Left In Lowell

Conceding

12 Responses to “Conceding”

1. Lynne Says:
   January 19th, 2010 at 9:49 pm

   And I know someone’s going to say it, so I will head you off at the pass.

   “You couldn’t help getting that barb at Republicans, could you?”

   Yes, except it’s true, and every single one of you know it. Witness the hysteria on this very blog from conservatives screaming “fraud!” every five minutes. I’m mentioning it because I wanted to point out the difference between if we lose, versus if the conservatives lose.

2. A Concerned Taxpayer Says:
   January 19th, 2010 at 9:53 pm

   Nicely said Lynne. I don’t think her elitist attitude helped her either.

3. Jim Says:
   January 19th, 2010 at 11:12 pm

   Why can’t you simply say that the people of Massachusetts are fed up with the liberal democratic agenda and voted for a candidate that will express this in Washington. That’s the way I see it. And… you elitist attitude is expressed in almost everything you write. The people have spoken. Maybe you should listen. - Jim from Canton (a good listener)

4. Kim Says:
   January 20th, 2010 at 12:03 am

   The Massachusetts Health insurance plan would cover my daughters medical expenses yet my private insurance does not. As a working parent would that make you choose a private insurer?

5. Mimi Says:
   January 20th, 2010 at 6:59 am

   I was wrong. What a difference 2 weeks makes? Congratulations to the Scott Campaign.

6. Fran McDougall Says:
   January 20th, 2010 at 8:34 am

   Well it’s over. Scott Brown has big shoes to fit into. I wish him well. This loss can be put on the candidate’s lack of “charisma” and likeability. Terrible campaign on the part of the Coakley group and the Democratic Party. We can only hope that the man Brown wants us to believe he is will continue to make this State a great state and do what’s right for us in Washington. On the distaff side, do you think Gail will come back in from the storms and become a Senator’s wife?

7. BigDog Says:
   January 20th, 2010 at 9:11 am

   Martha is hopefully sitting back this morning and reflecting on a couple of key things that lost her this election:

   1- Her advisers were simply put….horrible! When Brown came out with that JFK message for example, Martha should’ve countered with one of her own showing her views….she didn’t and the voters she needed to sway didn’t. She never got her message out in my opinion.

   2- She lacked the enthusiasm that Brown put forward…it’s just not her nature and I think the voters saw that clearly.

   3- By going nuclear she obviously looked as if she was grasping at straws once her 30 point lead evaporate and the voters sensed it.

   I think Cappuano might have been the best option for the Dems…not sure why he didn’t resonate better with the voters during the primary.

8. Kami Says:
   January 20th, 2010 at 10:06 am

   Lynne,
   You are utterly and completely out of touch with average Americans. Every person I spoke to that voted for Scott Brown, the first thing they said was “I don’t want socialized health care”. Any type of government run, public option is what people were against. Keep sticking your fingers in your ears and repeating la la la la la so you don’t have to hear it, but that won’t make it go away.

   I work hard for my paycheck. I work hard for my health insurance. And I want to keep it. That does not make me selfish or full of hate as “Fran” would suggest. This country was founded by independent thinking, hard working, patriots. Americans are not socialists and that is what this plan was, a socialistic health care plan. Do I want my child to wait years for important health care if needed? NO NO NO!! We have the best health care system in the world. People come from all over the globe for treatment.

   It was a complete misnomer to coin it “Health Care Reform”. MA voters and all of America sees it for exactly what it is. I don’t think most of us that voted for Brown are against meaningful changes to health care. But thats not what this was. There were no real reforms in this plan. It was a complete buy off of everyone to get votes. With that, you get nothing good. And we can do better. Huge cuts in medicare, arbitrary taxes on some and not others, no tort reform, no fixes on perscriptions drugs. What was there to like. We already require preexisting conditions to be covered in MA. How did it benefit Massachusetts? It didn’t, and I don’t want to pay for it, period.

   If you want socialism move to a country that was founded on it. Ours was not. We always tell our kids to work hard, act nicely towards others and you can succeed in life. As an American I was feeling that basic American principal was being assaulted with the Democratic agenda sliding so far left. You may live on the Left but most of us live in the middle. Sometimes, just sometimes, we have to pull everyone back to the center with us. And this was one of those very critical times. I’m so glad Massachusetts, my home state, got it right for everyone.

9. Lynne Says:
   January 20th, 2010 at 11:35 am

   Kami, the people you spoke to maybe. But you ignore the polls which listed a huge support for the public option (and STILL does). So, facts do not support your anecdotal evidence.

   And actually there is plenty of reform in this plan. If you ask people on the specific provisions even in this watered down bill, they are for them (stuff like not getting kicked off your insurance plan when you get sick, and disallowing preexisting conditions to prevent you from getting on insurance).

   Do those people you speak of complain about the MA health care reform? That wasn’t even brought up as an issue in this campaign, I’ll even go so far as to say Brown (sort of) expressed SUPPORT for it in an interview I saw this morning, and it is virtually the same thing as the bill up in front of Congress…it is NOT socialized medicine. Actually rather the opposite. Much is the pity - socialized medicine would be higher quality, cheaper, and with better outcomes.

   But thanks for your opinion anyway.

10. Mr. Lynne Says:
    January 20th, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    Kami,

    For the education of the rest of us, please point to the ’socialist’ in the health care bill please.

    As to no ‘real reforms’ that you came aren’t in the plan:

    MedPAC: In the 90’s the GOP put forth MedPAC which is a group of policy experts who get together and analyse Medicare data in order to figure out what needs fixing. It was a good idea, but the problem is that their good, cost saving, ideas never get enacted because they have to go through Congress. In the current bill, their ideas are automatically given an up or down vote - no filibuster. This is a good thing.

    Elimination of Medicare Advantage subsidies: We subsidize private insurers who want to compete with Medicare. In the 80s the private industry complained that they wanted access to Medicare customers. They promised that private competition would bring prices in Medicare down. Turns out they couldn’t compete. But no problem, we just subsidize them so they can now. It’s a structural problem that helps prop up prices. It needs to go. Sure, it’s a Medicare cut - but we’re cutting a bad and expensive part of Medicare.

    Excise tax: The current model of not taxing benefits creates a wage/benefit distortion. In effect, were subsidizing when people get paid in benefits rather than wages, and that’s not an environment conducive to cost-controls.

    Adverse selection: No more denial based on pre-existing conditions. Pretty hard to say that isn’t a ‘real reform’ eh?

    Bundled Payments: Right now hospitals are paid by the procedure or by the test. This reform makes it so they get one check instead to do whatever is related to your condition. So they make more money if they abstain from frivolous tests where as now the incentive is to test away - more payments that way.

    Prudent Purchasing: If a given private insurer wants access to the exchange, they have to prove to a regulator that they’re doing a good job. If not, they lose access to those customers and profits.

11. daughterofdoom Says:
    January 20th, 2010 at 8:23 pm

    Wow,
    Thank you Mr Lynne. I noticed there is no clever retort from our resident genius Kami. People like Kami and others who believe the Republican machine are an embarrassment to this state. Socilized health care? Are you a complete idiot? Do you even know what that means? Why don’t you try to give us a definition and not the Fox News version.
    They do no research of their own and believe the hyped up bs that they are spoon fed by the media.
    It is obvious and clear that Kami and those she spoke to are out of touch with many things. Including the fact that we all work hard for our health insurance. Also, the reason doctors come here is because they get paid the most. Also, republicans have one agenda in mind, and it won’t work for you if you make under 150,000 a year. Get a clue

12. Lynne Says:
    January 20th, 2010 at 8:40 pm

    daughterofdoom, just go easy on the calling other commenters on the blog names…otherwise, welcome to the blog (I assume you are new anyway, it’s a new nickname I don’t recognize?)

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