Lies, Damned Lies and the RNC

It's started to look like this election is going to be between liars and ball-less wonders.

By the way, by "Ball-Less Wonders" I mean Democrats. By "liars" I mean Republicans.

This is not good.

Let's talk about the Republicans. Remember that to them Global Warming is a hoax. However, many Republicans in the house represent the farm states and the south. Several near west states such as North Dakota are similarly represented.

They are farm dependent. 


Yet we are in a massive drought. The worst drought since the fifties. This graph is from Ezra Klein. The red bit is us right now.

It's pretty clear that we're in for more droughts in the future. (See also here.)

Yet, where is the relief from congress? For that matter, where is the damned farm bill?

Locked up in a Republican congress, that's where, getting ready to be thrown under a bus.

Or, let's talk about Obamacare. Remember those states that are opting out of the Medicaid expansion? (For those that have forgotten it's Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina and Texas: all Republican controlled.)  Okay. They don't want to play. But the law says that if they don't the federal government does. So the rest of the country has to pony up to cover their sorry asses. Consequently, it costs more money than if they did their job.

Not to mention Medicaid is regularly cheaper than private insurance. Here's a quote from Ezra Klein's article here:

A number of factors explain why Medicaid costs less. It tends to pay doctors lower reimbursement rates than private plans. About 7 percent of the program’s funds go toward administrative costs, about half the rate seen in private plans. What exactly this means for the health of its enrollees certainly can
 be — and is being — debated. 

That lower spending in the Medicaid programs explains how, if states opt out of the expansion, the federal government could be on the hook to spend more money — all while covering fewer people.

So we can pump more money into the coffers of insurance companies or spend it on patients. The Republicans in those states thing money in private corporations is better.

For God's sake, California pays Medicaid doctors half as much as North Dakota. (See here.)

Let's not forget the debt ceiling debacle-- wholly and completely created by the Republicans. Which cost us at least 1.3 billion. (See here.)

All of this is in the name of fiscal responsibility. Which is clearly a lie.

But the Democrats will save us. Right? The Democrats who haven't been able to get anything through congress because of Republican filibusters? And after it was absolutely clear what the Republicans were going to do refused to reform the filibuster rule? Or hold their feet to the fire and actually make them filibuster? Who are only now saying they'll reform filibuster rules if they win in November?

Yeah. Right.