Thought of the day

I’m really not a fan of the myth of Reagan. He most certainly was not a great president: increasing the income gap, taking undue credit for the collapse of the Soviet Union, contributing to a massive increase in drug use, imprisoning poor, mostly black people for excessive periods (Obama recently helped fix some of this problem), and creating a bloated military. These ought to be the pillars of Reagan’s legacy, not some sanitized revisionism.

Oh, and that whole thing with trading hostages for arms with Iran. There was that, too.

Limbaugh, Republicans, and Lies

I heard Rush Limbaugh talk about death panels today. He’s a rhetorical, moronic machine. Not ten minutes later, just after a commercial break, a caller explained what the bill actually says. He noted that it primarily and merely offers to pay for doctor visits for those who wish to discuss end-of-life care. This primarily concerns those who have been given terminal diagnoses. As it stands, Medicare and Medicaid do not cover this visits. People, should they CHOOSE, to speak with their doctors over their end-of-life care, they should not have to pay out of pocket.

After the called explained this, Limbaugh claimed that he never uses the term “death panel”, except in quoting that gem of genuine stupidity that is Sarah Palin. He is a liar. A huge, fucking liar. He uses the term regularly, including just moments early on that very airing. This sort of behavior is highly typical of Republicans and conservatives. Lie, lie, lie. No need to help those who aren’t already wealthy.

I think a lot of this, to be frank, dumbness, comes from Reagan. He encouraged economic policies of “trickling-down” money from the rich to the poor. It predictably failed. It caused the economic downturn in the early 90’s. Clinton corrected a lot of this. Then Dubya went ahead and messed things up again. Now it is left to a Democrat to YET AGAIN clean up this inanity.

It’s possible to identify, again and again, why Republican policies are complete and utter failures. But to say why they are so stupid about everything is beyond me.