Here's what I got from the Hampden Community Council's Meet the Candidate evening. It's fair enough that 99% of the people there were Republicans (or Constitutionalists, whatever the hell that means). If most elected officials in Maryland are Democrats, it makes sense that there would be more Republican challengers than Democratic ones.
But it made me think about last years' health care debate and those embarrassing town-hall scream-fests. I remember reading Republicans blogging about getting together to disrupt these events. Not to hear what people had to say, God forbid, but to shout them into stopping reform, because as everyone knows, health care reform is a gateway drug to Communism.
Well, the event last week didn't have anyone screaming, and no one was accused of trying to destroy the country. The right-wing arguments, however, remained the same. During the Q&A part of the evening, a Republican/Constitution Party woman was asked about health care. And here she was, armed with year-old talking points that didn't make any sense a year ago, and were simply laughable now.
The health care bill was too long, she said. No one could read 2000 pages!
A year ago, when the health care debate was still the hottest issue in the country, Republicans tried to stall the passage of the bill by claiming they needed time to read it. It was too long to read in the short amount of time they had to make up their minds. As if any of them would have voted Yes if they had more time.
But here she was, this ignorant right wing savior of the Constitution, saying she couldn't give an answer about health care reform because she didn't know what was in the bill. It was too long, see?
2000 pages. A year. That means about 5 pages a day. If you want to be elected, you should be able to read 5 pages a day.
And what did the crowd do when confronted with this laughable argument? Did they laugh her off the stage for saying something dumb and pathetic? Or did they all clap and cheer as if being expected to read 5 pages a day was un-American?
Republicans will cheer for any dumb speech, as long as it has code words. That's why they like Palin and Beck. They're all code words, without that pesky substance that only gets in the way.
Friday Music Video: A Real Piperoo!
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Hey kids! It’s Mom’s birthday today, and although she doesn’t get teh
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