“Do I have a beef with Mitt Romney? Nah, I don’t waste time on that fool. But I’ll tell you this: motherfucker better stop thinking of me as a large avian and better start thinking of me as a fucking albatross.”
— BIG BIRD
(Source: maybesomedaystartstonight)
We’ve all been told that laughter is the best medicine. We were also told Facebook was a bargain at 38 dollars a share.
— MICHAEL J. FOX, at the Emmys
“We’re the Clintons and you approved our message.”
Like many Republican governors, Jan Brewer of Arizona is a stinging critic of President Obama’s health care law. When the Supreme Court upheld it in June, she called the ruling “an overreaching and unaffordable assault on states’ rights and individual liberty.”
Yet the Brewer administration is quietly designing an insurance exchange — one of the most essential and controversial requirements of the law. Officials in a handful of other Republican-led states say they are also working to have a framework ready by Nov. 16, the deadline for states to commit to running an exchange or leave it to the federal government to run it for them. That is just 10 days after Election Day, which is likely to decide the future of the law.
Given that the health care overhaul remains a lightning rod — just last week, Oklahoma revised a lawsuit against it — even the most tentative discussions about carrying it out in Republican states tend to take place behind closed doors or “underground,” as the leader of a health care advocacy group in the South put it.
In Mississippi, Mike Chaney, the insurance commissioner, who is laying the groundwork for a state-based exchange there, recently learned the difficulties of moving forward in anything but the utmost secrecy. At a luncheon this summer he found himself facing down an opponent of the law in a confrontation that is now circulating on YouTube.
“I was invited to the picnic, and I was the main course,” said Mr. Chaney, a Republican and an elected official.
The law requires all states to have exchanges, which are essentially online marketplaces where small businesses and individuals can shop for private health plans, in place by January 2014, when a requirement takes effect for most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty. If states fail to submit plans for running their own exchanges by the deadline, the law calls for the federal government to set up and run one for them, with or without their help. People with incomes between 133 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level can get federal tax subsidies through exchanges to make the price of coverage more affordable.
“If we have to have one,” said Donald Hughes, Ms. Brewer’s health care policy adviser, “then it would be better for Arizona to do it ourselves rather than defer to the federal government.” He said, however, that Ms. Brewer would not make a final decision on a state-run exchange until after the election.
—
The New York Times, “Like It Or Not, States Preparing for Healthcare Law.”
LOLpublicans.
When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous. And she was choking and rubbing her eyes. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver. But she’s safe and sound.
—
Republican presidential candidate MITT ROMNEY, remarking on this weekend’s incident where an electrical problem caused his wife’s plane to make an emergency landing.
We are all glad that Ann is okay.
We are also glad that Mitt Romney continues to undermine his presidential bid with these ridiculous utterances.
ADD
On Friday’s show, we said Mitt Romney’s claim that he had wanted President Obama to succeed in his first term was — and this is a technical term — bull-f@cking-sh#t, and played a clip of him on Neil Cavuto’s show to demonstrate it. So imagine our surprise when BuzzFeed disputed our call! They say the full context of Romney’s 2009 remarks to Neil Cavuto shows Romney wishing Obama success.
With all due respect, that is — and, again, this is a technical term — bull-f@cking-sh#t. You can watch the full clip above, in which Romney makes it clear that he hopes Obama “succeeds”, but not with “failed policies” like reforming our nation’s healthcare system; rather, he hopes that Obama “succeeds” by adopting Republican ideas, like lowering tax rates. Obviously, memories grow hazy with the passage of four years’ time, but we’re pretty sure that was the exact opposite of the platform Obama ran on. To us, it was an obvious case of concern trolling — the rhetorical gambit of pretending to support an opponent, while undermining the basis of their argument. Perhaps an analogy might help: “I wish the Jews the greatest of success, but not if they continue to pursue the failed policies of Moses and Abraham. Because I want nothing but the best for the Jews, I’m rooting for them to do the right thing, and accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.” Sure, the words “I wish the Jews the greatest of success” and “I’m rooting for them” are in there. But the rest of it negates them.
We love BuzzFeed. It’s insightful, funny and perceptive, and we read it every day. Which is why we wish them nothing but success in recognizing the errors of their earlier piece. Really, we have nothing but the highest hopes for their correction, and we feel that their reputation for accuracy will only be burnished by the retraction they’re sure to publish any minute now.
(See what we did there?)
Thank you for your discourse, Daily Show friends. We should do this more often! And thanks for linking to the Urban Dictionary definition of ‘concern trolling.’ It brought to light the myriad of political terms defined on UD, for example:
Democrat: The more liberal of the two major political parties. Generally holds positions against capitol punishment, but for abortion. Believes it’s the governments job to babysit us when we want help, while telling the government to stay out of their lives.
Republican: Someone who believes that the rich white male has the only valid opinion in the world. Most republicans are pro-life and pro-war, which also means they are hypocrites.
Politician: 1. A person who practices politics. “Politics” is derived from the words “poly” meaning “many”, and “tics” meaning “blood-sucking parasites.”
Regarding a retraction, there will be no retraction. However, as an olive branch we extend this link to these teaspoon-sized hedgehogs!
Thank you for your thoughtful and considered response. Honestly, we have no idea why people say BuzzFeed is nothing more than aggregated content from elsewhere and links to cute animal photos.
You’re welcome again. Here’s everything you missed last night while you were tweeting about BuzzFeed:
Yeah, well, the jerk store called and they’re out of you! #wewin #internetisclosed
This is like that time two people who I really admired but neither of which really knew I existed got into a fight and all I could do was stand behind the fence yelling at the both of them to stop then got hit by an out-of-control ice cream truck, playing the Doctor Who theme. Or not.
Bahahahaha
- Tell him / her that the Dow closing up today 244.52 points, or 1.87%, was totally thanks to Obama.
