Comments on: Dear Rahm: You Break It — You Buy It

By: letsgetitdone

letsgetitdone — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:56:56 +0000

Thanks for the whip tool, lambertstrether.

By: letsgetitdone

letsgetitdone — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:43:09 +0000

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.

By: letsgetitdone

letsgetitdone — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:27:39 +0000

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?

By: letsgetitdone

letsgetitdone — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:20:15 +0000

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.

By: nrafter530

nrafter530 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:02:46 +0000

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.

By: Hmmm

Hmmm — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:54:08 +0000

Nate Silver says:

Obama’s numbers don’t have much more room to fall before they hit the 53 percent threshold that actually elected him last November. And I don’t think they’re liable to go too much below that mark unless something actually and tangibly bad happens — a bad unemployment report (or a sharp reversal of the market rally), the actual collapse of health care, some bona fide major gaffe, etc. Any of those things, indeed, could happen. But just as likely Obama will benefit from some good economic numbers or simply some reversion to the mean as the media firing squad picks up and plays golf for a month.

The Democrats could find themselves in a better position after the August recess or they could find themselves in a worse one — how’s that for a bold prediction! But liberals’ doom-and-gloom, conservatives’ glee, and the media’s nearsighted reporting are all equally uncalled for.

By: joanneleon

joanneleon — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:43:41 +0000

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.

Message to Progressives:

Please take the pledge for the public option and promise to vote against any health care bill that doesn’t have a public plan which is:

- available to everyone, nationwide
- available on day one
- accountable to Congress and the voters

———————————-

Message to Blue Dogs:

Please stop obstructing and undermining real health care reform and take the pledge for a real public option with no triggers, available to everyone on day one.

What you are doing affects every person in this nation. If you continue to undermine real health care reform for all Americans, you are not working for the people who elected you, and I promise you that I will donate money and support to your primary challenger as soon as possible and will work to make sure you are removed from Congress. No one is fooled by your phoney and selective fiscal conservatism.

Hope you will find this to be useful in some way.

By: Larue

Larue — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:50:21 +0000

*G*

RASMUSSON!!! !!!11!!! ELEVENTY!!!!

(never knew there was an I in that poll’s/man’s name!!!)

*G*

By: jacqrat

jacqrat — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:48:01 +0000

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.

By: leftdcin72

leftdcin72 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:34:56 +0000

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.