Benghazi committee chairman, Trey Gowdy, claims he has "no friends to reward and no foes to punish" with investigation. Republicans already being rewarded as they use Benghazi as fundraising tool.

Courtesy of Politico:

Rep. Trey Gowdy, the new chairman of the select committee assigned to investigate the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya — vowed Sunday the process would be fair, factual and nonpartisan. 

“I have no friends to reward and no foes to punish,” the South Carolina Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’re going to go wherever the facts take us. Facts are neither Republican nor Democratic, they are facts.” 

“If we overplay our hand or we engage in a process that is not fair according to the American people, then we will be punished, as we should be,” Gowdy told Fox’s Chris Wallace. 

Gowdy pushed back on the notion that he was treating the chairmanship like a judicial prosecution — walking back a comment earlier last week where he said: “I can’t end a trial simply because the defense won’t cooperate.” 

“For 16 years, I spoke in trial metaphors and perhaps I need to get out of that habit,” the former prosecutor said Sunday.

Anybody who watched Gowdy embarrass South Carolina, and the rest of America during his previous Benghazi hearings, while he was questioning Kathleen Sebelius, and during the ridiculous IRS hearings, has no reason to believe that he will conduct himself in a reasonable and respectful manner during this latest witch hunt.

And as for the rest of the Republican party?

Courtesy of the Daily Kos.

Well they already got what they wanted from this debacle.

With Kathleen Sebelius resigning the Right Wing's most rabid attack dog goes after her replacement.

Courtesy of the Tundra Twattle's Facebook page:

You just can't make this stuff up. 

President Obama just appointed Sylvia Burwell to take over Obamacare, the disastrous beast under which our entire health care system and 1/6 of our nation's economy is forever fundamentally transformed. (Yeah, let's not bother to mention the millions of people who now have access to health care.)

Remember last year when America's war memorials, national parks, patriotic amenities, student White House tours, etc. were shut down because the Obama administration's spending priorities are so out of whack?  (Okay is she talking about when Ted Cruz and the Republicans refused to vote to raise the debt ceiling and forced a government shutdown?) Americans were told the Federal government didn't have enough of our tax dollars to allow WWII vets to walk across a public sidewalk to visit a statue honoring these heroes. This, during the "shutdown" when crony capitalism, earmarks, and waste and fraud continued to fill the swamp. This, while the first family continued to live elaborately large and some in Congress had the gall to whine that they aren't paid enough. This, while the people's will continued to be arrogantly ignored. 

What a cold and callous bureaucrat it was who'd direct that quite revealing fiasco, an episode over which the Obama Administration never recovered in the court of public opinion. (Actually this is only true in Palin-world, in the real world the administration suffered virtually no backlash, and the blame was laid squarely where it belongs. At the feet of Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and the Right Wing agitators.)

Who would do such a thing? Who would punish patriotic Americans? (Oooh, ooh, I know, I know. The Teabaggers.) Who sent the email initiating all this? 

The political operative Sylvia Burwell. 

It's Sylvia's stain on the ash heap of history. And along with Sylvia's stain comes her disturbing, punitive priorities as she takes over our health care coverage. Yeah, nothing can go wrong with that. 

You can't make this stuff up.

 - Sarah Palin

I like how she says, "you just can't make this stuff up" right before she essentially makes this stuff up.

Salon referred to this attack as  "The dumbest thing the right is saying about Sebelius’ replacement," which kind of makes sense considering who it taking point on this.

Of course the Republicans are not even close to unified on this scurrilous and desperate attack.  Here is what John McCain tweeted after Burwell was selected.

Sylvia Burwell is an excellent choice to be the next #HHS Secretary
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 11, 2014

At this point the attacks from the rabid Right Wing have become so infantile and immature that you almost think that they would all benefit from a diaper change and a good nap.

Of course Sarah Palin's immaturity is part of her brand, so I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Despite charges to the contrary from Republicans, Kathleen Sebelius is NOT resigning because Obamacare is a failure. She is resigning because it is now clearly a success.

Courtesy of Vox:  

Obamacare has won. And that's why Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius can resign. 

Calls for Sebelius's resignation were almost constant after Obamacare's catastrophic launch. The problem wasn't just that Sebelius had presided over the construction of a fantastically expensive web site that flatly didn't work. It was that she didn't know healthcare.gov was going to instantly, systemically fail. And so the White House didn't know that healthcare.gov was going to instantly, systemically fail. The demands that Sebelius to step down — or be fired — were as deafening inside the building as outside of it. 

But President Obama refused. As National Journal's Major Garrett reported, Obama believes that "scaring people with a ceremonial firing deepens fear, turns allies against one another, makes them risk-averse, and saps productivity." Moreover, there was too much to be done to fire one of the few people who knew how to finish the job. Sebelius would stay. The White House wouldn't panic in ways that made it harder to save the law. 

The evidence has piled up in recent weeks that the strategy worked. Obamacare's first year, despite a truly horrific start, was a success. More than 7 million people look to have signed up for health insurance through the exchanges. Millions more have signed up through Medicaid. And millions beyond that have signed up for insurance through their employers.

Right now the Right Wing is patting itself on the back and claiming that Sebelius is caving to pressure from them to resign, despite the fact that they were unable to budge her for the entire healthcare.gov debacle, and that she faced the Republicans down in hearing after hearing.

This is like a big burly man tripping and falling in the street and bunch of children running up and claiming to have knocked him down.

Sebelius resisted the Right Wing calls for her to step down, and for President Obama to fire her, and now that Obamacare has achieved its goal i is simply time for her to take a less stressful job.

Happens all the time, in all administrations.

In my opinion Kathleen Sebelius should be quite proud of her success. If ever there were a heavy lift in American politics the Affordable Care Act was it.

On the other hand the numerous deaths that will surely be the result of the refusal of Republican governors to expand Medicaid will be the legacy of the Right Wing.

In attempt to insult HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Republican Congressman gets his Korea's mixed up.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) insulted either Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius or a U.S. ally Wednesday in a testy back-and-forth over Obamacare, in which he compared her answers to something he'd hear from the "Republic of Korea." 

Shimkus was attempting to get Sebelius to admit that the cost of providing preventive services under the Affordable Care Act will raise insurance premiums. But she was not buying it, arguing instead that preventive services lower costs. 

"You cannot say these preventive services are, quote unquote, free of charge, can you?" said a heated Shimkus. 

"They are free to the consumer, yes, sir," answered Sebelius, provoking apparent disbelief from the Illinois congressman. 

"There is no free lunch, Madam Secretary," Shimkus said as she tried to point out actuarial estimates of the benefits of preventive care. 

"All right, all right. I got it," Shimkus said before Sebelius was finished. "We're going to have to agree to disagree," he added before groping for a suitable, unflattering comparison. 

"It's like talking to -- the Republic of Korea or something," he said. 

The Republic of Korea is an American ally, generally known as South Korea. It does not have a reputation for being difficult to talk to. North Korea, which is notoriously difficult to deal with, is known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.  

You may remember Shimkus as the dipstick who denies the existence of man made global warming because only God can destroy what he created: 

Speaking before a House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearing in March, 2009, Shimkus quoted Chapter 8, Verse 22 of the Book of Genesis. 

He said: 'As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.' 

The Illinois Republican continued: 'I believe that is the infallible word of God, and that's the way it is going to be for his creation. 

'The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood."

I'm sorry serious public officials, who couch their arguments in science and facts should NOT have to suffer the indignity of being questioned and then shouted at by imbeciles like this.

Oh and by the way, Sebelius is right. 

Sometimes you just have to laugh. SNL's take on the Affordable Care website is not to be missed.

I am ashamed to admit that I fell asleep early on Saturday night and missed this entire show.

But don't blame me, sometimes all of that drinking typing, and surfing porn research really tires a fellow out.

I just wish they would hurry up and iron out all of the kinks. I really want to get me some of that health care insurance people are always talking about. Sounds awesome.

Sarah Palin accuses the government of instituting the "death panels" that she has been warning us about, when in fact they are doing the exact opposite.

So this was posted on the Wasilla Wendigo's Facebook page as about nineteen hours ago:  

The government will bend the rules left and right to harass targeted taxpayers, conservative patriots, selected journalists, etc., but it will strictly exercise inconsistent and subjective rules to deny a child a shot at life. And they called us liars when we spoke of “death panels” – faceless bureaucrats coming between you and your doctor to make life and death decisions about a loved one’s survival. It doesn’t sound so far fetched anymore, does it? 

- Sarah Palin

After that she links to this truly heartbreaking story about a young girl in  Philadelphia who desperately needs a new lung, but due to policies in place is only in line to receive a child's young but not in line to receive an adult lung if one becomes available.

In this hospital there are three other children just as sick and also in need of a lung transplant, and if an exception were made, and this little girl was put on the adult list, she would jump ahead of 40 adult patients also waiting for a lung transplant.

Now look as a parent I find this story incredibly upsetting and if I were this girl's parents I would be moving heaven and earth to save my child, and begging for preferential treatment to save her life, because THAT IS WHAT PARENTS DO!

I do not fault he parents at all.

However for Sarah Palin to take this and turn it into an opportunity to attack the administration is incredibly low, especially since what she is suggesting is to do the EXACT thing that he accused the Affordable Care Act of doing!

This was how Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius responded about this case:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a congressional panel Tuesday that medical experts should make those decisions.

Get it? She said that the medical experts at the hospital make those decisions, NOT the Obama administration of government types.  So IF she intervened as the parents are asking her to do, she would be moving this little girl to the top of the list and essentially moving everybody else down a slot.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't THAT be the government choosing who lived or died, due to political pressure rather than following the guidelines that are in place to provide equal access to care for all?

And isn't THAT the very definition of the "death panels" that Sarah Palin warned all of America about?

The government choosing who lives and who dies. Now where have I heard THAT before?