COVID-19 & Healthcare

Jeb Bush meant what he said

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Jeb! CPAC

On Tuesday, GOP Presidential candidate and “establishment” (whatever that means these days) favorite Jeb(!) Bush said the following:

The next president should defund Planned Parenthood. I have the benefit of having been governor and we did defund Planned Parenthood when I was governor. We tried to create a culture of life across the board. The argument against this is, well, women’s health issues are gonna be — you’re attacking — it’s a war on women and you’re attacking women’s health issues. You could take dollar for dollar — although I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues — but if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinarily fine organizations, community health organizations, that exist, federally sponsored community health organizations, to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues. But abortion should not be funded by the government, any government, in my mind.

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J.E.B.(!) fumblin’ bumblin’ stumblin’ on women’s health issues

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Before Keegan-Michael Key invented the comic character Luther, Obama’s Anger Translator, Obama’s predecessor George “W” Bush had a translator of sorts of his own, sometimes with unintended comic effect.

You see, “W” frequently spoke in unintelligible gibberish or said something that he was not supposed to say in the way it was perceived or understood by the media. Invariably, every time that “W” spoke, within an hour after he spoke the White House had to send out a translator to explain that the president misspoke, “what he really meant to say was ….”

This apparently is a Bush family trait. Recall Texas Governor Ann Richards’ famous 1988 DNC  National Convention speech about “W’s” daddy, George H. W. Bush: “Poor George, he can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”

Already this year, J.E.B.(!) Bush has had to have his campaign spokesmen issue a correction on several occasions to explain “what he really meant to say was ….” See, Jeb(!) fumblin’ bumblin’ stumblin’ on the Iraq question; and Out of touch Plutocrat Jeb(!) says Americans need to work longer hours and be more productive, for example.

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J.E.B.(!) managed to put his silver foot in his mouth yet again this week over funding women’s health care while pandering to the GOP crazy base over Planned Parenthood.

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Upset about fetal tissue donation? Stop funding for birth control, obviously!

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

What Does Planned Parenthood Do?

The GOP majority in the Senate held a vote to defund Planned Parenthood on Monday morning, with conservatives taking to the floor, one after another, to engage in lugubrious, sanctimonious theatrics about the “selling” of fetal tissue.

During the debate in the Senate, Republican lawmakers sought to highlight those shocking videos showing Planned Parenthood arranging for the sale of aborted babies.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said, “The American taxpayer should not be asked to fund an organization like Planned Parenthood that has shown a sheer disdain for human dignity and complete disregard for women and their babies.”

“The barbaric practice of conducting abortions in a way that promotes harvesting fetal organs, or profiting from such practices, has no place in modern society,” said Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana. “Planned Parenthood’s disgusting practices should not receive a dime of taxpayer money.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats should not protect Planned Parenthood’s federal funds “just to protect some political group. “Women deserve better, and our country deserves better.”

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GOP threatens government shutdown over Confederate flags and Planned Parenthood, but will not consider a bill to restore the Voting Rights Act

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This coming Thursday, August 6, is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in American history.

Voting-RightsWhen the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the coverage section, Section 4 of the Act, in 2013 in Shelby County v. Holder, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that Congress remained free to try to impose federal oversight on states where voting rights were at risk, but must do so based on contemporary data.

The Tea-Publican controlled Congress has failed to act on this suggestion from the Court, preferring the status quo of a gutted Voting Rights Act, followed by the largest number of voting restrictions enacted by GOP states since the Jim Crow era.

A bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.) in response to the Supreme Court ruling that struck down Section 4 of the law in 2013 was introduced in 2014, and again earlier this year (The Sensenbrenner-Conyers bill, known as the Voting Rights Amendment Act). Bill To Restore Voting Rights Act Gets Another Bipartisan Push. A separate Democratic bill has also been introduced. Democrats Unveil Bill To Restore Gutted Voting Rights Act (The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015, which goes beyond the version introduced in 2014).

Democrats have made a push for Congress to vote on these bills on the eve of the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, but Tea-Publican congressional leaders have refused.

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Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion challenge argued to Court

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I explained some time ago that this is no longer about Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion plan for the Goldwater Institute lawyers representing the Tea-Publican legislators/plaintiffs in this case. It is about preserving the GOP’s anti-democratic “weapon of mass destruction,” Prop. 108 (1992). ‘Kochtopus’ Death Star still trying to kill Medicaid (AHCCCS):

DeathStarThis case is no longer about Medicaid expansion for the “Kochtopus” Death Star. No, it is now only concerned about preserving its undemocratic Prop. 108 (1992), which requires a two-thirds supermajority vote in both legislative chambers to impose or increase any taxes, or to reduce any tax credits or exemptions.  This antidemocratic provision only enables a tyranny of a minority of anti-tax zealots (the “Kochtopus” and its minions), negating simple majority rule, the foundation of a democracy.

Here is what self-described “libertarian constitutional lawyer and freedom fighter” Christine Sandefur said in an op-ed in The Republic last month. The real ‘sore losers’ in Medicaid-tax case:

In a Feb. 11 editorial, The Arizona Republic’s editorial board dubbed these lawmakers “sore losers” for appealing that ruling.

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Sadly, if this ruling stands, the real losers will not be the legislators but the voters and the state Constitution.

Preoccupied with lambasting the legislators for obstructing Medicaid expansion, the editorial board misses the forest for the trees. The desirability of the Medicaid program isn’t on trial; that’s a policy question left to the political process. The stakes of this lawsuit are much higher. At issue is the fate of a critical voter-approved constitutional protection, Proposition 108, which requires a two-thirds legislative supermajority for all new taxes and fees. The Medicaid tax became law with the approval of only a simple majority, nullifying the votes of those legislators who opposed it.

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