This is Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s response to Republican state legislators who tried to trap him into a public embarrassment regarding Medicaid expansion.
…That is why I was disappointed to learn today that you had reneged on our agreement for a constructive dialogue on this matter. Given the assurances my office received in good faith from you on the form and content of the meeting, I can only conclude that this last-minute change of heart demonstrates that, as we saw last session, you and your leadership have chosen to give politics precedence over the substance of the discussion. And while I am always willing and eager to engage in a serious, thoughtful debate about Medicaid, in any setting, I am not interested in taking part in a political game at the expense of the Missourians we have sworn to serve…
Harry Reid couldn’t have said it better. He’s always “disappointed” too. And that expression “politics over substance” is so vague that even political junkies don’t know what it really means.
Nixon had the opportunity to call these guys out for robbing working class Missourians of the chance to get health insurance, maybe for the first time in their lives. He could have asked the simple question: What do you have against hard working Missouri families that you would make them suffer like this?
I guess it’s some kind of political strategy to play nicey nicey, but I don’t think it’s working. Free Market Extremists have our state government backed into a corner, and they are not about to have a serious conversation about anything other than privatizing all public programs. PERIOD.
The good news is that “economic populism” is in the ascendancy around the country. States are raising the minimum wage, even in NJ where the governor vetoed the bill. Middle class voters are finally figuring out they’ve been screwed by voting for tax cuts. And some firebrands in Congress are no longer willing to talk about cutting Social Security and Medicare. They even have the nerve to talk about expanding Social Security instead. How cool is that? My favorite new slogan is “SCRAP THE CAP.” I hope it catches on.
Meanwhile Harry Reid and Jay Nixon will blather on with no one paying attention to them.