I always save the Week In Review section of the New York Times for last on Sundays. By then I’ve had at least 40oz. of coffee, making me fully buzzed for a bit of opinion. And seeing Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s name on an op-ed piece that filled almost the entire back page offered an extra jolt.
It started out cute: “I didn’t mean to kill Grandma. I didn’t even mean to create death panels.” The congressman’s contribution went on to describe and debunk the proliferation of the “death panels” through our jacked up news cycle. There’s an especially sharp comment on Newt Gingrich’s outright lying:
The Speaker Gingrich I served with a decade ago would have been appalled at the blatant and repeated falsehoods of the Newt Gingrich of 2009.
But I got to thinking: Why now?
Blumenauer explains: “now that I and my fellow lawmakers in the House have passed a health care bill, I’m finally free to explain what I learned as the author of the now-famous end-of-life provisions.”
That logic doesn’t add up. If media manipulation is what this whole thing is about, Blumenauer should’ve been in the game from the start. He should’ve written this piece at the height of the controversy—not after it fell from the front page. As they said over and over again in the great documentary on political spin, War Room, “Speed Kills.” It’s true now more than ever.
Agreed. It doesn’t seem to be Blumenauer’s style to speak up when it might be seen as controversial. Got his eyes on a senate seat, after all!
It reminds me of Jon Stewart asking what’s the point of a Democratic Super Majority if we can’t use it.
But I enjoyed the piece. Always nice to see the bow tie in the old grey lady.
I would argue that there is strategy going on!
I work for Earl and allow me to let you in on our rational.
Our goal is to pass the legislation, not just “get in the papers saying something” or pushing back on right wing crazies.
While we pushed back a little, we made a strategic decision to keep our head low, ride out the August/September media/Palin firestorm and work behind the scenes to make sure that the provision was kept in the House bill. Our strategy (whether you agree with it or not) worked!
Now that the Senate is poised to take up the bill, it seemed like the right time to put out a review of what happened, again, with the goal being to pass this provision into law.
Getting attention and pushing back is a tactic, but actually passing legislation is the goal!
P.S. Matt- Earl had the opportunity to run for the Senate last year and chose to stay in the House. He does not have his “eyes on a senate seat”.