Political Theatre category archive

From TerranceDC, who reminds us

There is a simple answer to the far right’s new favorite chant against health care reform — “What’s Wrong With Profit?”. Nothing. There is nothing inherently wrong with making a profit. But their question misses a point that I recall from my Baptist upbringing and my days as a Sunday school teacher.

It’s not money that’s “the root of all evil,” as the most common misquoting of particular bit of scripture would suggest. It’s the love of money that’s the “root of all evil.” Money itself is neither bad nor good. Money, or profit, is not the problem. It’s what we do with it, and what we do for it, that makes the difference. If it becomes our only reason for doing anything we are, as a country, lost.

Read his entire post. It’s three minutes of worth it.

Hint: It’s not just denial letters from an army of insurance company bureaucrats.

or at least a public option:

Via MoveOn.

August 7, 2009 | Posted by: Frank | Posted in: Political Theatre | Bookmark this post

Read the whole thing:

There was a telling incident at a town hall held by Representative Gene Green, D-Tex. An activist turned to his fellow attendees and asked if they “oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care.” Nearly all did. Then Representative Green asked how many of those present were on Medicare. Almost half raised their hands.

Now, people who don’t know that Medicare is a government program probably aren’t reacting to what President Obama is actually proposing. They may believe some of the disinformation opponents of health care reform are spreading, like the claim that the Obama plan will lead to euthanasia for the elderly. (That particular claim is coming straight from House Republican leaders.) But they’re probably reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing, or even to what they’ve heard about what he’s doing, than to who he is.

Over at Susie’s place. (It’s a hoot.)

If what you want to do is get to be a rich CEO type person. Watch it all the way through.

CEO takedown via TPM.

Take the pledge here.

But hardly anyone will be seeing the ad on the telly vision.

See Huffington Post for details.

Dick Polman:

Why this country is barely governable, chapter 30,000:

What follows is real. President Obama is having a beer tonight with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley. But a flap has developed over what kind of beer should be served. Gates wants to drink Red Stripe. Crowley wants to drink Blue Moon. Obama intends to drink Bud Light. But one domestic beer-maker is upset with Obama because Bud Light’s corporate parent is not based in America (nor are the makers of Red Stripe or Blue Moon), and therefore insists that Obama should be serving something that’s all-American, like Sam Adams. What a quandary!

Personally, I don’t think that any domestic beer should be served until each and every brewery worker produces an American birth certificate.

Ron Reagan calls out Glen Beck.

Ugly and stupid is ugly and stupid, no matter what side of the fence it’s on.

Listen (about six minutes):

Via Balloon Juice.

This one’s a beaut. A nugget:

Me: “So, Senator Casey must be pretty upset with Max Baucus! I mean, he worked so hard on the HELP committee to wirte a decent bill. not perfect, but it had a public plan. and here comes Max Baucus, and he throws all that out the window because he thinks 3 republicans are more important than the 76% of americans that want a public option.”

Casey’s office: “well, I wouldn’t say it’s three republicans. It’s more like the health insurance lobby that he thinks is more important that the rest of the country.”

Me: “hahaha, he certainly is an asshole, could you transfer me to his office.”

Casey’s office: “hahahaha, our pleasure!”

Read the resignation speech at McSweeney’s.

You won’t regret it.

You betcha.

H/T Alison.

My letter to my elected representatives incongruously assembled:

This is to urge you to support health care reform including some form of public option.

Frankly, I believe that the correct act would be to institute a single-payer model, as is used in the rest of the civilized world, but I agree with Mr. Obama that that is a political non-starter. What is indisputable is that the current system, for all that it lines many pockets, does not generate satisfactory or even mediocre health care at a cost reasonable to American society as a whole.

Thank you.

In which he considers spectral beings here.

Shaun Mullen ponders at Kiko’s House:

A reason — although not the biggest reason — that a racial gulf persists in the U.S. is the defensiveness of whites like Police Sergeant James Crowley, who is now on the record as saying that he is not a racist. (The biggest reason is that some whites are racists. As are some people of color.)

Crowley, of course, infamously let an unpleasant situation escalate into a bad one when when he confronted Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates in the act of breaking into his Cambridge home, Gates got crosswise instead of submissive and Crowley arrested him on a disorderly conduct charge that was dropped thisfast when word of the absurdity of the collar got out.

Read the whole thing.

Details here.

While beating feet down the road, I listened to this show about the F-22 fighter program on my podplayer.

The representative from the Heritage Foundation, natch, favored buying more of these jets that the Secretary of Defense says are the wrong weapons, at the wrong time, for the wrong price (follow the link to the show to hear the arguments hashed through).

If I may summarize her argument, it boiled down to this:

Guns are good. More guns are better. More new guns are better still. Having the biggest, baddest, most expensive gun on the block is, in fact, the cat’s meow, even if you are never going to need it.

Guns guns guns guns guns guns guns GUNS! Better than health care! GUNS!!!