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Yet another Republican announces US Senate bid

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Illinois

Dr. Tom Tarter, a cancer surgeon from Springfield, made it official Monday: He’s running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Illinois.

Tarter hopes to take on a fellow Springfieldian, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, in November 2020, but the first step is the March primary, where another Republican, former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran, has also said he is running.

In an announcement statement, Tarter said of Durbin: “I am running to replace an out-of-touch career politician who no longer represents Illinois values, and who obstructs progress.” […]

Tarter, a native of Portland, Oregon, is a graduate of Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon; got a doctorate from Oregon Health Sciences University, based in Portland; and his medical degree is from Albany Medical College, Albany, N.Y. He has lived in Springfield for more than 17 years.

I saw a couple of his yard signs when I was at the State Fair on Saturday.

* From his announcement statement…

I am proud to announce my campaign for U.S. Senator from Illinois in 2020. Voters are going to have clear choices in November 2020. Dick Durbin stands for a single-payor health care system, and I stand for improving our health care system that the majority of Americans find excellent or good. We can reduce the cost of health care in the United States without forcing every American into an inferior single-payor plan, especially those who have paid into Medicare all of their working lives. Dick Durbin is the second ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate, and his party stands for an open border policy. I stand for a sovereign nation with secure borders. I stand for immigration reform. American citizens need to decide who gets invited into the American family. With your support, I can replace Dick Durbin and make progress in health care and immigration for our state and our country. I hope you will continue to follow my journey to the United States Senate.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:02 am

Comments

In this instance, a couple of yard signs does equal a couple of votes.

Comment by Squints Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:06 am
===American citizens need to decide who gets invited into the American family===

Nope.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Yep.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:06 am
Bring the sauce to DC…

“We can reduce the cost of health care in the United States without forcing every American into an inferior single-payor plan”

So doc, who is going to get less money out of your plan? Providers? Drug Companies? Pharmacies? Insurance companies? All of the above?

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:06 am
===American citizens need to decide who gets invited into the American family===

Is that you, Art Jones?

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:10 am
“the majority of Americans find excellent or good.”

The majority that can actually afford health insurance, well, yeah.
What I got from his statement is that, if we can keep them fureners out, and my furener you know who I mean, everything will be aces.

Comment by efudd Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:11 am
===…his party stands for an open border policy.===

My ears… the dog whistle… so piercing, the dogs barking around me are giving me a headache.

The absolute greatest thing both Rauner and Trump gave was was this ability now to see people as they didn’t want to be seen.

I thank them both for bringing out into the light people who wanted their thoughts hidden, and now feel empowered to show me who they are.

Grateful.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:13 am
Good name for a dentist.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:17 am
Right out of the gate with the immigration thing. He’ll get that discussion, I suppose, but he won’t get to the US Senate. Not from Illinois, anyway.

Comment by DIstant watcher Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:18 am
First, he needs to learn to spell “payer”.

Comment by JoanP Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:21 am
“American citizens need to decide who gets invited into the American family”

So Doc, mandatory DNA test to determine American Purity or just a panel of old, angry, white people sitting in judgment of others?

Comment by Give Me A Break Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:29 am
Yet another candidate whose campaign scaffold rests upon a footing of personal ego, hoping for electoral success by stoking more fear and anger in the electorate. Dear Dr. Dogwhistle: Trump’s coattails in Illinois are a great deal shorter than his tie, but not as short as your political career.

Comment by unspun Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:30 am
Uhhhh, good luck Tom. I’ll eat my shoe if you get more votes than Bob Marshall….the Republican turned Democrat turned Republican whose platform is based on splitting Illinois into 3 states.

Comment by McGuppin Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:31 am
Another Republican with the Grumpy Old White Man platform. Got it.

Comment by Nick Name Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:33 am
I put better odds on Tom saving someone with stage 4 pancreatic cancer than defeating Durbin.

Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:33 am
Why don’t they understand that people don’t understand how under-insured they are until they face a significant health issue. I sure do think my insurance is great until I have to pay 20% of 500k of treatment and can’t work. Or pay the 7k deductible. Until that day it’s all roses. There’s no point in asking before that time. Plus medicare recipients are under single payer now and love it. They don’t think it’s inferior.

Comment by NoGifts Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:55 am
= American citizens need to decide who gets invited into the American family. =

That is not how you get to 20, and it’s posted online. Game over. Anyone else?

Comment by Dirty Red Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 10:57 am
“American citizens need to decide who gets invited into the American family.”

In today’s Trump-led GOP this means poor people and people of color. It’s open xenophobia and against the very principles upon which this country was founded and grew.

Good luck with that message in Illinois, a state with demographics changes that are increasingly not favoring the GOP.

Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 11:02 am
*I stand for a sovereign nation with secure borders* Dogwistles only work if others cannot hear them- this one is deafening.

Comment by West Sider Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 11:19 am
Bummer he’s not from Tacoma…

Comment by Northsider Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 11:24 am
==his party stands for an open border policy==

No, they actaully don’t but whatever.

==I stand for a sovereign nation==

As if there is a danger of losing that soverignty??

==American citizens need to decide who gets invited into the American family.==

What does that even mean? You gonna have a nationwide referendum every time someone wants to become a citizen?

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 11:40 am
I’m surprised so many Republicans are lining up to get whacked by Dick Durbin.

Comment by InsertNameHere Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 11:43 am
Super strange that the GOP keeps getting such marginal characters as candidates.

Must be a coincidence, huh?

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 11:57 am
The Doc must have found Oregon to be too liberal for him so he moved to Illinois? Interesting. His rant on healthcare I have heard before from a couple of docs in my area–before they drove off in their Lexus and Porsche to make their tee times.

Comment by Nearly Normal Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:01 pm
OW

The Statue of Liberty poem was never federal immigration law , unlike the The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act).

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act

Comment by Steve Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:21 pm
- Steve -

So you disagree with the poem?

It’s a yes or no question.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:22 pm
Well, at least he has filed his paperwork with the FEC back in June, so this is not a surprise to see Dr. Tarter running.

His last quarterly showed just under $1,500 in the bank at the end of June, but unlike the ex Lake County sheriff, Dr. Tarter made it official through the FEC.

Comment by Former Quigley Supporter Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:25 pm
- Steve -

Speak to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.

https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Immigration-and-Nationality-Act-of-1965/

You’re welcome.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:27 pm
OW

It’s not a question of whether I agree or disagree . It’s just the sad reality of some American history on immigration. The former New York Times public editor has just written an excellent book on the sad history of that law .

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Guarded-Gate/Daniel-Okrent/9781476798035

Comment by Steve Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:28 pm
===It’s not a question of whether I agree or disagree.===

So you disagree? That’s telling.

If you can’t answer that question…

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:29 pm
OW

From conservative commentator Daniel Horowitz:

“One year before Emma’s poem on the Statue of Liberty, Congress overwhelmingly passed the immigration act of 1882 barring any public charge from even stepping foot on the soil. “

Comment by Steve Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:48 pm
==and his party stands for an open border policy.=

Ugh. Does Dr. Tarter give his patients snake oil too?

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:49 pm
- Steve -

If you’re not going to answer the question, go troll elsewhere.

You have a habit of trolling me then decide you want to ignore things.

Also…

===Statue of Liberty, Congress overwhelmingly passed the immigration act of 1882===

… it’s not 1882

Keep up.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 12:51 pm
The public charge argument is a red herring. They aren’t only talking about public charge here. They are also talking about refusing people who they deem not to be educated enough. There are other criteria as well.

This is nothing more than furthering the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies. They want all immigration limited. They want to destroy the principles that this country was founded on to satisfy their xenophobic beliefs.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 1:02 pm
From the campaign website:

Economy
•I support current taxation rates beyond 2025 and regulatory relief on small businesses
•I support a balanced budget
•I oppose the Federal government picking winners and losers with corporate welfare

That first bullet point does not match up too well with the next 2.

Comment by SAP Tuesday, Aug 13, 19 @ 2:27 pm