At 7:20 am it was pretty busy. It's been snowing here all day, but only a couple of inches have accumulated, so I don't think it will affect the polls. Politics in MA -- never boring, that's for sure!
Good for both of you. I am watching the MA voting results with great interest, but much trepidation. The election is not only important to you and your state, but to our nation at large. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
I completely understand his appeal and frankly, Coakley ran a sh*tty campaign. She should have come out of the box swinging, but there was a complacency that lost her the election. Brown's in for four years, I believe (it's not a full term), so we'll see what happens then. It's the first time I remember a Massachusetts senate election drawing this kind of national attention. It will be very interesting to see what kind of senator Brown will be. He's a likable guy who happened to be in the right place at the right time. What an incredible turn of events!
Ohhhh...Sigh! It seems this is all I am doing this evening. Just sighing and sighing again. There is an enormous tidal wave of anger and frustration with the monumental spending and failure to right the economy. Health care is a huge part of this. I've seen it in an endless river of political emails that come my way. I think this is the biggest reason the voters did what they did today.
Massachusetts has already taken care of health care. Ours is better than the current bill in Washington, so why should we pay more in taxes for less coverage? It makes total sense, but it's kind of a screw you to the rest of the country. "We've got ours, you all are on your own."
KK/Ruffles, I am still in shock that Teddy Kennedy's seat was lost to a Republican. I did hear Brown's victory speech when I woke up, & like you, could understand the appeal. Do you think he will be a moderate like Collins & Snowe, who I happen to like a lot?
As for healthcare, I admit I am very ignorant when it comes to these bills that were passed in the house and senate, but why is there such vitriolic hate towards the bills? I keep hearing people say that if you already have healthcare thru your employer you won't be affected, but yet a lot of people insist this is not true. What am I missing here? And yeah, I know about all the so-called "backdoor deals" and sure they stink, but I think they are unavoidable, unfortunately. And at the risk of having tomatoes thrown at me, what would be so wrong with having a healthcare system lke Canada? I have asked Sammie about it many times and she swears by it....sure its not perfect, but it sure sounds as if Canadians are well taken care of.
Oh & KK/Ruffles, are people in Mass. generally happy with the state mandated healthcare? Or is thier unhappiness with it a reason for what happened last night?
-- Edited by JoelC on Wednesday 20th of January 2010 12:28:09 PM
Based on the statements Brown made himself, both in the debate and in his ads, my perception of him is that he will fit right in with the Republican extreme. IMO, he lacks the ability to genuinely connect and empathize with the circumstance or plight of the individual.
There are enormous fears and concern about the health care bill. None of it has anything to do with the fact that MA already has universal healthcare in place. Among seniors, the fear and concern is that the current health care bill will be destructive to our current Medicare benefits. THIS IS HUGE. It is very difficult to know the truth about what is in the currently proposed bill. It is known that changes to Medicare will occur but I don't really know or understand all of what they are. Of course the health insurance companies were here advertising and lobbying for Brown on behalf of their profit minded selves. They certainly don't want requirements in place which end their abilites to refuse coverage for pre existing conditions and long term catastrophic illnesses. There was an extremely effective ad with an elderly woman speaking against health care reform in terms of seniors fears. This ad was replayed over and over again, nonstop during the last few days.
Medicare is a government run health care program and IT WORKS. Seniors do NOT want this tampered with nor sacrificed in any manner at all.
The other huge concern is the economy coupled with the phenomenal undisciplined spending that is coming out of Washington. Again, health care is part of this. The health care price tag is off the planet. Brown flat out said he would vote against it. This vote is about the spending. Put a lid on it.
IMO They don't need a health care bill to go after Medicare and insurance fraud. Stopping the fraud definitely needs to happen.
IMO Health insurance needs to be regulated. The denial of coverage for preexisting conditions and catastrophic coverage needs to stop.
-- Edited by ruffles on Wednesday 20th of January 2010 03:40:05 PM
First of all, the health care bill before congress won't affect my health insurance at all; we have coverage and we'll keep it. You are correct, Joel, if you have coverage that you like, you keep it. The thing we're worried about is how much it will cost. We're in the income bracket that will basically be paying for it and that's gonna hurt!
As for Scott Brown, I disagree with several of his stands that I won't go into here -- it's not the forum for it -- but if you want to email me, feel free. He doesn't strike me as part of the extreme right wing (for example, he's pro-choice), so if he could help move the Republican party back a little more toward the center I think he would be doing them a great favor and perhaps saving the party. New England breeds moderate Republicans, ala Mitt Romney -- until he moved to the right prior to his presidential run. That made many in MA distrust him because he was talking out of both sides of his mouth. One thing to us, a totallydifferent thing to the national media.
Sorry, I digress. I love politics. It drives me crazy at times, but I find it fascinating.
Interesting piece on the local news: Scott Brown said "we're not in campaign mode anymore. I think everyone deserves a basic form of health care." He's vowing to remain independent and keep costs down. He says he was elected over national security and jobs. Keep your eyes on Massachusetts, people, things are going to get interesting!
I would think that if he wants to stand ANY chance of being RE-Elected, he would have to lean towards the center. I can't see the state of MA putting up with someone from the far right for too long. Like I said earlier, he sounded like he'd be a moderate just from the victory speech he gave, but of course I know little about him other than those few minutes of exposure.
And yeah, I also have read/heard the concerns that employer based health insurance costs would skyrocket with the new healthcare bill, so I do have concerns there, its just that we need SOME kind of reform so that we can get rid of all this "pre-existing condition" nonsense & have some sort of basic healthcare be available to any and all Americans.
