Alan: In any system affecting tens of millions of people, there will be winners and losers. Although Obamacare's winners will outnumber losers at least 10 to 1, that one individual will remain, forevermore, a factual example of a guy who ended up on the short end of the stick. In my view, the short end of a stick is preferable to having a glowing poker jammed up your ass. But then, capitalizing on "economies of scale," that same poker gets jammed up the asses of 9 friends. Tragically, modern conservatives care more about "exceptions to rules" rather than the rules themselves (including The Rule of Law). They despise The Common Good and vilify any suggestion that democracy is concerned with "the greatest good for the greatest number." Instead, contemporary conservatives cleave to a world view as vindictive as Sharia Law. It goes like this... "There is a clearly-delineated racial and socio-economic threshold above which people deserve a measure of government assistance, and below which people deserve to die. And the sooner the better."
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Instead of attacking President Barack Obama and the Affordable Care Act on substantive grounds, Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show on Monday, Fox News has insisted on going over-the-top with threats that have been debunked, criticized or otherwise “total bullsh*t.”
“Yes, the president has been somewhat dishonest about the promise of his health care program,” Stewart argued. “But here’s the weird part: his opponents have been lying like motherf*ckers about its effects.”
Stewart did chide Obama for his insistence in 2009 on saying, “Period” after promising that all policy holders would be able to keep their existing plans after the law was implemented, only to have to add that they could do so “if it hasn’t changed since the law passed.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Stewart replied. “What you said was, you can keep it. Period. Now what you said there was more like, ‘You can keep your health care plan … elipses. Comma, because it may no longer meet the minimum requirements, or your insurance company may stop offering individual plans or some other odd bureaucratic offshoot. Period. Emoticon depicting a combination of embarrassment and arrogance.”
But f the law is that bad, Stewart said, then conservatives should be content to just say so, and wouldn’t require arguments like Dr. Ben Carson likening it to slavery.
“There’s a reason why 12 Years A Slave doesn’t have vampires and zombies,” Stewart said. “It doesn’t need them.”
Stewart also took aim at the argument that the law’s requirement that health care plans provide 10 standard benefits is like forcing taxpayers to buy “fully-loaded Cadillacs” instead of more affordable models by pointing out that automobiles are already required to carry 50 items, no matter the kind of car.
“My guess is, you’re gonna be able to find some people who do not benefit from this law and some people who are actually burdened by this law,” Stewart said. “But don’t pretend that the old system was Cocoon.”
Watch Stewart take on the lies surrounding “Obamacare,” as posted online by “Ogun Balenyo” on Tuesday, below
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Arturo Garcia
Arturo R. García is the managing editor at Racialicious.com. He is based in San Diego, California and has written for both print and broadcast media, including contributions to GlobalComment.com, The Root and Comment Is Free.
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