Here’s how the press reported the death of health care reform in 1994.
This morning I was trying to find some of my old Christmas cards from the Clinton White House when I stumbled upon this news story in my files. Read it. It is amazing to think how much progress we are making this time around. It is sad, as well, to see how similar the Republican attack strategy is today. A “socialist takeover of the health care system?” If nothing else, Republicans are consistently unimaginative.
What jumped out at me was the last sentence of the story: “Republicans, with no attempt to hide their glee, have been declaring health care dead for weeks. They hope to turn the issue to their advantage in the November congressional elections, where they are expected to pick up a number of Democratic-controlled seats.”
Glee? What’s changed from that cynical, self-serving objective in 1994 except that his time, thankfully, they will be on the losing side of history.
9-27-1994
U.S. senate leader abandons health reform for year
By Joanne Kenen
WASHINGTON (Reuter) – Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell Monday reluctantly abandoned health reform efforts for the year, sounding the death knell for President Clinton’s top domestic priority.
“It is clear that health insurance reform cannot be enacted this year,” Senator Mitchell told a news conference in which he tried to pin the blame unequivocally on die-hard Republican opposition to even modest health care reform.
The House of Representatives gave up any pretense at working on health reform in mid-summer. Both Democratic-controlled chambers are due to recess early next month without sending any health bill to Clinton.
The president had vowed to veto any health care bill that fell short of his campaign pledge to provide health insurance that could never be taken away to every single American. He never got close to that goal.
About 39 million Americans lack health insurance, a situation unparalleled in other industrialized democracies. The ranks of the uninsured are forecast to keep rising, but it will not be easy for Congress to make another concerted push for comprehensive reform after coming up empty-handed this year, many lawmakers and their staffs say.
Clinton unveiled his sweeping proposed overhaul of the American health care system just over a year ago.
But Republicans tore into the plan as tantamount to a socialist takeover of the health care system, and said it would bankrupt the country. Even many Democrats thought Clinton was aiming too high, and found the plan too bureaucratic and costly.
The public, subjected to a $100 million barrage of lobbying and advertising aimed in large part at killing comprehensive health reform, got more and more confused and apprehensive.
Clinton said he was willing to let Congress reshape the plan, and Congressional panels and the Democratic leadership in Congress began doing precisely that. But even though health reform got whittled down, and numerous alternative versions were offered, lawmakers never found a formula that could pass.
Mitchell had been expected to declare an end to health care efforts last week. But he opted for one final round of consultations with colleagues on the prospects on passing even a minor bill that could be a cornerstone for future legislation. Monday, he acknowledged there was no point in going on.
“We all agreed it would serve no purpose to go forward unless we had the necessary votes,” said the Maine Democrat, who had badly wanted a health bill before retiring this year.
Last week, the Republican leaders of the House and Senate said aloud what their colleagues had been saying privately; They will oppose any health care bill this year, modest or not, bipartisan or not.
Referring to Republicans’ ability to filibuster any bill, a stalling tactic that they have used with increasing frequency, Mitchell added, “Even though Republicans are a minority in Congress, in the Senate, they’re a minority with a veto. They have the ability to block legislation and they have chosen to do so on health care reform,” he said.
Republicans, with no attempt to hide their glee, have been declaring health care dead for weeks. They hope to turn the issue to their advantage in the November congressional elections, where they are expected to pick up a number of Democratic-controlled seats.
GOP campaign chair calls NH Democratic Party leader a faggot, gets fired.
Rake Morgan reports that Doug Lambert is in hot water after calling Ray Buckley, the openly gay chair of the New Hampshire Democratic party, a “faggot.” Lambert, who was fired on Saturday, was a co-chair of Frank Guinta’s GOP congressional campaign. Here is Rake’s story:
Doug Lambert, a Glenn Beck wannabe and notorious local publicity hound, has finally gone into hiding. . . .and for good reason.
Lambert, a co-chair for Republican Frank Guinta’s New Hampshire congressional campaign, was fired this weekend for calling the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party “a faggot” during Lambert’s weekly radio show, “Meet The New Press.”
According to an article posted today on the Laconia Citizen web site, Lambert called Ray Buckley, the openly gay chair of the state Democratic Party, a “faggot” and then proceeded to further insult Buckley:
After Lambert called Buckley a faggot, co-host Skip Murphy suggested they turn off the live Web feed but, instead, Lambert looked into the camera, made some dancelike movements that were intended to mimic the way gay men walk, and said, “Yeah, you faggot. That’s right, I said it and I meant it. You are a reprobate. How the people, the Democrats — I think of some of the gray-haired ladies from the old party — would stand behind you is beyond me. You are a disgrace to yourself, to humanity, to mankind and to your party. Other than that, happy birthday, Ray, and many more — not,” he said before the feed suddenly went dead.
Lambert is known in the Laconia area for his intrepid efforts to gain personal publicity while shaming conservative Republicans into thinking he is championing their causes. A foe of any federal, state, or local tax that does not personally benefit him, Lambert has nevertheless squandered thousands of citizen tax dollars by filing frivolous law suits against government entities that rub him the wrong way.
Lambert is also famously known for opposing Gilford’s effort to build a much-needed library. In a close vote, the project failed to gain voter approval. When donors stepped up to fund construction themselves, Lambert then took exception to the “hidden costs” of this free gift to the town. I can only assume that if Lambert actually read books he might have supported this venture. But as I said, if a project does not personally benefit him, he has no interest. His sense of community begins and ends at his front door.
While it is unfortunate that Ray Buckley had to suffer a public insult from the homophobic Lambert, the silver lining in all this might be Lambert’s permanent exile from New Hampshire’s exclusive GOP club house. Following his slur, Republican notables fought over each other to be the first to condemn the outcast.
Here’s a sampling of their comments:
GOP Congressional candidate Frank Guinta: “This type of dialogue has no place in politics or in our country.”
GOP spokesman Ryan Williams: “This is inappropriate and offensive. We strongly condemn the use of such vulgar language and personal attacks.”
GOP State Rep. Francine Wendelboe: “I think he’s finally slit his own throat.”
GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Ovide Lamontagne: “There is no place in politics or anywhere else for the type of language or sentiments expressed by Doug Lambert today … and I reject them categorically and unequivocally,”
GOP State Senator Jeb Bradley: Lambert’s remarks were “harmful and unfortunate, completely inappropriate and hurtful.” He called on Lambert to apologize.
For those of us who had forgotten, the Citizen article reminds us that racism and homophobia are like twin-headed monsters among GOP activists like Lambert:
This is not the first time Lambert has made disparaging comments regarding sexual orientation or race on his blog. Following black comedienne Wanda Sykes’ comments at the annual White House Press Corps Dinner in May about former Vice-President Dick Cheney, Lambert wrote, “May she choke on a chicken bone or a watermelon rind. What ever gets the job done.”
The biggest shock of all: Lambert declined the opportunity to talk to the local newspaper about this incident. I guess if you want to “Meet the New Press,” you’ll have to do it on Lambert’s show where he can control the conversation.
Hunter kills himself, deer survives.
From my friend, Rake Morgan, comes this comment this morning –
No one likes to see animals of any kind — including humans — needlessly die. However, when men — why is it always men? – go out into the woods with guns, hide in trees, and use other means to create an unfair advantage over trusting animals that are then killed, I am not going to lament the death of such a person.
According to today’s Union Leader, a New Hampshire hunter shot and killed himself while he was acting out his childish hunting fantasy. I am sorry for his family. On the other hand, I rejoice that another deer — supposedly being “managed” with these government-sanctioned slaughters — escaped to see another day.
On the same day, according to the newspaper report, another hunter in a separate incident shot himself in the hand.
Given the number of hunting accidents each year, I wonder if most hunters are both cruel and stupid. Or perhaps the two character flaws always go together?
