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Wow. It passed. We’ll see what Reid can do in the Senate, but sweeping healthcare reform has passed in the House. Victory over the forces of fear. Check out the whole story on Huffington Post, including links to video of the final vote.

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This is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of a host and a guest actually discussing an issue and not getting defensive, not getting angry, not shouting over each other, but getting both sides across. I even think Rachel goes a little too far in almost accusing Ridge of lying at one point, but he makes some good points at the end of it — notably, if the Iraq people end up somehow BETTER for our having been there, what then? You can always say sure, that was not something that 4000 American should have been asked to die for, even though perhaps some would have gone if asked STRAIGHT UP if they wanted to help “spread freedom” (a discussion we never had)… Still, this is the type of discussion we should be having over healthcare. Reasoned, rational, put everything on the table.

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Glenn Beck, now freed from the constraints of his advertisers, has gone off the deep end and is now claiming (with the help of his guests) that Obama has plans to create a national security force for his own personal use, and equates this to what Saddam Hussein did when he couldn’t “trust” the regular army anymore.

This “national civilian security force” will be made of Americorps volunteers — or as Beck calls them, “revolutionary communists.” Really. He actually says that.

Do people really believe this stuff?

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I just knew this was going to happen. As soon as Ted Kennedy died, some right-wing nutjob was going to start the Wellstone comparisons. No matter WHAT the tone of Kennedy’s memorial, someone would start telling the story of how the Democrats were exploiting Kennedy to pass a healthcare bill.

Sure enough, the most nutty right-winger of them all, Glenn Beck, was first to the mic:

Here’s some more on the topic.

Al Franken was present at the Wellstone memorial, and one of this books, Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, clearly details exactly what happened there and how it was nothing like what the right-wing made it out to be. You can read that chapter here on Google Books.

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I find it interesting that the states with the most uninsured citizens are the same states that have high percentages of people who believe the lies fed to them about the healthcare bills under consideration. Yes, what a surprise that these states also happen to be heartland America, the places that FOX News has the highest viewership. A full FORTY-FIVE PERCENT of “Southerners” in this poll believe that Obama’s plan is an ENTIRE TAKEOVER of the healthcare system by the government. Wow. No wonder they’re angry.

I can understand if they’re misinformed, but others just seem happy to toe the GOP line, even though it seems like they’re fully aware how ridiculous their claims are. I mean, Obama really is a Nazi, right? Check out how Barney Frank, god bless him, dresses down one of the more outrageous demonstrators at a town hall meeting:

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