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Reverse Town Hall?

by: Rosi Efthim

Sun Nov 15, 2009 at 03:15:11 PM EST

It was an angry crowd that met Rep. John Adler Saturday at his first Town Hall since he voted to scuttle the public option when the House debated and passed it last weekend. But this time, the crowd was upset because the guy they sent to Congress is standing against the public option. Adler is one of the 39 Democrats voting no, and the only one from New Jersey. Pro-reform advocates from NJ Citizen Action and Grassroots 4 Change both showed up in numbers in Willingboro.

Several dozen constituents rose to address the congressman yesterday, and nearly all were unhappy with his vote.

Burlington County Times:

"You were one of the first to support Barack Obama, and we looked at you as our Democratic congressman who would vote to make a change," said Rev. Charles Levi Martin of Willingboro. "I love you, but I don't like your vote. You gotta change your vote."

Adler's position, which he telegraphed well in advance confounds and troubles some of the people who labored to get him in office, in NJ's only congressional challenger victory last year. We have certainly been critical here of his position.

Adler's reasons for balking at the public option plan passed just days ago - largely about cost-containment and well outlined in this balanced review by Tom Moran - seem cheesy in light of the need for reform and the connection to personal bankruptcy and a cratering economy that uncovered and rapidly rising health care costs are. Adler seems dedicated only to the idea of a perfect bill, one that goes lighter on the landscape than he feels this one does. The strongest health care advocates started out on day one with their legislators already having compromised a single payer plan right out of the equation. Given that, it's hard not to see Adler's vote in the more conservative waters of South Jersey as political calculation, and a weak attempt to insulate himself from the inevitable GOP mission to snatch his District back when Adler stands for his first re-election in 2010.

Still, an overhaul of our health care system has a few steps to go before it gels, and there is at least the suggestion that Adler, his issue of cost-containment now on the record, may yet come to support a public option plan.

Adler still says he has "expressed support" for a public option, and notes that he has supported other Obama initiatives, including the federal stimulus package, stricter govenment oversight of banks and lending institutions and a new energy bill. But it isn't clear whether that was enough for his audience Saturday. Evelyn Liebman, of NJ Citizen Action, urging Adler to correct his course:

I urge you to reconsider your vote so you will be on the right side of history.

Yeah. Like the lady said.

Rosi Efthim :: Reverse Town Hall?

Tags: John Adler, Town hall, public option, Healthcare reform, (All Tags)

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Reverse Town Hall? | 8 comments

Does anybody know... (0.00 / 0)

...when Adler cast his vote and whether or not there were conversations regarding whether or not his vote was needed for HCR to pass?

If Adler was one of the last people to cast a vote, possibly casting it after it was clear that there were enough votes to pass HCR, then I think that Adler should be given the benefit of the doubt.

I believe that if push comes to shove and Adler's vote is needed to pass HCR in its final form, he will vote for it.

by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Sun Nov 15, 2009 at 20:40:41 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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perhaps (0.00 / 0)

But by putting out his negative statement on the Friday before the vote, when we know desperate negotiations LATER that night led to the vote on the Stupak amendment, suggests that he went no when a yes vote was still needed.

Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

by: Hopeful @ Sun Nov 15, 2009 at 22:34:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Adler: Run As A Democrat, Or Lose Your Seat (0.00 / 0)

Trying to be all things to all people won't work.

Running as Republican lite won't work. The real Republicans won't be conned by the act, and you'll lose the enthusiasm, energy and turnout of real Democrats.

Ironically, in your desperate zeal to keep your job you are insuring that your first term will be your last. Milquetoast triangulation doesn't cut it in NJ.

Try digging deep into your gut and finding your Conscience and sticking to what THAT tells you! Listen to folks you know and have worked with like Jay Lassiter....not the DCCC types who have stuffed your "war chest" with 1.3 million dollars.

Jon Corzine had lots of money to spend and he lost because he failed, in great measure, to appeal to, motivate, excite and mobilize the base of our party.

John Adler, come back to your core principles......it's thei rght thing to do....and you just might WIN doing it right!!!

Even if you somehow slink/squeak through as a sellout and "win", what does that make you? Who owns you then?

by: Nick Lento @ Sun Nov 15, 2009 at 22:01:40 PM UTC

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Moran column (4.00 / 1)

What I took away is that Adler is hopeful that the final bill will meet the requirements he wants.

BUT.

He also said that he thinks a bill needs to be passed. So perhaps he votes for it in the end?

Ultimately, he will get to say he voted against 'the Pelosi Bill.'

by: JRB @ Sun Nov 15, 2009 at 22:25:21 PM UTC

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Maybe He *Can* "Vote" BOTH Ways!!!! lol n/t (0.00 / 0)

by: Nick Lento @ Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 01:07:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

JRB (0.00 / 0)

That's what I'm hoping for.

And I would imagine some of the public response was a surprise to him.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.

by: Rosi Efthim @ Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 04:26:56 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Case closed: Stupak is Virtually Dead (0.00 / 0)

I just came across this clip from Maddow...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26... It's well worth the 11:29. Obama himself has weighed in and made it clear that the Hyde amendment is as far as we need to go to accommodate the religious/"moral" zealots.

by: Nick Lento @ Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 01:05:33 AM UTC

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Adler in a bind (0.00 / 0)

He's in a tough position. This election will be decided by the seniors in their retirement villages and, as Adler is painfully aware, they won't vote for a guy who they perceive is going to put their own government health care benefits at risk.

Many senior citizens are like whores in a brothel, they want the benefits of being a whore while they preach chastity to everyone else.

http://christiegonewild.blogsp...

by: ken bank @ Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 04:44:51 AM UTC

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Reverse Town Hall? | 8 comments