Thousands of Americans with no sense of irony, history, or hypocrisy marched in Washington, D.C. today.
The protests, "self" organized by Fox News and FreedomWorks.org (Dick Armey's lobbying firm) focused on how U.S. taxes should be cut to increase the deficit by even more than the $5,000,000,000,000 added during the last eight years.
"The government should be concentrating on cutting spending on all the programs, not thinking of new, wonderful ways of spending more. ... I've voted my whole life. This is the first time in my life I've gotten off the couch and said, 'I'm sick of this. It's only three hours away, and I'm going to be there.'"
Translation, "I loved it when Reagan and Bush ran up the deficits, but now that it's a Democrat doing so, I finally got off my couch to yell at him."
The rampant ignorance about the current situation on health care in the U.S. was par for the course.
Another man said, "We're here to let the government know that we do not want government involvement in our health care, nor do we want the higher taxation that comes along with such a proposal."
"We like having a government and health care system which is the absolute worst industrialized country in the world when it comes to preventing the death of our own citizens," he did not add. [source 1]
Not realizing their own hypocrisy, the organizers tried to paint the protests as having absolutely nothing to do with partisanship.
"What brought everything together was the Obamacare idea, which contains every odiferous objection," Tea Party Express organizer Mark Williams said in August.
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Although the Tea Party Express tour was funded by Our Country Deserves Better, a conservative political action committee, Williams said his organization is nonpartisan and that the rallies are not aimed at one politician over another, namely Obama.
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"This is not people upset over one particular politician or one particular party," Williams has said. "In fact, if you ask the Republicans in the crowd, you'll find they are just as upset at their party as they are at the Democrats."
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Hypocrisy [not a single sign or speech made the points listed below]
I've mentioned this before, but I find the entire "Tea Party" movement to completely lack any sense of their own irony. From the 'pedia.
The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act for a variety of reasons, especially because they believed that it violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives.
Now, instead of protesting against the right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives, they are protesting against the right to be taxed by their own elected representative.
This is like South Carolina rep Joe Wilson shouting out that Obama is a liar (when fact checking orgs all say it is Wilson who has a problem with the facts) about illegal immigrants and the health care legislation, when he himself voted for an (unpaid for) expansion of federal benefits for...wait for it...illegal immigrants [2].
To make matters worse, none of these folks had any problems with George W. Bush cutting taxes (and increasing the deficit) by $2,500,000,000,000 (nearly 40% of which went to richest 1% of Americans, many of whom are now running these latest protests). This simple fact exposes the hypocrisy and partisan nature of these protests. What, you folks *just* realized that Bush doubled the national deficit....now it's all Obama's fault?
To make matters even more hypocritical, with all the signs I saw, and all the rhetoric I heard, I didn't hear a single complaint about the U.S. government, under Bush and Cheney, torturing people. I didn't hear a single complaint about warrantless wiretaps. Nothing about the actual abuses of power, just a bunch of whining about how people don't want to pay for...well...anything.
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A few quick observations watching the proceedings on C-Span:
Unknowing Irony Update: I just heard Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" as the background music. Ummm, really?
Nazi Update: Ummm, why are they talking about Nazi's? Remember when Hitler proposed providing all Germans, regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation? Yea, me neither.
9/11 Irony Update: A number of speakers raised the attacks on 9/11 and how it brough the country together under the President, all the while trying to tear the country apart by demonizing the President.
Final hypocritical statement: One of the FreedomWorks.gove folks (a conversative political lobbying firm) just told everyone they were now "Community Organizers". This is funny as "community organizers" have been equated with commies/socialists since this whole movement against paying taxes started.
Quick update on why this is the death throes of the Republican party: The only black or brown face I've seen has been on stage. Not a single hispanic in sight in the audience (all those illegals must be working hard today, cooking these folks' food, cutting these folks' lawns and raising their children). And BTW, if you think the rhetoric has been bad so far during Obama's eight months in office, wait until Congress takes up the much needed immigration reform legislation which is coming next...
[1] WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.
If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.[2] However, in 2003, Wilson voted to provide federal funds for illegal immigrants’ healthcare. The vote came on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which contained Sec. 1011 authorizing $250,000 annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals who provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants. The program has been extended through 2009 and there is currently a bipartisan bill in Congress to make it permanent.
COMMENT RESPONSES:
The Examiner doesn't led me wade into comments as I'd like to, so I'll address some of the rational comments here.
Patrice says:
Obamacare is not acceptable-- too radical-- and it will be his downfall. He is throwing the baby out with the bathwater-- most Americans are happy with their healthcare. All the liberal spin you put on this will not change the facts. The babyboomers are not going to like waiting 2 years for a hip replacement!!
The point of the health care reform is allow people happy with their health care to keep it. I don't think anyone is happy with how it has grown so expensive so quickly. The unrestrained market has failed to constrain costs, hence the need for another option.
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HELLO says:
This is the most ridiculous article I've ever read. I don't want to say all liberals have this opinion, but everytime I discuss politics with a liberal or read their articles I hear, "well you know Bush increased the deficit"... Who gives a f*&$ing s*&t!!! Basically, these liberals arguement is that because Bush was irresponsible with the deficit, they have the right to be more irresponsible with the deficit.
The argument presented here is that quickly dismissing the $5,000,000,000,000 Bush added to the debt for tax cuts and wars, as you just did, is completely hypocritical. The argument is not that debts don't matter, I think they do (which is why I hope the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, and bring us closer to closing the gap), but that folks who say "Who gives a farking crap" about Bush's deficits and then blame Obama for spending money on actual Americans are flat out hypocrites.
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Lane says:
Swedish doctors go on strike leaving hospitals empty and patients with no health care at all; Canada can't treat people with cancer or take care of broken arms; pregnant women in the UK are told to have their babies at home because there is no money for hospitals. Is this what you want for the US, Taylor? What are you going to do when it's your turn to be turned away at the clinic or hospital?
You missed the link. Sweden, Canada, and the UK all rank well above the U.S. when it comes to preventing the deaths of their citizens. And rank better regarding infant mortality. Currently *my* only option is an ER, which is insanely expensive. Hence the need for reform, to cut down costs.
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Libertarian says:
This is all about we the people who are fed up with ALL the partisan scams in Washington. We didn't like Bush and his cronies. We don't like Obama and his cronies. We are the Libertarians, the Independents, the Reformers, and the moderates in all parties... And we are your worst nightmare. But go ahead and hide your head in the sand since it makes it that much easier for us to ride your sorry hides out of town on a rail.
Check out Dick Armey and Freedom Works a little better. You'll find out it's all Libertarian baby!
Dick Armey was a Republican Speaker of the House. He spent eighteen years saying he would cuts taxes and get smaller government, and spouting the most ridiculous partisan rhetoric you can imagine. He then cut taxes and government spending kept going up. He watch the deficit grow huge, and now is selling the same bag of lies. He's simply convinced a whole bunch of folks that *this time* he means it. Unfortunately for Libertarians, the second you try and work on some actual policy goals other than "cut taxes" you will split from any other folks.
I didn't see a single sign or chant against Bush and his cronies. Not a single one. Anywhere. This is a hard-core conservative movement, and real Libertarians should know better by now.
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Bill says:
"What, you folks *just* realized that Bush doubled the national deficit....now it's all Obama's fault?"
Ok Einstein, you are correct that Bush did that last year with the record deficit due to the bailouts. Well Obama made it four times larger in the first 8 months. Four times! AND he was just off in his deficit projections by two thousand billion dollars over the next ten years! Do you understant that number? That is the number for the cost of two entire Healthcare reform bills!!
"I didn't hear a single complaint about warrantless wiretaps" Obama continued the Patriot Act and expanded it. Did you miss that?
Bill, Bush has record deficits his entire term. Totalling over $5,000,000,000,000. This include the bank bailouts, and he left the worst economic situation since the Depression for Obama to deal with. Yes, I understand the numbers.
I'm not happy about Obama's treatment of the Patriot Act. This is why I marched against it years ago, as it was over 1,000 pages of legislation passed within *days*. It was, and is, ripe for abuse and wrongdoing. Sadly, most of the folks who marched today spent that time cheering it on (and the torture and the spending and the tax cuts). I do find it curious that it was considered absolutely essential when a Republican was in office and is evidence of totalitarianism now that there's a Democrat in control. I would prefer to see most of it repealed.
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