Loading ...I picked up a story on the BCR Feeds page from Taxing Tennessee titled “John Tanner says constituents are DUMB as rocks“. In his story, Ben Cunningham states, “Ole John clearly believes his hillbilly constituents simply don’t have the gray matter to understand all the complicated goins on in our nation’s Capital.” He provides a John Tanner quote from the Politico and linked to the original story.
“The Blue Dog mentality is best described from my standpoint as, on economic and finance, center right, and on social issues, center left,” says Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), a Blue Dog veteran of more than 20 years of battles in the House. “It’s harder to communicate maybe than in a more compact district, but I think in a Southern rural district, there is a certain level of trust, I guess, if people feel like they know you.”
He said the message has been lost that Democrats want to lower both the costs for the government and the “premiums for people who are buying insurance now.”
“People think this bill will do something to them rather than for them. People call the office and say I don’t want a government-run program, I like Medicare just the way it is. And you have to explain: Medicare is a government program.
“Change is hard, and this is big change that is being talked about, so you naturally have people who are uneasy and nervous.”
Well, the odd thing is that I followed the link to Politico and read the linked article, “Blue Dogs pulled in two directions“. Oddly enough, Ben’s selected quotation is NOT in that article and no mention of John Tanner. So thinking Ben just copied the wrong link, I did a search on Politico for references to John Tanner.
Blue Dogs pulled in two directions – Jul. 31, 2009 – Story
… mentality is best described from my standpoint as, on economic and finance, center right, and on social issues, center left,” says Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), a Blue Dog veteran of more than 20 years of battles in the House. “It’s harder to communicate maybe than in a more compact …
So the quote referenced by Ben is indeed in the original archived version of the article but has obviously been removed since. Good job Ben getting this quote recorded before it ‘disappeared’. Unfortunately, Tanner’s comments are reflective of many Democrats working on Health Care Reform and you are just too stupid to know what is good for you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think she has a future nationally as a presidential candidate?
BILL MAHER, HOST, “REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER”: I don’t know about a presidential candidate, but I would never put anything past this stupid country.
BLITZER: So people are already complaining that you’re calling the United States a stupid country and giving you a chance to clarify.
MAHER: I don’t need to clarify. It is.
When asked to respond to John Tanner’s remarks, 8th District Congessional candidate Donn Janes issued the following statement on Saturday.
This is an example of how John Tanner is out of touch with his constituents. The people of West Tennessee understand what the proposed health care plan will cost and understand that they will be the ones paying for it. We hear a lot from the Democrats in Congress saying how they will make health care more efficient, yet we have yet to see a government program run efficiently. We only need to look at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for examples of how the government has done the complete opposite. Why then do we want to create yet another Huge government bureaucracy that will be run the same way. This plan will end up costing the average American thousands of dollars more in tax dollars and increased insurance premiums, only to give them the same or a slightly less level of coverage, without the quality care they are getting today. I challenge John Tanner to come to West Tennessee and have open forums with the people to explain just how this plan will help them, and how he and the other Democrats in Congress plan to pay for it.
I agree with Donn Janes on this and John Tanner should spend some time with the people of the 8th District. I did a full ‘listening’ tour in 2006 of the District, stopping by the little diners and gathering spots along the way. Congressman Tanner may find that they are not quite so stupid as he thinks they are and like Davy Crockett who held the same seat in Congress, might learn a little something along the way.
Wait, so are you calling Rep. Tanner arrogant or a liar?
Because, if people actually are calling into his office telling him that they don’t want their Medicare coverage replaced by a government program, they are, in fact, highly ill-informed. And that’s not because they’re stupid. It’s because opponents of health care reform have been flooding all parts of the media with misinformation about what we have now and what’s being proposed – so much so that a lot of people don’t seem to realize that our government’s major healthcare program is being run by the government.
Now, if you have reason to believe that the Representative is a liar and is making up these stories, that’s one thing. But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Instead, it looks like you’re trying to add to the misinformation by putting an HBO comedian’s words into an elected representative’s mouth.
Allen, you are in Chicago (as most Obama operatives seem to be). This is a Tennessee issue so mind your own business.
For your information, I’m a Tennessee resident attending college at Chicago. I was born in Tennessee, have lived in Tennessee for almost the entirety of my life, and vote in Tennessee. My congressman is a Tennessean. I’m replying to you, in fact, from my home in Tennessee, right now.
I’d say that makes Tennessee issues “my business,” thank you very much.
Darn, you sure sound like a Yankee…my mistake.
That bit of weird regionalism aside:
Are you calling Rep. John Tanner arrogant or a liar?
Who exactly is telling anyone that medicare is not a government run health care system?
I would think that most of those people who are thinking that to be the case are the same ones who go to the polls and vote for Tanner. He hopes that they stay ill-informed but just in a manner that benefits him.
[...] the fact that he does not think his constituents understand the Health Care proposal as noted in my previous post. “It’s harder to communicate maybe than in a more compact district, but I think in a [...]
Yes N.S. Allen, I am calling John Tanner both arrogant and a liar. He is also an alcoholic. My home town of Martin is just a stone’s throw down the road fron Tanner’s Union City and having grown up in his neck of the woods I am very familiar with him. He is a fiscal hypocrite who says what his voters want to hear and then votes the complete opposite. So yeah, hypocrite and liar would be the nice words I would apply to him.