SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Lane3 who wrote (89604)12/7/2004 5:47:14 PM
From: Lane3  Respond to of 793899
 
Howard Kurtz on Tommy Thompson

Belated Candor
Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004; 9:29 AM

Tommy Thompson finally told the truth.

I'm not saying the Health and Human Services secretary has been untruthful in the past, but let's just say he never got around to telling us what was really on his mind.

Now that Thompson has resigned, he suddenly feels free to announce what he really thinks about administration policies.

This sort of thing drives me crazy. When he could have made a difference--and Thompson had a certain stature as a successful former governor of Wisconsin--he held his tongue. And this is considered such routine Washington behavior that the news accounts made no issue of Thompson's previous silence on the subjects on which he has now unburdened himself.

What did he say last Friday? One, that he's worried about a terrorist attack on the nation's food supply. "Because it is so easy to do," Thompson announced, especially with imports from such places as, say, the Middle East. Yes, the government has increased food inspections, but if the effort is woefully inadequate, why didn't Thompson warn us before now? Because he presumed that he would have lost his job by not following the Bush line that the country is safer under the president's watch?

Wait, there's more. Thompson now says he wished Congress had given him the authority to negotiate with drug makers for lower prices under the new Medicare prescription bill. This was only a central question in the debate over the far-reaching legislation. Billions of dollars in potential savings were at stake. But the White House line was that this would lead to price controls, so Thompson waited until the bill was law and he was halfway out the door before sharing.

Oh, and he supports a fundamental change in the way the Food and Drug Administration does business. There should be a separate, independent office on drug safety within the FDA, which is in the business of approving drugs--a problem underscored by its botching of the Vioxx problem.

The New York Times smartly put Thompson's parting blasts on the front page. The Washington Post bobbled the ball by combining it with a story whose headline began "Rumsfeld to Remain at Pentagon," a total non-surprise. And no one seems particularly exercised that Tommy Thompson kept his views to himself until he was no longer in a position to do anything about them.



To: Lane3 who wrote (89604)12/7/2004 5:47:42 PM
From: DMaA  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 793899
 
There will always be Christians who refuse to be shamed into shutting up. Live with it.

Only trying to raise consciousness hoping people's better natures will prevail.



To: Lane3 who wrote (89604)12/7/2004 5:54:02 PM
From: Sully-  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 793899
 
What a crock! The problem is that the liberal left demands
that christians must shut up with their slick PC code words,
"utilizing voluntary self-restraint based on courtesy".
And in the same breath they demand that christians utilize,
"voluntary self-restraint" to allow everyone else to
say what ever they want, when ever they want.

I'll buy into the BS when I see the ACLU, activist judges &
the liberal left stand up & demand EVERYBODY be treated
EQUALLY no matter what.

No excuses.

No exceptions.

And no slick PC code words that openly discriminate.

Ö¿Ö