Just when you think the Insane-O-Wing of the Republican Party (which is to say, "The Republican Party") has found a new low, the bottom of the barrel, the utmost extreme to which they can say something that is stupid, offensive, or otherwise atrocious...
It seems that they find a way to go past even their new low high bar. That made sense, right?
Found on Facebook, Huff Po (cringe all you want) has flagged an interview given by Chris Collins, a Republican candidate to take on fresh Congressperson Kathy Hochul in NY-26 (NY-27? I've seen both cited, seems like 27th now, but it was originally 26th?)
He gave an interview to The Batavian in which, I am not making anything up, he is quoted, in writing, as stating that our American Health Care System (Fuck yeah!!! America!) is soooo good now, that the twin terrors of Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer have a 0% mortality rate.
Seriously:
"People now don’t die from prostate cancer, breast cancer and some of the other things," Collins said. "The fact of the matter is, our healthcare today is so much better, we’re living so much longer, because of innovations in drug development, surgical procedures, stents, implantable cardiac defibrillators, neural stimulators -- they didn’t exist 10 years ago. The increase in cost is not because doctors are making a lot more money. It’s what you can get for healthcare, extending your life and curing diseases."
This seems pretty cut and dry to me. There's no "Taking out of context" with a remark like this, is there? Yes, he's right in that our health care advances have increased survival rates, and new drugs and procedures are allowing us to have a better quality of life after illness and accidents hit. I don't think anyone would doubt that.
But according to the American Cancer Society, as quoted by Huff Po, just over half a million Americans will die of cancer this year.
And guess what? Thousands of people will die to Breast Cancer. Thousands of lost lives, and of those, it is certain that many of those patients will have died because they could not afford treatment. But just ask Mitch McConnell about insuring Americans, because "that's not the issue".
And what of his Democratic opponent, incumbent Kathy Hochul? Although she took the bizarre and condemnable step of being one of the 17 Democrats to vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, she is busy pointing out that her constituents are already benefitting from the ACA, even if they don't realize it.
This is what we're up against. People who are so out of touch that they think that deadly diseases aren't killing people anymore. Or, so radically extreme that they're letting their lack of compassion for such patients show for all to see.
This is why we fight. And fight we must.