i can't believe schumer is looking to be governor. but i do find plausible he's stepped up and into a leadership void. christ, someone better. let's hope his intentions are honorable. (pfffft)

Like most denizens of the lefty blogosphere, I don't trust Schumer to be with us tomorrow, even if he's with us today.

But if he comes through in a big way on health care, regardless of his motivation, he can be forgiven a lot of past and future lapses.

Senate Democrats aren't stupid. None of them wants to take the reigns of the disastrous health care bill because they know the electorate will vote them out next election.

66 countries in the world have universal health care (wikipedia - yeah, I know...), 75% of Americans want universal health care, it is cheaper than the present US system, the Dems have a filibuster-proof majority.

What, exactly, is the problem here?
[rhetorical question]

Schumer is no longer chairman of the DSCC, but this is one issue where Dems could make further inroads in red states. In fact, handled properly this may be THE issue that destroys the Republican party. But it's important that they not accept a weak compromise.

Schumer is my senator and I still have not forgiven him for his sell-out to Wall Street (which continues to plague us as we get set for the next plunge on the roller coaster). I am not sure this is going to be enough to convince me to vote for him next go around.

No harm shall come to any business as I am President, transfer of executive control from one party to another does not mean any serious disturbance of existing conditions.

Grover Cleveland, 1884

it is difficult to think of anyone younger than Teddy and Byrd who has enough (here's maybe a good use for a word fast losing any relevance in human existence) gravitas...

so if any of them are gonna come around, grow a spine and speak authentically, it'll first be shocking and them untrustworthy.

maybe they saw that "loudmouth comedian" comin' and figured they needed to straighten up a little.

i'm hopin' al does drama as well as comedy (but of course, i know the drama is in the clown car known as the us senate...)

I've got a tip for Reid: Grow a pair.

Problem with the so-called filibuster proof 60 vote Democratic control, is that, to use a sports analogy, several of them are on injured reserve with torn and/or worn out spines.

How apt for Al Jr to use "reigns" - Yes, the health insurance industry is a monarchy and we are attempting to revolt against it and bring about a democratic form of public option even though universal has been denied us by General Washington, er Obama. Problem is we have too many Benedict Arnolds in the Senate.

Maybe Schumer is speaking for his buddy and housemate Dick Durbin, second in command in the senate and strong backer of the public option choice.

More pressure please. Call your House Rep and Senators and tell them you want the choice of a strong public option. We have government FHA loans and private mortgages. Public Social Security and privately run IRAs, 401Ks, etc. You can go to a public university or a private college. There's all kinds of examples of public/private options that live side by side and in countries all over the world they've made it work in health care too.

Call your Senators and House Reps and then call them again. What they do this month decide the health care we live or die with for the rest of our lives. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we don't pressure them.

Can we threaten primary challenges against the Blanche Lincolns and Ben Nelsons and Kent Conrads of the world? It seems to be working fairly well with our newest rightwing Democrat...

"Maybe he's eyeing Reid's job. "

Good. Reid isn't.

Can hardly await the roll call in the Senate, where the voice says of some so-called Democratic Senator, "Senator Quisling votes............"

I still don't trust that "level playing field" verbiage. That can be code for crippling the damn thing to the point of uselessness. I want to see details.

Schumer, Reid, whoever, makes no difference. Unless you tell me Sanders just got elected majority leader, we'll see no tangible changes.

Chuck Schumer is awesome. He has been stepping up in a big way for a long time. We have his leadership to thank for the Democratic takeover of the Senate in 06 when he was DSCC Chair. I hope he keeps the spurs to it on healthcare and gets us our public option.

Reid is pretty lame. What would it take to replace him?

Reid's talents were well-used in the time when he was minority leader and had to find a way to deal with an intransigent majority. He did it successfully, and helped usher in a Democratic victory. He should have resigned the position then, because the talents what were useful then are counterproductive in the situation of having a diverse majority. What we need is a Majority Leader like Lyndon Johnson was - being called to his office to explain yourself made strong men wet their pants.

It has become abundantly clear that the Dems- both in the House + Senate- don't have the slightest clue about the mechanics of negotiation + compromise.

The way to go about things is for your starting position to be the one which you would find absolutely ideal; that is, what you'd get if there were no opposition, + you could reign by fiat. The assumption is that each side starts w/such a maximalist position. Then, you negotiate w/the other side until a compromise is reached somewhere in between the two extremes.

If your staring position is *already* what you hope to achieve as a compromise, then you all but guarantee that the other side, rather than simply acknowledge your brilliance, is going to stick w/its own maximalist position, and thereby result in a final position much more to its own liking than to yours.

To apply this model to the health insurance debate, Medicare for All should have been the Dems' first position. The public option, therefore, would have been a good compromise between that + the current free-for-all (all who can afford it, that is). Since the Dems started w/the public option as their maximalist position, it all but guarantees that the final position will either have no public option, or a markedly weakened one.

This has been extremely poor strategy by the Dems at all levels, from the President on down, and likely a blown opportunity for an entire generation at least.

-Z

What Zorro said. And the Dems should have come at it this way: Tell the American people that at the end of this session the congress and the people of America will have the SAME heathcare options. If it's private or public, whatever. Every congressman will have to deal with the same shit the rest of us do, and of course most of them are rich enough to buy the best. But I think the optics would be perfect; anyone who voted to keep their own access to healthcare while throwing their constituents to the wolves would be left standing in a very bad light.

For anyone who doesn't know how their Senators stand on health care, including clues for support for a public option, http://www.ontheissues.org is a good resource. You can see all the various votes on Medicare, SCHIP, prescription drug reimportation from Canada, small business owner responsibilities, and APHA ratings.

Anybody but Reid! Nate Silver says Reid may be in trouble in NV.

As a NV resident, I'd say Reid is toast. How do you think it will fly when all the hotels on the strip feel about paying higher energy costs with the cap & trade? I was in LV last week and it was 112 degrees.

"How do you think it will fly when all the hotels on the strip feel about paying higher energy costs with the cap & trade?" - Nellie

Like the casinos can't afford it? That's the problem with this country. The richest industries are the ones that don't want to pay a dime to clean up their own messes. They would rather the taxpayers - the middle class taxpayers - not the rich, pay the bill.