The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Ugly People Leading Ugly People

    By Red Planet on Tue, 09/13/2011 - 11:12am |

     

    During a commercial break on Rachel Maddow last night I tuned in about 90 seconds worth of the Tea Party Republican Debate. Just enough to catch the following (not verbatim):

    Wolf Blitzer: Sen. Paul, in your opinion, if a 23-year-old man decides he doesn't need or can't pay for health insurance, then has an accident and winds up in a coma, who should pay for his care?

    Ron Paul: People have to learn to be responsible for themselves.

    Blitzer: Would you advocate letting him die, just because he did not purchase insurance?

    Audience: YES! YES! YES!

    Paul: [I don't know what he ultimately said because I have a remote, and I'm not afraid to use it.]

    Comments

    Paradoxically some of the same crowd would have argued Terry Sciavo, whose insurance had run out, should be kept alive.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 09/13/2011 - 4:17pm

    At the risk of "taking advantage" of an unfortunate situation, I find the Terry Schiavo angle to be an interesting one. Hypothetical conversation with a conservative/Republican:

    Us[with leading question]: So, has your opinion about Terry Schiavo changed at all? Do you still think she should have been kept on life support?

    Them[falling for the trap]: Absolutely.

    Us[giving them some more rope]: You do realize that she didn't have health insurance, don't you? Does that change your opinion at all?

    Them[unwilling to change their mind]: No.

    Us[delivering the closer]: So, who's responsible for providing health care for this uninsured person, then?

    Them: (I'm not sure what they'd say here. Maybe they'd say, "her family".)

    Edit to add: It seems that Ron Paul has considered this somewhat:

    The one issue generally ignored in the Schiavo debate is the subtle influence the cost of care for the dying had on the debate. Government-paid care clouds the issue, and it must be noted that the courts ruled out any privately paid care for Terri. It could be embarrassing in a government-run nursing home to see some patients receiving extra care from families while others are denied the same. However, as time goes on, the economics of care will play even a greater role since under socialized medicine the state makes all the decisions based on affordability. Then there will be no debate as we just witnessed in the case of Terri Schiavo.

    I'm not familiar enough with the case to go anywhere else with that.


    by Verified Atheist on Tue, 09/13/2011 - 4:28pm

    .

    Yeah ... Sick...

    Those same jackasses hooting a hollering YES YES YES would also let the 42 million people currently in poverty die too..

    Although the irony of that is that a percentage of the hollering fools are also amongst the 42 million in poverty.

    Brainless fools.

    ~OGD~


    by oldenGoldenDecoy on Tue, 09/13/2011 - 5:41pm

    I live just south of Tampa. The local media including the local fox station has done nothing but criticize this debate. There was 60 tea party groups that sponsored this debate with CNN. Most of the audience was bused in. Who do you think was yelling and clapping to the mean crazy statements? The far right bought and paid for by the Koch bros. This is not what plays well in the I-4 corridor.

    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 09/13/2011 - 9:08pm

    And thanks to CNN for conflating the Tea Party Express with a loser media company like themselves.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 09/13/2011 - 9:35pm