The Town Hall was much more sedate than the last one. The Representative and all the people speaking agreed on the Public Option, the need to reform health care, and to bring our troops home. There were minor disagreements on specifics but overall everyone was in agreement.
On another note I was quite disappointed in Rep. Frank when I approached him after the meeting. I was collecting signatures for nomination papers for Martha Coakely. I asked him to sign the papers. He said he couldn’t sign them because he had already signed papers for Michael and he said you are only allowed to sign papers for one candidate. I corrected him and told him that anyone could sign nomination papers for as many candidates as one wanted to. He argued with me and said I was wrong. I told him again that he could sign if he wanted to. He said he would look into it and walked away.
Thanks for the update about the meeting. Here’s an article about whether the public option we may get is the one we’re hoping for.
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p>I bet you Barnie follows through. Contact his office and follow up to find out. It’d be worth it.
When asked what was the barrier to single-payer instead of the current plan, Frank responded simply, “about 90 votes in the House.” He went on to describe the public option almost as a test bed. If claims about the ability of a non-profit public option to offer better care for less money by cutting administrative costs prove out, the public plan would gain subscribers and importance and potentially provide a platform out of which to evolve a single-payer system over time. Alternatively, if critics of government health plans are right, and the public option limits choices and adds bureaucracy, then the public plan would not attract membership and the healthcare system will remain dominated by private enterprises.
Of course, given that they were right-wing demonstrators, they were given generous TV coverage and described by CNN as ‘a sea of people as far as the eye can see.’ It seems like every time I’ve attended a march in Washington, like the big glbt rights rally I attended in DC in 2000, the media has minimized coverage and estimates of attendance.
What more can I say, other than as citizen journalists we need to take our own videos and stills and get ’em out there.
The fire department and park services estimated anywhere between 20K and 60K.
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p>http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
I thought they gave that up after controversy over the Million Man March.
Only a “drill”
S2028
These hecklers are bullies, and bullies wimp out at the first hint of resistance. Barney Frank, of course, famously hit back last time he was confronted, so this crowd didn’t want that experience again.
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p>PS: It’s amazing he doesn’t know you can sign multiple papers:(
I think you are correct regarding nomination papers, but I also suspect that, for Rep. Frank, the cost of being wrong is considerably steeper than it is for you or me.
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p>Maybe, maybe that explains his reluctance.