Al Franken: Senator.

Victoria Jackson: Paranoid Wingnut Consigned to occasional op-ed pieces and Faux News guest appearances.

Yeah. I'll take Franken.

This is someone whose whole routine consisted of doing handstands during the phony news segment so people could see her underpants. Sadly, that alone makes her the most accomplished, credible spokesperson the far-right lunatic fringe has.

"Socialized medicine makes people die."

That must explain why Sweden, Canada, Brazil, Italy, and the UK all have significantly higher life expectances than the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

if one is trolling Victoria Jackson.

The untalented Baldwin brother is willing to pay you to shill for him, I understand.

... because they've all been euthanised by socialized medicine.

Oh, wait...

I shudder to think of how many of my fellow Americans take her seriously.

Victoria,

Come in from the cold and get some counseling. It's obvious your meds need changing; they aren't working anymore. Good Gawd! Hitler was a liberal motivated killing machine?! Obama wants to kill old people?! WTF?!? This is where the level of the dialog has fallen? I voted for Obama in part because the Republicans have proven to be so spectacularly incompetent. Surely they can do better than this!

It would be endlessly entertaining. I better not joke about it, though... people might vote for them and we would truly be screwed.

Victoria Jackson?

Jackson's SNL persona was that of the quintessential, stereotypic Dumb Blonde-- vaguely sweet, permanently mildly dazed, and clueless.

Pretty much a retread of the territory covered by the young Goldie Hawn, without as much appeal (YMMV).

I don't recall Jackson showing much range; intellect and depth of character weren't even on the radar.

It's no surprise to learn that this wasn't simply shtick-- it was Victoria simply Being Herself. The operative term is "simply".

Has it been verified that she actually writes this dreck? It's not obvious that she even can read and write-- possibly she dictates to an intern.

I shudder to think that her views would impress and influence her fan, provided that he, she, or it is still among the living.

"Socialized medicine makes people die."

That must explain why Sweden, Canada, Brazil, Italy, and the UK all have significantly higher life expectances than the United States.

Victoria Jackson is still a wacko, but this is from the wikipedia page you linked:

This list does not directly reflect the quality of healthcare of the countries listed.

And more importantly, do those countries have the same pitiful life expectancy for black males that the US does? I think that number skews the results a tad lower.

And then finally, the life expectancy is 1 to 2 years higher than the US. I haven't done the math, but I don't think that qualifies as "significantly higher".

She's funny...

I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume this persona of hers is just an elaborate, ongoing form of performance art - like what Joaquin Phoenix is doing. Because if not, this woman needs to be fitted for a straightjacket.

That's really sorta funny.

OK, if we had a public scientific debate about global warming on TV, can she be forced to watch? Can you imagine a network that would do it?

Someone had to take over the mantle.

The idea is not as far fetched as you might think.

If you did have nationalized healthcare, cost cutting does become a national issue. Given that a disproportionate ammount of money is spent on end of life care which invariably only extends life for periods of days, weeks or months, it is not unlikely that deciding that certain people simply aren't worth the tax dollars isn't an unheard of line of thought.

That being said, such curtailing on publicly administered health plans in the U.S. most commonly come from the fiscaly conservative Republicans.

It is they who have ensured that if you are severly ill, and lose your job, you must wait two years before being allowed into the system created to care for the severly ill who lose their jobs.

So, in that, I can't say that Ms. Jackson makes a fair point. If we did have a single payer plan, there certainly would be people looking to kill grandmas. I'm just not sure that is Obama's motivation, but it could become a motivation for others down the line.

Truth be told, simply removing the two year waiting period for disability medical coverage, would likely solve our largest problem with the uninsured in this country, of course no one is even considering that in this debate.

I mean it. It's amazing how many seriously disturbed and mentally ill Americans are in the leadership and publicity department of the Conservative movement today.

If a washed up SNL alum who wasn't that talented or funny can attract so much attention, then we're talking real trouble here. She represents the tip of a huge iceberg of mental and emotional instability with a true potential to do great harm to the rest of us.

I just hope that she hasn't gotten her hands on dangerous weapons.

I knew republican authoritarians were going to come unglued when Obama got in, but I really had no idea to what degree. I foresaw the murders (Tiller, etc, plus the inevitable McVeigh follow-up) but I didn't quite imagine the media parade of insanity. I find it pretty hilarious, and good justification to continue to keep these loonies away from the levers of power.

However, I have my misgivings as I do whenever I see someone really lose it good and proper. At some point, crazies become dangerous. Sure, right wing terrorists are dangerous, but there are only a relative few of them. The number of people willing to go on TV and essentially blow raspberries at any semblance of rationality is a bit worrisome.

I shudder to think of how many of my fellow Americans take her seriously. -- Kilchis

. . . that don't already watch FOX. And given that its viewers are generally older and more poorly educated, they probably don't even know anything about her SNL days. And then look what Dennis Miller's turn to the right did for his career?