Today’s Washington Post had a most interesting article regarding the House Representative from Virginia, Eric Cantor. As some of you may know, Mr. Cantor is the number 2 leader in the Republican House Leadership. He is also one of the most vociferous mouthpieces on the floor of the House. His commentary for the President has been along the lines of the Tea Party and 9-12 Plan fruitcakes. Death Panels, Kill Grandma, Socialist President Obama, etc.

Yesterday, in Richmond something happened that can either bring a ray of sunshine or a chill of apprehension regarding the Republican party. Cantor hosted with a Democrat, Representative Bobby Scott a “town hall meeting that wasn’t”. There was no talk of death panels, no illegal alien rants, and no NAZI emblems denigrating “libruls” and the President. Cantor and Scott were there to discuss health care. Health Care? Eric Cantor? He also had acording to the report, words for his Republican peers, “Stop the revivial stuff and let’s talk”. Many in his audience of about 250 people were not happy, they came expecting to be able to perform as they have in town hall meetings all across the nation. But no,,, Cantor and the moderator, the publisher of the Richmond Times Dispatch, all pretty much held the cat calls, shouts and rude overtalk to, get this, ZERO.

Folks, there were two things that crossed my mind while I was reading this article. The first was that some alien being had come to Earth and taken over Cantor’s body and mind. The second, and even more scary was that this was a big plan by the GOP to blunt the lousy impression they have made on the American people over the past several years, leading to their back to back losses in congressional elections and culminating with the loss of the White House as well. Chills ran up and down my spine as I took this thought to another level, that the GOP was putting on a blitz of “niceness” to convince folks that they had learned their lesson and should be given another chance at the reins of power.

Heaven Forfend!!! Simply look as what the GOP was able to accomplish in just two presidential terms. Taking the nation from one of prosperous, jobs building, 401(k) gaining economy to an economy and jobs picture that was one step away from the abyss of the Great Depression.

Do we really want to trust them to be repentful and deserving of another shot at destroying the nation and it’s people?

Well, Not this Cantankerous old Coot.

They all, as a great lady Helen Philpot says, need to sit down and shut up for a few more years.

Max Baucus, that wonderful inclusionary senator from Montana (more on that later), has submitted his plan for Health Insurance Reform. (Note that I use the term Health Insurance, Health Care Reform is no longer on the plate) Max submitted his legislation and immediately it got hit with hundreds of modifications or amendments.

Max’s bill holds a great glaring problem for most of us Americans. There is no facility for a public option, nor is there any real support for inclusionary insurance coverage for the majority of Americans. Max’s deal seems to be, if you breathe, you must buy insurance from his pals in the health insurance industry. There is minimal support for those who are in such dire straits that affodability of medicine is out of the question in most cases, let alone the requirement to purchase an insurance policy from one of the very few companies that are still in the game.

The biggest problem I see with Max’s bill is the tremendous focus on individual policies. That is also the focus of the “bipartisan” plan from Wyden and Bennet (Democrat and Republican respectively). The entire focus on these plans it to move people into individually purchased insurance policies. The insurance companies are going to love that.

The stupid word is being revived again, CONSUMER as in Consumer Directed Health Plan or Individual Consumer policies. Folks, I have been ranting about that stupid word for more than three years. Health Care is NOT, let me repeat this, IS NOT a consumer product. When you are sick, you are a PATIENT and you do not have the inclination or the capacity to “shop for health care”.

Only a blithering idiot would continue to use that focus, yet here we have Baucus, Wyden and Bennet all joining in with the conservatives to push Consumer centric health care. Bull crap folks.

Anyone ever had to deal with an insurance company who has denied a claim for medical care? I have and if it had not been for the fact that I was in a GROUP program, I would have been out tens of thousands of dollars. One Claim was denied because the anesthiesologist was not in the network. Excuse me, I was in a hospital, undergoing surgery and both the surgeon and the anesthesologist were on the hospital staff. I am supposed to halt the surgery to check their network affiliations? Not with a tumor in my colon, thank you very much.

Baucus has run into quite a buzz saw so far, none of his “bipartisan” team from the Republican side has stuck with him. All have basically said no as we all felt would be the end result. However, Senator Snowe of Maine has submitted several amendments that might make the Baucus bill a bit more tolerable?

The simple fact is, that if the Max Baucus Finance Committee bill is the keystone to the Obama Health Insruance Reform, hold on to your seats folks, it’s going to get really bumpy from now on.

Bu then why would we think it would be any different? Millions of dollars are being paid by the health care industry to the senators and representatives in our Congress. The average American stands a snow ball’s chance in hell of being recognized as someone with a valid opinion.

On Wednesday Evening, September 9, President Obama made an address to a joint session of the Congress. In this address, he was discussing two major items. The first was the pending health care reform bill (or as I like to refer to it as the health insurance reform bill), and the second was to address the lies, fear mongering and outright attempt to kill any reform in the are of health care.

During this session, President Obama mentioned that one of the lies about the bills under consideration was that they would allow illegal aliens to be participants. He stated flatly that that was not true. At that point a rude asshole from South Carolina, Representative Joe Wilson shouted out “You Lie”. Wilson broke a precedent in the Congress that had stood for 200 years, you do not shout and demean the President during an address in the Congress. Is shows a total lack of class. Of course in my humble estimation, that pretty much sums up the Republican Party of the past couple of decades. NO CLASS.

The Republican Leadership, in the form of John Boehner, responded to Mr. Rahm Emanuel’s demand for an immediate appology from Wilson. Boehner finally convinced Wilson that he was an ass and should make the appology. Wilson did a half hearted and half assed appology given to Rahm Emanuel for the President.

I would bet, dollars to donuts that immediately following the session that the republicans feted Wilson at one of the many watering holes in the District. Most likely the Old Ebbits Grill or some other high dollar place so they could waste more of the taxpayer dollars on a total cretionous jerk.

Lucky things do happen however, Wilson’s democratic opponent has recieve a substantial increase in his campaign donations, to the tune of more than 450,000 dollars at last count. Some good did come out and if there is a God in Heaven, Joe Wilson will be sitting out the next congress after getting his butt handed to him by the Democrats.

This sort of stuff goes on all the time. What is it with Republicans, conservatives, libertarians or simply religious fundamentalists bible thumpers? Do they have a mental block about how they appear to people? They rage and curse, gnashing their teeth and beating their breasts over the Democratic plans as being no good, yet, they have no alternatives. Oh wait, there was one put forth by Boehner I believe. Cancell all group insurance, cancel medicare cancel medicaid and let people buy their own policies.

Yep, that would work. Even with group coverage where one has their company and it’s HR department backing them, in a majority of cases they get totally screwed by their insurance company’s propensity for denial of claims. It is the industry’s basic response to any claim, denial unless challenged. But the Republicans would have you believe that you could get good health care with an individual policy. Certainly this must be true, the GOP backs it.

Frankly folks I wonder about a good portion of the American people when they appear to have been beaten with a STUPID STICK in their idiotic adherence to everything the GOP says as if it were written in the stone tablets and brought down from the Mount…..

Gad, will reason never come to these folks. Why are Republicans so obtuse? Because they like being that way. Like a Rock, only dumber.