Zach covered this earlier, and so did did Steven. However I wanted to expand on it and point out exactly what Robin Vos had to say.
“I just think recall elections are like a cancer,” Vos said Tuesday. “We either have the chance to apply chemotherapy immediately to try to stop the cancer from spreading, or before you know it the patient is going to be on life support.”
i was going to name the people in my life who have been affected by Cancer, including myself, but lost count. SO I decided to take a look at what Robin Vos actually said.
While recall elections are written right into the Wisconsin Constitution. It was meant for candidates who ran one campaign and then governed a different campaign(sound famliar?) The bar was also set very high by requiring 25% of the votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election and gave people only 60 days to do so(540,000 signatures to recall Scott Walker). This bar being set so high meant that politicians had to engage in egregious acts to fire up the masses to get them to actually follow through successfully with a recall. Well we all know what happened, there were 9 recall elections and the democrats held all of their seats and the republicans lost 2(Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke). The republicans still hold the majority in the Senate but its by one vote only. While they were groundbreaking and historic elections they were textbook “democracy in action” (which scares the hell out of robin vos).
Now lets look at how Cancer affects people.
It is estimated that 1,529,560 men and women (789,620 men and 739,940 women) will be diagnosed with and 569,490 men and women will die of cancer of all sites in 2010.
From the American cancer Society:
How Many People Alive Today Have Ever Had Cancer?
The National Cancer Institute estimates that approximately 11.7 million Americans with a history of cancer were alive in January 2007. Some of these individuals were cancerfree, while others still had evidence of cancer and may have been undergoing treatment.
How Many New Cases Are Expected to Occur This Year?
About 1,596,670 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2011. This estimate does not include carcinoma in situ (noninvasive cancer) of any site except urinary bladder, and does not include basal and squamous cell skin cancers, which are not required to be reported to cancer registries.
Mr. Vos feels that:
* Luther Olsen while campaigning for his seat in the recall election, went through the same stress that someone has to while they await biopsy and test results telling them if they have cancer or not.
* The family of Dan Kapanke, because he lost his senate seat, is going through the same thing that the family of a cancer victim who recently passed away leaving behind four children and medical debt is going through.
* Alberta Darling suffered for having to defend her seat, the same way that someone who has 36 chemo treatments scheduled, hoping and praying that going through all of this will actually rid them of cancer!
Vos carries this smug self righteous attitude in all of his interviews and op-eds. When someone makes such light of cancer it is a wonder that he has only had one beer dumped on his head. At least there seems to be some outrage from the mainstream “Libural” media right??? Nope, just this from \"non partisan\" WPRI Mike Nichols, where he expresses outrage that Sheboygan’s tipsy Mayor used a similar analogy. Heck the two good friends Glenn Beck and Paul Ryan, called “progressivism cancer on the United States”. Call someone a Nazi or Hitler you lose the argument, the same should be said of Cancer.
I have called Robin Vos’ office everyday for the last few days to get him to clarify these remarks, but after a being promised he would return my call, a return call has yet to come. I think that Robin Vos owes those affected by Cancer in WI an apology. I am going to go even further, since his remarks are so ignorant and egregious, He needs to make good on this with the people of WI who pay his salary and put him in office.
Since Mr. Vos appears to be ignorant as to the effects of cancer on people and families, let me help him with a make good!
Our mission is two-fold:
To provide kids whose parents have or have had cancer with a summer camp experience that gives them a chance to be kids
To allow college students to channel their passion for making a difference, while developing critical leadership skills for long term social impactThe Need
There are 1.7 million cancer cases a year in the United States that affect individuals and their families. The support is there for grown-ups; but the special emotional needs of children of adult cancer patients have been overlooked. Simply put: kids are often left to deal with these personal tragedies on their own; and if parents themselves are struggling with illness, their sons and daughters frequently miss the simple joys of childhood.
That is what Camp Kesem does(full disclosure my son attended camp last summer and it was amazing experience). Now here is what Camp Kesem needs:
Camp Kesem has the incredible opportunity to receive ONE MILLION DOLLARS from Chase through an online fundraising event on Facebook and Chase.com. Yes, that’s correct, $1,000,000 for Camp Kesem as part of the Chase American Giving Awards.
Camp Kesem is honored to be one of the 25 nonprofits to receive an invitation from Chase to participate in this major online event. Camp Kesem is competing in the Health & Well Being category against four other nonprofits. That means Camp Kesem has a 1 in 5 chance of advancing to Round Two, and automatically winning $125,000 – incredible, but, very attainable with your support!
Only one vote per person, you can vote here from 9/28 – 10/5.
To all of our regular readers and commentators, please vote daily.
To Robin Vos, please do the right thing and apologize for your incredibly insensitive and ignorant remarks and call on your supporters and constituents to vote for Camp Kesem to help kids who have had serious challenges from a debilitating horrendous disease that transcends politics, parties and elections!
PS: Mr. Vos if you ignore this plea, like you have ignored my phone calls, I hope Orville Redenbacher haunts your dreams!
PSS: Robin Vos Contact information(please email and/or call him):
Madison Office
Room 309 East
State Capitol
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
Voting Address
960 Rock Ridge Road
Burlington, WI 53105
Telephone
(608) 266-9171 Or
(888) 534-0063
District Telephone
(262) 514-2597
Fax
(608) 282-3663
Email
Rep.Vos@legis.wisconsin.gov
Voted. Now if Robin Vos could find the time or sense to vote, that would be an amazing thing.
The only “spreading cancer” Vos has to worry about are voters going after hack politicians like him.
I lost my mother to cancer. I lost my aunt to leukemia. One of my best friends beat colon cancer. Robin Vos can go to hell. Don’t hold your breath on an apology, either.
The state of politics in Walker’s Wisconsin is the cancer. Recalls are the treatment and hopefully, the cure.
Vos is a weasel and a sock puppet. Hard to take what he says seriously. Harder to believe he was elected to office.
CJ, you insult all respectable sock puppets with that remark.