Dr. Frist has completely neglected the health care needs of his home state
How ironic that Republicans are now running attack ads which accuse Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of "abandoning his small-town Nevada values in favor of D.C. -style Democratic politics."
Meanwhile the Senate Majority Leader, famous for his insistence that he is first and foremost a doctor, plays Senate War Games in Washington while his home state faces "by far the largest state cutback in public health coverage in the history of the country." According to Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, if the cuts to the state's healthcare plan proceed as planned: "Many people will die. They will die silently and quietly outside of public view, but they will die."
Here in Tennessee, there has been no sign whatsoever that Dr. Frist cares.
Instead, the Tennessee Senator leads Congress in the shameful failure to address the real problems of Americans. The Senate Majority Leader fiddles with senate procedural rules while his home state suffers an unprecedented health care crisis.
Yet, Senator Frist took time out from Senate War Games last Friday for a commencement address at the Medical University of South Carolina. With a straight face, Dr. Frist told the students:
"Just as we unleash the power of freedom around the world, so too must we unleash the power of medicine and the caring, compassion and healing that comes with it."
Perhaps Frist's Rovian words do not ring quite so hypocritical in South Carolina or around the world as they do here in Tennessee.
Tennessee is still waiting for the Senate Majority Leader to unleash a little of that care, compassion and "power of medicine" in his home state. Time is running out for the 323,000 elderly, sick, disabled and poor who are about to have their access to health care nuked.
In a recent press conference, State Senator Jim Kyle (D) pointed out that while Frist has come to the aid of other states experiencing far less severe health care problems than Tennessee, he has completely neglected the health care needs of his own state.
"Kyle said the state has one of the highest ranking members of Congress in Frist and should get the same bailout that states like Louisiana, Alabama and New York recently received in their Medicaid programs."
While Frist entertains the nation and the world with his Will He or Won't He Pull the Nuclear Trigger tease, there is an altogether different deadly countdown in the Senate Majority Leader's home state.
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What you can do to: Stop the Draconian TennCare Cuts
What you can do to: Stop Dr. Frist's Nuclear Explosion
