Times-Picayune:
Seldom has something as mundane as tinkering with the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage spawned such sensational condemnation.
On the eve of her pivotal vote last weekend to allow the Senate to proceed with consideration of health reform, it was revealed that Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., had secured a provision in the bill that would make a "special adjustment'' in the FMAP determination, bringing her home state between $100 million and $300 million in additional Medicaid money.
She had sold her vote, critics cried, in what they called the "Louisiana Purchase.'' Both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, in their broadcasts Monday, referred to Landrieu as a high-priced prostitute.
Yes, Beck and Limbaugh are calling Mary a whore, which is, when you think about it, a badge of honor coming from those two bottom feeders. I don't blame her one bit for holding out for the money. The health care system for the poor in New Orleans was not in good shape before Katrina but now is in a worse state, with Medicaid picking up the bill and punching a big hole in the state budget. One reason for the difficulty in getting health care to poor people is that a good portion of the medical infrastructure was flooded, not from Katrina, but from the FEDERAL FLOOD caused by faulty levees constructed by the U. S. Corps of Engineers, the levees which gave way and did not do the job of protecting the city. Only a fraction of the help that was promised by the federal government to the devastated city was actually given.
Mary's vote will cost her dearly in Louisiana, and it will help a little to be able to take home something to attempt to appease the local vultures that will be circling. Don't complain to me about Mary selling her vote, because I believe she did the right thing by voting as she did and by holding out for the money. Good for her.
All politics is local, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAs you say: good for her.
Damn right, Rmj.
ReplyDeleteAnytime those two think badly of you, you are likely to be on the side of angels.
ReplyDeleteFWIW
jimB
Anyone who holds out to secure more health care for the poor is a winner as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDeleteKatrina uncovered how the poor are really treated in one of the richest nations on earth. It is a shame.
I was thrilled to see her in the elite club of Senate woman who are standing out and standing up for what they believe in! She is in very good company!
ReplyDeleteIsn't this bunch of whiners the same group of finger-pointers that castigated Rep. Alan Grayson for labeling a lying lobbyist as a "K Street whore"? Linda Robertson, however, lied for money, whereas Senator Landrieu made a political decision for the benefit of the people who sent her to Washington to make such decisions.
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't trust the finger-pointing of pimps, even within their area of expertise.
Katrina uncovered how the poor are really treated in one of the richest nations on earth. It is a shame.
ReplyDeleteThe greater shame is how quickly the country looked away. Were it not for Mary Landrieu and Keith Olbermann touting health clinics (the first in NO), I wouldn't know NO still needed hospital equipment lost long ago in the flooding.
First we wipe from the collective memory the scenes of people trapped on rooftops, then we don't even consider what "recovery" would really mean, beyond opening the French Quarter to tourists and a few celebrities (Harry Shearer, Brad Pitt) moving in, or a few movies set there. We should be ashamed of ourselves, as a nation.
But I wonder how many Americans can even find New Orleans on a map.
Gosh and gobblywinks....I do love all these comments and your posting...
ReplyDeleteI hope she got good press in the NO papers. Voting to help the poor is always right.
ReplyDeleteGov. Bobby Jindal is one Louisiana Republican who is not criticizing Mary Landrieu. Nor is Joseph Cao, the Republican representative from New Orleans, who also voted "yes", because his constituents need help with health care.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.