Posts Tagged healthcare reform
Kevin O’Brien… Isn’t the Tea Party Your Cup? Why Are You Still Here?
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Media on March 29, 2010
March 29, 2010… Why does The Plain Dealer print Kevin O’Brien? That was the headline atop Sunday’s letters page in the morning newspaper.
So why does the newspaper put up with his nonsense?
There were eight letters all taking O’Brien, a PD editorial page editor and columnist, to task for – even for him – an unusually strident, stupid and ignorant column on the recently passed health care measure.
The column cited screamed out for such a response.
Kevin is upset.
But he is upset in a mean-spirited and dishonest way.
O’Brien’s most onerous paragraph, cited by the first letter writer Philip Pellett, tells it all.
“The Democrats in Congress and the White House have forced upon the United States of America (music please) a federal health care plan designed for people who are too stupid, incompetent and weak to managed their own affairs.”
Anyone who has lived even a little should take offense to that.
Anyone who has lived even a little knows that there are bumps, if not crashes, in almost everyone’s life. You don’t have to be stupid, incompetent or weak to know this. You just have to live.
I think Editor Susan Goldberg and Editorial Page Editor Elizabeth Sullivan should give this some thought.
They need to ask themselves, “Why do we print Kevin O’Brien?”
Lots of people really want to know. Why?
A Difference Between Youth and Age
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in People, Politicians on December 19, 2009
December 19, 2009… The discussion on Bill Moyers show last night on PBS between Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect and Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone offers insight into the difference between youthful smarts and elder wisdom.
Taibbi would vote to kill the health reform bill. Kuttner would hold his nose and vote for it.
We know that at least temporarily (who can tell what will happen) the Democrats have welded together 60 votes in the U. S. Senate to pass the bill out of that body.
Many of us don’t like the bill. Some of us, me included, will take even a watered down bill with hope of improving it in the future. Lack of a bill would not leave open the possibility of future process and improvement.
The discussion presents the stark difference, I think, between the youthful desire for real change and the older wisdom of taking some change as a step toward more change.
Here’s the discussion between Kuttner and Taibbi:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/18/taibi-kuttner-debate-heal_n_397757.html