Chuck Grassley says if we change health care, Ted Kennedy would die
This has been out there for a few days, but it was stuck in my queue so I wanted to post about it.
Isn't Chuck Grassley supposed to be involved in the 'bipartisan talks' with Max Baucus on health care? Why is he then attacking it with phony right wing talking points and invoking the name of Ted Kennedy and his illness? Why would the media take him seriously if he's speaking Beckerwocky? Why would...why bother...
And is he saying that Ted Kennedy's HELP bill was designed to kill Ted Kennedy?
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, has taken the lead role in negotiating the health care reform bill for the GOP. But earlier today during a radio interview with Iowa City’s KCJJ, Grassley steered the conversation with a caller toward rationing health care services among the elderly, one of the right wing’s favorite fearmongering tactics when it comes to health care reform. And as an example, Grassley cited Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) brain tumor. Grassley said that in countries with government-run health care, Kennedy “would not get the care he gets here because of his age.” Instead, the government would decide to spend health care resources on younger people “who can contribute to the economy”:
GRASSLEY: In countries that have government-run health care, just to give you an example, I’ve been told that the brain tumor that Sen. Kennedy has — because he’s 77 years old — would not be treated the way it’s treated in the United States. In other words, he would not get the care he gets here because of his age. In other words, they’d say ‘well he doesn’t have long to live even if he lived another four to five years.’ They’d say ‘well, we gotta spend money on people who can contribute more to economy.’ It’s a little like people saying when somebody gets to be 85 their life is worth less than when they were 35 and you pull the tubes on them.
He's been told by whom? Isn't he supposed to know and cite facts since he's crafting legislation? These right wing gasbags are disgraceful and will say anything to destroy health care reform in America. Palin used her own baby and now Grassley uses Ted Kennedy's brain tumor. Is it any wonder that the Zombie Plumbers, along with the astroturfers are crashing the health care town halls?
Kennedy is terminally ill. And if he weren't, he's an old guy that abused his body with booze for a long time.
He wouldn't be treated any differently either, he's rich as christ.
That aside, if Kennedy was a normal guy in a country with a single payer plan, he'd probably be in fairly decent shape, if countries which have universal health care are anything to go by.
You know why these asshole are frightened don't you? This is the kind of thing the Thug leadership would kick around when they would be looking to cut rich people's capital gains taxes.
Half wit.
me-oww!
Actually Christ was quite poor (if he existed), depending upon invitation to eat, for exchange he would preach.
But at some point the Vatican anathemized the teaching that Christ and the Disciples were poor.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
He could eat at my place, if he promised NOT to preach.
PS...Then my assessment was right...he IS richer than christ!
me-oww!
Are dying at a earlier age ,, than other countries which have a government run health care system..
Is that why it cost Americans more to receive less health care..
Didn't see Cheney refusing or giving up his government health care ,, as one nurse stated Cheney would not be around if not for the exceptional health care he received....
But of course facts , lies , BS , Deceit and propaganda doesn't mean a thing to republicans or the Global Health Empire when they speak to peddle their criminal policies..
Their top , middle and bottom line is wealth , profit and larger salaries/bonuses for their ceo's.
When are we going to take action and start looking for democrat candidates to run against these Bums in office..Blue Dogs , Centrists , and the right center democrats leaders and then there are the republicans coming up for re-election... The clock is approaching the 11th hour.. We will need lots of money and personal to fund , support and have the candidate of our choice to defeat a incumbent , because they will have these Global Giants funding and the corporate news media to support them..
Lets start taking our party back in 2010...
None
These Reslug dirty bastards have no shame, just hatred.
Chuck keep it classy and try to keep your fu*king mouth shut as much as possible to keep from embarrassing yourself.
Chuck also did a little show and tell with dragons, a goose and a golden egg that Jon Stewart tore all to shit for its stupidy.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Grassley knows that the "deathers", of which he is one, are telling lies.
As things stand now, I would not receive the same care as Kennedy because I do not have health insurance and cannot afford the kind of care we provide to our Congress. My care has been rationed already by the Republican Plan.
If the Republicans are so afraid of rationing healthcare, maybe they should introduce a fucking tax increase. No one mentions that the way the US got out of the great depression was increasing the taxes on the wealthy. The way the US got the growth of the nineties was the tax increases under Bush I and Clinton. The way the US got the fucked up economy we have now is the Bush II tax cuts on the wealthy. It seems the only thing the supply side Chicago school fuckos learn about is the Carter administration (but they forget about paying off the debts from Vietnam.
Grassley is not negotiating. He's running point on Operation Stall the Legislation to buy time for the crazy teabaggers.
Oh Noes, Public financing of health care will lead to rationing, I mean, just look at the care Ted Kennedy is getting under Medicare. Oh, wait a second...
I may be crazy, but you know what, Ted Kennedy is going to die either way. That's what happens to human beings. They are born, some get old, all die.
Grassly has all that Iraqi and Afghani blood on his hands, why is he so squeamish now? They are just poor and middle class people who will suffer without coverage!
20000 people a year die from no coverage or under coverage, that's six 911s a year, and they are our own people.
He may as well have said, "Every time you try to reform health care, God kills a Kennedy."
ouchies!
The US constitution mandates that the government must protect the lives and "general welfare" of it's citizens. The government is, literally, sworn and bound by law to protect us.
Who do these people trust more to keep grandma alive: a bureaucracy that is bound by law to protect it's investors (private industry), or a bureaucracy that is bound by law to protect the citizens?
We could hit these talking points right where it hurts most: the "pro life" position they covet so dearly. If they are truly pro life, in the general sense that is ACTUALLY mandated by their bible, then the government is the only agency they can truly trust to have power over life and death decisions. Private industry does not swear to protect life. That's just not the way the "free market" works.
I made a video that spells this out very clearly. Please take a look and pass it on if you agree:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju82qX1DzoM
May I add a thought: If this government does not protect us, then what good is it to real people? You know, the ones who must give consent for them to have the power to govern? Like it says in the Declaration of Independence?
Exactly, the government's only real job is to protect the people. If it doesn't do that then their is really no point in having it.
That's why Republicans have no problem giving the government enormous power in areas of life and death: Military, National security, Coast Guard, war on drugs, fire protection, rescue protection. The Department of Homeland Security is the mother of all bureaucracies and it was started by a movement conservative front man. It is a reasonable, pragmatic, choice for conservatives to support these government agencies because they involve matters of life and death. Healthcare is the exact same kind of pragmatic choice for government haters. Many of them have just been so caught up in their government hating, free market loving, rhetoric for so long they probably never thought of it that way.
The video I linked above was designed to stab that rhetoric right in the heart and reframe healthcare as an emergency services and national security issue rather than an "entitlement".
It's more of that "Obamacare" will kill the elderly.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
"They'd say 'well, we gotta spend money on people who can contribute more to economy.’It's a little like people saying when somebody gets to be 85 their life is worth less than when they were 35 and you pull the tubes on them." Finally, one of the weasels admits the true status of this debate. If you are old and or infirm, and you cannot work, you have no value to these evil bastards. Now consider their philosophy with respect to the fact that they don't work for us. The solution presents itself.
How ironic. Most of the rightards I know would jump at the chance to see Ted Kennedy die in any way, shape or form.
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
Those Repug sociopaths would be falling all over themselves for the chance to off the great statesman.
Come to think of it, falling all over themselves is called happy hour at "The Family" gatherings on C Street.
'Talk to the hand'
They're PRO-LIFE,
RIGHT? I mean, correct? (sorry)Under the current US system, if Kennedy didn't have health insurance he'd be dead.
More to the point: It's nice to think we can always give everybody all the treatment they need, no matter how much it costs. If you think about it for about two seconds, you realize that's not gonna work. The problem is, nobody seems to be willing to think about it for those two seconds and then look that conclusion in the face.
Riddle me this: Why don't school busses have seat belts? If you guessed "because it wouldn't save any kids' lives", you are incorrect...
I think school systems are afraid that by providing seatbelts they'll be considered liable if they fail or are somehow insufficient.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Here is a complete list of people who -- despite Canada having a socialist-fascist old-people-euthanizing evil-government-run single-payer healthcare system -- lived to be 110 years old or older:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian...
Dumbass.
the Nordic supercentenarians, an Axis of Evil Universal Healthcare for how long now?
me-oww!
As I just wrote on the Gingrich topic; Obama needs to address what Gingrich said. Obama should call a press conference and tell everybody how they are being punked and used by these assholes like Gingrich and Palin. Use their names and what they said and spell out how they are lying to the people who listen to them just like the the birthers are lying. Throw it up in their faces.
Obama should use the Grassley comment as well. I know there are many more quotes from these lying sons of bitches Obama should use. he should talk for about 15 minutes about who the tea bagging birthers are using and punking old people and trying to scare them. Obama should bring up Limbaugh's name and Beck's name and give the examples of how they are deliberately trying to scare the country because of their own cracker philosophy.
And when Obama gives this news conference/speech he should advertise it loud and clear. Give a few days notice so it will percolate to the top of discussions before it happens. There has not been enough push back from the White House on this whole town hall take over by the tea bagging birthers orchestrated by the Republicans and healthcare insurance industry. Why have we not heard from them come out and scream about what has happened. Even Cluster Faux will have to cover it.
Yes, Texas has a law on the books that allows a committee to let people die, even against the family wishes or the patients living will. The bill was signed by George W. Bush in 1999.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Directiv...
Why aren't Palin, Grassley and Gingrich marching on Austin?
Because they are assholes.
Be honest and put the blame where it belongs:
The Founding Fathers warned against big, powerful corporations. Americans were too greedy and have let the corporations take over every aspect of our lives, from health care to newspapers to who can get credit and who can not. American's have let these evil powers rule over us, just like King George.
Huge corporations are behind the astroturfing and are trying to sabotage democracy. The corporation's tools, the far-right GOP, stole the 2000 election using the same tactics of bullying, threats of volence and intimidation against the corwardly democrats who don't know how to fight back. They are trying to pick off the democrats one by one, divide off the kiss-ass Blue Dog Democrats are putty in their hands, easily manipulated and giving the big corporations cover for their crimes against democracy.
The huge insurance and pharma companies, Koch, Scaife, Bradley, Olin, Exxon Mobil fund and are therefore responsible for this wave of facism washing over America and the crazy brown-shirts who do their bidding.
All of these companies should be investigated by the FBI and Congress for their undermining of democracy and promotion of thugs, threats and violence.
This insurance and pharmaceutical company's are not just funding fascists. The big pharma and insurance companies ARE fascists. They don't care if millions of people die without health care or are denied so their CEOs can take the millions of dollars that would pay for health care. All of these companies -- Exxon Mobil, WellPoint, UnitedHealth Group, Merick, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, et all, should all be put to legal death and taken apart, their assets sold and everyone fired as both killers and threats to democracy.
Along with the collapse of the fourth estate of free, independent newspapers, corporate control over our lives is the most significant threat to our Republic since World War II.
This healthcare "debate" is becoming a class war between the insurance companies and nearly all of America with the usual morons, dumbed down conservatives, being used to fight against their own self interests.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
Ya, that's the basic situation - but don't forget the Republicans simply don't respect democracy. they want a theocracy with a benevolent dictator in charge.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
You want a government health care option, you better ram it through congress with the majorities we planted there.
The legislators have left the Republican party. There is no one left that knows how to legislate. All Republicans do now is hear things from unknown entities, and make up ludicrous stories.
It would be a complete disaster to put them in the white house again, ever.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
The are the Party of NO!!! That is all they do. they offer not alternative to that they say they don't like. The just say no. They obstruct. The examples are all over the place.
Grassley's medication, which seems odd as he actually has some purty darn good health insurance. Yet, his brain is definitely deteriorating. However, I'm pretty sure Chuckie will be taking advantage of every treatment available in order to extend his sorry life as long as possible.
I think what we should do is get term limits for Congress and public financing-only for elections. That way, we could be rid of these senile, old pricks quickly (say if someone like Grassley should unfortunately get elected in the future).
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
that chuck grassley is a fucking retard
i was told by the same anonymous people who told grassley that senator kennedy wouldnt get treated...so it must be true
we cant have a retard as a senator
he needs to resign
I want Obama to ask Grassely where he got that information. Straight up, "Where is that information becasue I want to specifically put something into our bill that will outlaw it. Put up or shut up you old putz!"
Get AARP to send out an email message to discount this bullshit. I have already received one from them but they should be sending out more. The people over 50 who get these emails read them and they trust AARP.
I do not necessarily understand your comment, but if you are saying to trust the AARP, that's a huge mistake.
AARP is an insurance company, and does not reflect the best interests of people over 50. AARP supported Medicare D during the Bush years, which screwed seniors big time. AARP got into a lot of trouble being a shill for (I believe it was) UnitedHealthcare.
People should not join AARP, should not support AARP, should not become members.
Actually, Ted Kennedy HAS government-run health care. The best in the world.
And so does Chuck Grassley.
Grassley is just another shriveled up old white guy who can no longer think clearly and who should be put out to pasture.
as well as watched my father slowly die over the last ten years of his life, and can tell you that the States already decides when you're 'too old' for treatment - my father fought and fought and fought to have an operation that might not have extended his life but would have made the quality of it more bearable, only to be told by the insurance company owned doctors that he was 'too old'.
So this is already horseshit.
I can ALSO tell you from living ten years in France and another ten in the UK, where they have socialized medicine, that proactive care is a lot more aggressive than anything in the States, meaning these are countries who've figured out that catching problems early and treating them before they become a full-blown medical crisis costs the state a lot less, helping to make 'single payer' (i.e. socialized) medicine affordable. And that means for everyone - of every age. About the only difference in my health care to Ted Kennedy's were we in the UK is that he'd have a fancy private room, and I might have to share a ward with half a dozen other women - but the care itself would be the very best for us both.
The States has the best medical care in the world? Unbelievable that there is anyone left who doesn't realize what a big fat f*cking lie this is. Rx: Grassley badly needs an enema to wash the crap out of his brains....
... in the world - available to anyone who can afford it.
But the Healthcare that we are trying to get passed is not about the quality of medical care, it is about having your doctor and hospital of choice compensated for what they do, and make it possible for you to afford that insurance.
The claim that you can't get care, as they point to some person coming here from Canada to get treated is not the fault of Healthcare, it is lack of that particular procedure not available in Canada, so they send them here AND THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT PAYS FOR IT!
It works both ways:
QUOTE from WebMD "Apart from her U.S. treatment, Fawcett has traveled to Germany six times seeking cancer treatment, actor Ryan O'Neal -- Fawcett's partner and the father of her son, Redmond -- recently told People. "
If you need funds to pay for essentials, you have a revenue problem
If you need funds to pay for frivolity, you have a spending problem
... he had prostate cancer, Secure Horizens sent a representative to my house to talk to the nurse. The nurse was told that he was DNR. At the time I had no idea what that meant, my mother didn't either. Only later did I find out that Secure Horizens, without consulting with my mother or me decided that he was "Do not resuscitate".
That was not the government, that was Secure Horizens who made that decision.
If you need funds to pay for essentials, you have a revenue problem
If you need funds to pay for frivolity, you have a spending problem
... of these idiots coming out and saying that the Democrats should 'join us' to resolve this.
I never heard them say this when they had control, when they rammed through whatever they or Bush wanted.
They need to be told that now Democrats are in control, and if there is to be any joining, it is up to them to join up. This while claiming that a bill supported only by Democrats is not a good idea.
Well g'damn it - join up with something reasonable!
If you need funds to pay for essentials, you have a revenue problem
If you need funds to pay for frivolity, you have a spending problem
in his discription of the success of 'bipartisanship' in the healthcare reform. too bad Obama did not say that the 'other party' was big pharma and the [poor] health insurers.
Some stuff you can't make up!
What a total load of horseshit!
Grassley's using the old "I've been told" phrase without backing it up with one fact. Name me one country where it's happened, Chuckie-boy and you might convince me. Prove it to me, otherwise, shut the fuck up.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
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