Sorry, but this whole thing is doomed. The folks on the Hill only care about themselves -- they really don't give a shit about us out here.

The Blue Dogs need to have their health benefits removed for at least one year beginning, say, flu season

What is wrong with these people? Have they no humanity? A pox on their futures as Senators.

i imagine the money, phone calls, and "hey congressman/senator, whacha coin this weekend?" lobbying by the ins cos demon-lobbyists in full form -- engorged as they are with the blood of innocent-if-poor americans.

Once again, I am ruefully reminded of the words of Will Rogers: "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."

Sigh.

If the Dems doom healthcare, I give up.
Is it senators like Dianne Feinstein doing this? I've already written her.

Looks like there will have to be a march on Washington or blood on the streets for these people to do their jobs.

I would be more forgiving if there were a hard-line ideological reason for the Blue Dogs' opposition. (They never cared that much about "paying for it" when it was about war.)

This is so obviously about power. And massive egos.

Oh yes, these 40 or so Senators are just paying back the 40 or so Republican Senators who threatened to derail the Republican agenda unless more bipartisan support was reached.

I'm pretty sure that's why.

If Obama had a meeting of all Congressional Democrats and Senators and simply said "Here's the bill. Pass it or I will leave the party, govern as an independent, and run a slate of candidates dedicated to throw you bums out in 2010," that might work.
But he's not that kind of guy, for better or worse (it's both). After health care and global warming go down the tubes, perhaps it will dawn on people we are ruled by wealth, and nothing else.

Oh yes, these 40 or so Senators are just paying back the 40 or so Republican Senators who threatened to derail the Republican agenda unless more bipartisan support was reached.

This is the House of Representatives, not the Senate.

YES, I'm voting for all Congressional health care to be on HOLD until they can work this out for THE PEOPLE...is there an executive order that could accomplish this? First, I'm doubting that there are ANY members of our illustrious Congress who would be unable to pay their OWN health care much as we who have some have to...so what's the problem? Sad that these people have no idea how to put together something SIMPLE that they could build on...there is NO SIMPLE in our bureacracy if there ever was. AND, OT...Robert Reich is correct again when he states that the previous economy will NOT recover because it is unsustainable...still none of the brightest brains in the room are willing or able to construct a way forward based on common sense and reality...all, like the idiot from Wasilla, want to create the future according to their own particular vision of how they can benefit from it.

If Healthcare fails when you've got 60 Dems in the Senate, then they truly don't deserve to be in power ever again. Hand it all over to the Republicans and we'll all ride into oblivion like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.

(They never cared that much about "paying for it" when it was about war.)

THAT is what really frosts me. Fucking hypocritical lying whores.

This is the House of Representatives, not the Senate.

Thank you Paul for the correction. I know we are talking about the House, but in my snarky excitement I brain farted and of course couldn't revise after I hit post.

Those Bleu Dawgs have been hanging around with a bad crowd:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106432757

I read the Blue Dog letter over at TPM. It's not all bad but kind of confusing. They want stricter cost controls on providers but don't want them to only be paid at Medicare rates. They also want rural care to be beefed up.

These can all be taken care of with a strong Cost Effectiveness Commission that reimburses based on best medical outcomes not just beds filled and tests, drugs and procedures prescribed. A good CEC would finance education for doctors who agree to practice in rural areas and/or reimburse at higher rates in the hinterlands.

Of course Republicans will demagogue a strong CEC but they can't do much about it.

And thus, nothing will get done, and we will continue to have nothing done on healthcare until it is about a week before it bankrupts the country. Maybe three days after if California is any indication.

Idiocracy, we have arrived!

They want stricter cost controls on providers but don't want them to only be paid at Medicare rates. They also want rural care to be beefed up.

Perhaps, but these don't seem to be the kind of demands that require internal revolts. I am skeptical that "cost control" means anything other than not wanting to pay what it's going to cost.

there is no denying that it is all about wealth -- that's the only real value left on the planet -- mr. ensign's and mr. sanford's family values not withstanding.

this healthcare reform is symbolically much much more than a new way to dispense the (ridiculous, and obscenely unhealthy) medical technology delivery industry's fine products to a thankful population.

it is the first push back against a mean, cold, dog-eat-dog scramble for wealth that has destroyed the common good in this country.

our society must stand for rights that once again provide bare, minimal survival -- and the government must be in the forefront. and then we go from there to a decent society.

if this healthcare reform fails, the country will not survive as is. the rich and powerful, my friends, taste just like chicken.

Looks as though all of the Blue Dogs were neutered/gelded by their personal vet, Dr Ensign.

Their demands include, but are not limited to, significant changes to the employer mandate and, predictably, more outreach to [strike]Republicans[/strike] their corporate sponsors.

Fixed.

They never cared that much about "paying for it" when it was about war.

I'll go further than that. As far as the entire Republican caucus, and far too many Democrats, are concerned, military spending is free. Ask any of these deficit concern trolls what programs -- even what "waste, fraud and abuse -- they propse cutting from the military budget.

Remember when the GOP was lying about Obama "cutting the military budget" -- with the lazy, gullible, so-called "liberal media" playing right along, of course -- when all Obama proposed was to cut the rate of increase? Which begged the question, of course, as to whether cutting a budget that already exceeds what the rest of the world combined spends on its military wouldn't, in fact, be a smart thing to do?

Eisenhower was right. Too bad no one, least of all his own Party, listened.

If there is one thing Dems are good at, its snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The chances of good healthcare bill coming out this year continue to fall. Less to Republican obstrutionism than to Democratic infighting. There are times when I wish the Democrats could duplicate the Republicans ability to steamroll through votes and keep the party together.

Blue Dogs - short for Blue Cross Blue shield Lap Dogs.

and we see, once again, that an ideologically coherent party like the modern gop has it all over an ideologically incoherent party like the dems: personally, i'd like to kick each and every one of the blue dogs out of the caucus and back to the gop where they belong, which would have the effect of reversing the force fields (ideologically coherent democrats and ideologically incoherent republicans trying to straddle right-wingers and blue dogs).

since that's not going to happen, the only thing left is for obama to start weighing in.

unfortunately, that's not going to happen either.

thorin-1, i did want to note that i do not regard this as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

you had to assume that the blue dogs and evan bayh and mary landrieu and ben nelson and blanche lincoln were all going to do the right thing to assume that victory was in sight.

there was zero basis to make that assumption, so victory has never been in sight.

I'd like to know how many of those Democrats (and Republicans) currently benefit of the government's generous health care plan (which they will carry in retirement). I suspect that it is a large percentage.

Those opposed to the public option should put their money where their mouth is, opt out of the government health plan, and pay for their own private insurance. Otherwise, they would be well advised to sh*t up. I am frankly surprised that no one in the media has called them on this.

"...conservative Blue Dogs ... demands include ... more outreach to Republicans."

Someone should point out to this morons that the fewer Republicans that get elected, the larger their own caucus is likely to get. Marginalize the Republicans and you can get more Blue Dogs.

Reaching out to republicans only gets your hand cut off. How anyone could be so stupid as to try it more than twice is beyond comprehension.

I don't see anything wrong with this. It's a big piece of legislation in terms of effects on the country, so why not hear their concerns and address as many of them as possible.

It's not going to slow down the process appreciably and it will make more people happy.

A way to show the effect of our current health care system on normal people is to show our pickle jar insurance system. I don't know how many times I've stopped off in small stores in various parts of the country and have seen a pickle jar on the counter, with a photograph and a hand-written note requesting contributions for someperson's (usually a child's) surgery or other medical intervention. Posting photos to flickr (or other photo site) and tag them with #picklejar you could put a human face on some of those 46m Americans who "choose" to not have health insurance.