Readers Write: Kathleen Rice’s fan dance

The Island Now

U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice is getting relentlessly pummeled and justifiably so, for taking a payoff from the Pharma lobby to block the ability of Medicare to negotiate for prescription prices.

Pretty bad trade-off for nearly half a trillion in savings to our public healthcare system for the elderly, but hey that’s how the sausage is made and who cares about principles when money is involved, right?

I mean, we’re a sophisticated bunch and we understand these things.

More pathetic than this putrid action is her response to it. Some Political Action Committee called Center Forward is paying for a massive radio ad blitz telling us we should thank, yes, thank, Kathleen Rice for supporting the infrastructure bill, especially since no one is sending her any money to oppose it.

The chipper voice on the ads says: “It will provide jobs! Good paying jobs!”

Who is Center Forward?

Well, they claim to be “centrists.” For example, if they were involved in curing cancer, and the choice would be letting the cancer metastasize or cure it entirely, their choice would be the “centrist” option, where the cancer is kept but controlled. This way the disease is never cured, but we can keep appropriating resources to maintain it.

Now I ask you, who wouldn’t agree to a “reasonable” policy outcome like that? I mean, if the cancer goes into complete remission, have we really accomplished anything?

The group is backed by so-called Blue Dog Democrats. They’re dogs, all right. The funding sources for the group are a bit murky.

More pathetic still is Ms. Rice’s social media feed. Out comes a parade of “support” for things like better child seats, suicide prevention, Overdose Awareness Day (try to be aware when you overdose, apparently), the 58th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream’ speech, and a host of other items of little importance or requiring no initiative or courage.

All of the self-congratulatory pronouncements from her media team are met with a barrage of outrage over her pharma vote from people all over the country. They are one angry group, but she is not explaining her actions.

And through it all, she’ll grin and bear it despite the near-unanimous opposition of her constituents, and quite possibly the rest of the sentient human beings who live in this country.

She’ll bet every last dollar of her swelling campaign chest that people will forget this despicable act, and she will be 100 percent right.

I never believed she was fit for office, especially after her stint as Nassau DA, but this is one of the Route 25 Democrats who should simply replace the Republican Party once it immolates itself over its fealty to Trump.

Like I’ve said, there really isn’t a Republican credo you can point to anymore, so it’s best to split the Democrats into two wings: one faithful to its principles and one that is not.

Donald Davret

Roslyn

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