Despite Martin Q. Blank, Ye Ole Professor Crackpot Caractacus went home last week, to beautiful Stark County, Ohio. It's always funny-strange when I see my hometown in the NYT, or on MSNBC, or CNN, or ABC, or just about any news channel when there is a presidential election going on. It's a small-ish town that has voted with the winner of more than the last 10 presidential elections. Some media outlets pay attention to it for that reason. After all, how do they know?
I pay attention because I spent the first 22 years of my life there, and most of my extended family still live there.
The Congressional district is OH-16, represented by first-timer John Boccieri. The local rag is the Canton Repository.
Boccieri was targeted by rightwing groups in tv ads, newspaper ads, robocalls, and even airplane banners, encouraging him to vote no. He voted yes.
Here's a little story told in local newspaper headlines, letters to the editor, and a personal reflection or two...
OH-16, John Boccieri
Source: Canton Repository headlines
Saturday, March 13
Health Care Reform Is Just What Struggling Workers Need
LTE by District 1199 President of SEIU
"Health care reform will reduce costly, preventable hospital readmissions, saving patients lives and money."
Makes sense to me, but the comments online ran 3 to 1 against her position, with "SEIU, what did you expect?" among the most mature of the bunch. I thought I was reading Red State. Then I realized I probably was (same commenters, perhaps?)
Monday, March 15
Cartoon Should Show Obama Pushing Against Public Option
LTE by D. W. of Dalton, OH
"I was offended by your political cartoon of March 11, showing Obama trying to push a large elephant up a hill called "Health Care Summit." The implication was - as most of the so-called mainstream media have insinuated - that the Republicans in Congress are the biggest obstacle to getting health care reform...What the cartoon did not depict was the slippery slope such a summit has on its other side."
This letter drew 49 comments online, most of which were strongly supportive of its point of view.
Thursday, March 18
Demonstrators Drum Up Support For Health Care Bill
Notice that sign under the American flag!
Thursday, March 18
Rep. Boccieri, Vote No On Health Bill
Rep. editorial board urges a no vote because the law is too expensive, no one understands it, and it does not discourage doctors from ordering unnecessary (and expensive) tests.
Friday, March 19
Boccieri: Yes On Health Care Vote Is For Constituents
"If, in this job, I can save one life, one family, one person, one Natona [an ill constituent], this job is worth it...A lot of people are telling me that this decision could cost me my job. The leadership on both sides is worried about who's going to keep the House...Who's worried about Natoma keeping her house?"
Monday, March 22
Stark Residents Divided On Landmark Health Care Vote
"...Given Boccieri’s conservative electorate, Mount Union College political science professor William Cunion said, “I think Boccieri is extremely vulnerable this November. ... I think he decided that it would be better to vote his conscience. ... support his party’s measures and take the chances with the voters this November. He’ll make an effort to convince them. ... (but) I think his odds of doing so are not good.”
And, I think Professor Cunion's odds of predicting the next election winner in OH-16 are not so good.
From Boccieri's floor speech, quoted as the last line of this article:
"If it’s good enough for Iraqis, it’s good enough for Americans...Who are you going to stand with today?"
Other Big Stories From The Canton Repository This Week:
- Dog The Bounty Hunter visits Canton, changes venue from Sam's Club to Borders Books. (The turnout for this event was much larger than for the health care protests/rallies combined.)
- Local team in state basketball tournament final four!
- Government rebates for replacing home appliances (how-tos and general positive acceptance of the program)
Anecdotes and Reflections
While the locals have always been deeply skeptical of government, and federal government in particular, I have never seen my hometown so deeply divided before. The letters to the editor and comments on the Canton Rep. website were very easily divided into two groups. The group that cited data (CBO and sources like LI Mike's comments here over the past few days) and gave compelling personal stories of human need, and the group who raved about socialism, wasteful government, and trillions of dollars of tax increases. I wish I was exaggerating that, but I'm not. From what I saw and read this week, these differences are real and they are increasingly on the surface. Another picture, from the same street corner in front of Rep. Boccieri's office, but on a different day:
Representatives like John Boccieri deserve and need our support. The majority of online comments regarding health care on the Repository website included promises to unseat him in the fall. He may have taken a risk with this vote, as he openly stated his reasons included empathy for less fortunate and his belief that it made better economic sense than did the earlier bill. There will be some people very motivated by that to work against him in the months ahead.
We need to be motivated to work for those who made the best decision in this case.
Boccieri's office numbers are:
Canton local: 330-489-4414
Toll Free: 800-826-9015
Please give him a call and let him know we support his decision and are glad he cast an "aye" vote.
If you know of any other representatives who should hear from us this week, please mention them and give contact info in your comment. As the phone lines get quieter this week, I know I would appreciate hearing from those who think I did the right thing. Let's not be silent between now and at least the 2nd week of November. Not this year.
I don't know if they'll print it or not, but I've decided to write my own LTE to the Canton Repository, based on my experience visiting home this past week.
Other Local and International Front Page Headlines
I was interested in including a broader spectrum of responses, ala Morning Reactions of old. But, I chose to limit myself to Canton because of my own familiarity, and to limit the length of the diary. If you have any local paper headlines or LTEs to share, please do so in the comments.
Also, this diary yesterday did far more with the international angle than I could have done, honestly. It is really worth a look if you haven't already seen it.
TWLTW
- Phillips-head screwdrivers were invented because traditional single-slot screwdrivers couldn't be used by early factory machinery. A person has to watch the screwdriver-screw connection with a slot screwdriver, something machines could not do then, the screwdrivers slipped out of the slot. Canadians will laugh though, since they know the Robertson system is far superior to either.
- You have to keep loving your relatives even when they fit the description Paul Krugman gave in yesterday's NYT op-ed: "The emotional core of opposition to reform was blatant fear-mongering, unconstrained either by the facts or by any sense of decency." Knowing we won made that a little bit easier, though, I have to admit.
- I spent some time with Disney princesses this past week after spending 3 years protecting Lil. C' from them. I've decided Sleeping Beauty is my favorite of the classic era. The animation just looks more interesting to me.
- My dad, lifelong Democrat, is all for a military trial for Khaleid Sheikh Muhammad. "We've already spent too much money dealing with this guy. Why spend hundreds of millions more insuring his safety while on trial in Manhattan?" He then followed this statement five minutes later with, "But, it is hard to perpetuate a free and open society when the temptation to keep secrets is so great." We agreed there was no perfect solution, just different solutions with different degrees of complexity and opportunity costs.
- I listen to a lot of podcasts, but discovered one this week that instantly shot to the top of my "must-listen" to list: Best of the Left takes the best clips from a wide variety of liberal and progressive radio and television programs and edits them together into one happy joyride of political correct-ness. If you like TRMS, Daily Show, Mother Jones, Media Matters, Keith O., etc...this is like the highlights of all those shows mashed together into one show. And, they had this very subtle, yet devastating cartoon on their homepage yesterday:
- A little music for your commenting pleasure:
What Did You Learn This Week?