John Kerry Breaks Out Oppo, Takes On Howard Dean For 'Kill The Bill' Comments

[ProSense]

Sam Stein

John Kerry Breaks Out Oppo, Takes On Howard Dean For 'Kill The Bill' Comments

The pushback against Howard Dean for his call to "kill" the Senate health care bill, continued on Friday night, with a prominent Senate Democrat picking out an old quote from the former DNC chair's past to paint him as hypocritical in the debate.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) who squared off against Dean during the 2004 Democratic primary, issued the following statement on the Senate floor as the week-long debate over health care hit a closing crescendo:

I can promise you, if we follow that kind of advice and give up now, just because the bill is not all we want it to be, we surrender the very reforms that people have spent their lives working for, reforms that the Democratic Party has been proposing for decades, reforms that many of us in the Senate today ran on and promised we would work together to achieve.
What we are trying to do here is not easy. It wasn't easy for Franklin Roosevelt when he tried, it wasn't easy for Harry Truman when he tried, it wasn't easy for Bill Clinton when he tried. But you don't sound the retreat, especially when you are so close to achieving many of your objectives.

Some of our liberal friends have suggested we should kill the health care reform bill because it doesn't have a public option.

This week, for example, Howard Dean wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that real health care reform needed a public option that would '...give all Americans a meaningful choice of coverage.' I was surprised to read that because back in 1993, then-Governor Howard Dean called Medicare '...one of the worst federal programs ever and a living advertisement for why the federal government should never administer a national health care program.'

Well, I am a strong supporter of the public option and I've fought to see it included. But if it cannot be included, I'm not willing to walk away.

The remarks, which were offered under a press release titled "Kerry Rebuts Republicans on Health Care, Urges Democrats to See Bigger Picture," is yet another example of the growing divide between Democrats inside and out of office. The progressive community itself is torn on the politics and policy implications of health care reform. But what stands out is the willingness for Kerry, the White House and other Senators on the Hill to turn their guns on Dean even as they bite their tongues when it comes to conservative Democratic critiques of the legislation.

As one plugged in Democrat in the heat of the negotiations put it succinctly: "(Sen. Joseph) Lieberman (I-Conn.) has a vote in this process. Dean doesn't."

[AuntPatsy]

1. Dean did NOT say to kill the bill.....he said it needed to be revamped...big difference

:eyes: Kerry is not a God, nor is Dean but each in his own right can not be counted on to always be one hundred percent on the mark so simply because Kerry says Dean is wrong does not lead me to believe that he is right because umm he is Kerry, nor do I fall in line for Dean like that either, I just want to know before the bill gets a final vote exactly what it says, is that so wrong?

[ProSense]

5. "Dean did NOT say to kill the bill"

Dean's comments were irresponsible, otherwise there would be no need to walk it back. The fact is his comments were awkward and taken to mean that. He created a lot of noise at a time when people should be focused on fixing the bill. Instead, some are campaigning to kill it.

[madfloridian]

18. His comments were truthful and honest...something that has been needed.

I have heard nothing but spin about this bill.

[blm]

27. Love ya, Pro, but, corpmedia AND left bloggers misquoted Dean into a black and white position

and THAT is what Senator Kerry heard on the way back from Copenhagen.

Dean's words did not come off exactly as intended to express his FULLER POSITION, and Kerry's response was in reply to the distortion which UNFORTUNATELY came mostly from those who prefer to be supportive of the distorted remarks attributed to Dean.

[beachmom]

32. Howard Dean did use the words "kill the bill" and was not misquoted:

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/86681/

(Vermont Public Radio)

(Kinzel) Last week, in an effort to help break a logjam over whether or not to include a public option in the bill, Dean dusted off one of his plans from his 2004 presidential race. He suggested to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that people between the ages of 55 and 65 be given the opportunity to buy into Medicare.

The compromise initially gained a fair amount of support, but over the weekend, Senator Lieberman said he would oppose it. Lieberman's opposition is important because the Democrats need 60 votes to block a Republican filibuster of the bill and they need Lieberman's support.

Dean, speaking from an airport in Puerto Rico, said the Democrats' apparent decision to appease Lieberman has left them with a bill that's not worth supporting. He thinks they should start over using a parliamentary procedure usually reserved for budget bills, known as reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority of senators to pass.

(Dean) "This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. And, honestly, the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill and go back to the House and start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill."

So he was not misquoted. If you say kill the Senate bill, that's the game, set and match. Reconciliation was not an option because key parts of the bill could not be passed that way. And using the House bill is not an option because the Senate can filibuster what comes out of the conference.

[blm]

35. He said that would be the BEST thing to do - and I would agree if it was possible...

but, his overall position WAS distorted as if he was set to lead revolution in the streets with KILL THE BILL. That was NOT his intention, and the left blogosphere screwed up by acting as if it were his position. We expect corpmedia to push THEIR distortion of their favorite targets - especially when it comes to Gore, Kerry and.....Dean.

[Kdillard]

11. Really then why was that the title of many threads on DU. I like Dean but

His remarks were not helpful towards getting a better bill passed. It just made an already contentious situation worse and provided another distraction.

[vaberella]

16. I read and heard Dean's statements. He implied it heavily.

He would not vote for this bill, this bill is this or that. In the end he wants the bill eliminated. Ie he wants to kill the bill and this isn't even the final bill. It's just trying to get to conference.

[karynnj]

38. The point is that in Dean's op-ed it is clear that he was wrong on Kerry's provision

It is in the bill. The fact is that Dean should have issued a statement on that and then said if that changed his opinion on the bill. He also did say kill to the current Senate bill. What he wanted done through reconciliation would be a totally new bill, though it might retain some parts of the current bill. The fact is that NONE of the Senators, far more familiar with the process, think what Dean is suggesting is doable. (Kerry and Rockefeller, who both said that have 48 years in the Senate between them. They, not Dean, are the experts on that.

I agree with you that neither Dean or Kerry are going to do or say 100% what any of us want. Here though, Dean pulled Kerry into this with his oped by mentioning him - and getting it wrong. Kerry was attempting to explain the good things in the bill - even though it is not what he would have wanted. The fact is that the point Dean is insisting on was not even met in Dean's (or Kerry's) 2004 plan. Where I trust Kerry is that when he says this is likely the best compromise that can get 60 votes, it probably is. He knows the Senate well.

I agree that you should be able to know the entire bill before it gets a vote - and you can. It was read today verbatim in the Senate - so it should be in the senate record.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[budkin]

3. This from the guy who was defenseless against swiftboaters is willing to attack Dean? What a joke

[asjr]

4. Kerry just went down a few notches in my

estimation. Dean was merely stating an opinion as Kerry was. That does not mean that either is right or wrong. But I feel it was unnecessary for Kerry to say that. I admit I am still a Deaniac. To me Howard Dean has been such a breath of fresh air ever since he came on the scene.

[ProSense]

6. "Dean was merely stating an opinion as Kerry was. "

Yes, Kerry is stating his opinion as someone who has a job to do. It's the reason Bernie Sanders made the statement that he has to deal with reality. Hyperbole is not what's needed at this critical moment.

[madfloridian]

14. Dean has been careful NOT to go after personalities.

[ProSense]

25. Did you expect Kerry to criticize what he considers irresponsible

comments and not mention who he's refering to?

I don't think that's Kerry's style. He isn't criticizing Dean's personality, he's critizing his comments.

"Dean has been careful NOT to go after personalities."

Are you kidding me?

[jillan]

7. He also spoke out against Olbermann on the Senate floor. Olbermann who managed to get FREE health

clinics to several cities. John Kerry - I thought I knew ya.

[ProSense]

8. Kill the bill is irresponsible

Are you saying that providing coverage to 30 million people is secondary to Olbermann's rants?

[Honeycombe8]

9. If you believe this provides cov. to 30M people while not harming others, you are gullible.

Don't you know by now politicians exaggerate claims? And have you heard any details of cost containment in this bill? I know they SAY it's so. But have you heard any "plan" to contain the rising health care costs?

You are not wise, Grasshopper. I am not a DK fan or a Deaniac. I'm a moderate who wasn't expecting much...and this bill really isn't much. For a few, yes. (The # I heard was 300,000 people...then they quickly revised that to 30 million.) But at what harm to the masses?

There didn't have to be a strong public option or expansion of Medicare or this or that. There didn't HAVE to be any particular thing. And this bill certainly doesn't have any of those particular things that make it truly an open market and cost containmnet bill.

The ins. cos. are still exempt from antitrust laws, meaning they can still get together and legally collude to price fix. Try to contain costs in that environment. Impossible.

Open your eyes, Grasshopper. And hop away.

[ProSense]

23. Gullible? There is hyperbole and then there

is reality.

I strongly prefer the latter.

[jillan]

12. Not when providing = Mandates without choice.

[ProSense]

24. Bogus argument.

Continually disproved, but kept alive by the critics.

[Cass]

31. What was he criticizing Olbermann for? nt

[kath]

10. Hey Kerry - BITE ME.

[politicasista]

13. Unfortunately, this thread is gone get ugly

Looks like it already has. :hide:

[Mass]

15. I have to disagree with Kerry here. Now, but why am I not surprised to see you continue dividing

people when we need to be united.

The war between in and out of office Democrats (some of them very good people) is stupid. We should say so loud and clear rather than continuing these flamebait threads. They need us and we need them.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

21. you can't divide people already divided tho

and i would say he isn't dividing anybody by posting the OP since that is basically just posting what a politician said(one might not like it but it seems factual to me)

[ProSense]

22. Oh brother

"Now, but why am I not surprised to see you continue dividing people when we need to be united."

Are you suggesting that the only opinions that should be posted here are the ones that support the critics of the bill?

How the hell is posting Kerry's opinion divisive?

[BklnDem75]

30. Different opinion = Divisive

Very interesting

[politicasista]

34. Me thinks she means that it brings out old Kerry vs. Dean wounds

from the 03/04 primaries. :shrug:

[MH1]

17. Thank you ProSense

for continuing to post these much-needed items.

You can't tell (because we are heavily outnumbered here) but I almost always rec your posts. :)

[vaberella]

19. When I see posts from this site I realize now why Dems don't last too long and Repubs win.

People like to blame the fickle independent party---but this is fairly in the Democrats part; that is if I take DU as an example.

[goclark]

20. John Kerry 's opinion is one that I wanted to hear

:handshake:

[mcablue]

26. John "Let's invade Iraq" Kerry

We should certainly follow his judgment.

And if you're going to defend Kerry for his vote, I hope you have never blasted Hillary for her similar pro-blank-check vote.

[blm]

28. Big difference there - Kerry stood AGAINST invasion when weapon inspections proved force was not nec

and did so publicly before, during and after the invasion. Hillary could have, but, she and other IWR supporters would not join Kerry in that attack on Bush's decision in early 2003 - and, in fact, stayed sided with Bush's military leadership even during the 2004 and 2006 campaigns.

[MadBadger]

33. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HEALTH CARE NOT IRAQ

I'm not yelling, just speaking loudly and clearly so you can comprehend.

[mcablue]

36. I'm talking about judgment

And Kerry didn't show judgment regarding Iraq. Some are touting Kerry's support as if the fact that Kerry supports it should be a plus. We are talking about health care and Iraq, because I'm part of "we," and I brought up Iraq.

[karynnj]

37. Kerry spoke against rushing to war Hillary didn't

In fall 2002, Dean was at least as aggressive - IMO, more so as he advocated that there be a resolution setting a date by which if Saddam had not proved he had disarmed, he thought we should invade. Note how Bush could have used that even easier than he used the IWR. He also said he would vote for Biden/Lugar - which Bush likely would have used as well - that was the SFRC resolution that Kerry supported as well. In 2004, no one ever found a Sept or Oct 2002 quote of Dean against the IWR.

Dean became fiercely anti-war only later.

[PBS Poll-435]

29. Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!!

:hide: