Thursday, October 31, 2013

Marco Rubio: Call 'em Like You See 'em...If You Don't See 'em, Make 'em Up!

Marco Rubio, the Junior Senator from Florida, speculative leader of the Teapublicans in the Senate and, God help me, my representative in the U.S. Senate, has once again, basically lied to us. 

The particular lie being told by Senator Rubio is, “On this very day in Florida, it was announced that 300,000 people are going to lose their individual coverage because of Obamacare.” He made this statement to that bastion of political truth (please note the dripping sarcasm) Fox News and to, of all people, Bill O’Reilly, a man with the objectivity of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Marc Levin and Michelle Malkin (she works for Fox too,but that’s for another time….)

This statement, and a number of others,  has been confirmed by Politifact Florida as being "Mostly False" (see: http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/oct/25/marco-rubio/marco-rubio-said-florida-300000-people-are-going-l/ .  Allow me to summarize.

Yes, 300,000 customers of Florida Blue, the corporate successor to Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, have been notified that that their existing policies are being cancelled…Well, not exactly.  Their policies are being replaced.  This is because the policies they currently hold do not meet the requirements of the law.  In other words, they are going to get better, more inclusive and cheaper policies, so the policies meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, A/K/A: Obamacare, but before that happens they are being notified that the existing policies are not going to be continued.

One of the things that bothers me most is that those who are ideologues and of similar ilk to Senator Rubio will adopt these statements as Gospel and sound the war cry, regardless of the accuracy of the statements this liar makes.  It is consistent with their version of reality, so it must be true.  I am not much for Biblical quotations, but when confronting the Teapublicans such a quotation is too good to pass up, ‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.” (Jeremiah 5:21).

Senator Rubio is just doing what a lot of politicians do, telling people what they want to hear.  He tells them lies they want to believe.  The problem is that once you tell them “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say, they still believe it to be the truth, thus the applicability of the Biblical quote.  To continue along the same lines  a quote from Ron Popeil, “But wait, there’s more…”

Let us list other lies that have been told to us by Senator Rubio…

"I never was in favor of shutting down the government. … (I) voted to fund the government fully."  In fact Rubio voted on nine, yes nine, separate occasions to vote against bills that would have kept the government open.  He just refused to vote yes on any bill that did not defund Obama Care.  The result is the same, he voted in a way that was directly responsible for shutting down the government, regardless of how he chooses to try to massage the facts.

"The American people support defunding Obamacare and oppose shutting down the government."  Well, actually, no they don’t.  Polls have consistently found, since 2011, that the American People do not want to defund Obamacare, especially if it might result in some sort of drastic action such as…wait for it….shutting down the government!  Most Americans have adopted a wait and let’s see if this works attitude, now that it has passed.

Enough examples…let me just say that if Marco Rubio opens his mouth to say “Good morning” I tend to look out the window and expect to see rain.  I am not interested in someone that appeals to the psychotic base of his party without regard for anything resembling truth and integrity.

No comments: