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From the WSJ this morning:
The Blue Dogs’ clout arises from simple math — they account for 52 seats in the House, enough to topple any law in cooperation with Republicans — and some irony. Hungry to retake Congress, Democrats actively recruited moderate candidates in conservative districts. The strategy was strikingly successful in recapturing the majority. But now the Democrats are learning the price as they try to enact their agenda.
It’s was Rahm’s fabulous idea to expand the Democratic majority by recruiting Republicans in conservative districts into the caucus. People make a mistake if they think Rahm’s policy objectives are at odds with the Blue Dogs — just like Mike Ross, Rahm has been pushing triggers and other insurance industry friendly provisos since the start of the year. From a policy standpoint, they want the same things.
But their tactical agendas diverge. The White House (including Rahm) just wants to pass something quickly, knowing it will be a 2010 disaster for Democrats if they don’t. The Blue Dogs want the Senate Finance Committee to report first, because now that Baucus has promised to make Grassley happy and Grassley has promised to make McConnell happy, whatever comes out of there is going to be hideous.
But that ain’t gonna happen until it happens, and in the mean time, the President is going to continue to get hammered in the polls.
At which point, weirdly, the Blue Dogs will feel better about voting for a better House bill because they believe it will all be kabuki and in the end the Senate will get their way.
Which they no doubt will, unless the House progressives hold their ground.
Keep calling progressives — I’ll keep saying it. It’s the only hope.
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As always, Jane, your words are brilliant. Rahm better get these miserable fucks to stand down.
Thank you for this post Jane.
I gave a link to an interview the Guardian had over the weekend with Wendell Potter.
Have we had him here?
If we have not, would he be a good interview or salon?
Here is the link to the Guardian interview Potter.
It’s not the only hope, but for the next at least two years, it’s likely nothing much will happen. We need new ways to organize on the net. As yet no one is ready to talk about it. The alternative to representative democracy is direct electronic democracy. That means we the people become responsible for collective decision making. We are a long way from that. We can do other things first, but we must be really upset and persuaded our lobbied representatives will not work out. Hard to say how many disappointments that will take.
People beware!!
There is an e mail going around claiming the be the health care bill that is full of distortions, swiftboating, with senders comments.
If you get one please respond to sender and those involved denouncing
these tactics.
Unfortunately, there are some who will fall for this garbage and not
take time to question.
They are trying every dirty trick they can find to destroy health care
reform.
I got one of those emails from my Daughter-in-Law and told her it was a bunch of bull and asked her to send me the bill that this information is in so I can read it. Haven’t heard back yet. LOL. Her and my son are Republicans, don’t know what I did to deserve that.
Can any progressives get the ear of some of these rain makers who push the chess pieces on the board? Does Denis of Bernie Sanders ever SPEAK with someone like Rahm or even Obama about the issues or are the simply left out of the discussion and rant in emails and on progressive radio?
Is the view that progressives are just totally out to lunch nut cases held inside the white house? Are they laughed at or feared?
I can’t quite understand if they think progressive ideas suck why don’t they debate them and demolish them, but why are progressive ideas almost completely ignored? Is it that these ideas so completely undermine the for profit system they are considered un american or something?
seriously… can someone explain. I respond to reasoned arguments and I haven’t heard them from the right. Have you?
laughed at
simple answers to simple questions
If they pass a bad bill that forces people to buy junk insurance while doing nothing to expand access to health care, it will be a even bigger disaster than passing nothing. The House bill is a bad bill.
Call & say what? How do we impact the obstructionists? I’m whistling in the dark.
“…The Blue Dogs’ clout arises from
simple mathbeing retarded…”Fixed it for ya.
Has Snopes picked up on it yet? What’s in the header? I’ll see if I can track it down. I routinely answer these bogus emails with a link to Snopes and a note saying that the claim is untrue. Usually shuts the originator up.
Nope, not retarded -although I don’t really think that word should be used. They are greedy – greedy for money and they loving all this attention they are getting. That’s a lot of power. They are very disappointing to me – not real Dems.
Conservative Dems are not always a bad thing but for the issue at hand they are obviously an obstacle.
Keep calling (faxing, emailing) you say?
Yes, but maybe we should try a different approach. Why don’t we contact not just those we seem to think are key people but also our own individual Congressmen and women even though it may seem totally fruitless.
I have the unfortunately distinction of living in what may be the most conservative Congressional district in the country…Indiana’s 5th. Dan Burton is the man and he is about as far right as it’s possible to get. He’s been pretty quiet lately but he used to make statements like “let’s just go nuke ‘em” when he felt the US has not gotten the proper respect from another country.
Why contact someone like this? Mainly, because it can’t hurt and because I can tell him he is my Congressman and has been since 1983. Will my contacting him turn him around? No, of course not. But it might make him an ounce more sypathetic to the public option cause and make an ounce of difference in what we finally get.
I know many of you have probably already contacted your own Congressman but many others probably have not because you live in a district similar to mine.
Doing something is better than doing nothing.
That’s it blue dogs………….. sell your souls’ to the devil while protecting the corporations at the exepnse of the governed and the Republic. Called more than my fair share of pols this morning….. Not one aide who answered the phones was aware of the tax stucture and exempt tax status in healthcare.
Scarecrow………. blow the lid off of the scandel? If one where to add all the premiums collected by the health insurers in “”one state,”" for profit and tax exempt and divide by the pouplation in that state we would be all be asking…. Like with Iraq………”"where has all the money gone,” when one sees the percapita premiums collected?
As Dred Scott was denied standing as a citizens of these United States by the SJC corporate America will extract life and liberty from every American enabled by politicians bought and paid for by campaign contributions from the well entrenched
slaveowners,healthcare lobbyist poised to strike and render with the aid of “law” Americans subservient to coporations via a new Life Tax, mandated healthcare! BLUE DOGS GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yeah, the word should probably not be used. I’ll withdraw it and substitute, “venal, rapacious, greedy, and corrupt.”
I stand corrected.
Check the link — we’re calling the progressive, not the Blue Dogs.
We’re impacting the obstructionists by BEING the obstructionists.
The end game for Democrats: if they don’t pass health care it will be a 2010 disaster. The Democrats don’t need the Republicans to pass anything.
The progressives have 76% of the country at their back. That’s a big, big number. If the ConservaDems and the Progressives are at an impasse, the country overwhelmingly comes down on the side of the Progressives.
So the Progressives have to hold their ground. The Blue Dogs are having no trouble holding theirs, but they all give lip service to “we have to pass health care.” If they become the obstructionists, there will be tremendous pressure on them to relent.
Don’t these slackers read the polls and know who will be voting?
BUT are there progressive challengers in the wings waiting to replace the slackers?
I talked with my representative as she watered her flowers Saturday and asked if they were going to pass something. She said that they would but a lot of the Democratic representatives from conservative districts wanted to have the Senate go first. “Let the Senate go first on this one, they’re saying…we went first on the stimulus money, energy and… So maybe that is a little insight at what is going on.
But of course she said the Senate was a mess…nice to have Franken finally there she added. She thought he was good.
A-yep.
Pretty interesting history of how the Blue Dogs,i.e.,Blue S.O.B.’s, voted on the “stimulus”. Really informative link from Tennessee on who voted how on bailout $$$.
Apparently, the Blue Dog whi$tle hasn’t been blown….. yet.
Tennessee Conservative Watch: Blue Dog votes examined: exposed as …Apr 9, 2009 … And all but one of the eleven Democrats who opposed the economic-stimulus bill hail from the Blue Dog Coalition. But most of the time, …
tncwatch.com/…/blue-dog-votes-examined-exposed-as.html – Cached – Similar
He can’t…he recruited them in Conservative districts because Americans are basically a Conservative and not a progressive people. Add the number of Blue Dogs to the number of Republicans and you still have a basically Republican thinking Congress. They may have changed the label, but you can’t get folks to vote against their districts who DO NOT WANT this.
Will do.
You were a good mother and love overcomes all…
They are more interested in REgressive,rather than PROgressive reform..
They WANT to manintain the status quo.
That’s why a LOT of them went into politics to begin with.
Change we can believe in ?
Small change,chump change,I say,for Main Street.
MORE Cha Ching $$$$$ for Wall Street.
Well ,the Repubes have consistently gotten(brainwashed) their voters to vote AGAINST their OWN self-interest for years now.
Crack the code on that,and then we progressives may have a new strategy.
In case you haven’t notice, 78% of Americans are NOT behind the progressive’s backs. The disapprove to approve rate for Obama on the current health care are plunging down into severe negative territory. Latest Ramussion was 58-42 AGAINST the so-called reform.
Couldn’t agree more Eve!
I saw something similar over the weekend also.
If the citizenry would only cry out-long and loudly against corporate personhood-a LOT of this grief would be eliminated.
Here’s an excellent source on this insidiuous practice.
Reclaim Democracy! Revoke Corporate Corruption of American DemocracyReclaimDemocracy.org is committed to revoking corporate power and reviving grassroots democracy.
http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/ – Cached – Similar
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Jane thank you for all you do
“But that ain’t gonna happen until it happens, and in the mean time, the President is going to continue to get hammered in the polls.”
during Obama’s health care speech he was willing to say “take the profit margin out of it” Insurance company executives heads did a 360 when he said this. Call in the exorcist.
Obama went onto to say Insurance companies have “had record breaking profits while the American people are being hammered”
The contest basically comes down to whether our Reps will support the profit margins of Insurance companies or what the American people need.
Making those phone calls. Thanks Jane
@32
May 20, 2009 by Michael Ricciardelli · Ins. Co. & CEO With 2007 Total CEO Compensation
■Aetna Ronald A. Williams: $23,045,834
■Cigna H. Edward Hanway: $25,839,777
■Coventry Dale B. Wolf : $14,869,823
■Health Net Jay M. Gellert: $3,686,230
■Humana Michael McCallister: $10,312,557
■U.Health Grp Stephen J. Hemsley: $13,164,529
■WellPoint Angela Braly (2007): $9,094,271
L. Glasscock (2006): $23,886,169
Ins. Co. & CEO With 2008 Total CEO Compensation
■Aetna, Ronald A. Williams: $24,300,112
■Cigna, H. Edward Hanway: $12,236,740
■Coventry, Dale Wolf: $9,047,469
■Health Net, Jay Gellert: $4,425,355
■Humana, Michael McCallister: $4,764,309
■U. Health Group, Stephen J. Hemsley: $3,241,042
■Wellpoint, Angela Braly: $9,844,212
Linky to follow
Health Insurance Company CEOs Total Compensation in 2008 : HEALTH …we took a look at Health Insurance CEO pay, and noted that Mr. Ronald Williams of Aetna made $467309.85 per week in 2008, while Ms. Braly of …
http://www.healthreformwatch.com/R…..n-in-2008/
Does President Obama have the sense and courage to realize that he is going to keep losing political capital until he *demands* *real* healthcare reform? Or will he forego the real thing for any old thing that can be called reform?
The numbers are going to keep tanking until he takes full responsibility for this and until he takes some risks and gets it done. He wants to be able to take credit for healthcare reform without taking full risk or responsibility for it and without leaving himself open to loud criticism from the Big Health industries. Half measures are not going to work this time.
The media is claiming that the reason his approval numbers on healthcare reform are down is because of the concerns about spending. I disagree with this. Most Americans are willing to make the investment if it is truly going to benefit the people. As time passes and the benefits of trillions spent on bank bailouts and economic stimulus are not trickling down to the average American, we lose faith that the trillion spent on healthcare reform will really help us either.
This healthcare reform has to be quick and it has to be *real* or this president will completely lose the trust of the people in record time. There will be no blaming Congress for this one, or letting them take the hit in the popularity polls.
Rahm Emmanuel still has a job. And that is very troubling.
Update on Weiner amendment to replace HR3200 with HR676 from AfterDowningStreet. Here’s a whip tool.
HR676 is single payer, HR3200 is the Democrat leadership’s bill, so this is a chance to replace the Democratic leadership’s bailout for the insurance companies that could force you to buy a junk policy with the science-based solution that’s been proven to work in other countries: Single payer.
These folks are right wing Clinton democrats. Don’t ask who are left wing Clinton democrats, maybe Robert Rubin or Sandy Berger or other similarly situated winners.
From the amount of trollage in this thread alone, I think we’re scaring them, but good!
Keep calling those progressives, folks. 1.4 million dollars a day buys a lot of troll, but it costs us NOTHING to ignore them and keep on track for true health care reform.
*G*
RASMUSSON!!! !!!11!!! ELEVENTY!!!!
(never knew there was an I in that poll’s/man’s name!!!)
*G*
Mela,
Here are the messages I’m using while phoning members of Congress. I have separate messages for Progressives and Blue Dogs. I have them in a little text file (using MS Notepad) that I can keep in front of me while calling. First I decide who I’m going to call and I type those names into the text file too, at the bottom, and I date them to keep track of who I’ve called. Then I call the Capitol switchboard 202-224-3121 and I read my messages to each members office or voicemail.
Hope you will find this to be useful in some way.
Nate Silver says:
Actually, it wasn’t Rahm’s idea, he was part of it, but it was Howard Dean’s idea…I was covering the DNC for ABC back in 2006 and got to talk to Howard Dean a few times…he was the one who said “we need to run Democrats who can win in these states”…Rahm was executing his strategy, the two bickered over money, but agreed on strategy.
This is Dean’s fault.
Obama and Rahm are only interested in ideas that they think they can get through Congress. It’s a favorite thing of theirs to criticize policy proposals by saying that their authors don’t have any experience getting stuff through the legislative process. As far as debating progressive ideas is concerned, they won’t do that unless they think they need to persuade progressives to support them. If they think they’ve got the progressive votes anyway, they’re not going to engage in what to them are “academic” discussions. After all, what do they have to gain? From their point of view they can only lose.
All this is true. But if they do relent, does that mean we can pass a version of the public option corresponding to Jacob Hacker’s original proposal, or is the best we can get HR 3200? And if we pass HR 3200, how does that get us further down the road to a public option that can really impact the insurance companies, or to single payer?
They may not know what their districts want. But they can be told that if they vote against what Obama wants then the help they got in their successful election campaigns from the National Democratic Party won’t be available to them. Rahm can pretty much guarantee them that, if he and the President are so disposed.
Thanks for the whip tool, lambertstrether.