First let me say I support Jack Conway in his bid to become a United States Senator, but I also reserve the the right to be critical of his Campaign and how it's operating. From the very beginning the Conway campaign has been, what I consider, top down, all grass and no roots, with support from Kentucky Democrats like Jerry Abramson, Greg Stumbo, Crit Luallen, Congressman John Yarmuth and Congressman Ben Chandler. Yes Ben Chandler, the Big Blue Kentucky Dog that did his best to kill real Healthcare Reform. This is what Joe Sonka over at Barefoot And Progressive had to say about Ben Chandler:
March 22, 2010 Last night Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie, Geoff Davis, Hal Rogers and Ben Chandler Voted Against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Health Care Reform). Click here for the Roll Call.
Click here to see what Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie, Geoff Davis, Hal Rogers and Ben Chandler Voted Against.
Click here to let your Represenative know how you feel.
In Rep. Chandler’s district, the health care reform bill will:
Improve coverage for 465,000 residents with health insurance.
Tax credits and other assistance to up to 196,000 families and 14,900 small businesses to help them afford coverage.
Improve Medicare for 112,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.
Extend coverage to 56,000 uninsured residents.
Guarantee that 12,700 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.
Protect 1,600 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.
Allow 66,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans. Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 18 community health centers.
Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $62 million annually.
During the healthcare negotiations we got pretty disgusted with Ben Chandler and his whole "Blue Dog" coalition. Instead of negotiating in faith and coming up with a real healthcare reform bill Chandler and his cronies in that Corporate Democrat coalition decided to poison and delay the process turning it into Corporate Welfare or nothing at all. Well, for millions of Americans unfortunately these folks got what they wanted and we will get nothing at all as usual. Now, he wants our sympathy for stabbing us in the back.
When Democrats go to the polls in November to elect members of Congress and the US Senate will there really be any difference between the Democratic and Republican candidates? The answer to that question depends on the candidates and to some extent, where you live.
It is no secret that our nation is mired in a severe healthcare crisis both in costs and in coverage. Republicans argue that the system is fine and oppose any reform short of TORT Reform. This is a national problem and states all over the country would benefit from health reform. I decided to look at some of the ways reforms could help in my home state of Kentucky.
One thing the healthcare debate has shown us is that here in Kentucky we have exactly one member of our Congressional delegation, Congressman John Yarmuth known by most Progressives in the state simply as "Congressman Awesome". There are many reasons for that, but mostly because on almost every issue he has sided with Progressives and voted accordingly.
When Ben Chandler was elected Congressman at the time he became the only Democrat in Kentucky's Congressional delegation and was a breath of fresh air. He offered a stark constrast to the horrible work Kentucky Republicans were doing to destroy our state and indeed our country. Now, as the lone Blue Dog in Kentucky I want to send a message to Congressman Chandler as an uninsured Kentuckian with a pre-existing condition not in his district. Please, fight for us because we desperately need you.
Ben Chandler answered questions from two dozen Cancer treatment advocates. As Kentucky's only Blue Dog, he could concievably weild considerable power within his caucus and the Congress for the passing of real healthcare reform. However, he gave few answers besides acknowledging the problems in the system and offered them little but empathy.
It appears you can teach an old dog new tricks. That is especially true if it is a Blue Dog. Despite being elected as Democrats they are learning a whole host of new tricks and are recieving a whole lot of treats. Yes, just a little green and these Blue Dogs are more than ready to roll over.
Oh my how things change when it comes to Health Care Reform. All of the sudden we start hearing words from the Blue Dog Democrats like Revenue Neutral and Deficit Neutral, but in 2008 all of that was cast aside to spend $289 billion for their farmer pals. Remember the "pay as you go" rule being waived to get this bloated $289 billion boondoggle for farmers passed.
Wapedia The House passed the Farm Bill again on May 22, and the Senate shortly thereafter. President Bush again vetoed the measure, but this veto was overridden in both Houses on June 18, so the Farm Bill in its entirety has become law. H.R. 6124 . A similar situation occurred in 2005 with the Deficit Reduction Act , where in the enrolling process certain mistakes were made changing the text of the bill. In that case, the bill was considered to be law even with the mistakes since the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tem of the Senate attested that the language sent to the President was indeed the text that was passed by Congress.
The bill originally caused controversy because the " pay-as-you-go " (Clause 10 of Rule XXI of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives ) rule was waived . That rule prohibits the consideration of bills that increase the deficit in either a six-year period or an eleven-year period.
As we all know, the Republicans are more than happy with the status-quo on Healthcare. They care little about the well-being of America as long as they can keep stuffing money in their greedy enablers pockets, who in turn butter their bread. America has a broken healthcare system that is desperately in need of reform. We spend more on healthcare than any industrialized nation, and despite that are the only industrialized nation that does not have universal care.
Blue Dog Democrats, better known around here as "Corporate Democrats" are becoming upset at the process on the healthcare plan that is shaping in the Congress. Unfortunately, they are not upset that the current debate may yet leave millions of their constituents uninsured but they are seemingly upset that they are not being given enough room by the leadership to sink a public option. It appears they are upset with Democrats who actually want to pass reform that benefits more than the insurance companies.
2008 was an historic election for many reasons. Of course, one of them was that it was the first time an African-American had been elected to the highest office in the land. Now a couple of Barack Obama's early Kentucky supporters are urging him for another first. The first African-American leader of the Appalachian Committee.
Last night at the Muhammad Ali Center, in Louisville, Kentucky Jack Conway Democratic primary candidate for US Senate received 5 major endorsements from Jerry Abramson, Greg Stumbo, Crit Luallen, Congressman John Yarmuth and Congressman Ben Chandler. I had the opportunity to shoot video at the event and the rest of the videos are below the hump and they are best watched in HQ, high quality. Rural Progressive is not a oxymoron.
Under the "Imagine that" category it seems that wishing death upon Supreme Court justices, using the Lord's name in vain at reporters that inquire about your polling, and just generally being a loon will cause you approval ratings to plument. Well, now we know why Bunning was so offended about his poll numbers.
One of the reasons many think that Dan Mongiardo will be a great candidate both for the primary, and general elections for Kentucky's Senate seat in 2010 is his position and name recognition. As Kentucky's sitting Lt. Governor he has shown an appeal to voters all over the state. Also, many state and national Democrats remember when he almost pulled a monumental upset over Bunning in 2004.
