"Long lines" are coming!!!

The one admirable thing about the Republican opposition is their ability to get the talking points out to the troops who follow in lock-step. They understand the power of a quip or one-liner and the value of repeating it until it becomes emotionally entwined into the discussion.

First we had death panels and socialism... the next fear-meme is the "long lines." From the Rude Pundit (not family safe, but his paragraph about Sarah Palin is worth the trip to the link):

Sen. Richard "My Forehead Is Too Big For My Face" Shelby: "I think rationing is underlying all of this. There's a lot of denial out there, but you look at the other plans -- you look at the Canadian plan, the British plan and so forth, and you have long lines. People decide who's going to get treatment and when. That's rationing health care. If you don't get health care when you need it, you know, ultimately it's going to affect your life."

Sean Hannity on government-run health insurance: "There's rationing, there's long lines."

Neil Cavuto on the same: "It is going to be spread between a lot of folks and there will be long lines and rationed care."

The threat of "long lines" is invoked by other members of Congress, like Representative John Fleming (R-LA) and the hilariously named Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Starb...VA).

You get the idea. You've heard it all a million times over. Here's the problem: if you're afraid of "long lines" for health care, then you advocate rationing that care. Because what you're saying is that you don't want more people to be able to go to the doctor. In other words, you want to deny people medical treatment because you (mostly irrationally) fear there's a possibility you may not be next in line, that some impoverished woman on a public option might go before you.

They're crazy, they're selfish, they can't solve any problems, but goddam if they can't stay on message.