A health care reform argument
March 24, 2010 at 3:30 PM by Dr. Drang
Sunday night, when the health care reform act passed the House, I tweeted
Neugebauer’s “baby killer” outburst was still fresh—so fresh, he hadn’t been identified yet—and it reminded me of Joe Wilson’s moment in the sun last fall. A small funny that I thought most of my small group of Twitter followers would enjoy.
I didn’t realize “baby killer” was a Trending Topic, because my Twitter client (the superfabulous DrTwoot—get yours today!) doesn’t track that crap. So lots of people read it. Dozens of retweets and many @replies, all complimentary. Except:
This is a common Republican myth, that they’re the only people who work. Like their other myths—the free market solves every problem, cutting taxes decreases the deficit—it’s both unshakeable and instinctive. A convenient substitute for thought. So I decided to respond by playing on yet another Republican myth, that no one in government works.
Sort of a gentle nudge. I didn’t hear back, so I figured it was over.
You might have noticed that I didn’t include my Republican friend’s avatar in the screen grab above. That’s because he’s changed his avatar from the sort of nondescript photo it was Sunday night, and I can’t get a screen grab of the old one anymore.
In fact, he changed his avatar just for me. This is what greeted me when looked at Twitter the next morning.
Ew. A tilted photo of a half-naked guy in his bathroom accompanied by a non sequitur. But he’s proud of it.
I thought that was a little harsh, but no problem. He didn’t get it.
LOL is the trump card that wins all arguments. It’s how Hayek eviscerated Keynes.
Oh dear. I wonder if the phrase “own goal” means anything to him? Probably not, so I decide to tip it in.
Hours later, it still hasn’t sunk in.
Was this fair? Probably not, but I didn’t know he was just a kid when this started. And once it got going, I couldn’t stop. It was like finding a pinball machine that wouldn’t tilt.
And really, do you think John Boehner (a.k.a Doc Savage, The Man of Bronzer) would have done any better? Has he ever said anything more intelligent than this kid did? That’s what David Frum is up against.
