Posted on 07/20/2009 10:41:58 AM PDT by kcvl
Mike Allen's PLAYBOOK
Senator Kennedy pens Newsweek cover story with Shrum -- Dan Pfeiffer: 'No one gets rich betting against Barack Obama'
MIKE ALLEN on July 19, 2009 @ 9:41 AM
SENATOR KENNEDY on the cover of NEWSWEEK, “WE’RE ALMOST THERE” -- “‘The Cause of My Life’: Inside the fight for universal health care,” by Edward M. Kennedy: “Last year, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center removed part of the tumor, and I had proton-beam radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital. I've undergone many rounds of chemotherapy and continue to receive treatment. Again, I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy. But quality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to. This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, ‘that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege.’ For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years. …
“We will bring health-care reform to the Senate and House floors soon, and there will be a vote. A century-long struggle will reach its climax. We're almost there. In the meantime, I will continue what I've been doing—making calls, urging progress. I've had dinner twice recently at my home in Hyannis Port with Senator Dodd, and when President Obama called me during his Rome trip after meeting with the Pope, much of our discussion was about health care. I believe the bill will pass, and we will end the disgrace of America as the only major industrialized nation in the world that doesn't guarantee health care for all of its people. … In the last year, I've often relied on that Congressional insurance. My wife, Vicki, and I have worried about many things, but not whether we could afford my care and treatment. Each time I've made a phone call or held a meeting about the health bill—or even when I've had the opportunity to get out for a sail along the Massachusetts coast—I've thought in an even more powerful way than before about what this will mean to others. And I am resolved to see to it this year that we create a system to ensure that someday, when there is a cure for the disease I now have, no American who needs it will be denied it.” This story was written with Robert Shrum, Senator Kennedy’s friend and longtime speechwriter.
THE BACKSTORY, in an e-mail from Newsweek Managing Editor Daniel Klaidman: “We -- like many of our colleagues, I would suspect -- had wanted to publish a reported piece on what would likely be Senator Kennedy's last fight for health-care reform -- the cause of his life, as he called it at last year’s Democratic convention. But his illness had kept him out of Washington and his circle of friends and advisers were not cooperating. So we decided to ask Kennedy to author the piece himself. His absence during this historic debate had been so palpable, yet here was a way for this respected voice on health care to weigh in and be part of the national conversation at a critical moment. We wanted more than a policy piece. We wanted a highly personal essay that captured Kennedy's 40-year struggle to achieve universal health care, the triumphs, the defeats and the passion that fueled the cause of his life for four decades.”
http://dyn.politico.com/printplaybook.cfm?uuid=933E61C4-18FE-70B2-A87A39885DB1A933
I don’t think anyone believes Kennedy “penned” anything. Bob Shrum, his personal mouth-piece and hitman, has been pulling the Kennedy strings for decades.
It was 40 years ago that this coward from Massachusetts walked away from a drowning woman. His everlasting shame can’t be swept out of history.
Neither should your family name!
Otherwise he would have never kept a seat in congress for as long as he has!
Wonder what health plan Mary Jo Kopechne will choose? Oh yeah, sorry.
uh ... Ted ... sorry, but the new Czar of Centralized Health Rationing under 0bamcare, “the cause of your life,” has denied your request for the continuation of these expensive medical procedures. Your life, in the judgment of the Czar, is just not worth the cost.
Seems to me, Kennedy’s argument for universal healthcare would have more credibiilty if he were getting the same healthcare as the average person. However, it’s well known that he’s had access to all of the top specialists (for his diagnosis) in the country, along with immediate and personal access to the top hospitals. If you’re going to argue for something, please be willing to live with what you’re advocating.
Well, now we know he is serious about health care! /S
any mention of government assistence to drowning victims?
When I heard about the “Health Reform” bill targeting seniors for hospice care (in order to painlessly euthanize people who PAID INTO MEDICARE ALL THESE YEARS), I thought of Teddy and how much the taxpayers are probably spending to keep him on the Senate floor a little longer.
He's a 'KENNEDY' dammit! He is entitled to more! /s
Massachusetts love them some Kennedys ...
This is the 'genuis' at Newsweek who thought we needed to hear from Kennedy!
Newsweek Managing Editor Daniel Klaidman: “We -- like many of our colleagues, I would suspect"
"a way for this respected voice on health care to weigh in and be part of the national conversation at a critical moment"
"We wanted a highly personal essay that captured Kennedy's 40-year struggle to achieve universal health care"
If that’s true, why did the dam-ed hypocrite put language in the bill exempting Congressional members from Obamacare? Under the Obama plan, they wouldn’t treat Teddy, they’d tell him that he had lived well, but we really don’t have the resources to waste on a man his age with an incurable disease, it’s time to go to the hospice and take your pain pill, because that’s all we can do for you.
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