Having attended the town hall event masquerading as the Fallin Gubernatorial Kickoff Thursday afternoon in OKC I was going to write a summary of my impressions. However, Dr. Scott Jones, pastor at the Cathedral of Hope in OKC has already done it at his blog.
Except for the religious angle, which is Dr. Scott's trade, I agree with his observations as to why there is so much opposition to the health care overhaul proposals being cussed and discussed across the country. http://tinyurl.com/l45h8c
Among the hundreds who showed up one very disagreeable person was there--one of the men who was very belligerent towards Reggie Cervantes at the early July meeting held at Senator Jim Inhofe's OKC office. He's the bald, white t-shirt man in the film who says he doesn't care if Reggie was a first-responder in NYC on 9-11; if she's sick now because of it, that's her own fault. I'm not kidding, listen to it for yourself. At Fallin's he was wearing hunter orange--no doubt reflecting the mood he was in. http://tinyurl.com/lq5haz
Ms. Fallin's event menu was not for the vegetarians. She served red meat to the red necks, boiler plate to the beer can crushers, and a cold shoulder to any possibility of a different POV. Fallin even went so far as to snub a courteous hello and question from the floor by former Rep. Wanda Jo Stapelton, who served with Fallin in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in the 1980s.
Fallin claims to be for health insurance that is portable, excuses pre-existing conditions, raises the age coverage for dependents, and lowers drug prices, among other things.
However, these same companies endorsed by her do exactly the opposite of what she claims to support. Even as she benefits from the Congressional plan which is the best our tax money can subsidise through her salary as a member of Congress. And in a gracious move of camaraderie with the grass roots, the good ole Oklahomans she loves and adores, you know the same voters that have kept her employed for most of her adult life, she hopes that members of Congress will use the same health plan that is eventually passed for the rest of us.
Hmm, I'm not interested in moving down the insurance food chain, I want to move up to what Congress has NOW!
Even as she renews her claims to being pro-business she doesn't want to acknowledge that if employers didn't have to foot the bill for employee health care, more of their profits could be kept for the business itself, that is could be spent on other things, maybe Capitol improvements, better working conditions and wages.
But that's the short-sightedness of GOPers who keep a tight fist on the payroll even to their own detriment.
Here is a short list of media coverage provided by a friend--
KWTV KSBI
http://www.news9.com/Global/story.asp?S=10927699
http://www.news9.com/Global/category.asp?C=116601&clipId=4042000&autostart=true
and
here's mary
http://www.news9.com/Global/category.asp?C=116601&clipId=4041565&autostart=true
KOCO
http://www.koco.com/news/20392860/detail.html
KOKH
http://www.okcfox.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/kokh_vid_283.shtml
KSBI - Tom Cole
http://www.ksbitv.com/news/52991527.html
