Monday, May 15, 2017

Montana Special Election: Missoula Independent has an excellent writer, Dan Brooks, who wrote two online items noted here. [UPDATED]

First item analyzes gun violence against electronic devices; by each candidate; to prove Second Amendment bona fides, or for the fun of doing in an old TV, something Howard Beale would approve of, if you remember him from the film Network.

" ... and I'm not going to take it anymore." POW. Election ads after a while grow that way on you.

Second item, the Gianforte lobbyist schmoozing-for-cash conference call, back east asking can you spare a little pocket change, five grand each, for a good cause (your cause). Read the first one, no excerpt here, the second, briefly:

The new AHCA was rushed to the House floor before most members had time to read it. Republicans in the Senate have signaled that they intend to scrap the bill and start over. But it remains the most significant piece of legislation before Congress, and its combination of deregulation for the insurance industry and tax cuts for the wealthy offers a frightening glimpse of Republican priorities in health-care reform.

Meanwhile, in Montana, Greg Gianforte had no opinion. "Greg needs to know all the facts, because it's important to know exactly what's in the bill before he votes on it," a spokesman told reporters, declining to answer questions about whether Gianforte would have voted for his party's bill.

It was a reasonable response, even if it seemed a little weaselly. Probably, no one in Washington should have an opinion on the bill, since it was so poorly presented. But on the same day that Gianforte declined to say anything about the AHCA to the press, he praised it in a conference call with lobbyists. Noting that the Montana special election would have "national significance," he said it "sounds like we just passed a health care thing, which I'm thankful for. [It] sounds like we're starting to repeal and replace."

[...] While the Republican plan guts Obamacare's subsidies for low-income Americans buying insurance on state exchanges, it preserves them for insurance companies. It also allows insurers to charge much higher premiums for the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions. You would be hard-pressed to convince a roomful of voters that the problem with American health care is that old, sick people are ripping off insurance companies. But if you were speaking to a group of lobbyists, you might have a better shot.

The fact that Gianforte felt obliged to shoot straight with lobbyists while he told the press to go pound sand tells us who wields consequences in his daily life. [...]

Gianforte is running as the candidate so wealthy he cannot be bought. But boy, the man can cold-call sell.

____________UPDATE____________
More authored by Brooks, here and here. Even if tone-deaf, it seems he has a dislike for how healthcare is rationed in our US of A. Whiner. Sad. Or some might say that. For myself, Brooks is in tune with national needs, and showcases in a personal way national shame. It is a shame his having to take Aetna to a court hearing where, courts being as they are, happens well after timely care of the injury had been foreclosed as an option. Needing to sue the bastards that way is two things, shameful and privatized. No two ways about that.