Where We're Headed And Who's Taking Us There

Here are a few tidbits, typical of the teabaggR darlings. First:

Rep. Tom Marino, R-10, Lycoming Twp., said he supports Mr. Gadhafi's removal but said Mr. Obama should have consulted Congress before acting.

[...]

"Where does it stop?" he said. "Do we go into Africa next? I don't want to sound callous or cold, but this could go on indefinitely around the world."

As some people know, Libya is IN Africa.

Next: chosen by House Rs as the face of financial acumen, the primary signer of a letter to Harry Reid decrying his lack of fiscal discipline, was Arkansas Congressman Rick Crawford:

But Crawford seemed an odd choice to expound on sound fiscal footing.

"Really?" said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Jesse Ferguson.

"Of all the people for House Republican freshmen to pick as their front man for a stunt about fiscal responsibility, they picked Representative Rick Crawford who couldn't even pay his own credit card bills and went bankrupt because of it," Ferguson said in a statement.

According to press accounts during Crawford's campaign, he declared bankruptcy in 1994 over $12,611.67 in debt - mostly for credit cards.

Even better: Front-runner Mike Huckabee thinks we'd be better off if Christianity were forced upon us at gunpoint. Seriously: at gunpoint. (But he doesn't want us to know...)

Huckabee has just been caught on video, at a Christian supremacist conference, stating that Americans should be forcibly indoctrinated at gunpoint. The organization which hosted the “Rediscover God In America” conference, United in Purpose, has edited Huckabee’s comment from footage of his speech, but not before People For The American Way’s Kyle Mantyla captured the unedited footage, in which Mike Huckabee states, “I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced–forced at gunpoint no less–to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it’d happen.”

David Barton is the leading promoter of a brand of falsified American history altered to support the claim that America was founded as a Christian, rather than a secular, nation. As Chris Rodda, who has authored an entire book debunking Barton’s brand of pseudo-history, writes,

I was quite surprised… to come across a video clip from this conference on the People for the American Way (PFAW) Right Wing Watch blog with the headline “Huckabee: Americans Should Be Forced, At Gunpoint, To Learn From David Barton.” I had watched Huckabee’s speech. How on earth could I have missed a statement like that? Well, I didn’t. It had been edited out of the webcast that I had watched.

[Emphasis mine. Because it's good to know.]

Oh, and speaking of what he doesn't want us to know, it seems the Huckster felt the need to destroy all records of his governorship.

Whadda guy. We're gonna be in great hands.

Finally (only because I can only spend so much time on any post), let's see where we're headed with teabaggR reforms. Are we all on board with ending Medicare?

As House Republicans cue up their Medicare Phase-out legislation, we're about to be treated, once again, to an example of how political actors use press cowardice to deceive the public. Rep. Paul Ryan's plan, which is now the official Republican plan, phases out Medicare over 10 years...

The Medicare system has been in place in the United States for a bit more than 40 years. The premise is simple: once you hit retirement age you move into a single payer health care insurance system in which Medicare takes responsibility for your care, regardless of the state of your health or income level. There are copays. No one's crazy about exactly how much is covered. Some doctors opt out. You've probably heard all of this at one point or another. But the key is that you're in the program. And for the rest of your life you're out of the private health insurance system. You're covered. Permanently and on the same terms as everyone else....

... The Ryan plan is to get rid of Medicare and in place of it give seniors a voucher to buy health care insurance from private insurers. Now, what if you can't buy as much as insurance or as much care as you need? Well, start saving now or just too bad.

Now, by any reasonable standard, that's getting rid of Medicare. Abolishing Medicare. Phasing it out. Whatever you want to call it. Medicare is this single payer program that guarantees seniors health care, as noted above. Ryan's plan pushes seniors into the private markets and give them a voucher. That's called getting rid of the program. There's simply no ifs or caveats about. That's not cuts or slowing of the growth. That's abolishing the whole program. Saying anything else is a lie.

Yep, those insurers will be competing for the business of paying for care of the sick and dying, and will fall over themselves to offer a better deal than the other guy. Think of the money we'll save.

So. Far be it from me to suggest teabaggRs have elected stupid and dishonest people, and people whose ideas come pre-failed and historically discredited. Nope. I just report. You decide.