Norfolk, Va. - One of the leaders of the fight against the health care reform is Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Today he visited a local charity that serves people too poor for insurance.
Treading in tennis shoes and ducking fork lifts, the state's attorney general walked aisle-by-aisle through the food bank's warehouse in Norfolk today.
Nearly every one who comes to the warehouse can't afford food, much less health insurance. So it might seem an odd that the man who is fighting Congress' new health-care law, designed to bring insurance to the poor, is the guest speaker at Food Bank fundraiser.
The lawsuit he's filed could block health coverage from the very people who need it most. But Ken Cuccinelli says the new law itself is an attack on personal freedoms.
"If we are right, then there is no basis, no foundation, for the Congress to have passed the bill at all."
Cuccinelli says his stance isn't about whether health care for all is a good idea. And he says it's not about Republicans like himself sticking it to Democrats. He says it's about the government forcing people to do something - in this case, buy health insurance - against their wishes.
"It's a judgment on whether or not it is constitutional in the first place."
But state Sen. Ralph Northam, sitting a few seats away at the same Food Bank fundraiser, said that's nonsense. Northam, a doctor, says it's clear the attorney general is just following party lines.
"The federal government has done what they have done. I think for us as a state to challenge that, I think there are a lot better things we could put our effort and money towards."
Just a few blocks away, Samuel Barnes, known as the bike doctor, says he doesn't know what to believe. There are too many people yelling on both sides, and he's not heard anything that lets him know whether the health-care plan is good for him or not.
He's getting older and he's on Medicare because there's no way he could afford private insurance. And even though health-care supporters say the plan could make insurance more affordable to him, Barnes wants no part of it.
"Sure the government is too big."
That's what he's against. He worries the government is getting bloated; too involved in too many things like stimulus spending, clunker buybacks, and now maybe, health care.
"I don't want no government coming in here telling me what to do."
One thing is for sure. The lawyers from the Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar association who came to hear Cuccinelli today have promised to gather more than 400,000 pounds of food in the next few weeks. The resolution to Cuccinelli's health-care showdown could be months away. This fundraiser will get food to families much faster.
Today he visited a local charity that serves people too poor for insurance.
Treading in tennis shoes and ducking fork lifts, the state's attorney general walked aisle-by-aisle through the food bank's warehouse in Norfolk today.
Nearly every one who comes to the warehouse can't afford food, much less health insurance. So it might seem an odd that the man who is fighting Congress' new health-care law, designed to bring insurance to the poor, is the guest speaker at Food Bank fundraiser.
The lawsuit he's filed could block health coverage from the very people who need it most. But Ken Cuccinelli says the new law itself is an attack on personal freedoms.
"If we are right, then there is no basis, no foundation, for the Congress to have passed the bill at all."
Cuccinelli says his stance isn't about whether health care for all is a good idea. And he says it's not about Republicans like himself sticking it to Democrats. He says it's about the government forcing people to do something - in this case, buy health insurance - against their wishes.
"It's a judgment on whether or not it is constitutional in the first place."
But state Sen. Ralph Northam, sitting a few seats away at the same Food Bank fundraiser, said that's nonsense. Northam, a doctor, says it's clear the attorney general is just following party lines.
"The federal government has done what they have done. I think for us as a state to challenge that, I think there are a lot better things we could put our effort and money towards."
Just a few blocks away, Samuel Barnes, known as the bike doctor, says he doesn't know what to believe. There are too many people yelling on both sides, and he's not heard anything that lets him know whether the health-care plan is good for him or not.
He's getting older and he's on Medicare because there's no way he could afford private insurance. And even though health-care supporters say the plan could make insurance more affordable to him, Barnes wants no part of it.
"Sure the government is too big."
That's what he's against. He worries the government is getting bloated; too involved in too many things like stimulus spending, clunker buybacks, and now maybe, health care.
"I don't want no government coming in here telling me what to do."
One thing is for sure. The lawyers from the Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar association who came to hear Cuccinelli today have promised to gather more than 400,000 pounds of food in the next few weeks. The resolution to Cuccinelli's health-care showdown could be months away. This fundraiser will get food to families much faster.
