Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-07-24
Mediocre Postmortem

the Diane IOr oe1eaL OF MS
medicare bill in the Senate
upon nearly all the Repub-
licans and a handful Of
Demo crats Joined with
them" The conclusion that
he has drawn from defeat
is that he needs larger Dem
ocratic majorities in the
Congress. His Congressional
lieutenantS have put the
opposition" party on notice
that medicare viii be the
major issue in the November
elections.
With all due respect to the
President, who it SHOULD be
noted had just suffered his
worst legislative defeat Of
the session, one wonders
how candid he is being with
himself and the American
people. The division of
party strength in the Senate
is "a Democrats to SO Repub-
licans. If the Republicans
stood completely united they
would require some is Demo-
cratic votes or roughly one
quarter of the Presidents
party to defeat the Admins
tration in a test Of strength.
On the medicare vote 81
DemocratS-almost one third
OF the majority party-de-
serted the President. This
handful" of Democrats in
cluded 10 committee chair
men, the President protein
pore Of the Senate-Senator
Carl Hayden (Ariz.) and the
Secretary Of the. Democratic
Conference-Senator George
A. Smathers (Fla.). If the
vote had been by secret ballot
the OBJECTIONS would have
been even greater.
The question remains lust
how large a Democratic ma
jority does the President
need to- get a majority in the
Senate? The outcome Of the
medicare vote hinged on Just
one vote. Majority Leader
Mansfield was heard in the
galleries shouting to Sena-
tor Carl Hayden, known to
be hard Of hearing, to vote
"yes." Mansfield realized he
could muster only 40 votes
against tabling and released
Hayden who had been hold
ing his vote in reserve.
Couldn't the President get
just one vote from the 20
remaining Democrats2 Why.
for example, did the leader
ship insist on attaching the
medicare amendments to the
welfare bill, repeatedly over
the objections of former
Secretary Ribicoff? The
vote Of Senator Jennings
Randolph CW. Va
original sponsor Of the An
derson amendments - was
lost on this error in STRAIT
egg. Yet because the Presi-
dent and his Senate leaders
could not find just one vote
from their own ranks the So
luton to be sought is a fur
Their defamation Of the Re-
publican minority.
The goal Of more adequate
medical care for the Amer
lean people is a common
. concern of all dedicated men
regardless Of political affilia-
ton. 1t is unfortunate that
the President has not rec
ognized that the temper of
the country and his own
party Is deeply divided on
the best means for achiev-
ing that goal. It is even
more unfortunate that the
only answer he seems capa-
Die OF providing is the cleo
ton Of more Democrats.
John s. Saloma III.
Associate Editor,
Advance
= = -
God save our old folks from
their friends, the President
and the American Medical
Association. The President has
saved them from solvent
mathematics. Our ANA has
saved them from socialized
medicine. Now they are going
TO carry their undying love
and devotion for our aged to
the hastings. And If there is
another stalemate there, they
will repeat the endless cycle
Of you-make- the-motion-and-
we-will-table-it.
Our old folks are not fools.
Let them not be dupes. What
would have happened had the
Presidents social security
gerrymander become law? In
a short time it would have
been wrecked on the rocks of
unsound mathematics and
cynically sabotaged by the
massive resistance Of our
ANA. Without sound mathe-
mates any medicare plan will