Ryan Grim over at Huffington Post has an interview with Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that offers a glimpse of the terrain that lay ahead in the health care battle:
"There’s serious money made in health care in this country and all of that money is pushing back. This will be a fight and it will be an ugly fight. If anybody had some notion that this would go smoothly, or it was going to happen easily, I don’t think they’ve been paying attention," she said before entering a closed-door weekly Democratic luncheon.
The push back from the financial interests opposed to health care reform is being felt strongly in Congress. But McCaskill warned that "whoever wants to be part of bringing all this down … will have to own" the consequences of their resistance. "Everybody’s free to run whatever ads they want to run. I think there’ll be real consequences if we don’t provide stability to the American people as it relates to health care," she said.
McCaskill is right, of course, that financial interests will do everything they can to oppose a strong public option. All the more reason to make sure progressive Democrats draw a clear line in the sand and pledge to vote against any bill that is not available nationwide on day one, and accountable to Congress and the voters
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Claire, Thank you for the power of truth…please keep speaking out. Name names, please.
She is right – they are going to throw all their ammo into this fight, because it is all or nothing. Once a public option is available, there is no going back. People will quickly take it for granted (as they should) and it will become the new standard.
I don’t think that anyone had any illusions that this would be easy. If IIRC, Claire McCaskill has not always been in the forefront in favor of a medical insurance method that does not give the big boys all that they want. In fact, what kind of insurance does she favor in terms of a “public option?”
It sounds as if some Democrats are starting to realize just how much is at stake. Not for the American people necessarily, but for their electoral fortunes. Things could get very ugly in 2010 if Democrats sell out to the health insurers. Very ugly indeed.
It’s good to hear moderate Democrats like McGaskill talk this way. She needs to say it more often.
Talking about the amount of money involved, check out Kurt Conrad’s FEC filing.
You’re a member of the House or Senate.
What do you want above all else?
To get re-elected, of course.
You can be had for money, but you need votes.
If you’re a Dem and the next election is going to be close, you’ll need Progressives’ votes.
That’s where Progressives have power.
Not through their logic but through their votes — or non-votes.
Not voting may be your best and only weapon.
Using your logic:
Progressives primary McCaskill.
McCaskill wins primary.
Progressives “stay home” on McCaskill in the general.
McCaskill loses to Rethug.
Leave out the primary, the result is the same.
Not quite the outcome I’m looking for.
Welllll, there is
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..04075.html
And of course there is the High and Mighty King of Healthcorp Whores
Max Baucus
http://missoulian.com/articles…..news02.txt
h/t cbl2
What we need now is a clear statement from the leadership that the reconciliation process is going to be used, and that it takes 50 votes (plus Biden’s if needed) to win.
The Republicans can say that if this happens, they’ll use every trick in the book to tie the Senate in knots. The Democrats should then reply “bring it on”.
Reply.
McCaskill knows she needs Progressives votes to win the general.
She has to choose between winning and losing.
Primaries have become the fools gold of Progressives.
Oh, we won’t vote for you in the primary unless you do A.
But if you win the primary, we’ll vote for you. Regardless.
She’s got until 2012 to work that out. She won by 2.3% in 06. She plays the Rethug game she could pick up that 2.3%.
SouthernDragon,
It’s like the 1960s.
We have roughly the same goals.
But different tactics.
BTW, the liberals of the 1960s lost in each and every way.
Scarecrow’s diary promoted…
Private Health Insurers Threaten Americans to Prevent Public Plan Competition
This is not the 1960s.
It’s the health insurance industry that is most in need of reform, sounder regulation and a cut back in its dominance of an industry that is manifestly not serving the interests of the Americans who pay for health insurance and the broader population desperate for health care. That includes old-line US industries, like automotive, that are still the staple of the economy adn which are handicapped because they pick-up health care costs that their European, Japanese, Korean and Chinese competitors do not.
For Congress to pay servile attention to the wants of woes of health insurers and their lobbyists is like structuring Al Capone’s prosecution by paying too much attention to his tax accountants and defense lawyers.
Tell that to the folks who benefitted from Civil Rights, Medicare, etc. Guess you’re one of those who have forgotten the ’60s.
That is quite a start, isn’t it?
The Progressives today are much more passive (because of technology) than the rebels of the 1960s.
Take your choice. I don’t care.
But do I believe the Progressive movement today, as represented on blogs such as this, make a difference?
It’s a great place to chat and share thoughts.
You must not have been payin’ attention in 07 or 08 in addition to forgetting the 60s.
One thing I learned in high school was to read the whole book, not just the parts I was interested in.
empthwheel is upstairs!
They Fired Froomkin for THIS?!?
“There’s serious money made in health care in this country and all of that money is pushing back.”
Should be:
“There’s serious money made in the health care crisis in this country and all of that money is pushing back.”
Your health is not a commodity.
Your health is not a profit center.
It depends upon how much insurance a person/family wants. The public option defined in the House bill is ‘basic’. Most people will want more than that if they can afford it.
There’s still time for Blue Dogs and Republicans to decide on their strategy. They can read polls as well as anybody and they know Americans want insurance with a public option. Though their base might be happy with a great big “NO”, the politicians might feel a little different. They also know the economics of our current situation is awful.
I’m betting nothing just yet, but I’m hopeful people will take a serious look at the House bill and go from there.