Capuano said that Coakley's statement demonstrates that "when it comes to Martha Coakley’s stance on progressive issues like the death penalty and health care, she appears to change her positions depending on the day."
In a campaign press release, Capuano said:
"The fact is Martha Coakley is once again out of step with our state’s progressive values. The entire Massachusetts Delegation voted for the Health Care Bill. This bill won’t let insurance companies deny care for pre-existing conditions. It provides health care for the uninsured. It helps small businesses with tax breaks on health insurance. It reforms Medicare. Is Martha Coakley saying these things are not important? Is she saying that the entire delegation got it wrong?
I am strongly pro-choice. As a member of the pro-choice caucus, I voted against the Stupak-Pitts amendment. I have written to President Obama to request a meeting with him to ensure the rights of all women are protected. I am also proud to have stood with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and my colleagues from Massachusetts in support of the Health Care Bill and especially the strong public option included in the bill."The Capuano campaign noted:
"Coakley has in the past claimed she supported the health care bill including a strong public option. Her current television ad running throughout the Commonwealth states she would work to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions and that she supports a strong public option. Both of these items are a part of the bill the House just passed, which Coakley said today she would have voted against."Capuano added:
“This demonstrates the fundamental lack of understanding of the legislative process as well as underlining a fundamental difference between Martha Coakley and me. As a prosecutor, Martha Coakley is used to having it her way, and being the only one who gets to pick and choose whether to seek indictments or to prosecute. As a legislator it’s not ‘my way or the highway.’ Unlike a prosecutor, a legislator must have the skills to build consensus and the courage to make difficult decisions, and the wisdom to know when to choose progress over perfection.”He also challenged Coakley to a debate on the issue, “I am prepared to debate Martha Coakley, today, tomorrow or any time on why I supported the Health Care Bill and why she is wrong to oppose it.”
4 comments:
The Capuano spin machine is making me nauseous. It's Capuano that doesn't have a fundamental grasp on the legislative process. In the House you have hop on the bandwagon or get left in the dust with the other 400 and some odd schmucks who's cumulative value alone is mighty, but individual value is diddly. There's only 100 senators, and each has a tremendous amount of leverage. Bernie Sanders, for example, the most progressive Senator in office, has said he will not support health care reform without a strong public option. If Reid wants his vote (and he does because there's only 100 of them), then he better bust ass to get a public option. That's absolutely equitable to Coakley saying she will not support health care reform that diminishes women's reproductive rights and choices. Listen again to the question as its posed to her: "would you, as senator, support a bill with a Stupak amendment," hell no she won't, and that's the sort of leadership we need from our next senator. And if Capuano not only says he'll swallow that pill, not only critizes Coakley for coughing it up, but then goes on to attack Coakley as naive and not understanding when it is he that is too drunk on his ego and clouded out by his own loud pointless voice...then, please, someone turn off the spin cycle before he deceives his way into Kennedy's old seat.
I agree- I was sort of on the fence before this all came up. As a woman, I was really expecting a better response from Capuano about this issue. It's one thing to claim a pro-choice record but it's quite another to attack someone progressively standing up for those ideals. Coakley's leadership on this issues is pretty impressive, really strong and unwaivering. I hope she stands firm despite the petty attacks from Capuano. Because of those gross attacks, but more so because of her strong leadership, I think I'm sold on Coakley.
Capuano said it all when he said today in an interview, "I know how to make real serious improvements in the issues that are important to me, in this case, health care."
Real serious improvements? That means pushing women's rights, women's choice, women's access to comprehensive procedures and health care back decades??
He said it all when he didn't say that women's health and their ability to access needed comprehensive reproductive care was an essential part of reform.
He said it all when he said he knows how to take care of issues "important to me." Well what about me, Mike? What about me and the women who are the MAJORITY of MA? What about the issues that are important to us?
Health Care reform is bogus if its not health care reform for both men and women, AG Coakley understands that and please, let's get her in that senate seat, because she is the only person in this race that understands that civil rights and liberties, women's reproductive choices and rights cannot be sacrificed for a superficial victory.
The "compromise" that Capuano voted for carried on the backs of women. It threatens to eliminate abortion coverage for all women in that it prohibis the use of federal funds for "any health plan that includes coverage of abortion." Since most private insurers would receive federal subsidies on behalf of low- and middle-income people, those insurers would be forbidden to provide ANY abortion coverage to any subscriber. It's one thing to give lip service to being pro-choice; it's another thing to be truly pro-choice.
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