Rep. Gary Peters
Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI) is running for Senate, and has been the target of one of the most
shameless examples of Koch brothers lying ads. Well, taking a page from
Harry Reid, Peters is not backing down to the Kochs in his defense of Obamacare. Here he is in an
interview with Greg Sargent, discussing the Medicaid expansion Republican Gov. Mitch Snyder accepted. Peters' opponent, Terri Land, opposed the expansion and demands what the Kochs are telling her to: repeal.
“The Medicaid expansion is going to help well over 400,00 people here, while the Koch brothers’ agenda is to stop these folks from getting health care,” Peters told me. “On this issue, you have to make a choice. Terri Land’s support comes from the far right and the Tea Party. Her strident stand that we must repeal the ACA alone would mean hundreds of thousands would no longer have access to critical coverage.”
Asked if the ACA was a problem for him, Peters defended the law, suggesting he won’t let attacks drive a wedge. “There are problems with implementation, and we need to make sure it’s fixed and working right,” Peters said. “But the ACA takes us in the direction we need to go. It’s a core belief of mine that everybody, no matter who you are, should have access to affordable health care.”
Asked if it was a political mistake to write to TV stations demanding documentation for AFP’s cancer victim ad — as some claim — Peters suggested AFP attacks would continue meeting an aggressive response. “These ads are coming from out of state billionaires trying to determine our next Senator,” he said. “If they put ads on TV, they should have documentation for what they claim.”
Taking on—and thereby exposing—the Kochs is smart politics. These are unscrupulous billionaires who are trying to buy the Senate. Defending Obamacare is increasingly smart politics, too, in Michigan and everywhere else in the country. It's smart politics to point out that millions of people are benefitting—and that the Kochs and extremist Republicans are either preventing more millions from getting the health coverage they need or are trying to take it away through repeal.
Kudos to Peters for so unapologetically and forcefully fighting back here.