'Silent majority' back health care reform, Iowa Sen. Harkin says

[a kennedy]

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) - Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin predicts Congress will approve a health care reform bill this fall that includes a public option, saying a "silent majority" of Americans favor such an overhaul.

Speaking with reporters Sunday at a Democratic fundraiser, Harkin promised passage of "a bill before we go home for Christmas." He says the measure will include a government insurance option.

Harkin's views have grown in importance since he was named chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee after the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Harkin says there is little political risk in backing health care reform and that the real danger is opposing changes.

He contends "there is a silent majority all over America that understands we need health care reform and we need it now."

<http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/state-and-regional/article_1f1d43c8-a14f-11de-ba15-001cc4c002e0.html>

[Echo In Light]

1. Rec

[earthboundmisfit]

2. We're only "silent"

because the media keeps the volume turned down/muted when we speak.

[fascisthunter]

3. and due to the corporate media, the loud minority is getting all the attention

[Echo In Light]

4. An incredibly effective tactic utilized since the illegal installation of Bush/Cheney/PNAC

[fascisthunter]

6. strange times we are all living through

just 20 years ago, I was reading 1984... fascism is here today.

[Echo In Light]

7. I still remember the apartment my little family lived in during Bush/Gore

Gore had our state locked up, no threat of Bush, so I went Nader, considering we'd gone to some of his rallies/talks. That evening, Gore was declared the winner, as expected ...went to bed ...awoke the next morning, and everything had changed.

From there the social climate of opinion here took on an increasingly bizarre, otherworldly perspective. It was obvious to many that something very, very wrong was going on. And so it goes.

[fascisthunter]

9. ironically, that's when I got heavily involved in politics

I knew something was wrong... we really did witness a coup.

[Andy823]

5. I agree with him.

It's pretty obvious that the democrats in this country want health care reform, and I think the majority of independents do also. Now with the republicans, most either don't want it, or have no idea what reform is all about. Many however "DO" want it, but are not speaking out at all because if they did their friends who are following the idiots like Limbaugh, Beck and the other morons, would go ballistic on them! Just like many republicans who voted for Obama did not tell anyone.

I also agree that fighting change will not be good for any politician who does so!

[Hidden Stillness]

8. This is the Issue of Our Time--They had Better Not Be Fucking Around With This

This will probably end up being the single biggest political issue of our era--the "Great Depression" "civil rights" "World War II" of this era--the definition of the time. The way things are shaping up and all these things coming together, a combination of very sick people denied health care, people with huge credit card debt they can't pay off, foreclosed-on homeowners who were lied to, reverse-mortgage victims, the unemployed/underemployed/outsourced, people on pseudo-"Medicare" Part D who can't afford their prescriptions, people on insurance who can't afford premiums or who were cut when they got sick, people who had their pensions taken away and pay and benefits cut--and on and on--will be the members of this huge and growing parade of the "One-Third of a Nation" that we have now.

They want help; they do not want "triggers" and "managed co-op plans" and "commercial competition" and all these slogans that don't even make any sense. God help anyone who fucks around with this issue like a "winning-strategy consultant," when people are desperate, have no resources, and are crying for a response--for help.

[JimWis]

10. K&R - He is right - and IMHO this silent majority is slowly growing.