Tenn. Congressman Warns of Ebola Epidemic Unless Republicans Expand Obamacare

NASHVILLE — U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., is at it again.

Cohen, known for his sometimes provocative remarks on his Twitter page, 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.

“If ebola comes to #tennessee our failure to have expanded #medicaid will cause much greater epidemic as uninsured wont get diagnosed early,” Cohen tweeted last Friday.

Tennessee Republicans have 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.

In an email to constituents, he pointed out only two people have been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.

“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? Alas, his 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.

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