Go progressives!

What is this, like the 4th letter from the CPC or the tri-caucus with these pledges? The more they say it, the harder it will be for them to capitulate later. I know it’s not the FDL pledge, but these letters are going to have to do.

Stand UP !

Is this the “now go make me do it” part of the Obama presidency? It sure is starting to seem like it might be.

Go Jane!

well played. I still want to know how they plan to resolve this with the Senate. The Conference process has always been a bit opaque from my perspective, and I suspect that the Senate conferees will be key (if Baucus is one of them, presumably this gets very difficult). And, above all, we need presidential leadership here, now, urgently… not back channel trial balloons for compromise delivered via Sec Sibelius or whomever.

Jane,

You are becoming the ‘torch bearer’ for Progressives and I for one am more than happy to walk behind and beside you in the battles that lie ahead.

Keep going – we are with you.

I think it is time to target a Conservadem in a small state (hint: Baucus, Conrad, hell even Reid) and work our butts off to force their retirement.

Great Job on tv Jane:)

It’s pretty clear that they’re not down with the kabuki play, and are serious about conference. Well played, progressives.

Are you saying that that the Progressive Dems have found a Spine? You think they are serious?
I’m not doubting you your the expert on Congress Watching but well…I am stunned.
Now then is there anybody worth checking out as the New House Speaker?

Why didn’t the Hispanic and Asian Caucus get on the letter? Or did they on the full letter.

Blub I credited your idea in my new diary and of course added the whole comment Bye gotta go.

Our playing bad cop is paying off you think? Cool

Well, hooray for us.

I’m feeling hopeful for the first time in 30 hours or so.

Nancy Pelosi has been quite vocally supporting the push for a public option, so I don’t see any grounds for complaints with her leadership on this issue. If anything, we need a better majority leader. This does make me wonder why Steny Hoyer is so quiet, he’s the one who’s usually pushing the pro-corporate compromise in the House.

Just e-mailed WH and my Critters,maybe a letter to KS as she is my Secretary of DHHS.

Jane if change ever comes…your a BIG part of it
Jane of Arc!

and may i say
i love you all….muchly

The Associated Press is now reporting that there were actually about a dozen armed people among the protesters in Phoenix:

Just called my rep’s office(s) and thanked him profusely for drawing that line in the sand for the Public Option. Already sent a scathing email (quoting Blue Texan) last night – so I guess it’s time to email Katherine…

Hmm no email – and when I dialed HHS, got “all circuits are busy”. I HOPE these are Progressives clogging up the lines.

or maybe
SAINT JANE is better copy

OT But some real good news – Eight more companies have dropped their advertising on Glen Beck bringing the total to twenty!
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/…..-beck-ads/

this pure intimidation imo

Thanks to Jane and FDL. Like someone mentioned earlier, I’m feeling a little better today after the last day and half…

its quite a ride we have been on

Why can’t Arizona seceed? AuH20 on up and its not a pretty scene.

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) just appeared on Chris Matthews show basically gave a big thumbs up to the idea of bringing fire arms to public political events.

Only an arrogant nitwit would believe they could negotiate a deal that gave health care away to the pharmaceutical industry, the doctors, the hospitals and the insurance companies, tie everyone’s hands and keep the government from being able to negotiate costs for the next decade and then jam it on progressives to sell in their districts at the end the end of the process.

How you doin’ today, Rahm?

There really is nothing to add to this. Thanks for all of your hard work, Jane.

That has to be a substantial proportion of Beck’s sponsorship. I wonder how many he has left?

I think it’s less that and more a dare. If they arrest people when what they are doing is legal, whether we like it or not, it’ll send the fringers into a frenzy.

Can someone explain why it is ok to carry guns to Presidential events but it was illegal to carry a sign to the rethug convention.

A typical case of American Blind Justice!

you can get anything you want. . .

must repeat jane’s brilliant memo;

“the public option IS the compromise”

man that’s good

CNN QuickVote (on front page) is showing 57% saying that a public option is an “essential element” to healthcare reform, and MSNBC

http://www.newsvine.com/_quest…..e-overhaul

…is showing 67% saying that they prefer a public option (for a much more loosely worded question, so its far from clear that this isn’t actually the same proportion as over at CNN, where the question was “do or die” for the public option). Too early for formal polling, but at least this seems to indicate that even with today’s maneauvering, a large plurality of Americans still want a public option. I can’t find a poll up at Fox, but I don’t suppose public opinon matters over there…

Hey Rahm, remember it’s your job on the line. Kick ass, progressives!

many rethugs seem to support repeal of the entire Bill of Rights, excepting the Right to Bear Arms ;-P

if 12 SS or cops have to watch the gun toters how many will be left to watch the other weapons?

this is good news for Republicans/

how so? 57% saying that healthcare reform MUST have a public option is the highest proportion I’ve ever seen (of course it’s not a scientific poll). Sure previously polls have given numbers showing mid-seventies support for some type of public option, but this proportion will always go down when the question is changed to either/or. “Essential element” is not the same as “I’d prefer it”

I guess we’ll find out pretty soon if Rupert cares about advertisers on Beck’s screed of a program.

I’ve been on roller coasters with fewer ups-and-downs.

Great presentation on TV, Jane.

My hope: We get a disaster. A mandate to pay money to insurance companies.

I’m ready for the revolution.

We need to form a group of dems and independents who will work against any dem who does not vote for a public option.
WE WILL REMEMBER

Rep. DeFazio contacted.

Jane you are my heroine. Keep up the pressure. You and Howard Dean need to keep the pedal to the medal since you and he are the only ones from our side occasionally getting the microphone.

/=big sarcasm
yup im sarcastic,and cynical………..*g*

prolly NOT….his new plan is to charge for all his websites….rotflmao

making me teh sicko

I called Grijalva’s office and Pelosi to tell them that I support their efforts. I wrote to my Rep. Mitchell here in AZ and I wrote to the White House.

I heard a caller on Thom Hartmann’s show spent the morning trying to reach the White House and she asked the operator how the tally of calls stand. She was told overwhelming support for reform and Public Option.

My new slogan “PO or NO!”

Now I have some hope. Thank you so much Jane.

oh sorry. Interestingly, Fox hasn’t done a poll on healthcare since mid-July, and then they only asked the question “do you want Congress to pass healthcare reform this year or wait?”.. 50/50 they claimed. Afraid of what their viewing public may say?

edit: never mind, found a more recent Fox poll
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539297,00.html

They ask stupid really stupid questions like, “If you were sick or seriously ill, would you rather receive medical care in
the United States or in Canada?” and use ‘em to conclude that most Americans don’t want reform ;-P

JANE JANE JANE!!! I just got to see the clip of you with Andrea Mitchell. You were brilliant.

That was probably like a Lou Dobbs (or ED) poll

for many of us this past election was the first time we volunteered. we learned to canvas, to knock on doors, to call and talk to people.

if you live in a state with one of the “gang of six or blue dogs,” call them and tell them we were a grass roots campaign and we will work and do everything we can to see their next primary will fail regardless of whom finances their campaign. your vote for them depends on their passing true health care reform.

if you are not, call them and tell them you will donate all you can to whomever is their opponent in the next primary.

if president obama fails in getting true health care reform passed, he is no more than a lame duck. if you care about cap and trade – won’t happen, if you care about repeal of DADT – won’t happen, if you care about education – won’t happen.

we have allowed the “scare you at any cost” republicans to cower and intimidate us; we have allowed the “gop/media” complex to set the media agenda by giving the impression those yelling and screaming at town hall meetings – and let’s face it, what they really want is to nullify the past election – are the majority of americans.

it is time to stand up and be heard. nothing less and we will all fail and be looking at more arrogant, power for the wealthy, republicans back in office.

I said as much when I e-mailed the WH.

From what the story reads, the progressives will allow a bill out without a public plan.

Ok Tyson Foods, contributor to Mike Ross of the Blue Dogs, No Single Payer?

No we will not buy Tyson chicken!!!

http://bit.ly/single_payer_ross

Read our blog http://blog.democratz.org

Rahm , is more than likely behind CO-OP response from WH

ZOMG!

OT
the crazies are running the asylum

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/…..innocence/

Jane, do you have the list of 60 names attached to the pdf? I clicked the link, but it only shows the letter. I would very much like to see if my rep has signed and if he hasn’t to ask him why not.

if POLITICO were any more right leaning they’d tip over.

My radio station is going to be airing segments from NN pushing health care reform every night this week during the hour long evening news. Tonight it was Gov Dean’s comments about the public option. 100,000 people listen to the station at any given time, the heaviest times being news and public affairs.

Scumbag.

WOOOOOHOOOOO!!! Let’s get ready to ruuuummmmbbblllleeee! Game On!!!

Thanks for all your hard work Jane….or is it like I heard someone say today……Saint Jane!!!!

George Bush would have had Second Amendment Zones set up for librul gun toters… in the next state.

It’s just as crazy that Republics don’t speak out against people bringing weapons to Obama events.

OMG. I just read that Faux August 13 origin I linked above. It seriously reads like something out of the North Korean Central News Agency. Even Chinese and Russian poll reporting isn’t anywhere near this bad anymore.

- “Americans say the noisy protesters at town hall meetings are expressing authentic outrage. Some 52 percent think it is real outrage by concerned citizens — significantly more than the 29 percent who think the protesters are fake mobs planned by lobbyists and other opposition groups”

- “Moreover, nearly half of Americans feel “frightened” (31 percent) or “angry” (17 percent) about the government being more involved in their health care, while about one in four feels “indifferent” (27 percent). Less than one in five Americans feels “reassured” (19 percent).”

And my favorite:
“Fifty-three percent think the horror stories they hear about what happens in government-run health care systems in other countries could happen here under the proposed plans, and if they were seriously ill an overwhelming 88-percent majority says they would rather receive medical care in the United States than in Canada. That includes large majorities of Democrats (86 percent), Republicans (92 percent) and independents (88 percent).”

Questions about underlying issues and attitudes aren’t even asked, and, despite presentation as a “scientific” poll, they bury the fact deep in the article that only registered (and hand selected?) Faux customers were actually polled.

Pure agitprop propaganda, transparently unbelievable.

how are you!!!????? hope all is well…new puppy here half pug…half JackRussell,some guy wants him…i must check guy out first

agreed……..shuddddder

PATRON SAINT OF HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO

boy im hankering for Lasagna

The Republics get away with this because there are so many of them speaking up and getting media coverage. The Democrats seem to have only Obama and his Administration, even with majorities in the House and Senate. Where’s Reid? Where’s Pelosi? Obama has to play one-on-many and polls are showing that the Republics’ lies are taking hold yet again.

jeebus

whats the matter with Kansas
whats the matter with the USA

How about the Democratic party build one large consumer group of millions of members who would then negotiate health insurance with one of the insurance companies or form their own health insurance company. This way we don’t have to worry about Republican opposition.

The Democratic party already has a credit card. Why not form our own millions of persons insurance group and leave the Republicans to their own failure in the rigged market.

Tell me your opinion. info@democratz.org

Read our blog http://blog.democratz.org

I keep hoping one of these “scared little girsl packing heat” would actually fall down and blow of their nads! That would be funny. What would be hysterical if that happens and someone asks if there’s a doctor around and the doctor comes over and asks the guy if he has HEALTH INSURANCE?

It’s important that we PUBLICLY thank the pledge signers.

In ads, in LTE’s, at town halls. Thank each signer PUBLICLY for having the courage to say no to the insurance industry and their lobbyists.

(It’s going to be a lot harder to back off the pledge if your constituents know that you PLEDGED not to support a bill lacking the public option.)

well.. I’m not convinced that they don’t just make up those numbers. I mean, they hide in the fine print that the pollees aren’t even people they called at random, but that the’re Faux registerees – probably even handpicked – to yield 90% opposition to healthcare reform.

Murdoch’s using downright totalitarian (not even authoritarian) propaganda tactics. Come on: “Fifty-three percent think the horror stories they hear about what happens in government-run health care systems in other countries could happen here under the proposed plans” or ” or “86% of Democrats and 92% of Republicans” prefer American over Canadian healthcare. That’s exactly like “99% of North Koreans re-elect Kim Jong Il” or “overwhelming Chinese youth say attack capitalist roaders” (actual headline from 1969).
This is what we’re up against.. what’s egging on the opposition ;-P. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Congress and the President should enact a $10 an hour minimum wage but until that happens:

On a minimum wage of $10 an hour, the Democratic party could keep a large database of employers that offer a $10 an hour minimum wage and again those employers who don’t offer a $10 an hour minimum wage would not get listed. This database could list companies that appear union friendly.

People around the country could search this database and leave antiunion Republican cheap labor employers in the dust. Your opinion? email info@democratz.org

Read our blog http://blog.democratz.org

wouldn’t you be better off, if Reid lost his seat even to a Republican, and then you had a chance to get a better person in his position?

its hard to believe,the media has soooo much sway…Just so 1984

I’m glad some Dems are willing to fight.

The real question is ‘why do the Democrats keep Hapless Harry as leader?’

The thing is, if he does remove the public option, he will gain back those who do not want this plan. Since there are more people who do not want the government meddling in healthcare than those who do want them in there, he will capitulate.

I be fine. 2 new tigers today. Both frightened out of their wits. Hiding.

Really no big deal Companies do this all of the time. Many companies withdrew their ads from CNBC for the special on porn, but they still advertise on the station.

The same will occur with FOX.

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com…..html#links this is a link to article at JG that has a list of the pay of most of the CEO of the health care Industry including where Bhye’s (sp? not worth looking up) wife works.

Man, the concern trolls are comin’ out of the woodwork. Rain musta flooded under the bridge.

“NO P.O …. then you got to vote no.”

I like that phrase it’s catchy yes?

The Regooplics aren’t voting for anything.

No chance, no way, nohow. If they were to suddenly turn around and hand President Obama a quasi-victory on health care reform their base would abandon them. I don’t think it would happen even if their corporate masters told them to do it.

I’ve wondered the same thing, he is so namby pamby, lord he makes my skin crawl.

i like this idea

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..lity-to-50

Sounds like “miscarriage of justice” isn’t in Scalia’s lexicon.

Agreed.

Not talking about the Congresstards, I am talking about those that really matter. The people.

One, at minimum, was an Obama supporter. The guy with the AR Mini 15 on his shoulder.
According to HuffPo/AP . . . . what do we do when a black guy, with an AR Mini 15, who supports Obama, shows up at a public event? Is he INVITING a whacked out white racist who’s armed to draw down?

Wierd, but hey, intimidation works both ways. Until someone panics and draws first.

Soon we will be at the point of “this town ain’t big enough for both of us” – remember that in the old westerns?

“From what the story reads, the progressives will allow a bill out without a public plan.”

What story? The one Jane posts, the NYT’s stories she links? NONE of them infer or say what you say.

Just confused by your statement . . . . Jane’s thread is all about NO BILL WITHOUT A PO!

Thanks for some clarification . . .

Yeah – that is what I am saying. Hell, I would even door knock for a Repug and that is saying alot. But I really think we need to clear a few of the dead wood DINO’s out just to send a message.

It’s PUSH time!

PUSH!!
PUSH!!!
PUSH!!!!

Yeah, I’m kinda torn between meeting the asshats on their own turf and the fear of the fight that’s BOUND to break out sooner than later if we go unarmed.

From Brad Blog – http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7360#more-7360

UPDATE 08/17/09: An Aug. 17, 2009 front page article in The New York Times, “’Public Option’ in Health Plan May be Dropped,” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, reveals how the corporate media has conflated the health insurance industry-funded, wing-nut mobs into an excuse for describing “betrayal” as “compromise” — justified because the “’public option’…emerged as a flashpoint for anger and opposition.”

Stolberg conveniently forgets that a June 2009 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll revealed that 76% of all Americans support a “public option.” A Feb. 2009 New York Times/CBS News poll revealed that 59% of all Americans favored a national health care system. A Feb. 2009 Grove Insight Opinion Research poll found that 60% of all Americans favor Medicare for All, the single-payer concept embodied in H.R. 676.

What we are seeing is a classic case of perception management by the corporate-owned, mainstream media. The same media, which inundates prime time news hours with wing-nut, town hall protests, failed to so much as mention that, in the span of one week, thirteen single-payer advocates were arrested for protesting their exclusion from the discussions of health care “reform” taking place in the Baucus-led Senate Finance Committee. Indeed, as I noted in “Single-Payer and the ‘Democracy Deficit,’” the words “single-payer” are rarely mentioned by the corporate media, MSNBC providing the occasional against-the-grain exception. The corporate media essentially ignored the large July 30, 2009 single-payer protest in Washington DC, staged as part of the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Medicare.

By extensive coverage of wing-nuts, the corporate media skewed reality. The “opposition” to a “public option” comes from a tiny but very vocal minority. The Democrats who entered a Faustian bargain that will perpetuate a corrupt health care system that, annually, kills nearly seven times the number of Americans who lost their lives on 9/11 are not, as the Washington Post would have us believe, “moderates.” Corruption and betrayal can, by no stretch of the imagination, be seen as a reasonable “compromise.”

All in all, great news from the congcrit progs, and Mz. Hamsher.
Good comments as usual from all you usual Pups, also . . . .
Up and down like a yo yo on a string, to coin an alternate roller coaster analogy.
*G*

this will be really good news if (and only if) it results in the death of the current reform effort.

A “public option” isn’t enough — and what passes for a “public option” in both HR 3200 and in the Senate HELP proposals are worthless because neither will be large enough to effectively negotiate reimbursement rates. Indeed, the likeliest scenario is that the “public option” will be prohibited from pursuing such “negotiations” with drug companies and hospitals.

Please stop with this mindless support of a “public option” and make the effort to understand what the “public option” will be comprised of… Physicians for a National Health Plan is a great place to start, and concentrate on anything by Kip Sullivan there.

If a party that controls tne entire government cannot even get a strong public option in a heath bill, the “Party of NO’ will defeat the “Party of Can’t” in 2010 & 2012. Time to stand up my Democratic Party. This is your time. This is your moment. Will it be in the pockets of Corporate America or helping the people who elected you. We know who gave you the money. We know who voted you in. Do NOT take our vote for granted. You will regret it very soon. By the way, no Republican has, nor will, support you. They didn’t vote for you. We did. Show us some respect.

From HuffPo:

The U.S. General Accounting Office produced a report(pdf) on cooperatives in March 2000 that was mostly sour on the idea.

Glad to hear this. Thank you Jane, for all the organizing, media appearances and the whip tool. I know without a shadow of a doubt it’s a big part of why we’ve gotten this far.

Come on, folks, you KNOW there’s going to be a massive cave-in at some point.

This is like being a Cleveland Indians fan in spring training. We’re all full of Hope for Change. Yeah, this is our time.

Then we get stomped by reality.

Democrat or Republican, wingnut or moonbat, progressive or blue dog . . . it doesn’t matter. In the end, they’re all politicians first, foremost, and always. And that’s why they’ll always let us down.

mc,

You hint at a pretty good analogy here. On this issue, the fight between the Republicans and the Democrats can be likened to a battle between the impotent and the eunuchs.

Members of the Senate Finance Committe from UT, MT, ND, AK, IA and WY represent 10.55 million people. By way of comparison, Sen. Durbin from IL represents 12.9 million people, and HE is beginning to walk back from his prior public commitment to health care REFORM with a robust public option. There is no strong Democratic Senate leadership. President Obama has so far passed on giving direction on reform to either the House or Senate leadership. There is no health care REFORM without the public option. Sen. Baucus’ charge to Sen. Conrad in June was to craft a political solution by creation of health insurance “co-ops”, whatever those are. Does anyone know what this creation is? Rushed into consideration? How it is established? How it works? Administered? Will it drive down health care costs? Scored by the Congressional Budget Office? Perpetuate enormous health insurance corporate profits? Are Republicans on board with “co-ops” without knowing what they are? Didn’t think so. Democrats have 60 members in the Senate, and this is the best we get? Statesmanship? Hardly. Had enough? Me too.

Ditto that — if Pelosi, Miller and Waxman hadn’t been committed to having a public plan, we would’ve lost it already.

Which doesn’t mean that in the end they wouldn’t fall in line if they thought they had to, but that’s where the “make me” part comes in.

Lobbyists don’t generally make people do what they don’t want to do, they make it easier for them to do what they’re already inclined to do. That’s what we’re doing.

Hi sadly, I do too. It’s a lot better than a total giveaway to the insurance companies.

Regular people don’t know what “single-payer” means. We need to talk abot “Medicare for All.”

lukasiak, this is very much to the point. A “brave” stand by progressive Congresscritters standing firm against a bill without a public option, is just so much kabuki if all it gets us is the PO in HR 3200, or the Senate HELP committee bill. That kind of PO is nonsense. We’d be much better off with a minimalist bill that declared it illegal for insurance companies to 1) deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, 2) charge people with pre-existing conditions more than others are charged, 3) rescind anyone’s policy because they failed to report a pre-existing condition, or because they got sick while insured, or 4) raise anyone’s premiums because they’ve gotten sick while insured. If we passed just that right now and made it effective immediately, we’d stop a lot of the bleeding going on due to the private insurance system; and next year (in an election year) we could come back and push for Medicare for All, which we’d either get, or alternatively be able to negotiate a Jacob Hacker type of PO system in return for mandating health insurance coverage.

Notice this sequence of doing things would be much harder for Blue Dogs” to oppose. That is, how could any Democrat object to the above 4 requirements without explicitly aligning themselves with the insurance companies? Further, if such a bill passed, it would immediately impose heavy costs on the insurance companies and begin to wipe out their profits. Putting them in a much more favorable frame of mind for negotiating something worthwhile in 2010.

Yes. Maybe the USA will get it right!

We should e-mail these companies and thank them for refusing to support hate. We should also suggest that if they are still advertising on other FOX Shows like Hannity, et al, that they might want to tune in and get a clue that these hatemongers are just as repugnant as Beck and that these guys also turn us off to their products and services.

I must have missed something when I read the NYT article on Rahm.

How you doin’ today, Rahm? Hope you enjoyed your trip under the bus, courtesy of the New York Times on Saturday. Nice pushback to your attempts to make Max Baucus and Jim Messina the scapegoats for your grand mess.

That hardly seemed like throwing him under the bus. Of course, I am Russian Jewish and it takes a lot to rile me. As I said, “Maybe I missed something.”

There are some basic points about Rahm which actually encourage me. His dad, Benjamin, was and is a staunch promoter of public health issues in Chicago. His mom, Marsha, was a civil rights worker. His older brother, Ezechiel, is a long-time, passionate, devoted advocate of healthcare reform. Those are good points. Furthermore, he has taken the lead in opposing settlement expansion in Israel; that actually surprised me. He has really pissed off Bibi N, which personally delights me.

Of course, Rahm is a hard-nosed politician, and a “political chess” player of the first accord. He knows how to play the game and seemingly has little or no concern about how people view him. And he may be a far craftier player than we suspect. Or he may be just what he seems to be. Who knows? I suspect he is a lot more complex than he appears.

How does all of this will translate in the drive for healthcare reform, the public option and a significant lowering of our substantial healthcare costs in this country? Who knows? We just got to keep pushing and don’t stop pushing until we get what we want.

BTW, Haaretz and the J Post do a much better job of “throwing Rahm under the bus”.

But what’s going to happen when The republican/blue dog coalition make it clear that it’s their way or no bill at all? At the 11th hour the 57 will cave, preferring crumbs to nothing at all. I don’t see what real political leverage the 57 have.

Anyone know why Rep. Jan Schakowsky is not one of the progressives taking the pledge?