Find Yourself Another Candidate

Kevin Drum reports:

The nation's poverty rate declined for the first time this decade, but the number of Americans without health insurance rose to a record high of 47 million in 2006, according to Census figures released today.

....The addition of 2.2 million people to the roster of the uninsured was attributed largely to continuing declines in employer-sponsored insurance coverage.

Now take 4 minutes of your time to watch the single most important piece of video yet to emerge from the 2008 Presidential race

Watch it until the end.

As Elizabeth Edwards says:

Ask everyone of them, is your number zero?  If it's not zero, find yourself another candidate.

There are two candidates in this race whose number is zero: John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich.  If you're not currently supporting Edwards or Kucinich, find yourself another candidate.

Our nation is littered with utterly unnecessary deaths, disabilities, and family bankruptcies that could be avoided while gaining significant economic efficiencies at the same time.

The only reason we don't already have universal healthcare is the opposition of entrenched interests who benefit by the current nonsensical system.  We need someone who will take on those interests and beat them.

•  Tip Jar

  Tips for universal healthcare.

  by flubber on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 11:45:39 AM PDT

  •  Many of us are self centered

    to one degree or another, but if we as Americans can

    1. either search our hearts or  

    2. think of it in terms of basic rights and human equity,

    why should I have health insurance, even though I work and pay for my own, and a mother of three who also works struggles to maintain living necessities and has no coverage. It's really beyond the time for the issue to be decided in favor of every American.  

    by OrdinaryGal on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 11:54:22 AM PDT

•  I thought you were quoting a great oldie song

  with your title. Find Yourself Another Girl. The Iceman backed up by Curtis Mayfield. I haven't heard that song in 35 years or so. Great guitar lick. Thanks for the quick reminisce even if you didn't mean it.

  by tazz on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 11:51:09 AM PDT

  •  Glad To Help Out...

    Thanks for the quick reminisce even if you didn't mean it.

    Glad to help out.

    Great guitar licks on one hand.  Widespread unnecessary death, disability, and family bankruptcy on the other.  No big difference.

    by flubber on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 11:54:18 AM PDT

•  This issue is so very important

  I'm anxious to see hillary's plan, it is supposedly coming out sometime in September.  Obama's apparently isn't zero, he goes on the presumption that eveyone will buy it if they can afford, I don't think that's true.  Hope Hillary has a good one.

  by rigso on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 11:53:39 AM PDT

  •  Hope Is Not a Plan...

    "Hope Hillary has a good one."

    I hope so too.  Senator Clinton was the #1 recipient of donations from pharmaceutical and insurance industry lobbyists in 2006 from either party.

    It'll be interesting to see whether or not Hillary's number is zero, assuming she actually puts forward a full healthcare plan prior to expecting our votes.

    by flubber on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:03:04 PM PDT

    •  she is suppost to

      do it in September, that's the word.  We shall see.  It  trust her record, regardless of being a big recipient.  That's what i go on, is record, and she has fought for these issues.

      by rigso on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:51:41 PM PDT

    •  Youtube video

      Hey flubber, can you put up that Youtube video you did a few weeks back that showed Hillary telling a news reporter right before the Iraq War started how she was all for the war? I've been looking for that one again.

      by William Domingo on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 01:44:08 PM PDT

•  Edwards is the only candidate out there

  (except Kucinich) who is calling out the core problem in our country today: the unbridled growth of corporate power and its' human cost.  That is why I support him.

  by jct on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 11:55:32 AM PDT

•  John Edwards has my vote!

  John Edwards is the only real alternative to Hillary Clinton.  Come on Obama supporters, get on board.

  by mdgarcia on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:06:15 PM PDT

•  it's obvious that the corporate media

  want hillary to get the nomination. if you're an edwards supporter, fight harder.

  by titotitotito on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:17:47 PM PDT

  •  One Person At a Time...

    if you're an edwards supporter, fight harder.

    It's a fight worth fighting, and a fight worth winning.

    All the corporate media in the world doesn't match up to a mobilized movement of Americans who want to take back their government.

    by flubber on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:23:48 PM PDT

  •  Tucker Carlson

    insults him in such a blatant, despicable way every day I'm absolutely amazed that MSNBC tolerates it.

    by MrMichaelMT on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 01:20:30 PM PDT

•  That 30 - 50% number is astounding

  But not surprising.  911 and emergency rooms have become primary care physicians - children and adults are not getting the ongoing medical care they so often need (not to mention shots, medications, etc.).  The system is broken.  Even something that seems so obvious as CHIPS is facing trouble with the executive branch.  We need a candidate that can stand up to the insurance companies and health care providers, so that mothers never have to be faced with the dilemma like this one from the New York Times last week:

  Many Eligible for Child Health Plan Have No Idea
  During the four years that her children were uninsured, Cassie O. Hall used the emergency room as their pediatrician. When Tayana had an asthma attack or Darren developed a stubborn rash, they would head to the hospital and settle in for a long wait.

  The children never got physical exams or booster shots. And as the unpaid hospital bills stacked up, the threshold for a visit grew higher. "They would have to be half-dead before I would take them," said Ms. Hall, a day care operator who could not afford private insurance.

  by kicks82 on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 01:07:56 PM PDT

•  I have a candidate: Big Al Gore

  You are right, we need a better candidate. His name is Al Gore and all progressives should work to bring him into the race.

  by MakeChessNotWar on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 01:32:17 PM PDT