Rep. Virginia Foxx: Americans should fear health care reform more than terrorism

Republican congresswoman Virginia FoxxVirginia Foxx from the 5th district of North Carolina is at it again, with irresponsible musings on the floor of the house, while Republican leaders shrug it off.

Here is Foxx’s quote made during this afternoon’s session:

"Everywhere I go in my district, people tell me they are frightened. I share that fear, and I believe they should be fearful. And I believe the greatest fear that we all should have to our freedom comes from this room, this very room. And what may happen later this week in terms of a tax increase bill masquerading as a health care bill. I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.”

The White House immediately released a statement to say that it is "an outrage that anyone would compare terrorism to the effort to provide Americans with affordable health care."

When asked about her statement, Republican leader John BoehnerJohn Boehner replied by saying, “house members are entitled to give their opinion on any issue.”

When pressed if he agreed with the statement, Boehner just shrugged his shoulders.

In a July 24th, press conference, held by several congresswomen, including Michele BachmannMichele Bachmann (R-MN); Rep. Foxx gave this assessment of Americans and health care:

“There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare,” Foxx said. “We do have about 7.5 million Americans who want to purchase health insurance who can not afford it.”

Evidently, to Rep. Foxx, every American’s right to go to the emergency room when bleeding or dying from pneumonia, passes as “access to health care,” regardless of the fact that they will still get a big whopping bill for the services.

Foxx has also urged Congress not to give “government control of our lives” and to adopt a new plan for healthcare reform that wouldn’t “destroy what is good about healthcare in this country.”

Foxx, like so many other conservatives--forget that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are government run health care programs that met with the same Republican opposition, but they were passed anyway. The country didn’t go bankrupt or slide into socialism.

During the town hall meetings, Foxx was a leader in spreading the “death panels” myth:

"Republicans have a better solution that won't put the government in charge of people's health care, and it (the plan) is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government."

The congresswoman doesn’t stop with fear mongering and ignorance on the subject of about health care. In April of this year, she voted against the Mathew Sheppard Act, denying that is was a hate crime. Instead, she described it as a "very unfortunate incident."

Furthermore, Foxx proclaimed, "we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay". She claimed it was all a part of the hoax to get the bill passed. Mathew Sheppard’s mother was present in the session.

In 2005, Foxx again disclosed her unsympathetic nature by voting against a 51 billion dollar aid package to the victims of Katrina.

In addition, Foxx was one the 33 Republicans who voted against renewing the Voting Rights Act in July 2006.

Rep. Virginia Foxx won her seat in 2004 after one of the longest, bitter, and most expensive campaigns in US history.

Republican leaders don’t reign in people like Foxx and Michele Bachmann, because they appeal to the most radical fringe of the party, where scare-tactics, misinformation, and down right lies--are believed like the gospel in church—and get the most mileage.

Health care reform worse than terrorism? That’s like saying a tooth ache is worse than a lobotomy--It makes absolutely no sense, but all the right-winged-nut-job conservatives will eat it up like fried chicken at Sunday dinner.

***Copyright DelilahStarling 2009