October 14, 2013
The Randi Rhodes Show 


Once again over the weekend, the people who shut the government down were out there protesting the government shutdown. Tea Party protesters were out in Washington, waving Confederate flags and signs that said things like “Respect our vets.” How about respecting the 300,000 veterans who died fighting against the Confederate flag? Newsflash, people—“our” vets don’t include the guys who were fighting to destroy our country... in 1865 any more than it does now.

Among the attendees were Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, and half-governor Sarah Palin. Later on the crowd marched over to the White House. It doesn’t seem that Ted Cruz or Sarah Palin joined them there. Too bad—that’s as close as either one of them would ever get to the White House.

Over the weekend, Louie Gohmert said that any default on the debt would be “an impeachable offense” for President Obama. So in Gohmert’s legal reasoning, if Obama is unable to prevent Congress from defaulting on the debt, then Congress can put him on trial for it. Louie Gohmert was a judge in Texas for over 10 years. Somebody needs to take another look at every conviction that came out of his courtroom!

On the eve of the government shutdown, Republicans made a rule change in the House to guarantee that the shutdown can’t be stopped. So they put a lot of thought into how to pull this shutdown off, even if they gave absolutely no thought into what to do when it happened. Under the new rule, only the House majority leader, Eric Cantor , can bring the clean CR bill to the floor. No chance of that. That’s like saying the only person who can bring a civil rights measure to the floor is the Grand Dragon of the KKK.

At the Values Voters Summit, conservative media darling Ben Carson said that Obamacare is “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.” Well, Obamacare and slavery do have this much in common—Obamacare is the law of the land, just like slavery was. Now, opponents of the ACA probably wouldn’t have to win a Civil War in order to get rid of Obamacare. All they have to do is win majorities in some elections. Hmmm... come to think of it, it might be easier for conservatives to win a Civil War than for them to win elections. Maybe that’s why they’re trying to start a Civil War.