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Our friends at News Hounds caught this one from the other day. Apparently one of our favorite wingnuts thinks that helping the 9-11 responders with their health care equals another evil entitlement program, and we all know how much Republicans hate welfare or Medicaid or Social Security as long as it's a program that's helping working people and not welfare for corporations.

Michele Bachmann Calls 9/11 Responders Bill “A New Entitlement Program”:

On Wednesday (12/22/10), Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke with Brian Sullivan before President Obama's news conference. At about the 2:40 mark in the segment, Sullivan asked about the passage of the 9/11 responders bill. "Do you think the GOP, though, took a little bit of a PR hit in opposing some of the spending on this bill?"

Bachmann said the GOP doesn’t oppose compensating first responders, per se. "It’s the fact of a lack of transparency and this bill, unfortunately, is a new entitlement program for all practical purposes."

Comment: Entitlement? To 9/11 first responders, it’s a matter of life and death. Shame on her. And shame on Sullivan for letting her get away with saying such a thing.

As their guest blogger suggests, yes, shame on both of them, but any response acknowledging that would require either of them of having the capacity to feel shame in the first place. It's pretty obvious neither of them does. Taking care of those that sacrificed their health when responding to 9-11 should be a no brainer politically, but this wingnut thinks it's a good opportunity to call it another "entitlement" and pretend that Republicans ever had any intention of doing right by those workers. Bravo Michele for doing your best to continue to show to the voters that you don't give one iota for the working class in this country.

And sadly the Republicans have decided this loon deserves a spot on the Intelligence Committee.

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The Senate looks like they might finally take up the first responders bill and do what's right during the lame duck session. It's a damned shame it took the likes of Jon Stewart on The Daily Show possibly shaming some of these people into doing the right thing, instead of our sorry ass mainstream media giving them a pass on this. Now that it appears this bill is finally going to be passed, I thought I'd share this little tidbit that I caught and almost forgot about from this past Friday on C-SPAN's morning call in show, Washington Journal.

Georgia's Republican Senator Johnny Isakson is asked by a caller why he was not going to vote for the first responders bill and rather than answer the question, Isakson pretends he didn't hear the question and tries to punt. He does eventually answer the caller's question only after host Susan Swain repeats the caller's question for them. This is what it looks like when these Senators actually have to face questions from the public and they know what they're doing is wrong and they'd prefer not to answer for it. They attempt to run from it. Pitiful.

Maybe next time Isakson would have better luck just sticking his fingers in his ears and going "lalalalala... I can't hear you!" He came pretty close in this segment. I just wish Senator Isakson was as concerned about the potential fraud in this first responders bill as he has been for military contractors ripping our government off to the tune of billions of tax dollars instead. Good thing he has his priorities in place.

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It looks like Shep Smith isn't the only person on Fox News that was shamed by Jon Stewart into getting a bit tougher on these Republicans for filibustering the first responders bill. Chris Wallace brought up Stewart's interview with first responders to Jon Kyl, and in response we just got more sorry excuses as to why he still would not support the bill.

Kyl Denies Health Care For 9/11 Rescue Workers Because He Doesn’t Want To ‘Hurry’:

Last week, an incensed Jon Stewart invited 9/11 first responders to the Daily Show to offer their thoughts on this callous behavior. “Disgusted” and “hurt” by their actions, the rescue workers admonished Republicans for using the holiday schedule and Senate process as an excuse to block desperately needed help. Recounting their criticism today, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) why he couldn’t “find a way to give these heroes peace of mind when it comes to health care.” Ignoring their emotional pleas, Kyl insisted that, while he didn’t want to deny care to those who desperately need it, he just refuses to do so “in a hurry”. [...]

Kyl’s excuses fall flat in the face of fact. Any cries for more time ignore that both the Senate and House version of the Zadroga bill have been available to Kyl since 2009. If a year with the text wasn’t enough, Kyl was free to attend the bill’s June 2010 Senate hearing he insists never happened. Had he shown up, he would’ve learned that the bill is very clear on who is eligible for funding. First responders can pursue compensation established by the Zadroga bill to bolster any coverage already received from the current health fund set up in New York City.

As Jon Stewart pointed out earlier this week as well, after refusing to give these first responders health care, none of these birds should ever be allowed by our media to invoke 9-11 for political purposes ever again. Let's hope this thing gets passed despite the continued obstruction by the likes of Kyl and his fellow shameless Republican cohorts.

Transcript via Nexis Lexis.

WALLACE: Joining us now, two Senate leaders, the number two Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and his Republican counterpart, Jon Kyl of Arizona.

And, Senators, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

KYL: Thank you, Chris.

WALLACE: Senators, before we talk about issues that have gotten a lot of attention, I want to ask you about one that hasn't, and let me begin with you, Senator Kyl.

Will you vote this week for the 9/11 bill that would guarantee health care for the first responders who went to Ground Zero?

KYL: I don't know if that bill is going to come before us, but Dick tells me just a moment ago that he thinks that it will. First question is, is it amendable, or is it a take it or leave it proposition? The bill hasn't been through committee. There are problems with it.

And I think the first thing Republicans will ask is do we have a chance to fix any problems that may exist with it. And it's a lot of money, and so I -- my early response is that I am skeptical about that bill.

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Looks like at least one person over at Fox News watched Jon Stewart's segment with 9-11 first responders reacting to the Senate filibuster and decided to let everyone know how they felt about it.

Via Mediaite:

A wonderful moment of pure outrage–and classic television–from Shepard Smith on Fox News Friday afternoon as he and Chris Wallace waited for President Obama’s tax cut signing ceremony.

Discussing the amount of money on “tax cuts for billionaires who don’t need them,” Smith railed against the very same lawmakers who somehow couldn’t get relief passed for 9/11 first responders.

How do they sleep at night after this vote on Ground Zero first responders from 9/11? Are they going to get that done, or are we going to leave these American heroes out there to twist in the wind? [...]

Who’s going to hold these people’s feet to the fire? We’re able to put a 52 story building so far down there at Ground Zero, we’re able to pay for tax cuts for billionaires who don’t need them and it’s not going to stimulate the economy. But we can’t give health care to Ground Zero first responders who ran right into the fire? Went down there to save people? Do people know what this city was like that day? People were walking over bridges they were covered in ash they were running for their lives they were crying their family members were dead. And these people ran to Ground Zero to save people’s lives. And we’re not going to even give them medicine for the illnesses they got down there? It’s disgusting, it’s a national disgrace, it’s a shame and everybody who voted against should have to stand up and account for himself or herself.

I'm glad Smith pointed out what an outrage this is, but like his cohort Peter Johnson Jr., Smith didn't bother to let the viewers know that it's the Republicans blocking the bill.

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Rachel Maddow talked to Rep. Anthony Weiner about his outburst on the floor of the House back in July when Republicans were doing their best to use procedural moves to prevent the 9-11 first responder's bill from making it through the House. Congressman Weiner expressed his concerns that this might be the last chance to get the bill passed because he doesn't have much hope of the House bringing this back up for a vote once the Republicans take control in January.

I hope Harry Reid makes the Senate stay there through Christmas if they decide to keep blocking this bill. Rachel asked Anthony Weiner about his response to John McCain, who "described work on this bill as fooling around" and whether or not procedure matters.

WEINER: Well look, I think of all of the people who understand the sincerity of this, John McCain at least in theory should. Look, I think what sometimes my friends in the Senate don't realize is that what they think is regular day to day procedural maneuvering looks to the rest of the country as standing in the way of really letting democracy work. But in this case, literally we have this universe of people and we think it's about 10,000 people; no one is dying to get... no, that's a wrong use of words. No one wants to get this benefit. It's not like an entitlement. No one's trying to get toxic stew in their lungs to go then be able to sign up for the 9-11 first responders program.

We figured out a way to pay for it. It's completely paid for now. And we have the votes and so for John McCain to say this is some kind of a game or a stunt... no. This is us trying to do frankly what I think we should have done on September 11th and we're trying to finally do now. And I would just say to my Senate colleagues if there is one issue all year that should transcend politics, it really should be this one.

It should be, but nothing transcends politics when it comes to the Republicans and who they're willing to sacrifice to score political points. Weiner went on to explain why he voted against the agreement on extending the Bush (or now Obama) tax cuts and why it was such a bad idea.

Well, Anthony Weiner came back on Morning Joe once again to talk about the First Responders Bill that he and Peter King got into it over on the House floor and no surprise he and Joe Scarborough got into it again as well. I expected as much after Scarborough's ranting and raving and attacking Weiner and the Democrats the last time he had Peter King on.

Scarborough needs to go take a look in the mirror if he wants to know what a demagogue looks like. Someone also needs to remind Scarborough and little Russert that poison-pills do not equal an "up or down vote". If the Republicans cared more about the first responders from 9-11 than playing political games they'd have voted yes on a clean bill instead of insisting on adding amendments solely for the purpose of making political ads and fear mongering about illegal immigrants.

Man I tell you what... this show is just about unwatchable. Joe Scarborough is an insufferable, loud mouthed, bully.

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Joe Scarborough had Rep. Peter King on the set of Morning Joe to respond to Anthony Weiner's interview the previous morning and took up for King and the Republicans while going into full hissy fit mode. Did we expect anything different out of him? He claimed he's going to have Anthony Weiner back on again because he's "got some questions for him". We'll see about that.

Karoli explained very well what game the Republicans were playing here. In Joe Scarborough's world, this is "changing the rules" and the Democrats playing politics rather than the Republicans hoping to insert a poison pill into the legislation so they can run attack ads against the Democrats. Note to Joe Scarborough, you're not "changing the rules" just by deciding to use a different procedure in the House to prevent the Republicans from playing politics. I'm not sure what the definition of "playing politics" is if it doesn't include inserting provisions into a bill purely to attack your opponents in the next election cycle. Scarborough thinks it's just terrible that the Democrats don't want to allow the Republicans to have something to attack the House Hispanic Caucus with in November.

As Karoli already noted here's the game the Republicans are playing:

So to review, the Democrats bring a bill to the floor to pay the debt this country has to 9/11 responders. It doesn't have any poison pills, but the Republicans want to add something that involves illegal immigration, so that Democrats will look like they voted against illegal immigration when they were voting on a bill to take care of 9/11 responders.

And according to Peter King, it's all the Democrats' fault. Got it. (Note: Peter King voted for the bill...)

I will add though that I'd be just as happy to see the Democrats take some advice from Jon Stewart on how to handle the Republicans "poison pill". More from The Daily Show below the fold.

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Scarborough and Brzezinski do their best to try to give Rep. Peter King some cover after the dust up he and Rep. Anthony Weiner had on the House floor over the 9-11 responders bill. Scarborough pretends he just can't believe the Republicans would play politics with this issue and Anthony Weiner does a good job of explaining how that's exactly what they did. Our talking heads in the media have done their best to paint Anthony Weiner as unhinged. It didn't work out so well for Scarborough and Brzezinski here.

These hacks on Morning Joe remind me of a bunch of snotty high school kids that think they're better than everyone else and sit around gossiping about the kids they don't like that aren't in their clique. This show really does belong on Fox. It's just awful. Here's part of the exchange between Scarborough and Weiner.

Weiner: But perhaps what was most troubling, what set me off was the idea that when given an opportunity to stand up and fight to try to get this thing passed even the Republican sponsor of the bill Peter King chose politics over trying to get it done.

He didn't once turn to his colleagues and say "please guys, put politics aside and vote for this thing," didn't once do that, instead launched a tirade against Democrats about the process and how cowardly we were for bringing this up to a vote, and when all was said and done, 12 Republicans, just 12 Republicans voted for this bill. If there was ever a bill that I thought would be above partisan politics, on the Democratic side, only four of us voted no.

I mean that's pretty remarkable. Our caucus is pretty diverse.

Scarborough: So... so Anthony... um... this is a pretty stunning charge. You are accusing your fellow Long Island Congressman, Peter King of putting politics above the lives of these 9-11 workers. Do you really think that Peter King is so craven that he's putting political partisanship ahead of people's well being?

Weiner: Well you know I...

Scarborough: By the way you know, by the way you know Peter King lost as many friends on 9-11 as anybody....

Weiner: Joe's here's what I'd like...

Scarborough: ... in the House of Representatives.

Weiner: I think it's possible. I wish there would be as many You Tube on what Peter King said just before I spoke. He stood up and devoted maybe ten seconds to say yeah I support this bill and I'm going and I wish... I support this bill. And then he goes into this rant against Democrats. He never once turned to his own colleagues and said vote for this thing. You know what? 12 Republican votes... I find it hard to believe Peter King even picked up a phone and called one of his colleagues. Congressman Lee three districts away in upstate New York voted no. You know I find it very hard to believe. What it really seemed to be to me is that he was providing cover for his Republican friends. [...]

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As Karoli and I already posted, Rep. Anthony Weiner ripped into the Republicans for blocking the 9-11 Responders Bill. What neither of us had earlier was Rep. Peter King's hackery on the House floor that set him off. Since Countdown covered it, I thought I'd share it here.

TPM also caught their exchange on Fox News the day after the dust up on the House floor where Anthony Weiner ripped into Pete King again.

Peter King And Anthony Weiner Shout Their Way Through A Fox News Interview (VIDEO):

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) went on an apoplectic rant on the House floor last night, and apparently he hasn't cooled off much since then.

Earlier this morning, Weiner and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) shouted and finger-pointed their way through a Fox News interview over a bill that would provide health care to rescue workers effected by the dust from the World Trade Center, which failed in the House last night.

King accused the Democrats of orchestrating a "cruel hoax" with the bill, while Weiner called it "outrageous" that Republicans would vote against it.

Weiner was furious last night that most of the "cowardly" Republicans voted against the bill and then blamed it on "procedure." Exclaimed Weiner: "You vote yes if you believe yes! You vote in favor of something if you believe it's the right thing! If you believe it's the wrong thing, you vote no!"

On America's Newsroom today, King, who is the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security, said that "the bottom line is the Democrats control the House, and they pulled a procedural gimmick starting ten days ago, and they lost the nerve to bring it to the floor on a real vote."

He also called the whole situation a "cruel hoax," and accused the Democrats of "moral cowardice."

"They control the House," said King. "They could have passed this."

Weiner shot back: "You know for all the whining about the process, we had an up-or-down vote. Do you know what percentage of Republicans voted for it? Seven percent." Only twelve Republicans voted in favor of the bill.

"Your rant last night about the process and how bad the process was gave cover for your colleagues," said Weiner adding, "Twelve Peter? That's all you could muster?"

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h/t Paddy

I don't think I ever want to cross Anthony Weiner after watching this. He lets the Republicans have it on the House Floor and rightfully so. I feel the same way about the Republicans doing this.

House GOP leaders: 9/11 first responders aid bill 'a massive new entitlement program':

House Republican leadership is advising its members to vote against a bipartisan bill that would, among other things, bolster medical support to Sept. 11 victims.

The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), would provide medical monitoring to those exposed to toxins at ground zero, bolster treatment at specialized centers for those afflicted by toxins on Sept. 11 and reopen a compensation fund to provide for the economic loss of victims.

And it’s all paid for by closing a tax loophole on foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries, Democrats said.

But according to Republicans, it’s a job-killing growth of government that would create a new entitlement and waste taxpayer dollars.

The bill, if passed, would reopen the Victims Compensation Fund until 2031 — instead of litigation, victims could try to get money from the fund. Republicans are calling the extension “well beyond what is needed to take care of latent claims,” according to a policy statement from the GOP.