Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Consistently wrong since 2002

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You can’t love your country only when you win.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let there be snark.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Come on, man.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / The GOP Is Becoming A Domestic Terrorist Organization

The GOP Is Becoming A Domestic Terrorist Organization

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They’re tryng to be responsible for the suffering and death of thousands of Americans, and they’re proud of their efforts. Not so proud they aren’t lying as fast as they can talk, of course…

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    lollipopguild

    Just when you think that the GOP has hit bottom, they find a new lower bottom.

  2. 2.

    Cheryl Rofer

    From the previous thread, more appropriate here.

    I just saw a report on Twitter that the House will vote for the Senate bill if it passes the Senate. No conference committee. If the Senate votes for it, if lying Ted Cruz and Susan Collins vote for it, Shelley Capito, John McCain, Alexander, Corker, Flake, Cassidy – the “moderates” – it is all over.

  3. 3.

    Thoroughly Pizzled

    I’m feeling really cruddy about the AHCA. I just don’t think McConnell would do this if there was a chance of failure. Thousands of people will die.

    I’ll get up in the morning and make my calls, but it’s getting harder.

  7. 7.

    efgoldman

    btw, network newscasts have virtually abandoned health care coverage this month

    FWIW (not much) CBS did have a story and video tonite of disabled protesters being dragged out of the corridor by Yertle McTurtle’s office.

  9. 9.

    Shalimar

    @Cheryl Rofer: At least a few dozen House members voted for the House bill while saying it was horrible, so it is not even moderately surprising that those same spineless people will vote for whatever the Senate passes. I have no idea what pressure Ryan has on them, but they clearly have guns to their heads.

  10. 10.

    RepubAnon

    With great fanfare, the Republicans will amend the bill very slightly to make it a bit less vile, then pass it. Trump, of course, will claim a win.

    I expect they’ll blame all the resulting problems on San Francisco Liberals

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    If the Senate votes for it, if lying Ted Cruz and Susan Collins vote for it, Shelley Capito, John McCain, Alexander, Corker, Flake, Cassidy – the “moderates” – it is all over.

    Well, the “fuck you all law” part will be over.

    The Civil Unrest on the other hand, will have only begun.

  13. 13.

    TenguPhule

    @ArchTeryx: What is this we, Kimo Sabe? We evicted all of the Republicans in Hawaii except in the House where we neutered them.

  14. 14.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    Some GOP terrorist will tut tut about how uncivil it is to call them domestic terrorists. Even though what their doing is destructive and will contribute to our decline and collapse. I really hope Scalise has a turn for worst and Trump has a stroke so he can no longer speak

  15. 15.

    Gian

    Kentucky had a successful medicaid expansion, what are the odds the people of Kentucky will hold their Senators accountable?

    Less than a snowball’s chance in hell is my guess.

  16. 16.

    Shalimar

    The most frustrating part of politics in this country is that Republicans never pay for anything evil they do. They lie about it, like blaming ACORN for shit 7 years after it disbanded, or in this case blaming Obamacare the year after they kill it, then the media can’t figure out what the truth is, healthcare CEOs lie too because they get to keep their huge bonuses, and most voters have no idea what is happening other than politicians lie so there is no point voting for any of them.

    If only we could waterboard everyone who votes for Trumpcare until they finally agree to stop lying constantly about everything.

  17. 17.

    Lapassionara

    @Thoroughly Pizzled: The reason I make my calls, is so I can tell my children and grandchildren that I did my best as a citizen to stop this travesty. If i don’t act now, I am just a bystander to an unprecedented attack on our fellow citizens. Take heart, we are making the future with every call we make.

  20. 20.

    jl

    This is somewhat of a repeat of a comment in the previous thread. I’ve worked with David Cutler several times in the past, though I have no idea whether he remembers me or not. Anyway, one of the best, and most empirically cautious and careful, theoretically accomplished and sound, and professionally conscientious, health economists I know of. And he tweeted this about the GOP health care bill. From my dealings with him, I find this tweet both amazing and alarming. And at Harvard econ if you need more assurance.

    David Cutler
    @Cutler_econ
    A GOP congress may never again get a chance to kill so many people. Could rival the Iraq war in its total.
    https://twitter.com/Cutler_econ/status/877976919349895168

    Edit: Not sure, but IIRC, he was part of the team that put together Obama’s presidential campaign health care proposal in 2008.

  21. 21.

    Mike J

    @jl:

    Thomas Levenson‏ @TomLevenson
    Exactly so. Pre-Obamacare US healthcare gaps were estimated to cause 40,000 excess deaths a year. GOP = Al Quada in America.

    One Nagasaki bomb every year.

  22. 22.

    Marcopolo

    My “favorite” assessment of the bill so far:

    David Cutler @Cutler_econ
    ·
    6h

    Replying to @Avik
    A GOP congress may never again get a chance to kill so many people. Could rival the Iraq war in its total.

    The Avik he is replying to is Avik Roy the top R healthcare policy strategist who’s already come out saying the Senate bill has him seeing starbursts.

  24. 24.

    Tokyokie

    I remember back in the 1970s, when my Republican senator, Hank Bellmon, cast the deciding vote for the Panama Canal Treaty, even though it cost him his seat. (He resigned rather than face a primary by an extreme right-wing hack.) He had the quaint notion that the good of the country was more important than his self-interest. But with these bastards, they’re so self-centered they think their self-interest IS what’s best for the country. Talk about white privilege.

    I don’t see a single Republican in either house with either the courage or the basic decency of Hank Bellmon. It really doesn’t take a lot of moral fortitude to oppose a buffoonish Bond villain, yet not a single one of them did. And now they’re almost all going to vote for legislation designed to kill poor people so rich people will have more money. Most of them wear their fundamentalist Christianity as a badge of honor and fail to see that instead being followers of Christ, they’re the money changers he expelled from the temple. Hell, they’re so morally fucked up, they probably think the disabled protesters are the modern-day equivalent of the biblical bad guys and that Yertle is Christ-like in his virtue.

  25. 25.

    Marcopolo

    @Marcopolo: Wouldn’t let me edit this to say “oops, once again took took long to cut and paste” but there you go. H/T to jl for beating me to the punch

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    They arm twisted enough to just vbarely pass in the House (217 needed, as there were several vacancies then).

    IIRC, no present vacancies (although Chaffetz supposed to resign on June 30), so 218 needed. Also, while not applauding why he won’t be there, Scalise likely won’t be present to cast a Yes and act in his capacity as House Whip.

  28. 28.

    BlueDWarrior

    Honestly, I was of the mind Senate Republicans would walk the plank regardless of if Dems won special elections or not. As far they are concerned, they are untouchable, and thier majorities permanent. Until the public disabuse them of this notion, McConnell and Ryan will persist in what they are doing.

  29. 29.

    jl

    @Tokyokie: Well, in the Xtianist theology, they can claim to be follower of the Risen Christ who is not into hippie love and compassion stuff, but coming back to end the world and judge us all. But, he can’t be a follower of Jesus of Nazareth and his teachings. Endtimes Xtianists believe (or are supposed to believe, if they ever bother to study up on their religion) that the two are different (or more accurately became different after the Pentecost).

    But I was brought up a mainline Presby, so what would I know about it? Frozen chosen!

  31. 31.

    jl

    @Thoroughly Pizzled: As James Madison said about preventing war “Where anything can be hoped, everything must be tried.” And he lived to regret when he didn’t follow his own advice in the War of 1812.

  32. 32.

    BBA

    @NotMax: All they need is to mumble “all in favor, all opposed, ayes have it” while nobody’s paying attention, and then enroll the bill before anyone can object.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    Dave Weigel @ top:

    The gist: Rs will say that any problems with HC come November 2018 are the aftershock of Obamacare. Vote for Rs, who will keep fixing it!

    The saddest part of all, of course, is that it’s going to totally work. The conservatives who lose their healthcare thanks to this bill will fully blame Obama for it and insist until their dying day that it was all his fault for breaking the healthcare system so badly that the Republicans couldn’t save it.

  34. 34.

    Tokyokie

    @jl: If that’s how they think, then I wish I could see their shocked faces when they arrive at the gates of hell.

  36. 36.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Mnemosyne: it show you the evil of Republican programming, the Republican party and mythos cannot fail, it can only be failed. And no dirty liberal scumbag will tell them otherwise.

  37. 37.

    Marcopolo

    @Tokyokie: As a former AK resident who keeps tabs on the state I am sure that Murkowski will not vote for this bill (yeah, that’ll come back & bite me) due to AK-unique issues: 1) the state is dealing w/ a massive massive budget deficit and cannot deal w/ any kind of reduction in Fed $ to the state; 2) there are AK health related issues that Medicaid specifically addresses (like a high FAS rate though the Indian Health Service covers some of it); and 3) healthcare is just ridiculously expensive in AK.

    Of course, all that means is Murkowski gets one of the two gimme no votes. Even with that I don’t see how she keeps her seat without a hella lotta AK specific sweeteners in the final bill.

    ps. Theoretically that should include the other AK R Senator but he isn’t as squishy as Murkowski and won’t get primaries from the right and need moderate support to hold his seat.

  41. 41.

    p.a.

    But whatever we do, we mustn’t call their supporters morons, so we can win back .025% of them sometime in future Cloud-Cuckoo-Land.

  43. 43.

    Ohio Mom

    Today I had free time so I called and left messages, and called some more and got one intern in one office and another in a second office — I just go up and down the list of Portman’s offices in different parts of the state, as well as the DC office. I wrote an email for good measure.

    I’ll try doing the same every day until the vote is taken, then I imagine I will still keep calling for a while to demand, “What Have You Done?!”

    But more than anything will be the grudges I am developing toward all the Republicans in my life, and everyone I know who might not be a Republican but made it clear they think I’ve gone off the deep end about this issue.

    I mean, I took some stuff to the Sisterhood rummage sale set-up today and the woman opening the door and doing the sorting is a Republican and all I wanted to do was start an argument with her. I didn’t but the near future is going to be very tough. I am so very, very angry.

  44. 44.

    jl

    @Tokyokie: Heresy is a quaint and outdated notion. But if you want to see a modern version of it, there you have it. The formal theology of Xtianist Endtimer Dispensationalist theology would have been considered heresy back when churches (Roman Catholic and Protestant) were able to go hard core Medieval on people over this stuff.

  45. 45.

    Emma

    @Mnemosyne: You know what? It doesn’t matter. If the country can be saved, they have to be ignored. Drag them along, sure, but realize they will NEVER change. Treat them with the dignity a human being deserves but never, ever think of them as viable members of a modern polity.

    I am within 5 years of retirement and I already know I will have to leave the US. A two-time cancer survivor hasn’t a hope in hell of having a decent old age, even with a (relatively) healthy retirement fund. I am already shopping for possible retirement places. I F*KING HATE IT. I hope we can make a difference in the next four years. If we can’t? The best outcome I can think of is like-minded people banding together to help each other.

    Damn it. I never wanted to live through the end of an empire, but this does feel like it.

  46. 46.

    BlueDWarrior

    @p.a.: it takes all I can to not start calling them pejoratives in German. And I would learn German just to do it.

  47. 47.

    Peale

    Yep. They’ll get away with it in 20 months if Dems stop being angry and inform themselves about it. I agree with Weigel. I also know that the public has never really been all that well informed about these things and voters (actual, not theoretical) tend to forget things that happened two weeks ago. republicans will be able to blame any problems on the failure of Obamacare.

  49. 49.

    Mike J

    KING 5 News‏ Verified account @KING5Seattle 2 hours ago
    Pride Night at the #Mariners game. Seattle is the 1st city where all 5 pro teams have coordinated pride events:

  50. 50.

    jl

    Warren clip is good. Should be sent to anyone who is not on board with killing the awful GOP health care bills.

    And Trump seems to have suddenly remembered that he promised not to cut Medicaid. God knows if he even knows what the hell he is talking about. So WH was suddenly cool on the bills today. But, might be fun to mention that fun fact to any Trump supporters you know.
    As I said,l impossible to know whether it means anything or not. But it can’t be fake news, right? Straight dope from the Trump and the Trumpsters themselves.

    Edit: Maybe the last person Trump talked to today showed him polling that less than 20 percent of the population think the bill is any good. And only about a third of GOP voters. That might have gotten his attention, at least for the time being.

  51. 51.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Ohio Mom: Yep. I am literally having fantasies of hurting people today. And imagining Republican deaths and smiling about it.

  52. 52.

    FlipYrWhig

    @jl: They don’t care. Alabama fans don’t stop hating Auburn or vice versa just because of wins or losses. That’s the way Republicans feel about Republicans. Permanent fandom.

  53. 53.

    Groucho48

    So, the local news show I watched, Buffalo, NY, had a segment on this. Mostly national coverage. Statements from Dems, statements from Reps. Probably was a bit negative on the bill, overall, but, ignored all the longer term bad stuff. Then, a segment on how it will impact Erie County. Only thing discussed? The County might get 200 million back. The Tea Party pol insisted the only possible thing to do is to cut property taxes. Another pol mentioned infrastructure. After a bit of back and forth, the Tea Party guy allowed that a bit of spending on roads might be okay. No mention at all on how it will impact health care in the county.

    I would say the main takeaway for a casual viewer is that opponents are shrill and saying absurd stuff about people dying. And, 200 MILLION DOLLARS!!!

  55. 55.

    Peale

    @Groucho48: they never stop, do they? “This place sucks! It must be because of Washington and Albany.” I guess giving themselves tax break number 500 won’t make a difference. They’d probably just fuck it up anyway. They’d give some large company $200 million to stop a plant closure, which the company will pocket while shipping those jobs to China because you can still hire 20 Chinese laborers for the cost of one health insurance premium.

  56. 56.

    jl

    @Groucho48: you need to call the station and make polite but very strong complaint about the coverage. Do some interneting and get a few facts and figures and politely mention how little time and trouble and savvy inside information and access it took for you to do that.. I’ve done that several times with the local news radio station I listen to here in SF.

    Which may seem odd, but yes, even here in Nancy Pelosi’s ‘SF values’ Bay Area, the local stations still spew out GOP talking points disguised as news and analysis from time to time. Probably not nearly as often as other places in the country, but it happens often enough to bother me. And I call them when it happens.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    Seriously, you guys — FreedomWorks is running an ad on this page with Scary White Woman Hillary Clinton and Scary Black Woman Maxine Waters (I think — they picked a super-unflattering picture of each of them) saying “Demand an investigation!”

    Of what, you fucking morons?

  59. 59.

    Joe Falco

    @Mnemosyne: It could very well be a combination of BENGHAZI, DNC SHUT OUT BERNIE, and liberal rhetoric causing homegrown terrorism.

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    @lollipopguild:
    The only bottom they can’t get below is to be in the deepest pit in Hell. And as that doesn’t exist they have to make one here. Which they seem to be downright fucking ecstatic about.

  61. 61.

    efgoldman

    @Mnemosyne:

    The conservatives who lose their healthcare thanks to this bill will fully blame Obama for it and insist until their dying day that it was all his fault

    It doesn’t fucking matter! Those mouth breathing, knuckle dragging, ignorant, stupid, racist flying monkeys are barely smart enough to brush their own teeth (if they have any) and wipe their own asses without getting them confused with each other. THEY ARE NOT GONNA’ VOTE FOR OUR GUYS! NOT EVER!! We have to stop pretending we give a flying fuck what happens to them (sorry, Kay).
    Our only answers are to discourage them so they stay home, AND TO GET OUR GODDAMNED VOTERS OUT.
    That’s it; there is no fucking magic.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    @lollipopguild:

    Just when you think that the GOP has hit bottom, they find a new lower bottom.

    They are “deteriorating faster than they can lower their standards” (h/t Anne Lamott).

    Well, it’s true. Can you imagine the conversations in the GOP side of the Senate lunchroom? “Hey Mitch…jesus, this sure feels disgusting, doesn’t it?” “Yes, true, but what else are we going to do? Liberals love Obamacare…and their fellow citizens…and democracy…we can’t have all that nonsense going on, after all.”

  64. 64.

    FDRLincoln

    I am so angry I am not capable of rational thought.

    Or rather, my rational thought it leading me to apparently inescapable conclusions that I cannot emotionally accept at this time.

    I have a disabled son. This bill would destroy his life, perhaps literally.

    How does one defend against such evil without becoming evil oneself?

  66. 66.

    efgoldman

    @Emma:

    Treat them with the dignity a human being deserves

    Nope. No more. A banana slug deserves to be treated with more dignity. Villago has been right all along. Destroy them – all of them. As they would discard us. Let them die slow, lingering deaths from the diabetes and kidney disease they give themselves, from the lung cancer they get from smoking, from the cirrhosis they get from drinking a case of shitty beer every night.
    Let them not die from opioids. That’s too quiet and gentle from the inside. Not painful enough. Let them lose their kids to it, though.

    Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem Fuckem

    Fuckem all to hell.
    Let them have ALL the consequences of their shitty, ignorant votes. Let them get what they deserve for their. ignorance. Let the graveyards run out of space, the clinics and hospitals close for lack of funding, their bodies suppurate in the sun. Let them freeze to death and have to make the choice between fuel and life saving medicine. Let their women die in childbirth, or from having 10 or 12 pregnancies because Planned Parenthood closed.

    In case you can’t tell, I have fucking had it.

  68. 68.

    T S

    Of course this is what will happen. The GOP is going to destroy everything decent about the US. There’s never going to be a political implosion that wipes out GOP control. The base is going to keep pulling that lever for GOP candidates like it delivers heroin.

  69. 69.

    FDRLincoln

    This bill is a declaration of war against the most vulnerable members of society. It is the health care Fort Sumter.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    @efgoldman:

    In case you can’t tell, I have fucking had it.

    First QFT
    Second, welcome on board. I notice that there isn’t any push back on being extremely bitter and vindictive today. I wonder why.
    I’m a 7 month cancer survivor – so far that is, I’ve been told that I most likely had a minor stroke 2 months ago, and the list of things I’m no longer capable of doing at work grows – due to other issues, and I get – as I’ve stated here many times, all my healthcare from the government – the VA. If they are willing to cut the legs out of a great portion of their voters, what’s to keep them from doing the same to the VA, to Medicare – which of course their income tax dollars don’t pay for unless they are getting SS benefits – which when taxable does partially fund Medicare (I pay income tax and get SS so I pay additional into Medicare, which I’m not using), and the big one for many (including me) they will go after SS, which they have wanted to do for a very long time. Not sure how they might do that. Bet it will be illegal. Won’t matter. Motherfucking Assholes.

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    @FDRLincoln:
    Not just the most vulnerable, pretty much 60-80% of the population, including the people who voted for them and put them in the position to do all this damage. They are whores, they will fuck anybody for money. And giggle all the way to the bank doing it.

  73. 73.

    FDRLincoln

    @Ruckus: They are murderers. Whores at least provide pleasure to their customers. It is unfair to the whores to compare murdering GOP congress people to honest sex workers.

  74. 74.

    ksmiami

    @FDRLincoln: The GOP has viewed our side as the enemy for years now. We must repay them in kind. We are on the side of right, they are evil and have betrayed the citizenry on so many levels and all for a few more bucks for the wealthiest. Mock and deride and fight against Republicans because they are fucking wrong; it doesn’t make you evil – it makes you heroic

  75. 75.

    Groucho48

    @jl:

    Good idea! I’ll do that! One problem, in general, is that Republicans, on any issue, anytime, can provide someone who will slickly repeat talking points over and over until time is up. Dems never seem to have anyone on who knows enough about a given issue to challenge the talking points. We need a bench of knowledgeable, articulate liberals who can step up to the plate.

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    @FDRLincoln:
    I was going for the easy line. Of course you are correct. On the other hand they may be giving themselves pleasure by killing millions. They are that evil. Maybe a better title would be:
    Hired murderers. They are being paid, of that I think there is no doubt.
    Also
    Hired thieves. They are trying to take away monies that people have worked for decades to pay to their masters. And they are doing it for fucking chump change.
    I would have thought that if they had any honor they would have waited for the corpse of democracy to have cooled before they attempted to strip it bare. Of course I answered my own question there. They are not honorable humans. They are the fucking borg.

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @Groucho48:
    We have a bench of knowledgeable, articulate liberals. What we don’t have is a way for anything approaching honest debate. If we did we’d win every time. And we did win this time. More of us voted for the liberal than the asswipe. But we don’t actually have the democracy that we are supposed to have have been lied to about having our entire lives. We are supposed to have a representative republic, but the representatives are chosen in smoke filled party back rooms behind closed doors. Those rooms and the people in them are bought and paid for and not by the majority of us. (which wouldn’t make it right either)

  79. 79.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman:

    In case you can’t tell, I have fucking had it.

    Welcome to my world six months ago.

    Boy have you got some catching up to do.

  82. 82.

    Groucho48

    @Ruckus:

    I meant in localities. The right wing pol was completely up to date on his talking points. They always are. The Democratic to give counterpoint rarely has enough grasp of the details to argue effectively. My jaw would hit the floor if the Democratic would say…no, that’s wrong and here’s why. The right winger will say…people will have more choices, we will have a high risk pool, we will give money right to the states so they can spend it as their situation demands, etc. The Democratic response will be…this is bad for all of us, especially women and children. A low info voter will be more impressed with the seemingly fact filled argument of the right.

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