Vicki Kennedy: The moment Ted Kennedy would not want to lose

[BzaDem]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/vicki-kennedy-backs-health-care-bill-finish-the-work-of-his-life.php

"Health care would finally be a right, and not a privilege, for the citizens of this country. While my husband believed in a robust public option as an effective way to lower costs and increase competition, he also believed in not losing sight of the forest for the trees. As long as he wasn't compromising his principles or values, he looked for a way forward.

As President Obama noted to Congress this fall, for Ted, health-care reform was not a matter of ideology or politics. It was not about left or right, Democrat or Republican. It was a passion born from the experience of his own life, the experience of our family and the experiences of the millions of Americans across this country who considered him their senator, too.

The bill before Congress will finally deliver on the urgent needs of all Americans. It would make their lives better and do so much good for this country. That, in the end, must be the test of reform. That was always the test for Ted Kennedy. He's not here to urge us not to let this chance slip through our fingers. So I humbly ask his colleagues to finish the work of his life, the work of generations, to allow the vote to go forward and to pass health-care reform now. As Ted always said, when it's finally done, the people will wonder what took so long."

[itsrobert]

1. Shame, shame, shame

Obama Administration probably push for her to make this statement. Is there no end to their madness?

[pnwmom]

16. You're insulting Vickie Kennedy. She's smart and capable enough

to know her own mind on this.

[itsrobert]

18. Sure

But not the first 'smart' person to be pressured into 'writing' and op-ed for the white house.

[leftstreet]

2. Wow, they're really getting desperate

Exploiting a grieving widow

:banghead:

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. +1

:grr:

[EFerrari]

17. No kidding. And this was already posted in GD:P. n/t

[DebbieCDC]

3. I thought I couldn't be more pissed off

I was wrong

[NYC_SKP]

4. Replies #1 & #2 seem to suggest Obama put her up to it... No proof of this.

So I will not make such silly assumptions.

Teddy would have been incredibly useful in this process, but he's not here.

That Vicki penned this Op Ed makes me proud and I believe that Teddy would have wanted to get this moving toward reconciliation and passage.

:patriot:

[itsrobert]

5. Don't be such a patsy.

We all know how politics is played.

[Larkspur]

6. This bill makes us slaves to the health insurance industry

Sen. Ted Kennedy would not be proud of that.

[leftstreet]

8. You do know that Kennedy wanted Medicare For All, right?

A Democratic Blueprint for America's Future

by US Senator Ted Kennedy
An Address by Senator Edward M. Kennedy at the National Press Club
January 12, 2005

...........

The answer is Medicare, whose 40th birthday we will celebrate in July. I propose that as a 40th birthday gift to the American people, we expand Medicare over the next decade to cover every citizen - from birth to the end of life.

It's no secret that America is still dearly in love with Medicare. Administrative costs are low. Patients' satisfaction is high. Unlike with many private insurers, they can still choose their doctor and their hospital.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0112-37.htm

Apparently he forgot to mention it to his wife?
:shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. You do know that Kennedy understood how the Senate works, right?

[leftstreet]

12. I believe he'd been around long enough to know what a majority looked like

:eyes:

[NYC_SKP]

13. And you think he would have stomped his feet and voted NO???

Not a chance. Not this year, not all at once for everyone.

WANTING something and GETTING it all at once or right away is just not in the realm of possibilities.

Good Senators know this, accept it, and find out how to get there over time.

[graywarrior]

14. +1

[ProSense]

7. Byron Dorgan

chairs the DPC. It's report.

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. Unlimited freedom for the Insurance Cartel without restrictions like

anti-trust? Without Swiss-like regulations?

Sorry Vicki, this is a poison pill.

If this is what Teddy wanted, he would have negotiated it this way rather than have his PO (and other amendments) up for consideration.

[walldude]

15. As long as he wasn't compromising his principles or values,

Well that says something right there. No one has any idea what he would have done here, because compromises have been made that he probably wouldn't have allowed or worked around. I said yesterday that he wouldn't have supported this bill but I'm not his wife, she should know better. But I also know that SCHIP was his baby and with this bill they are going to kill it or shift it to the childrens defense fund.