Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY ) on MSNBC — screenshot.
Cheers to Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who has come up with a brilliant plan, given the sheer amount of rethugs who refuse to show at town halls and other meetings, unwilling to face angry constituents. I think this needs to be implemented, not just used as a threat. Get out there, Dems, and talk to people. All the Twitterati, get this one out to all your Dem reps, light a fire.
Appearing with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Friday, a New York congressman called out a Republican House member from a neighboring district for ducking his constituents’ questions about the newly passed GOP health care plan and said he might hold a town hall there himself.
Saying, “If it takes a Democrat,” to face constituents to talk about their health care worries, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) said he’s willing to go to GOP districts and host town halls.
“Maybe a Democrat ought to go into every district where a Republican who supported TrumpCare won’t hold a town hall meeting, and do it for them,” Maloney told Maddow “I think every Republican who voted for this thing ought to have to stand in front of their voters and explain it.”
Maloney was focusing his ire on New York Republican Rep. John Faso who is refusing to meet with constituents, including one woman, Andrea Mitchell (not the NBC host), who is suffering from brain cancer and worries she will be left without insurance under the AHCA.
[…]
“And if it takes a Democrat to go in and do it for them for a while, I’ll explain what’s in this bill, and if he doesn’t like it, he should stand up and explain it himself.,” Maloney explained.
And, in one of the top 10 stupidest, most idiotic statements ever, the winner is Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), who stated, at a town hall, “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”
Can I just point to every fucking generation of people since there were people? Yeah, lots of dead people because no health care. Jesus Christ.
This is the new normal. Just claim “The sky is green” enough times with enough conviction and you can get a surprising number of people to support you. Anyone who says “But just look out the window; you can see the sky is blue” is declared a purveyor of fake news. Best not to look out the window themselves so they can continue to believe the alternative fact and every belief that comes with it.
I used to think education could fix this kind of problem, but, for various reasons in America, that’s not an option anymore.
I’ve come to the conclusion that rethugs don’t know the difference between care and coverage.
@Caine #2: Oh, I think they know the difference. They just don’t care because $$$. And they are so incredibly short-sighted, all they can see is $$$ in the short term.
And I too hope the Democrats start showing some spine here. Although I am not going to hold my breath or anything.
Kestrel, yes, you’re right. Some days, I really hate the world.
Makes me wonder if I could hold a “town hall” meeting in Clearfield, PA. On behalf of those who wish to see both political parties destroyed. I bet I could get a venue, and I’m pretty sure that if I had beer and pizza, I could get a crowd. Hm. It might be fun just for the performance art aspect of it.
If you keep the mob fed, you can say anything to them and they’ll thank you for it.
I think the more Republicans hide from their constituents, the worse they make it for themselves. Good opportunity for Democrats to step up, and I hope more of them do! (Also, I think Marcus should, then tell us all about how it went afterward.)
Why not step up, Marcus? I wish someone would. One of our senators keeps sending me emails about how he’s done this or that.. but it’s never so anyone would notice. I hope he’s really doing all that stuff, but I’m so cynical I wonder if it’s true. I keep thinking what an opportunity this is for **someone**.
sez kestrel @3: “And I too hope the Democrats start showing some spine here. Although I am not going to hold my breath or anything.”
“Start showing some spine”? Look: Every Democrat in the Senate voted against the AHCA. Every Democrat, plus a small number of Republicans. But there were enough Republicans voting ‘yea’ to pass the damn thing.
Face facts: The GOP has enough votes to pass any goddamn thing they feel like passing, regardless of what the Democrats do or do not do. How is it lacking in ‘spine’ that the Democrats simply do not have the votes? The fact that any Republicans whatsoever broke away from the GOP hive-mind is a good thing. Nowhere near as good a thing as if the fucking AHCA had been voted down, mind you, but still good.
Don’t hate on the Democrats for not winning a vote they’re numerically incapable of winning. Instead, work on getting the goddamn GOP out of government.
Friends don’t let friends vote Republican.
Cubist:
No one is hating on the democrats, not myself, and certainly not Kestrel, so I’ll thank you to be more considered in your responses.
This is not about votes, this is about the democrats actually doing something, as opposed to moaning. They could have been much more active in recent elections in red states, supporting the dem candidates; the DNC bowed out, with muttered excuses. The democrats have steered very clear of red states, staying silent when they should not. Finally, one democrat comes up with a really great idea, but it’s being used as more of a threat than a considered plan of action.
And yes, we are fucking aware of good things democrats have said, and occasionally done, but it’s not enough by half. This is hardly a normal situation, and they need to have a fire lit under their collective arse, and head into heavy action. This is the one chance they have to rescue the mess their party has become, and it would be nice if they took that chance and ran with it. Whether or not they will remains to be seen. You seem to be conveniently forgetting that they too are politicians, and like all politicians, they put their own position first, and don’t generally care to imperil it.
Before you rip off another scolding of us simpleton know-nothings, think very carefully about it. That’s a warning.
Caine, given the context of the fucking AHCA vote, I think it’s not unreasonable to interpret “I hope the Democrats start showing some spine” as criticizing the Democrats for losing a vote that they just didn’t have the votes to win. YMMV.
Apart from that… you’re pretty much right all the way down the line. The Democratic Party, as currently constituted, is basically what you’d get if you’d cryogenically frozen a collection of mainstream (Eisenhower) Republicans back before the GOP went balls-out racist, and defrosted them this year. It sure would be nice to have a properly liberal/progressive party, but that’s not the world we live in, and I have no fucking idea how to inject such a party into the current US political landscape. Definitely a “how do you get there from here?” situation.
Yes, converting the current Democratic party into a decently liberal/progressive party should be a lot easier than trying that same feat on the Rogues’ Gallery of racists, sexists, and [theo-|pluto-|klepto-]crats which is called the contemporary GOP, if only because the Democrats are not actively hostile to the bare concept of a ‘social safety net’. Am unsure whether working such a transformation on the Democratic Party would be more or less difficult that booting up a new party to fill the sorely-needed “liberal/progressive” role.
About all I can think of which might help the current shitstorm to any discernable degree, is to vote every fucking GOP politician out of office. But given the dekamillions of voters who mainline the Fox/rightwing Kool-Aid every day, it is not at all clear how… or even whether… this is going to happen.
Caine is correct: I am not talking about the vote. These guys are pro politicians: OK, fine, start standing up and DOING SOMETHING USEFUL! There are signs of this, so I dare to hope. This is such a unique opportunity, because finally, we have the Regressive program out in the open: it is racist, it is bigoted and it is sexist etc etc etc and now they are out in the open clinging to those “values”. Of course we all knew this all along. OK, great, come on, opposition! Where is the strong leader emerging saying, HELL NO! We are not going to stand for this! ? Where is the strong opposition to stand up for humanity? Well, so far, it’s all just a dream.
I suppose they are all following protocol and so on and so forth. I suppose they are all too polite to stand up and actually tell someone they are wrong. But that is what is needed in these days. The Democratic party is the most logical place for this to come from as they have the money etc and could carry it off. But it keeps on not happening.
rq:
All circus and no bread makes Joe an angry voter.