Protestors Stage Mock Death Outside RNC Headquarters

By Mike Hothi

Dozens of protestors gathered outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters Tuesday to stage the mock death of an emergency room patient. 

The demonstrators, calling themselves Code Blue, were rallying against cuts to Medicare and Medicaid proposed in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis) budget plan. Under the proposal, Medicaid reform would cut roughly $1 trillion over 10 years, turning it into a block grant to the states. 

One demonstrator dressed as a hospital patient was laid out on a gourney and pretended to go into cardiac arrest. As the demonstration continued, a man calling himself the budget cutter went around and forced nurses to quit helping the dying patient because they couldn’t afford it. 

“Nurses from big cities and small towns have gathered here to call a code blue on our healthcare system. We are also here to call a code blue on the Republican mission to shift more healthcare costs onto seniors and working families,” one activist shouted.

Diane Palmer, a nurse from Wisconsin stated, “this is dangerous to our patients and its dangerous for jobs in America. We are saying no cuts.”

RNC Chair Tags Obama As "Campaigner-In-Chief"

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tagged President Obama as “Campaigner-in-Chief” Tuesday during a conference call previewing the president’s upcoming travel plans to publicize his American Jobs Act.

“He loves campaigning, he loves raising money, he loves giving big speeches because that’s what he’s good at,” Priebus said. “But, he’s not good at following through on his promises and getting this economy back on the rails.”

The RNC Chair was critical of the cities Obama selected to visit - Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia - and argued that they were selected because they are battleground states for the 2012 presidential election.

Additionally, while Obama has continued to assure Congress and the public that his jobs bill is paid for, the RNC chair argued that these claims are fraudulent and said that Obama has yet to offer a credible method of paying for the $447 billion bill, legislation Priebus calls “Stimulus 2.”