Ana Kasparian, with progressive liberal online newscaster The Young Turks, featured comments by newly elected House Member Roger Marshall in a recent video, where the Republican characterized the poor in the words of Jesus, stating, "The poor will always be with us." Mr. Marshall continued that there is a "group" of Americans who simply won't take proper care of themselves, and "don't want health care." The House member is said to be part of the GOP Doctors Caucus.
TYT founder Cenk Uygur stated that he "wished" Marshall could have addressed what he sees as a real issue of some Americans not taking proper care of themselves by expressing empathy with those in a "bad socioeconomic status" who face challenges accessing health care.
The veteran newscaster stated that such a view could possibly be fairly viewed as stereotypical, but that no one would go "crazy" about it. The host then found absurdity with Marshall's contention that the poor "don't want health care."
Do Republicans view the poor as 'bums'?
Uygur expressed the opinion that the right wing view of the poor as "bums." Ana Kasparian interjected, "Yes." Uygur stated that a person earning $28,000 annually, whose child got cancer, definitely wants health insurance. Ben Mankiewicz stated that 75 percent of the U.S. public are not prepared to handle a $700 "financial shock," which the price of even a minor visit to the emergency room could easily surpass.
Ms. Kasparian then read Roger Marshall's words, stating that "morally, spiritually, socially" the homeless, and the poor, "just don't want health care." Cenk Uygur demanded to know, "What does that mean?" He envisioned a person having a serious medical emergency, but deciding to abstain from treatment, finding it "spiritually" uninteresting.
Republican viewpoint includes seeming moral judgments
Mr. Mankiewicz noted that Marshall opened his statement by citing Jesus, but followed with a completely un-Christian interpretation of Jesus' words, which he summed up as telling listeners "how horrible the poor are." Cenk Uygur noted that, by taking Jesus' "always be with us" parable out of context, Marshall is actually making a seemingly shocking statement that poverty, and homelessness, is unsolvable, and as such, potentially not worth the effort of addressing.
Amberia Allen noted a seeming parallel between most conservative legislation, a "moral judgment," and the notion that "poverty is a choice," which the TYT host expressed clouds the seeming contribution Republicans have made to the current level of poverty in the United States. Kasparian read Roger Marshall's comment that clients of Medicaid are "on a free credit card as a group," and called his sentiment that they don't seek preventative care a "gross generalization."
Ana Kasparian continued, stating that many poor people don't visit the doctor because they "literally can't afford it." She agreed that many people are unhealthy as a result of not receiving proper preventative care, but insisted that this is not as a result of apathy, or because they are "lazy bums," which she called "ridiculous."
