Politics & Power Quote by Lamar Alexander

"Well, here's what I think. I mean, the people are saying, 'We don't want it,' and the Democrats are saying, 'We don't care. We're going to pass it anyway.' And so for the next three months, Washington will be consumed with the Democrats trying to jam this through in a very messy procedure, an unpopular health care bill"

Lamar Alexander, Politician

About this Quote

The line is built to sound like plainspoken frustration, but it’s doing a lot of strategic work. Alexander opens with conversational filler - “Well, here’s what I think” - to stage himself as the reasonable narrator, not a partisan combatant. That posture matters, because the rest of the quote is an argument about legitimacy: who gets to claim “the people,” and who gets cast as governing against consent.

Notice the ventriloquism. “The people are saying…” versus “the Democrats are saying…” compresses a complicated policy fight into a simple morality play: citizens speak, elites shrug. It’s less a report than a framing device designed to pre-decide the verdict. If the public is already unified in rejection, then passage becomes inherently suspect, no matter what the bill contains.

The language of force is the point. “Jam this through” evokes backroom muscle and procedural trickery, turning Congress’s normal mechanics into something invasive and undemocratic. “Very messy procedure” primes the audience to distrust not just the bill but the process itself - a common tactic when you can’t guarantee you’ll win on policy details. “Consumed” and “next three months” widen the complaint from health care to governmental dysfunction: Democrats aren’t merely wrong; they’re hijacking the national agenda.

The context is the late-2000s battle over health care reform, when Democrats had majorities and Republicans leaned heavily on process objections, public opinion polling, and the specter of overreach. Alexander’s intent is to make opposition feel like civic common sense, and support feel like contempt for voters.

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About the Author

Lamar Alexander (born July 3, 1940) is a Politician from USA.

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