Where’s the fire?
What’s the rush?
Why are they pushing this bill through Congress so quickly?
Why are people asking these questions?
If I hear one more politician, reporter or pundit ask one more question along these lines I am going to tear out what is left of my hair.
It couldn’t be more obvious why they are rushing the bill through.
It’s been fun to watch the disastrous OCare “repeal and replace” rollout. Seeing Ryan squirm has been positively schadenfreudelicious.
Hearing the tpotty faction and the Heritage Foundation faction complain that the bill isn’t conservative enough, because it isn’t an actual repeal, because it retains too many of the (popular) elements of Obamacare, makes me squee with delight.
And when Rand Paul and others say straight out that the bill is dead on arrival because Rs do not have the votes to get it past the Senate, I just reach for more popcorn.
Tom Cotton especially has no excuse. Here are his disingenuous tweets if you have not seen them.
Get it right, don't get it fast? No excuse to release the bill Monday night, start voting on Wednesday (actually it ended up being the wee small hours of Thursday morning)? What matters is is better health care, not the House leadership arbitrary legislative calendar? Are you serious?
They HAVE to get it fast. Ryan is afraid, and rightly so, that time is running out. House “leadership” is not operating on an arbitrary calendar. They don’t know how much time they have and they are trying to get what they can while the getting is good.
After all these years of waiting, he finally has his Republicon president, Republicon Senate, and Republicon House, of which is he Speaker. This is his chance to enact the vile legislation of his dreams, to benefit the only constituency the Rcon party consistently cares about—their wealthy individual and corporate donors.
Repeal Obamacare? Why stop there? Let's claim we are getting rid of the individual mandate, but instead just make uninsured people pay the fine to the insurance company rather than to the government! That should make the Aetna CEO happy! $17 million is a measly salary for the likes of him—this will help him finally make a living wage!
Let’s kick the supports out from underneath of Medicare and Social Security. Let’s put Medicaid on block grants so that state governments can discriminate against who they want to cover without interference from the feds. While we’re at it, let’s put food stamps on block grants too. That way states can pass laws making sure the money doesn’t go to the “undeserving” urban poor (too many blah people).
And don’t forget to cut the top marginal tax rate to the bone. Can we repeal the estate tax while we are at it? Now place your bets as to who that benefits!
All the things the R party has longed to do for decades are within his grasp. Do it right and the sky is the limit for him.
Do it wrong and there will be a wave election in 2018 to beat all wave elections as the “promises not kept” become too obvious for even the most propaganda driven deplorable to ignore.
But wait. What’s this? The president is mentally unbalanced? Each day something new happens to make folks wonder if he will serve out his term, or even make it to 2018?
That’s OK, though. They don’t need or want a president who can think, or who has vision, or even mental stability. All they need is someone with a hand with enough working digits to hold a pen and sign legislation.
*
But every day the Russia web shrinks a little tighter. Every day people with sense wake up a little bit more and wonder why we have to put up with a manifestly incompetent emotionally needy cry baby who is using the Presidency to line his pockets with cash and prop up a foreign leader who has some kind of strange financial/blackmail/ego-stroking hold over him.
So each morning the zombie-eyed granny starver wakes up and looks at the calendar and wonders how many days he has left to get this done. All day long he watches the clock seeing precious minutes and hours tick away that he will never get back. Can he push faster? Can he crack the whip and get these sled dogs over the Iditarod finish line in between temper tantrums from the toddler in the White House?
They’ve got to get the Ocare repeal, the other “entitlement reform”, and the massive wealth transfer of government help from the poor to the wealthy, done while DJT is still in office.
Because DJT remaining in office is not a sure thing.
That’s why they are rushing. They’ve got a long list of things to get through, and they can’t count on knowing that DJT will be comfortably in office for four years. They have to move now before his approval ratings numbers hit Nixonian levels. They have to move now on Ocare so they can get to the tax breaks for the wealthy before the summer recess and another round of angry town hall meetings. They have to get as much done in the first 100 days in case the first 100 days turn out to be too much hard work for DJT and he quits and there is no second hundred days.
So Paul Ryan is going to wheedle and cajole and do his best to drag this legislation over the finish line no matter who is opposed to it. Because the whole house of cards could come crashing down any minute, leaving the Rs completely in a shambles.
watch out. you might get what you're after.
Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Mar 8: Message Discipline 101: TrumpCare, RyanCare, GOPCare, DonTCare—what’s in a name?
Mar 7: How very hard it is for a woman to go a day without paid (or unpaid) work
Mar 6: Can DJT really be stumbling into the exact investigation we want?
Mar 5: How is it even possible that deplorables see a man of faith when they look at DJT?
Mar 4: Blue Ribbon Winners—Chris Hayes, Malcolm Nance, Cierra Fields
Mar 3: I’m glad Bannon, Conway, Carson, Sessions, Miller, et al. are in the DJT Administration
Mar 2: “In every major fire it always starts with smoke. And smoke is what kills you.”
Mar 1: Am I the only one whose skin crawled at the Carryn Owens BIRGing moment?
FEBRUARY
Feb 28: Spinspotting 101: Special Prosecutor for what? It’s so easy to answer that question
Feb 27: Spinspotting 101: I’ve seen no evidence because I haven’t looked for any evidence!
Feb 26: If Neil Gorsuch were a man of integrity, he would decline the S.Ct. appointment
Feb 25: True Blue Ribbons: Russia Flag trolling, Dixie Swastika grabbing, District Days demonstrating
Feb 24: There is no such thing as a compassionate conservative
Feb 23: Chief of Staff, Nat’l Security Advisor, GOP Head, President Bannon—too many hats!
Feb 22: DJT has a few questions for you—SMURF THIS POLL!
Feb 21: The end of “access journalism” means it’s time to #sendtheinterns
Feb 20: KAC lying low for now… can we banish her (and all her ilk) from the airwaves completely?
Feb 19: DeVos cartoon, Ruby Bridges, unearned unhappiness and childlike faith
Feb 18: Blue Ribbon Winners—Vice Adm. Harward, Melissa McCarthy, and intel whistleblowers
Feb 17: And Ain’t I an American?
Feb 16: Please tell your family and friends—If you regret your DJT vote, speak up NOW
Feb 15: R-supported forced childbirth laws deny the autonomy of women
Feb 14: What did the president know? Everything. When did he know it? From the beginning.
Feb 13: Coping with The Madness of King Donald by hoping political comedy will save us
Feb 12: The Poverty and Justice Bible
Feb 11: Blue Ribbon Winners: Swastika removers, Ninth Circuit Panel, and the Persisterhood!
Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”
Feb 9: Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?
Feb 8: We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you
Feb 7: Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE
Feb 6: Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right. BRAVO!
Feb 5: These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs
Feb 4: Blue Ribbon Winners: Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers
Feb 3: Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be
Feb 2: Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)
Feb 1: July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010
JANUARY
Jan 31: If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist
Jan 30: Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons
Jan 29: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Jan 28: Blue Ribbon Winners: Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...
Jan 27: I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut
Jan 26: Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor? Here’s how to start
Jan 25: The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out
Jan 24: #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?
Jan 23: Spy the Lie 101: How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!
Jan 22: Why I prayed for the President* today
Jan 21: The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds
Inaugural (!) diary: Stop expecting Republicons to make sense