Why do you support Howard Dean for HHS?

[Occam Bandage]

Poll question: Why do you support Howard Dean for HHS?

This poll is only intended for people who are in favor of Howard Dean for HHS. Which choice best sums up your reason for supporting him?

[cyclezealot]

1. False poll. Health care is not left right.

The best business model is Single Payer. As in most of the world.

[Occam Bandage]

5. My apologies for not accomodating your ideosyncratic semantics.

Surely, though, you could find it somewhere within your linguistic prowess to cross the language divide and translate into the terms you find most comfortable.

[grantcart]

19. a rare Occam Bandage mistype = 'idiosyncratic'

kind of like finding that 4-leaf clover

[Occam Bandage]

21. Blast!

[cyclezealot]

29. Create a false, left -right divide

you'll turn off those who think we always must follow the centrist course. and that's lots of Americans. I suggest we paint health care like a municipal service. What is the best , most economic way to pick up the garbage. When it comes to Health Care. It's Single Payer. Don't divide the population with philosophical debates, when all they want to consider is solutions .

[ieoeja]

16. It is in the United States.

The Right in our country openly advocates eliminating all gov't support of any form of health care.

In the rural county where I grew up they once eliminated the guarantee that the county would foot the bill for any ambulance unable to collect from the patient (or estate in the event the patient dies). The very first person needing an ambulance after that happened to be a wealthy individual who died when every ambulance service they called refused to come. No guarantee, no service.

The country restored the guarantee after that.

You may think the Left in this country gets hyperbolic in our description of the American Right. But the above story is true. They eliminated that guarantee knowing perfectly well the county had a lot of poor -- poorest county in the state -- who would be denied ambulance service as a result. They did not care. It was only when they found out that THEY would also be denied ambulance service that they changed their minds.

[NJmaverick]

2. He has proven that he is a man that can get things done

he also has an excellent background, for such a position. For me that is a winning combo.

[camera obscura]

3. No one deserves a spot as a "reward". However I think Dean has the experience to helm this project.

[Occam Bandage]

8. I think I provided every way I could think of in which

an HHS director could be effective at his job under an administration proposing a health-care reform package. Besides convincing Congress or convincing voters to support it, changing the bill itself, or effectively managing HHS as an organization, what else would you be looking for?

Edit: I may have misunderstood the tone of your comment. I understood that to mean that you suggested picking him for his work in the DNC, but not as a reward and not for any other reason listed.

[mmonk]

4. He's a doctor and has dealt with the issue.

Shoots down a lot of republican talking points.

[Pirate Smile]

6. I love Howard. I caucused for him in 2004. I was extremely glad he was elected Chair of the DNC.

Now the dreaded "BUT" - But I don't think that shepherding healthcare through Congress is something that fits. Maybe it can be separated into two different positions - the HHS Sect and the "Czar" name for the person pushing the healthcare program.

I want him to have something but I just don't see how he helps the cause in Congress.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

7. I like Dean a lot but he's probably not enough of a hack.

There is a legitimate element of hackery required since healthcare will end up being some 'grand compromise' or nothing.

Half of Dems won't vote for anything that can be represented to their constituencies as "socialized medicine" so it's a delicate business.

(Being on the fence I didn't vote in the poll)

[sarge43]

9. Because as former rural GP he has personal knowledge of what life is like for people

just scraping by and as governor he had solid accomplishments in the HHS area. It would be a perfect fit.

[Sydnie]

10. Several reasons -

He deserves a spot as a reward for his work in the DNC but he should have been offered Surgeon General!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. He's been in the trenches with healthcare as a doctor and as a Governor

who took some of the first steps to answer the plight of the uninsured when the feds did nothing. He has first hand info on some of what works and why and what doesn't work and why. He is a UNIQUE person to work on this problem.

For me it has nothing to do with a reward or even his great work as DNC chair. It has to do with the man, his intelligence, his background, his fearlessness.

[BattyDem]

12. Thanks for putting my thoughts into words!

:hi:

The only thing I would add is this:

He knows how to get things done. :-)

[senaca]

22. This is the reason why Dean should be HHS

[Sebastian Doyle]

13. Experience

Both as a doctor and in politics. Specifically there's the example of the Dr. Dynasaur program in Vermont. Of course the reform we need would have to go beyond that example, but just as was the case there, someone who knows both medicine AND politics is the best person to pull this off.

[Occam Bandage]

15. Experience is a trait that people possess, and a valued one.

I'm asking what he would be able to do better than any other pick, which is a slightly different question. I'm sorry if the options are a bit too restrictive.

[GreenTea]

14. Howard Dean would truly be a great, fantastic choice-But too many fucking corporate DLC people in

power in Obama's administration....so unfortunately for our country, the (DLC) won't allow it to happen!

[Thrill]

17. Dean won't get it because the HHS is going to have to be able to work with Repukes

And the Pukes can't stand him. Might as well stop pushing him for it. Push him for the FDA or CDC

[avaistheone1]

18. No apologies. To hell with Obama's health care plan.

Obama's plan is a health care plan designed for the benefit of the health care insurance industry.
It is a plan that the American people clearly do not want. But, I trust Obama will soon realize that as they are very wise and smart people.

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

20. Dean won't get it because he won't accept it.

If he were to accept it, he'd be confirmed.

[IndianaGreen]

23. We voted Democratic in November, not for some Dem/GOP puke coalition!

I want a Democratic legislative agenda in Congress, not endless appeasement of the Party of Treason.

[Occam Bandage]

24. Kicks: Kid tested, mother approved.

[WindRiverMan]

25. Howard looks forward!

Howard Dean is a fucking visionary. He is two or three steps ahead of everyone else. What better quality to bring us into the 21st Century and out of 1978. Give him the damned appointment Mr. President.

[Occam Bandage]

26. I keep trying to find an accent in which that rhymes.

It's tantalizingly close to rhyming. It just needs that little push...

[greguganus]

27. Because I miss his scream. n/t

[JaneQPublic]

28. Other: He already got health care passed at the state level...

...as Gov of VT.

He's a proven executive/administrator through serving 12 years as a governor and as one of the most successful chairpersons in DNC history.

He's already been vetted as a one-time primary frontrunner, with the media and most of his rivals trying to dig up dirt on him. And the only thing to hurt him during the campaign was his yelling yeearrrghh!