Christie calls Pallone "the sponsor of Obamacare"

so where is Frank? (0.00 / 0)

I'm disappointed by the huge number of Little signs I see in my deep blue town.

And nary a green wave.  
Sheesh, even my bumper sticker has Pallone's in type so small you can hardly read it.

---

by: sayitaintso @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 15:11:52 PM UTC

Being a major force in passing HCR (4.00 / 2)

should be a badge that Congressman Palone wears proudly.  I actually spoke with him about HCR while it was still being debated and I know how hard he worked to get it done.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

---

by: carolh @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 15:27:34 PM UTC

I think (0.00 / 0)

he did more than my president did.  

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 @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 15:51:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No doubt, but... (0.00 / 0)

...my only gripe with Frank is that as Chairman of the Health Subcommittee and someone who claims to be a supporter of single payer, he should have allowed Anthony Weiner to hold hearings on HR 676.

In addition to being an opportunity to educate people on the benefits of single payer, I believe that if the HCR debate had started with even a head fake towards single payer, there is a better chance that the compromise would have been the public option.

However, because the debate began with the public option, it was doomed to be a casualty of an administration that was going to compromise anything and everything that they had to in order to pass something that they could call HCR.  Also, as the person who has been in charge of the House Democratic Caucus's message, Frank should have been smart enough to know this himself and advocate for this kind of strategy.

That said, he is still far better than most of the Democrats in Washington, I am proud to call him my Congressman, I look forward to voting for him on Election Day, and even though the 7th District is usually more interesting than the 6th, I hope that I don't lose him as my Congressman through redistricting.  Then again, Ed Potosnak would probably be pretty good too.

---

by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 18:54:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

How much of that (0.00 / 0)

do you think came via the White House?  

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 @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 20:10:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

100%, but... (0.00 / 0)

Anthony Weiner was able to make his voice heard on the issue of single-payer without any position of power to do anything.

If Frank felt as strongly as Weiner did about the issue, he could have used the power that he has as Chairman and in his leadership role with regards to the caucus' message to influence the process.

If you look at the way that Baucus was able to gum up the works as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I believe that Frank could have done more to push levers on behalf of single payer.  As great as he is on so many issues, his only fault is that he doesn't appear to be either willing or able to buck the system as much as other progressives in the House often do.

Maybe that's why he has his leadership positions and Weiner doesn't and maybe this enables him to do more for his issues of concern quietly behind the scenes than Weiner does, but on this issue at the very least, I would have liked to have seen him be more visible and more vocal.

---

by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 20:48:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Weiner (0.00 / 0)

Yes, I was very proud of Anthony Weiner. But he also didn't have the responsibility Pallone had to herd recalcitrant Democrats, try to track an opaque White House on what their real attitude towards reform was and how far they'd go to support it, and deal with trying to find a path that would allow for change, that Republicans would not obstruct. All while the most hateful things were screamed at him by busloads of Tea Party activists bussed in from New York State.

I'm not saying Pallone's role was perfectly carried out, just that it was considerably more difficult than Weiner's.  

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 @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 21:28:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

but the problem was in the Senate (0.00 / 0)

Certainly, Pallone took his leadership role to mean that he would not threaten to bring everything down publicly, and I think that's reasonable but open to criticism.  

The problem was the 60 votes in the Senate, or alternatively the deal the White House had cut long beforehand. Either way I don't think Pallone could have gotten a public option, which after all did pass the House in the first version of the bill.  


Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

---

by: Hopeful @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 22:57:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You're both right, but... (0.00 / 0)

...all I am saying is that I would have liked Pallone to have given Weiner the chance to hold hearings in the Health Subcommittee on HR 676.  I don't blame him for the watered-down finished product.

The one thing that I still do not understand to this day is how the public option was lost once the decision was made to pass HCR through reconciliation.  The House, which had already written a bill with a public option was allowed to write the reconciliation bill and the Bennet public option letter in the Senate had 51 signatures.

Yet, for some reason, the House reconciliation bill no longer contained the public option.  When this was first reported, my response was akin to Ricky Ricardo when he would say "WHA' HAPPENED?!"

---

by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 28, 2010 at 02:35:19 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You left-wing crazies... (0.00 / 0)

...just won't be satisfied until the government takes over the health care industry in toto.

This is America. Government has no right to do anything of the sort. Obamacare isn't "reform." It's destruction.

Luckily, most people get it. And if you don't get it yet, then maybe the butt whipping you're about to receive on Tuesday will wisen you up to it.

---

by: RightOne @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 20:20:55 PM UTC

I often wonder (0.00 / 0)

about the right-wing folks that take the time to try and stir up trouble here. Most of them are unable to speak without insult, which of course says more about them than whoever they're insulting at that moment. There's no nuance. No good will. It's like somebody stole their favorite teddy bear and now they're spitting mad at the world. I wish them well, whatever they wish us.  

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 @ Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 21:31:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

you're right about one thing (0.00 / 0)

I will not be satisfied until the private, for-profit, health insurance industry is replaced with single-payer universal health insurance.

Until then, even with HCR, the only thing that most people will get is rising premiums and less coverage as lawyers, working on behalf of the private, for-profit health insurance industry will get even richer than they already are, identifying every massive loophole in the legislation and enabling the industry to take advantage of each and every one of them at the expense of their clients.

There is nothing in the Constitution that says government may not make any laws that protect the citizens of this country from greedy corporations for whom the bottom line is the only priority.

If Democrats get their butt whipped on Tuesday it is only because they looked really bad over the last two years passing lots of watered-down legislation that will serve to do very little of what it was originally intended to do.

If they ever have majorities in the House and the Senate again like the ones that they had in January 2009, maybe they will have wisened up and make the most of it next time.

Unfortunately, it is more likely that the world will come to an end in December 2012 shortly after Sarah Palin is elected President than it is that the Democrats will ever have such large majorities ever again.

---

by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 28, 2010 at 03:03:17 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

That's a reason to support Pallone (0.00 / 0)

altho I prefer single payer.  

Sustainability: Harnessing processes rather than consuming resources.

---

by: lfurman @ Thu Oct 28, 2010 at 14:23:03 PM UTC