Owens selling health care bill
by David Sommerstein on April 6th, 2010
Congressman Bill Owens is at St. Mary’s in Canton right now, talking
to an elementary school class. He’s touring the North Country, making the case to voters that his “yes” vote on health care was a good one.
CLARIFICATION ADDED: I’ve been out of pocket since I wrote this entry and finally read the comments. No, Bill Owens was not talking to elementary school kids about the health care law. He was giving your basic politician comes to talk civics class. I apologize for any confusion.
It’s been a couple weeks now and we’ve heard a lot more about the deeply dividing bill. What have you learned that’s new? Has anything changed your mind one way or the other?
He's selling the health care bill to elementary students? Tough crowd for sure…..Wow.
I guess I have been wondering why, since it is now law, why certain people are going to great lengths to continue to sell it. Isn't there a Shakespeare line, "Me doth think thou protest too much."?It's done. It's law. Let's move the next agenda item. I get suspicious when somebody feels that they have to continue to "sell" something when they have already closed the deal.Maybe I just don't understand all of the high level politics.
Yes, the Bill is now law. However, lies and misrepresentations made by the opponents of the Bill have made it necessary to explain the benefits of the Bill.
True, lies and misrepresentations abound, but please tell me this photo op with the elementary crowd was just that, a photo op. I hope the sales pitch is provided to, shall we say, a more mature crowd?
He's selling it to elementary school students? What, he doesn't have the backbone to do it in front of adults? This rings of indoctrination, not representative political discussion. Convert them into good little socialists while they're young. This is disgusting.
You have got to be kidding. Why doesn't old Bill hold a few Town Hall meetings where he can answer some questions from adult tax payers instead of show boating in front of some kids?What a coward.
Those students are probably more mature than the childish, disruptive people we saw shouting at the town hall meetings we saw on the news last summer. There is nothing wrong, actually its very right, to let our reps know how we feel about issues. Unfortunately is appears that some folks tried to disrupt the town hall meetings and ended up giving the Tea Party, who consist mostly of good independent minded citizen who have legitimate concerns, a bad image.
Oh brother. My wife is a teacher and has political leaders come to her classes. It is called "civics" and a great way to reach our young people. Given our low voter participation I am glad he wasn't too busy to visit a bunch of kids. As for Owens, same old story. Damned if you, damned if you don't. This stuff is why our politics are such a mess. The best and brightest won't put up with it and got out a long time ago, and we are left with the best of the ret.
I'm all for politicians meeting with school aged children to discuss civics, government, the need to vote, etc. Again, I just hope he plans on giving the sales pitch to our adult population. Specifically because I feel there's a great deal of misinformation about the legislation. Perhaps this wasn't the best photo for the title of this thread.
These look like fourth graders, not even high schoolers! Townhalls are important, covering the 23rd district, and kudus to John McHugh who did hold them. This mammoth bill holds many surprises, and bit by bit the surprises are coming to light.
bit by bit…be afraid!!!!!
St. Mary's in Canton only goes from k-6.
It is good to see a Representative of ours spend time with groups other than voters, interest groups, talking heads and fund raisers. Kudos to Mr. Owens. I feel sorry for the people who only see sinister plots in such events. How sad your lives must be that evil conspiracies is all you see. It is nice to know that every child in that photo has health coverage beyond the emergency room, regardless of their parents circumstances.
9:40,Right on.I applaued Congressman Owens for speaking in front of school children.
The 7 news this morning said he was speaking to the children about Government and how it works and encouraged them to become involved in the process when they ae old enough. That is not what the headline implies. Very misleading headline. Sounds like what he spoke about was a good thing.
i second anon 7:34. it would be great if david or someone else could follow up on what exactly congressman owens talked about to the students. since first reading this post i've found it hard to believe that owens actually talked about the health care bill in front of the class. and sure enough, the post doesn't explicitly say that he did! but it makes that an easy enough conclusion to jump to, as many commenters here have already done. a clarification would be great.
Seems to me someone dropped the ball somewhere. Did he or did he not "sell the health care bill". It would please me greatly if I found out this headline was wrong and he was above that.
Bret4207–David's not in at the moment to confirm, but I think this was a misleading conflation of events. Owens is on the road selling the health care plan, but I believe he was at St. Mary's School on a more general visit to encourage young people to be concerned about civics and to participate in their communities. I doubt he was discussing benefit tax policy with elementary students. That was just the location where it was easiiest for the reporter to catch up with the congressman–just across town from our offices.Dale HobsonNCPR web manager
he wasn't talking about health care or giving a civics lesson. He was campaigning.
Martha Foley here — Dale is right. The St. Mary's kids got a visit and a civics lesson from a Congressman (that's good, right?) and David got an interview with our Congressman — also good. Both of those are part of his job. No doubt about it, this is an election year. But I'm thinking the third graders will remember the visit and not much else.You can find David's interview at ncpr.org/news
Yeah, because those elementary students are typically of the minimum age to vote…..I get your point, but photo opts. can have a positive side to them. From the clip I viewed on TV 7 last night, he was definitely providing a lesson in government participation.
Alexander,How do you know he voted against the will of the tax payers in his district? Seriously, is there a poll I missed? I was under the impression based upon his press releases that he received as many calls from his constituents for the legislation as against it. Again, maybe I missed a poll suggesting otherwise?
i haven't seen a poll either but you should seriously consider getting your information from sources other than press releases.
Please tell us what sources there are they would tell us what the ratio of people contacting a congressman's office were for the health care bill, other than a press release from his office.President Obama campaigned on health care reform less than two years. He won. He won in this district. Bill Owens was elected less than a year ago. Elections are the true indicator of the will of the people.
"i haven't seen a poll either but you should seriously consider getting your information from sources other than press releases.'Do you think that's why I asked if there was a poll I missed? I thought that was obvious. And I utilize many sources of information. So where do you get your source stipulating that the majority of his constituents didn't support the legislation? You raised the point so let's see the source. Thanks in advance
"President Obama campaigned on health care reform less than two years. He won. He won in this district. Bill Owens was elected less than a year ago. Elections are the true indicator of the will of the people.April 7, 2010 3:12 PM"Funny, I said the same thing when Bush won those 2 times…….
Anon: 10:31 AM…."He was campaigning."Was the last President Bush and his wife Laura campaigning when they read books to children in Elementary schools? I don't think so, other than to show to the general public another side of them. The same with Rep. Owens. I don't think these children get to vote for quite a while. There is much to find fault with regarding any elected official, but speaking to elementary children in a school setting is really not one of them. Hopefully the children he met with will grow up to take part in the Democratic process in a more enlightened and effective manor.
Kudos to John Friot of WWNY,http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/90035397.html
As one who was in the crowd I can tell you that he did not talk health care to the students nor did Pattie Ritchie or Dave Button who were also there to rep local govt. Don't you hate it when reporters show up late?
{Was the last President Bush and his wife Laura campaigning when they read books to children in Elementary schools? I don't think so, other than to show to the general public another side of them.The same with Rep. Owens. I don't think these children get to vote for quite a while.There is much to find fault with regarding any elected official, but speaking to elementary children in a school setting is really not one of them. Hopefully the children he met with will grow up to take part in the Democratic process in a more enlightened and effective manor.}Are you kidding me? Do you think Pattie Richie was campaigning as well or David Button for that fact… Lets be fair now….