sco’s interview with MA-05 candidate Niki Tsongas is up at .08 Acres. Give it a read.
You will notice that Tsongas’ health care talking points have not changed, nor been fleshed out at all. For instance, sco asks “What would you like to see Congress do to help lower health care costs for Americans?” She dodges the question. And her idea for a national health care plan is still this: “Let’s do Massachusetts everywhere, because it’s quick and easy. We’ll fix it later if it crashes and burns.” No details, no caveats, no qualification, no depth, no challenges to entrenched interests, or even an acknowledgement that such exist … no nothin’.
It’s deeply ironic, since she points to her experience on the board of Fallon Community Health Plan as relevant public experience. (It’s “a small health plan”, she calls it. Funny … those must be someone else’s ads I see fifty times a day on TV.)
Also relevant, especially to someone taking over Campaign Finance Hero Marty Meehan’s seat:
It’s clear to me that we have to address campaign finance reform. We’ve tried so many different things, at this point I’m not clear what the best direction to go is. There is this process in which we have to sort of vet the viability of candidates, so it’s not an unimportant thing that we have to get out there and raise some funds. On the other hand, the sheer cost of it is really indefensible. What I would look at is ways to just control the cost of running a viable campaign.
… but not, say, introducing public financing of campaigns.
On global warming:
I’d work to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions, put an absolute cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
That puts her in the mainstream of the Dem presidential candidates, e.g.; I wonder if in addition to cap-n’-trade she would advocate a carbon tax, as advocated by Chris Dodd.
She says the two most important things she would like to accomplish are ending the war in Iraq and stopping global warming. So there you go.
To compare and contrast, I actually asked those three questions (Health care, campaign finance and global warming) to all of the candidates. You can read the responses of the remaining ones in my previous interviews:
Frankly, I still think that criticism of Tsongas’ position on health care specifically is puzzling. She has the same position — or at least different only on the margins — as Donoghue and Finegold (and, for that matter O’Brien before he dropped out).
Ms. Tsongas is different, in that she gives the appearance of deception or at least elusion. As Winston notes here, for example, Fallon is a health-care giant, or at least a very big kid. Her response to you was kind of Scarlett O’Hara — my itty bitty HMO.
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Likewise, she play both the late-husband card and now in your interview her father’s. Dad survived Pearl Harbor and fought in the South Pacific. She tries to use that as proof that she’ll do well for our returning soldiers. Well, maybe there’s a relationship and maybe not. Maybe it’s just another emotional ploy. Trading on her father’s war record before she was born is quite a stretch.
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I’m just not getting the sense of straight talk from her. While in a spreadsheet, her answers may be similar to everyone’s except Jamie Eldridge’s, I’d like to feel that she’s not contorting words, even when she doesn’t have to do so.
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Hey, she has her doubts about single-payer. She serves on big-health-care board. She has used free-market lingo for health care. Yet, she says she’s all for the public weal and she is open minded.
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It’s hard to reconcile all of that. Convince me, Niki.
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It could be that her style incorporates spongy wording. No me gusto, senora.
Tsongas gets my ire mostly because of her “free markets” comment at the GLAD meeting a few weeks ago. Since then she has not fortified her position on health care with anything that one can either praise or criticize. There’s not much there.
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As for Finegold and Donoghue, there’s a little bit in your interviews — not a lot, mind you — that indicates that they have some understanding of the challenges. At least they’re not hiding behind hoary (and demonstrably false) right-wing cliches about the magic of the markets.
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But yeah, their positions are flimsy too, and they deserve their own front-page opprobrium for that. It’s comin’.
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And I’d love to hear Eldridge’s scenario for passing single-payer. That’d be fun, too.
This was an interesting read — .08 acres has done a great job with its candidate interviews — but I too noticed Niki’s lack of answers on the health care issue. She is sticking to her position — since I guess she has to at this point — but doesn’t really give any more substance on it.
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I also saw her refer to Fallon as a “small” company. That’s kind of amusing, and complete nonsense. As the Globe detailed in an article last year, Fallon is quickly expanding to be a massive group, as evidenced by this article from 2/12/06 headlined “Fallon Keeps Growing”.
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http://www.boston.co…
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Relating to this, Niki said “First and foremost, my family was the beneficiary of some of the most tremendous health care this country has to offer. It actually gave my husband year of life that he might not otherwise have had, so I have a very strong feeling that we have to have universal health care access for all.”
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This struck me — not just because Niki is again trying to play the ‘Paul Tsongas Card’ — but also because I wonder if a lot of working class families have the same access as a former US Senator. Niki may have some tremendous opportunities given her membership on the board of the “small” HMO Fallon Community Health Plan, but most people aren’t so lucky. Come on Niki: stop playing the ‘my last name is Tsongas’ angle, and give us something more in the way of policy reasons and rationale.
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Also, quick question. Niki refers to Tsongas a couple of times as her husband. I’m just curious: Hasn’t she re-married, or am I incorrect there?
Does anyone seriously think if her name wasn’t Tsongas she’d even be in this race?
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In terms of full disclosure, I have known the Tsongas family for many years and am volunteering in Niki’s campaign.
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Up until now, I wasn’t very familiar with the blogs, but I must say that for all the benefits of candid discussion, I find something troubling about the ability to use personal innuendo in so anonymous a form when talking about personal lives. I have to wonder, am I seeing the words of a candidate, a staffer or just someone trying to take down a candidate with a name advantage?
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The candidates deserve a fair hearing on the issues. I watched the initial debate at UMass Lowell. I have seen a lot of political talk and debate. I was heartened by the level of discourse, thoughtful answers and lack of negativism. It appears this is changing and that’s too bad.
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I do know Niki Tsongas. Here’s a news flash. She hasn’t been captured by the establishment. She’s the activist who came out of college to work in the Gene McCarthy campaign and whose first job was as a Social Worker in NYC. She has compassion for people.
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Finally, as for the Tsongas name, she’s proud of it and should be. It contributes to her ability to try to make a difference. Ultimately she will be judged, however, on the person she is and the job she can do for the Fifth District. That’s the way it should be.
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Will
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Well, Will W., welcome to our world. It looks like you should dive into the commentary, particularly on the 5th CD race.
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We are a bit of a club, but not closed. Contributory sites like BMG intentionally don’t show the emails and sites (if any) of their commenters. We are supposed to be commenting here, after all.
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However, most of us don’t hide at all. You can search by our signatures to find most of us easily and many of us have blogs. If you have’t already gotten to it, hit richardhowe.com, who has the best coverage of Niki’s race. There’s stuff on the race at leftinlowell.com, ryanpadams.blogspot.com, my own massmarrier.blogspot.com, and our shared leftahead.com, for just a few examples.
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Most commenters on BMG are out there and upfront.
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Mike
Thanks for the welcome Mike. It was appreciated. Once I get my bearings I hope your words will prove true about motivation for why people are here and adequate disclosure. I sense that it is the case for the most part, but that doesn’t excuse others who use this as vehicle to “swift boat” others in a Congressional or any other campaign.
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We all share frustration over the odds of our political system and the lack of attention and participation by voters. I’ve worked in local races where you CAN make a difference. Many of these candidates didn’t have a lot of money, but we were able to win by running on issues, capturing imagination and outworking others.
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I’m buoyed but what is now happening in Washington due to the election. Ultimately, people see through misleading leaders and arrogant policies.
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But I still hate to see this sense of entitlement to innuendo, just because people resent someone else or their advantages. And that’s why I weighed in as someone who has known Niki Tsongas over the years.
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Sure, its always harder to fight your way up, but that energy and creativity has a currency too. I guess I’ve now blown my cover as a full fledged idealist by now.
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Again Mike, thanks for the welcome mat and the tips.
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Will
We heartily encourage everyone to fill out their profile information as fully as they feel comfortable. Click my name below to see mine.
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Will, I’m not interested in the personal stuff. She may well have gained a lot of perspective from being married to Paul Tsongas. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter to me at all, and I too find “Winston Smith’s” personal jabs to be off-topic.
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I am disturbed by her apparent lack of depth on an issue of huge humane, fiscal and economic importance to this country. She’s got time to fix that, and I hope she uses it well.
to a modern lifestyle. If you can pay for it, fine, otherwise shut up about global warming being the largest farce ever.
version of global warming. Far too many inconvienient coincidences. Like China and India being exempt from Kyoto. The promotion of “carbon credits”. What, you have no “right” to a modern life?
Check out this article on how “corporate Democrats,” like Niki Tsongas, are trying to destroy Single Payer Health Care.
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http://www.commondre…
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Do we really need a “corporate Democrat” like Tsongas representing Massachusetts? Or do we want a real Democrat, like Jamie Eldridge, who won’t sacrifice working families to corporate interests?