The Republican Round-Up: On Words

Recently elected Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) seems to think that because I believe healthcare to be a right rather than a privilege in this country, I also must then believe in slavery:

"With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to healthcare, you have to realize what that implies. It’s not an abstraction. I’m a physician. That means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me," Paul said recently in a Senate subcommittee hearing.

"It means you believe in slavery. It means that you’re going to enslave not only me, but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants who work in my office, the nurses," Paul said, adding that there is "an implied use of force."

"If I’m a physician in your community and you say you have a right to healthcare, you have a right to beat down my door with the police, escort me away and force me to take care of you? That’s ultimately what the right to free healthcare would be," Paul said.

If the good Senator wants to argue that healthcare is not a right, so be it.  For better or worse, there is a philosophical and public policy debate in there. But slavery? Last time I looked, the implementation of Medicare didn't cause an upturn in slavery.  Or physicians escorted away in the middle of the night by the police.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called President Obama, the "food stamp President." Whatever that means.

“President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history,” Gingrich said. “I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.”

If Gingrich is looking to blame the bleak economic environment on President Obama rather than his predecessor, he is going to have to do better than throwing around phrases like "food stamp President."

And finally, former Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah is having a difficult time explaining his relationship to the Mormon Church.

The would-be GOP presidential candidate appeared to distance himself from his faith in a new Time magazine profile posted online Thursday, describing himself as proud of his Mormon roots, but more spiritual than religious.

Asked directly if he was still a member of the church Huntsman answered, "That's tough to define. There are varying degrees. I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizes, and I draw from both sides."

I for one, am extremely sympathetic to the personal subtleties involved in professing religious affiliation. And respecting those subtleties, as well.  But, it's one thing to be vague about religious affiliation, and quite another thing to waffle on whether or not one is a member of a church.  Unfortunately, he is going to have to do a better job of explaining this one to the American people.

Much more, later!