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Washington Journal host Peter Slen asks Marsha Blackburn about an editorial in The New York Times The Republican Health Plan and reads this passage:

It has some good provisions, such as prohibiting insurers from imposing annual or lifetime caps on what they will pay and automatic enrollment of workers in employer-sponsored group coverage. But it would not prevent insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on pre-existing conditions.

Blackburn's response:

Blackburn: Well, one of the ways to address that is going another route and getting to that universal access component that so many people want to see but doing it through high risk pools and through re-insurance and this is a model that many of our businesses are accustomed to dealing with. You know, they have different high risk for things—worker’s comp and other issues—and there is a way to do that and to address that and bring people into that, into those high risk pools. Addressing pre-existing and chronic conditions absolutely and being certain that there is a pool for that, that is set up, and there again, people can go to gop.gov and look at that, look at the bill and see how that is specifically addressed.

So the GOP's plan according to Rep. Blackburn is if you have a pre-existing condition, you're going to be put into a high risk pool. I don't believe she explained how that would prevent people from paying higher premiums for pre-existing conditions or from being denied care—quite the opposite.

Under conservative plans for health care reform, many more Americans with pre-existing conditions would find it even more difficult to obtain reasonably priced care. This is because conservative plans often seek to substitute insurance coverage purchased in the individual market for group coverage, such as the insurance that many Americans have through their employers. These proposals also call for expanding existing high-risk pools, such as the Maryland program, to provide coverage for people with chronic illnesses and costly health histories. Today’s state-based high-risk pools provide an important coverage option for some individuals, but the coverage is expensive, and it’s only available to a small portion of those eligible.

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Rachel Maddow speaks to Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family, about Tiahrt's membership in the C Street House and his own peculiar obsession with the idea that Muslims are having more babies than Americans (presumably, he meant Christian-Americans) and that we must stop abortions to win the birth war. Even more frightening is that his spiritual counselor and leader of "The Family" Doug Coe encouraged him to think even bigger--and wait to you hear the kind of "bigness" he should aspire to: Pol Pot, Hitler. I wish I was joking.

You may recall last week's offensive and racist rant by Kansas Republican Todd Tiarht when he said the following about taxpayer funded abortion:

"If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother may have taken advantage of it?" Tiahrt asked. "Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice, if those circumstances were in place, is it possible that we would be denied his great mind? The opportunity to have tax-funded abortions, a financial incentive, is something that I think most of us want to oppose in America and it's certainly deserves a clean up or down vote."

Something that offensive would normally bring about a chorus of criticism and demands for an apology - but Tiahrt is a member of today's GOP. Not only is nobody within his party calling for him to apologize to the president, they're promoting it and using it as a political talking point. More from Media Matters:

Now, the House Republican Conference, chaired by Rep. Mike Pence, is actively promoting Rep. Tiahrt's remarks. What was a situation solely involving Rep. Tiahrt now taints every Republican in the House of Representatives. What could have been written off as an impassioned rant by an over-zealous member is now being embraced and promoted by the Republicans' official government website.

As John Perr pointed out to me last week, President Obama's parents couldn't even have legally married in many states until the Loving vs. Virginia case of 1967. And imagine the outcry from the right if the same question had been asked about the mother of say, Ronald Reagan or Bush Sr. or Jr.? The Kansas Democratic Party still has a petition posted, demanding Tiahrt apologize to the president. You can sign it here if you like.