a day without Hamsher is a day without accountability

thanks Jane

watching congress forge legislation is far far worse than watching sausage being made

I’m with cbl2, thank you very much Jane. I too can not believe Durbin and Reid think we will settle for AHIPCare. If they do sell us completely out to Wellpoint et al, do they think the Democratic party will not be, as Howard Dean said, “toast?”

Thank you! And yeah, hard to see how they think this is a good idea. I eagerly await my “damn those Republicans! emails.

I wish everybody -House, Senate, president – everybody – would just put this fucking “debate” out of its misery and move on to EFCA so I can get really pissed.

Any question that begins “Are they reslly so slimy…” has a default answer when speaking of Senate Demcrats: YES

Durbin sent a letter to your late feline?

I thought bait ‘n switch was against the law? Well, it appears not for pols.

Kobe’s a dog, and was a very active Democrat. On lotsa email lists, more likely than Jane actually.

Well, given the number of laws Congress has exempted themselves from following over the years, this should be no surprise.

To be sure: above below the law.

Might want to contact dickdurbin.com instead

Yep. With sausage, the slaughter occurs at the beginning of the process.

I really admire pols for interacting with constituents though their marketing divisions. Marketing creates an imaginary carrot, the pols give us the actual stick. Thank-you Sir, may I have another?

I did Durbin’s poll along with about a bazillion others but his poll had about zero statistical validity.

It’s starting to look like, short of revolution, that the best course of action is to start targeting receptive states for single-payer. California would be a natural for this especially with the possibility of Gerry Brown moving into the Gov’s mansion (again.) But Calif. is dead broke and that would be used as an excuse to vote it down. Also, Brown has a history of doing the stupidest thing possible when the spotlight is on him. Maybe he’s learned a few things over the years but I would’nt count on it. Any other state out there that might be a suitable target candidate for single payer?

oooh, i got one of those!
it was from the DSCC with Al Franken’s name on it, and it was all about those wascawwy wepubwicans.

So i called them and explained why i’m not going to give them any money, pointing out that the Republicans are in the minority and can’t sustain a filibuster unless democrats help them.

i don’t know who the fuck they think they’re fooling. they spent 8 years saying the democrats need 60 votes to move anything forward, and maybe they think democrats have bad memories.

Colorado has a proposal that was fully paid for but it was posponed waiting on DC.
http://www.healthcareforallcolorado.org

That’s true. He was very active.

Though Katie’s interest in politics has definitely stepped up since Kobe’s passing.

So,
I am glad to see the fire spewing out of you again, Jane. Now, what do you think we should do about the fact that the final PO will be worse than the weak sauce PO the House slimed out last week? I may have missed it, but, if not, what is your honest appraisal of the House PO as it now stands? And if you are going to support it just to get something on Health Care, could you tell me what you think the pitiful little PO the congress is pushing will turn into in 10 years? Also, why haven’t you pushed very strongly for CBO assessment of Single Payer. I think we ought to push for something much stronger than what the congress says is possible. I would like to see a partial bill passed that specifically addresses recision and pre-existing conditions for now. Then, use the anti-trust status of the Insurance companies to set costs at Medicare +5 or +10. Then, come back next year when all of these slimy BlueDogs and their Senate Fagans are running for re-election and hit them hard. Force them to vote for a strong PO or imperil their re-election. I doubt they can win their districts and states if the base leaves them, no matter how much money they get. Obama-Rahma and the BlueDogs, and secretly the insurance shareholders, are trying to rush things now so they can pull off their bait-and-switch and then never look back on health care. I for one feel like the liberal base has been shat on. On topic, I sent Durbin’s little email back with a scorching reply as well. They really do think we are stupid or, probably more likely, they think we will do what we always have done, take one for team. Rah-Rah-Rah go corporatist Democrats!

Mike, what are its chances? Calif has a proposal that passed both houses but was nixed by Arnold. Colorado would be a great place for this to launch because of its conservative reputation. The perfect state would be medium to large (in population-for a better risk pool,) not be in desperate financial straits, have a fairly well educated populace with a strong corps of activist leaders, be slightly right-leaning so as not to be perceived as a bunch of lefty commies by the rest of the country, have an agreeable legislature and governor and finally it would help, sadly, if there were a lot of uninsured and under -insured to tell their stories to the neighbors and vote. I’m starting to see this whole battle as like a mixed-martial arts contest. It will require a constant shifting of attack modes for any hope of victory. Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.

Look, your efforts have been successful. You’ve convinced us never to work on your cause, it’s just too toxic. Nobody wants to fight this all day long. You’re on your own. I hope your efforts are a stunning success, let us know when you score a victory.

I’d laugh, but it has sadly become obvious timr in post #2 is right.

I’d love to be generous and tell every Dem senator to vote their conscience, knowing that as a Dem their conscience is behind this reform. If a Dem senator supports the Repub effort and kills reform then what else should we do except kick them out of the caucus, strip them of seniority & chairmanships and support any and all candidates (including Republicans) who run against them in their next election. Seems fair to me.

Healthcare reform is THE #1 Democratic Party issue and has been for some time. If anybody pretending to be a Dem opposes that it can only be because they are not really a Dem at all. And being an opponent is bad enough, but to pretend to be a Dem so they can sink this is a very big step too far and it’s unforgivable.

If we can’t get federal reform then each state can do it’s own, like CO, and the insurers will be, as Dean said, “toast” and then they can lament they didn’t let federal reform happen.

Oh what we don’t realize we’ll miss until it’s gone.

Nice insurance company ya got there. Be a shame is single-payer happened to it.

Nice chairmanship ya got there. Be a shame if it was given to somebody else.

Nice senate seat ya got there. Be a shame if a Republican got campaign contributions from Liberals.

I guess some people in power don’t think the unthinkable can happen.

you know you have some good points when they reply to none of your points, and start right in with, er, whatever it was that #22 was about.

this whole debate is confusing. But I do know that I don’t like “strongest possible public health insurance option to pass the Congress” and sent my Senator a reminder that a robust public option is available to everyone and available on day one. Nothing less is robust or acceptable. I felt the need to remind him that we are talking about peoples’ health, not corporate wealth

A mandate to buy healthcare coverage without a public option is unconstitutional. I myself will join the lawsuit arguing this. I would rather the reform go down in flames in court than allow the criminals in congress to try to FORCE citizens to give their money to for-profit insurance companies so they can pay out fat bonuses and “maximize shareholder value”.

I WILL violate a law that attempts to mandate that I give money to ANY private company. The government simply cannot do that. No robust, full-open public option, no mandate. I will NOT pay and I will do my damnedest to see defeated any politician that votes for that shit.

The public option needs to be getting more important attention. The model that’s been proven should be the one that people are discussing and figuring out how to apply that model to a national program. http://cli.gs/23yYaM/

~~~ModNote: Please use external links infrequently here, once a day will be fine. Thank you.~~~

The public option better happen… We need a plan to combat this http://www.newsy.com/videos/drugmakers_raise_prices_ahead_of_health_care_reform