A few comments on NC's Dem Heath Shuler, and his long meeting with tea party.

madfloridian

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Thu Dec-16-10 01:56 AM
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A few comments on NC's Dem Heath Shuler, and his long meeting with tea party.

I promised someone I would transcribe a bit about Shuler from Ari Berman's book called Herding Donkeys. I felt so bad for the Democrats who worked for him and elected him to office. He appeared to have treated them with contempt while embracing the right wing.

Ari presents the scenario from 2009 when Shuler was having lunch with Democratic supporters. From page 210. They asked him about the public option.

When asked why he didn't support a public insurance option to compete with private insurers, Shuler repeatedly said it didn't have enough votes to pass the House.

He was then asked why he did not personally support it.

Shuler cited the "waste, fraud and abuse" in Medicare--a popular right wing talking point--and claimed, erroneously, it turned out that certain doctors in the rural parts of his district wouldn't accept it. He said he trusted private insurers to run health care better than the government.

In 2006 some Democrats asked to sign a shirt with Democratic policies listed. One said:

"I was so proud to have the T-shirt you signed," she told him at the meeting, holding up the shirt, "and I want to add universal health care to that list"

Shuler just rolled his eyes. When Todd Neel, a nurse practitioner who worked with hospice patients, pressed Shuler on the public option, the congressman turned to his right-hand man, Randy Flack, and said loudly, "This is like talking to a brick wall."

And this part shows such disrespect to those who got him elected. Rahm's hand-picked guy was polite to the tea party and met with them. He had totally disowned those who elected him, and "he never even said thank-you for the food."

From Page 211:

Shuler seemed to get on better with WNC's right-wing Tea Party movement, whom he warmly met with for over an hour that August promising to vote against health care legislation in the House.

Not a good way to repay those who elected you.

Here is more about how Rahm hand-picked him, he did more than just pick him...he pressured him to run.

Shuler considered running as a Republican, but Rahm won him over to be a Democrat.

"A MACHO MAKEOVER

All of Emanuel�s scolding and cajoling would have meant nothing if he fielded weak candidates. After yet another devastating loss in 2004, he and other Democratic leaders quickly determined that the party needed a machismo implant. Emanuel looked for candidates with strong backgrounds, from sheriffs to soldiers, to counteract a Democratic image of softness.

This is why he badly wanted Heath Shuler, a former football star, to run for Congress as a Democrat in North Carolina. An evangelical Christian who opposes abortion, Shuler couldn�t easily have his views caricatured by the GOP. But Shuler was worried that if he ran and won, he would never see his two young children. To prove that congressmen do spend time with their children, Emanuel started calling Shuler in early 2005 whenever he was with his own family.

Shuler would pick up the phone and hear, �It�s Rahm. I�m at a soccer game with my kids. Just wanted you to know that.� Or �It�s Rahm. I�m at a kindergarten play now. Talk to you soon.� Shuler received perhaps 10 such calls. Of course, this also illustrated that whenever Emanuel was with his family, he was working.

In any case, Shuler agreed to jump in the race, challenging a 16-year incumbent and becoming one of the Democrats� hottest candidates. �I was recruited from high school to play college football, I was recruited by almost every college in the country, and then I was recruited into the NFL,� said Shuler, a former Washington Redskins quarterback.

One other incident from page 14, where Shuler walked out on Democrats claiming he had to baby-sit his kids.

Shuler showed up at one of the chair meetings that July. Once again, he criticized Pelosi and the Democrats' health care bill, saying he hadn't been adequately consulted....Shuler stayed for 15 minutes and left, saying he had to go babysit his kids.

Our Florida Democrats have been like that for over a decade now. It's very frustrating.