Congressman John Conyers: Obama's health care proposal is “crap,”

[Better Believe It]

Conyers: “There is no one more disappointed than I am in Barack Obama.”
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

The nation's senior Black congressman fears Barack Obama is in danger of becoming a one-term president. Obama's health care proposal is “crap,” says Detroit's John Conyers, and Obama loses whether it passes or fails.

Congressman John Conyers says Barack Obama’s stance on health care has been wrong, and it’s going to cost the president “big time.” It might even cost Obama his second term in the White House.

Conyers gave that assessment at Washington’s Busboys and Poets restaurant, bookstore and bar, where the Progressive Democrats of America were celebrating their fifth anniversary. Conyers is the Congressional Black Caucus’s longest serving member, having represented Detroit since 1964, when Obama was a three-year-old. He’s also one of the most consistently progressive members of the House, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and author of single payer health care bill H.R. 676 – legislation the White House has done its best to smother.

Conyers suggests that, at the end of the legislative process, progressive congresspersons may wind up voting against Obama on health care because the bill will be simply too bad for advocates of real reform to support.

The president and his supporters often throw around the old cliché about not letting the “perfect become the enemy of the good.” That’s their way of defending the fatal compromises Obama keeps making with the right-wing before the fight has even begun. Whether because of lack of gumption or lack of real commitment on Obama’s part, this refusal to confront Power is what has brought us to the current health care debacle in Congress. It’s not a matter of the perfect being the enemy of the good, but that the health care legislation shaped by the White House and its allies in Congress is just no damn good.

As disappointed as Conyers is with Obama, he still feels compelled to blame someone else for Obama’s health care fiasco. It’s White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s fault, says the congressman. Emanuel wants to pass any kind of health care bill, “anything just to say we did” pass something.

Please read the complete article and hear the commentary at:

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=print/content/conyers-%E2%80%9Cthere-no-one-more-disappointed-i-am-barack-obama%E2%80%9D

[the other one]

1. Conyers "parks" it.

No offense to the easily apeasered.

[paulk]

41. LOL!

excellent...

[FrenchieCat]

64. The article is dated August 4, 2009......

But of course, this must have been an accident; to post something that is a month old, since lots has occured since, and derides the President and was posted by Better Believe it. :eyes:


Poster is omitting information, and in doing so, lowers the value and voracity of information posted at DU. In otherwords, poster brings the reputation of what DU does to a lower level.....all by himself. I understand why a Troll or Freeper would do this, but I don't understand why one who professes himself to be doing us a "favor" would ethically attempt to hoodwink readers with this out of date statement from one Black Congressperson about a Black President to a Black Press organization. Those facts make me that much more suspect as to the agenda of said poster.

[CreekDog]

76. It's pretty tacky to post something a month old

with no reference to that.

[populistdriven]

2. wow! he read all the different proposals?

[Better Believe It]

5. Do you think Congressman Conyers is illiterate? Just because you haven't doesn't mean he hasn't.

Who don't you send him an e-mail and ask him if he's read the health care proposals? That way you can follow up your insulting post with yet another personal insult.

Why do you hate Congressman Conyers?

[populistdriven]

29. its not "hate" i just dont get inspired by anything he says because of repeated disappointments

conyers used to be one of favorite legislators

how many times did he "investigate" bush?

and i was furious when he cosponsored the analog hole bill with sensenbrenner which was written buy an industry lobbyist and handed to him with out even reading it apparently because of BET connections

it was a draconian piece of legislation http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2005/12/lump-coal-consumers-analog-hole-bill-introduced

his son is just like him apparently http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW7mOaPnYYA this was just the icing on the sad cake

it didn't take 2 lawyers to understand the analog hole bill is oppressive government for big business it is only 25 pages long and easily understood

[billyoc]

37. I know, can you believe it?

:eyes:

[dionysus]

3. you got this one in early today. how is conyers doing with that impeachment process...

[populistdriven]

32. i think he had to stop the process because obama got elected not his fault bush is out of office who

predicted that would happen?

[rubberducky]

4. It`s past time for Conyers to retire, IMHO.

[Better Believe It]

6. How about Rahm Emmanuel?

[berni_mccoy]

7. Um, this is very old. This is not about Obama's Plan as he laid it out in his speech

[Oregone]

57. While I understand its old, I don't think Obama changed anything in his speech

He just made it more flowery and pretty. Did he really say anything new or different about his solution? (regulations + mandated and subsidize private insurance with maybe a public competitor for a few people)

[fugop]

8. Is this even recent?

Looks to me like something from early August.

[berni_mccoy]

9. No. Here is Conyers RECENT support for Obama's Plan

http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9983:conyers-public-option-is-a-necessary-component-of-health-care-reform&catid=88888989:health-care-reform&Itemid=88890248

"I want to applaud the president for taking decisive action this week to end the stalemate to reform our broken health-care system," said Conyers. It is my hope that his speech tomorrow night will inspire members of the House and Senate to place the needs of the American people above petty bickering and partisan obstructionism.

It is clear that real reform means injecting real competition into the insurance market to improve affordability and drive down health-care costs. "The centerpiece of this reform is a robust Medicare-like public health insurance plan tied to the Medicare provider system. Like many of my colleagues in both the House and Senate, I will oppose any health-care reform bill that lacks such a plan. I will also oppose any legislation that seeks to replace a robust public health insurance option with health-care cooperatives or which ties the availability of the public option to a trigger mechanism. In this effort, I stand in solidarity with House progressives, the majority of my friends in organized labor, millions of health-care providers, and 72 percent of the American people.

"Boosting the profits of the health insurance industry without fundamentally changing the way they do business would be nothing but sham reform. I believe Congress can and will reject calls for such half measures and will include a robust public option in any legislation that reaches the president’s desk later this year."

[Teaser]

48. .

.

[quantass]

10. THANK YOU Conyers. He and Weiner are RIGHT but the Prez isn't going 180' now...

I'm confident Conyers' perspective hasn't changed much from August after the speech. It's one thing to be supportive before an unknown speech but after that stale performance by the POTUS Conyers will be back on the war path.

[berni_mccoy]

11. Except that he said that back in early August. Conyers supports Obama's speech (LINK)

http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9983:conyers-public-option-is-a-necessary-component-of-health-care-reform&catid=88888989:health-care-reform&Itemid=88890248

"I want to applaud the president for taking decisive action this week to end the stalemate to reform our broken health-care system," said Conyers. It is my hope that his speech tomorrow night will inspire members of the House and Senate to place the needs of the American people above petty bickering and partisan obstructionism.

It is clear that real reform means injecting real competition into the insurance market to improve affordability and drive down health-care costs. "The centerpiece of this reform is a robust Medicare-like public health insurance plan tied to the Medicare provider system. Like many of my colleagues in both the House and Senate, I will oppose any health-care reform bill that lacks such a plan. I will also oppose any legislation that seeks to replace a robust public health insurance option with health-care cooperatives or which ties the availability of the public option to a trigger mechanism. In this effort, I stand in solidarity with House progressives, the majority of my friends in organized labor, millions of health-care providers, and 72 percent of the American people.

"Boosting the profits of the health insurance industry without fundamentally changing the way they do business would be nothing but sham reform. I believe Congress can and will reject calls for such half measures and will include a robust public option in any legislation that reaches the president’s desk later this year."

[joeycola]

51. 08 September 2009 =Conyers: Public Option is a Necessary Component of Health-Care Reform

From your link;

It was in Sept and conyers wants a strong public option==which Obama did not say in his speech the other day. It almost seems like it was an add on at the end of the speech to appease Progressives.


http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9983:conyers-public-option-is-a-necessary-component-of-health-care-reform&catid=88888989:health-care-reform&Itemid=88890248


Conyers: Public Option is a Necessary Component of Health-Care Reform
Tuesday, 08 September 2009 14:38 Press Release Health Care Reform


Washington--(ENEWSPF)--September 8, 2009. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), released the following statement this morning applauding the president’s decision to press the case for health-care reform in a speech to a joint session of Congress this week. Conyers reiterated that it is absolutely necessary that a robust public health insurance option be included in the final version of any health-care reform legislation.

[berni_mccoy]

58. And Obama agrees. A PO or better is required to control costs.

But there are no other ideas out there besides a PO that accomplish what a PO does.

[ProSense]

14. So that's what you really believe, huh? n/t

[dionysus]

20. only someone who really despises obama would call that speech a stale performance.

[DevonRex]

34. ding ding ding

:hi:

I think I'm now on ignore by all BBI's followers so I'll just have to reply to you all the time. :)

[dionysus]

35. LOLOLOL

:spray:

:hi:

[Hutzpa]

71. I think you are jealous.

:rofl:

[ProSense]

12. Glen Ford is full of shit. He's just pissed Obama is President and not him

“I want to applaud the President for taking decisive action this week to end the stalemate to reform our broken health care system,” said Conyers. “It is my hope that his speech tomorrow night will inspire Members of the House and Senate to place the needs of the American people above petty bickering and partisan obstructionism.”

“It is clear that real reform means injecting real competition into the insurance market to improve affordability and drive down health care costs. The centerpiece of this reform is a robust Medicare-like public health insurance plan tied to the Medicare provider system. Like many of my colleagues in both the House and Senate, I will oppose any health care reform bill that lacks such a plan. I will also oppose any legislation that seeks to replace a robust public health insurance option with health care cooperatives or which ties the availability of the public option to a trigger mechanism. In this effort, I stand in solidarity with House progressives, the majority of my friends in organized labor, millions of health care providers, and 72 percent of the American people.

“Boosting the profits of the health insurance industry without fundamentally changing the way they do business would be nothing but sham reform. I believe Congress can and will reject calls for such half measures and will include a robust public option in any legislation that reaches the President’s desk later this year.

link

[berni_mccoy]

15. Actually, the OP is full of shit. The information he/she posted was from early August.

[ProSense]

16. So is Glen Ford, he's been distorting everything related to Obama since long before the primary.

He's a jealous asshole.

[berni_mccoy]

17. Oh, I'm not disagreeing. I just wanted to point out the same about the OP as well.

:toast:

[ProSense]

13. dupe n/t

[dionysus]

18. ok, now that i see that this article is from 8/4, how much more obvious can you be? take this shit

over to free republic where it belongs.

[jefferson_dem]

19. Stale flamebait.

Ewww...

[dionysus]

22. well, he's reduced to recycling old articles. maybe he's finally out of new material.

[zulchzulu]

21. The article was posted August 4th. Nothing like fresh input in the debate....

:puke:

[harun]

23. Sorry folks but if Conyers and Kucinich think it is bad, it is bad. They are not

wrong very often (can't name once).

[Peacetrain]

24. Okay

“I want to applaud the President for taking decisive action this week to end the stalemate to reform our broken health care system,” said Conyers. “It is my hope that his speech tomorrow night will inspire Members of the House and Senate to place the needs of the American people above petty bickering and partisan obstructionism.”

[dionysus]

25. .

:rofl: st dennis the perfect....

[skipos]

44. Yeah, DK's idea to have Ron Paul as his VP was kick ass. nt

[harun]

61. DK wasn't going to have RP as his VP. I'd take RP over Lieberman though.

[skipos]

68. I heard him say it with my own ears, but I guess I should just take your word for it.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=38222§ionid=3510203

[DevonRex]

73. Wow. I didn't know that Kucinich would have liked Ron Paul as his running mate.

Thank you for the link. I know that as late as last month, Ron Paul's site had an article about secession right on the front page. Disgusting.

[phleshdef]

26. This post should be locked or removed. Its misleading.

Conyers comments from Aug 4th don't reflect his feelings now.

[dionysus]

27. did you expect any less out of BBI?

[Hansel]

28. What is the point of posting this?

It's not timely and serves only to act as a misrepresentation of Conyers' reaction to Obama's speech.


It's also fair to note that the author of this piece consistently co-opts one or two word quotes from Conyers and blends them with the author's opinion in an effort to represent his view as Conyers. For example:

Obama's health care proposal is “crap,” says Detroit's John Conyers, and Obama loses whether it passes or fails.

For all we know the only word Conyers said was "crap". Maybe he had just spilled a cup of hot coffee in his lap and said "crap".

I'm not saying definitely that that wasn't Conyers view but, besides not sounding like Conyers, it sure seems suspect that the author could only quote one word from Conyers out of what we can only assume was a full sentence spoken by him. In fact, one word comes to my mind in reading this article--"deceit".

[JimGinPA]

30. This OP Scours The Internet For Negative Obama Articles To Post Here

Just another hater.

[dionysus]

31. a sanctioned one apparently.

[OHdem10]

33. Conyers is a Liberal. If we are honest and study Obama,s plan

it is more aligned with the Baucus Plan(Conservative).

I am not being critical of Obama. He apparently came up
with what he perceived as having a chance of passing.

I think we should be clear eyed in our support for any
one.

[DevonRex]

36. Can't find anything RECENT negative comments from Conyers, eh?

:rofl:

[saltpoint]

38. Hard to say what your agenda is but I certainly have no respect for it.

Unrec'd.

[JeffR]

39. So you've finally dropped all efforts to retain a semblance of credibility?

I suppose that represents progress of a sort, at least.
:eyes:

[OneGrassRoot]

42. +1. How pathetic. n/t

[DevonRex]

54. They've run out of negative stuff, so they're reposting old articles, pretending they're current.

It's intentional deception as far as I'm concerned.

[WI_DEM]

40. this is old isn't it? has nothing to do with Obama's speech

[Ikonoklast]

43. Really.

Recent pic of you on vacation.

[Onlooker]

45. Shouldn't this thread be closed a flamebait?

It's wrong to criticize Obama. He's our Party leader. All hail the party leader.

[NYCGirl]

47. The OP is deceptive. Seems like Conyers has CHANGED HIS MIND since August. NT

[DevonRex]

53. Your bitterness is showing. Again. nt

[Aramchek]

67. no, it should be closed because it a deliberate attempt to deceive

this article is nowhere near current

[Thrill]

46. Glen Ford is hateful. He hates Obama. And has hated him since he started running for President

Listen to Mark Thompson's XM show. There aren't even Republicans who have hate like him.

Some people say its something that happened in Chicago a while back.

[jenmito]

49. " Please read the complete article...at:" NO! How many negative/old/fringe articles are you going

to post here and ask us to read?! :eyes:

[MarjorieG]

50. Conyers grandstanding for his bill and progressives. HR676 his, for years, where was his leadership?

Kennedy, Dingell, and others tried Medicare for all reasonableness, but rebuffed and ignored. Now Obama can wave his fingers, get it done, without real groundswell or the insistent education, country-wide, that needed preparation for years? Before lobbyists took hold...

[treestar]

52. Then vote against it

When was the last time a Republican did a thing like this to a Repuke President.

Oh, yeah, never.

[Spazito]

55. Geez, your constant and multiple crap posts indicate...

an escalating desperation to foment dissension regarding health care reform. I can't help but wonder why. It seems VERY personal, a NEED to have reform defeated. Again, I can't help but wonder why.

[ecstatic]

56. Incremental changes. Why don't we as a group understand

that concept? Change is made incrementally. Over time. First we have to get our foot in the door. The All or Nothing BS is why we can never get anything done.

[goclark]

59. Thank you for your wise words

It really surprises me when we have "I'm through if I don't get the Public Option/ Single Payer/Whatever" stuff from Democrats.

Where are they going ~ if they can't get "all we want" in this Bill?

As I recall -- there were many fine Democratic candidates in the last election, this was no Diebold vote. This was the real deal and Democrats won by a huge majority.

So -- if we can't get the parts of the Health Bill with the exact wording that they say NOW, they may have to be disappointed.

As for me, my main wish is for the Health Bill to make living better for as many people as possible. What we have now is bare bones and what we want is more meat.

Let's get the very best that we can by being supportive of the Democrats that are giving their ALL to make this work.

We need to be the Cheer Leaders for our Party ~ Let's get out and DO something positive!

[branders seine]

60. Ironic that Conyers and his dad were featured in teh speech.

I agree with Conyers. Obama seems to have been coopted by the medical insurance industry on this issue. It's not the change people expected.

[stevietheman]

72. Don't you mean Dingell? n/t

n/t

[branders seine]

77. oops

yes

l-o-n-g day...

[brooklynite]

62. For the sake of your readers - post the publication date

This was written over a month ago - August 4

[grantcart]

65. "sake of your readers" lol that's the last thing on the OP's mind

[Forkboy]

63. Compared to you I'm an Obamabot.

And he was my next to last choice.

[Aramchek]

66. you don't mind deceiving people into thinking this is current by omitting the date, do you?

[firedupdem]

69. Oh my! You're reaching aren't you?

[DevonRex]

74. Reaching into the past and pretending it's current. nt

[Hutzpa]

70. No need to get all worked up about this report

the poster is known for stirring shit up and since today has been a slow news day,
he has to find shit to satisfy his wet dreams, this article which was done in
August 04 is now being posted today, two days after the President has given his
speech.

You need to pull up your skirt or pants cause your underwear is showing.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

75. The Black Agenda accuses Obama of "supressing the black vote" and being racist against AAs.

It's also full of conspiracy theories and predicted that Obama was taking the United States to war with Somalia.

In addition to that, this article is over a month old.


What are you trying to accomplish?