I think I hyper extended my elbow violently giving Bill Frist the finger as he appeared on Nightline last night. (Transcript)
The story was about the Medicare bill, and a laundry list of unethical, and possibly illegal practices employed by the Republicans to ensure the bill's passage. It was really a sad, infuriating report.
There was a lot of detail about how Medicare actuary Richard Foster, whose job it was to calculate the costs of the legislation, was threatened with the loss of his job if he disclosed the true figures before the vote.
Also explored were the charges that Representative Nick Smith (R, Mich), who is retiring this year, was first offered money and endorsements from top party leaders for his son, who is running to replace him, and then threatened with the sabotage of his son's campaign when he refused. Smith has since backed off of some of these charges (I wonder why), though the House Ethics Committee is still pursuing an investigation.
Also being investigated is the White House's "news release" featuring the now infamous Karen Ryan.
And there's still more, like the unprecedented step of keeping the "15 minute" vote open for over 3 hours so Republican leadership could strong-arm representatives to change their votes (when the vote was scheduled to close the nays had it).
But what really got my finger-giving arm injured was this statement by House Majority Leader and Spawn of the Devil Bill Frist (R, Tenn) -- "These estimates are just that. They're guesstimates, to my mind. Nobody knows, and nobody will know, what this bill is going to ultimately cost."
That's not the point, you son of a bitch, and you damn well know it. The point is that you HAD IN HAND (or would have if party pressure and threats had not served to keep them under wraps) much higher estimates, and you, or those who do your evil bidding, deliberately hid those estimates from the American people. Asshole.
What was most important about this piece (full transcript here) was the bipartisan criticism. In fact, much of it came from Republicans like Senator Chuck Hagel (R - Neb), Rep. Pat Toomey (R - Pa), and even analysts at the conservative Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute.
I'm starting to have a feeling that when all the smoke of this administration clears, some people are going to be in jail, and it makes me positively giddy just to think about it.
