Sparks Says 'Yes' to Health Care, Davis Votes 'No'
November 9th, 2009by Glynn Wilson
Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks, the Fort Payne Democrat who is running for governor of Alabama against Birmingham Congressman Artur Davis, came out swinging on Monday two days after Davis voted against President Barack Obama’s national public health care plan in the U.S. House.
“It has been said that evil flourishes when good men fail to act. One of the greatest evils of our lifetime is no doubt that in one of the most prosperous nations in the world, over 48 million men, women, and children do not have access to the world’s greatest health-care system,” Sparks said in a press release.
Despite countless attempts over nearly a century, no chamber of Congress has ever before passed comprehensive health reform, he said. This weekend, the United States Congress, “stood firm against lies, misrepresentations, self serving political rhetoric, and the back-scratching and scare tactics of special-interest money to pass a health-care bill that once and for all will provide equal access to health-care for all Americans.”
“God bless the men and women who had the courage to address the evil discrimination in our health-care system,” he said. “Unfortunately, Artur Davis, who represents a congressional district that is one of the poorest in the nation, made it crystal clear that his interests and priorities lie in political gain and in the back pockets of big insurance companies, rather than in the hard working people of Alabama.”
The health-care vote was a defining moment for our country and those entrusted to represent our best interests, he said, “and Artur Davis has failed the people of Alabama miserably. Democrats across this state will assuredly find it difficult to trust his inflated rhetoric on other subjects now that he has betrayed them once again. Congressman Davis’ silence has reverberated so loudly that I find it impossible to hear a word he says in the future.”
The Davis campaign could not be reached for comment.
Tags: Alabama, Artur Davis, Governor's Race, Ron Sparks
November 9th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Did Davis give a reason? Dennis Kucinich did, and it was largely unreadable. No one would read it anyway. I believe Kucinich, by voting no (for some arcane reason), has scuttled what would have been a worthwhile career.
No sensitive or sensible man would vote no to health care reform. Davis must be controlled by, and take his orders from, some giant malevolent combine. That’s not the case with Kucinich. He just wanted to position himself in some weird way that only he, apparently, understands. Sad.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Kucinich wants a full-blown single payer health-care system that puts the private, for profit insurance companies out of business. So do I, but I realize that is unrealistic politically in the U.S.
Davis told the Newhouse press at al.com something nonsensical a few days ago, but they didn’t ask the obvious question: Where do you get your campaign money and could that have something to do with your vote?
November 9th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I was deeply disappointed with Mr. Davis vote. One would think that of all the districts in Alabama, his would be the easiest politically to vote for the bill. I suspect that some of the liberals (Kucinich and Adler) voted no not only because of their preference for a single payer system but also because of the abortion amendment.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Yes, I carried some stories about the abortion issue on the news page, although Kicinich didn’t mention that in his commentary in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
I say the left needs to leave the abortion issue alone. It’s too controversial to talk about funding abortions with federal tax money and could derail the entire plan. Let’s get national public health care passed the Senate now and when people see it working and the opposition is overcome, the system can be tweaked in the years ahead if it has problems.
It is not just about insuring poor and middle-class people who can’t afford the current over-priced for profit system. This is about fixing the national economy. Unless we get everybody in the system and get the costs of health care down, the economy will continue to hang on the brink of failure.
Poor people and middle-class people in Alabama need to overcome their false fear of the feds and realize they will be better off if everybody has access to health-care.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I agree with Glynn. Health-care is very important to people who do not have it or cannot afford it.
The abortion issue is just another minor issue that the GOP has always played on. Leave it alone! To each his own in time. We have enough to worry about without giving them the ammunition to fire on anything that they may find to throw things to their advantage.
They will pull anything and everything in this election in Alabama and national, due to the fact that they think they are the only ones who are smart enough to come along with any programs that will help the people. (Of which they never do).
That’s the very reason that they did what was done to Don Siegelman, because they could not stand the greatness and person that he was as a Governor and he was competition for them. Let’s show them and help with Don’s legal fees and help with more attorneys to get his name cleared and back where he belongs!