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Obama health care plan angers seniors, Polls show shift toward GOP
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Sep 21, 2009 09:41pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Andrea Billups |
| News Date | Tuesday, September 22, 2009 03:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "Across the country, amid the heat swell of the ongoing health care debate, many of the nation's gray panthers have a new fire growing in their bellies, attending town halls, writing letters, and shifting the balance of political power as polls show them moving to the GOP.
They are not just making themselves heard on their key issues of Medicare and insurance, but giving their legislators a piece of their mind that a way of life is slipping away.
"They" are seniors like Jerry Johnson, a 75-year-old retired yacht salesman from Tallahassee, Fla. He says he's spending his days delving into issues like a seasoned Washington pundit.
"I'm doing this for my kids," he says of his activism, which includes talking with voters, attending town-hall meetings and listening to political radio "12 hours a day."
"They all have lives and are busy working but I'm really concerned about the debt and the world they'll have to face," he said. "I see myself as their warrior because I see our country slipping away. It's going to go a lot more quickly unless someone like me gets active. I've got the time."
Mr. Johnson said it's the most politically engaged he's been in his life, and there's a reason for that. The Michigan native said that since the last presidential election, the stakes have never been so high, which is why he's out of his easy chair and moving into the fray.
While senior voters were nearly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats during the 2008 presidential election, there has been a "striking" shift toward the GOP in recent months, said Tom Jensen, communications director at Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, N.C." |
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