This is what happens when you elect people who hate the government to run the government Whether it’s the Tea Party Nation, TeaParty.org, the Tea Party Express, the Tea Party Patriots, or any number of the myriad local tea party groups across the country, their message is the same: We hate president Obama Shrink government and lower our taxes. “TEA”, […]

Don’t feed the seagulls. Last Thursday, Democratic candidate for governor Mark Schauer ventured into the lion’s den and made a campaign appearance in conservative Howell, Michigan in Livingston County. From the reports that I’ve seen, over 100 people showed up which is remarkable because (a) we’re still 13 months out from the election and (b) there are people who would […]

See ya on the radio… Last night I spoke with my pal Tony Trupiano on the First Shift radio show about the rank hypocrisy of Congressman Tim Walberg from the 7th Congressional District. Our conversation centered around my piece “Tea partier Tim Walberg has been on the public teat for 30 years and will stay there when he retires”. We […]

Go away, Janice. Just. Go. Away. Former Troy, Michigan mayor Janice Daniels was recalled from office last year. Her public homophobic statements, incomprehensible tea party rants at public meetings, and damage to the local economy by impeding a major public transportation hub from being built in Troy all led the citizens there to unceremoniously toss her out of office. You […]

They didn’t just fail to vote. They failed the people they were elected to represent. I’m sick, absolutely sick to my stomach that Republicans in the Michigan Senate refused to hold an up or down vote on Medicaid expansion before adjourning for a two-month recess. Good thing I’m not one of the hundreds of thousands of residents who were counting […]

Forward momentum and signs of compromise are promising. Supporters of Medicaid expansion — which is pretty much everyone except the Tea Party and staunch conservatives, by most accounts — will be happy to hear some positive news. The House Michigan Competitiveness committee voted 9-5 to approve a Medicaid expansion bill, according to an article in the Detroit Free Press. Opponents […]

Draped in a flag, carrying a cross The funny thing about so-called “small government” Republicans is their hypocritical desire to pass more and more laws, many of them with no purpose (like the Senate resolution that was passed last week “to express support for the state of Michigan officially recognizing September 19, 2013, as International Talk Like a Pirate Day”.) […]

An open letter urges conservatives to “sit out” Governor Rick Snyder’s re-election campaign. That’s how much the Michigan Tea Party hates Obamacare. They’d sabotage the Republican Governor’s chances of winning re-election to prove a point. They published an open letter today railing against Gov. Snyder’s continued efforts to convince the Michigan legislature to accept Medicaid expansion. Never mind the fact […]

The tea party wins – a good thing for the wrong reasons The Michigan Senate adjourned today for their 2013 spring break without acting on the state-run health insurance exchange allowed under the Affordable Care Act. Governor Rick Snyder said today was the last day to pass the needed legislation so the result is that the federal government will run […]

You have to give them credit for taking government back — to a time when it didn’t care about the poor

Tea party groups in Michigan appear to have succeeded in preventing an expansion of Medicaid that would have given health insurance to nearly a half million working poor Michiganders and preventing the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange. The actions will cost the state millions and millions of dollars, ensure that fewer people have health coverage than would have under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act and, ironically, help take the country a step closer to a single-payer health care system in the long run.

On Wednesday, the House Appropriations subcommittee passed their annual budget bill without the inclusion of the expansion of Medicaid that Governor Snyder, doctors, and hospitals across the state supported emphatically. Even tea party governors like Florida’s Rick Scott support this element of “Obamacare” since it would mean coverage of millions of their residents while relieving the burden on their hospital systems. They also kicked poor people in the teeth in a couple of other ways, as well.

Click through for details.

Sorry, face. This nose has got to go

Governor Rick Snyder is warning Michigan Republican legislators that time is running out to set up a state-run health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”.) As Gov. Snyder points out, we have the choice of doing this in a way that is customized for Michigan or letting the federal government do it for us.

Meanwhile, tea party groups in Michigan are working overtime to kill it, a position I have come to cheer on. Click through to see why.