100 miles for a check-up. Now that’s commonsense conservatism:
In Mike DeWine’s first week as Ohio attorney general, his car collided with a bicyclist downtown – and he ended up having the man taken on a 100-mile round trip to be treated by the officeholder’s personal physician.
Jonathan Kirk, 28, a dishwasher at Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails, wasn’t seriously injured, but he was shaken up in the Jan. 13 morning accident. According to a Columbus police report, confirmed by accounts from DeWine and Kirk, Kirk rode his bicycle against a red light at Front and Main streets. He was knocked to the pavement by a 2008 Chrysler 300 in which DeWine was a passenger. A DeWine staff member, Robert Lagergren, was driving DeWine’s personal car. Kirk, who said he has no insurance because he can’t afford it, didn’t want to go to a hospital emergency room and left the scene to make a scheduled appointment with his parole officer. However, DeWine tracked him down and insisted that he see a doctor.
The attorney general had a staff member, Ann O’Donnell, drive Kirk to Jamestown, Ohio, about 30 miles southeast of Dayton, to see DeWine’s physician, Dr. Kevin Sherrett. The doctor did not charge for the visit, but DeWine said he asked to be billed for the cost of X-rays.
Sadly, however, the lucky winner of Mike DeWine’s Health Care For A Day limited time offer cannot follow up on the results:
Kirk told The Dispatch that he doesn’t know the results of an X-ray taken at Sherrett’s office because he doesn’t have a home phone and his cell phone was crushed in the accident.
DeWine, of course, is suing to block the Affordable Care Act.
jibeaux
You see, if the uninsured are careful to only be injured by people with personal physicians who don’t charge anything, there’s really no problem there. He can ride his bike 30 miles southeast and pick up his x-rays, too!
cleek
so, the GOP health plan is for the uninsured to try getting run down by the well-connected ?
freelancer
Good thing the 300 has the trunk space for DeWine’s giant balls.
@cleek:
You just earned a Moore award there, Buddy. Watch your tone.
MikeJ
If I hit somebody with my car *I* should decide what sort of treatment he gets! After all, I’m paying the bills! He’s just a freeloader. I’ll bet that dishwasher has granite counters!
Redshift
@jibeaux: And it also helps if they can arrange to be injured only by people whose careers might be damaged if they’re seen as being callous to one of the “little people.”
Southern Beale
On a related note, this interesting map dubbed The United States Of Shame shows what each state ranks worst at … and such a large number of them are health related.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
You’ve got it all wrong. He’s providing an example of how Christians should treat the people they see around them. If all of the Christians use their money to drive people they hit to their doctors, then the country will be a better place. All people will need to do is make sure they bike in front of the right car when they get the flu.
jibeaux
Also too, I’m not sure there has been a car designed in my lifetime that looks more fake mafioso than the Chrysler 300. Chrysler’s had some really innovative and interesting car design, but that one just looks like someone said “we need a car for really, really douchey guys.” I apologize in advance if any BJers are reading this from their Chrysler 300 and obviously I’m not talking about you.
stuckinred
@Southern Beale: Lotta goat ropers in Washington huh?
Martin
@cleek: I thought Michelle Obama was being blamed for that plan last week. Oh, no, she was being blamed for the insured to be run down more severely in order to reduce health care expenses. Death Panel Race 2000, as it were.
burnspbesq
Guy was lucky. Most republicans, upon hitting a cyclist, would back up and then hit him again to make sure they had finished the job.
Think I’m kidding? Bring your bike out here to OC and see for yourself.
freelancer
@Southern Beale:
Okay, WTH, Washington?! You’ve been a bad, baaaaad state.
Culture of Truth
This proves the free market works!
El Cid
This proves that individual charity is better than Stalinist government-run health care which would have forced this man who refused to buy his own health insurance to go to some local hospital, and who knows what they do since the government started telling them how to do everything?
Martin
@Southern Beale: Hah! Washington: bestiality. Good luck living that one down.
And I have to object to Oklahoma having the most female criminals. Contrary to what the state’s Senators believe, being a lesbian is not a criminal act.
Martin
@burnspbesq: Yeah, no shit. What, 5 bike fatalities within 3 miles of my house in 2 years?
Gin & Tonic
@burnspbesq: You mean like that broker from Morgan Stanley, somewhere in Colorado, who hit a guy on a bike and then drove away, then bought his way out of felony charges? Think I’m joking?
cleek
in this Plan, i wonder what happens if the uninsured patient damages the medical insurance provider’s automobile – who pays the auto-repair deductible? can the un-medically-insured purchase insurance to cover the cost of any body work and glass which may be required following their medically-necessitated run-down ?
it would be unfortunate if the well-connected wiggled out of their part of the Plan by simply threatening to sue for body work and glass repairs anyone who tried to take advantage of the Plan.
El Cid
Talking Points Memo reveals the bipartisan path Obama and the Democrats need to follow if they want to solve problems and work with Republicans to find the best solutions:
On the down side, if Democrats were to do this exactly, the Republicans would still hate them and accuse them of irresponsible Communism.
jibeaux
@Southern Beale:
I think the author of that map may have been from Ohio. What kind of a dishonorable mention is it to have the highest number of library visits per capita? I’ve been to Ohio many times. They are definitely last at something. If nothing else, comprehension of what is an appropriate topping for noodles, i.e. it should not involve cinnamon.
kay
@cleek:
DeWine used to be a moderate. I think he’s absolutely miserable as a wingnut.
He always looked scared. Now he looks hunted.
But who consults the lawyers in the attorney general’s office before replacing the guy’s cell phone?
Doesn’t say much for his ability to make a goddammned simple, decent decision. “I asked the lawyers,and they said ‘no’.
The dishwasher has more balls.
freelancer
@jibeaux:
I dunno, that’s pretty effin’ nerdy.
Joel
I have to say, I’m pretty impressed that the guy tracked down an ex-convict cyclist who was apparently in clear violation of traffic laws and offered him personal medical assistance. Who knows what the real story is and it certainly doesn’t excuse his political actions, but I’m impressed all the same. I’m not sure I’d extend the same courtesy, and I say this as an avid cyclist.
TooManyJens
@jibeaux: Hey, I like Cincinnati chili.
ericblair
@El Cid:
David Broder just had a happy ending in his senior undergarments.
kdaug
@jibeaux:
The douchey guy market was underserved. Straight business decision.
cleek
@Joel:
the old woman who ran me down didn’t seem to give a fuck about me, once she saw i was walking OK.
someguy
At the risk of committing the No True Scotsman fallacy here… no true conservative would have done this. The real conservative thing to do was to call the cops on the SOB for running the light and turning out to be an ex-con. DeWine is a pitiful excuse for a conservative…
jibeaux
@Joel:
Dude, first of all I don’t know what relevance the man’s parole status has to whether or not he needs medical attention, and second of all, if you’re the insured party in that situation it’s not necessarily “courtesy” but simple prudence to get some documentation on the injuries, if any. Not to mention the whole elected official bit. Tip for living among humans, in bicycle v. automobile, it’s acceptable and likely to be expected that you will see to the injuries of the human atop the bicycle.
Origuy
Utah is ranked as the worst in porn usage. Does that mean they use the most, or that they don’t use it right?
jibeaux
@TooManyJens:
I hate to quibble with another Jen, but Cincinnati chili is just plain wrong. I’m not sure the English would eat it.
PeakVT
List of states by human development scores.
Southern Beale
@stuckinred:
Yeah that beastiality stat gave me pause as well but then I read that represents just 4 cases in 2010. Guess they couldn’t find anything worse to say about Washington. I mean, Mississippi good grief, they had about a dozen things to choose from …
Davis X. Machina
While the Good Samaritan didn’t even have a Chrysler, he didn’t exactly run ‘the man who fell in among robbers’ over with it.
Come to think of it, anybody who gets run over by a GOP politician is, ipso facto, ‘the man who fell in among robbers’…
TooManyJens
@jibeaux:
I’m having a hard time considering that as a strike against it, honestly.
If it helps, don’t think of it as chili. Just think of it as Greek-ish spaghetti sauce.
Southern Beale
@jibeaux:
Dude we will go to the mat on this one, I rigorously defend using cinnamon in savory foods! The trick is to use just a teensy weensy amount of cinnamon in your meat dishes not a fucking tablespoon.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Best Cincy chili in the world is at Hard Times Cafe in Alexandria VA.
Southern Beale
@Origuy:
Utah has the nation’s highest rate of porn usage. I think that’s internet porn sales (of course … privacy of your own home and all …) It makes total sense to me, of course. All that religious shaming in Utah, doesn’t change the behavior, just drives it underground. DUH.
I always wondered why conservatives say we liberals are “moonbats” who have unrealistic “utopian visions” of the world. As far as I can tell, we’re the realists. Conservatives are the ones who think people will change their behavior if you tell them NOT to do something. That has never, ever been proven to be true.
cleek
cinnamon and dark chocolate are required ingredients in any chili i make – but only the slightest bit of cinnamon, as @Southern Beale notes. chili with too much cinnamon is indeed awful. but as a background note with chilis, cinnamon = awesome.
PeakVT
I almost always had the Cincinnati-style when I lived within driving distance of a Hard Times. Good stuff. The Frito Pie was good with the Terlingua.
Southern Beale
@cleek:
Never tried dark chocolate, but I can see how that might give it that touch of mole … do you use unsweetened bakers chocolate?
quaint irene
I’ve made it from scratch (recipe from the Road Food authors, Jane and Michael Stern) and it’s quite good.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@El Cid: Then why wouldn’t Republicans vote for the ACA? It was their plan.
jwest
The reporting on this incident brought this video to mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF3hbPtCttc&feature=player_embedded
debbie
Is there a bigger whore in Ohio politics than Mike DeWine? I don’t think so. He could give McCain private lessons.
Cat Lady
@Southern Beale:
Massachusetts has the worst drivers? Why, cuz everyone else drives like thumb sucking weenies with their heads up their asses? Give me a car length to pass in or give me death.
Svensker
Also, some new Tea Party congresscritters are forced to use their new gummint health insurance because living in DC and buying your own health insurance is just too “expensive”. So very very sad for her struggling by on $174K/year and her surgeon husband’s paltry salary.
kay
@debbie:
I agree. I do think he’s a normal, sort of wimpy person trapped in a scrum of crazy Tea Partiers, though.
Have you watched him speak on the constitutional challenge to health care? Has there ever been a more reluctant advocate?
He does not believe ONE WORD of the lines they’re feeding him. It sounds like a statement made by a hostage. The man is under duress.
Gin & Tonic
@Cat Lady:
Yes. That is a scientific fact.
MonkeyBoy
As a lawyer, attorney general DeWine’s first question after the accident was “Can I sue him?”. His second question was “Can he sue me?”. The answer to this, DeWine being the owner of the car, was yes, so DeWine made sure that Kirk was examined by a doctor who pronounced him uninjured and thus he couldn’t later hook up with a shyster lawyer who gets Kirk to claim a back injury requiring a sizable compensation.
There is nothing compassionate about this at all.
PeakVT
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Beat me to it. When I worked in Rosslyn lunch rotated between Hard Times, Red Hot and Blue, and Café Asia. I think I gained 15 pounds while I was at that job.
beltane
@Southern Beale: I see that Massachusetts has the worst drivers. My husband always insisted this was the case and now he has proof.
debbie
Kay, I’ve seen DeWine pretending to be a tough guy a couple of times, but what really sticks in my memory is his campaign ad where he belligerently says he’s going to end the “corruption” in the Attorney General’s office. “It’s wrong and I’m going to stop it.”
Of course there was no corruption. DeWine accused Cordray’s office of “sitting” on DNA tests “for months, even years,” when in fact they’d improved the turnaround time by more than 60% in just two years. It was the most dishonest political commercial I’ve ever seen.
I’d thought Pat Tiberi had the prize as slimiest lap dog, but DeWine’s got him beat by a mile.
The Tea Party may be feeding him lines, but he’s the really stupid one squandering his long career by repeating them.
Cris
Fucking dumbass.
Roger Moore
@El Cid:
The worst part is McConnell is still lying. If the Democrats actually agreed to do what he proposes, he’d just demand even more.
Southern Beale
@beltane:
Your husband has never driven in Nashville. We have, by far, the WORST drivers in the nation. I stand by that.
cleek
@Southern Beale:
Hershey’s dark cocoa powder is my current fav, but a square of extra dark chocolate works fine. i’ve been known to use a squirt of Hershey’s syrup, in a pinch.
Arclite
@Gin & Tonic: That’s so depressing that the DA chose not to press criminal charges based on the suspects ability to pay.
QDC
It sounds like DeWine’s doctor is a good man, and thorough. Perhaps he didn’t want to be responsible for any delayed after-effects.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
@Arclite: Since the person on the bike he ran over was a surgeon, did they factor in the cost to the victim of not being able to practice his livelihood? Surgeon: 0, Morgan Stanley broker: 1. Just bizarre.
Bella Q
@kay: Your description is perfect. Mike DeWine never had a lick of the gumption g*d gave geese, but he does indeed look hunted now. I was searching for the right image and you nailed it. He never had balls as big as a mouse, but he was at least sort of sane. He’s totally under duress. Thanks for the imagery.
Are you following the Hamilton County juvenile judge case?
kay
@Bella Q:
I am, but I’m completely confused. I have to read more. I don’t understand how people voted in the wrong precinct. I don’t understand how that works with a poll book.
They weren’t in the precinct poll book, so were given provisional ballots? That shouldn’t be hard to straighten out, because they have the address at the board of elections, the “master” poll book, as it were. Just count in the provisional with the right precinct. If they only voted once, and they’re valid voters, we’re square, right?
I just don’t think that’s a fatal error. I don’t know why we keep records at the county level if those records aren’t a redundancy for situations like this. What are they for, if not that?
kay
@Bella Q:
By the way, that is a very high number for provisional ballots. They shunted 11,000 people to a second-class ballot, and all but 800 were counted-in?
Why are they handing out so many provisionals? Jesus. 10,200 people who were qualified to vote filled out a 4 page affidavit rather than voting a simple ballot? I mean, I’m glad they counted them in, but maybe they didn’t belong OUT in the first place.
Wile E. Quixote
@freelancer:
Hey, it was just those guys in Enumclaw, the rest of us up here in the upper left hand corner of the country, the Soviet of Washington as James Farley once called us, are relatively normal. Well with the exception of the Republicans, who are so completely insane that the Washington State Republican Convention went for Pat Robertson in 1988. Enumclaw, where the horse-fuckees like to hang out, is represented by a Republican. I’m not saying that the two facts are related, but it would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Batocchio
Isn’t this the Robert Novak Health Care Plan? Without the hit-and-run part, that is.
Wile E. Quixote
@jibeaux:
I like the 300 body style. Back when they made them in red I wanted to get a red one and then strip all of the chrome trim off, have it painted black and then put black rims on it. I still think the Hummer is the epitome of the car for douchey guys, especially if you put low profile tires on it.