Sen. Ted Kennedy’s Statement on Health Care Reform

Yesterday the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee voted to pass Affordable Health Choices Act. It’s an historic moment in the history of the U.S. Senate and in the career of the chairman of the committee, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass).  Following the committee’s vote on the legislation, which included 160 of the 200 amendments offered by the GOP members of the committee, Chairman Kennedy issued the following statement from his home in Massachusetts where he is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor:

“This room is a special place. In this room, my two brothers declared their candidacy for the presidency. Today, the nation takes another major step toward reaching the goals to which they dedicated their careers, and for which they gave their lives. They strived, as I have tried to do, for a fairer and more just America – a nation where every American could share fully in the promise of quality health care.

As you vote today, know that I am with you in heart and mind and soul, and I wish very much that I could be with you in person.

I could not be prouder of our committee. We have done the hard work that the American people sent us here to do. We have considered hundreds of proposals. Where we have been able to reach principled compromise, we have done so. Where we have not been able to resolve our differences, we have treated those with whom we disagree with respect and patience. I thank all the members of our committee – Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike – for their dedication and devotion to the great cause of quality, affordable health care for all our people.

Extraordinary thanks go to Chris Dodd. No man has ever had a truer or more generous friend than he has been to me, and no cause has ever had a more able leader than he has been in the great effort to enact health reform.

It is a cause that knows no boundary of party, region, or philosophy. It is a cause that can and should unite us all as Americans. We know, however, that our work is not over – far from it. As we move from our committee room to the Senate floor, we must continue the search for solutions that unite us, so that the great promise of quality affordable health care for all can be fulfilled.

As I said, this room is a special place – and I believe our committee’s actions have added a glorious chapter to the honor roll of history that has been made here.

Americans are an extraordinary people. We have created a nation of liberty and justice. We have defeated forces of oppression, and we have spread prosperity and progress across the globe. When the American people are on the march, there is no barrier that can resist them, no obstacle that can block their path.

The American people are on the march once more, and they will not stop until quality, affordable health care is the birthright of every American. And we are with them every step of the way.”

Virginia’s GOP Congressmen Love Government-Run Health Care, Except When They Don’t

Virginia’s GOP members of Congress kill me. Take their double standards on health care.

Rep. Randy Forbes of Chesapeake tells the Daily Press of Newport News that he doesn’t want a government-run health care system. “We’re going to end up destroying a very good health-care system,” Forbes said. Rep. Rob Wittman of Montross in Westmoreland County tells the same paper that he’s hearing an “overwhelming hesitancy” to a government-run system.

Rep. Eric Cantor of Richmond agrees. He recently wrote in a Richmond Times-Dispatch that, “the root of the problem is [the Democrats'] House bill’s imposition of the so-called “government option.”

Deeds Banks Cash, Dems Resurrect Obama Field Team in Va.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds today announced his June raising totals today while the Democratic National Committee’s Virginia chapter of Organizing for America kicked off its Virginia Listening Tour in Reston tonight.

Auto-Tune the News

Who knew that the climate change debate, the death of Michael Jackson and abuse of prescription drugs could be this entertaining with Auto-Tuning? (To understand how this technology works, check out this NPR story from last year.)

McDonnell on Palin: “a Successful Governor”

According to an exclusive interview with the Washington Times, one of the things soon-to-be-former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said she wants to do after she leaves office later this month is campaign for candidates who agree with her, regardless of their party affiliation. Despite The Times’ report that Palin will campaign for the occasional Democrat, I think it’s safe to assume her candidate in Virginia’s governor’s race would be right wing Republican nominee Bob McDonnell.

After all, McDonnell said he believes Palin, “was a successful governor in Alaska. She was a popular governor in Alaska, got a lot of things done on taxes, and government regulation and ethics, and you know, those are some of the things that I’m interested in getting done here in Virginia.”

Senators Webb and Warner Working Hard for Creigh Deeds

One of the reasons why Virginians are going to elect State Senator Creigh Deeds their Governor this fall is that they trust their centrist U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner. Both men have committed to help make Sen. Deeds Virginia’s next governor. Sen Warner is organizing the business community for Deeds, while Sen. Webb is organizing veterans for Deeds.

I expect that both Senators, along with Governor Tim Kaine, will cut endorsement ads for Deeds that should run in September and October when voters really begin to focus on the election.

Meanwhile, if you want an idea of what Sen. Deeds needs to do this summer and this fall in order to win, check out Sen. Warner’s political analysis of the Virginia electorate from last summer when he was running for his Senate seat. Warner’s advice for then-candidate Barack Obama was spot on then and makes perfect sense for Sen. Deeds, too.

Watch:

The Moralistic Hypocrisy of the GOP: That Was Then, This is Now

As you consider the reactions of various Republican elected officials to the recent sex scandals involving their own — e.g. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) — I think it’s helpful to looks and see what these same Republicans said when Democrats couldn’t keep their pants zipped.

The easiest place to find examples of the moralistic hypocrisy that’s plagued the Republican Party in recent years is the Clinton impeachment matter. Check out the impeachment votes of the  House Judiciary Committee, the full House vote and the two Senate votes as well as the comments made about President Clinton’s behavior.

I particularly think it’s interesting to note that both Ensign and Sanford voted to impeach President Clinton, yet both are insisting that they remain in office following their own sexual indiscretions.

This makes me their political beliefs are inspired by the great political philosopher Micky Dolenz.

(As an aside, why is that our nation’s female pols don’t cheat nearly as much as their male counterparts?)

Health Care Reform: It’s Time

If we can’t pass health care reform now, when can we pass it? I hope that as the Senate marks up legislation this week, this time they won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Remembering George Mason’s Legacy

George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the forerunner of the Constitution's Bill of Rights.

Birthdays are important in my family. Our nation’s birthday is no exception. No doubt, today, millions of Americans will think about what Thomas Jefferson considered to be his biggest accomplishment, authoring the Declaration of Independence.

But as we pause to remember the events in Philadelphia 233 years ago, we must not forget the contributions of another less famous Virginian, George Mason. Mason authored the Virginia Declaration of Rights in May of 1776. It was amended by Thomas Ludwell Lee and the Virginia Constitutional Convention in Williamsburg on June 12, 1776.

This part may sound familiar:

That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural Rights… among which are the Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursueing and obtaining Happiness and Safety.

Jefferson borrowed heavily from the document when he wrote the Declaration of Independence passed in Philadelphia the following month. Mason’s document later became the basis for the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. (Mason, for his part, lobbied against passage of the Constitution as written because it didn’t have a Bill of Rights.)

To be sure, Jefferson admired Mason, calling him the “wisest man of his generation”.

I hope you will take a moment today to remember the gentleman from Fairfax and the groundwork he laid for his friend from Charlottesville.

We owe Mason more than he gets credit for.

If Palin Can, So Can Sanford

What is it with these Republican Governors? Today, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin decided that, we won’t have Palin to kick around anymore. In a bizarre news conference, she announced that she would not be running for re-election as Governor and she will resign in three weeks on July 26 at the Governor’s picnic. (A picnic? How quaint!) GOP Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will become governor then. There are so many good quotes from Palin today, it’s easier for you to just watch the video yourself. It’s in two parts.

Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial Bd: Rupert Murdoch Wannabes?

It’s not a very well kept secret in journalism circles that the editorial board of the Richmond Times Dispatch is not entirely independent in their thinking. The RTD is free to endorse whomever they want in local and statewide campaigns but the owners at Media General demand that the RTD toe the GOP line when it comes to presidential politics. This is also the case at other Media General newspapers.

Maybe Marshall N. Morton, President and Chief Executive Officer at Media General think of himself as the Rupert Murdoch of Southern journalism. I don’t know.

Today’s editorial criticizing President Obama and his recent exchange with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is as good an example of any of the GOP double standard that the editorial board exhibits time after time.

Does anyone think the Richmond Times Dispatch would ever have editorialized against former President George W. Bush and his relationship with Saudi King Abdullah?

Remember, the House of Saud and the House of Bush go wayyyyyyy back.

Maybe next Sunday the RTD will write about, “the kiss.”

I’m not holding my breath.

Undermined Trust: Why Sanford Should Resign

When President Clinton admitted his affair with Monica Lewinsky, a backbencher Congressman remarked to CNN in 1999, ““If you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.”

That Congressman represented Charleston, S.C. at the time. He went on to become the Governor of the Palmetto State. His name: Mark Sanford.