Mass. Democrats Selling Health Care Reform

[Mass]

While our junior senator is making a fool of himself on TV, the rest of the MA delegation, including our senior senator, is busy explaining the reform.

http://wbztv.com/local/health.care.reform.2.1593175.html

Mass. Democrats Selling Health Care Reform
Several Members Of Congressional Delegation Rallied In East Boston Friday

On the heels of the historic passage of the health care reform bill, Senator John Kerry and several members of the Massachusetts delegation toured the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center on Friday, in a coordinated sales pitch.

With 300,000 patient visits a year, it's one of the largest community health centers in the nation, and expects dramatically increased funding under the reform. Lawmakers say about $2 billion a year will go to such health centers.

"We want to put away the partisan politics that have so dominated the debate about this important social policy," said Kerry.

Free from any of the protest or opposition that has marked the health care debate, Senator Kerry spoke outside the health center, saying he wanted to dispel myths about what the new law will and won't do.

He said it won't take away benefits from seniors, it will give them more, including more affordable prescription drugs, and bring more jobs to the state.

"That can mean somewhere between about 7,000 to 11,000 new jobs here in Massachusetts," he projected.

Representative Niki Tsongas (D - 5th District) said, by eliminating discriminatory gender rating by employee health care providers, "this bill... is a jobs creation bill."

Echoing President Obama's pitch, Senator Kerry and his congressional colleagues added the assurance that while covering 95 pecent of legal Americans and extending coverage to 32 million uninsured nationwide, the bill will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next two decades.

Representative Edward Markey (D - 7th District) noted we now spend 16 percent of our gross domestic product on health care.

...

Notably absent from the forum was Massachusetts' lone Republican congressional member, Senator Scott Brown, who voted against the health care reform bill.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

[karynnj]

1. The video clip and article are very nice - Thank you for posting this

(I take back what I said earlier in the week - some of the coverage on Brown has been brutal. He deserved it, but I wonder if he sees how negative it is.)

[Mass]

2. The Herald reported as well.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20100327john_kerry_trumpets_health_care_blasts_anger/srvc=home&position=1

John Kerry trumpets health care, blasts anger

By Dave Wedge



“The kind of inflammatory, inciteful and hateful language that has been used . . . does great damage to our country,” Kerry said, referring to threats and racial epithets reportedly directed at Washington lawmakers in the wake of the bill’s passage.

“It has no place in our democratic process. It’s inappropriate,” he added.


Flanked by U.S. Reps. Edward Markey, John Tierney, Michael Capuano and Niki Tsongas, Kerry said he hadn’t gotten any threats but Markey and Tierney acknowledged receiving angry calls. More than 10 House lawmakers have reported threats while some have been put under police protection.

“Many of the calls lacked civility and some were downright rude,” Tierney (D-Salem) told the Herald. “But I haven’t received any personal threats.”

“The members of Congress who voted for this bill are not scared,” Markey (D-Malden) added. “We’re proud, not frightened.”
...

Kerry dismissed the angry divisiveness over the package and pledged to work with Brown, whose Cinderella march to victory for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat was backed largely by “Obamacare” opponents.

“It’s important we work together going forward,” Kerry said of Brown. “I don’t think anyone is served by going backwards in the debate.”

...

Kerry, echoing Obama, claimed the bill will reduce the national deficit by $ 1.2 trillion while creating up to 400,000 jobs, including 11,000 in Massachusetts.

“If Ted Kennedy were here, he’d tell us this is one of the best things we’ve passed in any of our lifetimes,” Kerry said.

[ProSense]

3. Really great that Kerry and the delegation did this.

Brown will likely do what Republicans do when all else fails: take credit for bills they opposed.

[politicasista]

4. Ok response to the Teabaggers but

could have been sharper.

[karynnj]

6. I disagree

They ALL took the high ground, said what had to be said and then returned to what they were there to talk about - the accomplishment of passing healthcare reform and a discussion of the benefits.

Saying more is what the tea party leaders want. We are the ones in control of both Houses of Congress and the Presidency and we just had a major victory. It is in our interest to speak of that victory - and not to go off tangent listing very awful thing any tea partier has done.

I liked Obama's comment on the tea partiers. He did not condemn them all in the way that you are suggesting that the MA Democrats should have. I don't really get why you want the elected officials to get into a free for all with the worst elements of the tea party movement.

[politicasista]

7. It was an idea that one of his constituents had

(at the JJP, WSY blogs) after having a coversation about the Tea Party influence during and after the Health Care debate.

They knew Obama was going to take the high road, only because he is the President and that's his style. However, many of these posters thought that "white" Democrats were silent and underestimating their dangerous motives. The idea: Call your Congressmen and Senators, and ask them to come together and denounce the vile incidents over that weekend. So, it wasn't just MA officials, but all of them.

This was the reaction that was considered "weak" and "snooze mastered."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OIiIqJQc4s&feature=player_embedded


People are just frustrated that the President's has no allies are not on the front lines like they should be, but with the GOP controlling the press, it won't change anytime soon. :(

[karynnj]

8. To which I would say,

It has been Kerry's style to take the high road too - and he has the right to act as a senior statesman. He frankly has been more loyal and supportive of Obama than Obama has ever been of him. The fact is the statement Kerry made at the event in East Boston did speak against the incidents and the broader anger. It was not Kerry's style, even as a 1971 anti-war activist, to be out their screaming. To do it as a 65 year old 5th term Senator would be silly - and would actually hurt his effectiveness. Kerry's job is to be an effective Senator for MA and on the issues he has played a role in. His job is not protecting the President or fighting every battle the Democratic party has - for the first, there is Obama's administration , which he did not choose to include Kerry in - and for the second, the DNC is there.

The fact is EVEN Fox News knows those ugly incidents hurt the tea party image and they got a huge amount of publicity. There is no need for Democrats to be on TV speaking about them. They were extensively reported. Having Cleaver or Lewis speaking about it would be far more effective. I see no purpose of any Democratic Senators to pursue this issue.

I see nothing wrong with the clip - it was not intended to be about the tea partiers, it was a call for the need for people to form a grassroots demanding action on climate change. The reference to the tea partiers is that they are out there and they are the ones demanding action. The question is whether the people calling it "snooze worthy" care about climate change - if that issue does not mean much to them, it wouldn't. The problem might be that, in spite of Gore's heroic efforts, there really is not a climate change movement.

Obama is on the front line because he is the President - with all the power that entails. You are being inconsistent when you give him a pass for not condemning those incidents - when he has the position to easily do so - and say he is "taking the high road", then turn around and criticize Kerry, who made a stronger comment, because you want him to lead the outrage. Maybe, he has other battles he prefers to fight or maybe he thinks that enough has been said on this.

[politicasista]

9. The high road is now ok,

when it comes to Obama than was/is for Kerry or others. During the 08 primaries it was/is seen as Obama playing chess, waiting for the opposition to implode, and going for the knockout punch in the end. He did prove that the taking the high road can work, when done effectively.

Maybe been reading too much of super-supportive Pro-Obama blogposts and talking with real world Obama supporters? :shrug:

I am glad that Kerry isn't a screamer. It is not productive and gets nothing done. He seems more effective that way. He is too old (not that old) for all the see-saw political dramas played out on cable news. I do not want him to lead in the outrage In fact, the Dem leadership (FOX News? :wow:) has already denounced/condemned everything, so there is nothing more needed to be said, even though it will never be good enough for some. Their problem, not mine.

About Climate Change; hope there is some way the Obama Administration, the Senator, Gore, and other environmentalist can restart the CC movement. It is not just a "white liberal issue," but an issue that all Americans can relate to. The issue also ties into jobs and education.

Not criticizing the Senator and/or giving the President a free pass, it is just frustrating to see people paint all Democrats with a broad brush as spineless (and some of them are) and Obama/Biden are just near perfect. I do not agree with Obama on everything, but he is doing a good job so far. So is Kerry, even though many have no idea what the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee is about or its role. But he is becoming an influential Senator, Senior statesman, Senator from MA. I wish him the best.


IMO, bloggers/posters seem to have changed since Election Night 2008, SOS speculation, and Inauguration Day. Posters have gotten snippier and in your face so much that have began to feel estranged from the political blogosphere. Almost to the point where you feel like if, your not reaching anyone anymore, why bother?

It's all good though, I have done too much yapping since November 2004. When you get dumped on for being "whiny" when you are not, being in a shell, and asked, "Are you Senator Kerry?" (LOL!), "What's your agenda?" :hide:, that is when you have come to the point that it may be time to stop defending good public servants and move on to something else.

A few years ago TayTay asked the question, "Why are you here?" Five years later, I still do not know. Maybe one day I will have an answer.




Good post as always. Peace.

[wisteria]

5. Thanks for posting this bit of information. Have you checked out some of the comments?

Some people are even criticizing the extension of benefits to children until age 26 under their family plans,suggesting they are lazy and not willing to work. Then there are the claims that "their" tax money is going to people who are on the dole.
The ignorance of some people and mistrust of our government is stunning. The Democrats have their job cut out for them.