This evening, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. eastern, I will be debating health care with Pat Toomey, my future opponent in the general election for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. The debate will take place at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. You can watch the debate streaming live on my website.
Before I do so, I wanted to let you know about what Pat Toomey said about this community two weeks ago:
"Joe Sestak is consistent in his views, and he should be commended for that. The problem is that his views are far outside the mainstream," said Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik. "Congressman Sestak is so beholden to the netroots radical left that he would rob Americans of any health reforms if he can't have a massive government takeover of all health care decisions."
In one sentence, my future opponent marginalizes many of the Americans who take part in the political process online, and repeats a falsehood about health reform that actually was first published on a blog. He doesn’t seem to have a problem being beholden to netroots activists--he just approves of different activists.
And that’s fine. There is nothing wrong with having strong principles. We live in a time when we have to put principle over politics. The problem comes in when you are repeating falsehoods about the most important public policy decision facing our country today, and when you try to cut an entire group of people out of the discussion just by throwing a nasty sounding adjective like "radical" at them. That is not the kind of debate we need in this country right now, and it is why I challenged Pat Toomey to this debate.
Tonight, I will be proud to bring our message on health care reform and the public option to Pat Toomey. I want to show him the light! Over the past seven days, I already held four town halls on health care, in Bryn Mawr, in Harrisburg, in Philadelphia, and in Lancaster. We need to bring our message of the public option everywhere, including the netroots.
So, before the debate tonight, I wanted to take some time to answer a few of the questions you have asked me about health care in the comments to my previous diaries on Daily Kos. Questions like this one from quantumspin:
But, regarding health care, you might address why it is that Congress and the military are able to get health care that actually performs, and is easy to afford, but the American citizen is viewed as somehow 'a less than American' and so has to buy expensive insurance, subject to all the denials and pre-condition checks I'm sure you know about.
Isn't being an American citizen an honorable thing? A man or woman who goes out to earn a living, subject to layoff, raising a family and taking care of his obligations, AND paying taxes that are used to provide health care for Congress and the military. Why is he/she not viewed as an important element of America too? I just don't understand. It seems we are disrespecting the American non-military citizen.
Aren't we all Americans in a health care sense?
I agree completely. This is actually why I got into politics--to provide all Americans with the same high quality health care that they provided me while I was in the military. That health care saved my daughter when she was sick, and everyone should have that same opportunity themselves.
GUGA asks:
How did the conversation deviate from the need to reform the system so it does not bankrupt the American people and the government?
We seem to follow the republicans, they throw out the bs out there in the media, and we play defense.
Why don't we seem to be able to attack as they do?
If Republicans and pro-Republican media outlets are distorting the debate, the first thing is to make sure not to repeat their falsehoods. For example, we should not repeat falsehoods about a "death book" that doesn’t exist--which Senator Specter has unfortunately done--just because we read an op-ed in Wall Street Journal. The second thing is to bring the truth to those same places where the falsehoods are appearing, as I intend to do tonight when I debate Pat Toomey and as I do from time to time when I appear on Fox News. If we repeat their distortions and don’t show up to rebut their arguments, we won’t be able to drive the conversation.
TomP asks
Thanks for coming here.
We are behind you.
I have a question. What you think of the Republican tactics of disrupting meetings?
I have held seven public townhalls on health care in August, including the first one held by any member of Congress at the start of the recess. Despite answering hundreds of questions, many of which have come from Republicans and conservatives, I have never experienced any of the raucous scenes we that have been reported in the national media. Perhaps the more disruptive protesters are targeting specific members of Congress who more easily play into a conflict themed storyline.
Positronicus (great names in this community, by the way) asks:
How did you spend my $100 smackers?
Go, Joe!
I'm enthusiastic about this campaign & hope to contribute more in the future!
Thank you for your help! Even though we are closing rapidly in the polls--from 45 to 15 in three months--we actually haven’t spent much of it yet. Senator Specter has more money than we do, so we need to make every dollar stretch as far as it can. Instead of spending money on advertising, our campaign office is open 18 hours a day, seven days a week. Instead of spending money on polling, we are traveling around the state talking directly to as many people as we can. People have often accused me of working too hard, but that is the only way we are going to win this campaign. Your support is crucial, and it deserves to be respected.
*****
Thanks for all your questions. As long as you keep asking them, I will be happy to keep coming back to answer them.
I would also like feedback from you on how I do in tonight’s debate. Head over to JoeSestak.com and check it out. We have a live feed running, and I think you will enjoy it.