This page was last updated on February 23, 2011.
‘As with Veon, Altmire must go’; Terry Cunningham; Beaver County Times; February 23, 2011.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire’s new stand on the health-care bill is interesting since it has been ruled unconstitutional.”
[RWC] As a reminder, Mr. Altmire favored/favors Obamacare in principle. Mr. Altmire claimed he voted against Obamacare only because he believed it would increase the deficit.
“After voting against the bill when we were watching, Altmire voted against repeal. His argument is he isn’t going to waste time on partisan politics, interesting considering the bill was passed by a partisan vote.
“Altmire says that he supports efforts to prevent the implementation of the most onerous provisions, which means Altmire either didn’t read the bill or doesn’t understand why it was ruled unconstitutional.
“The bill doesn’t have severability written into the law, which means it is all or nothing, something he should also know.
“Altmire should know that any good in the law could have been and can be passed separately. We don’t have to swallow the whole of a poison bill to get a few benefits. He knows that but spins his tales thinking we, the electorate, are fools.
“His first vote against the bill was nothing more then [sic] a vote to get elected. As soon as he won his election, he changed his vote. We must not forget Altmire turning his back on the will of the people. As with Mike Veon, Altmire must go.”
[RWC] Here’s the primary reason I wrote this critique. I believe it’s unfair to compare Messrs. Altmire and Veon. Mr. Veon was a crook; as far as I know, Mr. Altmire is not. Even though I wrote Mr. Altmire thanking him for his original vote against Obamacare, I had no illusions he would support its repeal. Mr. Altmire is simply behaving like a politician.
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