Altmire marries the insurance industry

I am a little out of the swing of the news. I returned yesterday from Schenectady in upstate New York, from the weekend wedding of my cousin Reggie's daughter, Vanessa. The last time I was in Schenectady was four years ago when my son played his last lacrosse game against Union College. His team lost that day and it rained. This was a happier occasion.

It's beautiful country up there, even if the towns tend to be run down. Schenectady is among those that have seen better days but we stayed at a picturesque old inn, the Glen Sanders Mansion on the Mohawk River, which traces its history to 1658. This is where the reception was held,

The wedding was celebrated about a mile away in the First Presbyterian Church, which itself dates to 1760, older than the United States. The church is beautifully, breathtakingly simple. It was a great setting for a wedding.

My cousin Reggie, who lives in Atlanta, is my only American cousin. When friends and relatives called out, "Hey, Reg," we both turned around.

While I was turning around, Rep. Jason Altmire, said to be a Democrat, was taking the hand of the health insurance industry in unholy matrimony while other defenders of the dysfunctional status quo served as his attendants. Till electoral death do they part. That may come sooner than he thinks.

Silly man. He let the House health-care bill pass without his vote, which will be long remembered by those who sent him to Washington in the first place. And it will be quickly forgotten by the conservative constituents he sought to appease. Given any sort of conservative Republican choice, they will abandon him in a heartbeat.

 

 


Posted Nov 09 2009, 04:07 PM by Reg Henry
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Comments

myreply wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 5:05 PM

Another travelogue with a bit of bias thrown in.  Bravo!

Titan Lee wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 5:09 PM

Reg,

Certainly you’re familiar with the phrase “I’m a professional.  DO NOT try this at home”.

As a conservative, I have no choice but to tell you that your attempt to think what a conservative would do, much less say what a conservative thinks, is well above your pay grade.  Altmire’s voting record, Pre-Obama, was as middle of the road as you can get.  The fact that he decided to take his oath of office as an actual “oath” is, I will admit, unusual.  The fact that he decided, as a “representative”, to actually “represent” his constituents is also unusual.  As a Liberal, I realize these concepts are alien to you. What is not unusual is for conservatives to elect the candidate who is willing to do both.  I can assure you, no, I can guarantee you, that if Altmire continues to vote this way, especially if the Libs are stupid enough to actually force a vote on Cap & Trade, Altmire will end up with  a life time job.

The other benefit is that ACORN can stay out of Butler & Beaver County and continue to spread their wisdom in Allegheny (and hopefully in Sewickley in particular).

thescarletpumpernickel wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 5:24 PM

Titan Lee-

Some of us know how conservatives think.

Some of us used to be conservative - libertarian even.

(Didn't Hillary Clinton work for the Goldwater campaign? 'Course, I'm about as crazy about her as you are, T.L. One good thing about usformer "conservatives", we still recognize (or can smell) b*llsh*t.)

Welcume back., Reg.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 5:26 PM

Deep thoughts from Titan Lee.  I'll try to be as astute.

The only constituent that Mr. Altmire cares about is the one that writes the really big checks .... UPMC.  His vote ensured that those checks will keep coming for the foreseeable future.  If Mr. Lee is satisfied with the representation of Mr. Altmire on this matter, wait a minute and he'll be sure to disappoint you at UPMC's request.  You can look high and low and never find a more empty suit than Jason Altmire.

kevin morris wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 5:40 PM

Welcome back., Reg.

You are giving way too much respectability to the Altmire-Insurance Industry relationship when you liken it to marriage. He's just a rental.

myreply wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 7:14 PM

It's cute how all the "intellectuals" are so close to one another.  Welcome back, hope you had a nice weekend - it's down-right cute.

StClairFranki wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Mon, Nov 9 2009 7:52 PM

Is Jason Altmire taking payola (a.k.a. campaign contributions) from the health insurance industry and UPMC?  

regis wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Tue, Nov 10 2009 9:01 AM

Reg is right that Altmire has pretty much abandoned his hopes for another term.  People who favored health reform will be lost to him, and conservatives will jump on the GOP (Buchanan, probably) bandwagon anyway.

Fuzzy is correct as well.  Like many ex-congresspeople, you can pretty much see where Altmire will be employed in his political "afterlife".

Titan Lee wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Tue, Nov 10 2009 11:23 AM

So Altmire votes on a bill according to his constituents wishes and it's only because he's lining up a future job.

With that logic, I can then assume that all those who voted for the bill are a bunch of Communists who want to be part of the upcoming Politburo.  Interesting.  Thanks for the info.

myreply wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Tue, Nov 10 2009 3:01 PM

Altmire marries the insurance industry.

Was that a gay or straight marriage?

callsigntourist wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Tue, Nov 10 2009 5:05 PM

myreply:

Over in Letters (“Seeing the Marxism”):

- nice flip by thescarletpumpernickel (doing with less)

- surprising (i.e., nice) comeback by chilco99 (agreeing)

- nice sentiment from you (joy and good health)

- and my second to you was a cheap shot

Even Ladyburg, somewhere around here recently, appeared possibly to have a valid point (yet to be proved) in defense of Rush.  If she’d do it more like that, I’d listen.  Not sure I could ever be as patient as kevin morris; that bar’s too high.  

Still, it has provoked reflection.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Wed, Nov 11 2009 9:09 AM

Titan Lee,

As usual, you misunderstand.  My point was not that Mr. Altmire changed his opinion to suit a future employer, it's that he never left his last employer.  Instead of representing UPMC to Congress (as a lobbyist), he now represents UPMC IN Congress.  It's really much more effecient for the company.

Titan Lee wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Wed, Nov 11 2009 10:41 AM

Fuzzy,

Sorry I misunderstood.  Altmire votes "no" so he can set up a job with the insurance companies.  He should have voted "yes" so he can get keep his job in Congress.  NOW I understand how it works.  Thanks.

my opinion wrote re: Altmire marries the insurance industry
on Thu, Nov 12 2009 3:08 PM

Titan Your half right, vote no for insurance job, vote yes for all that is right and good.  No motivation to vote yes except for honor, duty, country.  You just don't get it, they are the good guys.