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You are here: Home / Seriously, stop punching yourselves

Seriously, stop punching yourselves

by Tim F|  February 28, 201511:48 am| 109 Comments

This post is in: General Stupidity

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Richard Mack, an Arizona sheriff who took a leading role in the most fringey anti-Obama law enforcement groups, made headlines with stunts like suing the President over gun control, supporting Cliven Bundy and fighting the Affordable Care Act like it’s a Cuban major general and he’s Patrick Swayze. Being self-employed and on the individual market for health insurance Mack apparently found it unpalatable to take advantage of the protections guaranteed in Obamacare. See where this is going? Of course you do. Mack’s family experienced some adverse health events in January and he had to open a crowdfunding site to head off bankruptcy. No word on whether Michael Moore will once again step in to save the day.

In all honesty, I supported the ACA precisely because I do not want anyone to suffer. Whether I agree or disagree with them, I want to make sure everyone can rant about what makes them mad without medical bankruptcy looming any time a family member breaks their leg. Maybe you think Obama is an antichrist muslim communist atheist lizard alien. No problemo. Start a club and send out a press release. But please, buy health insurance for your family.

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Reader Interactions

109Comments

  1. 1.

    Biscuits

    February 28, 2015 at 12:09 pm

    I can’t feel bad for his situation. He’s living his principles. If only he had a few chickens to barter.

  2. 2.

    Debbie

    February 28, 2015 at 12:10 pm

    Sheriff, meet Karma.

  3. 3.

    Big ole hound

    February 28, 2015 at 12:11 pm

    I hope the dumb shit has to apply for food stamps and other forms of “welfare” and is rejected for being a hypocrite then has to apply for bankruptcy and the court rejects is application unless he signs up for ACA.

  4. 4.

    AliceBlue

    February 28, 2015 at 12:12 pm

    Why is he self-employed? If he’s a sheriff, shouldn’t he be a city/county employee?

  5. 5.

    WereBear

    February 28, 2015 at 12:14 pm

    @Biscuits: Yes, this is exactly what he wanted.

    And he’s got enough connections to have his plight broadcast over right wing networks — I hear he’s raising some real money.

    Now his followers? That same-aged couple in Missouri, living in a town where the factory got moved to China, scraping by with just enough money to cover the lowest cable tier that has Fox News? If they got sick and tried the same thing?

    Good luck with that one.

  6. 6.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    February 28, 2015 at 12:15 pm

    Previous post on this down below but, yeah, I’m with on making sure everyone can afford coverage or get help with premiums. Everyone. That includes insufferable prices like Mack.

  7. 7.

    EriktheRed

    February 28, 2015 at 12:17 pm

    Didja happen to check out some of the comments posted by donors on the site? They’re quite a sight to behold.

  8. 8.

    Elmo

    February 28, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    All I can think of is Nelson.
    “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  9. 9.

    feebog

    February 28, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    The former Sheriff was standing in the intersection of stupid and ideology when the bus ran him down. No pity here. He is the very definition of Moran.

  10. 10.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    February 28, 2015 at 12:23 pm

    I don’t want anyone to suffer, which is why in addition to loudly supporting the ACA, I did a great deal of (what felt at the time like nearly non-stop) stumping for medicaid expansion in OH. Which passed.

    But I congratulate anyone who elects to live strictly by firmly held principles, so it seems Mr. Mack has made that choice. Sadly, it seems he’s not totally enjoying that choice. If only he had bootstraps, no?

  11. 11.

    Yatsuno

    February 28, 2015 at 12:25 pm

    This is actually all their beloved Saint Ronald Reagan’s fault. If he hadn’t signed the EMTALA into law, then they would haven’t have those emergency room medical bills in the first place because the emergency rooms would have just turned them away. And since doctors now demand proof before you can even get treated, this could have all been a big nothingburger if not for the might of the pen that is Ronaldus Magnus.

  12. 12.

    Mike in NC

    February 28, 2015 at 12:36 pm

    “Americans for Prosperity” (Koch brothers) is now the leading opponent of affordable healthcare nationwide. I read a terrible article yesterday about how they worked alongside the teabaggers in Tennessee to make sure about 300,000 people remain uninsured. If you live in a red state, good luck not getting fucked over by AFP and the Republicans.

  13. 13.

    Another_Bob

    February 28, 2015 at 12:36 pm

    I can imagine that in his case, however, his notoriety may help get him enough contributions from his ideological brethren that he can stave off financial ruin or, hell, maybe even make a profit. Then he and his ilk can smugly continue their ideological crusade while thousands of other less fortunate chumps end up paying the price in miserable obscurity. Make a select handful of wingnuts king for a day so they can keep preaching to the rubes to drink more “small government” koolade.

  14. 14.

    p.a.

    February 28, 2015 at 12:37 pm

    I went and donated $5- it’s the minimum allowed so I couldn’t do 5 cents- and left comments calling him an asshole. Lots of liberals are doing it.

  15. 15.

    satby

    February 28, 2015 at 12:39 pm

    And yet, he’ll make out pretty well on his version of the grift and probably have money left over after the bills are paid.

    Some of his compadres in crazy? As WereBear says, not so much. And how much you wanna bet that Mr.Principles! wouldn’t share any of his largess with other people as deluded as he is. Because in some twisted way, he’ll decide he earned it by being a god-fearin man who stood up to Nobummer.

  16. 16.

    WereBear

    February 28, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    @satby: And will he sneak off and get health insurance?

    Geez, he has kids. Is he really gambling with their lives for his twisted ideology?

  17. 17.

    srv

    February 28, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    Republicans don’t have empathy because you’ve forcibly taken so much from them and given it to moochers.

  18. 18.

    JDM

    February 28, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    It’s a shame really. But then I always felt kinda sorry for Wile E. Coyote during that brief moment after he’d run off the edge of a cliff, still running like crazy, and realized that gravity was suddenly about to be the major factor in his life.

  19. 19.

    Amir Khalid

    February 28, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    @AliceBlue:
    It’s been some 20 years since Richard Mack was actually a sheriff. From another story on the C&L site:

    This is not the first time that Mack has moved to another locale in an attempt to become sheriff since losing his badge as the sheriff of Graham County, Ariz., in the mid-1990s.

  20. 20.

    JCT

    February 28, 2015 at 12:44 pm

    @Yatsuno: This. Whenever I am asked by my patients or hospital board members or donors to our medical center whether I “support” Obamacare – I am quick to point out that if the Republicans want to be “consistent” (hahahahahaha) in their approach, I would be more sympathetic to their cause if they repealed EMTALA as well . The usual response is “what is that” to which I reply it was one of Reagan’s signature achievements- but without access to affordable health care it has been a real destructive force. Funny, I have never had anyone agree that it should also be appealed. Typical .

  21. 21.

    muddy

    February 28, 2015 at 12:45 pm

    @p.a.: I guess that taught him a good lesson.

  22. 22.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    February 28, 2015 at 12:48 pm

    @WereBear:

    And will he sneak off and get health insurance?

    Geez, he has kids. Is he really gambling with their lives for his twisted ideology?

    Ironically, thanks to Obamacare he can get coverage even with serious medical problems. Before the ACA passed he’d have been SOL with so much as a sniffle. I worked for individual health insurance companies for 13 years and the underwriting qualification process was merciless. And costly and time consuming.

  23. 23.

    Bobby B.

    February 28, 2015 at 12:50 pm

    As I tell my sister who moved to Arizona, “I’d say Go To Hell, but you’re already there.”

  24. 24.

    gordon schumway

    February 28, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    Fucking freedoms, how do they work?

  25. 25.

    Yatsuno

    February 28, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    @JCT: I find that interesting since they can’t recall why it was enacted in the first place. Before EMTALA, if you showed up at an ER uninsured you were turned away regardless of how life threatening your condition was. And a LOT of private hospitals were getting major bad publicity for people dying literally on their doorsteps because of their refusal to treat them. Of course EMTALA has no funding stream so how to PAY those ER bills was left to the individual hospitals (becuz FREEDUMB!) and that made insurance costs rise as the risk had to be spread one way or another. I just don’t get how people do not understand that the larger you spread the risk in an insurance pool the better coverage you get.

  26. 26.

    Felonius Monk

    February 28, 2015 at 12:53 pm

    I have great sympathy and compassion for people who suffer misfortune through no fault of their own. Mr. Mack, however, is not one of them. Yes, whatever medical malady has befallen him and his family is probably not of their making, but the aftermath of medical debt is of their making. Plain and simple, he is an idiot deserving of no compassion in this regard. In fact, he should be held up as a shining example of an Obamacare fool.

    And anyone who donates to his cause is an even bigger idiot.

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 28, 2015 at 12:54 pm

    @AliceBlue: He’s an ex-Sheriff, who got into the wingtard griftapalooza biz not as successfully as Falin’ Palin or Newt the Toad.

    Frankly, these assholes need to die for their principles. But they’re always too cowardly to face the consequences of their principles.

  28. 28.

    p.a.

    February 28, 2015 at 12:55 pm

    @muddy: :-) I remember a coworker mad at our boss: “I’ll show her. I won’t work any overtime!”

  29. 29.

    Frankensteinbeck

    February 28, 2015 at 1:02 pm

    Whether I agree or disagree with them, I want to make sure everyone can rant about what makes them mad without medical bankruptcy looming

    It’s conservative philosophy that only the deserving should be helped. Fuck that. We protect everybody from falling into the gutter, even asshole moochers like Mack. It’s the right thing to do.

  30. 30.

    boatboy_srq

    February 28, 2015 at 1:04 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur: @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Stated similarly in comments on the previous thread about this – but paraphrasing from before: while suffering should be alleviated, conscious deliberate masochism merits no immediate response beyond recommending psychotherapy. Mack landed himself in this situation with his eyes as wide open as possible given TABMITWH – so either he’s not as Blessed™ as he first thought (which should be a sign for him to leave the Church of antiObamaism) or this is a condition he wanted and is exploiting for all his rubes are worth. Sympathy, and wanting to eliminate suffering, do not apply – especially if the crowdfunding site’s intake exceeds his medical expenses and he keeps taking the money (something I for one fully expect).

  31. 31.

    Yatsuno

    February 28, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    @boatboy_srq: Oh zero doubt it’s ultimately a grift. I’m certain they’re in huge financial trouble since if you’re self-employed you can’t work when you’re sick or even solicit for work. I didn’t see any articles that said exactly what it is that they do beyond self-employment though.

    Side note: I’d bet my lunch they’re in tax trouble too.

  32. 32.

    Pogonip

    February 28, 2015 at 1:12 pm

    @boatboy_srq: What does TABWITMH mean?

  33. 33.

    Gene108

    February 28, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    @EriktheRed:

    Their heart is in the right place, but their heads are not screwed on straight. I doubt right wing pricks will have a change of heart. Their daily bread is buttered on the wing-nut welfare train, so they have incentives to continue being right-wing pricks.

    I remember reading about a guy, who worked for some wingnut-welfare place, pre-ACA, did not have employer insurance and did an on-line bleg for covering health costs. Liberals donated money. He got his medical bills covered. He went back to being a prick.

  34. 34.

    Iowa Old Lady

    February 28, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: It’s hard though, because this guy put himself in a position where he has to be a freeloader on someone. Insured people kick into the pot that will protect them all. Mack didn’t. Plus, when one uninsured person I know wound up needing gall bladder surgery, the doctor and hospital charged her less than they otherwise would, which once again someone else has to make up.

    We don’t say “Let him die,” because we try to be better than that. But man, people like Mack make it hard to take the high road.

  35. 35.

    GregB

    February 28, 2015 at 1:15 pm

    Don’t these donors realize they are just creating a family of moochers with their hands out?

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    February 28, 2015 at 1:16 pm

    @Pogonip:
    TABMITWH: There’s A Black Man … you can fill in the rest, I think.

  37. 37.

    Pogonip

    February 28, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Thanks.

  38. 38.

    Gindy51

    February 28, 2015 at 1:25 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Instead of bootstraps he is holding out his begging bowl for donations from like minded idiots.

  39. 39.

    Frankensteinbeck

    February 28, 2015 at 1:27 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    We don’t say “Let him die,” because we try to be better than that. But man, people like Mack make it hard to take the high road.

    100% agreement.

  40. 40.

    Older

    February 28, 2015 at 1:28 pm

    @AliceBlue: If Arizona has self-employed sheriffs, that would explain a lot.

  41. 41.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    February 28, 2015 at 1:31 pm

    @Pogonip: There’s A (Ni-Clang) Black Man In The White House. I’m assuming, from my parsing.

  42. 42.

    boatboy_srq

    February 28, 2015 at 1:39 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): @Amir Khalid: Bingo.

  43. 43.

    boatboy_srq

    February 28, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    @GregB: Mack’s respectability from the wingnuts should definitely take a hit from this, either for the obvious mooching or from the unBlessedness that caused the need in the first place.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    February 28, 2015 at 1:41 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    What will we do when the acronyms are all we have left?

    WWWDWTAAAWHL?

  45. 45.

    boatboy_srq

    February 28, 2015 at 1:41 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: How about “let him live in personal bankruptcy”?

  46. 46.

    WereBear

    February 28, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    What these people have done, with considerable help from manufactured institutions supported by crazy billionaire money, is the creation of an extraordinary false reality.

    It is built so that they are the perfect creatures in it… natural leaders, deserving of the best, always right, the pinnacle of Creation.

    They don’t see Reality, itself, intruding on their Paradise. It is the liberals, the bleeding hearts, the “others,” their enemies, destroying their dreams and ruining their chance to be big shots like they deserve.

    Which is why it’s fine with them if we are crushed, killed, marginalized, or destroyed. We are their reason their world doesn’t work right.

    It really is like the Third Reich in so many ways.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    February 28, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    @p.a.:

    I went and donated $5- it’s the minimum allowed so I couldn’t do 5 cents- and left comments calling him an asshole. Lots of liberals are doing it.

    Aw, really? I’m a sucka for not being a wingnut.

  48. 48.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 28, 2015 at 2:04 pm

    @Baud: Hey, you can call him an asshole on BJ for free.

  49. 49.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    @Yatsuno: You are so so so right. I have made that point often, and yet no one wil agree that it should be repealed. Which proves that tribalism is the all-encompassing force in politics today. Racism, sexism, hatred-of-the-poor-ism…..all are merely specific flavor notes in the ultimate dish they are serving of YOU BAD US GOOD.

  50. 50.

    Pogonip

    February 28, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: Insured people kick into the pot that will protect us all if the company can’t find any way of wiggling out of paying your claim. :D

    In the U.S., unfortunately, it’s insurance or crowdfunding, and showing your crowdfunding site to the doctor’s receptionist usually won’t get you very far.

  51. 51.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 28, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    So video of the bridge on which Boris Nemtsov was killed last night shows a city snow-removal truck slowing down and stopping at that spot, blocking the camera’s view. Link button isn’t working from this device, so the URL: https://meduza.io/news/2015/02/28/tvts-opublikoval-zapisi-s-zafiksirovavshey-ubiystvo-borisa-nemtsova-kamery#/news/2015/02/28/tvts-opublikoval-zapisi-s-zafiksirovavshey-ubiystvo-borisa-nemtsova-kamery

    Very efficient of them, to be cleaning snow at 11:30 pm on a Friday.

  52. 52.

    Amir Khalid

    February 28, 2015 at 2:25 pm

    While we’re taking about expensive medical procedures … I remember that this one turned out to be the subject of the second X-Files movie.

  53. 53.

    Achrachno

    February 28, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    Better the ex-sheriff, and others like him, be punching themselves than the folks they usually punch. Swing away, Mack.

  54. 54.

    Pogonip

    February 28, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    If no pupdates, can we get a chickendate from Betty or a snowdate from Anne or a Bixby update? Something? It is my turn to recatch the cold that’s been going around my office so I am putting off the grocery till tomorrow, as a favor to my fellow shoppers, since I’m sniffling and blowing continuously. I would like a more fun topic than Sherriff-20-years-ago Mack (who, incidentally, reminds me of those weekend officers who seize every opportunity to call themselves Major Worthless. And those guys are always worthless.).

  55. 55.

    pseudonymous in nc

    February 28, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    I support universal healthcare because it means we look after each other, without passing moral judgement… even the arseholes.

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    February 28, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Little known fact: due to being lowest bidder, the CIA has the Moscow snow removal contact.

  57. 57.

    Ted Mills

    February 28, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    I’m just gonna assume that he’ll sign up for ACA at the last minute and pocket the money from his grift.

    Or, even if he is sticking by his principles and uses the money, what happens with the next emergency and the next? You can’t keep crowdsourcing forever!!

  58. 58.

    MattR

    February 28, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    Mack’s respectability from the wingnuts should definitely take a hit from this, either for the obvious mooching or from the unBlessedness that caused the need in the first place.

    I think they consider this acceptable mooching since he is asking people to voluntarily hand over their hard earned money instead of the government taking it and redistributing it to those in need. The people donating have decided that he is worthy of their cash unlike the gov’t who gives money to people who aren’t deserving of help (wanna guess what is different about those other people that makes them underserving?)

  59. 59.

    Tree With Water

    February 28, 2015 at 2:35 pm

    For all anyone knows, the sheriff is running a scam. You can bet your boots with the publicity he’s receiving he’ll be awash in cash in the blink of eye, most especially because he’s now a martyr to the forces of reaction that would deny health insurance to their fellow Americans and their families. Another side benefit of Obamacare will be that swindlers of that cheap stripe will have a tougher time running their scams and pulling wool over people’s eyes.

  60. 60.

    Iowa Old Lady

    February 28, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    @WereBear: Mr IOL and I were talking about the false reality just this morning in reference to the right-wing rejection of science. By definition, science tries to stick to facts. If that’s not going to change your mind about things like evolution or climate change, then you’re in your own world and there’s not much anyone else can do.

  61. 61.

    Karen in GA

    February 28, 2015 at 2:43 pm

    @p.a.: To be fair, I’ve said that. I worked in a law firm word processing department. My boss had just changed my hours to an earlier schedule I didn’t like at all — and then on my first day with new the hours, asked me if I could work late that evening because they didn’t have any coverage. I reminded her that she would have had evening coverage if she hadn’t changed my hours, and said no. There were attorneys pulling an all-nighter preparing for a meeting with a gazillion-dollar client first thing the next morning, and they were left with no support. They knew who to blame.

    The satisfaction was worth much more than a few hours at time-and-a-half.

  62. 62.

    Frankensteinbeck

    February 28, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    We should give him what we think everyone deserves. In this case, he was given it and declined, but we would like everyone to have a lifeline even under the most desperate circumstances. Any help the safety net can offer, he should get, because everyone should get it. And we all deserve a lot more help than is available now!

  63. 63.

    Karen in GA

    February 28, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    Wait, is Mack still racking up bills? In the very least, shouldn’t he have enrolled by the February 15 deadline so this doesn’t happen again?

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    I’m with the no sympathy for this asshole. He made this mess for himself and his family. At some point the only way for people of this stripe to learn is to suffer. The big difference here between his stripe and the liberal side of the isle is we aren’t causing his suffering, we are advocating that he not suffer and many have worked very hard to alleviate it. He is forcefully advocating for others to suffer. So I say fuck him. I wouldn’t donate one cent for his ass. His non adult kids yes, but him? No way.

  65. 65.

    Amir Khalid

    February 28, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @Karen in GA:
    Enrolled? In Obamacare?

  66. 66.

    Frankensteinbeck

    February 28, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    The problem here is that facts have a liberal bias. It’s not just that they shut their ears to answers they don’t like. Liberals have aggressively cited science for decades on most issues, and liberal policies resulted in a black man being president. A closely connected issue is that even longer, liberals have been using science to attack the cultural supremacy of Christianity. By now, it is quite clear to white male fundamentalist Christians that science is their enemy and cannot be trusted. It consistently provides answers they know must be wrong – IE, that they’re not the special perfect snowflakes of the world who deserve success and adulation and the right to abuse everyone else if they feel like it.

  67. 67.

    Chris

    February 28, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    @Ruckus:

    This.

  68. 68.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    It’s beliefs. Beliefs don’t need facts, which actually get in the way of believing. Stories they need, facts not so much. And once you are far enough down the road of beliefs, with no facts, how do you find your way back? The only guide posts you know are beliefs, and they have their own made up story. Beliefs also don’t like questions because they tend to shake the ability to just follow along. Lemmings must be believers. Follow the ass in front of you no matter what.

  69. 69.

    Karen in GA

    February 28, 2015 at 3:11 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking too.

    But I figure if the right can attach conditions to helping people, so can I. “Don’t give the homeless guy money, he’ll only spend it on booze,” “drug-test welfare recipients so we know our money isn’t paying for their drugs,” etc. Fine — I’m not chipping in if this guy hasn’t learned from his mistakes. Because with the bad decisions he’s continuing to make, he’ll only go bankrupt/die anyway.

    I chipped in $5 to help homeless pets at Petco this afternoon. I’ve done my good deed for the day.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    It would be funny if he had though wouldn’t it?
    But I’d bet that he won’t. He’d have to be dragged, kicking and screaming like a 3 yr old having a tantrum and then he’d hold his breath till he turns blue before he did. Actually a sight I wouldn’t mind seeing.

  71. 71.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 3:14 pm

    @Karen in GA:
    And it was a much better use of the $5.

  72. 72.

    EriktheRed

    February 28, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    @Gene108: Oh well, whether they change the idiot’s mind or not, it’s still nice to read them.

  73. 73.

    Germy Shoemangler

    February 28, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    @Karen in GA: “Don’t give the homeless guy money, he’ll only spend it on booze,” I remember Greg Giraldo’s bit:

    “This one homeless guy came up to me the other day, and he was asking me for money. I was about to give it to him, and then I thought, ‘He’s just gonna use it on drugs or alcohol.’ And then I thought, ‘That’s what I’m gonna use it on. Who am I to judge the guy, really?’

  74. 74.

    kindness

    February 28, 2015 at 3:27 pm

    Had fun with this story over at Wonkette yesterday. Funny thing is, in January he still could have signed up over the ACA exchange which would have made all this, you know, affardable, or more so at least. But his ‘principles’ don’t allow him to spend money on a program he doesn’t like that would help him or go ask other people to give him money.

    Somehow begging for dough instead of making your own payments is exactly ass backwards to what the Teahaddists say they believe in. Go figure, right wing nut hypocrisy. Could knock me over with a feather that.

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    February 28, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    you’re better than I am, because this is the kind of mofo who would have been at the front of the line to be a plaintiff in an anti-Obamacare lawsuit.

    phuck him.

    he wants his ‘ freedom’…let him have it.

  76. 76.

    Germy Shoemangler

    February 28, 2015 at 3:38 pm

    Dignified, rugged individualism in action: “I don’t need the affordable care act… if I need money for a medical procedure, I’ll beg for it online.”

  77. 77.

    PurpleGirl

    February 28, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    Reportedly the Macks are Mormons. Wouldn’t his Ward be able and willing to help the family? Are they receiving food and other support from the Ward, since neither parent can working while sick. And what is the nature of Mrs. Mack’s medical problem? Is it cancer?

    The problem with EMTALA, is the the ER is only obliged to stabilize the patient. They aren’t obligated to start further medical care. If his wife was in pain from cancer, they could give her painkillers but no further cancer care (chemo, radiology, surgery, etc.).

  78. 78.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    February 28, 2015 at 3:52 pm

    Meanwhile here in NC the RWNJ legislature is talking about introducing legislation requiring driver licenses to ride mopeds and scooters. Their reasoning is they don’t want people on the road that have lost their license due to a DWI on the road. The problem is if you take away a person’s ability to work what are they then supposed to do? Go on welfare and food stamps that’s what. Which you also hate you assholes. It’s no good telling people to pull themselves up with their bootstraps when you are taking away their fucking boots you morons. I hate these people.

  79. 79.

    Calouste

    February 28, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: And I assume that there is no public transport in NC worth the name?

  80. 80.

    patrick II

    February 28, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    Mack suffered a heart attack in January and his wife became ill this past December. It is dumb enough that he refused to sign up for Obamacare last year, but open season just ended on Feb 15 — and there are no restrictions for preexisting conditions. So Mr. Mack could have bought insurance for any continuing care he or his wife will need from here on out. And he evidently hasn’t done it. I don’t know what is going on with this guy, but he has crossed my boundary for sympathy.

  81. 81.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    @PurpleGirl: I am not interested in donating a dime to this motherfucker. His ward can help him—or not. I have bought groceries in the store for people before or ahead of me, I give money to homeless people standing on the freeway entrance ramps (which is probably stupid), and we give to other larger charitable organizations, like the local children’s hospital and Amnesty International. But seriously, this asshole will,not even get ironic help from me. Not when I have student loans out the arse.

  82. 82.

    NewOG

    February 28, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    This is the POS that said this: “We were actually strategizing to put all the women up at the front,” he said on Fox News, according to TheBlaze.com. “If they are going to start shooting, it’s going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers.”

    That is one sick fucker. I think i’ll save my money. Ask Cliven for a loan, you sorry sack of selfish shit.

  83. 83.

    Yatsuno

    February 28, 2015 at 4:38 pm

    @Suzanne: They can choke on funeral potatoes and mock sympathy for all I care.

  84. 84.

    Hillary Rettig

    February 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    Plenty of self-avowed liberals donated. Their hearts are in the right place, but I think it’s a strategic error. We want this fundraising drive to fail, not because we wish evil on him but because it would be a public demonstration of life without the ACA. Even if he collects all his funds, I imagine a lot of less-famous conservatives would watch the fundraising unfold and think, “I’d never get all those donations.” And maybe a few of their eyes would open.

    The liberals who are donating are interfering with that.

    Besides, plenty of good liberals need help, too, and arguably deserve it a lot more.

  85. 85.

    LanceThruster

    February 28, 2015 at 4:44 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    All this time I thought it was “The Atheist Black Muslim In The White House.”

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    @p.a.:
    It might be nice if he could learn from this. But I’d bet good money that he won’t. He’ll cite the people giving money as proof that this is the way it should work. You can call him all the names you want, you can explain to him till your last breath and it won’t make one iota of difference. But he will take your money. Oh yeah, he’ll take your money. Faster than you can say here it is. I’m just not willing to support his level of stupidity with my money. I’ve worked hard all my life to have not much and I’ve given to people who deserve help when I could, this asshole just doesn’t deserve it. It’s like giving to code pink or whatever it was called for the ribbons to fight breast cancer. How did that help? Almost none of the money went to any kind of research, care or anything other than to line some asshole’s pocket.

  87. 87.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 4:48 pm

    @Hillary Rettig:
    Agreed.

    As you can see from my comment that I was writing when you posted.

  88. 88.

    RSA

    February 28, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    Does anyone else think it’s a bit odd that Mack’s crowd funding request is for $30K? I realize that’s enough to bankrupt a lot of people, but that’s not a huge medical bill for two sick people. You could rack that up in one day in the hospital.

  89. 89.

    elftx

    February 28, 2015 at 5:04 pm

    I’m sure that should SCOTUS gut the ACA the ‘good’ sheriff and his ‘posse’ will crowdfund the millions who will lose coverage. Right??

  90. 90.

    Mandalay

    February 28, 2015 at 5:05 pm

    @Hillary Rettig:

    Plenty of self-avowed liberals donated. Their hearts are in the right place, but I think it’s a strategic error.

    I don’t even see how their hearts are in the right place for those who only donate $5 in order to be able to post abusive comments. It might make them feel good to do that, but it is pretty ugly behavior.

    Michael Moore showed how to do it with class (though of course he has the $$$).

  91. 91.

    Hillary Rettig

    February 28, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    @Mandalay: good point

  92. 92.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 5:29 pm

    @RSA:
    Are you saying this is more grift than medical bills?

    That can’t be it, the amount is still too small.

  93. 93.

    boatboy_srq

    February 28, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: But we’ve already done that. We elected a President and Congress who enacted PPACA. If he doesn’t want that, then it’s not on us anymore.

  94. 94.

    boatboy_srq

    February 28, 2015 at 5:37 pm

    @LanceThruster: That works too – except that unless you ask a FundiEvanglist “Muslim” and “atheist” aren’t synonyms.

  95. 95.

    boatboy_srq

    February 28, 2015 at 5:41 pm

    @RSA:

    You could rack that up in one day in the hospital.

    All the more reason Mack’s anti-ACA rants are despicable. He’s in “serious financial difficulty” from healthcare expenditures – and his shortfall is that (comparatively) low. Imagine what he would be facing if he and his had required extended hospitalization. His needs are probably somewhat more than that – but I’d be highly surprised if, once everything is paid and he’s zeroed all his obligations, he did anything except thank the rubes for all the additional “support” he received. Those dollars are his guhdummit: he got them fair and square from his supporters (who likely won’t see a penny from him if positions are ever reversed).

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2015 at 5:54 pm

    @Yatsuno: I am doing some volunteer work with an organization that is a medical clinic for undocumented workers. They are trying to build a new clinic, because they are currently working out of an OLD shack and it is inaccessible and way too small.if anyone feels like dropping some dough toward medical bills, I know a better place to send it.

  97. 97.

    Citizen Alan

    February 28, 2015 at 5:57 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    We don’t say “Let him die,” because we try to be better than that.

    What’s this “we” crap? I don’t give a shit if this bastard and his bitch wife die in agony in a way that bankrupts them so they leave nothing for their kids. No more than they would give for a child dying for lack of health insurance.

  98. 98.

    karen

    February 28, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    1. Karma is a bitch. My question is, why aren’t the Koch kicking in any money to help him? He’s the perfect martyr, a special snowflake who should be rewarded for refusing Obamacare, why aren’t the Koch Bros using him as an example?

    2. What is WWWDWTAAAWHL? And EMTALA?

  99. 99.

    TS

    February 28, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    @Ted Mills:

    You can’t keep crowdsourcing forever!!

    Palin’s been doing it for 6 years and counting

  100. 100.

    Yatsuno

    February 28, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    @Suzanne: We have whole clinics that do that for the Yakima Valley area up here. They really do the work of angels since they won’t turn ANYONE away regardless of health insurance status or inability to pay. They also handle insured patients to defer some of their costs but they mostly run a lean non-profit operation.

  101. 101.

    Yatsuno

    February 28, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    @TS: Palin gave the teatards starbursts. I highly doubt the Mack family is going to give them the same effect.

  102. 102.

    Patrick

    February 28, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    Mack’s family experienced some adverse health events in January and he had to open a crowdfunding site to head off bankruptcy.

    People like Mack were against the ACA because they believed that everyone had a personal responsibility for their own healthcare. Isn’t it ironic that when it really comes down to it, Mack (and the rest of his ilk) depends as much on the community as the rest of us…

  103. 103.

    RSA

    February 28, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    @Ruckus: @boatboy_srq: Good points I hadn’t thought about. Hmm… So yeah, I do expect him to land on his feet, whether the $30K is grift or cushion. He can’t be thinking to run this again in a month, can he? Well…

  104. 104.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    @Yatsuno: They really do amazing work. They have doctors and students and PAs who volunteer, but since they take the undocumented population and don’t have the staff to deal with insurance billing, they depend on kindness and donations. Much better than giving this clown $5 for the privilege of being a smug asshole in his direction.

  105. 105.

    Jasmine Bleach

    February 28, 2015 at 6:36 pm

    @Ruckus:

    It’s like giving to code pink or whatever it was called for the ribbons to fight breast cancer. How did that help? Almost none of the money went to any kind of research, care or anything other than to line some asshole’s pocket.

    Yep–it’s really hard to tell what happens when the money has left your pocket, even with well established charities/non-profits.

    My view–help people in trouble who you actually know and who deserve it. Over the past 1.5 years, I’ve been helping someone who I respect and who would otherwise have been homeless for most of that time. Now they have a job and are well on the way to being self sustainable.

    Stuff like that, taking food to food banks, volunteering time, etc. Those are sure to help.

  106. 106.

    blueskies

    February 28, 2015 at 6:50 pm

    Living his principles?!

    He’s a 21st century panhandler who is apparently graduating to grifter.

  107. 107.

    Ruckus

    February 28, 2015 at 7:26 pm

    @Jasmine Bleach:
    A real good friend gave me a place to stay for a year when otherwise, at best I’d be sleeping in my pos van. This allowed me to get back on my feet. There is no way I can repay him. That’s giving. Dropping ten-twenty bucks on a pink ribbon? That’s window dressing at best because it sure didn’t help anyone.
    Paying this asswipe because he can’t be bothered to accept societies hand up? That’s bullshit.

    ETA I believe I saw that about 30 million people had signed up for health insurance that they otherwise would not have either been able to afford or have any chance to be insured or both. That’s how you do that.

  108. 108.

    Chris

    February 28, 2015 at 10:05 pm

    @karen:

    Karma is a bitch. My question is, why aren’t the Koch kicking in any money to help him? He’s the perfect martyr, a special snowflake who should be rewarded for refusing Obamacare, why aren’t the Koch Bros using him as an example?

    Martyrs tend to work best when they’re dead. Or, at least, they tend to work best when they don’t have a patron of Bruce Wayne level wealth who can make all their problems go away. No, much better to let him suffer. If he gets bailed out out by the people donating, so much the better – it proves that charity works (because you know every last person in the country will be able to count on a donation like this). If he doesn’t, even better – Obamacare’s death panels claim a victim.

  109. 109.

    Fred

    March 1, 2015 at 6:22 am

    Maybe mooching is OK if the Gubermint isn’t involved. But then the Internet is wired in over public right of way.
    He really aught to set up outside the local Wallmart. How long do you suppose private enterprise would put up with him bumming off of their customers? “Security. Please take care of the problem at the entrance.”

    But really, poor deluded SOB. I know a few like him. My heart goes out to them all. They just don’t know what they are doing.
    But on another day I might just say “F**K ‘EM” I guess I’m not very morally consistent. I’ll try to be better but guys like this make it hard.

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