I am angry .. or maybe it is depressed.. nope I'm pissed

On the weekend, I try to disconnect a bit. Spend time with the family, laze around and read books, and so forth. I turn on the news or I check my Google reader. But I try not to invest too much energy, for better or worse, into the shitty news of the day.

Yesterday, I saw a brief snippet on CNN about a new poll showing that a majority of Americans are now against the health care reform bills that are now in the House and Senate. I jerked my head around fast enough to guarantee whiplash, then yelled, "Whaaaaaatttttt?"

Then, I got pissed. I rattled off a rant to my husband, whose eyes glassed over when I started talking about polls, policy, politics (apparently, the three "P"s don't have quite the same appeal to him!). I still decided to push the news aside and enjoy the weekend. Until now. Now I just need to sort my way through this frustration.

Obama campaigned on health care reform. It was a big part of his platform. Multiple polls indicated that the American people believed that we should reform our broken system. We are one of the only large democratically-ruled countries that doesn't provide health care for it's citizens. Other countries shake their heads at us, puzzled that in a country with this much money and power, we can't even get on board with whether we should take care of the health of our citizens.

This is basic stuff, right? I mean, sure we can disagree on what should dominate domestic policy. But the need to fix the broken, potentially disastrous future that our current system could bring .. is that really questionable? The answer is yes and no. That is, yes if you are the party of NO. No if you understand the alternative.

Here's a quick progression (or lack thereof) of health care reform. Congressman go out during summer recess and conduct town halls - standard practice designed to get the in touch with their constituency. Only this summer, some asshat tea party schmucks put out a memo asking people (not necessarily constituents) to attend DEMOCRATIC members' town halls, specifically, and to disrupt them with shouting, interruptions, generally annoying commotions. The purpose of this? To 'rattle' the Democratic congressman. That's right, not to promote discussion, not even to be heard; just to disrupt.

These wild, chaotic town halls were tailor made for the bored mainstream media. All manner of shouting, insult-hurling, faux outrage made for good TV. The problem? Two things. One, it was manufactured and at best disingenuous. Two, it gave the appearance that this opposition was widespread and righteous. So, now the American public, who are notoriously politically-apathetic and lazy, are now like "Wait, what is so scary about this bill? Should I be scared? I'm scared. What was that sound? Did you hear the boogey man, cuz I just did. *cue scary music* We are all doomed!!!" (or something like that)

Of course, when the Congress returned, it was noted that these *cough* disruptions were not common place or widespread or reflective of the feelings of the constituents (in many cases). No matter. The opposition's strategy worked.


Then Teddy Kennedy dies. This wasn't unexpected, but still it was ironic that the cause of his political life teetered on it's own death. Then there was the on-again, off-again, it's dead, it's alive, public option, no public option, Senator Snowe as President, Max Baucus and the Gang of Six rule the world, etc. etc. etc. drama that played out every day. It was exhausting to watch. Difficult to follow even if you are an invested, educated, informed politically-minded American, which coincidentally leaves out 89.8% of the general public.

Then there were the endless polls. Majority favor health care reform; majority oppose health care reform; majority feel Congress is not doing enough to help health care problems; majority feel Obama not doing what is needed with health care reform; majority approve of health care reform; majority majority majority blah blah blah gah gah gah (I think this is how Lady GaGa wrote her new song).

Then a Republican (or a pseudo-Republican, depending on whom you ask) wins Teddy's seat??? What? How is this possible? What the hell is going on? Here comes the spin. I will not EVEN go into that topic now. Then our President decides to slow down health care reform. He vowed to listen to the people and try bipartisanship. Again, I will not even go into that here. Another post for another day.

Now the polls from the Massachusetts voters indicate they are against health care reform (ironic, considering that they already HAVE health care). Of course, it is a 46/48% split (favor/oppose), not exactly the mandate/landslide/OMG moment the Right tried to portray it as. In fact, those numbers generally match the nationwide polls, too.

Not bad enough yet? Then a poll came out suggesting 55% of Americans think Democrats should shelf the negotiations on the current bill. Not bad enough yet? Said 55% of people want Dems to go back and consider alternatives that would get more Republican support. Ummm.. pardon me? We have a majority of the Congress. My four year-old can figure out basic math. Republican support is not going to change shit. Besides, Republicans are the party of NO. Their mission has been to shoot down EVERYTHING that the Obama administration proposes, even if occasionally they try to make it seem otherwise. Interestingly, the same poll says nearly 60% of Americans are either pleased with the progress our President has made (39%) or wish he would have done MORE on his agenda (20%).

So what happened? I'll tell you what, it is what has me pissed off. The Republicans have stolen the message AGAIN. They block reform at every possible avenue, then cry about a lack of bi-partisanship. They successful got the meme of 'reform is too costly', despite CBO projections saying that the Senate bill will LOWER the deficit. They successfully got the meme entrenched that reform is 'being shoved down our throats', again despite the filibustering, stalling, bullshitting, and every other tactic imaginable that the Republicans have used to stall votes, debate, etc.

Google 'health care reform'. Now look at the right column under 'sponsored links'. What do you see? Half of them are Right-wing websites looking to kill reform at any cost. Who is winning the message now? Exactly. 

And now? They can sit back and watch their machinery at work. They have convinced the American public that somehow bi-partisanship will work; that the Republicans are the poor victims sitting at the unpopular table in the lunchroom. Just waiting for someone to talk nice to them. I waive the BULLSHIT FLAG on that meme.

I am pissed.