A freshman senator is expected to defer to his seniors, make no waves, and rise to address the chamber only on such controversial topics as the virtues of motherhood and the flag.
But not Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, who came across as a bit of a Milquetoast during his campaigns but has become one of the Senate’s firebrands on the subject of health care reform.
Merkley’s determined stand in support of a public option for health insurance has earned him praise even from former opponents such as “torridjoe” of the Loaded Orygun blog, who backed Steve Novick against Merkley in the primary.
Merkley “continues to be one of the more repetitively vocal members of the chamber when it comes to support for a robust public option,” the blogger writes. “His insistence has not wavered throughout a long summer of angst-ridden tea-leaf reading over whether the PO would survive the deliberative process. His refusal to sit quietly on the back bench and let the seasoned pros handle things is enormously welcome, and a big poke in the ribs to doubters (like me) who thought the key word for Merkley’s first term would be ‘languid’ rather than ‘loud and liberal.'”
As evidence, Joe posts video clips of a couple of appearances Merkley made Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” and on CNBC. The public option is “absolutely not dead,” he told host Ed Schultz. “We have a public option that has come out of the [Senate] Health Committee [of which Merkley is a member]. We have every reason to include it in the final bill. The House wants to see it done, the American people want to see it done, and we’re gonna keep pushing. Because if we don’t take on the [health care] costs doubling every six years, we will not have fixed health care for American citizens.”
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2009.
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Yeah Merkley sucks that is why he fights for expensive programs when he has already exceeded his budget. This health bill will just be one more mistake Obama can add to his list. Today he got to add his failure to bargan anything good out of the missile shield. I thought he was supposed to know how politics work. I’m sure Russia appreciates it though. I wonder what Georgia, Poland Czech, and the Ukraine think of us just turning our backs on them.
Merkley’s Bend town hall must have have been an eye opener. Summit’s gym was crowded, perhaps 1000 to 1,200 people. I don’t think he expected the response he received. His real support is for a single payer, but appears to have now compromised with his public option position.
During his town hall at Bend, Merkley provided three alternatives for the crowd to choose from. It was an audience member that reminded the good senator of the fourth option…..no gov’t at all that brought 75% of the people to their feet cheering. The hall literally erupted in approval.
Poor Jeff. I think he belived he would be in a more liberal crowd so he felt it safe to schedule the town hall after the work day and in a rather large venue. The next day, he was in Prineville where he could expect a rather conservative bunch and thus scheduled that town hall for the middle of the workday and at a location (the library) that could only accomodate a few people, thus excluding well over one hundred who remained outside…but not silenced.
So be loud and proud, Jeff, regardless of what your constituents think.
I do however, applaude your vote to defund that fraudulent and criminal enterprise ACORN.
“It was an audience member that reminded the good senator of the fourth option…..no gov’t at all that brought 75% of the people to their feet cheering.”
No government at all — what a terrific idea. We can abolish the armed forces, the CIA, the FBI, the police, the prison system, the courts, public streets and highways, the air traffic control system … think of all the money we’ll save!
“So be loud and proud, Jeff, regardless of what your constituents think.”
Jeff is smart enough the know that the teabaggers who showed up to harangue him in Bend do not represent what most of his constituents think.