 |
 |
   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
|
   |
|
|
March 9, 2010
LOSING OLD FRIENDS BEFORE FINDING NEW ONES.... For all the renewed sense of optimism and momentum surrounding health care reform, never, ever, overlook Democrats' capacity to shoot themselves in the foot. If health care reform stands any chance at all, it can't afford to lose Dems who voted for reform when it came up in November. The task, at this point, should be investing time and energy into switching "nay" votes to "aye," not convincing "aye" votes to finish what they started. And yet, a non-trivial number of confused, craven Democrats are openly considering betrayal -- and facing a razor-thin margin of error, the total is hard to overlook. Rep. Steve Kagen (D) of Wisconsin voted for reform, and is now hedging.
I have no idea what that means, but it sounds pretty idiotic. Likewise, Rep. John Spratt (D) of South Carolina voted for reform, but is also considering betrayal. Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) of California endorsed reform in November, but sounds awfully close to a "no" vote now. And it's not just these three. Remember, all of these guys already voted for health care reform, and can only reap the reward if they follow through and deliver. Inexplicably, they seem ready to turn tail -- hurting their constituents, their country, their party, and their own electoral prospects. So, is it game over? Will the status quo and insurance companies win because, at gut-check time, Democrats found it easier to be cowards? We'll see soon enough, but it's worth emphasizing why each individual hint from every possible lawmaker may not be grounds for panic. Ezra had an item today about why he doesn't trust, and tends to ignore, stories about lawmakers hedging on reform.
That's entirely reasonable. But for those hoping to influence the outcome, and organize pressure on and cover of various wavering lawmakers, these public statements, at a minimum, signal who needs the most attention. So, for example, when Steve Kagen in Wisconsin or Jerry McNerney in California signals their willingness to let the nation down and side with far-right Republicans on health care, it's a signal that their constituents need to get in touch with them. It's one thing for media professionals monitoring the debate not to overreact to every quote from every vacillating lawmaker, but for Americans desperate to see reform pass, overacting to discouraging quotes is very likely a good idea. Also note the larger context here. Insurance companies and their allies are going for the kill right now, investing $10 million in a new round of vile attack ads, hoping to rally Americans to oppose legislation that the public desperately needs, while scaring Democrats into rejecting a reform package they've already supported. If ever there was a time for health care reform supporters to give it all they've got, this is that time. A once-in-a-generation opportunity is on the line, and if supporters fail to fight, reform will very likely fail to pass. 
Comments
Until the Dems find the ability as a group to stand up and speak loudly, forcibly, and, yes, sometimes emotionally, about their program, and not hedge and not "negotiate," (synonym for "give away the farm") they will always be viewed as "weak." Because they are. Well, maybe just pusillanimous. Posted by: Greg Worley on March 9, 2010 at 4:46 PM | PERMALINKone thing i ask myself all the time: why do people like this go into politics? and one thing i tell myself all the time: the median intelligence of the congress is lower than the median intelligence of the adult public (and that takes some doing). Posted by: howard on March 9, 2010 at 4:53 PM | PERMALINKYes, I agree with Rep. Kagan. And you can't help a mother give birth to a big baby. What do we do? We cut it up into small pieces. Wait. What? Posted by: Gridlock on March 9, 2010 at 4:53 PM | PERMALINK"Will the status quo and insurance companies win because, at gut-check time, Democrats found it easier to be cowards?" Or did the money people get to them and get them bought off? Posted by: AngryOldVet on March 9, 2010 at 4:54 PM | PERMALINKOne-inch to the goal line seems so easy, right? Will it be a quarterback sneak, a screen to the right or left? A dramatic catapult over the top? The crowd, the audience at home...tensing with suspense -- and then -- A TV time-out! Never fails! I'm not worried. Its these shriveling Dem cowards that SHOULD BE WORRIED. Posted by: DeepTruths on March 9, 2010 at 4:54 PM | PERMALINKFor little kids you cut up a pill and... why not just say you smash it into a spoon and drown it with water. Is that what Kagen suggests we do with health care? Because that's what he's saying there. Posted by: QrazyQat on March 9, 2010 at 4:54 PM | PERMALINKRight-Wing Mobilization On Health Care Against Targeted House Dems Conservative groups have been targeting key House Democrats in an ad campaign to stop the health care bill. So how much of it is working -- and how much of it is just annoying the offices involved?
Senate bill and not the House version that he did in fact support.
Here's Morris's list: These thirty Democratic Congressmen all voted for Obamacare the first time around. The League of American voters is running ads in each of their districts to press them to vote no on Obamacare. Pick up the phone and call these swing Congressmen. If you support health care reform let them hear from you! Here�s the list: And yet the DSCC and DNC will continue to give these incumbents money for their re-election without ever giving a thought to what it means to be a Democrat and why it's so hard to pass major parts of the legislative platform they were specifically put in office to enact. Coincidentally it's also the reason why the DSCC and DNC will never see another dime of my money. Posted by: doubtful on March 9, 2010 at 5:00 PM | PERMALINKAs frightened deer in the headlights freeze to lose their lives, our Congressional Democrats are beginning to stop and gaze at the approaching light not realizing it is the train of HCR come to take them to the promised land of re-election. Get off the road, and get aboard the A-train taking Americans to the promised land of HCR oh greatly confused Democratic representatives, and ye will be greatly rewarded by us American people with political longevity! -Kevo Posted by: kevo on March 9, 2010 at 5:05 PM | PERMALINKReread the McNerney article... it's from February 18 and says he couldn't vote for the Senate bill without changes. Very old news, lots of people were saying that. Posted by: Brittain33 on March 9, 2010 at 5:19 PM | PERMALINKThis is not only a test of the democrat's collective spine, it's also a test as to whether or not our system of government is irrevocably broken. Will the will of the people be served, or will a small but loud and bullying minority, along with entrenched moneyed interests, reign supreme? Stay tuned! Posted by: citizen_pain on March 9, 2010 at 5:25 PM | PERMALINKone thing i ask myself all the time: why do people like this go into politics? -- Howard, @16:53 For the super-duper healthcare, what else? Posted by: exlibra on March 9, 2010 at 5:32 PM | PERMALINKI'm actually waiting for a call from the DSCC or DCCC asking me to give money (as they reliably do). I really wonder what their pitch will be this time. Fear of the Republicans taking back Congress? From what I can tell, they never actually lost it. Posted by: NaveenM on March 9, 2010 at 6:46 PM | PERMALINK* Israel puts Biden in an awkward spot: "Hours after Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. vowed unyielding American support for Israel's security here on Tuesday, Israel's interior ministry announced 1,600 new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem." Boy, there's a shocker. With special friends like this, who needs enemies? Posted by: dr. bloor on March 9, 2010 at 6:56 PM | PERMALINKNo bill without either Medicare buy-in for EVERYONE who wants to or a ROBUST public option AND no bill unless women are allowed to continue owning their own bodies. You fucks want to sell out women and their reproductive rights to ensure that insurance companies and big pharma get their government-enforced profits forevermore. Go to hell. Posted by: Praedor Atrebates on March 9, 2010 at 7:16 PM | PERMALINKThe Dems are finished either way. If they pass their atrocious insurance company and big pharma GIVEAWAY bill, they are FUCKED in November. If they don't, they are FUCKED in November. So, they can fuck themselves by FORCING every last Amerikan serf to give their money to corrupt and greedy private insurance companies (CEOs are coming in their shorts at that idea) without ANY controls on premiums, co-pays, deductibles, or adverse selection, OR they can fuck themselves by being incompetent ineffectual weaklings. You know what? 65% of the Amerikan OWNERS of Congress support the Public Option or Medicare buy-in for everyone as an option. You know what? Congress loves them some private insurance CEO cock and pussy so what do they do? They IGNORE the people that actually OWN them (we the people) and do what the CEOs tell them to do. Fuck them, fuck you people. Posted by: Praedor Atrebates on March 9, 2010 at 7:21 PM | PERMALINKWill the insurance companies win? Haven't they already? All those millions of mandated new customers and the IRS to make sure everyone pays their premiums? Will the status quo win? Hasn't it won already? Even more people get the opportunity to quality to have to dump every asset they have and empty every pocket to qualify for a Medicaid expansion and become the new undeserving poor. The middle class gets taxed to pay for it; the wealthy get off without any kind of haircut. Oh, and women take a sucker-punch to the gut. Meanwhile health care company stocks rise and rise and Wall Street thanks us all for the premiums we pay and they invest for those hefty management fees. How is that NOT the status quo? Posted by: dandelion on March 9, 2010 at 7:36 PM | PERMALINKThe Democraps want to ensure mega profits for the TOTALLY dispensible private insurance industry, protect exorbitant pricing from big pharma (who then go and sell the exact same drugs for 1/3 the price in other countries), enrich Wall Street further by enacting a cap-and-trade scheme so that Goldman-Sachs can have a controlling part in carbon trading. Way to go! Let's see, not a single other industrialized nation relies on private insurance for the entire basis of their universal healthcare systems. Not. A. One. Only in fascist Amerika are we to sell our lives out to Wall Street and insurance company middlemen for no value-add. The HCR bill doesn't prevent medical bankruptcy, doesn't prevent premium jacking, doesn't prevent exorbitant co-pays or deductibles. All it does is hand CEOs and shareholders guaranteed profits forevermore. The Democraps need to be strung up from lampposts as traitors to the human race. Posted by: Praedor Atrebates on March 9, 2010 at 9:06 PM | PERMALINK"I have no idea what that means, but it sounds pretty idiotic." I don't believe you. I don't believe after having so many people patiently explain tyo you time and again that the best way forward is not a giant fucked up omnibus bill but narrow popular bills, that you still can't figure out the concept. I particularly don't believe you since we've seen direct evidence of this plan work. The house bill to revoke the insurance company anti-trust exemption passed 406-19. It gathered not only enough votes to pass but a huge majority, including strong republican support. By comparison the house HCR reform bill passed 220-215 with one republican in support. Now maybe Republicans int eh senate will try to block it but then you have a rift between house and senate GOP (golly wouldn't it be keen to be putting our enemy's at each others throats for a change?). This works. It has worked. It;s worked well. It doesn't involve the ugly sausage making that turned the senate HCR bill into such a piece of shit. But of course you not only won't consider it you'll try to pretend you have just no idea its even been suggested. This is why progressives are getting more and more disgusted with you "pragmatists." It's not just that you support evil, but you support STUPID evil. If you were going to sell your souls (and you have here) then at least shouldn't you have gotten a deal that actually benefited you instead of making you look like such assclowns? Posted by: Tlaloc on March 9, 2010 at 9:48 PM | PERMALINKPraedor and Tlaloc riding together again. Who could have predicted? Posted by: on March 9, 2010 at 10:08 PM | PERMALINK"In the practice of medicine, I can't give a child a big pill. What do we do? We cut it up into pieces. Let's find things we can agree on." And you can't send children to big hospitals. You have to cut them up into pieces. Posted by: Ross Best on March 9, 2010 at 11:27 PM | PERMALINKHas it ever occurred to any of you that, perhaps, Obamacare, regardless of whether you're talking the House or Senate version, just...sucks? Given Benen's preference for name-calling over argument, this might go over his head, but did you have even a moment while watching Paul Ryan's pitch at the Obama summit where you thought, "Hmm, maybe this claim that Obamacare will lower the deficit is just a crock. Maybe he's right -- the Dems 'gamed' the bill to get a CBO score that doesn't represent reality. Maybe this bill will make health care worse not better and lead to the US' insolvency." Nah, it's more fun to snark. Go team go! Posted by: Vail Beach on March 10, 2010 at 12:16 AM | PERMALINK"these guys can only reap the reward if they follow through and deliver. Inexplicably, they seem ready to turn tail -- hurting their constituents, their country, their party, and their own electoral prospects." Mr. Benen says this a lot, but I don't understand - these Dems clearly fear a backlash from "independents" MORE than they fear losing progressive voters. The Dem pols, of course, believe they are helping their electoral prospects by changing their minds on HCR. Along with their prospects for campaign contributions too. Posted by: flubber on March 10, 2010 at 1:35 AM | PERMALINKGive Kagen a break, He is in a generally Republican district and will have his hands full in November. He is looking for some cover. Will we be any happier if his vote costs us a Dem seat in November? We would all like him to vote for the bill and still win in November. We should respect that that is a very fine line to walk and cut him some slack as he tries to do it. Posted by: ajohng on March 10, 2010 at 9:25 AM | PERMALINK>> these Dems clearly fear a backlash from "independents" MORE than they fear losing progressive voters. And why wouldn't they? Nationally, there are twice as many independents as there are progressives. In some districts currently held by Democrats, I'm sure liberalism is embraced by 20 percent or fewer, and the representative must clearly delineate him or herself from your ideology. This is a blog for zealots only, those who think principle = what you happen to believe, and all the rest of us are fallen-away scumbags or morons. The language used to describe anyone who disagrees with you demonstrates contempt, period, and little intellectual grasp of the arguments against your positions. This is why you almost always lose. You're just not as smart, collectively, as your mommas have told you you are. Posted by: Vail Beach on March 10, 2010 at 12:56 PM | PERMALINK
May 2011
April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 |
|
|
    |
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
buy from Amazon and
support the Monthly
|
||||||||
