MoveOn ad campaign targets Hagan over 'public option'
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/26/art.hagan.gi.jpg
caption="A new MoveOn.org ad campaign is targeting North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan."]
(CNN) - North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan told reporters Friday a public health insurance option remains "on the table," as MoveOn.org announced an ad campaign targeting her over her reported lack of support for a public plan.
"Given recent comments showing that Senator Hagan is not supporting the public health insurance option, MoveOn.org will be making clear that our 115,000 members in North Carolina - many of whom volunteered for or donated to her campaign last year - believe the public option is the heart of true health care reform," the group said in a statement. "We'll run ads in North Carolina and D.C. asking that she advocate for the public option and support the President in truly solving the nation's health care crisis."
Earlier this week, Hagan told the Greensboro News & Record that a government plan could pose a major threat to private insurance companies.
The Democratic senator, who serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, has said she supports a "backstop option" for uninsured Americans that did not necessarily involve a government-run program - and her lack of support could prove a major obstacle for proponents of the idea, as Congress continues to weigh a plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.
On Friday, as MoveOn was announcing its campaign, Hagan told North Carolina reporters to "stay tuned" to the health care debate.
"We haven't taken a 'public option' off the table," she said, according to the Raleigh News & Observer - and those unhappy with her position "need to stay tuned."
"People are so centered on the word 'public,'" she said, according to the paper. "And it really depends on what's (involved) in that."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is also facing a targeted ad campaign from MoveOn over remarks that President Obama's health care agenda might not have enough congressional support to pass this year, and her skepticism over enacting a public option.
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"Public option" is a misnomer. It's like entering a demolition derby with an M1 Abrams tank: it's not an "option" to win against the tank.
government run insurance is not an option because (1) all Americans end up paying for it through higher taxes (they get NO option concerning this...taxes are, by the way, LAW) and (2) because lawmakers, pushed onward with a desire to win future elections will continue to pump money into this think until it outperforms the private insurance providers who are unable to run up trillionsof dollars in debt or force payment on 300 million citizens like the fed can. Liberty ends when people learn they can vote themselves funds from the rest of the population.
72% agree with a public option because 72% of the people polled were not aware it's a fallacy.
I think it's time for Move-On to move on. This organization is nothing but a bunch of idiots. No sane person who actually reads and understands the true ramifications of nationalized health care could support it. My guess that the people who support it are the type that are afraid of hard work. My advice to you is SHUT UP and take care of your own life. Quit looking into my wallet to support your lazy a _ _.
you're right--the Commies at Moveon.org are wrong.
It's great to see that CNN, with all their rightwing neocon bias is actually allowing the people to be heard!
wearing hammer and sickle emblems on our sleeves.....
Doesn't moveon.org know that Communisism failed.......???
Didn't the wall come down or did I miss something?????
Where is this 72% number coming from? Theres an important fact in statistics that is ignored by most pollsters. It is extremely important to have an even polling demographic. When 72% of those polled support obama, this does not actually represent a clear picture..Obama did not win 72% of the vote...last I checked it was 53%....hmmmm...
Darn tootin'! I won't be happy until my health care is as good as our public schools, public housing or the DMV. Only the government can provide a certain level of service. It's gonna be great!
I'm glad they're not only targeting Republicans. Moderate Democrats need to get the message, too. The public option is something that needs to AT LEAST by discussed as a serious option rather than brushing it under the matt because it's politically dangerous. I'm especially happy about this after her lame justification for allowing concealed weapons in national parks. I'm starting to think Hagan is a Democrat in name only.
Hey Jack in Des Moines,
Don't be a whiner! If you think CNN is such a lousy new source, why do you log on? Fixed News has a website, too.
Finally, at least one Senator with sense enough to find their way to work and back home. I only hope that there's enough more that can see this for the boondoggle that it really is, and vote against it. Cost will go through the roof and the deficits will finish bankrupting the nation.
It's blackmail Kay......don't fall for it.
No one but obama wants this health care crap!
I may not always agree with MoveOn, but they are correct here, considering most Americans (72%) want a public option as part of healthcare reform.
Shonie,
You obviously have a computer. Please Google the percentage of 72% of Americans wanting a public option to compete with private insurers for better care, including 50% of Republicans.
When the DNC and Kay Hagan asked for our help we stepped up and gave our time and money. With healthcare for all listed #1 IN THE DNC AGENDAS COLUMN there is something with a so called Democrat not supporting true healthcare reform. We will watch her vote and vote accordingly on her next election!
the problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money
a government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.
It's about time we went after these spineless Dems who choose to be influenced by their own political ambitions (inc. gifts from lobbyists) rather than doing the right thing for the people of this country! ANd to all of you right-wing cretins who are parroting the Republican talking points about 'Government run health-care', why don't you think for yourselves for a change and ask yourselves if the privately owned insurance companies have ever looked out for the interests of the people they are meant to be serving rather than their own profits!
Bush got the government out of the way on banking, law enforcement, health care, and even tried with Blackwater to get it out of Military operations.
Yet somehow government spending went up in those areas. This suppossed "Free Market" was rigged from the beggining. If the "Free Market" is so great, how come all of these companies and more are needing billions from the government to stay afloat?
Its time for REAL health care reform, not more dabbling.
The vast majority of Americans support a public option – the question is will the politicians do their jobs and represent us?
If Senator Hagen was elected with the belief that she would support her constituents desires for health care and she fails to back the efforts, then she should be outed and let the voters have their say as to whether they want her to continue her office or not!
So if public health care is okay for our senators and congressmen, why isn't it good enough for us?
why would it would hurt private insurance companies? because it's better and more people would choose it? um, isn't that a good thing?
Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have doubled in the last 9 years, a rate 3 times faster than cumulative wage increases.
And yet we hear the same old tired dog story from the Repubs.
"We cant have public healthcare! That would be CRAZY! That would be Socialism!" "Socialism is scary commie stuff!"
Pull your head out of the sand. Just because the fat cat Repub politicians want to keep big Medicine status quo so rich people can get richer does not mean you need to lock-step in line with them.
They do not care one lick about you. Havent you figured that out by now?
Move on + democrats = communists