Buckeye State Blog - GOP: Brown a hypocrite on drug plan - UPDATE - Comments

Right on, Ohio 2

AmberCat — Tue, 09 May 2006 17:22:14 -0700

He's got John Ryan as his (inexperienced) campaign manager. He can court labor. Whoopee. That's Brown's most reliable constituency. And he's got Connie Schultz as his "consultant" who may be a very nice lady and a good writer, but she obviously isn't a person who can look at Brown will a cold, hard, objective eye and discern what he is doing wrong and right. Considering this, I wonder how welcome any talented consultant would feel �� or whether they would be listened to. They might easily be backstabbed by the insiders who keep telling Brown that everything he is doing is fine and that people "ought" to vote for him because of his great voting record and he shouldn't have to do anything to win their votes. Maybe my vote doesn't count. And staff's vote doesn't c ount. And every other person here whose lack of enthusiasm for Brown you sense. And all the independents who will agree with half as many of his votes as we do. And all the Republicans who are fed-up with their party. None of our votes count. And that's how DeWine goes back to Washington.

The problem is

AmberCat — Tue, 09 May 2006 17:16:39 -0700

that if Brown doesn't "waste" his time on me, probably 2/3rds of the voters in Ohio are LESS likely to agree with him on issues than I am and so he needn't "waste" his time on them either and well, that clearly means he's not getting elected. It occurred to me that the people who will cause Brown to lose aren't people like me who will vote for neither candidate if not persuaded, but people like yourself who arrogantly blow off any voter who doesn't swallow the Kool-Aid in one giant gulp and who have obviously convinced Brown that this is a good tactic for him as well. You folks (and Brown as well) seem to forget that Brown is auditioning the REPRESENT us -we are not auditioning to be worthy of him. HE is the candidate who is supposed to speak to US and OUR ideas; we are not here to fall in line behind him. I did vote for Chandra �� and I campaigned hard for him, too. I will now work for Marc Dann as well. So what? I don't get your point. Chandra won my support; Dann has won my support as well. Brown hasn't.

heh

staff — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:40:48 -0700

be nice, but not essential to winning my support. He could instead demonstrate some toughness and actually light a fire under DeWine's failing ass. That would be a decent start. He could also vote against COPE

Votes are nice...

Ohio2nd — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:39:42 -0700

they're a lot nicer when you win an election.

True that Brown should give a flying F about winning my vote. But golly gee wilikers, it would sure be nifty if he acted like he cared about anyone else's.

So far I'm seeing a campaign that is acting like it lost the moment Paul Hackett dropped out of the race. WHY? What other motive can I deduce for such a limp, half assed effort than that they want Mike DeWine to win?

Surely there's some einsteins out there that help candidates get up to snuff on things, picking out winning positions on this and that. Could Brown perhaps invest in some since he obviously doesn't know how to campaign his way out of whatever coma induced haze he's been in from years of casting votes that serve no purpose for anyone but the citizens of Taiwan? By all looks of things the big brains that actually win elections for Democrats are keeping a safe nuclear blast radius distance from this clusterfuck of a campaign.

Brown better fucking get off his ass and act like he's in this shit to win. This royal pile of flaming crap left on our doorsteps is thanks to no one but Brown's bulbous and atrophied ego. At this point I'm ready to start a third party campaign for Jim Parker since he'd actually give a fuck about listening to the voters and could even attract some Republicans.

agreed, but i think it's

RMC2000 — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:21:35 -0700

the most important aspect. there is a chance the senate switches this year. for that to happen, brown needs to win. if the senate switches, brown's vote will be a thing of beauty.

Apparently . . .

Mr. Common Sense — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:20:11 -0700

. . . kissing your ass is the other.

Drug Industry, Sen. Frist

JeanLR — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:11:38 -0700

Drug Industry, Sen. Frist and the White House Conspired to Obtain Broad Liability Shield for Lawsuits Related to Pandemic Illnesses

Public Citizen Report Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Lobbying; Language Inserted Into Bill Without Lawmakers’ Knowledge

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Drug industry lobbyists conspired with the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) last year to craft a sweeping liability provision that shields the industry from lawsuits over products used to treat pandemic illnesses, even in cases of gross negligence or gross recklessness, according to a report issued today by Public Citizen.

The report, Willful Misconduct: How Bill Frist and the Drug Lobby Covertly Bagged a Liability Shield, relies on internal documents and e-mails of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) to illustrate the degree to which Frist’s office deferred to drug industry demands and describes Frist’s sleight of hand in securing passage of the provision. It underscores the enormous power of the drug industry and its lobbyists to steer a highly controversial provision into law.

.....continues http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2197

(btw, "The bill in question was the Homeland Security Act, and observers can be excused for wondering just what a pharmaceutical shield law has to do with Homeland Security.")

It isnt just about voting

staff — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:06:04 -0700

Voting is only 1 aspect of the job.

Sounds like you made up your mind a while ago, Amber.

Mr. Common Sense — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:55:46 -0700

If I were Brown, I wouldn't even waste my time on you.

Instead, I'd campaign for the support of genuine open-minded Democrats.

And does a candidate's ability to win affect whether or not you vote for him or her? Did you vote for Chandra?

did kerry

RMC2000 — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:44:59 -0700

earn your vote?

first of all,

AmberCat — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:35:59 -0700

Brown is going to lose whether we vote for him or not. Second of all, we have too many complacent Democrats with no spine, no fight and no ability to speak to issues in a clear, understandable way that gets people behind them. Sherrod Brown, so far, seems to be another of these. Brown, not me, is the villain here. He's running a pathetic campaign and refusing to look at what might get people energized and enthusiastic about him; and it's not like he's offering passion on anything else that we might disagree with. He's just isolated, insulated and tepid. I don't work for candidates I'm not enthusiastic about and I don't VOTE for candidates who seem to think I just owe them my vote. And no, it's NOT "just like voting for DeWine" if I choose to vote for neither. It's a free choice I make. Brown has to earn my vote; we'll see if he does.

i fail to understand why his voting

RMC2000 — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:08:20 -0700

record doesn't earn the vote. there are two candidates in this race. we know how both of them will vote if elected to the senate. i don't understand why one isn't obviously better than the other. i didn't love al gore, but i voted for him, and i raised money for him, and i marched all around my state for him. you know why? because he would have been a hell of a lot better than bush. if i would have sat on my ass and not done a thing for gore, just because gore beat up on bradley, what could i say about our current situation? i would have been part of the problem. remember wondering how/why all those red state (you ohio!) voters could have ever, ever thought bush was better than kerry? what would you have thought about gephardt supporters who just stayed home? what would you have thought about bradley supporters who just stayed home in FL in 2000? that's the same way i feel about democrats who choose to sit this one out.

question

staff — Tue, 09 May 2006 10:42:15 -0700

does Brown have any duty to earn her vote or does he just have to do that with independents ?

you're not required to vote for him.

RMC2000 — Tue, 09 May 2006 10:23:07 -0700

just be prepared to deal with what happens if he loses.

So what's the bottom line here?

AmberCat — Tue, 09 May 2006 10:17:48 -0700

Other than Brown's arrogant ineffectuality? And I had ANOTHER argument last night with someone who thinks it's my duty to vote for someone with such a sterling voting record.

GOP: Brown a hypocrite on drug plan - UPDATE

staff — Tue, 09 May 2006 06:28:44 -0700

The PeeDee runs with a hit piece right out of the NRSC and does its best to confuse the reader. I can't make head nor tail out of it - I'm sure most readers can't.

Washington -- Democrats complain about the Republican-crafted Medicare prescription drug plan for seniors, but look for the GOP to try to turn the tables this fall.

Republicans will say that two of the plan's aspects that anger Democrats such as Rep. Sherrod Brown -- its private-sector management and its prohibition on the government negotiating lower drug prices -- are identical to provisions in a Democratic bill that died in 2000. Brown, a Lorain Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, and more than 100 other Democrats co-sponsored that bill.

"There's a word for that, and it's hypocrisy," said Dan Ronayne, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He said Republicans will talk about it in their campaign against Brown.

Spokeswomen for Brown and Democratic congressional leaders say the hypocrisy claim is preposterous.

From there it's all just the typical useless he said/she said bullshit. The article doesn't even mention the bill number for people to look up. It doesn't compare the 2 bills and discuss the real differences. Did Stephen Koff even compare the 2 bills before deciding if the piece had merit ?

Sloppy Journalism. you get a press release from an election campaign. You call for some quotes. Then you call Brown for a reaction. The NRSC point Koff to Grassley and for some inexplicable reason even throw in a tidbit from Rep Marion of Arkansas the relevance of which is beyond me.

This is what gets called "issue reporting" by our press. It's lazy and useless.

UPDATE
And just like clockwork the email from Mike DeWine of this article appears. It's like a well orchestrated play isn't it ? Next a little coverage on right wing blogs, some talk radio and voila ! The whole Medicare Part D fiasco is Brown's fault.