Some Saturday Health Care Hijinks From Mikey The Liar (update)

There’s a reason why I frequently refer to the Bucks County Courier Times as Mike Fitzpatrick’s PR operation. It’s because that’s exactly what that newspaper is, and they proved it again yesterday.

They ran a headline with a look of consternation on Fitzpatrick’s face (supposedly from fighting for his constituents again, I guess, or so they’d have us believe), and the “news story” at the top of the front page had to do with the supposed revelations of the latest Congressional Budget Office report on the health care law.

And of course, this “story” served up the usual demagoguery from Mikey The Beloved…congressional Democrats in the prior congress supposedly railroaded the bill to the White House…etc. (some of which was also refuted here)…

The (CBO) revision, 50 percent higher than a previous projection of 4 million in 2010, amounts to a broken promise, Fitzpatrick said.

In his first campaign for the White House, Obama pledged not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 a year and couples making less than $250,000.

The budget office analysis, however, found that nearly 80 percent of those who’ll face the penalty would be making up to or less than five times the federal poverty level. Currently that would work out to $55,850 or less for an individual and $115,250 or less for a family of four.

The average penalty in 2016 will be $1,200, according to the CBO.

(By the way, I assume that, outside of the CBO notation, all of this comes from Mikey himself, since there really is no other attribution implied.)

OK, so let’s back up here – what’s 50 percent higher than 4 million, boys and girls?

Yes, 6 million, that’s right!

Which is 2 percent of the total population of this country.

Yep, 2 percent, people.

Think Progress tells us that and much more here, including the following...

…the revised 6 million figure does not mean the health care law puts a strain on the middle class. In fact, Obamacare will provide millions of families with large tax credits to help make health care more affordable for them, and the penalty will only be leveled against those Americans who choose not to purchase insurance even though they are able to afford it.

It should be noted that the Courier Times “story” does indeed include a quote from the Obama Administration that corroborates the 6 million, 2 percent figure. Of course, it’s noted in PARAGRAPH 14 after the reader gets a heaping helping of Mikey’s partisan whining first (talk about burying the lede!).

Also, as noted here, part of the reason for the CBO adjustment is because of cuts to Medicaid that the Affordable Care Law may or may not make up (And the governors of which political party are primarily responsible for those cuts? The answer is here). Also, here is more on the Repugs' years-long effort to kill health care reform.

The Courier Times piece also notes that the Kathy Boockvar campaign was contacted over this, and here is the response…

Fitzpatrick’s opponent in the November election, Democrat Kathy Boockvar, was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Now it’s possible that there could have been a scheduling conflict of some type, and that might have been the reason why there was no official response from the PA-08 Dem challenger. However, the Courier Times also tells us the following…

Following the GOP’s summer repeal vote, (Boockvar) said rather than repeal the measure, “let’s fix the law we have. Let’s make sure it’s affordable for individuals and small businesses alike. Let’s make sure that this law best carries out its purpose, making sure the most Americans have health care coverage as soon as possible so our children and our neighbors never have to rely on emergency rooms for their health care.”

That’s not exactly the full-throated defense that the Affordable Care Law deserves, Ms. Boockvar. As far as I’m concerned, it isn’t even close.

Basically, why am I the one communicating the utter absurdity of the latest fit of pique from Fitzpatrick and his willing accomplices at the Courier Times instead of you (oh, and in another tricky move by Mikey’s PR service, they perpetrated this fraud on a Friday, and since the paper doesn’t publish on a Saturday, this was the running headline for two days on the news stand copies all over Bucks, not just one).

Of course, I’m talking about the same alleged newspaper that ran full-page Fitzpatrick ads for weeks two years ago and ended up giving two candidate endorsements, one for Fitzpatrick and former rep Patrick Murphy, as opposed to a single one that reputable print publications do…wonder if they’ll extend Boockvar the same favor? Do I need to ask?

This is a picture of Gary Weckselblatt, the author of this utter dreck.

Here is a link to job postings at Pottery Barn (Williams-Sonoma is the parent company).

Weckselblatt knows how to do the rest (and for more of the reality point of view here, Ezra Klein tells us the following - more here)…



…and here is a tune for the occasion (haven’t featured anything from the ‘80s for a little while – about time).



Update 9/23/12: I may be putting on my tin foil hat here, but I’m wondering if there isn’t something much more organized at work than I first suspected.

You see, being a Roman Catholic, I attended services today, and of course today is “Respect Life Sunday.” So the priest celebrating Mass tells us about the importance of the election coming up, and naming President Obama by name, criticizes him for supporting abortion, gay marriage and forced sterilization (the latter of which, by the way, is an urban legend, as noted here).

Oh, and after the homily ends, half of the congregation applauds (registered Republicans, I’m sure).

And to put the cherry on the icing on the proverbial cake, tables were set up in front of the church so congregants could fill in voter registration forms when they left Mass.

I realize there is quite probably no illegality whatsoever in what I just described. But given that the Church enjoys tax-exempt status and really isn’t allowed to “officially” (wink, wink) endorse one political party over another (again, on the heels of the Courier Times doing their part with Mikey)…

Well, let me put it this way; no incense was used today in church because it wasn’t a high holy day (which happens for Easter services, among other occasions), but to give out the proper amount of it to purify the premises from the rankness of its political cronyism, they would have had to turn the entire grounds into a fog bank.

Update 10/4/12: Oh, and by the way, about a week after this took place in church, we received a solicitation from our parish saying more money was needed for building repairs, and $500 was listed as a "suggested family contribution." I was tempted to tear up the letter and send it back with a 2012 Obama bumper sticker included - I may yet do that.