What The Polls Say & Health Care Reform

The fact is as Americans we are always going to have differences. We will always have some people thinking things should be one way and others thinking it should be another. That is what makes the political system go around. It causes the debates, the discussions, the compromises, the deals, and ultimately it causes us to come to an agreement on something. If we cannot come to an agreement, then the side having the most support wins. Those areas where we cannot agree have usually been decided by polls, if not votes. We are not talking about random polls where you ask only Democrats or only Republicans what they want. We are talking about real polls that go out and get the general population to participate and make a decision.

There is a variety of these polls completed everyday. In my review of the recent Health Care Reform, I studied many of those polls. Fortunately I found a great site, Pollster.com that helps compile what all the poles are saying, show each one individually and then pull all the information together into one nice big poll that shows what’s going on. Pollster also shows you the changes in the polls as the months progress.

So, the big question is simple. What does Pollster.com say about the Health Care Reform? It is a simple question that does not have a simple answer, but basically, people thought it was a pretty good idea in the beginning. After all, most everyone thinks something needs to be done, but then the Democrats started modifying, tweaking and fixing their bill. The months went by and that poll took a swing in the opposite direction. In fact, according to Pollster 51.3 % oppose the current health Care Reform. Only 42.3% support it. Folks, if those were election results, guess who would have won? The ones who oppose would have won.

Well, since we are Americans and our government listens to us, then we all know what the results of Health Care Reform in it’s current state will be, right? You are absolutely right, Health Care Reform, based on Pollster.com will fail because the majority of the Americans do not want it. Problem solved and we go back to the drawing board and try to come up with something everyone likes or at least the majority likes. But wait! Something went monumentally wrong with the vote. Despite the majority of American’s not wanting the current Health Care Reform, the majority of the government “for the people and by the people” did not listen to Americans.

Simply put, the Democrats refused to listen to the people they were elected to represent. Republicans on the other hand listened. Although there are a few differences on the websites, The Los Angeles Times link reported that no Republicans voted for the Heath Care Bill. It further noted that thirty-three Democrats crossed Obama’s lines to join with their Republican counterparts and voted “no”.

America has 178 Republican and 33 Democrat heroes who stood up, listened to the American people who elected them and did the right thing. 220 Democrats decided to ignore the American public and vote how Obama told them to vote. I expect Republicans to defend American viewpoints because it goes back to the early days of the party for the people. I appreciate those Republicans. To those Democrats joining the fight to save our nation, I thank you on behalf of the American public. We should note, since this is the TexarkanaGOP that Arkansas Representatives Mike Ross and Marion Berry voted against the bill. Texas Representative Chet Edwards also stood with his Republican counterparts against the bill.Link to List

I would like to add just a final little reminder. I work in the real world. I work a job where my boss assigns me a task and often tells me how it is to be done. I listen to that boss and perform my assigned task to the best of my ability. It’s called a job and that is the structure I work in daily. Representatives are elected and we, the American people, are their bosses. If we tell them to do something, they should do it. If I failed to follow my directives from my boss, what do you think would happen? I would likely be fired. During the 2010 and 2012 elections, America needs to think about firing some employees and it sounds like there are right at 221 (counting Obama) people that need to be fired for not listening to their bosses.

Beth Anne Rankin: Candidate 4th Congressional District

Jim Harris of Bryant is president and CEO of Harris Oil & Timber Company. He covered Arkansas politics for almost 20 years for newspapers including the Texarkana Gazette. He has been the press secretary of former U.S. Rep. Ray Thornton, U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey and Gov. Mike Huckabee. He was the Director of External Communications for the Huckabee for President Campaign and a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2008. His column appears on Tuesdays in the Benton Courier. Jim was kind enough to contact me and share his article and the picture of Beth Anne filing in Little Rock with TexarkanaGOP. The article below comes to you from Jim and was previously published in the Benton Courier. Thanks Jim for your input!

- July 15, 1996 was a day or great turmoil in Arkansas. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker had been convicted of federal felony charges in connection with the Whitewater investigation.

Tucker resigned and Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee became the third Republican governor since Reconstruction. Tucker, understandably a little bitter about having to leave office, had his staff take away or destroy everything. The computers were wiped clean so not even a word program was left on hard drives.

As the director of press operations for the new governor I found myself working with others on staff to get the governor’s office up and running with many staff people I had never met.

One of those I was introduced to was Beth Anne Rankin of Magnolia. The first thing I learned about her was that she was Miss Arkansas 1994 and after her reign ended, she was part of Dino Kartsonakis' Christmas Extravaganza in Branson, Missouri.

Stereotyping people rarely works, but I remember thinking, “Why did the governor need this empty-headed beauty queen on his staff? Don’t all beauty queens have big egos?” As it turned out, Beth Anne was far from empty headed. She graduated from Ouachita Baptist University magna cum laude.

She became the governor’s liaison and policy advisor to the National Governors’ Association, the Southern Governors’ Association, the Council of State Governments, Southern Regional Education Board, Congress and the White House.

The Capitol offices are small. Our offices were near each other and sound travels within those marble walls. Often times Beth Anne would be on conference calls with others who worked for those organizations or for other governors. I heard her dealing the people I knew who had MBAs from Harvard or Yale. She never had trouble keeping up with them. Occasionally, I would think they were having trouble keeping up with her.

I also learned she did not have the big ego I expected from a beauty queen.

As a 1989 honor graduate of Magnolia High School, Beth Anne was making motivational speeches to youth groups when she wasn’t putting in long hours in the governor’s office.

Somehow, she managed to find the time to serve on the governing boards of the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, Arkansas Teen Challenge and the Daisy Gatson Bates Holiday Planning Committee.

Youth mentoring was her platform in the Miss Arkansas contest. It was soon apparent that she not only talked the talk, she also walked the walk.

Beth Anne joined the Arkansas Big Brothers Big Sisters program. At age 13, Keshia Tillmon of Little Rock became Beth Anne’s Little Sister. On many occasions, Beth Anne and Keshia would be in our offices.

Together they set two goals of Keshia. The first was that she would graduate from high school with honors and the other was that she would break the pattern of early pregnancy that was part of her family history.

To accomplish that first part, Beth Anne would pay her Little Sister a small amount of money for every A she earned on her report card. She would spend half of that money then and the other half went into a fund to help Keshia pay for college.

The values Beth Anne instilled in Keshia worked. Keshia graduated with honors and moved to Dallas where she went to college. She later got married.

Beth Anne’s trade mark is her flaming-red long hair. One day she walked into the office with it cut short. She is a member of Locks of Love. She had had her hair cut and given to that organization to make a wig for some girl with cancer or alopecia.

She said somewhere there was a girl that lost her red hair who needed a wig made of real hair that color. Beth Anne made the sacrifice because she didn’t want that girl to have to wear a brown or blonde wig.

After leaving the governor’s office, Beth Anne self produced several CDs of music that she wrote and performed. She went on to start Beth Anne Productions in Magnolia. This business woman found time to serve on the Magnolia Arts Council and the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce.

Beth Anne recently filed as a candidate for Congress in the Fourth District of Arkansas. She has a Republican opponent in the primary. Glenn Gallas of Hot Springs is a leader of the Garland County Tea Party. He is a nice enough guy, but would have been token opposition to the incumbent.

The winner of that primary will go on to face Congressman Mike Ross in the November General Election. Ross was elected to Congress in 2000 when he defeated Congressman Jay Dickey.

Dickey had voted for the impeachment of Bill Clinton and Clinton wanted revenge. When Ross filed to run, Clinton sent James Lee Witt and Rodney Slater to campaign for Ross. It was as if Dickey was running against three opponents instead of one.

Then President Clinton made a last-minute campaign stop for Ross two days before the election and Ross won by a handful of votes. Since then, Ross has had only token opposition.

Ross’s campaign style in 2000 was attack, attack, attack. That won’t work against Beth Anne. Voters would take a dim view of him verbally beating up a Miss Arkansas. Beth Anne has said publicly she won’t be running a negative campaign, but will talk about the positive alternative of sending her to Washington.

Running on his lackluster voting record in Congress isn’t a good option either in this year when voters are in the mood to clean house.

Beth Anne is a much better public speaker than Ross. If she challenges him to a debate, Ross should avoid it at all costs.

Like Ross, Beth Anne is a member of the National Rifle Association. She learned to shoot growing up on the family farm with her brothers. If she challenges Ross to a shooting contest, he should avoid that too. She would likely out gun him.

Ross will likely try to stereotype Beth Anne as an empty-headed beauty queen. That sounds like an exit strategy from Congress for him.