Michael Moore: Time to hit the 'reset' button
We’re still recovering from yesterday’s visit from filmmaker Michael Moore. As we wrote earlier and posted on YouTube, Moore stopped by our offices to deliver a message to President Obama that it was time to hit the “reset button” on health care reform and back a single-payer plan that guarantees coverage for all Americans.
You can see video of what Moore said posted at his YouTube page. Coincidently, as Moore, Public Citizen President Robert Weissman and representatives from the National Organization for Women, United Steelworkers, California Nurses Association and Consumer Watchdog, stated the case for universal health care, the Senate Finance Committee was voting to keep a public insurance option out of the the health care legislation in front of the Senate. The WaPo’s Dana Milbank covered the committee hearing in his column.
Here’s some of the reaction from yesterday’s event:
Meg White from BuzzFlash wrote:
Moore was beyond passionate, and clearly the least amenable to compromise of anyone on the hastily-assembled panel. Moore had a warning or two to hand out, and neither Democrats nor Republicans were spared his wrath. He tore into both parties for not listening to the will of the American people.
“When two-thirds to three-quarters of the American people want [Medicare for all], you’d think you’d try to make some political hay,” Moore said. He said that “there are millions, tens of millions” of Americans ready to stand up for a single-payer system, and predicted that the White House and Congress will finally begin to feel that pressure.
Kenneth Vogel in Politico wrote:
“To the Democrats in Congress who don’t quite get it: I want to offer a personal pledge. I – and a lot of other people – have every intention of removing you from Congress
in the next election if you stand in the way of health care legislation that the people want,” Moore told supporters of women’s groups and unions gathered at the headquarters of the government watchdog group Public Citizen. “That is not a hollow or idle threat. We will come to your district and we will work against you, first in the primary and, if we have to, in the general election.”
And here’s the video from the Senate vote:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9whAXSty1I]
October 2, 2009 @ 11:17 am
We agree… hit the reset! Our President was all for single-payer (check it out on U Tube) before he got elected. Big business has tooooooo much control.
October 3, 2009 @ 10:03 pm
**The American people are not represented in our govt. anymore ( or only minimally). The corporations and the rich own everything, including the media. They control our Govt., when Obama was elected, I said, they are going to toss us a bone on this one–we will just have wait and see how big it’s going to be.
**Benjamin Franklin said, that when too much of the wealth is controlled by too few of the people, there can be no Democracy. We are played back and forth between the Democratic & Republican parties, e.g. “Good Cop/Bad Cop,” ( a police tactic ).
October 4, 2009 @ 9:55 am
I would like to see some statistics on how lobbying by the medical profession, the pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies have influenced our congressional members in the attempts to overhaul health care.
October 4, 2009 @ 11:24 am
Look the high cost of health care is primarily due to Sate and Government regulation to begin with. Now you are going to trust the same people who could not even run their own restaurant .
October 4, 2009 @ 12:14 pm
Clearly President Obama has changed his tune since taking office. I am only sorry that I voted for him. the American People have not been represented at all. Our voices are no longer heard in the White House. So much for the democracy in this country. It has gone to hell.
October 4, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
Me again!
How much money do we send to other countries to support health care? Dig, dig and dig some more for the answer.
Young fathers and mothers are trying to support families on minimum wage jobs and the government wants to fine them for not having insurance.
It’s no wonder the United States citizens are getting fed up with our government. Where is the truth? To find that requires research. Dig, dig, and dig some more.
Aren’t our elected officials in a fiduciary relationship with the people with regards to the taxes the people pay, the taxes that our congressmen and women spend? Aren’t they required to use prudent judgment when making spending decisions?