Where does one begin? Managing to stay "above the fray" as she puts it, Debbie Halvorson held a teleconference on health care Thursday night. Now, telephone call in shows are wonderful things; wonderful for radio hacks and telethons. I would expect, though,that a member of the United States Congress, elected by the people and for the people, would actually have the decency and sense of duty to want to meet with the people. But I realized after listening to 2 1/2 hours of her bogus, cosmetic saleswoman sincerity and her sophomoric attempts to prove herself capable of anything other than reading off of her Pelosi issued cheat sheet, to expect anything else out of her would simply be too much.
The safety net was provided in the form of operators who pre-screened her calls, and the training wheels were provided by Dr. Mary Wakefield, (HRSA administrator, who incidentally is a not a medical doctor, but a nurse PhD) who seems to have been busy lately, tagging in for Senate whiz kids Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
A summary of the call can be found here. Some highlights: She said "wow" about two dozen times. In response to a caller's question concening "death panels" she let out a sarcastic snicker, rather unbecoming of a United States Congresswoman. When asked if she read the bill, she said she did, and in fact to prove it she mentioned that she found a typo in the bill, on page...and then she promptly forgot which page. She then recovered by asking listeners to read the bill and then call her office and tell her what page the error was on, assumedly with the first ten callers receiving a Avon Botanicals Mini Treats Gift Set.
At best, her responses were vague and rambling. At worst, considering she had the questions screened and Dr. Wakefield's assistance, they were condescendingly juvenile, showing a level of preparation one would scarcely tolerate from a grammar school debate team, much less a member of Congress.
Read the summary from the link above. Her professed understanding of the legislation appears to have serious contradictions with reality. Or perhaps, just like her flip on cap and tax, she's only telling us what she thinks we want to hear. But for now she can let out a sigh of relief because, like Ichabod Crane racing to the bridge, Halvorson is headed safely back to Washington, having successfully escaped her constituents and her responsibilities.
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