Comments on: 60 Members of Congress Say “No Public Plan, No Conference”

By: barrelofmonkeys

barrelofmonkeys — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:47:13 +0000

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

By: arion

arion — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:38:12 +0000

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.

By: SpikeSmudik

SpikeSmudik — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:36:17 +0000

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”.

By: xargaw

xargaw — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:24:37 +0000

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.

By: ChrisB

ChrisB — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:53:44 +0000

Yes. Maybe the USA will get it right!

By: letsgetitdone

letsgetitdone — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:37:36 +0000

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.

By: letsgetitdone

letsgetitdone — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:24:05 +0000

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

By: letsgetitdone

letsgetitdone — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:20:58 +0000

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

By: Jane Hamsher

Jane Hamsher — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:16:12 +0000

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.

By: nowformerdemocrat

nowformerdemocrat — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:56:48 +0000

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.