I've been thinking that if cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy were flammable gases, and could be captured….our national energy problems would be solved immediately…..and we could pay off our national debt with the money left over.
Let me explain my jaded and cynical self.
Remember those great moments of Blago a few months ago? The voting machines were still warm from the national election making Chicago, Illinois' Barack Obama our new president when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stood in front of the press and told us how Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had made Abraham Lincoln roll over in his grave.
Amidst the "f*cking golden(s)", the "f*cking valuable thing(s)", and the "I'm just not giving it up for f*cking nothing(s)"…..the virgin-birthed "bulldog", Fitzgerald, told viewers and Knee Padders everywhere…..
"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering. They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a U.S. Senator; and involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target…"
Bloviators, puke pundits, teleprompter-reading anchors and establishment hacks everywhere were so shocked and horrified over Fitzgerald's findings that national grief counselors were placed on HIGH ALERT (Red). From arch-conservative GOP appendages, like FOX, to allegedly liberal cable networks like MSNBC…..the Blago horror was just so horrible it had to be put on a 24/7 loop for weeks,….I suppose,….in order for the horribleness of the horror to sink in.
Rachel Maddow, perhaps the most "liberal" of teevee heads, anointed Blago repeatedly with the name, "Governor F-Word." Mockery of Blago's hair and his word choices became a national sport….and don't even get me started on Mrs. Blago-Pottymouth. But…. it was all so richly deserved……because, you know, politicans never curse, and for sure they never engage in "pay-to-play" schemes. F*cking ever.
Since 1989, the health insurance industry has given current members of Congress $39.5 million
Individuals, lobbyists, and political action committees in the pharmaceutical industry contributed $167 million to federal candidates from 1990 to 2008.
Umm….that would add up to…. $200 million of f*cking golden.
No question about it then…..the "pay" part of what Fitzgerald might paraphrase as U.S. politicians, "involving themselves personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of salesmen meeting their annual sales targets"….seems obvious. Anyone shocked?
Before a blogger like me goes all 'Cheetos-dust-in-my-keyboard' crazy, jumping to hate-filled and unsupported conclusions….I suppose I should look for evidence of quid-pro-play before I, like Fitzgerald, can feel confident in declaring that there is a "for sale" sign in front of Congress…..
Authentic Congressional constituents have voiced their opinion.
Sam Stein of Huffington Post reports yesterday on a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll….
76 percent of respondents said it was either "extremely" or "quite" important to "give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance.
Even without secret wiretaps, it seems clear that, you know, Americans, by a 3-1 margin, want a public option included in any health coverage reform.
But it would appear that Congress could give a golden f*ck what Americans want.
"The proposal to provide a government-run Medicare-like program as an option for purchase within an insurance exchange of private health plans is vehemently opposed by the insurance industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AMA, all Republicans, a large bloc of conservative Democrats, and many others. No amount of negotiation can resuscitate a Medicare-like option. It's dead."
"Former Senate leaders launched a bipartisan push for healthcare reform, but they took issue with a central feature of the President's plan, a public, government-run health insurance program." Bob Dole was shown saying, "If you want to stop this thing dead in its tracks, or dead on arrival, in my view, you put the public plan in it." ABC noted that even Tom Daschle, "once Obama's top healthcare adviser, said the public option probably needs to be scrapped." Daschle: "We've come too far and gained too much momentum for our efforts to fail over disagreement on one single issue."
A public option is what the…umm…public…wants by a 75-25% margin, so why would it "stop this thing in it's tracks", why should it be "scrapped?"
Democratic Senator from North Dakota and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Kent Conrad….
The problem is this. If you're in a 60 vote environment in the Senate, and I believe we are, because I believe reconciliation simply won't work, if you begin tallying up the votes, I believe that virtually all Republicans are against the public option and some Democrats are. So how do you get to 60?
Who, then, do these senators "play" for? It's clear that they don't "play" for the American public….because if they did, there would be 75 votes for including a public option.
Here's the quid-pro-play part, the "for sale" sign…
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), chair of the Blue Dog health care task force, said, "We cannot create a public option that stacks the deck — through rate-setting and forced participation — against a system that currently provides coverage to 160 million" U.S. residents (CongressDaily, 6/4).
Summary: Nothing Governor Blago said or did even comes close to the level of "corrupt pay to play schemes" being transacted in Congress right now over including a public option in health coverage reform.
$200 million worth of "f*cking golden" in a national pay-to-play scam to prevent what 75% of the American public wants is not shocking, doesn't require grief counselors to prevent Expert Knee Padders' heads from exploding, and doesn't qualify for 24/7 loop coverage…..it's simply the status f*cking quo.
