gop

They finally reached the remaining miners in West Virginia and the outcome was not good. Last night they finally reached the final four missing miners and all were dead. This now makes the disaster at Big Branch the worst mining accident in nearly 4 decades, and one that could have been adverted.

We have heard a lot this week about the countless safety violations that have piled up against Massey Energy, including in the days and hours leading up to the disaster. Massey boss Don Blankenship was a strong opponent of safety regulations and even thought he could pick and choose what laws to follow.

As much as I hate to politicize a disaster like this, it must be done to hopefully prevent repeat incidents in the future.

Don Blankenship was the epitome of right wing beliefs, so much that he was a big donor to the Tea Party. He was totally against government regulation and 29 innocent workers have paid the ultimate price for that ignorance.

This is the second time this year that we have been given a disastrous reminder that government regulations save lives. I posted the first last month:

The “mommy! mommy! He did it too” defense of the Republican Party is in full swing. They are deploying it every chance they get when it comes to the recent rise of threats of violence against Democratic lawmakers.

Think Progress caught up Texas Republican, Rep. Pete Olson and asked him about what’s going on. When it comes to Sarah Palin’s website and the “targeting” of Democrats, Olson did the right thing:

TP: Speaking of gun shots, would you consider Palin telling her supporters they need to “reload,” and posting a picture of crosshairs on Democratic members — is that inappropriate?

OLSON: There’s things, both parties are inappropriate.

TP: Is that inappropriate, yes or no?

OLSON: No I’m not going to answer the question.

TP: So it is appropriate.

OLSON: It is inappropriate.

But Olson couldn’t leave well enough alone. If he would have stopped right there, then he would have come out looking like a real leader in our nation. Instead he had to fall back to his GOP instincts and employ the mommy defense:

While Olson continually claimed that both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have incited violence, he could not point to a single example of Democrats doing so.

Good for Think Progress for asking him to give examples. This is something most in the media refuse to do. As matter of fact, the only one I have seen do it so far is David Shuster, and when that happened the person he was interviewing went further into loony land.

It started with vandalism at the offices of five different Democratic lawmakers this weekend and has now spread to what can only be called an assassination attempt:

After a tea party organizer published the address of the brother of Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) in a blog post urging anti-health reform activists to "drop by," someone cut a propane gas line at the house, Politico is reporting.

Now the FBI is investigating what happened at the home near Charlottesville, according to Politico.

The development comes on the heels of at least five instances of vandalism -- mainly in the form of smashed doors and windows -- at Democratic offices around the country in the days around the House health care vote Sunday night.

In the Periello case, an activist named Mike Troxel of the Lynchburg Tea Party wrote a blog post telling activists to add a "personal touch" to their anger at Periello -- who voted yes on the health care bill -- by going to his house. But Troxel mistakenly posted the address of Periello's brother.

Again – that is nothing short of an assassination attempt on a member of the U.S. Congress. Where is the right in denouncing this? They are totally absent, despite Steny Hoyer trying to get them to help tamper it down:

And since this is such a great day and since I love rubbing salt in the wounds, here’s a picture from the GOP’s pre-signing press conference:

So fitting.

The GOP has already been saying that they will run on repealing healthcare. Let’s look at the things that will already be enacted at that time.

NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHILDREN WITH PRE?EXISTING CONDITIONS — Prohibits new health plans in all markets plus grandfathered group health plans from denying coverage to children with pre?existing conditions. Effective 6 months after enactment.

So will Republicans campaign to let these children go without coverage? I don’t know how well that will work. They are so worried about stopping abortion, yet once the child is out of the uterus they are on their own? Yes – try to argue that one Republicans.

IMMEDIATE HELP FOR THE UNINSURED UNTIL EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE (INTERIM HIGH?RISK POOL) — Provides immediate access to affordable insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a preexisting condition — through a temporary subsidized high?risk pool. Effective 90 days after enactment.

A high risk pool – the very same thing that the GOP’s 2008 presidential candidate campaigned on. Are the Republicans going to get rid of one of the cornerstones of the McCain campaign? Will they be able to face the people this will affect and tell them “sorry – you’re out of luck”?

EXTENDS COVERAGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE UP TO 26TH BIRTHDAY THROUGH PARENTS’ INSURANCE — Requires new health plans and certain grandfathered plans to allow young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents’ insurance policy, at the parents’ choice. Effective 6 months after enactment.

How many times have we heard Republicans say that health care reform will lead us to “socialized medicine”? How many times have they used Canada as an example of what we don’t want to be? Well check this out:

Sarah Palin's family use to "hustle" across the Canadian border to get healthcare, the former Alaska Governor said
this weekend.

In a speech in Calgary, Palin called it "ironic" that while growing up in a small Alaskan town near the Canadian border, her family used to sneak across to take advantage of the Canadian healthcare system.

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," she said, according to Medicine Hat News (via Dave Weigel.) "And I think now, isn't that ironic."

Yup – the queen of the GOP used to use that horrible Canadian medical system. She has brought an entirely new meaning to the word hypocrite.

That’s how many people watched the White House’s live stream of the health care summit yesterday. That doesn’t include other services live streaming it, like CSPAN and MSNBC. It’s also online views only – not people watching it on TV. This really puts to shame the GOP argument yesterday that no one was watching the summit, nor interested in it. 

Without the help of Ben Nelson, Democrats were able to break the GOP filibuster on the jobs bill with the help of Kit Bond, George Voinovich, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown.

The final vote was 62-30, with Frank Lautenberg missing the vote because of his chemo.

As Aravosis points out, Conservatives are on fire going after Brown. It appears the honeymoon is officially over:

it wasn't just the people of MA who put you where you are. Next time you vote like that I expect to be kissed first!

Well, I guess we worked our tails off to get another RINO elected. I'm so disappointed in Scott Brown

Hey, Massachusetts! How do you like Scott Specter?

You dont understand - We Americans Had Drawn A Line In The Sand With @scottbrownma - Its All Gone Now. #traitor

Michael Savage totally called it... @SCOTTBROWNMA sucks!

Read more of the angry tweets at AmericaBLOG.

Adding…. This bill is mostly nothing but tax breaks for small business. Again we see a large number of Republicans voting against reducing taxes. What platform do they have now besides being the party of no?