I met Howard Dean last April....

I think I said this in a reply to a thread a while back, but most people here probably didn't catch that (which I understand).

Anyway, I met Dr. Dean at the 2009 California Democratic Party Convention. He was one of the key speakers at the convention.

He was the epitome of "down-to-earth" and truly took an interest in this young Democrat's questions and my father's as well. He wasn't a politician; he is really a decent man who happens to have ideals for this country, especially when it comes to health care reform.

I remember him saying back in April 20009 to my dad and I: "Unfortunately, single-payer doesn't have much of a chance in Congress." And I think he, sadly, was correct, as most Congresspeople and Senators are incredibly corrupt and beholden to the insurance cartels.

Let's just look at how much of a pain in the ass it was trying to get a mere public option in a HCR bill last year, especially in the Senate-let alone a single-payer bill.

Nevertheless, Dr. Dean is still committed to real health care reform, and I really admire that. And while he was candid and frank about the realities of the situation, he still had a good spark of optimism that really inspires millions of Americans.

My point is: Dean is one of us, and is on our side.

Thank you, Dr. Dean. :patriot:

Thank you, Dr. Dean. :patriot:

nt

worked to educate people by using their media presence and organizations to lobby Congress we would be much further along.


Single payer: bold, affordable, humane
By Walter Tsou, M.D., M.P.H.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/june/single_payer_bold_.php

"If you believe that every American has the right to quality, affordable health care, then the only affordable means to achieve that goal is through a properly financed, single-payer national health insurance program.

Attempting to reconcile the dual imperatives of universal coverage and cost control through alternative methods besides single payer is an exercise in futility. It is clear that cost controls mean that someone’s ox gets gored, either the taxpayers’, physicians’ and hospitals’, or the private health insurance industry’s. When some Congressional leaders declare that “single payer is off the table,” they are, in effect, saying that insurers will be protected, leaving the pain to patients, taxpayers and health care providers.

...President Obama has stated that if he were to start over again he would favor a single-payer system, but argues that moving to single payer is too radical.

Well, I come from Philadelphia where revolutionary ideas are celebrated not dismissed. Our most famous radical document begins with the words, “We the People,” not “We the Insurers.” ...."

http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/12/06/two-thirds-support-1/

“Americans are scared to death of single payer.”

These words were not uttered by some foaming-at-the mouth wingnut. They were written by Bernie Horn, a Senior Fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, a member of Health Care for America Now, on June 8, 2009. Horn explained that he was moved to write this tripe because single-payer supporters were asking why Democrats had taken single-payer off the table to make room for the “public option”:

The question most frequently asked by progressive activists at last week’s America’s Future Now conference was this: We hear Obama and congressional Democrats talking about a public health insurance option, but why aren’t they talking about a single-payer system like HR 676 sponsored by Rep. John Conyers? Why is single-payer “off the table”?

Horn went on to assert that single-payer had been taken off the table because Americans want it off the table. He claimed polling data supported him, but he cited no particular poll. The truth is that the Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) and other groups in Health Care for America Now (HCAN) had decided years earlier they would push Democratic candidates and officeholders to substitute the “option” for single-payer, and they would tell both Democrats and progressive activists that Americans “like the insurance they have” and that Americans oppose single-payer.

The argument that single-payer is “politically infeasible” is not new. That argument is as old as the modern single-payer movement (which emerged in the late 1980s). It is an argument made exclusively by Democrats who don’t want to support single-payer legislation – a group Merton Bernstein and Ted Marmor have called “yes buts.” ...."

First, up in Nashua, NH. We took a bus up there from NYC to campaign. He met us after our first day there..
Second, at the NYS Rural Dem Winter Conference in Lake Placid. I drove up from Newburgh. I got to meet him with about a dozen other grassrooters.. This time I actually got to say something (that I did not think that using the term Dean-lite or Republican-lite was a good poke at (liberal, imho) John Kerry). And since the only neo-con running wasn't there (it was held on the sabbath and Joementum only got permission from his Rabbi to video-conference) I thought it would fall flat.
Third, in Hudson, NY. They had a fundraiser for Dean and he came through. Barely got to say hi, but another face to face none the less..

Right before the 2004 election, Howard came to my local Border's for a book signing. I got to meet him, have him sign 2 books for me, and have a very short conversation with him. I really took it hard that he didn't win the nomination that year. And deep down, I still think he has a role to play for this Party and for this country. I don't know whether it will be as an elected official or as a Party adviser, but I believe that if the higher-ups in the Democratic Party aren't listening to Howard Dean, they damn well SHOULD be. I still admire the hell out of the guy even though he's a man without an official post at the moment.