Ed Schultz hot at the Bagdad in Portland
August 1st 2009 16:44
It was a hot night in Portland, in more ways than one. A heat wave that crested in the 100s two days earlier was still in the high 90s, with some humidity. Weather suited more to Texas than Portland. And it was hot inside the Bagdad Theater! Two hours plus centered on a common theme, health care reform now.
I left work and went down to the Bagdad around 5 pm (the show started at 7) and the site was already electric. A large group of marchers arrived demanding single payer health care with chants like "everyone in, no one left out!" Sounds like a good concept, too bad conservatives just don't get it.
Quite a few different groups and organizations were represented. Alot of nurses and doctors. People just getting off work like me, and people damaged by the current health care system. Kind of like a "tea party" but with people who understand the issues they are protesting. One brave lady wore a tee shirt that said "Dead Woman Walking," who explained at the microphone later she had become sick leading to kidney failure when she wasn't covered by health care.
One of the most vocal (and inspiring) groups is called Mad as Hell Doctors, a group started here in Oregon that will begin a cross country caravan in September to culminate in Washington, D.C. They are among the majority of health care professionals calling for single payer health care. Check out their website at www.madashelldoctors.com and see what they are all about.
Once the show got started, it didn't take long for "Big Eddie" to get the fire going. Ed Schultz has become a national champion for health care reform, and is emerging as a true hero to working Americans, families, and people who aren't afraid to confront the realities of America's health care decline. Ed Schultz is on the radio weekdays, and on MSNBC with "The Ed Show" after. The Bagdad town hall will be broadcast during the first two hours of the Ed Schultz Show on radio this coming Monday.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley joined Ed in what will be the second hour of the radio show and addressed issues surrounding health care. Senator Merkley is one of the Senators supporting universal, single payer health care in America. He asked the audience to go to his website and add to the litany of health care stories he is gathering to take back to Washington. Go to www.merkley.senate.gov to add yours.
Questions from the audience were many and vocal, and centered around health care. The conservatives would have you believe the public is going against reform, saying "too fast" or "too much." I didn't hear that once. I did hear "not fast enough." And "not enough." A gentleman from The United Kingdom called out the right on the vilification of the health care system there, calling those who rail about it "damn liars."
There were several doctors and nurses speaking, all demanding real reform. The Republicans and the "Blue Cross" Democrats might have you believe health care professionals don't want reform. They couldn't be more wrong.
I got a chance at the microphone too, and said to the crowd that during August the fight has come home to our neighborhoods and workplaces, to our friends and family, and we need to help them swim through the insurance company and conservative b.s.
The night ended with Ed Schultz making an emotional promise to an emotional appeal from a doctor to never give up the fight for health care reform, including universal single payer. If it has to start with just a "public option," so be it - but the goal is quality, affordable health care that meets the criteria of the chant - "everyone in, no one out!"
Big Eddie at the Bagdad
I left work and went down to the Bagdad around 5 pm (the show started at 7) and the site was already electric. A large group of marchers arrived demanding single payer health care with chants like "everyone in, no one left out!" Sounds like a good concept, too bad conservatives just don't get it.
Quite a few different groups and organizations were represented. Alot of nurses and doctors. People just getting off work like me, and people damaged by the current health care system. Kind of like a "tea party" but with people who understand the issues they are protesting. One brave lady wore a tee shirt that said "Dead Woman Walking," who explained at the microphone later she had become sick leading to kidney failure when she wasn't covered by health care.
One of the most vocal (and inspiring) groups is called Mad as Hell Doctors, a group started here in Oregon that will begin a cross country caravan in September to culminate in Washington, D.C. They are among the majority of health care professionals calling for single payer health care. Check out their website at www.madashelldoctors.com and see what they are all about.
Once the show got started, it didn't take long for "Big Eddie" to get the fire going. Ed Schultz has become a national champion for health care reform, and is emerging as a true hero to working Americans, families, and people who aren't afraid to confront the realities of America's health care decline. Ed Schultz is on the radio weekdays, and on MSNBC with "The Ed Show" after. The Bagdad town hall will be broadcast during the first two hours of the Ed Schultz Show on radio this coming Monday.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley joined Ed in what will be the second hour of the radio show and addressed issues surrounding health care. Senator Merkley is one of the Senators supporting universal, single payer health care in America. He asked the audience to go to his website and add to the litany of health care stories he is gathering to take back to Washington. Go to www.merkley.senate.gov to add yours.
Questions from the audience were many and vocal, and centered around health care. The conservatives would have you believe the public is going against reform, saying "too fast" or "too much." I didn't hear that once. I did hear "not fast enough." And "not enough." A gentleman from The United Kingdom called out the right on the vilification of the health care system there, calling those who rail about it "damn liars."
There were several doctors and nurses speaking, all demanding real reform. The Republicans and the "Blue Cross" Democrats might have you believe health care professionals don't want reform. They couldn't be more wrong.
I got a chance at the microphone too, and said to the crowd that during August the fight has come home to our neighborhoods and workplaces, to our friends and family, and we need to help them swim through the insurance company and conservative b.s.
The night ended with Ed Schultz making an emotional promise to an emotional appeal from a doctor to never give up the fight for health care reform, including universal single payer. If it has to start with just a "public option," so be it - but the goal is quality, affordable health care that meets the criteria of the chant - "everyone in, no one out!"
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Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
such a simple thought, yet somehow so hard to achieve
Comment by koyunbaba
The New Leftist
Invest!