He's baack! Steve Skvara, the man who won the hearts and minds of many in the mainstream media by essentially calling for other people to pay for his wife's health insurance will soon be on Oprah Winfrey's talk show.
As reported in the (Northwest Indiana) Post-Tribune today:
On Sept. 6, Oprah flew him from Washington, D.C., where he was meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to Chicago for a taping of her show, Skvara said.
She asked him for an update on his health situation, and then she played a tape of his speech to the Democrats. Following the show, Oprah personally introduced herself to Skvara.
The show is expected to air on Sept. 28.
The retired steelworker received his first 15 minutes of fame in August at a Democratic presidential candidate debate sponsored by the AFL-CIO. He tearfully addressed the candidates: "Every day of my life, I sit at the kitchen table across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family, and I can't afford to pay for her health care. What's wrong with America? And what will you do to change it?"
The mainstream media reaction was predictable. Skvara's question was, according to a reporter on the CBS Evening News, an example of when "a moment of truth breaks through a political campaign event." On MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews told Mr. Skvara, ""You're a great American to speak so well to the needs of this country." Chrissy later gushed: "Well, can I pay tribute—can I pay tribute to you, sir?"
Just because he can't afford health insurance for his wife doesn't mean Mr. Skvara doesn't travel a lot. A Washington "Take Back America" conference in June saw Mr. Skvara in attendance, according to The New York Daily News, booing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for being too cautious, and charging "She's always taken the safe track."
ABC7 Chicago reported Illinois Gov. Milorad Blagojevich brought him to a Democratic rally at the Illinois State Fair, where the retired steel worker asked; "Who's going to change America? Who's America is it? Is it the corporations' America or is it the citizens that vote?"
At a Pittsburgh Labor Day event, he introduced Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, according to the Edwards campaign Web site. An AFL-CIO blog reported that Mr. Skvara was scheduled to be "at a congressional hearing on corporate bankruptcy and its impact on workers and retirees" in Washington earlier this month.
Now he's meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Perhaps he was encouraging her to push legislation asking United Nations inspectors to oversee elections in the U.S. As Mr. Skvara wrote in a July 18, 2004 Indianapolis Star letter to the editor, "After seeing what went on in Florida in the last election and the problems they are having with the new computer voting machines, we do need to have someone watching over our elections.If we are so fair and honest, we should have no problem letting the U.N. oversee our elections." Now there's an excellent idea.
As he moves onto his second 15 minutes of fame, it's quite clear Mr. Skvara is nothing more than your standard-issue liberal Democratic activist.
What do you think the odds are that Oprah will mention that salient fact to her adoring audience? The mainstream media will use this universal health care poster boy for as long as it can. And he will use it.
Let the fawning continue.
