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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy heart broke just now listening to Tom Harkin on the Ed Show
Catch a repeat if there is one. I'm on the west coast and it's still early here. I heard his voice and his wonderful message, but I wasn't in the room and didn't know who it was. I should have known! He hasn't lost any of his passion. He spoke with eloquence and feeling about economic justice.
Ed let him talk uninterrupted, to his credit, and the emotion in his voice brougt tears to my eyes. What will we do without him? Who will replace him?
Ed asked him about no raise in the medicare age, and he seemed soberly optimistic about that.
We'll miss you, Tom!
xxqqqzme
(14,887 posts)w/o his voice. I was glad Ed let him speak uninterrupted. Very poignant.
Cha
(297,123 posts)replace Sen Harkin and that he's actually been grooming him.
Braley had long been close with Harkin, and both local and national Democrats have viewed him as the strongest and most likely candidate to replace Harkin, in the event of a retirement. Braley first won an open seat in 2006, when GOP Rep. Jim Nussle made an unsuccessful bid for governor. Braley survived a serious scare in 2010, escaping with a two-point victory in the Republican tidal wave that year, but all the while he continued to move up the leadership ranks among House Democrats, eventually becoming a vice-chair of the DCCC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/07/1185355/-Democratic-Rep-Bruce-Braley-will-run-to-succeed-Tom-Harkin-in-Iowa-Senate-nbsp-race#
exboyfil
(17,862 posts)He is my congressman, and I look forward to supporting him. I am going to try to get my teenage daughters involved in his campaign (the oldest can vote in 2014). Maybe my oldest can put her video editing skills to work as well.
daughter and her mad skills, exboyfil! That would be invaluble work!
thucythucy
(8,043 posts)for his work leading the effort to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A generous man with a compassionate heart--we don't see that depth of character, compassion, knowledge and political know-how more than two or three times in every generation of senators.
I just hope he knows how much he will be missed, and how much he is appreciated for all that he's done for people with disabilities.
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)He was one of the better ones. Enjoyed seeing him on Ed show.
amandabeech
(9,893 posts)Had he become President, there would have been no repeal of Glass-Steagall, no Commodity Futures Modernization Act, and no Wall Street types controlling the economic posts.
He did as much good as he possibly could given that he did not reach that top spot.
A great guy.
His wife's great, too.
And there were some really nice people working on his campaign.
Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)who sponsored a huge barbecue before or during the Iowa caucuses?
He's nothing short of a grand human being.
and patriot. Can picture him doing more good work out of office.
Archae
(46,314 posts)Harkin is greatly responsible for over a billion dollars going to study woo, and they have nothing to show for it.
In 1991 Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) was a main figure on the appropriations subcommittee in charge of the NIH. (In 2010, he still is.) In 1992 Harkin slipped a line in the report accompanying the NIH appropriations bill that created the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine with $1 million in seed money. Never mind that there is no such thing as "alternative" medicine. If we have an Office of Alternative Medicine, who could question it? In 1999 President Clinton signed into law an appropriations bill that gave the OAM its current name and pumped up its budget to $50 million a year so it could establish a new National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Bastyr University, a naturopathic college outside of Seattle.*
Harkin got the bug for alternative therapies when he came to believe that his hay fever had been cured by bee pollen. He and a few other political buddies wanted to fund research that would prove the effectiveness of bee pollen and other quackery. Iowa representative Berkeley Bedell believed that Anablast (created by a quack named Gaston Naessens; the stuff is also called "Naessens Serum" had cured his prostate cancer and that cow colostrum had cured his Lyme disease. Cow colostrum doesn't cure anything and Anablast is pure quackery. There is no evidence in the scientific literature that bee pollen cures allergies or has any beneficial effect. Worse, bee pollen can cause life-threatening allergic reactions in some people. Nevertheless, Harkin and the promoters of unproven practices wanted the NIH to find the science that would prove the benefits of specific treatments.
http://www.skepdic.com/NCCAM.html