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Old man yells at cloud
There was a time, only a few short years ago, when Richard Cohen was one of the few columnists I actually respected. I read his column regularly. I have no idea if senility or the post-9/11 ignorance or a combination of both overcame him, but in any way, it's disturbing to see a formerly-respectable columnist write like a circa-2004 warblogger.
DougJ makes the most important point already- that Cohen is, at this point, lucky (or perhaps deliberately aware) that he'll be dead twenty or so years from now, the paycheck long cashed, when we look back at columns like this and wonder how broken American mentality must have been to support such juvenile arguments like this. I feel it's worth pointing out that it's also just a terribly written column in general. Does the Post seriously not think there are better writers out there? With more original and creative thoughts than those I've seen on bumper stickers?
Oh, and as always, when a conservative brings up waterboarding, I repeat my standard personal rule: if you support waterboarding people, fine. You just also have to support formally apologizing to Japanese soldiers we prosecuted for waterboarding people.
"Dead Kids"
My favorite right-wing arguments are ones like the "rationing" one, where if anyone in the media bothered to allow the so-called "argument" to follow through to its logical conclusion, they'd have no choice but to realize how absurd and horrible it is. Case in point, the whine repeated in today's strip. In its essence, to claim that quality health care is some sort of limited resource in America is to believe that the system where, assumedly, you have coverage, requires that many others do not. So why is no time given to these defenders against the mystical demon called "rationing" to honor those untold martyrs who graciously forgo insurance so that you may be safe from disease?
One in every nine children in America has no health insurance. Would Joe the Douchebag whining about rationing be willing to pay sixteen cents for a pill instead of fifteen to make that one in ten instead? Just curious, really. If the right truly thinks people have to be insured, I demand some actual numbers.
So, hey, there's now a Facebook page for the cartoon. If you're on Facebook and are a fan, you should sign up for that. I'm one of those bizarre, rare people on Facebook who thinks my personal Facebook page should actually be restricted to friends and family and people who I actually want to know about where I live and what I ate for breakfast. To quote the great Marge Simpson, I made you a second cake for you to all mess up.
And as always, buy some crap and join the mailing list.