Million Dollar Billy -- A blast from the past from the guy who voted to kill Medicare: Billy LONG! (Get out the crying towel!)

Counting Billy Long jokes in a speech is like counting stars in a clear summer night sky: After awhile, you're doing to lose track. Long pretty much delivered the same stump speech he gave at his announcement. "I'm not from the government, but I'm here to help," will surely show up in Long's television ads next year. This time, the hulking Long opened with: "Can you all see me behind this mic stand?" And when KSFG staff instructed him to move the microphone to the right to avoid interference with the speaker, Long quickly delivered, "I knew you wouldn't want to move it to the left." It took just 20 seconds for Long to win the crowd over.

He bashed Obamacare, skewered earmarks and out-of-control spending and lambasted career politicians. He also was the only candidate to mention his pro-life and N.R.A. credentials. Oh, and he's for tax cuts too.

But throughout his humorous and off-the-cuff repertoire, Long has a tendency to make some statements that could come back to haunt him. He mocked the plight of the uninsured ("Get out the crying towel") and claimed that 26 million people under 35 probably don't want health insurance anyway. Claiming that President Obama's healthcare plan might have taken his mother's life back in March of 2008 is also quite a strong charge. It's all done in the loving-aw-shucks Long way...those statements may rub some the wrong way.

Ky3 Political Notebook, August 16, 2009.

On April 15, 2011, Congressman Billy Long for "AYE" in favor of the Paul Ryan Budget Bill which replaces Medicare with a 'voucher system', essentially "Killing Medicare as we know it."

57% of the American people think the Ryan plan is bad for America.
From Politico:

The issue has already tripped up numerous leading Republican Senate contenders who can’t help but notice national polling that shows a majority of voters oppose the Ryan budget plan.

In Missouri, former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman said she “would love to be able to” vote for the plan — an unconvincing answer with plenty of wiggle room.

A representative for Steelman, who faces Rep. Todd Akin in the Senate primary, explained, “Her answer is very explicit. She liked almost everything about the Ryan plan. The Medicare plan, in her view, is that it can’t work. She will stand up before the false vote and point out what’s wrong with it.”

Meanwhile, Billy Long thinks that for those 26,000,000 people under 35 with no health insurance --- we ought to just 'get out the crying towel'.