The Real Face Of GOP Healthcare Reform Opposition: They Simply Don't Care About Average Folks Like Me

When Republican senators and congressmen are confronted by inconvenient truths about healthcare reform they either:
1. Try to change the subject and lie about how President Obama is getting "his clock cleaned" about it (Rep. "Taliban Pete" Sessions (TX-32)during Irving townhall meeting) (NOTE: the transcript can be found here).
2. Tell a lie and then abruptly end the meeting when constitents catch the man in the act (Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) during his recent townhall).
3. Blame the media when the questioner wouldn't allow him to get away with not answering the question (Rep. John Culberson when questioned by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell).
4. Tell a crying woman in need that the government can't do anything to help her in a cold, matter-of-fact manner (Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma).
And now we have No. 5. And this could be the meanest one of all.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas, who got herself in deep doodoo the last few days because of her racist "Great White Hope" slur, dug herself in an even deeper hole with some rather sadistic behavior during a townhall meeting toward a single uninsured mother.
Here's the video of Jenkins in action:

And here's the transcript (as provided in Mike Nellis' excellent Daily Kos diary):

Elizabeth Smith: I’m a 27 year-old single mother. I work full-time. I do not have health insurance. My employer does not provide health insurance to me and I cannot afford it privately. Why shouldn’t my government guarantee all of its citizens health care?
Jenkins: Thank you. I’m sorry, maybe you missed my opening remarks, but absolutely. That’s why we have Medicaid in the current system and that’s why under the alternative proposal we have an option for low-to-modest-income people to be able to afford health care and then we’ve got the SCHIP program for children. I think we’ve got all of the bases covered.
Audience member: She’s not covered under SCHIP!
Jenkins: OK, if you’re not then you’re the perfect example for why we need reform and why we need it now but we have to do it right and if we can do an alternative proposal, as I’m suggesting, give you the money to go buy it in a reformed marketplace where it is affordable, that’s my preference rather than to saddle the nation with yet another government program when they can’t afford the government run programs we have.
Elizabeth Smith: I want an option that I can pay for. I work. I pay my bills. I’m not a burden on the state. I pay my taxes. So why can’t I get an affordable option. Why are you against that?
Jenkins: A government run program (laugh) is going to subsidize not only yours (laugh) but everybody in this room. So I’m not sure what we’re talking about here.
Jenkins: I think it comes down to the whole discussion of...
(The crowd erupts. At this point, it's safe to say even they aren't buying Jenkins position...)
Lynn: OK folks. Let’s be respectful. UH-OH (talking over crowd). We’re gonna make time for everybody. We’re gonna all listen to each other respectfully, even if we disagree. I think we can agree we need reforms, again it’s just how we gonna do it. I believe people should be given the opportunity to take care of themselves with an advancebale tax credit to go be a grown-up and go buy the insurance.

What makes this exchange between Jenkins and her constituent even more illuminating is this-- according to the Daily Kos diarist:

In fact, yesterday we also learned that Jenkins' hasn't even read the health reform bills being debated in Congress.

Let's get straight to the point. The Republican party, their insurance company allies, and their lying apologists on right-wing talk shows and/or Fox "news" don't give a rat's a-- about providing meaningful health insurance reform so average folks like me won't have to go under just because we get sick.
If you really thought Republicans have a solid case against health insurance reform, look at these examples. They'd rather lie and make things up instead of provide the reform people need.
They'd rather sit, do nothing, and watch all the campaign cash come from their anti-reform friends rather than do anything that would even give folks a chance at making it through whatever healthcare crisis they face.
This is your Republican party in action, and it's time the mainstream media stop giving these guys any creedence and legitimacy. They are out of touch, have no heart, and don't deserve to be heard or believed on healthcare reform or anything else.
They are nothing but a fringe party, and the sooner Democrats realize this and stop thinking they can make deals with them, the better America will be.

The Heartless GOP In Action

The attitude of the Republican party toward those who are suffering because of our broken healthcare system can best be described by that oft-quoted Marie Antoinette line: "Let them eat cake."
My area's congressman, "Taliban" Pete Sessions (TX-32) might as well have given that answer as he refused to give a direct answer to a woman's concern about her situation that has been brought on by our healthcare crisis during a townhall last week at Irving's Ranchview High School.
Another Republican, this one from across the Red River, Sen. Tom Coburn (Oklahoma), showed the same callousness toward another constituent during another townhall.
Coburn's heartlessness was correctly exposed by CNN's Rick Sanchez. Here's that clip:

Coburn might as well have flipped the bird at the woman or have told his listeners, "Let her eat cake!" That's as mean as that response was.
Now, let's hear Sessions change the subject to the cheers of heartless supporters as a woman queries him about her healthcare concerns:

The Republican party has rightfully been called the party of no by many. With heartless and unconcerned senators and congressmen like Sessions and Coburn, there's little reason to think that that image is going to change anytime soon.
It's time for the Obama Administration to stop its efforts to negotiate with these callous critters and pass healthcare reform down their throats the same way these same Republicans when they controlled the Congress and White House railroaded morally irresponsible tax cuts for the richest 1 percent at the expense of the rest of us down our throats.

Ex-Insurance Exec Details Anti-Healthcare Strategy

If you didn't know that insurance companies and their Republican allies are using an extensive playbook designed to mislead and scare Americans against healthcare reform, check out this Huffington Post report.
Wendell Potter has seen these insurance company tactics when he worked in that industry, and now that he's out of it, he has been sharing his extensive knowledge of how those fighting healthcare reform are trying to scare and mislead Americans into going against their own best interests.
Said Potter, who also has made appearances on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and Rachel Maddow's show:

"I know from years as an industry P.R. executive how effective insurers can be using scare tactics to turn public opinion against any reforms that affect profitability," said Wendell Potter, who ran corporate communications for health insurance giant CIGNA until last year. "This year, you can rest assured the industry is up to the same dirty tricks."
That's not to say insurers are sending angry citizens to town hall meetings, but Potter said that through "shills" and "buzzwords" they are indirectly responsible for much of the anti-reform "lies and disinformation" dominating the current debate.
"Americans should realize that when they hear isolated stories of long waiting lines or wait times to see doctors in Canada, and allegations that care in other systems is rationed by government bureaucrats, the insurance industry has written the script," he said. "They're masters of linguistics. They know hot-button issues. They know buzzwords that get people excited."

It used to be that when the insurance companies used their tactics to defeat healthcare reform, there was no internet with blog sites capable of delivering effective responses. But what makes this year different is that folks are wising up to the insurance company tactics thanks to the excellent work of sites like Daily Kos and Firedoglake, along with the solid work done on the cable shows of Olbermann and Maddow.
If you thought insurance companies were going to behave great to show their loving kindness after defeating healthcare reform, consider this:

After Clinton-era reform efforts went down in flames, the health insurance industry made no effort to reduce coverage denials for preexisting conditions or other reforms they told Congress they supported, said Potter. More recently, he said, insurers used P.R. vehicles like APCO -- a powerful D.C. firm best known for fronting Phillip Morris' pseudo-scientific defense of smoking back in the nineties -- to try and damage the credibility and limit the influence of Michael Moore's 2007 documentary "Sicko".
Insurers have been effective at maintaining "Wall Street-run health care," Potter said. A strong public option is necessary to change that model, he said -- otherwise, the final bill "might as well be called 'the Insurance Industry Profit and Protection Act.'"

Question: will Congress also wise up and overturn efforts by Republicans and so-called "Blue Dogs" to defeat or at least water down healthcare reform? It's time the Blue Dogs are held accountable for their actions and are confronted with strong primary opponents if they continue to work against their constituents' interests and for those of Republicans and insurance companies.