Written on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 7:48am by Alan Bedenko | 8 Comments

More Like This, Please

Tom Tancredo is one of the most detestable xenophobes ever to have darkened the halls of congress.  Lou Dobbs has got nothing on this guy. It’s also quite ironic, given the fact that Tancredo’s last name ends in a vowel.

The other day, Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas was debating Tancredo on MSNBC about health care reform and the recent teabag ruckus on Capitol Hill that attracted literally hundreds of people.  Tancredo did the standard Republican “socialism” nonsense and called the public option – a thoroughly incomplete “reform” – the biggest threat to American freedom they had ever seen; a “threat to the American way of life”.

Talk like that leads to signs like this, seen at the Michele Bachmann Teaparty of Ignorance this past week:

At one point, comparisons were drawn to existing government-run single-payer plans like Medicare and the VA.  Tancredo claimed that veterans begged him to set up some sort of free market insurance system for them because the VA was “too bureaucratic” and didn’t “serve their needs”.

Because everyone who has private for-profit or non-profit healthcare knows just how unbureaucratic it is.  I hate disingenuous, idiotic statements like that.

On the point of the veterans, Moulitsas is a veteran, and Tancredo is not.  Moulistas does what the kids call “pwn” Tancredo:

Sure enough, Tancredo was in favor of the Vietnam War, but went out of his way to avoid serving in it.

After graduating from college in June 1969, he became eligible to serve in Vietnam. Tancredo said he went for his physical, telling doctors he’d been treated for depression, and eventually got a deferment.

Chickenhawk.  Xenophobe.  Detestable human being.  It’s about time guys like him got called out on their incessant fucking bullshit.

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8 Comments

  1. Byron says:
    November 7, 2009 at 8:13 am

    Cue Rebmann to come in and tell BP he has an abnormal fixation on Hitler or something.

    Reply
  2. The Humanist says:
    November 7, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Tancredo ran off that set so quick, I thought David Shuster had waved a draft notice at him.

    Reply
  3. Mike in Lancaster says:
    November 7, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    So Tancredo is the depressed soldier Patton wanted to beat the hell out of in WWII……How very hypocritical of the Palinista!!

    Reply
  4. Dave says:
    November 7, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    The whole deal is disguting. The richest country in the world is in the 30’s in infant and maternal mortality, as well as life expectancy, and neither party is making a serious effort to fix it. The Democrats are shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, and the Republicans are… well, they’re being Republicans. There’s no excuse.

    Reply
  5. Ray says:
    November 7, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    “The richest country in the world is in the 30’s in infant and maternal mortality, as well as life expectancy, and neither party is making a serious effort to fix it.”

    Glad to see you are an informed citizen Dave, that is you saw the detestable David Shuster on the TV put some numbers on the tube so you automatically believe the statistics are true.

    And that lying piece of shit Moulitsas too goes on TV and  claims that the Republican ideology is based on “government doesn’t work” and they are terrified of “government programs that work”. When did that happen? Every time the Republicans have been in power they have made government bigger with their versions of government programs that work. Of course the definition of what works is a matter of interpretation. I always interpret such government-speak from Democrats and Republicans as meaning hopelessly bankrupt, immoral and destructive, and they never disappoint.

    Reply
  6. Mike In WNY says:
    November 7, 2009 at 8:09 pm

    Dave, whatever truth there is in the statistic you cited is due to the explosion of single mother poverty households as a result of the new dependency class created and maintained by the government. There was once a time when people took personal responsibility seriously and for the most part did not have children until they earned a financially stable environment in which to raise children.

    Reply
  7. Dave says:
    November 8, 2009 at 2:02 am

    Ray, you are right: I quoted the show without checking the numbers. I have seen similar numbers from other sources, so I felt pretty safe in quoting them, but it only takes a minute to verify most sources. For the record, I did a quick check with the CIA Factbook, which I believe to be a relatively reliable source. Their 2009 estimates have the US 50th in life expectancy at birth, and 44th in infant mortality rate. I suspect that more research will turn up more favorable rankings, but none in the top 15-20. I will admit to shoddy research, but my belief still stands: The existing infant mortality and life expectancy rates are inexcuable in a country as wealthy as America, and neither of the two major parties are making serious efforts to improve them. Both the Democratic Party and the GOP are putting on a dog and pony show aimed more at reelection eforts than meaningful reform.

    Reply
  8. Dave says:
    November 8, 2009 at 2:03 am

    And please pardon my typos. I usually spell effort with two f’s.

    Reply

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