You know the one. From a Politico article on a Jeb! Bush townhall event where old Jebby! got howled at by a woman on Medicare when he talked about "the need" to phase out Medicare.
“We’re not going to have adequate coverage for our children or our grandchildren without Medicare. I paid into that for years and years, just like all these other seniors here, and now you want to take it away?” said the woman, who did not identify herself and left before the town hall concluded. “Why are you always attacking the seniors?”
“Well, I’m not,” Bush responded. “Here’s what I said: I said, ‘We’re going to have to reform our entitlement system.’ We have to.”
“It’s not an entitlement,” the woman shot back. “I earned that.”
Yeah,
that woman. I've got a few words for her below the cheese curl.
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Hi there, Medicare recipient:
I'm glad you love Medicare as much as the rest of American seniors eligible to have it. Yes, it's a great single payer health care system. I'm also happy that you reminded Jeb! that Medicare, just like Social Security, aren't entitlements; they're earned benefits.
Likely, you're old enough to know that when it was originally introduced, it was intended to cover ALL Americans and not just seniors.
Do you know who changed it to only cover Americans 65 years and older?
Republicans.
And they only agreed to it in the end after failing to kill Medicare in its entirety. Granted, they worked very hard to see that Medicare would never see the light of day, but they couldn't succeed in that endeavor. So, they changed it to ensure that their sponsors donors friends in the Health Insurance Industry could save some bucks by ridding themselves of their most costly subscribers; senior citizens.
So even before it was born, Republicans have been trying to kill it. They're relentless. Every time you hear them talk about "entitlements", remember that they're talking about Social Security and Medicare by making them seem like "welfare". They're not. They're earned benefits.
So, I ask you. Why were you at a Republican campaign event?
Are you one of those senior citizens who votes for Republicans? If so, you're not alone because a majority of seniors pull the lever for the GOP. I'd really like to know why you do that since the GOP has not only done little to nothing FOR you, they're continually trying to take things away FROM you.
Is it their flag pin wearing and flag waving patriotic displays? Or the way they talk about how much they love America? That's all tongue boogie, honey. They don't love America. They're shitting on America. Take a look around at our crumbling schools, rotting bridges, ancient airports, good jobs leaving the country, college students graduating with mortgage sized debt and no job, and everything else that used to make America great and tell me how you think Republicans love America when they continue to refuse to fund our infrastructure or provide opportunities to our next generations.
Is it their promises to lower your taxes? Look around. That guy you've been told was born in Kenya who's now in the White House did more to lower your taxes than a Republican ever did. Yes, George W. Bush sent you a tax rebate check in 2008, but did you notice it was deducted from your refund the following year? I'll bet you didn't. Republicans DO lower taxes, though, but not for you or me. They do it for multi-millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. For the rest of us they just dangle empty promises that they never intend to keep. Somebody, you know, has to cough up the money to pay for their wars and keep the Pentagon budget bloated.
Is it their claim to be strong, bold leaders? Well, dear, they're not. Back when the draft existed, most of them did everything possible to avoid being drafted and sent to war. They don't mind sending your kids to war, but not themselves or their own kids. Being drafted or going to war, like taxes, is only for us little people these days. The only strength and boldness you'll see from this crowd comes from the hot air blowing out of their always flapping pie holes.
Is it because you're always afraid and they promise to keep you safe? The boogeymen they create are intended to keep you afraid. Crime rates continue to fall despite what you hear from the media. And international terrorism is pretty much the end result of our endless military meddling and indiscriminate killing.
Is it because they make you feel good; make you feel superior to those they bash and batter with their bigoted hate talk? Are you afraid that in an America where we're all equal, you'll lose that superiority you currently feel? The superiority that you get from being a white, heterosexual, Christian who has enough resources to live a decent life? Don't you realize that every American should have a decent life and opportunity? This shouldn't be a country where you have to be a member of the Lucky Sperm Club and get born into a rich, white family just to have a chance.
Is it, perhaps, because that you lived most of your life in a modern country with advanced infrastructure and great schools, college didn't cost as much as a house, you or your spouse had a great job with great benefits and pension plan thanks to a union, and you've forgotten how much government help you really had to make that all happen? I'll bet my next pension check that you think that what you had came from pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps with no help at all from government. Also, that you think that those Americans who notice that what was available for you and me and isn't for them are just whiners and lazy moochers. You'd be wrong.
I think you've been voting wrong for decades now and it's time for you to wake up from that propaganda coma you've been in. Regardless of what you hear on Fox (not) News, Republicans don't care about you. They only care about fooling you into voting for them and they'll do or say anything to get you to believe whatever you need to believe to keep casting those Republican votes.
Wake up, honey, and realize that the GOP wants to pry that Social Security and Medicare out of your hands.
One more thing. If you only have problems with Republican policies when they personally affect you or your family that makes you a large part of the problem.
PS: If you're a Democratic voter who only went to the event to punk Jeb! Bush - well played.
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