I would not be going here but to learn what, as mayor, he has accomplished that is noteworthy, because up to now I have heard of nothing.
Well, I don't want to caucus for somebody I know little about, and I already have leanings different ways. But I want onto the newsletter. He wants full ID info to get onto the newsletter. All he needs is the email address, because that's where the thing will be sent, the rest is private, from him and his people, unless I learn something of him making me change my mind. But up-front, no, R.T. - no go. BS, R.T.
Then, cutting some slack, there is an about page. So, of course, it is going to open by telling me what noteworthy accomplishments he has to feature while being mayor of Minneapolis, right? What else would I care to learn first?
Well, this link. Judge it.
It starts with "The Rybak roots."
I don't really care, and seeing what your family looks like, so what?
I see it's long. I see headings, none saying, "My proud record of repeated accomplishments as mayor of Minnesota's largest city."
Okay. There mustn't be any. No need to waste any more time here since he won't send his emails without I trade him private info that's none of his business unless I make it so.
Okay, cut a little more slack. Way down the line on the top menu bar is "ISSUES."
He has beliefs on which he's running. That's encouraging. Litmus test, "HEALTHCARE."
Big time let down. Lots of bloviating. Do a search: "single payer" is nowhere there.
Huh? No opinion on single payer?
Cut more slack, do a search, "public option," one hit, used once only in the spiel.
This guy bothers me. I take the time to load the spiel into Microsoft Word to do a word count. 638 words. 8 paragraphs. 47 lines. The word "cost" used fifteen times, however; at the very start, "If we don't get control of health care costs, we will never get control of our future," and at the very end, "And in the world's richest country, it makes no sense to cripple business and the public sector with skyrocketing health care costs." Okay, without reading it, he's going to be bitching about the cost, using the "cripple business" crying towel, and not have any real innovative solutions to offer so instead he will be blowing lots of smoke against "costs." You read it all. Then explain to me why I am wrong.
Rybak uses the words "public option," buried in the middle of the spiel this way, in context, full paragraph, bolding in original:
Out of control health care costs are killing jobs, damaging our global competitiveness, and driving up the cost of state and local government. We won't change this until, as a first step, everyone contributes and everyone is covered. R.T. believes strongly that people should have the choice of a public-option health care plan. The competition provided by a public option will help to force down costs, expand choice and help keep insurance companies honest. It will contribute to more efficiency in the system and help reduce the burden on small business.
Boy that sounds as if Obama or his people wrote it. Those approval ratings are plunging, R.T. Any guess why? With the healthcare issue having been so "front burner" nationally? Perhaps because - it's no real and meaningful policy CHANGE, R.T.
End of story. I am out of there.
_________________
R.T. your website sucks. It indicates a disregard for me, as wanting to learn who you are, by not making such information readily available, tightly, and free of bloviating drivel. Your healthcare thing indicates you are pitching pure vanilla Obama rehash. Those coat tails have narrowed quite a bit since November 2008, and you don't seem to get it. The right wing's always been skeptical. The progressives are the ones becoming disenchanted, in droves.
I am reassured, however, by the Rybak showing. My other preferences stand unchallenged. Indeed, they stand taller after seeing this.
This guy is dog meat. Nothing original. Nothing to up-front slam me with his having done as mayor that he can offer as innovative, outstanding, something beyond ho-hum, same old ---
I am appalled that he scored so high in the polling; this link.
What are people thinking. Are people thinking?
_________UPDATE_________
I admit, my wondering why Rybak accomplishments as mayor were not touted is like the dog that did not bark in the one Sherlock Holmes story, interesting for hypothesizing, but not conclusive.
For a positive spin on Rybak, including bullet points of things done as mayor, this link. Can any reader in a comment point out where a comparable listing is presented on the Rybak campaign website? Disagree or agree with the items, at least we see them, in the outside reporting.
For further info, Rybak's Wikipedia page, here.
_______FURTHER UPDATE_______
The quote I gave, from Rybak's mid-statement strongly endorses a "public option" but that is like saying you endorse "sliced bred" without saying what kind - whether you prefer factory sliced factory made Wonder Bread, or having the counter person at Diamond City Bread slice a loaf of one of the seven or eight daily featured bread choices, baked by the owner and employed bakers that morning, even if costing more than the mass-produced item. Public option views do differ, but given the disappointing performance by trusted people in DC, it might become a moot point.
I give credit to Rybak for being a step closer to good policy than those appeasers and the appeased Capitol Hill reps and lobbyists in our national capital.
And, I would swap him out in an eye blink for Oberstar, McCollum, Paulsen, Kline or Bachmann; as an improvement at the DFL end and a vast improvement at the GOP extreme. But that I could and put one more public option advocate into that sorry mess back east.