HuffPo: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) is the "Queen of Cash From The Health Care Industry"

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) tells the Arkansas News:






Who is "WE", Blanche Lincoln?? You and your sugar daddies of Big Insurance/Big Pharma?


We thought so.



Arkansans, Blanche Lincoln is up for re-election next year. You know what you have to do.

Small business owners in AR support a public option... I wonder if most of the electorate does too. That would explain her coming up with a novel excuse for her selling out, anyway.

a real Dem will challenging her in a primary?

Democrats are a skittish lot and afraid to take on incumbents.

The only way to change the party is by forcing the corporate types out... seems to me if we leave we just let them take over.

sent it to the newpaper as well as Blanche

http://www.opensecrets.org

Senator Lincoln,

Congratulations on your new title, Queen of Cash from the Health Industry. After months of deceptively hinting at support for a real health care reform, including a public option, we are greeted by your sudden change of opinion yesterday.

I am so glad that your campaign is raking in this kind of money from the for-profit health insurance industry. Hopefully, they will more than make up for the lack of private contributions you will be receiving from Arkansas Democrats.

I feel you have betrayed my trust by your failure to support the 2008 Democratic Party Platform. You stand in opposition to our Democratic President.
I can think of no reason for my continued support of you.

How many votes will you receive from Blue Cross Blue Shield or Wellpoint? I know none will come from me or my family.

History will show that you voted often with the George W. Bush crowd, adding almost $5 trillion to the national debt, but when it comes to spending less than $1 trillion over 10 years on the common people, we "can't afford it."

I'm including this blog from Huffington Post. It is but one of many. Please note that we, Arkansans, are not clueless and understand that you've been 'bought' and that you'd rather represent business than people.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/03/lobbyblog_n_275136.html?view=print



September 3, 2009

BLANCHE LINCOLN IS THE QUEEN OF CASH FROM THE HEALTH INDUSTRY The Sunlight Foundation's Paul Blumenthal reports that Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has taken more money in campaign contributions from the health industry than any of her Democratic peers in 2009. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Lincoln benefited from $325,350 in contributions from the health industry in the first half of 2009.

"The large amount in contributions underlies a constantly shifting position by the senator on health care reform," notes Blumenthal. Lincoln sits on the Senate Finance Committee, the lone panel that has so far failed to get its act together on health care reform legislation.

Lincoln told the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim in May that she was open to a public option. "We're looking at that option to see if it's going to be competitive and, you know, if it's going to be productive," she said. "I'm still open minded."

On Tuesday, Lincoln revealed that her mind had apparently closed. "I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can't afford that," she said, according to Arkansas News.

The Sunlight Foundation's got the goods on the tangled web of staffers-turned-lobbyists who help the industry funnel money to Lincoln and her colleagues. For more, including a helpful chart, go here.

-- Arthur Delaney

An Ex-supporter,

"I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can't afford that," quoth Blanchie.

It just seems strange to me that every other developed country in the world CAN afford it, yet someone once told me we are the richest, bestest nation on earth. And we CAN'T afford it?

I know politicians come pretty cheap these days, but accepting over 300k does imply a certain, shall we say, conflict of fucking interest. I won't call it an outright bribe, because that might hurt her feelings if she ever checks in here. Wouldn't want that to happen.

She's wrong and fucking knows it.

If there was a primary opponent, she could lose. In the general election, she will win because she plays both sides of the fence. It's about her keeping her seat. I don't know if the laws in Arkansas are the same as in CT that would let her run as an Independent if she lost her primary?