As I went about my normal activities on a typical Sunday morning, it seemed that everywhere I went, I was confronted by anxious and angry people who understood that a monumental event was about to take place that would change the course of the nation forever. Many people between church and Sunday school at the Grace Chapel Presbyterian Church were deeply offended because the vote in the Congress on nationalized health care was to take place on a Sunday. Others were concerned about the tremendous debt and tax burden that was about to be placed on their children and grandchildren. Still others were outraged by the procedural maneuvers that were taking place to make it appear that Democratic congressmen were voting against Obamacare when in fact they would vote for it. But to a man and woman they were uniformly worried about the socialistic direction that the country was taking and were outraged at Mississippi’s two supposedly conservative “Blue
Dog” Democratic congressmen, Travis Childers and Gene Taylor
On March 19, 2010, when it became apparent that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had in hand, through various back-room deals, the sufficient 216 votes to adopt the Senate approved version of nationalized health care, Childers and Taylor finally issued weak and tepid statements saying that they would oppose the national health care legislation pushed by the Democrats, thus attempting to appear to their constituents that they were trying to uphold conservative principals and support the views of the voters of their congressional districts. Childers, who is facing a tough re-election challenge from Republicans, issued a carefully worded statement saying that he is “deeply concerned about the legislation’s large price tag and the absence of sufficiently strong language to prohibit funding of abortion.” Taylor said the country can’t afford a new federal health insurance program . . . “[w]ith the national debt nearing $12 trillion and projected to grow far into the future . . . .” Incredibly, according to Mississippi’s CLARION LEDGER, both stated that “neither Democratic leaders nor administrative officials” had tried to sway them to vote for the landmark health care overhaul.
