TN congressman warns of Ebola disaster if Republicans don’t embrace Obamacare
By Chris Butler | Tennessee Watchdog
NASHVILLE — Someone in the office of U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, must have forgotten to change the password for the congressman’s Twitter account, considering that he’s back on the social media site, posting loony tweets.
Cohen has never shied away from making inflammatory remarks about Republicans and tea partyers on his Twitter page.
The congressman is now seemingly trying to rile his constituents with tweets about the Ebola virus mutating into a Biblical-style plague that will devastate Tennessee — unless, of course, state Republicans comply fully with Obamacare.
EPIDEMIC: U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, in an about-face from earlier Tweets, warns Ebola could turn into an epidemic if Tennessee doesn’t expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
Tennessee Republicans have thus far not gone along with calls to expand Medicaid.
One might argue Cohen’s latest tweet is a total about-face from comments he made on Twitter only a few days before.
Then, Cohen seemingly tried to calm people’s fears over the virus spreading within U.S. borders.
In a weekly news release written the same day he warned about a catastrophe, Cohen reminded constituents that just two health-care workers have contracted the virus.
“Despite the small number of Ebola cases recently diagnosed in the United States, it’s important to remember that the risk of an outbreak of the disease in this country is unlikely due mainly to our highly advanced health infrastructure,” Cohen wrote.
So how does he explain these wildly contradictory statements?
UNHINGED: U.S. Rep, Steve Cohen, D-Memphis (holding the microphone), is never shy when given a platform to express his views.
Cohen’s press secretary, Ben Garmisa, did not respond to requests for comment Friday or Monday.
This is far from Cohen’s first attempt at rhetoric designed to antagonize conservatives and stir up ugly emotions among his Memphis constituents.
Cohen has, among other things:
- Compared tea partyers to arsonists.
- Compared Republicans to “hostage takers” over the government shutdown. Those comments provoked his constituents to go on his official Facebook page and put conservatives in league with the 1963 Birmingham church bombers.
- Griped that the U.S. Senate can’t pass more gun-control legislation because too many Republicans value guns as much as they do their Bibles.
- Compared Republicans to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels for opposing Obamacare.
As Tennessee Watchdog has reported, Cohen has the option to participate in Obamacare, but he chooses not to. Cohen instead prefers to get benefits through the Tennessee State Government Employee Program, probably from his years in the state Legislature.
Contact Christopher Butler at chris@tennesseewatchdog.org
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