Schumer nixes healthcare legislation -- Where's Edwards?

[JDPriestly]

Remember how Edwards said he would call out Congress to give up their healthcare if they couldn't provide universal healthcare for Americans? Well, now that Edwards is no longer in the picture, look what Congress is concocting behind our backs. They take us for fools. Where is Edwards when we need him. Alternatively, I want to hear Obama and Hillary explain how they will handle Congress on this issue. Universal healthcare now. We cannot wait. This is the real crisis. Terrorism is also a crisis, but it people are not suffering from terrorism every day. Many Americans suffer from lack of access to affordable healthcare EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES. This is unacceptable. Who does Schumer think he is? Where is Edwards?

Congressional Democrats are backing away from healthcare reform promises made by their two presidential candidates, saying that even if their party controls the White House and Congress, sweeping change will be difficult.

. . .
Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), a member of Senate Democratic leadership and a key Hillary Clinton ally who also sits on the Finance Committee, said he is “not sure we have the big plan on healthcare.”

“Healthcare I feel strongly about, but I am not sure that we’re ready for a major national healthcare plan,” Schumer said.

Schumer said he would focus “on prevention above all and cost cutting until we can get a national healthcare plan.”

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-hedge-on-healthcare-2008-04-23.html

Schumer -- is he really a Democrat? He pushed Mukasey on us and now this.

Look, dear senators. We don't need war in Iraq, in Iran, wherever. We need a solid healthcare plan that requires insurers to insure the sick as well as the healthy. We need healthcare at reasonable prices. We need the elimination of the huge cuts that the healthcare insurance companies take out of our premiums for their private profit. Sorry guys, but we Americans are sick of it.

What good is Congress? High gas prices -- so we get war instead of alternative energy.

High healthcare premiums to health insurers and lack of coverage for the very ill -- so we get war instead of universal healthcare

I could go on and on. How do the Democrats in Congress think that a Democrats are going to win in November if they can't come through on healthcare? Healthcare is the top priority. Stop funding the war and start funding healthcare. It's quite simple.

[jazzjunkysue]

1. "Not sure we're ready." WTF does THAT mean?

He's not sure we will get sick? He's not sure there will be bicycle/playground/sports/car accidents?

He's not sure 3 year olds want antibiotics when they have ear infections?

[Individualist]

It means he's DLC

DLC is government of, by and for corporations rather than of, by and for the people.

[JDPriestly]

8. Right on. This is the DLC version of "God damn America."

The substance of Schumer's statement is: "God damn ordinary Americans. We don't have the money for their needs. Let them fend for themselves. We have to pay for the War in Iraq." (My words. Not his. His meaning. Not mine.)

[Mind_your_head]

23. That means, "the 'base' isn't ready/doesn't want it"....

you know, the top 1% that have enough money/escape hatches to be able to "suffer" through it all......THEY don't want it until at LEAST half of us 'useless eaters' die-off....THEN it will be a great idea/BARGAIN for them! :mad:

M_Y_H

P.S. Most CEO's, CFO's, COO's are the REAL "useless eaters" - most of them couldn't build, run, invent, innovate ANYTHING....they're just profit takers, accountants, bean-counters.....but MAN are they good at the con game....*d*mn*

[depakid]

2. People who are all up in arms about Hillary ought to get some perspective

I'm all for ousting DINO's (some, by whatever means possible) and it seems to me that if even a quarter of the outrage people have over Hillary were focused on those who've been damaging the party in Congress on a weekly basis, maybe we wouldn't see so many policy sell outs like this.

[JDPriestly]

9. Hillary and Schumer are two peas in a pod.

I like Hillary's healthcare plan -- but how sincere is she? I'm waiting for her to denounce Schumer's statement. As I said in another post, this is Schumer's equivalent of "God damn America." Shame on Schumer.

[Horse with no Name]

20. How sincere is obama?

How sincere are EITHER of them?
Personally...I think they are THREE peas in a pod.

[JDPriestly]

22. Actually, I agree with you.

Obama's every word is guarded -- and prefaced by Uhhs. But he has a nice presence which makes up for it. And his hesitant speech suggest that he is cautious. But is he too ready to compromise? I still like Edwards. Edwards was way beyond the league that the other candidates are/were in.

[burythehatchet]

3. call me crazy, but that line is a potential career killer for Chuckie

Follow up question: Sen. Shumer, what are the conditions that must exist for us to be "ready"? Oh I know, we'll know when we see it, right? Just like "victory" in Iraq.

The two New York senators must be pushed out.

[JDPriestly]

10. Absolutely. And don't foget Mukasey. He was Schumer's baby.

[eleny]

4. Schumer has shown his stripes

He's been Wall Street's darling. And now this? Time to run his act out of Congress. Let him buy his own damned health insurance.

[JDPriestly]

11. I think Schumer needs to spend more time with his family.

[Donnachaidh]

5. The public bought the two show ponies the MSM showcased

I swear the stupidity in this country is growing like a VIRUS.

So now we have two candidates heavily bought by the corporate sponsors, and Schumer is giving them a green light to pretty much DROP healthcare from the agenda.

Where's Edwards you ask? I expect he's working with Habititat as he said he would. He was pretty much shunned by the corporate-owned newsmedia (and I include Keith Olbermann in THAT crowd too), and the idiot public saw the shiny new suit showcased on yet another corporate cow's show -- Oprah.

And the only adult in the run was pretty effectively shut down because of the retarded mentalities of the *Idol* public.

The rest of us can only hang our heads in shame.

[JDPriestly]

6. Thanks. I see that you, like me, recognized the real thing -- Edwards -- when you saw it.

I just cannot get behind either of the other two phonies. I still want Edwards. Edwards would tell Schumer just where to go for his own healthcare.

[Donnachaidh]

14. Quite a few people did - and still do

My brother is an idependent who works for NYS. He used to laugh when I'd start sending him mail about Edwards, because many of his co-workers were doing the same. And they all noted how John couldn't get airtime unless something negative was said about him. NOTHING. And many grieved when he shut down his campaign, but they ALL plan on writing him in, regardless of who is the candidate.

Now I'm hearing more and more from him and other friends in the NYC area that they are really questioning Obama - there is a growing concern that HE will say or do anything to get into the WH - the very same charge his supporters have been leveling at Clinton. I'm hearing people actually calling him a phony, and a politician born of Chicago politics - ie, corruption personified. New Yorkers aren't buying the *Boneheaded mistake* excuse about the real estate deal with Rezko.

Many of these folks are terrified of ANY of the candidates getting into office. And they are tired of having to take the *lesser of two evil* candidates. One comment really struck me -- We HAVEN'T had a GREAT presidential candidate in our lifetimes! We've had to deal with problematic presidents since FDR.

SAD statement about our country, isn't it?

[Horse with no Name]

17. Thank you for "getting it"

Many here don't...but in the real world...they do.
My daughter works at a local grocery store and she said someone came in the other day griping that Edwards wasn't in the race.

[rwheeler31]

7. Why now?

[JDPriestly]

12. What do you mean? Why healthcare now? or Why is Schumer saying this now?

I think he is saying it because he sees that Hillary is losing, and he wants to spoil Obama's chance of being elected. The rift in the Democratic Party is not really about Obama and Hillary, it's about the DNC against the rest of the Party. It's about McAuliffe versus Howard Dean. It's about the fat cats of the old party establishment against us grass roots folk. That's what this is really about.

Hillary had better repudiate Schumer's statement right away. She made such a huge deal out of the fact that her health care plan is almost like Edwards'. If she does not call Schumer on this, she will be showing just how insincere she is.

[rwheeler31]

13. Why is he saying this now.

[eleny]

16. He's an arrogant elitist DLCer

[Yael]

15. Not ready? What planet does he live on?

:grr:

[Nutmegger]

18. R&K #5 [n\t]

[Horse with no Name]

19. So we know where Schumer stands on this issue

Where are Clinton and obama on it?
Where are there Press Conferences about Congress obviously overriding the will of the people?

*crickets*

[izquierdista]

21. Not ready

The phrase "not ready" really means "please push my ass out of the way". If an underpowered car with bald tires has a freeway ramp blocked during a snowstorm, the "not ready" driver needs to have his ass pushed out of the way by a snowplow. Similarly, Ol' Chuckie needs to have his ass pushed out of the way by someone who can actually do something.

What is it that needs to be done? Simple, cut the crap with all the different plans and coverages and mandates and realize that there are two ways to deliver health care, public and private. In the public sector the government owns the hospitals, employs the doctors and nurses and directly treats the patients -- just like they do at the VA. In the private sector, doctors and hospitals work for themselves and send the bills for their services to the patient, or the patient's insurer -- Medicare in the case of people over 65. By expanding VA eligibility and Medicare coverage, everyone in the U.S. could be orderly enrolled in a program in a transition period which could be as little as a few years.