Kendrick Meek says Mike Stark is the talk of the Hill:  "Everybody wanted to know — who’s the guy with the recorder." 

Well, he sure wasn’t happy when Mike pressed him to commit to vote against a health care bill without a robust public plan.

So Mike asked him why people who opposed abortion funding were willing to draw a line in the sand over that issue.  Which becomes very interesting in light of the position Meek is taking today to make sure abortion funding is not covered in a health care bill:

MIKE STARK:  There are people on the Hill have said that if it comes through with any kind of women’s health care provision, meaning abortion — it’s code word for abortion — they are absolutely voting against it.

So they hold that principle very firmly.  So I’m asking you to do is hold…

MEEK:  The real issue is that the act that has been on the books since the 1980s as it relates to Medicaid is already illegal to mandate coverage, but we do have this advisory board that will make those decisions.  And I think that as we look at this issue, we want to make sure that women health care is not jeopardized, but at the same time, I want to make sure that we follow the letter of the federal law as it stands now. 

STARK:  The point I was making was that if they can say that this is a principle that I won’t compromise on…

MEEK:  Well, let me say…

STARK:  …how come we won’t say that a public option is a principle that we won’t compromise on?

MEEK:  …well, public option is where I am. I’m there 110%. I gotta run. 

The letter Meek signed is below.  I see no concern for "women’s health" in evidence — it’s a political document crafted for political gain that Meek has signed on to now that he’s running for state office in Florida.  Nor do I hear "110% commitment" to uphold a public plan — he’s definitely holding the door open for himself to vote for some crappy compromise.

Dana Goldstein:

The letter contains no mention of the public plan. But by opposing "federal subsidies" for abortion, these Democrats align themselves with Republican abortion opponents, whose goal is to prevent abortion coverage under any new public insurance options, just as the Hyde Amendment currently prevents Medicaid from funding abortion for poor women.

Meek is in a D+34 district.  This is bullshit.  If choice advocates can’t hold the line in a  district as safe as that, you can kiss it goodbye as a Democratic value.

Of the nearly 65 videos we’ve done so far, Kendrick Meek takes the crown:  King of the Weasel Words.

Use our LTE form to let Florida newspapers know how you feel.