves money, and I think that is the kind of philosophy which results in us spending almost twice as much per person on health care as any other country on earth, because we have millions and millions of Americans who can't get to a doctor on time, some of them die, some of them become very, very ill, end up in the emergency room and end up in the hospital at great cost rather than making sure they have access to a doctor. Maybe that's the same reason why we have more people in jail than any other country on earth including China tied to the fact that we have the highest poverty rate among children of any other, any other major country on earth, so the point is, and I think we have a bit of a difference here, I believe, I think Senator Franken has spoken to the fact, that prevention, keeping people healthy, taking care of their needs at home, does actually save money, and that if you deny those resources to the people who need them, senior citizens, home today alone, isolated, confused about medicine, not getting the nutrition they need, you know what happens to that person? That person collapses, that person ends up in an emergency room, that person ends up in a nursing home at much greater cost to the system."
Much greater cost IS THE GOP PLAN. Privatize everything and then watch the costs to the public and the corporate profits soar.
It is expensive, it is stupid, it is absurd and it is killing Americans.
And Al Fraken pounces.
Sen. Franken: "Here is my very precise question. Does the Older Americans Act save taxpayers money by allowing seniors to stay in their homes as opposed to going to nursing homes?"
Kathy Greenlee, Assistant Secretary of the Administration on Aging in the US Dept of Health and Human Services: "Yes, Senator."
Sen. Franken: "Thank you."
It is at this moment when Rand Paul makes the mistake of speaking . . .
Sen. Sanders: "Senator Paul wanted to make a point."
Sen. Paul: "Um, I appreciate the, the great and very, uhm, collegial discussion, and we do have different opinions, you know, some of us believe more in the, uh, ability of Government to cure problems and some of us believe more in the ability of private charity to heal these problems, I guess what I still find curious is, though, that if we are saving money with the two billion dollars we spend perhaps we should give you twenty billion, is there a limit? Where would we get to, how much money should we give you in order to save money so if we spend federal money to save money where is the limit? I think we can reach a point of absurdity."
Sen. Franken: "Uh, I think you just did."
If we can afford to drop bombs on Libya and "Nation Build" in Iraq and Afghanistan, we can afford to keep American citizens from going hungry.
And frankly, I am sick and tired of the Religious Right telling me NOT to feed the hungry. Because we all know how much Jesus hated feeding the hungry.
As always, Senator Bernie Sanders speaks for me.
Sen. Sanders: "I would suggest, Senator Paul, when you have seniors in this country who are dealing with food insecurity, who are not getting the nutrition that they need, my guess is that the Government is wasting substantial sums of money by not taking care of those seniors who will end up in emergency homes, in emergency rooms, in hospitals and in nursing homes. So, if you ask that question, my answer is I don't want to see one senior in this country go hungry, it's the morally right thing to do, and from a fiscally conservative point of view, saving Government monye, it is my view that right thing to do."
Notice how Rand Paul doesn't once recognize that their are American lives at stake. To him, it is all about the money.
So let me repeat a key point from the text above.
. . . we have millions and millions of Americans who can't get to a doctor on time, some of them die, some of them become very, very ill, end up in the emergency room and end up in the hospital at great cost rather than making sure they have access to a doctor.
Some of these Americans DIE.
But does Rand Paul give a shit?
Not just fools, Republicans are cruel and heartless as well. And bad at math. These are the guys who call themselves "Fiscal Conservatives" with a straight face, never mind the EPIC collapse of everything after Bush left office, never mind the huge deficits they created, the entire "Fiscally Conservative" world view boils down to a free lunch. Wars don't have to be paid for, tax cuts don't have to be paid for, we can cut and cut and cut and anything that costs money is BAD, unless it is a war or a corporate giveaway like subsidies to Oil companies.
But the big part is that this conversation proves just how bad at math Republicans are. If I don't buy my medicine today sure I might save a few bucks, but I'm going to spend much more than I saved when I end up in the hospital because I don't take my medicine. Now think of FOOD as a kind of medicine. Spending LESS on food is not going to make me healthier, and 65 is a hell of an age to begin a crash diet.
You see, Republicans are hell bent on starving the Government, and if Grandpa has to be starved along with it, so be it.
What I find curious, is how the elected children of Republican politicians, from George W. Bush to Rand Paul to Ben Quayle and on, always happen to be crueler and dumber than their parents.
I guess the batshit doesn't fall far from the cave.
So here is a round of applause for Bernie Sanders and Al Franken for making Rand Paul look like the cruel, heartless clown that he is. Human suffering means nothing to these sociopaths, unless that human happens to be very wealthy or between the ages of conception and birth.
Oh, and nevermind that stuff Jesus said about feeding the poor and "that which you do unto others you have done unto me.". You can't worship at the altar of Ayn Rand AND Jesus at the same time.
Heartlessness, cruelty, and an F in math. These are the gifts the GOP wisemen carry to Teabagger Jesus.
And Teabagger Jesus is a monster.
Peace and love to all
You can follow me on Twitter @JesseLaGreca