The Foul Stench of Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz

In March of 2010 Congress passed the law that mandated nationalized healthcare for Americans. That was two years into Obama’s first term, two years before Obama was re-elected, and almost one year after Sarah Palin resigned as Governor of Alaska. Since that time Sarah Palin hasn’t run for anything; but only run-off at the mouth. Forty times the House has voted to repeal “Obamacare” and 40 times the Senate has voted against that effort. While the many problems facing America have been ignored by lawmakers, we continue to watch as they devote their time to this insanity. Over and over they vote with the same result. The national debt rises. Education deteriorates. Infants and children are gassed in Syria. Gun violence proliferates. People are out of work. Infrastructure declines. Pollution escalates. Restrictions on abortion increase. Veterans lack the services they so desperately need. Violence against women and sex trafficking is on the rise. The cost of a college education rises to new levels. The debt ceiling spirals upward while America’s credit rating spirals downward. Yet the House of Representatives continues its course in attempting to repeal Obamacare, over and over and over.

In its latest approach, the House, at the urging of Ted Cruz, has voted to defund the Affordable Care Act. The President has pledged to veto the bill. The Senate leadership has already indicated they will veto it. Thus the the repeal of the Affordable Care Act will result in a Government shut down. Such a shut down would result in failure to fund (1) Small Business Loans, (2) Shut Down of D.C.’s monuments, parks, and museums, (3) Medical Research, (4) Suspension of passport services, and (5)trash collection in the nation’s capital. http://news.yahoo.com/five-real-impacts-government-shutdown-171431022–abc-news-topstories.html The amazing this is that independent experts agree that the shutdown would have a minimal impact on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The reason is that the money flowing to the 16 states, and the District of Colombia that are running their own ACA exchange is part of a “permanent appropriation” and not subject to annual appropriations.

The impact of this vote to repeal ACA is even greater due to its potential effect on the need to raise the debt ceiling. The New York Magazine explains:

“What makes the House Republican strategy so disturbing is that this flailing effort to solve the government shutdown problem is exacerbating the vastly worse debt ceiling problem.”

Even Republican leaders have been outspoken about he danger of a government shutdown. John McCain said:

“ Cruz can do whatever he wants to with the rules of the Senate….I can tell you, in the United States Senate we will not repeal or defund Obamacare, and to think we can, is not rational.”

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said:
“I didn’t go to Harvard or Princeton, but I can count —the defunding box canyon is a tactic.”

Republican Representative Peter King accused Ted Cruz of “committing a fraud against the American people for suggesting that “the strategy will work”.

King thinks Cruz will no longer have any influence in the Republican Party.

Democrat Eric Swalwell explained that Republicans should:

“wake up from this radical ideological wet dream and come back to reality.”

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Steve Israel explained that we have reached a “new low” and pointed to a “chaos and dysfunction of House Republicans.” “House Republicans have now made their priorities crystal clear: they will protect insurance companies’ profits at all costs, even when it hurts middle class families,” he said.

Sarah Palin has weighed in on this disaster. In her usual way she promotes the efforts of Ted Cruz regardless of the consequences. Reality has never constrained Palin’s comments, and her recent rant about defunding Obamacare is no exception. However she seems to be creating an even greater chasm between her comments and reality. For example, she says that the “majority of Americans don’t want Obamacare.”

The truth is the opposite. The majority of Americans, 58% still favor national health care. However 44% of Americans are unclear about whether it is still the law. With people like Sarah Palin spewing her lies, it is no wonder that people are confused.

It’s been over four years since Sarah Palin resigned as Governor. During that time she has promoted hate, discord, and ill will. People often say she is irrelevant, but when people like Ted Cruz, who was endorsed by Palin, cause such total dysfunction of government, it is clear that she is still having an impact. If America is to recover from the myriad of problems facing this country, we can no longer afford to tolerate this type of discord. It’s foul. It stinks. We are finished being polite. All Americans, and especially the GOP, need to put Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin back into the holes from which they emerged.