Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show with guest host Alison Stewart to comment on the lies and contradictory statements being made by opponents of Health Care Reform in Congress. Tackling a video from a Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) Town Hall, she points out that by Senator Coburn offering to assist a constituent who is requesting help, the senator's office is providing a tax-payer funded solution at the same time as he says that government is not the solution to our problems. Senator Coburn is the government!
Ms. Schultz also dissects a concept that has been pushed by churches and small-government advocates for some time. Senator Coburn suggests that what this constituent needs is assistance from her neighbors. The woman has asked him to help her husband who has a brain injury, has been dropped by his insurance, and has been kicked out of a nursing home. She is asking him for help because her husband cannot eat or drink on his own. She is asking him for help because her cannot speak and has a feeding tube. They need professional medical assistance.
Says Schultz, "What is this neighbors helping neighbors? What are they supposed to do, throw bake sales to help raise this money for health care?"
I love it. The idea that her next-door neighbor could stand in for medical professionals would be hilarious if it wasn't so insulting. If you read between the lines, the implication that a local church or faith-based community group could help adds to the mess that the Bush administration started. Medical assistance should be handled by nurses and doctors. These people need help organized by a real social worker. These cases are the ones that we need real professionals working under the oversight of publicly elected officials.
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-Gabriel
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