FENCE-SITTING ON OBAMACARE: BEING JIM MATHESON
Utah’s lone Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson voted against Obamacare when it first passed the House last year. Then the heavens opened up and Obama came forth to nominate his brother Scott to a federal judgeship. Will the appointment influence Matheson’s vote? Was it a bribe?
The League of American Voters is asking this question in a very public way through an advertisement it is currently airing on Salt Lake City television, in the middle of Matheson’s district. The ad poses the question:
“Our Congressman Jim Matheson voted against Obama’s health care proposals and Salt Lake City is saying thanks. He voted against cutting Medicare by $500 billion, against health care rationing, against higher taxes. But then Obama appointed his brother to a federal judgeship. Some people say it was bribe to get Jim to change his vote. Was it? We’ll be able to tell if Jim now switches his vote. Hey Jim, we’ll be watching!”
This ad, which costs $77,000 to run, is indicative of the hand-to-hand warfare going in district after district over the health care bill. The League is running ads in eighteen districts and its efforts are being supplemented by other groups which have now also begun running media in the districts of swing Congressmen.
On the other side of the fence, Pelosi and Obama are frantically trying to find a way to pass health care in the House without having, first, to ask Congressmen to vote for the Senate version of the legislation. Pro-lifers don’t like the abortion funding provisions in the Senate version, liberals dislike the lack of a public option, those in thrall to big labor hate the tax on high value health policies for union members, and everybody is nauseated by the special favors inserted for Marie Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. House Democrats are suspicious that if they just pass the Senate version, Obama will sign it into law and the efforts to use reconciliation to “fix” it will fall by the wayside. And they are right to be paranoid on this score.
Pelosi’s latest gambit is to pass a rule in the House which “deems” the Senate bill to have passed the House without actually passing it, as if voters would be deceived into thinking this is just a procedural vote rather than the main vote itself.
If you have not donated to the League of American Voters or one of the other groups pushing anti-Obama ads — or even if you have — please donate again! There are 35 Congressmen who voted “no” the first time around who need reinforcement and another 20 who voted yes who might be persuaded by pressure. We don’t have the funds to advertise in these districts and they could make all the difference in the world.
Remember: If Obamacare becomes law, our health system will never recover. And if it does not, Obama and Pelosi will never pass another important piece of legislation without genuine bipartisan support.
Without additional funds, the League can’t go into these new Congressional districts. With funds, we can tailor ads that bring maximum pressure on these Democratic members to resist the imploring, threatening, and bribing of Obama, Pelosi, Emanuel, Reid, and their henchmen.
CLICK HERE to donate to help the League of American Voters run these ads. Please!
Thank you!
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