Queen of the Crazies Michelle Bachmann, organizer of the rally, referred to the gathering as the “Super Bowl of Freedom.” This is another odd metaphor, since the Super Bowl implies the two worthiest competitors in a given field vying to see who is the best. It’s hard to imagine how Mao and Hitler made it through the quarterfinals and semi-finals of Freedom.

The Republican members of Congress who participated showed that they might not be Super Bowl caliber Freedomers themselves. Minority Leader John Boehner announced that he was going to read from the Constitution, and proceeded to read from the Declaration of Independence. Rep. Todd Akin led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance in order to “drive the liberals crazy,” and then proceeded to screw up the words.

The Republican rally was full of war metaphors as well.  Capitol Hill became Lexington, Concord, Pork Chop Hill, and Hamburger Hill all rolled into one, not to be abandoned until the Democratic health care bill is “killed.” The Republicans and their teabagging followers referred to themselves as “freedom fighters.”

Curiously, despite all the war metaphors and the vitriolic rhetoric about government run health care being an evil worse than terrorism and equal to Nazism, no one in the crowd struck a literal blow against government run health care when given the opportunity. After a protester suffered a heart attack, he was attended to by medical personnel from the Capitol physician’s office. Health care employees employed by the United States government!!!!!! Rather than bludgeoning the paramedics, who are essentially SS officers in Glenn Beck Land, the protesters cleared a path so the person could be treated. Apparently, when faced with the suffering a real live human being, concern for human life takes precedence over ideological concerns about the proper role of government.

Just a couple days before this sorry spectacle on Capitol Hill, the Republicans released their alternative health care proposal (nothing like waiting till the last minute). Over the next 10 years, the Republican plan would lower the number of uninsured from 17% of the population to . . . 17% of the population. Compare this to the Democratic House bill, which lowers the percentage of uninsured Americans to 4% of the population.
Ah, but as the protesters made clear yesterday, the real evil we must be afraid of is not people lacking health insurance, but growth of  government. And the Republican plan is estimated to decrease the federal deficit by $68 billion. . . which is only $36 billion less than the Democratic plan trims from the deficit. So the Democratic plan both saves more and does more than the Republican plan. As Ezra Klein puts it:

It’s one thing to keep your cards close to your chest. Republicans are in the minority, after all, and their plan stands no chance of passage. It’s another to lay them out on the table and show everyone that you have no hand, and aren’t even totally sure how to play the game.

-AR