Abrams, Warnock decry 'inhumane' healthcare policy in joint Marietta rally

Chart Riggall, Marietta Daily Journal, Ga.

Thu, September 1, 2022 

Sep. 1—MARIETTA — Two of the biggest names in Georgia politics were met with a roar of support by Cobb's Democratic faithful as they embraced under the shade of a tree behind the Cobb County Civic Center Wednesday.

With just over two months until Election Day, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams asked voters to send the former back to Washington "for a nice, long six-year term" and the latter to the governor's mansion.

"We had a warm-up in 2018," said Abrams of her first gubernatorial run. "We proved ourselves in 2020, and because we're Southern, we sent them two U.S. senators in 2021."

A crowd of over 100 attendees, including press and staff, was on-hand for the joint rally. The event was originally set to be a Warnock-only affair, but Abrams — whose black SUV trailed behind Warnock's unmistakable bus — was announced as a late addition earlier in the day.

Both candidates have consistently called for Gov. Brian Kemp to expand Medicaid in Georgia, which advocates have said would insure hundreds of thousands of low-income residents. Warnock and Abrams pointed to the news Wednesday morning that Wellstar Health System is reportedly considering closing Atlanta Medical Center as evidence the expansion is needed.

"It's not because they don't have enough patients — they've got enough. It's not that the resources necessary don't exist — they do exist. It is because we have a governor who refuses to expand Medicaid," said Abrams.

Warnock called the nation's healthcare shortcomings "the most shocking and the most inhumane" of its injustices.

Neither candidate — indeed, none of the speakers Wednesday — mentioned President Joe Biden by name. Cobb Democratic Party Chair Jacquelyn Bettadapur attributed that to Warnock's focus on policy.

"It's an emphasis on the work," Bettadapur said. "I find that with Warnock, he emphasizes the work and removes himself from the personalities and the ideologies and sort of all the nonsense that goes on in Washington."

Added state Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna, who introduced Abrams, "We were focused on Cobb County, and I know I was focused on all of the ways that I know Sen. Warnock has been here for Cobb County, and how he has had Cobb County's back in Washington," citing his advocacy for Lockheed Martin to win new aerospace contracts.

Indeed, between Warnock's calls for greater "moral imagination" and for activists to "pray with your legs" he weaved a thread of purported policy achievements. He name-checked 2021's American Rescue Plan Act and the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act which aims to boost American semiconductor production.

"Imagine the United States of America, the KIA plant (in West Point) — or name some other plant — waiting on chips to come from China that we can make right here in Georgia," he boomed.

He also highlighted his work with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to designate a proposed extension to Interstate 14 from Texas to Georgia.

"Yeah, him," Warnock joked. He later said, "There's a road that runs through Texas that also runs through Georgia. And there's a road that runs through our humanity that's bigger than politics, that's bigger than partisan bickering, that's bigger than the culture wars that folks are trying to drag us into."

The crowd was unfazed by Republican protesters who lined Fairground Street and denounced Warnock while waving signs for Senate hopeful Herschel Walker.

"I'm so disappointed at higher taxes, bigger government ... I'm for less government. I think the federal government is too corrupt at this point, and (Warnock) has gone along with the system," said John Barnes of Marietta.

Barnes argued Walker's well-publicized personal issues have been overblown.

"Even though all of us have things in the background, he's a likely very good candidate," he added. "...When we look at all of our candidates in Washington, everybody has something that could be said about them. And what I want is people voting for America, smaller government, less regulations, and returning rights back to the states."

Rosie Turner, a Warnock supporter who recently moved to Mableton from Augusta, said she was largely enthused by Warnock and Abrams' remarks. But there was a major point she felt was overlooked.

"I can see he's working from the religious and spiritual standpoint, as well as the political point of view, which is, I think, very nice. But I wish he would address the abortion thing, and that's something I want to talk to him about. Because I think it's a human right," said Turner.