Blog For Iowa

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers drowned out by chants of “Save Our Healthcare” at MLK Day Rally

Remember last year shortly after Antonin Scalia died and Chuck Grassley reinterpreted the constitution to read that he, as chair of the Judiciary Committee, had the right to decide whether or not a new Supreme Court justice would be nominated and approved? Then he took his newly imagined powers out around Iowa to see how they would play.

It didn’t play well. Not well at all. It especially didn’t play well in towns of any size.

So in the middle of an election year Grassley created a new version of hi 99 county tour where he avoided people except in carefully selected venues that were very friendly. My recollection was that he seldom met an audience in a town over 2000 east of Des Moines.

Even though this year is not an election year Republican politicians around the country are getting hounded by constituents scared of losing their healthcare. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers was booed off the stage in Spokane Monday because of the ACA.

In Denver, Rep. Mike Coffman was also booed off the stage also on Monday as he called for the repeal of the ACA.

Closer to home constituents picketed the Cedar Rapids office of Rod Blum, Iowa’s 1st district radical Republican.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/19/1622236/-Iowa-Republican-finds-himself-on-the-wrong-side-of-constituents-on-Obamacare

“Get used to it, Republicans. The angry crowds you’re going to be facing from now on are people whose lives you are jeopardizing, and they’re going to let you know about it. Like they did with Rep. Rob Blum, in Cedar Rapids.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) — Sara Kissling owns The Sausage Foundry in Cedar Rapids with her husband. She has stage five kidney failure. The Affordable Care Act lets her get coverage with her pre-existing condition. It also helps her afford dialysis treatment and medical equipment.

People protest outside 1st District Rep. Rod Blum’s (R-Iowa) office in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017. The protesters do not want Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (Phil Reed/KCRG-TV9)

She says, “Without it I would have met my cap within maybe six months. I’d be dead right now anyway, because who can afford $30,000 per month in expenses.”

Blum failed to materialize to address his constituents, but he probably saw this local news broadcast which you can see below the fold. As did most of his constituents. And let me tell you, Sara Kissling is a very sympathetic—and effective—spokesperson.

Keep it up, folks!”

Voters are awakening to the fact that they did not vote to take away their access to healthcare. They are becoming more aware that Republicans lied through their teeth about replacing the ACA with something better. They are now aware that Republicans are only interested in repealing the ACA so they can give the top .1% a huge tax cut.

Voters are also really pissed off that the radical Republicans are setting their sights on privatizing Medicare that will effectively end healthcare for the elderly. This is not what they voted for. In fact thanks to a docile media that only featured one story and that was about emails, this was not talked about at all.

Voters are really mad that medicaid – the only health care for many of the most vulnerable in our society – will be drastically cut.

Voters are really, really pissed that the Children’s health program (CHiP) is being used as a bargaining chip by the radical Republicans. None of this was discussed during a campaign that was almost devoid of any discussion of issues.

What is really galling is that the very basic reason that OUR healthcare is being cut is so that the richest in our country can be given a huge tax cut! If that doesn’t make your stomach turn you must be one of those getting a huge tax cut.

So what do Republicans do when they stomp on their constituents? They hide. Refuse to make appearances or not announce them in advance the way Grassley didn’t last year. They also refuse to take questions on certain subjects or refuse to talk to the press.

We see that last strategy – refusing to talk to the press – as what will probably be one of the Trump approaches. The other approach for the Trumps will be to simply invent a new (and friendlier) “press” out of whole cloth.

So keep an eye on Iowa’s senators and representatives to see when their public appearances are. Be sure to confront them in public arenas about healthcare. Repeal of the ACA and privatizing Medicare and slashing medicaid and CHiP will affect every household in this country.

protest at Rep. David Young’s office – coutesy democraticunderground.com