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Kerry, Alongside Brown: 'I Would Think' Scott Wouldn't Want People Denied Insurance For Preexisting Conditions

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Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) appeared today alongside his new junior Senator-elect, Republican Scott Brown. The fifth-term Democratic senator said he could work constructively with Brown on health care and other issues -- and appeared to be putting Brown on the spot in that regard, with Brown standing right next to him.

"Look, I think a lot of people objected to the process of the, you know, sort of last-minute deals and the way things were put together," said Kerry. "I understand that. It wasn't pretty. That doesn't mean that everything in the bill is bad. I would think Scott would not want people to be denied health insurance for a preexisting condition. I would think that he would not want somebody who paid their premiums and bought insurance to be told when they get sick that they don't have insurance anymore. There have to be some basic things here, that we can all agree on. And I certainly look forward to trying to do that with him. "

Brown did not directly respond, but was asked shortly afterward by a reporter whether he felt like he was being courted by Democrats as a swing voter.

"I've always had great respect for Sen. Kerry, always. We have worked together on other issues and we'll work together on issues on the future," said Brown. "I have a great relationship with the delegation because of my years at the statehouse.

"If I see a bill that is good for my state, I'm gonna vote for it. And that's my first priority. Other senators represent other states. My initial job is to protect the state of Massachusetts, and I don't owe anybody anything. In the legislature in Massachusetts, I look at the bills first, determine what -- how much they cost, and if they'll benefit my district and the state, and you know, I'll take it that way and continue to be the same type of voter I always have been."

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January 21, 2010 11:50 AM   

Charlie Brown. Lucy.

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January 21, 2010 12:11 PM   

Brown is not the problem. The weak-kneed, fantasy-land House Dems are the real source of concern.

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January 21, 2010 12:13 PM    in reply to Khyber900

I would actually qualify that by saying that the House Dems have taken a lot of tough votes in the last 12 months. The Senate Dems are the problem. But now the House Dems have to take one more, really tough vote. Maybe that's cosmically unjust, but too bad.

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January 21, 2010 1:23 PM    in reply to alkali

They are BOTH the frickin' problem. Why is that so hard to understand?

I am guessing that he liberal wing of the party are far more electorally secure than some of the conservative side, especially in the House.

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January 21, 2010 2:01 PM    in reply to Khyber900

Thank you! I will do my civic duty and vote, but I am done with the DNC, Pelosi, Reid & Obama. I could give a rats behind from now on.

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January 21, 2010 3:34 PM    in reply to AhTrini1

So you're going to vote for Republicans? Libertarians? Tea Baggers? Nader?

Everyone wants to point fingers and hand out T-shirts and name badges tos omeone else identifying them as "The Problem," but last time I checked, elections matter. And that means that it's easy to talk tough on Wednesday and Thursday after an election; but if you're not out there on Tuesday and the days before, handing out fliers and going door-to-door, it really doesn't matter what you say. If HCR is still important to you and you still want to make it happen, call your Representative and both your Senators, regardless of what state you live in, regardless of party affiliation, and SAY SO. Write them a letter and fax it. Send them an email too. And stop by the district office and tell someone face to face. And if you have friends and relatives in states with Representatives and Senators who are getting cold feet, call them and make sure they do it too... This is not the time to sit around on the Internet and complain about Reid being weak-kneed, Pelosi being unable to herd her cats, or Obama not being "The Change" you voted for... This is the time to hold YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS to task for what you want to see written into law... And to make sure those who feel the same way as you do but have maybe never called a Senate office before do it too. Don't complain. Don't whine. Don't quit. HOLD FAST. The battle is not over yet. Do not leave the battlefield. HOLD FAST.

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January 21, 2010 2:42 PM    in reply to Khyber900

Actually, Obama is the problem. He has provided NO leadership and glided through the process with both naivety and zero passion. The dems don't know how to govern, and that is the bottom line. What a bunch of losers, they have majorities in both houses and can't even pass bills. In the words of Chris Matthews, "HAH!"

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January 21, 2010 2:51 PM    in reply to Khyber900

Beckie is correct---This guy Brown is not wingnut--He is a centrist ---Repubs should be very very afraid --This could be the 60th vote --if the numbnuts get it together and pass what the people need!

Obama and Brown are more similiar than Brown is with Mccain-Mcconnell-et al! He is actually for what the people want!

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January 21, 2010 4:27 PM    in reply to Khyber900

how are the house dems the problem? Have you been paying attention to ANYTHING THATS BEEN GOING ON IN THIS DEBATE?

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January 21, 2010 5:35 PM    in reply to 3star2nr

I didn't see any Articles of Im-fucking-Peachment this century ... did I miss something?
Ohhhhhhhhhh. You mean this year.
I guess we could forgive Stupak his poison pill.
But Ds have a 78 seat advantage. How is it that they have had to squeak a couple of those votes by?

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January 21, 2010 12:22 PM   

When I was in office, we had 1 Decider. You guys have 41. Doesn't matter anyway, today the Supreme Court just declared that corporations would run the country form now on.

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January 21, 2010 12:25 PM   

Miss Nancy and Old Harry are the leader of the Majority. Arrogance has been the name of the game. Congress in the peoples house and the rats have to be removed.

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January 21, 2010 12:27 PM   

Hello?!?! This guy ran specifically on being the 41st vote to block health care reform.

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January 21, 2010 12:33 PM    in reply to DrToast

No, he ran on a platform that said, "I know who the Boston Red Sox are."

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January 21, 2010 12:37 PM    in reply to DrToast

Kerry is just doing what all Dems should be doing: pointing out that if people are against HCR, that means they believe insurance companies should have the right to deny people care due to preexisting conditions, and to take away their care at any time (even if the subscriber has been dutifully paying premiums).

It's a morally indefensible view, and Democrats should be hanging it around the necks of HCR opponents at every opportunity.

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January 21, 2010 12:32 PM   

Have any progressive groups talked about organizing a march on Washington? Look how these cowards peed their pants over 20,000 teabaggers. I would think we could get 200,000 frustrated supporters of HCR to surround the Capitol and let them know how we feel.

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January 21, 2010 12:35 PM    in reply to tonigo

Hey, yeah! You can call yourself latte baggers and you can set up your laptops on the mall and all blog at the same time!

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January 21, 2010 12:36 PM    in reply to tonigo

If this happens, let me know. I'll drive in from St. Louis with three others in the car.

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January 21, 2010 12:49 PM    in reply to cube3u

I contacted moveon.org with the idea. I suggest others do the same (or reach out to the progressive organization of their choice).

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January 21, 2010 12:58 PM    in reply to tonigo

According to MSM reckoning, 20,000 tea baggers == 1/2 a million. 200,000 move-oners = 200.

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January 21, 2010 12:35 PM   

Brown is not the problem. Neither are just the House Dems. Every national politician in the Dems from the president to the Representatives is the problem. Polls after polls show the majority wants the public option. Even if we just lost one Senate seat, we still command a solid majority in both chambers --- in a parliamentary system like Britain and Canada, this should be more than good enough to install a genuinely liberal agenda. Obama should just tell the nation, "Look, the majority wants the public option. The GOPers are the real arrogant politicians who care neither about what people want nor about what people need. Our democratic institutions have to reflect the will of the people. So we will have to do what we can to pass real reforms. If we can't pass it with 60 votes in the Senate, we will do with less."

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January 21, 2010 12:37 PM    in reply to chrisl

You need a liberal one of me!!

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January 21, 2010 12:59 PM    in reply to chrisl

Obama is too busy cultivating his image as a gentleman to use the word arrogant against his opponents.

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January 21, 2010 1:30 PM    in reply to agio

Totally agree --- I think I am increasingly sick of Obama's hollow tough talk. And it's not just about domestic politics. Don't you think that that Israeli Prime Minister also knows enough about our Mr. Nice Guy's "toughness" to know he doesn't have to pay any attention to his demands to halt building Jewish settlements?

GOPers keep saying Dems are weak. Ironically, I increasingly buy this characterization of the Dems. Really sad, 'cause I am never a maximalist --- I love seeing a single-payer system installed but wouldn't mind getting just a public option.

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January 21, 2010 12:54 PM   

"...I'll take it that way and continue to be the same type of voter I always have been."

Exactly. He'll vote straight Conservative. Nice job MA Democrats (and I'm looking at all of you, not just Coakley) you screwed the pooch on this one.

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January 21, 2010 2:42 PM    in reply to tomanjeri

If the national Dems had any balls, the loss of one vote wouldn't make any difference to getting an agenda done. If you want to blame anyone, start with the so-called Democratic leadership. Show me a real leader among the bunch of them.

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January 21, 2010 1:12 PM   

Good for Kerry. This is exactly the right approach.

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January 21, 2010 1:26 PM    in reply to Pete Bilderback

Agreed. I am liking John Kerry more and more everyday.

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January 21, 2010 4:21 PM    in reply to Pete Bilderback

True enough. It's not John Kerry's job to help Brown get re-elected in 2012. If Brown can be shamed into voting for health care, fine. Or if he is, as I suspect, shameless - hang the consequences of his vote around his neck and make him wear them in public.

Let the working stiff from Revere who doesn't get any benefits know that Brown thinks it's more important that insurance company execs can buy a bigger boat that that his kids get treatment. It doesn't matter if Brown knows who the Red Sox are and drives an old pickup truck between his various residences, that will sink him.

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January 21, 2010 1:22 PM   

Isn't it a shame that the Democratic party is such a delicate, weak thing that losing one seat in the Senate, largely because their candidate preferred not to campaign, forces the whole party to its knees, begging "please don't hit me again"? Can you imagine the party reaction is a superpower like Somalia were to threaten to pee on them?

Come on, get up off the floor, you pansies!

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January 21, 2010 2:43 PM    in reply to hoppycalif2

Shame? It's thoroughly disgusting.

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January 21, 2010 4:00 PM    in reply to hoppycalif2

Hey, what do you expect from a political party that allowed itself to be painted as weak on national security by people who negligently allowed terrorists to kill 3000 Americans on American soil?

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January 21, 2010 1:39 PM   

Brown said he votes for his state and that he considers health care to be a state's right issue. Most of the states don't give a rat's butt so seems to me we all need to move the Mass. That just might make him realize that the senate decisions affect the entire country.Guess it's a case of "I've got mine, you can go take a flying leap".

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January 21, 2010 1:45 PM   

"I'll take it that way and continue to be the same type of voter I always have been." meaning....He'll vote with Republicans 96% of the time!!

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January 21, 2010 2:07 PM    in reply to Lucieann

He will fall lock step with the hypocrites and let's see how long it takes for him to change his stance on abortion rights (supposedly he's pro-choice).

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January 21, 2010 2:22 PM   

While I understand some of the vitriol of some of the previous posts, the fact remains that President Obama has apparently failed to deliver on his most critical first-year priority. Indeed, one can only wonder if he would have been more successful had Norm Colman defeated Al Franken or if Arlen Specter remained a Republican. My sense is that having a significant majority in the Senate, albeit not a fillibuster-proof one is either work with. That said, the worst thing about the failure of health care reform is "the failure" part. American's like winners. And while I remain loyal to party and to the President, I have a great deal of difficulty seeing how President Obama might win a second term. I just hope he stays in the the DC area long enough for his daughters to finish school.

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January 21, 2010 2:56 PM   

It has been said Brown is in between Nelson and Snowe on the political scale, basically he's the most liberal Republican. He has to realize that he can't be a party line republican and expect to get re-elected in two and a half years. So his vote as a Republican will give other conservadems cover.

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January 21, 2010 3:05 PM    in reply to Walter Mitty

I'm betting that Brown, as a new Senator, will vote exactly as the Repub "leadership" directs, meaning he will vote to make Obama fail at every opportunity. How anyone could assume otherwise is beyond my understanding.

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January 21, 2010 4:07 PM    in reply to hoppycalif2

It's not hard. All he has to do is say NO! NO! NO!. He could mail it in.

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January 21, 2010 3:12 PM   

Why the long face John, you eternal slopper-at-the-public-trough? Should Scott Brown be the last man to die for your mistakes? Sit down, and hum an old Weaver's tune.

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January 21, 2010 3:57 PM    in reply to Sailormarlowe

Why are you bashing the military? Are not they paid by the government, and then given government health care and government pensions?

Why do you hate the troops you treacherous fuck?

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January 21, 2010 3:23 PM   

Brown did not directly respond, but was asked shortly afterward by a reporter whether he felt like he was being courted by Democrats as a swing voter.

Shouldn't that have said, "...by a stupid reporter..."?

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January 21, 2010 3:58 PM   

Brown is following the formula of "Me First" or "I've got mine, so why should I help you get yours" that Massachusetts voters obviously felt in their superiority to the rest of the nation.

Why should he change the Republicans' one and only strategy, which to appeal to everyone's selfishness and greed?

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January 21, 2010 5:29 PM    in reply to MyMy

that Massachusetts voters obviously felt
Yeah, um, you should like, change that to, "that 53% of Massachusetts voters obviously felt", for the sake of accuracy.

And Brown didn't campaign on "I got mine" unless you mean his 200k mile working class pickup truck.
No, he ran on - "I'll keep those pansy weak commies from stealing your healthcare and shoving it up your ass while they let terrorists kill you in your sleep and raise taxes so you can't get a job while they're deficit spending your childrens' futures and I know my sports."
And what do you know - enough of the electorate bought it that they overcame Coakley's tepid support.
That would be the portion of the electorate that doesn't understand macroeconomic policy or the reason human rights are essential to democracy or that what goes into the air and water eventually goes into your childrens' bodies. They are the people who think that thoughtfulness is weakness, and by god they want leaders who are tough. And that means putting a boot in someone's ass, even if it's the wrong ass.

Bear in mind too - the MCAS was implemented well before No Child Left Behind. They have been teaching to the test here for 15 years. Meanwhile, right talk radio has had a strong presence since well before the busing riots of the 70s. Sometimes disguised as sports radio.
Weld, Cellucci, Swift, Romney ... anyone who didn't believe this was a distinct possibility just doesn't fucking pay attention.

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