It is rare that I’m wrong, and even rarer, that I’ll admit it.
But those who read regularly will know that as a proponent of the public option, the real reform that would actually make much difference, I chastised our senior Senator for not backing it..
I felt that creating a large enough wave in full support of the public option, would override the opposition and serve to convince more Americans of it’s beneficial value….
But in the House, the Health Care Reform Bill passed by only 7 votes. Obviously had the public option been included, it would not have passed at all.. Our Senator, Tom Carper, repeatedly said the public option did not have the votes to pass. He was apparently right.
Had Senator Carper listened to me, and promoted that public option on his committee, we would not have this bill signed right now…
Instead, on March 23, it did get signed. In a big way because the Public Option was kept out by Senator Tom Carper…
Those in politics know it as a nebulous business… One can compare it to a game where each team tries to see who can get the most fog on their property. The press, the talking heads, the politicians, all try to portray the fog, as supporting their viewpoint. One can look at Congress and say that they appear to be for something, or against something, and find sufficient evidence to back either claim.
Only when a vote is cast, and policy either lives … or dies, does one get a sense of where Congress truly is…
Tom Carper was closer to the real number than was I. Had it been me, a weakened bill would now be in committee… But Tom held firm against a backlash of his party crying for a public option, and because of his spine… we got this bill passed..
So… thank you.
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April 27, 2010 at 7:02 am
Nancy Willing
GAG, Kavips, you have become a charade. If Tom Carper was at all interested in a public option he wouldn’t have sat on his butt during those endlessly long months of discussion of the selected ‘gang of six’ within his committee –as he did– and even admitting that he had no interest in reading the bill right up until the end.
If Tom Carper was in the least interested in promoting a public option he would have rallied for it, promoted it, persuaded others and signed onto supporting legislation or even, GASP, written his own. That is what the public foolishly expects of their representation. Fools we are for voting for this DINO.
Bullshit that Tom Carper is anything but a shill for the middlemen in the insurance racket which rewards him so handsomely.
The bought-and-paid-for special interests’ mantra on the Hill was that the public option would sooner or later gut the for-profit insurance industry. That was on the lips of each and every Republican and people like Tom.
The truth is that single-payer is the only form of insurance that would gut the private industry. The public option is just that, an option and it is meant to save money for the public by providing competition for the industry. The heart and soul of capitalism is supposed to be FREE ENTERPRISE and COMPETITION instead, we have monopolies and hired guns in Congress.
You are a smart enough guy and you know the score, Kavips. This post leaves me cold. Who and what are you fighting for? Carper hardly needs you for anything but pulling another layer of wool and his vestments.
The
April 29, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Frieda Berryhill
Bravo Nancy ! You got it right. If it were up to Carper, there would not have been a healtcare reform bill AT ALL. !!!!
April 30, 2010 at 11:35 pm
kavips
Wow, great, I’m a charade… ( I think.)
That means I get my name mentioned at Republican party games..
“Ok,,, the next one is….” hmmm. but how would any republican act it out?
Perhaps they could act out the word “Cope” and then put it with the word “land” and then put a their finger to their head and pull the trigger? I doubt if many would catch that last reference and make the jump to me… lol..
Or do the same with “Clap” … and “worthy”….
Or perhaps they could act out “Blue”, “water”, and “wind” and hope that someone could make the jump?
But really, as a charade, I would be a tough one. I really don’t know how anyone would do it… I do know this. I certainly would hate to be the person who drew my name at the next Republican Convention, where they have hours to spend playing such party games, because they have no policy or candidates to go over…
Yep, my name would be a tough one…
(..and Nancy, you don’t need to sell me on the public option.. As I said at the beginning of this post, I was selling it long before it became a household name..)
But neither of you made comment on the main thrust of the post: which was Health Care passed by only 7 votes, and would not have passed at all, if the public option was included… By chance, and forgive my curiosity…. do you read my posts in their entirety? or just the headlines?
Just reading my headlines only can be a very embarrassing thing to do…