A Reader Writes
Aunt Agatha thinks I should have this framed (any good calligraphers out there?):
Have you no sense of decency? Have you no sense of what is righteous and good? To attack a family is absolutely reprehensible. Typical conservative victim blame; if you get sick or hurt it’s your fault. As for affording health care, you are mean spirited, ignorant and narrow minded. First, you have no idea what the family’s financial situation is. Second, you do not realize that regular, hard working American families are struggling and are falling behind. Obviously, you do not realize that it is not a question of choice that people like the Frost’s don’t have health care. They have been priced out of the system, just like 40+ million other Americans. To those who say they don’t want to pay. First, your position is fundamentally greedy and selfish. Second, the government, not you, pays for this via our taxes. Perhaps you should consider the half a trillion wasted in Iraq by this failed administration. I’m sure you support that; but you don’t support medical care for American children! Thank you for showing the truly rotten underbelly of the Republican party.
First of all, Alex, I’m a Democrat, so registered since 1976. But to be completely honest, I haven’t voted Democratic in any race above library trustee since 2000.
But, readers, did you fully appreciate the McCarthy-era nostalgia in the first line? “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” Me and Senator Joe—all I can say is: wow! Truly, though, I’m not worthy.
Beyond those points, however, there’s nothing here to respond to. We know very well what the Frost’s financial situation is, thanks to other greedy and selfish (and reprehensible!) bloggers. Looking into their case was hardly an “attack”. They were put forward by the Democrats as emblematic of something; it’s only reasonable to ask of what. It sure as hell wasn’t what we were told.
I actually know a little more about this than you think. My family was self-insured for a few years between employment-provided coverage. It was expensive, and we had to reprioritize our spending to cover it, but we managed.
Not everyone can, which is what this argument boils down to (what’s Iraq got to do with it, by the way?). President Bush didn’t propose zero spending, just less than what the Democrats proposed—whose real goal, as admitted openly by Speaker Pelosi, was omnicare.
Dennis Prager has an astute observation that when left and right disagree, the right says the left is misguided (or something similar), the left says the right is evil. My correspondent reinforces this point. This is not a disagreement over the role of government, individual responsibility, or even how to control healthcare costs.
Instead, I am indecent, un-righteous, not good, reprehensible, mean-spirited, ignorant, narrow minded, greedy, selfish—and representative of a rotten underbelly. Add .com, and you’ve got a pretty cool blog domain.