Why Eric Massa Supports Healthcare Reform Enough To Oppose Crappy Legislation

The first time I ever spoke with Eric Massa, just around five years ago, he impressed me for a number of reasons, his sterling, "non-politician" character being first and foremost. Once we got into discussing the most important issues of the day, I realized that this guy running for a congressional seat in upstate New York's most overwhelmingly Republican district, had more progressive, more forward-looking perspectives than candidates in far "bluer" districts. He told me there were three policy goals he had in running for office: fair trade policies that would help create jobs in America rather than ship them overseas, ending unwinnable wars of aggression in distant parts of the globe (like Iraq and Afghanistan) and reforming the way healthcare is delivered to the American people so that it is accessible to everyone in need.

So yesterday we had anti-Choice cultist Bart Stupak whining that Obama's bill wasn't anti-choice enough for his tastes, John Boehner changing tack and weeping that the bill isn't too long anymore but that it's now too short (Harry Reid told him to stop his sobbing), while the neo-fascist editorial page of the Wall Street Journal croaks that the process, which was begun in the 1940s and has been obstructed by the far right ever since, is moving too fast, and the Republicans plot to deluge the bill with hundreds of superfluous, obstructionist amendments unrelated to health or care or reform.

Meanwhile, Eric Massa has been true to the goals he espoused since being elected in NY-29 with a 5,000 vote margin over an entrenched incumbent on the same day McCain won the district 51-48% over Barack Obama. Last week Eric was filmed as part of Robert Greenwald's series, Brave New Conversations a survey of how leaders in various fields are working to make society and our world a better place for mankind. As part of the interview, Robert asked Eric about his views on single-payer healthcare, aware that, along with Dennis Kucinich, he was one of only two progressives to vote against the House healthcare reform bill. Please take a look and see how Eric came to his strong feelings about how to reform healthcare: