Mitt Romney: Solving Problems by Creating Bigger Ones

Who needs State Mental Hospitals anyway?

State psychiatric hospitals will stop admitting new patients tomorrow , and 170 Department of Mental Health staff positions will be eliminated in response to Governor Mitt Romney's emergency budget cuts announced earlier this month, according to private hospital groups briefed by state officials.

I'm so glad we're going to have more dangerous, violent schizophrenics on the streets. Thanks Mitt! Those emergency cuts to social services are really gonna work out well, huh? It's not as if we need State Hospitals for violent schizophrenics, people with very bad forms of Bi-Polar disease, clinical depression and other mental conditions that may require intensive therapy and drugs before it's safe for them to be let loose.

Maybe Mitt Romney doesn't get that some people - especially with serious mental conditions - can't afford private hospitalization. Well, Mitt, they can't. If someone's seeing things, having a full time job is the least of their worries. And even if they did, people can't exactly get full time treatment and work too. But, wait, everyone has rich parents that ran for President one day, huh Mitt?

But at least good ol Willard's going to help out the kiddies, right? Think again.

In addition to the freeze on hospital admissions, the cuts would do away with 37 percent of the staffers who provide care to hundreds of emotionally disturbed children and teens in their communities.

Let's all collectively thank Mitt Romney for trying his hardest to make Massachusetts as bad as he tells everyone it is - crossing the country making Massachusetts the butt of his jokes (Hey, did you hear that one about Massachusetts? It's a real howl!) and wishing he ran for Governor in Michigan instead.

At least Mitt's owning up to this one, right? Oh, wait, Republicans blame things on everyone else. It's the Department of Mental Health's fault that their budget was cut!

Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, defended the cuts, and accused Department of Mental Health officials of resorting to a "Washington Monument" strategy to try to get out of reducing the budget: "You take something highly visible and shut it down, so the public will complain and funding will be restored," he said.

God, Massachusetts needs a "mercy rule" like they have in Little League - Mitt's down by way more than 10 runs, why does he still get to play the game? Someone please wake me up when this is all over. I asked what else Mitt could ruin in his remaining months - I just don't want to know anymore. And Republicans complained about Deval helping Ben LaGuer! Mitt Romney just basically frakking shut down the entire Department of Mental Health! The crazies, quite literally, are now going to roam the streets. God help us all!

The first "disturbed" teen who needed therapy in a desperate way (but won't get it because we need to save a dime Mitt needed to throw Mass under the bus for his Presidential ambitions) or adult who should have been admitted to a State Hospital, but wasn't, should effectively kiss Mitt Romney's presidential ambitions goodbye when they go either commit suicide or rape some girl walking home from the train. The first person who hears voices in their head to go kill the demon-person should effectively kill Mitt's political career in the process. That could be the only possible political justice in all of this.

I for one think the reduction in State Hospitals has had negative effects on society, on the whole, don't you all agree? While there were lots of people locked up in the 40s, 50s and 60s who shouldn't have been, there are a lot of people on the streets today who desperately need treatment that aren't getting it. Now, they're going to stay on the streets - at least until Deval Patrick fixes it. But it's not as if we're used to Republicans solving problems anyway. (I'd settle for them not creating huge new ones.)

But don't worry, now there aren't going to be any new patients. All the crazies will be free to roam the streets of Fall River, New Bedford, Lynn, Dorchester, Springfield, Worcester and everywhere else that's been struggling to rebuild over the past few decades. Maybe they'll even wander the streets of Lynnfield, Westwood and Newburyport too? The most violent schizophrenic people have to live somewhere, and sadly because of Mitt Romney, they won't be living in a place where they can get adequate treatment.

Suddenly, I get what it means to be a "Masshole." It means being Mitt Romney!

Mitt Romney: puts the ass in Massachusetts. Thanks Mitt!

PS Anyone else feeling bad for Deval Patrick? Mitt Romney is making Deval's job REALLY hard in the last few months. It wasn't as if Deval didn't have a lot on his plate already, with the highway toll fiasco and Big Dig nightmare. What will Mitt Romney do next to screw over Deval Patrick that will take weeks or months to fix - weeks or months that could have been spent fixing issues Massachusetts has had for years instead of just Mitt Romney's last few months. Maybe Mitt will close down public schools or place a moratorium on the prison system? How about both!

PPS: Dan Bernstein, of Talking Politics, has more. BMG diarest Demheartland is worth the read too.