“Those are some really bad poll numbers.”
“I was against the public option before I was for the public option before I was against the public option.” Or, so Sen. Mark Udall could say, that is, if we can even be quite sure he is against the public option now. The trouble for Udall is he’s been in office so damn long he has votes and quotes that will haunt him forever. Back in 2008, doing a debate Udall said he was against a government-sponsored solution for health care. As Lynn Bartels at The Denver Post writes:
…Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall… said during a 2008 debate he was against a “government-sponsored” solution for health care.
The then-congressman, who was running for an open seat in the U.S. Senate, echoed arguments made by conservatives.
“I’m not for a government-sponsored solution,” Udall said. [the Peak’s emphasis]
Yet, not only was he for the government-sponsored solution that became Obamacare, he also wrote a letter with his fellow Democrats, Sen. Michael Bennet and former Gov. Bill Ritter, that Obamacare didn’t go far enough, that a robust public option was needed. As the Huffington Post reported at the time:
The public option will provide much-needed competition and choice for health care. And with the majority of Senators, Representatives, and the American people supporting a public option, its passage would seem inevitable…
Sincerely,
Sen. Michael Bennet, Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Mark Udall
A public option is not only a “government-sponsored solution” but is in fact the definition of government-ran healthcare. This is like Udall saying he’s not in favor of the Seattle Seahawks, and then turning around and buying season tickets with them (then again, knowing how Udall tries to bandwagon himself onto other people’s accomplishments, this wouldn’t be that surprising).
Not surprisingly, when the Udall campaign was asked about whether Udall supported or didn’t support a government-sponsored solution to healthcare, they gave a non-answer answer:
“They are grasping at straws,” Udall spokeswoman Kristin Lynch said.
Of course, it’s, like, totally Gardner’s campaign that is grasping at straws. Weren’t they the ones yesterday running around like the house was on fire, throwing every sleazy attack out there? Oh, wait that was Miss Lynch and the rest of Udall’s campaign? Udall and his campaign were so unnerved by his health care revelation they even resorted to what they think is their trump card: talking about the NSA. We expect Udall’s campaign to get more and more vicious the closer and closer they are to losing. Because it’s not enough for Udall to lose, he seems determined to do it in the most classless way possible.