Along with Howard Dean, Trumka is one of the only leading figures to defy Rahm Emanuel’s decree that “f&!ing liberals”  leave Blue Dogs and ConservaDems alone on health care.  It’s good to see someone breaking down the walls of the liberal veal pen that Obama will very much need assistance from to sell the Baucus Caucus deal to disallusioned Democrats (look for them to be mainstreaming the benefits of the “goodybag” soon).

We’re excited to have Richard Trumka on FDL on Monday at 4pm ET/1pm PT to discuss health care reform.  Please join us.

Unlike Glenzilla, I’m not worried about the Naderization of the left, nor am I worried that Obama will lose young people if he fails to appease the liberal base. He will lose young people and the left if he forces them pay tribute to Blue Cross with no cost controls and no competition. There is no constituency who supports that. I could run the campaign against that tomorrow. I very well may. But even if I don’t, the Republicans will.

Now, as if on cue, some of the Blue Dog Democrats are picking up on Steny Hoyer’s message about the public option "having to go" for the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives. Rep. Jason Altmire, who’s one of the leading Blue Dog Democrats in the House, just said: The House’s healthcare [...]

Steny Hoyer, patron saint of the Blue Dog Democrats, just got off a conference call with reporters in which he said that in order for the health bill to pass the House of Representatives, that the public option would be tossed overboard as an essential part of the package. Hoyer (D-Md.) emphasized his support for [...]

You can’t implement the biggest economic change program since the New Deal without public trust. The White House tried to sell trust in a man — Obama — at a time when that trust was breaking down in the wake of the banking debacle, which as Krugman says created tremendous populist mistrust across the board. Remember that this was where the teabaggers got their start, where their messaging took root, and it was the result of the same Rahm Emanuel calculus: buy off big business with taxpayer dollars and keep them from funding the Republicans.

Standing Up for the Public Option has raised over $300,000.00. Amazing…. Took the Pledge Only With "Robust" PP Weasel Words "Open to Anything" Emanuel Cleaver II Lloyd Doggett Donna Edwards Keith Ellison Bob Filner Barney Frank Raul Grijalva Phil Hare Rush Holt Carolyn Maloney Jerrold Nadler Chelle Pingree Lynn Woolsey Robert Wexler Maxine Waters Earl [...]

To all of you who pitched in when it really mattered, take a bow, you did this. You kept the momentum going when it was really, really important. We cannot thank you enough for your continued support.

The House Dems have 77% of the country behind them. Conrad and Bayh have WellPoint and Blue Cross behind them, and messy financial ties to boot. Will they join with the Republicans to filibuster a Democratic health care bill? Because as Kagro X says, that is very much what they are saying they will do.

Virginia blogger Ben Tribbett of NotLarrySabato reports that Terry McAuliffe believes it’s time to "insist" on having a public plan in any health care bill.  McAuliffe is the former head of the DNC and a fundraiser extraordinaire, so this offer should be attractive to  Democratic Reps from Virginia:  Terry’s agreed to host a fundraiser with [...]

President Obama will have a health care forum today at 2:30 pm ET. I’ll be on MSNBC with David Shuster and Monica Novotney today at 4 pm ET talking about it.