I noticed while watching an interview of Rep. Miller-Meeks (R-IA-01) on local news station KWQC that she seems to have lost some of her past cheery bravado of late, at least since her appearance on Iowa Press in the 2022 debate with Christina Bohannan.  She’s singing the same GOP song but now when she delivers it, it seems lame and ineffective. She doesn’t seem as perky and when answering questions from the press, a little less certain that her mischaracterizations and filibustering are going to be believed.

To illustrate take a look at this twelve-second clip.  This was her final parting shot during the Iowa Press debate between herself and Christina Bohannan in 2022. The moderator Kay Henderson asks each candidate what will be their first priority if their party has control of congress after the election. Compare what Miller-Meeks states as her first priority to what Christina Bohannan states as her first priority.  Then we’ll discuss.

Here is happy, perky,  MMM in 2022:

Wasn’t that adorable? So cute! Great priorities! Well, wouldn’t that be everyone’s very top priority, to get rid of 87,000 IRS employees? She certainly seemed to think so then.

But the most astonishing thing was that she was re-elected.  Especially after Bohannan said her first priority would be to save rural Iowa hospitals – and bring more physicians to Iowa!  How prescient was that now that we see MAGA on its way to upending our health care system. Hopefully, Iowans have learned our lesson on which party is actually working for people and which party is in it for themselves. We have another chance to get this right.

On the following interview with KWQC just a couple of days ago, Miller-Meeks seems decidedly less untroubled now, compared to 2022, as you will see.  She seems a bit anxious about Democrats not obeying,  but instead are standing in the way of their evil plan to loot the health care system.  Rs didn’t get the sixty votes needed so they are very sad right now, blaming Democrats as they always do, while Trump makes threats that “very bad things” will happen.

The questions asked by KWQC brought up topics of concern that are problems for Republicans. Miller-Meeks was forced to try and defend the indefensible.  That’s not new for Rs, but after everything Trump has done and continues to do in 2.0 with the help of the Republican controlled congress, it’s a challenge for her to make it look like the shutdown is the Democrats’ fault. But she gives it her best shot.

On this KWQC broadcast, MMM didn’t particularly help the Rs’ case. Getting too far into the weeds on taxes… probably to obscure the fact that they are taking away health care coverage from Americans in order to continue the 2017 tax cuts to billionaires handed out during Trump’s first term, which would otherwise expire.

Miller-Meeks:  “… no one has said not to extend tax credits. And there is some confusion about that. So there are premium tax credits and there’s enhanced premium tax credits that came about during the Covid era. Tax cuts. And then there’s the tax credits for modest income people that were in the original Obamacare. And that can be discussed. There’s plenty of time to discuss that in the regular appropriations process should they wish to do so.

Well, Democrats did wish to do so BEFORE the government shut down but you all wouldn’t talk to them. Trump ghosted Schumer and Jeffries. Democrats have been burned by Republicans not keeping their promises. MAGAs are already paying no attention to whether anything Trump does is legal or illegal. So Dems are supposed to trust you?  Haha, very funny. Dems may be slow but we do catch on. KWQC persists.

KWQC: And those aren’t the tax credits that are being discussed. They are also raising concerns about clawbacks, like some that we saw earlier this year when congress approved funding for some programs and then later canceled it. Is that a legitimate concern?

Miller-Meeks: Well, I would say, you know, there are consequences to elections.

Oh, like we didn’t notice. I guess she just ran out of talking points there. She may have been shocked when there was an actual follow up question.  She went on to say more, you’ll just have to watch but you wouldn’t be missing anything if you didn’t.

Also, Republicans have been flat out lying when they say illegal immigrants are getting Medicaid. We went through this already during Joni Ernst’s infamous town hall where she said, “well, we all are going to die” when a constituent pointed out that people will die if they make the Medicaid cuts that are in the BUB (Big Ugly Bill).

Rs want their MAGA Fox News watching base to believe that illegal immigrants are receiving Medicaid because that is what their lie is based upon, that it is the REAL reason Democrats are standing firm to block their Big Ugly Bill.  They can’t have everyone believing Democrats are fighting so that people can have health care while the Trump regime and the Republican controlled congress take the money to give it to billionaires because no one would vote for them if they knew.

The fact of the matter is under federal law, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving most benefits, including enrollment in full Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) with two exceptions being emergencies (Rs presumably would prefer to just let them die because we’re all going to die) and state funded programs. Some states choose to fund coverage for children and pregnant women, for example. In Iowa, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for full Medicaid coverage. They can receive limited Medicaid benefits for emergency medical care.

So that’s what they’ve got to fight Democrats with. Lies, lies and more lies. But the truth is somehow breaking through and quite possibly, that is what could be weighing heavy on Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ mind these days.

Note the fake smile.

KWQC also interviewed Rep. Eric Sorensen (D) from Illinois for his take on the shutdown.