Putting A Face On The Ignorance And Hate That Brought Us Real Death Panels

A Look At The Faces Of Hate And Ignorance – Tea Partiers Become Trumpers

these “ladies” had literature that claimed “Obama is a Nazi” in their hands

[Update – 6/13/20 – more evidence confirms my thesis: (Counterpunch):

Many of the same extreme right operatives who created the “Tea Party” are behind the anti-science and anti-intellectual spectacles opposing measures designed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. And with much the same agenda. (read the whole thing).

~~~ end update]

[Update – 4/17/20 – NY Times reports on outrageously irresponsible Trump Tweets makes same connection we did:

Echoed across the internet and on cable television by conservative pundits and ultraright conspiracy theorists, his tweets were a remarkable example of a president egging on demonstrators and helping to stoke an angry fervor that in its anti-government rhetoric was eerily reminiscent of the birth of the Tea Party movement a decade ago.

[Update – 4/15/20 – If you think I exaggerate about “Death Panels”, read this horrific account by a doctor. ~~~ end update]

As the exploding number of cases of COVID-19 outstrips the capacity of the private for profit US healthcare system, hospitals are now rationing health care to COVID-19 patients, e.g. see this Washington Post story:

Hospitals Consider Universal “Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders

Some have likened such rationing to the “death panels” that Tea Party protesters and Republicans claimed would result from Obamacare.

These same people, ideologies, ignorance, and political organizations have blocked Medicare For All and effective government pandemic preparation planning and regulation of the private for profit US healthcare system – including hospitals – that could have contained and mitigated the number and extent of cases and deaths we are now suffering.

Jeffrey St. Clair:

Alice Dreger, bioethicist and author of Galileo’s Middle Finger: “If you need a wake-up call, here it is: My husband was on a large conference call of American med school deans last night. One asked about legal coverage for pulling people off ventilators to give to others more likely to survive. i.e., not being charged with murder. Here we are.”

These people have blood on their hands. Their ideology and politics have proven deadly.

So, to put a face on this ignorance and hatred, we thought we’d repost photos from a September 7, 2009 post about a “Town Hell” by Tea Party Protesters at Congressman Holt’s district constituent meeting in Middletown NJ on August 26, 2009.

Take a good look at these people. Look at the hate on their faces. And don’t forget.