Oh, ha, ha, ha.
Michigan opponents of the federal health care overhaul said Tuesday they will keep fighting the plan, even though their grass-roots bid to allow voters to weigh in on the issue has failed.The campaign to ask Michigan voters if they wanted the option to not participate in the health care reform passed by Congress in March was one of several that failed to turn in enough signatures to make the statewide November ballot. The group sponsoring the effort collected roughly 150,000 signatures, well short of the more than 380,000 needed by a late Monday deadline to make the ballot.
As Maxwell Smart would say: Missed it by THAT much! Over 60% that much in fact.
Petition organizer Wendy Day had this to say:
“We didn’t fail. We just didn’t succeed enough.”
More comical quotes after the jump.
The goal of the petition drive, organized by Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom, was to “put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2010 that would allow citizens the opportunity to vote on an amendment that says you cannot be forced to join a government-run healthcare system”, according to Day. She also said:
“It’s not the battles you can win, but it’s those you can’t afford to lose.”
I guess she’s hoping this is one of those they CAN afford to lose.
More awesome quotage:
From Jack McHugh, the Mackinac Center For Public Policy’s senior legislative analyst:
“The initiative was a scream of pain from a general public that had just witnessed the political class trample 200 years of limited government principles, using a “whatever it takes” process that violated all our democratic traditions of deliberative policy making,” McHugh wrote in an e-mail. “The people sought redress to a national outrage by explicitly placing one of the violated principles into our state constitution. However, the potential effectiveness of that approach is speculative and abstract, which turned out to be an insuperable obstacle to raising even enough money to sustain even a purely volunteer petitioning process. Politicians who read this as public acceptance of the new law do so at their peril.”
Screams of PAIN, I tellzya!!!
Here’s more from Day from the MCHCR website:
So while we did not succeed in this battle, the war is not over. The next battle is just beginning and we are in it for the long haul. There are no guarantees, but the alternative is to sit back and accept the healthcare takeover. We know that isn’t an option for any of us.For all you have done these past 11 weeks- thank you. Not to be too corny, but you are the wind beneath our wings.
Okay, yeah. That’s corny. Also, too: too corny.
Here’s one from one of Day’s volunteers. Kenneth David, 63, of Grand Haven:
“After March 21 (when Congress passed the healthcare legislation), I felt as though the hammer came down on us because the president and the Congress did not listen to the people,” David said. “It was like a hammer coming down and squashing a bug.”
Hey, we didn’t call you bugs. That’s on you, Kenneth.
But they’re not done yet, nosireeBob.
Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, and Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, said they haven’t given up on proposals that would allow Michigan residents to opt out of the federal health care plan. They said they will introduce legislation that mirrors the language of the failed petition drive.Those bills might be able to pass the Republican-led Senate, but they’d face long odds of passing the Democratic-run House or getting the approval of Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
But David Holtz, director of Progress Michigan, explains this drive more succinctly than anyone:
“The real goal of this exercise is to defeat Democrats.”
Ya think??? Yeah, I think. Make sure government fails so you can blame it on the Dems. It’s what’s for (GOPosaur) dinner.
By the way, Day says you can “stay in touch by going to www.makelansinglisten.com.”
I went there. The page says “Site Temporarily Unavailable”. Whoops.
But, man, I just have to put this quote up again because it’s the icing on an otherwise delicious cake:
“We didn’t fail. We just didn’t succeed enough.”
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!
UPDATE: As I mentioned in the comments, last week it was reported that the petition drive was short of signatures but that they were hoping for a big push over the Independence Day holiday:
Day wouldn’t say how many of the required 380,126 valid signatures have been obtained. Regardless, petitions must be submitted early next week to get the issue on the November ballot.“We’re not sure if we’re going to make it yet or not. We’re kind of waiting to see what happens this weekend,” Day said Thursday.
“We feel comfortable going forward no matter what happens,” she added.
Day said the July 4 holiday weekend will provide the perfect backdrop for rounding out needed signatures because Michiganders will be celebrating their freedoms.“There’s a lot going on, and they have their minds on our freedom and our liberty. It’s a prefect time really to go out and talk to people about maintaining their health-care freedom,” Day said.
Now I know why she “wouldn’t say”. She didn’t even have HALF of the signatures she needed. Too funny.
I’m just sayin’…
