Great job by Democratic State Senate nominee April Moore in her debate against Sen. Mark "Criminalize Miscarriages" Obenshain (extreme-right "R") the other day, and I've got a few short videos that demonstrate why. Sure, Obenshain is the favorite to win in this bright-"red" district, but that doesn't mean he has any idea what he's talking about - on pretty much any subject - or that April Moore isn't far better informed, with her head screwed on infinitely straighter, than Obenshain.
Let's start with the issue of Medicaid expansion (see video clip). Note that April Moore makes an actual argument, supported by actual facts, to expand Medicaid: 1) that not expanding Medicaid is hurting our economy in Virginia; 2) that not expanding Medicaid is preventing 1,500 jobs from being created in the 26th State Senate district; 3) that in most advanced, industrialized countries, "health care is a right;" 4) that health care shouldn't be something hard-working people have to be "rich to afford;" and 5) that Medicaid expansion would be "good for our rural hospitals, which are being damaged by our failure to expand it."
So...in response to all these indisputable facts, what did Obenshain have to say for himself? Basically, nothing - no serious argument at all. Instead, Obenshain resorted to calling anyone who wants to expand Medicaid a "socialist," while specifically noting that Bernie Sanders - who he claims April Moore supports for president - is a SOCIALIST who supports evil, evil universal healthcare. Yeah, the horror, the horror!
With that, here's some of Obenshain's incoherent babblings, hysteria and outright falsehoods (pretty much every word he says).
You know there are candidates running for national office like Bernie Sanders, who I think Ms. Moore supports, who believe we ought to socialize a lot of industries in this country. He is the only socialist serving in Congress and he believes in universal health care. I believe in universal health care to the extent that we expand access and make sure that everybody has access to health care. But Medicaid is broken, and making it bigger is not going to fix the problem; it is making a big problem even worse. We need to improve the quality of our health care system, but expanding Medicaid, which already sucks up 22% of our state budget, is not the solution. If we expand it, we're going to experience the same thing that other states that have been given these empty promises from the federal government that we're going to cover your costs...They have busted their budget. Those promises are hollow, they are false, and there are better solutions.Seriously, I could take the time to demolish each one of Obenshain's "points" (in quotes because they're not remotely serious), but frankly, they're SO ridiculous, SO intellectually and morally brankrupt, and SO just plain stupid that I'll leave it you all to Google his ridiculous claims yourself and find out what utter nonsense they are. Bottom line: Mark Obenshain shows in this one response how unfit he is to serve in public office. I strongly urge voters in the 26th State Senate district to boot this sorry excuse for a State Senator out of office on November 3 and to replace him with April Moore.
