http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/05/poll-health-care-reform-back-
candidates_n_750802.htm
Poll: Majority Of Voters More Likely To Back Candidates Who Supported Health
Care Reform
Huffington Post: 10- 5-10
A new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute bucks the
conventional wisdom that voters are overwhelmingly mad about health care
reform and that candidates who embrace it on the campaign trail are putting
themselves at risk.
Fifty-four percent of voters say they would be more likely to back a
candidate who supported health care reform, according to the poll. That
number includes 51 percent of independents and 79 percent of Democratic
voters. Fifty-nine percent of Republican voters, however, say they would be
less likely to vote for a candidate who supported the legislation.
"This isn't a shock to anyone who's actually been on the ground, in the 50
states, organizing," said Arshad Hasan, executive director of Democracy for
America, which provides grassroots support to progressive candidates. "We've
been shouting this from the rooftops all year, and this data backs it up.
Most people are tired of being ripped off by big insurance companies and
were hungry for reform. That's why President Obama ran on health care as an
issue, and that's why Democrats should stand by it now. If anything, people
are upset that reform wasn't stronger."
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking poll also found that 49
percent of the public has a "generally favorable" view of the Affordable
Care Act, and 40 percent have an unfavorable view.
There are at least three Democrats -- Rep. Earl Pomeroy (ND), Rep. Steve
Israel (NY), and Sen. Russ Feingold (WI) -- actively touting their support
of health care reform on the campaign trail, as the Wonk Room's Igor Volsky
notes.
In Feingold's new ad, for example, there are regular people praising the
senator for fighting insurance companies and telling his competitor, Ron
Johnson, "hands off my healthcare."
When asked by The Huffington Post about Feingold's strategy to embrace his
health care vote, Senior Advisor John Kraus replied, "Russ is running on his
record taking on the corporate special interests who have too much power and
influence in Washington. Taking on insurance companies and passing health
insurance reform was the right thing to do. Ron Johnson said he got in this
race to repeal health insurance reform but he has run over $7 million in TV
ads and is afraid to tell voters he wants to repeal reform and put insurance
companies back in control. Russ has the backbone to stand by reform while
Johnson doesn't have the guts to stand by his plan [to] repeal reform."
Another recent poll by the Associated Press found that "Americans who think
the law should have done more outnumber those who think the government
should stay out of health care by 2-to-1."
***
http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/3529-dems-come-alive
Dems Come Alive!
By Michael Moore, OpenMike Blog
RSN: 06 October 10
A Follow-Up From Michael Moore
Friends,
Ok! We're halfway through the week and we're off to a great start. Last week
I gave the spineless Dems five friendly suggestions for things they could do
on the off chance they were interested in winning the midterm elections on
November 2nd:
1. Deliver a blunt, nonstop reminder to the American people about exactly
who it was that got us into the mess we're in.
2. Declare a moratorium on home foreclosures.
3. Prosecute the banks and Wall Street for the Crime of the Century.
4. Create a 21st century WPA (hire the unemployed to rebuild America).
5. Pledge that no Dem will take a dime from Wall Street in the next election
cycle.
So how are we doing 5 days later? Not bad! It turns out that at least some
of these ideas were so simple even elected Democrats could come up with
them!
1. Dems have started running tough, killer ads that have balls and SAY WHAT
NEEDS TO BE SAID. Check these out:
In the California Senate race, Barbara Boxer is going after Carly Fiorina on
the outsourcing Fiorina did as CEO of HP.
Rep. Tim Bishop of Long Island, New York hits his GOP opponent Randy
Altschuler on how HIS business sent jobs overseas.
Richard Blumenthal half-nelsons his Connecticut Senate opponent (and former
WWE CEO) Linda McMahon who said we should consider cutting the minimum wage
and then lied about having said it.
Jeez, it's like they wanna win! More of these, please - NOW!
2. Foreclosure Moratorium fever among the Dems has amazingly swept the
nation in the last week!
Democratic Attorneys General all over the country are now demanding
moratoriums for their states: California (Jerry Brown, now running for
Governor), Connecticut (Richard Blumenthal, now running for Senate),
Delaware (Joe Biden's son Beau), Massachusetts (Martha Coakley, who probably
wished she'd done this earlier since she lost the special Senate race in
January to Scott Brown), Illinois (Lisa Madigan), Texas (Greg Abbott - a
Republican!) and Colorado (John Suthers - another Republican!). And so is
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (at the urging of Rep. Elijah Cummings,
who you may remember from 'Capitalism: A Love Story').
Meanwhile, the Attorneys General of Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina are
opening probes into the mortgage industry. And the banks are feeling the
heat - GMAC, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have already suspended
foreclosures in 23 states (with Detroit's Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the
Judiciary Committee, calling on them to extend it to Michigan and the rest
of the U.S.).
Wells Fargo? Citibank? Are you paying attention? Now's the time to do
something good so you can later mention it to the sentencing judge.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona has called for a nationwide foreclosure
moratorium, and Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey says that may be
necessary.
And it goes on and on. Check the special section on my website that I'm
updating every day as more and more Democratic officials announce they will
no longer allow banks to kick families out of their homes.
3. Prosecute the bastards! Looks like that's what they're maybe finally
going to do. Check out this stunning letter sent to Attorney General Holder
yesterday by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and 30 other members of
congress (PDF):
"... we urge you and your respective agencies to investigate possible
violations of law or regulations by financial institutions in their handling
of delinquent mortgages, mortgage modifications, and foreclosures.... The
excuses we have heard from financial institutions are simply not credible
three years into this crisis.... It is time that banks are held accountable
for their practices that have left too many homeowners without real help."
According to the New York Times, banks will likely face a "wide range of
government investigations" for years. Judges may ask for them to be indicted
for perjury or obstruction of justice. The Justice Department could
prosecute banks for mail and wire fraud, or for making false statements to
the government. And the SEC could open civil investigations.
Now we need to hear the Justice Department announce their investigation.
And look - Larry Summers is gone. Great move! The people's advocate,
Elizabeth Warren, is in - genius move! If that's the direction Obama is now
heading in, then these bankers may be shaking in their Salvatore Ferragamos.
So, not a bad start, Democrats (20 months late)! Just four weeks to go and
I'm feeling that maybe, just maybe, we may prevent the All Souls Day
Massacre. The pundits, who are essentially tools for the Corporate States of
America, may have to eat a lot of crow. And if the Dems escape death's door,
they had better not let this nonsense happen again.
So, President Obama and Congress, let's get busy on ideas #4 (WPA jobs) and
#5 (pledge to take no further campaign money from Goldman and their
friends).
C'mon everybody - there's at least 3 million of you reading this (including
the 700,000 of you who are my Twitter followers and my 300,000+ close
Facebook friends). Let's pressure the Dems to quit cowering and kick some
butt - NOW!
Tell them it's easy and to repeat after us:
. Stop the foreclosures!
. Prosecute the banks and Wall Street and war profiteer corps!
. Remind the public 24/7 who created the mess!
. Announce a real jobs program!
. Promise not to take Wall Street's dirty money!
. Win the election!
Simple!
Do it!
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You
need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. On a different subject ... One of the most moving, hopeful and powerful
documentaries I've seen this year (or any year) opens at the Quad in NYC on
Friday. It's called, "Budrus," and it's about a town by that name in the
West Bank. The Palestinians in that town (and many of their Israeli
neighbors on the other side of the Wall that's being constructed) come up
with a way to totally undo the Israeli Defense Forces: pledge to defeat the
occupiers by never firing a bullet, never throwing a stone, never causing
any harm to their Jewish brothers and sisters. Whoa! What happens next is so
effed up, so incredible, you have to see this movie to believe it. The film
is brilliant. It won the top Founders Prize for nonfiction film at my film
festival this summer. It will soon be coming to other cities. Do not miss
it!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment