Treats

[oselle]

Conservative lunatic Ann Coulter had this to say today on CNN:

"It's hard to take treats away from people...yes, it's very hard to take the treats away once you start giving them away."

The "treats" she's referring to are Social Security and Medicare, two of the only existing social programs in the United States that allow elderly people to have guaranteed income and access to medical care. Keeping elderly people out of poverty and in some semblance of good health are "treats."

What in God's name is wrong with these people? And more importantly, why the fuck does an outrageous, offensive, inhuman comment like this go unchallenged by the show's host, Fareed Zakaria? He only asked her if it would "work." Why didn't he ask her what sort of human being thinks that such undeniable necessities are mere "treats?"

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how quickly they've descended to this level, I mean that they can be so openly against helping anyone. No more of this idea that if you work hard your whole life you should be able to have a few years between when you're unable to work and when you die. No, now it's that if you don't have enough to live comfortably after retirement--and pay for wildly expensive medical bills--you were just a slacker all along who wants something for nothing.

Or it's like that one guy who was at a town meeting and when a woman asked how she was going to pay for her longterm illness was like "Why are you asking why the government is going to pay? Why aren't you doing things for yourself?" To which everyone cheered. And when someone asked why he was using government healthcare he said "Hey, if you give people something for free they're going to use it." Basically saying hey, if they're stupid enough to give it to me I'll benefit from it.

They seem to have realized that they don't even have to pretend to care about anybody anymore. In fact, it just hurts them when they do. If they get up and say people should die in the street if they don't have a lot of money they're more popular!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

They've descended to this level exactly because this garbage goes unchallenged. The least Zakaria could have done is ask Coulter to explain how she can consider these things "treats." It's pure savagery and no one calls it out. Once, they were just attacking immigrants and the poor, now it's anyone over 65 who didn't manage to become a multi-millionaire during their working years. Sean Hannity had that asshole John Stossel on the other night and Stossel's response to people who need Medicare was literally, "Tough." Really? Tough?

Anyone who supports these kinds of positions has really checked their humanity at the door.

[mulder200.livejournal.com]

There is always a disconnect between those who are privileged and the non-privileged.

Perhaps if someone took away their "treats" they would be more understanding.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yes, that disconnect has always been there, but it's never been so brazen, at least not since the days when societies believe that the rich were actually morally superior to and more deserving than everyone else.

Your icon, however, is bliss.

[amber1960.livejournal.com]

Artmetica's BB art is fab http://artmetica.livejournal.com/27084.html

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Oh MY! Thank you for the link! I'm all fluttery!

[jenneany.livejournal.com]

I can't even get myself worked up over Ann Coulter anymore - everything she says is just a sad ploy for attention rooted in her self-esteem issues. This does nothing to excuse her evilness, it just makes her more pathetic than terrifying.

But she still makes me want to throw up.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Well, I wish supposedly legitimate news outlets like CNN felt the same way you do. I also think she's a sad joke, but she keeps getting a national platform to spew this shit unchecked as if it were the gospel truth. I still remember the Time magazine cover article that fawned over her as some kind of witty, truth-telling firebrand.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

I recall paying for those "treats." Every two weeks.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Oh but the conservative lie-du-jour is that we get back SO MUCH MORE than we put in!

Really? My mother's Social Security is something like $600 a month. I'd like to see Ann Coulter "treat" herself on that. Meanwhile, all of her long-term care expenses will have to be paid out-of-pocket, not by Medicare. Some treats.

[dodger-sister.livejournal.com]

I expect it from Coulter, but Fareed Zakaria not calling her on it has me extremely disappointed in someone I always admired.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Zakaria shouldn't have had her on in the first place, unless the topic of the show was "Scumbags Who Are Destroying America To Get Rich." The woman is a screeching publicity whore who's only interested in plying her repulsive shtick to line her pockets. She has no intellect other than a grifter's cunning, and no real knowledge of anything, especially not of politics, the economy, or the most basic fundamentals of human decency. It's abominable that Zakaria and others keep legitimizing people like her.