One Clown Down...

… And only a couple dozen more to go! Yes, Congress has finally rid themselves of the corrupt sideshow that was George Santos. Frankly, I’m surprised it actually happened. In fact, I can’t really figure out why the Republicans did it.

I know there were some who were publicly quoted as saying they wouldn’t consider it purely because he’s a voting number for them. Republicans are nothing if not focused on the bottom line of maintaining any power they gain.

Maybe some of them figure that their margin doesn’t much matter during this and next year’s terms because they can’t pass anything that will get through the Senate and be signed by the President anyway. In the best-case scenario, sane/moderate Republicans join the Democrats in keeping the government’s doors open and passing must-have operational bills as needed.

Maybe this was their opportunity to stop looking like jokes and take a reasonable moral stand. Should it be that hard to say, “You can’t remain a Congressman if you make up your entire life story prior to your election and then embezzle campaign money raised from donors?” It’s a low bar, but at least there’s a limit.

From yesterday's Baltimore Sun.

I mean, Santos has only been a Congressman for about a year; it’s not like they’re tied to the guy. Not like with TFG, to whom they're married lock, stock, and barrel. They can jettison Santos, still keep a majority in the House, (they only need one more than the Dems to run the committees, so they have a few to spare), and demonstrate that their party recognizes real corruption. This is a vast change over their penchant for seeing corruption where it isn’t but desperately wish it was, or not seeing it when it’s plastered all over the wall in front of them because they don’t want to admit their Orange Idol is a crooked, raving, maniac, bent on turning the USA into a theocratic dictatorship.

(Yes, I know TFG doesn’t give a shit about the Christianity part of it, but it keeps the Evangelical nutjobs in line while costing him nothing.)

Hunting Season

And speaking of seeing corruption where it’s not, did you see Hunter Biden hand the Republicans their asses last week?

They subpoenaed him for a hearing, to which he agreed, IF it was public. What a move! That’s the last thing they want because they KNOW it’s a giant nothing-burger and the only hope they have of making their case is by cherry-picking the testimony to make it look worse than it is. They know if people are watching the testimony, there will be too many calling foul when Fox “News” and Breitbart twist the facts.

Jaime Raskin is a Representative from Maryland, but unfortunately, not from my district. I really hoped he would have run for Ben Cardin's Senate seat.

So now they can’t allow his open testimony AND then can’t say he won’t appear. It’s a real poser to try to explain why public testimony is bad (for a case they’ve been hyping for years) and a close-door hearing is good. If an open hearing is good enough to distribute dick pics, it should be good enough for serious testimony.

It just goes to show (again) that this class of Republican is only interested in manufacturing outrage and selling it to the voters. They come in with the verdict first, and then cobble together whatever props it up, even if it’s only for one news cycle. They want tit-for-tat revenge for the Democrats daring to impeach their lord and master and use “facts,” “eye-witnesses,” and “evidence,” to do so. Imagine the nerve!

In Sickness and in Health

And speaking of TFG, I can’t believe he’s going after Obamacare again. This guy has literally not learned a thing. People can get pretty sensitive about their health care. The last thing they want is for it to disappear, with nothing left but an empty promise of something better.

I can’t believe he’s STILL telling people that he’s got his own health care plan, all ready to be rolled out soon. Have we not heard that all before?

Republicans have had 13 years to propose a “solution” to Obamacare, including two years where they had unrestrained power, and they couldn’t even come up with a proposal. All they can do is spout inflammatory platitudes about the ACA, with nothing to back it up. It still saves the country money in the long run and insures people who couldn’t get insurance before. It would work even better if Red States actively participated, rather than doing everything they could to bring it down.

I still maintain that the only thing they don’t like about “Obamacare” is the “Obama” part. After all, it was a Heritage Foundation idea in the first place. They don’t like any idea that a Democrat supports, including their own.

Have Republicans ever proposed, anytime in the last 40 years, a program that serves the general public without kowtowing to big business? Republicans just do not DO public service. I guarantee that any health care idea floated by Republicans will be looking out for business interests first and the public’s interest second, if at all. Big business wants out of being an insurance provider in the first place. I think the only reason they don’t support single-payer is that the big insurance companies would go belly up. Plus it would be something else for which they’d have to come up with a way to dodge the taxes.

I like that Biden is reintroducing the idea of a public option. That’s where you can get government insurance if you want it or continue with private insurance. And if they undercut the insurance company’s prices, you can expect that it will go over very well… except with Republicans, who will manufacture a reason why paying less for insurance is somehow a bad idea. (I presume the word “Socialism” will be in the first sentence.)