New Yorker mag shows us Obama medicating McConnell.

The New Yorker has often used its cover for satirical  illustrations, but none more clever than the latest depicting President Obama spooning a dose of healh care to  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. In lower right (not a pun, but could be)  is half of Speaker John Boehner's face.   ENJOY!  I did .

For Congressman Peter King, time doesn't fly

Appearing on CNN, Rep. Peter King of Long Island, slammed President Obama's imagined  tardiness in describing the Libyan attack as terrorism.  Here's what the 20 -year Republican congressman said:

"I'm going to use my words very carefully.  I think the president's conduct and his behavior on this issue has been shameful.  And - first of all, as far as it being an actor of terror, the president was almost four minutes into his statement on September 12th before he mentioned an act of terror."  King contradicted  Mitt Romney's assessment by a mile that it took Obama two weeks to call it terror."

Jeez.  Four minutes?  Congressman King obviously didn't choose his words carefully enough.  No choice but to give him one of my not-so-coveted Grumpy Abe Linguistic Lunacy (GALL) awards without the labor of choosing my words carefully.

UPDATE;  My column on Jon Husted's surrender on early voting is posted on Plunderbund.

Wamp vs. Brown: No contest

AS PRESIDENT OBAMA'S  health-care initiative gets banged around in Congress , as you know it will, it was good  to hear Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown's put-down of Rep. Zack Wamp, the Tennessee Republican who got all tangled up in his own words on whether health care was a right or a privilege.

The blog Think Progress picked up  this exchange from MSNBC:

  

WAMP:  Listen, health care a privilege...

MSNBC: Well, it's a privilege? Health Care? I mean if you have cancer right now, do you see it as a privilege to get treatment?

WAMP: I was just about to say, for some people it's a right.  But for everyone, frankly it's not necessarily a right. .    

Wamp went on to claim that many Americans are uninsured by choice because they "rejected" the insurance plan offered by their employers.  Asked to respond to Wamp, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Oh) remarked "Well, my reaction is that it was said by somebody who has a really good health insurance plan as a member of the House of Representatives.  More importantly than that,  [health care] is a right in this country." 

A couple of problems here, the guy Tennessee should know:  The millions of people who have lost their jobs do not have the option to reject a health insurance plan from a non-existent employer.

And to those senators and congressmen who will be in the trenches to oppose a sweeping health care reform, Brown  again touched a nerve by referring to the relatively inexpensive benefits that congressmen enjoy  to keep them healthy  so that they, like Wamp, can fight another day.

Just a few  (rights or privileges? ):

They are covered by the Federal Employes Health Benefits Program.   I'll let you decide how the plan  made it through an always vigilant Congress:

THERE are no preconditions for senators or representatives  for immediate health insurance coverage.  Indeed, you can sign up for it  just before the death rattle.

The government will pay for up to 75 pct. of your premiums! 

You will have your own pharmacy on Capitol Hill, with your own doctors and other medical services.   

Etc.etc. etc.

I think of this when guys like Wamp and his brethren make  fools of themselves in broad daylight.  It's healthy that Sherrod Brown provided us with a second opinion.