How about "Get my hands ON my Medicaid"
Budding Liberal Protest Movements Begin To Take Root In South
That would be the headline from the NY Times yesterday. Yes, things are a'changin':
By the end of the day, they were among the 39 people who were arrested Tuesday during choreographed waves of civil disobedience here at the [Georgia] state Capitol in protest of the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act
New York liberals fantasizing? Let's see what Georgia's flagship paper seez:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Arrests Follow Protests At State Capitol
More than 40 people were arrested Tuesday in a string of protests targeting Gov. Nathan Deal’s decision not to expand Medicaid in Georgia under the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor, was among those placed in handcuffs by Georgia State Patrol troopers. Warnock and a group of supporters staged a sit-in outside of Deal’s office Tuesday afternoon. They were arrested without incident and led away as the remaining crowd of protesters sang “We Shall Not Be Moved”
Boy, this makes me think about the last time people got riled up by Obamacare. Remember how 2010 started with all kinds of low level grumbling that culminated in raging town halls full of angry townsfolk yelling at their congress-critters to "keep your hands off my medicare"? Yeah, this is exactly how it started, only then it was buoyed by busloads of astroturfers primed by FOX disinformation and FREEDOMWORKS cash.
People are now living with affordable healthcare options as well as a robust free public option in the form of Medicaid... and they are liking it. And it's not just liberal welfare queens apparently.
Tea Party centerfold Scott Brown walked into a meeting with a couple NH GOP influencers on Saturday and started to preach Obamacare-hate to the choir BUT:
...when he stopped by the home of Herb Richardson, a Republican state representative. Sitting in Richardson's home, Brown called Obamacare a "monstrosity" that members of Congress didn't even bother to read before they passed. At that point, according to the Coos County Democrat, Richardson chimed in to explain that the law had been a "financial lifesaver" for him and his wife.
courtesy Sam Stein at Huffpo
Yep, you read that right. You see, even a respectable Republican STATE REPRESENTATIVE can find himself in need of a fair and accessible health insurance facilitated by Big Gubmint. But what kind of taker could this Richardson fella be and how could he fall into the welfare state trance? Well lets take a look at Stein's source article from the
Coos County Democrat (page 14):
Richardson was injured on the job and was forced to live on his workers' comp payments for an extended period of time, which ultimately cost the couple their house on Williams Street. The couple had to pay $1,100 a month if they wanted to maintain their health insurance coverage under the federal COBRA law.
Richardson said he only received some $2,000 a month in workers' comp. payments, however, leaving little for them to live on.
"Thank God for Obamacare!" his wife exclaimed.
Now, thanks to the subsidy for which they qualify, the Richardsons only pay $136 a month for health insurance that covers them both.
"Thank God for Obamacare!" his wife exclaimed. Indeed Mrs. Richardson, who now lives in a trailer thanks to medically induced Bankruptcy. Thank God indeed. Oh, and perhaps thank Speaker Pelosi, Senate Leader Reid and President Barack Hussein Motherfuckin' Obama while you are at it!
It isn't yet loud enough to penetrate the mediaratii in District 1 but the noise on the street is changing fast. Americans in every state are finding themselves benefiting from the ACA. While my family has company subsidized healthcare my wife said to me just the other day "I think next year I'm going to look into getting a policy through Obamacare". I resisted the urge to tell her we didn't have that luxury but the fact is for what we pay we could get a nice silver plan. We are jealous. Did I mention we work for one of the largest managed healthcare insurers in the country? As more real facts become obvious more and more Americans are going to become more and more jealous of those who enjoy Obamacare.
Red states that are currently blocking Medicaid expansion are going to be swamped with angry town halls crowded with the working poor asking why people just across the border... in Arkansas for instance, get free healthcare while they pray for good luck. We keep bemoaning the curse of poor turnout for Dems in off year elections. Well we are looking at the mother of turnout turn-ons with the ACA. By July the media is going to be obsessing on the possibility of a Blue Tide in the House of Representatives. Mark my words.
To that end it is so important that we turn our head around and take to the offensive by fielding great candidates in purple districts that have a close enough partisan tilt. If you live in a safe Dem district or a safe GOP district, look around for a winnable district to contribute to.
Erin will gladly kick Keith Rothfus' arse to the curb this November in your name
In PA, where a popular congressional vote win of 75,000 votes netted Dems 5 of 18 seats in 2012 thanks to treasonous gerrymandering I am giving my all for a perfect candidate in the Pittsburgh suburb PA-12 named Erin McClelland and I would encourage you to go to her Act Blue page and give her a twenty. She is a progressive with the resume, charisma and 25/8 campaign hustle to take back this traditional home of John Murtha and union Dems.
Go to her ACT Blue page to help.
If you have a good candidate you want people in safe D or R districts to help please mention them in the comments. I do think this is something we need to start dwelling on because 2014 is going to be a year that shocks the Stu Rothenbergs and Larry Sabato's of the world into admitting that the Republican Party is already in histories trash heap.