"Will these be enough chickens for an angioplasty? No. Ok, then. Can I get a couple of weeks of chemo then?"
(from )
Sadly, I'm not kidding. Republican candidate for Nevada's senate seat Sue Lowden thinks bartering farm animals is a way to control healthcare costs. No, really:
A couple weeks ago our Eric Kleefeld came up with video showing Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden suggesting that "bartering" for medical care would be a good way to rein in spiraling health care costs.
I mocked her with the headline: "I bid three chickens for that MRI!" But I sort of figured she'd rethink that plan after her advisors sat her down for a moment and explained the concept of a cash economy or maybe if she found out what 'barter' meant. But it turns out that she was serious. Not just serious. She was actually thinking about payment in chickens too.
Yesterday she told a local news program: "I'm telling you that this works. You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor."
That someone who believes in the equivalent of flat-earth economics could even run for Senate in one of the two major political parties is testimony to the power of the unholy alliance of theocrats, recidivist segregationists, and 'free marketers.' As John Cole put it:
Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax.
At this point, the Republican Party has, as driftglass put it, devolved from Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose into Glenn Beck's downer cow. In the 21st century, we have someone who stands a very good chance of being a U.S. senator, who could, for instance, have the power to declare war, who 'thinks' that bartering farm animals will control healthcare costs.
I think it's safe to say that she won't be up on the nuances of modern monetary theory either...
- Log in to post comments
I'm pretty sure this is the most accurate use of the "fucking morons" tag so far.
Does she understand that we don't live in "the olden days"?
Where am I going to get a live chicken?
"Category: Conservatives ⢠Fucking Morons ⢠Healthcare"
Conservatives, fucking morons - that is being redundant.
A teabagger took a chicken to the hospital to pay for surgery. And the doctor said: "So, I take it you want a brain transplant?"
Good one @5.
If ignorance ever goes above $30 a barrel, I want the drilling rights on Ms. Lowden's head.
Are the Republicans having a national competition for Total Raving Loon of the Year? Given the number of contestants, and the incredible level of competitiveness I can easily see this woman making it to the Final Four. And if she ends up fighting it out with Palin and Bachmann -- well, there will be blood.
My parents were children during the Hoover Depression, and they passed on lots of stories about what families had to do to survive. My Dad was 8 years old when his father lost his job, and every kid in the family who was old enough to pitch in worked out some kind of hustle. Dad's was to stop at the neighborhood butcher shop on his way home from school to sweep out the place and lay down fresh sawdust while the butcher put the meat back in the cooler and washed down the fixtures. On Saturdays he would go back to the shop with his coaster wagon and the butcher would give him meat for the family. And when his Dad saw his own children providing -- through barter -- what he couldn't, it broke him. He was never the same after.
And now the Chicken Lady wants to romanticize a social catastrophe. These people are out of their tiny minds.