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HCAN: "It's a Shame Not a Single Republican" Voted To Allow Debate
November 21, 2009, 8:31PM
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The following statement was issued on Nov. 21, 2009, by Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for the pro-reform umbrella group Health Care for America Now, in response to the 60-39 Senate vote on cloture:
"By voting to begin debate, Senate Democrats took another key step toward putting a bill on the President's desk that guarantees good, affordable coverage for America's families and businesses.
It is a shame not a single Republican in the Senate could put aside partisan gamesmanship to allow a legislative debate. We thought debating legislation is what Members of Congress were sent to Washington to do. Instead, Republicans continue to shill for the health insurance industry which is trying to kill meaningful reform. Republicans have proven once again they don't know how to say anything but "no."
Our nation's families and businesses can no longer wait for good, affordable health care with the choice of a public health insurance option, and Senate Democrats clearly understand we have come too far to slow down now.
We look forward to working with Senate Democrats in the coming weeks to make a good bill even better."
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East Coast Aussie
November 21, 2009 8:41 PM
It may be a shame but it's certainly no surprise.
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ShawninMo
November 21, 2009 9:15 PM
When something isn't right, you don't need to debate it.
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East Coast Aussie
November 21, 2009 11:11 PM in reply to ShawninMo
Of course, rather than doing something positive you bury your head in the sand and keep saying it doesn't matter. ... right?
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ShawninMo
November 21, 2009 11:30 PM in reply to East Coast Aussie
What can I possibly do, or say, that is positive about the government taking over a private industry? We may as well be debating slavery, because we are going to end up a slave to government healthcare in a few more years if this passes.
Hmm, government, the god of the left. Now bow and worship, you bithches.
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East Coast Aussie
November 22, 2009 12:34 AM in reply to ShawninMo
Given the private industry has demonstrated it isn't effective at providing affordable care, debating the alternatives is very important.
Calling a public option a 'Government Takeover' is absurd. Don't live your life in fear mate.
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ShawninMo
November 22, 2009 1:06 AM in reply to East Coast Aussie
Oops I'm sorry. You must have missed Obama saying that the public option was the first step towards universal health care.
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JNagarya
November 22, 2009 11:29 AM in reply to ShawninMo
There's something wrong with universal health care -- which means EVERYONE has access to quality affordable health care?
What precisely is that problem -- leaving out the relatively long list of falsehoods spewed against it?
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Beagle
November 22, 2009 12:39 AM in reply to ShawninMo
You seem to have a Glen Beck like logic. Stop repeating POX news' talking point. Read the bill. Its online. Unlike your god, government exists and helps people.
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ShawninMo
November 22, 2009 1:09 AM in reply to Beagle
I don't watch FOX. I haven't watched the TV "news" in years. I've heard of this Glenn Beck, does he have a show on right after Oprah?
We've seen what government can do for people.
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mamiller
November 22, 2009 1:15 AM in reply to ShawninMo
And what no health care can do for people?
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ShawninMo
November 22, 2009 1:25 AM in reply to mamiller
Have you seen how many people die each year BECAUSE of healthcare?
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JNagarya
November 22, 2009 11:36 AM in reply to ShawninMo
Have you the numbers?
Have you seen the number of malpracticing doctors campaigning for tort reform?
Have you seen the number of people who would die without health care?
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ShawninMo
November 22, 2009 1:32 AM in reply to mamiller
Don't mean to leave you hanging. It's 195,000. Much more than the 45,000 that the dems are "complaining" about. Maybe you're doing a favor to americans by keeping them out of hospitals.
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Beagle
November 22, 2009 11:35 AM in reply to ShawninMo
OK, now I know you are POX news watcher because you seem to have mastered the art of misleading.
First, the 195,000 figure you quoted was based on a study done in the years 2000-2003; I've read a later study done in 2008 that brings that number to 98,000.
Second (and, this is important) you withheld a key point of the study. The study concluded that the 195k people who died in the USA died to "potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors".
So, in your FOXY opinion, your suggestion is to scare people to not seek medical help as opposed to addressing the medical error issues.. therefor no access to the 40+ million people?
Next time you post a number, associate a source with it. You probably can get away with lies and misleading statements in WND site. Here, many of us have gone to school and don't participate in follow the leader rituals.
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JNagarya
November 22, 2009 11:39 AM in reply to Beagle
I'm wondering if he's paid to be stupid, or if he does it for free.
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JNagarya
November 22, 2009 11:37 AM in reply to ShawninMo
Your other handle is OONC, correct?
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JNagarya
November 22, 2009 11:33 AM in reply to ShawninMo
Yes: we've seen gov't provide, as example, affordable health care to a portion of the population that cannot afford the premiums charged by private insurers in order to be told "Fuck off!" when they apply for that which they paid.
The gov't is We the people. We the people are the gov't. Stop bashing, and insulting the intelligence of, We the people, exclusionist elitist.
BTW: How much did it cost you out-of-pocket to put up the anti-Obama "jihadist" billboard?
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JNagarya
November 22, 2009 11:27 AM in reply to ShawninMo
I agree: what's a health insurance reform bill vote worth when weighed against voting for a resolution that President Obama need not produce his birth certificate becasue he was actually, well, as some claim, you know, born in the US.
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GTFOOH
November 21, 2009 9:19 PM
Now that Republicans have taken de bate, lets have those 2010 elections!
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Ethan
November 22, 2009 4:09 AM
I hoped that HCAN meant this in a coy manner to taunt them.
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Joe Wise
November 22, 2009 1:48 PM
the answer is simple: the GOP does care about main street. when was the last time did they do something to help regular americans?
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Zoey
November 22, 2009 1:50 PM
HCAN didn't do itself or the country any favors by continuing to tout this legislation as a "strong" or "robust" public option long after it's strength and robustness were stripped out. They should have been more independent of Obama and Congressional Democrats, but rather than sticking to reform, they simply ignored each new burden put on this thing and became more of a party support group than an issue advocacy group. Now, at best we get a subsidized mandate with some regulatory reform to kick in at least a year after the subsidized mandate does. Even if the public option survives in current terms, without the trigger, it will become a battleground in each state and will cover so few people we'll wonder why so many people spent so much time fighting for it.
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