So discouraging. But thanks for keeping the facts front and center in the midst of all the convenient, self-serving lies.
I can hardly believe I’m already to the point of tuning out this president, just as I did with the last. I just can’t stomach the spin, let alone the outright lies.

FunnyWheelieDiva

And you haven’t even mentioned his lies about what really went on in Copenhagen.

Lie is what candidate Obama did best. President Obama is simply following in his own footsteps. When the ATM drives up, I hope everybody will remember thyat more and better Democrats is a joke. Don’t contribute and don’t vote for all the progressive Democrats that bailed and left us high and dry.

I would say that Democrats often need better “wordsmiths” because they have this idea of what he wanted to say and then they have the actual words said. Sometimes they contradict each other.

Did Obama actually mean to say that he never brought up the public option as part of his campaign? If so, he lied.

Did Obama actually mean that when campaigning on health reform during the campaign, he was campaigning on health reform in general and while a public option was part of his ideas, it was not necessary to get what he would call health reform?

In a vaccum, it sounds like a the former. But I would need the entire context of what was said to reach a definite conclusion.

It is a sad day when Joe Wilson is proven to be correct!

When you open Websters dictionary and look Up the definition of liar, Obamas picture would be fitting.

So, are we now ready to say to Obama: “You Lie?”

Joe Wilson was still wrong though. At least on that one sentence in the address to Congress, he didn’t lie. This bill most certainly does not provide health care to illegal immingrants.

But yeah, he’s lying now. Asshole.

as always jon, excelllant stuff, a little edit for ya though, use it if you like;

For all the people in the “we will fix it later” crowd, please notice Obama is not on your side. He thinks this he can convince you this reform bill is just fine as it is.

there, that should do it, because he doesn’t think this bill is fine, he knows exactly what he is doing

This is sad, but the Village says we are insane or on hallucinogenic drugs for expecting Obama to follow through on his campaign promises. If Obama is the playing three dimensional chess, perhaps he is intentionally throwing this red meat at the left to reignite our anger. He secretly wants the DFH to keep pushing for a better bill. Ya think?

The more he lies, the more pissy his facial expression becomes. It’s his tell.

He also said that he wouldn’t raise taxes on anyone making under $250k. The Senate bill taxes the cadillac plans which could be someone making under $250k. He needs to be pressed on this and the mandate.

I feel very insulted by Obama’s comments about the “public option” becoming some symbolic talisman. He seems unwilling to make the case for why it’s not worthwhile, instead resorting to a highbrow version of name-calling. Justify to us why your way is better. Explain why propping up obscene profits for insurance companies is better.

The public option isn’t some ideological touchstone, it’s a practical, functional way to force competition into health care. Most everyone fighting for the public option would have far preferred single-payer.

Obama insults us all.

great catch!

I did not have sex with that woman.

I dodged sniper fire in Bosnia.

I opposed the Bridge To Nowhere.

I didn’t campaign on the public option.

“We’ve always been at war with Eastasia.”

By the way, the public plan is mentioned on page 46 of the campaigns official policy book: http://www.amazon.com/Change-We-Can-Believe-Americas/dp/0307460452#reader_0307460452

Search for public plan and you can see it.

obama was played by the republicans pretty bad

they said “if we can defeat health care we will defeat obama”

obama actually believed that crap and he has gone all in on health care to get it done

all in on a duece-seven…the man is neither a chess player nor poker even though he was marketed as both

More choco-rations. Double-plus good.

Speaking of pissy facial expressions…

Per Think Progress:

– In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that “any American will have the opportunity to enroll in [a] new public plan.” [2008]

– During a speech at the American Medical Association, President Obama told thousands of doctors that one of the plans included in the new health insurance exchanges “needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market.” [6/15/09]

– While speaking to the nation during his weekly address, the President said that “any plan” he signs “must include…a public option.” [7/17/09]

– During a conference call with progressive bloggers, the President said he continues “to believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go.” [7/20/09]

– Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that a public option “should be a part of this [health care bill],” while rebuking claims that the plan was “dead.” [9/20/09]

Lets face it – both Democrats and Republicans are just two faces of the same coin. And the coin is corporatism. But in reality what we have seen is actually FASCISM. Using state power to transfer wealth from middle class citizens to corporate elites. Tens of trillions have been transferred to financial elites to pay for the “meltdown” in financial markets ostensibly to “save” the financial system from collapse. Tens of billions have been transferred to war profiteers ostensibly to fight the terrorists while the Taliban receive protection money to allow military convoys to move through their areas. And now hundreds of billions are transferred to health insurance and pharmaceutical corporations so that their executives can receive even more millions in wages and bonuses.

Who is left holding the bag – working Americans.

And what will the working American do as they continually get raped and outsourced ???

Jinx, eCAHN!

you know, I never thought I would give credit to rove but credit goes to where it is due

he actually played Obama like a puppet, now the corporatist have their bill, the republicans have a mark, the progressives are disillusioned and Obama fell for their trap and will be a one term president

I never thought I’d see the day I would be admiring roves competance…welcome back the new republican majority, you weren’t gone long

I agree with puppethead. He doesn’t need just to tell us why this plan is so great. He needs to argue why it is better. I mean, he must think it’s super good if he was willing to trade a central plank of his plan for it.

From Rahm’s Lessons Learned File

Observation: The public backlash to George W. Bush’s relentless lying and hypocrisy got Obama elected to the presidency in November 2008 with strong paper majorities in both houses of congress.

Conclusion: Given America’s historical & political amnesia with so much time between now and 2012, why not try the same tactics as the previous adminstration? It got them a second term, didn’t it?

Recommendation: Call James Cameron’s Avatar CGI team stat — We must get rid of that deer in the headlights look in the president’s eyes whenever he talks in front of the camera and says something he knows for a fact is false or misleading.

I never thought I’d see the day I would be admiring roves competance…welcome back the new republican majority, you weren’t gone long

Gone???

When did they leave?

I posted this on another blog around mid-July. I was tarred, feathered, and run out of town for posting it. But, aside from a few outdated points, I still think it rings quite true.

Personally, I think in the end, Obama is going to go with the “Screw The Struggling 70 Million Americans Who Voted For Me” option that he’s been planning all along. But let’s say by some miracle, decent health care reform does pass in spite of Obama’s apparent sabotage of REAL health care reform, and even if he happens to get a few good pieces of legislation passed over the next several years, I’m getting really suspicious about who this guy really is as far as being someone I can trust. This is important to me after 8 years of the most corrupt administration in my lifetime.

I’m talking about what Obama is revealing about himself by his own actions, and not by how he’s being defined by the corporate owned media and the nut jobs. A lot of people have been bending over backwards giving Obama the benefit of the doubt while I think they have been secretly scratching their heads about him too, but let’s be real here: this guy is really starting to smell. I think we’ve been had by a snake oil salesman with a million dollar smile.

You can say all politicians lie, but I’m not talking about the bullshit that all politicians spew. I’m talking about a deep seated deceptive character. He’s just not at all who he appeared to be during the campaign. It’s almost like, after having a whirlwind courtship and marrying the woman of your dreams, you wake up with a hangover only to find that you’ve married Glen Close from Fatal Attraction, or that your beautiful new bride has a penis (humor not intended).

I think we might have made a big mistake electing this guy. Even with a best case scenario, the Democratic House and Senate coming together and fighting as a team and actually passing a good, robust public option in spite of the White House and their back room deals, in the end, we’re still going to be stuck with a very charming and gifted liar, and basically a fraud that can’t be trusted, for our president for the next 3 years. This coming off of the disastrous and destructive 8 years of the Bush Administration, and I think I’m almost in a state of shock learning that our new President is just another immoral, self-serving, untrustworthy liar.

Another thing, No Drama Obama was a fallacy. The truth is, backing Obama is a never ending ride on the emotional roller coaster. You never really know where you stand with this guy; you never really know if he’s got your back or not, or if he’s even on your side or not. Sure, he’ll give a pretty speech and reassure you he’s fighting for you, but then his actions leave you feeling let down and often betrayed.

It was like this all during the campaign, too. Is it his style? Is he a Political Chess Grand Master who’s always 15 moves ahead of mere mortals? I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s really politically extraordinary at all, other than the fact that he is a pretty great orator. I’m not really sure what to think; the guy just plain confuses and frustrates the hell out of me.

I’ve been anxious over this health care fight since it started. A lot of us don’t have the goddamn privilege of having health care. But I’ll tell you, most of my anxiety, at least from my point of view, is caused by watching what at least appears to be so far, my president play political games with my best chance of being able to have access to health care, and not die prematurely from a disease that could have been cured or prevented, if only His Majesty wasn’t more concerned with trying to ensure his own reelection. If this President, or any president, is willing to sacrifice even one human being for his own personal ambitions, that to me is unforgivably immoral.

Even if real health care reform does manage to pass on this President’s watch (in spite of Obama’s back room deals), I’m not so sure I’m willing to ride the emotional roller coaster that is the Obama Presidency for another seven years. I don’t mind the ups and downs of the fight, but I do mind the ups and downs of always wondering if my team Captain is playing for my team.

No matter what good comes out of the Obama Presidency, I can never trust this guy again. Even if he does the right thing in the end on health care reform, he’s already shown that giving his word doesn’t mean anything; it’s just another tool at his disposal for advancing his own personal ambitions in life.

I always trusted Hillary with healthcare, I bet she would have given Congress her bottom line & they would have met it; as it is now, they have met nothing because they had nothing to meet. I trusted Obama with the wars, look where that got us.

Yes, and do I remember something about ThinkProgress being an arm of the Ds? (Or did I make that up.) In any case, they don’t seem to be very enthused.

I am being subjected to severe ratings abuse and smear assault on kos for defending a poster who pointed out the same thing you just did. Please help. The smear machine are organized in gangs. Yes, I am buca.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/163719/37

“At least on that one sentence in the address to Congress, he didn’t lie. This bill most certainly does not provide health care to illegal immingrants”

Ironically, undocumented immigrants may come out of this better than the rest of us…provided they can remain healthy. In fact, I have a suspicion that I might have to head to Mexico for treatment in order to avoid the co-pays and (auto insurance-like) rate increases for “overuse”.

they’ll be voted out next cycle unless obama does something to energize the dems

polls show too many are so disillusioned they will not go to vote

we’re gonna be out next year unless obama finds bin laden or something

Of course he lied in the campaign. He wanted to be President. He would have killed his mother to get that. He’s scum like all the others.

He also said that if we were happy with our current insurance we could “keep it”…of course that hardly seems to be the “same plan” if the premiums and co-pays and related excise taxes force you out of it!

At the rate that Obama is going, he might catch up to Bush Jr. in the amount of lies he spews during his term in office.

Obama must think we’re stupid to believe the BS he is spouting now.

It’s called Chicago politics.

Unfortunately, the Big Dawg & Hillary couldn’t run fast enough to support Lieberman’s “independent” 2006 CT campaign against the democratic primary winner and nominee, Ned Lamont.

Regardless of what Hillary might have proposed as president, the same bought off senators would be delivering the *goods to Big Insurance, Pharma and Wall Street — Baucus, Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu, Feinstein, etc.

* That would be what was formerly known as the Public Good.

as long as the american people want a saviour and not overhaul the corrupt system nothing much will change.

this comes from religion that believes a saviour can die for their sins and off to heaven they go no matter who they screwed in this life.

capitalism is one big screw and the liberals, progressives and conservatives are in love with capitalism.

that love affair will end when the middle class becomes the lower class.

then too late the capitalists have won and get the lower class at third world wages.

being dumbed down has its sufferings.

give the capitalists credit they know how to dumb down an entire nation to take full advantage of their sweat and efforts.

even the journalists are capitalists and want you to blame the politicans and not the system.

as long as they can keep you in a blaming mode they have you right where they want you. ie dumbed down.

visit any blog and see how many want you to look at the system.

capitalism goes against every cosmic law there is.

it is based on social darwinism survival of the fittest and the capitalists are the fittest when it comes to wealth generation.

few will understand my words very few.

Uber Wanker of the Year

Since 95% of what Obama promised us on the campaign trail was a lie it is only fitting that he should now appraise the current legislation as reflecting 95% of what he promised instead.

What goes around comes around in the world of the shyster politician.

The only thing that makes Obama’s lies stand out is that even more people were duped into believing he was not your typical shyster politician. He really was going to change Washington.

And now he is just another Wall Street appendage. Soon [hopelfully] to be another ex-president awaiting his invitation from Bilderberg.

Or starts another war by invading a resource rich country. That seems to work every time.

Franken. Sanders. Feingold. Weiner.

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

We should’ve known that when he mentioned the public plan in pp.45-46 of his official campaign book, his website, and on the stump, he wasn’t campaigning on it. He was just talking about it. And by talking about it, he wasn’t saying he was really for it… maybe he was against it. And it wasn’t very important, anyway. And maybe words can mean just precisely what he wants them to mean, neither more nor less…

We have to CONTINUE TO FIGHT. These Crooked Democrats will at this point only understand ONE THING; that is the loss of their jobs. They think we will forget by next November. The HOUSE NEEDS TO BE THE FOCUS.
CALL, EML show up in person – SWAMP THESE DEMOCRATS WITH YOUR VIEWS NOW! Don’t get sidetracked by Christmas – Pelosi is up for re-election as are many others, SWAMP THEIR OFFICES folks, DO IT and those members on the Conference committee – Let them know what we want (AGAIN!), If they do not see the wisdom in doing their JOBS, well VOTE THEIR ASSES OUT. And tell them that. Obama needs to hear this too!

THIS IS JUST WRONG. WE NEED TO DRIVE THIS MESSAGE, NOT THE WHITE HOUSE! FRONT PAGE OF FDL, AND HUFF POST OVER AND OVER; PICTURE OF PELOSI, REID, OBAMA, NELSON, MCCASKILL, STENY HOYER and others “LOSERS 2010 and 2012.

Call LOCAL, Call DC, IF YOU WANT IT – DO IT!

Marcy summed this up pretty well yesterday, taking Ezra Klein to task in her post “Ezra: The Senate Plan Is Just Like What Obama Campaigned On–Except for All the Ways It’s Not”. The bottom line:

Look, I’m sympathetic to the idea that we should pass this if only to get 30 million people health insurance (but not, necessarily, health care). I think those pitching the Senate bill are doing so in a good faith belief that the good outweighs the bad in it.

But seriously, it really hurts the cause to then turn around and claim that Obama has delivered on his campaign promise when he hasn’t. Argue that this bill really helps the working poor who make up the biggest group of those who lack health care now. Argue that this bill is important enough to pass in its very problematic form and may get better over time. Argue that this is just the outcome of legislative process. Argue (as Ezra did about mandates, though I think his argument is incomplete) that these changes were necessary. But don’t make a list of the fundamental differences between what Obama campaigned on and what the Senate produced and then try to claim that, “it is very hard to argue that the bill Congress looks likely to pass is fundamentally different from the approach Obama initially advocated,” because you have basically just shown that, no, it is not.

But go read the whole thing, to get the full picture. Via Ezra, she links to campaign documentation that spells out what Obama did run on — and the public option was part of that campaign.

Welcome to the Lake…! It’s waters are wide and deep…! *g*

Maybe he means he just didn’t SAY “public Option”….

Obama seems to have the same MO for whatever he’s dealing with.
1. Make big, specific promises to get elected
2. Once in office cut secret backroom deals with the powers that be
3. Lie
You mention Copenhagen, well, Obama has been accused by other countries of doing secret backroom deals with the major players – where have we heard that before?

Truly Orwellian. Number 1 says he never said. Its just that millions of us heard him , believed him and worked for him because we thought he would work for us. Its a bitter pill the backroom deals and obstruction of any cost saving measures like reimportation, on and on… looking for the next regroup for progressives, but its a bitter experience.

Or maybe he had his fingers crossed behind his back.

True, he did say “public plan” as often as “public option”, which was a kind of re-branding to indicate its voluntary nature. I’m sure what he’s really saying is for progressives to STFU about the public option already and get with his program :)

I would say this to you, maybe the democrats actually need FEWER “wordsmiths”. No one cares about the legal argument. No one who voted for obama because they believed his campaign rehtoric is going to be consoled by any convoluted “wordsmithing” that proves he never really said what he wanted us all to think he was saying. Personally im even more pissed off at the lying asshole, for fobbing off the blame for his duplicity onto people who honestly beleived he was the agent of positive “change” he claimed to be. Im getting very used to that from him.

Can he be impeached for this?

That would be fun.

right. wheres richard mellon scaiffe when you need him.

Now, I want the beltway press to hammer him for this. I still intend to keep fighting but, the President had better walk that bullshit statement. It’s a disgrace!

This is playing a semantics game. Split hairs all you want or better yet, do a google search on his speeches and just start listening. In fact, I will go one step further and suggest you go all the way back to when he was running for the Senate in Illinois. THEN he was for Universal Health Coverage. WOW!

The fact is he is feeding us crap and calling it caviar. And I would rather have had a President and Congress that tried – for real – and failed then accept the lame narrative that “it’s just too difficult”. We elected a sweeping majority and now we need to demand our monies worth. We want what we voted for.

Take whatever we can get? B.S.

I say, YES WE CAN!

Even if Barack Obama CAN’T!

I’m disillusioned and pissed but I will not stay home on election day. I fully intend to go to the polls and vote AGAINST the Democrats.

That is what they want with the passage of this bill and that is what I am going to give to them.

This bill is entirely faith-based. Faith that CEOs and Boards of Directors wont jack up premiums, deductibles, and copays to the moon.

Faith-based because you gotta PRAY you don’t get sick because you wont be able to afford to go to the doctor. If you do go to the doctor because you are really sick, you will go bankrupt because the deductible and copays AND as a result of having the bad form of getting sick, your premiums will go even higher.

Mission Accomplished!

This guy is something else. Not only is he a wuss he lies about being a wuss. I can’t stand listening to the man. He’s kind of like George Bush in that regard. What will he lie about next?

His birth certificate?

Obama is too shitscared to have any more “town hall meetings” but if he were to do so, someone needs to be in there to confront him with his own lies.

Nail him openly and in front of everyone over this public option lie.

Nail him over his secret meeting with big pharma which was NO different from Cheney’s secret meeting with energy companies to determine what energy policy would be.

Then if you have a chance to shake hands,[Edited by Moderator. We don't go there, even in fantasy. That was fantasy, right?]

I will hold my opinion once, I see in a final bill that is to be sent to President for his signature. I can’t write to my house member because it is Doc Hastings the Bush rubber stamper. It’s a district that thinks Bush was gods gift to earth. I thank FDL along with many other progressives, but it’s our job to get more progressives in the House & Senate. We knew we had a problem with Lieberman because Connecticut vote for him for good or bad and nothing is going to change until 2012. One election at a time.

Obama is on the defensive BIG TIME. Check out this article about an interview he did with American Urban Radio Networks:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/12/22/2009-12-22_im_doing_best_i_can_for_blacks_bam_says.html

When asked about actor Danny Glover’s criticism (after Glover had been a huge Obama supporter) the president gets all defensive and sounds childish and petulant. He completely fails to respond to questions about how exactly he has done anything at all to help African Americans.

I believe we are seeing the meltdown of a presidency. I’ve seen it before and it ain’t purty but it usually takes a few years to get to this point. Obama is so out of touch with the American people and so completely deluded by Rahm and the DLCers that it’s just a matter of time before his presidency completely implodes as he battles Republcians crazies, liberal leftists, centrists, and everyone who isn’t a “believer” or an administration lackey.

Sad, sad, sad. I worked hard to elect Obama. I was so filled with pride on Inauguration Day. Today I am just sick to my stomach.

I was thinking probably, Afghanistan. Or wiretapping and the fun n games at DOJ. because when this mess has been rammed all the way through congress, the conversation might turn that way again.

I’m read to take to the streets.

Anyone?

to use a really trite phrase we really are kind of “down the rabbit hole” with the Obama govt and things just may start getting batshit crazy. It really is happening at a fast pace, and we havent even gotten to any other of his, ah, policy initiatives yet. None that are public anyway. God only knows whats going on behind locked doors in this really,actually, not just a figure of speech, FOR SALE white house.

In ancient Rome they held a pebble….

Who is going to primary this lying sack of manure?

Well, blogging sure isn’t working. We need a mob mentality and we can’t get that if we can’t see each others faces. The tea baggers did a real good job with that. ‘Course they had insurance backing and organizing.
Where’s MoveON?

Rahm’s pulled this stunt from his Lessons Learned While Hiking the Appalacian Trail file.

Danny Glover walks the walk

We cant stop Obama from driving over the cliff so we may as well watch the disaster. It is a pity, it didnt have to be this way. Forcing people to buy insurance from the insurance companies is going to haunt the democrats for a long time.

The republicans don’t need to do anything to defeat Obama & democrats in the context of this bill. They are doing a bang up job of defeating themselves.

David Dayen is upstairs!
Senate May Get Vote On Constitutionality Of Health Care Bill

This guy is a Chicago Politician…this is exactly how they do it in Chi-Town.

While from Southern Illinois myself, I was hoping to the point of donating money this guy was authentic but alas…no.

I have never been more hopeful and more devastated by one human being in such a short span of time. I realized who’s side he was on with the TARP and finding out Goldman-Sachs folks all but run the White House.

This country is bought and sold until we get off our asses and hit the streets the way we did during Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam, it will remain so.

The GOP are crooks and the Dems are learning their ways all to fast and all are not afraid to show their colors because they have changed the laws to make what they do legal. Bribes used to get ya thrown in jail but no more, taking bribes is now a sport.

that was my point as well

Oh Cripes! Maybe we elected Jon Favreau.
And we thought we were all done with Frat boys.

Whenever I think of who is probably most responsible for taking the bite out of the health care bill, I think of Joe Lieberman. And whenever I think of him, I think of the Israel Lobby. So if there’s any truth in what I’m saying, then I find it grossly ironic that Israelis, unlike Americans, have the privilege of having universal health care. But none of this should be particularly surprising to me given that Zionist neocons, like The OBomber and Traitor Joe, will drain us of blood and treasure in order to keep Israel alive and well.

That’s a particularly ugly turn.
How about Ben Nelson? Or Baucus? Or any Republican?

I usually think of Joe Leiberman with an erect joy that burns my heart with it’s passion and undying fervor.

But thank you.

Trolls from kos, junior trolls.

agreed.. he should have added.. “but if you don’t like your existing insurance, too bad, you’re screwed, you have to keep it”..

Everyone – go to DailyKos and read the article about Bernie Sanders amendment. We got more than we thought.

Really what we need is economic populism. And both left and right must merge under that banner. That’s how to defeat the corporatist elites.

Leo Gerard has a diary on the front page…
The Gift America Needs Most: Manufacturing

I sincerely believe that there will be a Republican majority in both houses of Congress after the mid-term elections. I figured Obama would operate this way when he picked Rahm. Rahm has shown in the past that he wants to “win” at any cost, and he’ll shed any principal, abandon any friend, to “win”. He is the same man who recruited a Republican to run for office in FL when there were already two good Democratic contenders. And the Republican/faux Democrat won, and later was nailed for a sex scandal. But he WON, right?

Apparently Obama chose Rahm because they operate the same way and hold the same philosophy.

You have hit the nail on the head with this 1984 quote. Fear the repubs and be knocked out by our last Democratic hope.

Obama the Great Re-Visionary

He sure isn’t doing much to diminish his growing reputation as a huckster BS artist, is he?

Sorry. I just blocked DKos under my Policy settings in Windows 7. The site is a total time waster. You’ll spend all your time there arguing with the massive Obama Defense League, which find their way into every thread. They attack every other site and activist relentlessly, especially this site and Jane Hamsher, which is often at odds with the position of the person who runs the site, Markos. The people who post on the front page have been rather low key in their positions and haven’t encouraged much activism on part of users of the site. So it’s all rather pointless really. At least here the front page users take strong positions and are often advocating some concrete action for users to take. The comment section also isn’t constantly bogged down in flame wars instigated by those who cannot stand anything critical/negative being said or implied about the president.

Anyway, I’d suggest not worrying about it and ask yourself what good comes of wasting so much time arguing endlessly with anonymous people over there?

By the way, the public plan is mentioned on page 46 of the campaigns official policy book: http://www.amazon.com/Change-We-Can-Believe-Americas/dp/0307460452#reader_0307460452

Search for public plan and you can see it.

wow..”Guarantee Health Coverage for Every American”

I made a screenshot to make it easier to see.

The excerpt starts on the bottom of Page 45

I have been trying to say the same thing in several posts. Forget the parties and the media. They are all corporates and intend to stay in power.

They just want to distract us with the games. — the politics and the details on the fringe of the system.

They have no regard for anyone other than self, much less what is best for those who work and those who sustain them. Keeping our eye on the corporate role and share in law and regs and rules and pointing it out relentlessly whenever there is a chance is the way to go. .

I don’t know how much more disillusionment I can take.

At least we are in touch with reality. The right wing regular folks have made themselves crazy rather than admit the truth of what Bush and the neocons did to them.

Yeah, but check out the koslings, there are people over there (lots!) trying to argue that he actually didn’t campaign on a public option because he called it a public plan.

Insanity!

I don’t do Kos. Doesn’t seem as friendly but maybe I just haven’t tried hard enough. I am disturbed now by them pushing on Jane. If not just petty jealousy it smells of a deal.

But it is sad if they are joining in the delusion. We need all on our side we can get. The other side wins if they keep us split.

He really is looking drawn up and tense, and it is undeniable that he is having a hard time looking the camera in the eye. I guess 8 years of GWB has convinced Obama’s handlers that you can lie your way through any crisis. We know the maninstream villagers will be reluctant to take him to task.

I disagree, a split is needed for some clear thinking going forward. We all have been lied to by this…person, and even our leftiest senators copped out on us. A reassessment is in order, imo. But don’t go over to kos, you’re right about that, it’s bonkers.

He is a liar – call him what he is – a liar and a fraud. Now, we can digest the big electoral swindle that took place last year and decide how to organize and move forward as we now know the Dems will not carry out a progressive agenda.

Oh, you noticed that too. As I have watched him read his prepared remarks I sense that he is ill-at-ease, as if he knows that “we know” what a fraud he has become. It is as if he can barely get out the talking points that have been prepared for him and with NO sincerity.

Same thing over at HP – I finally gave up and deleted my account.

I agree with most all comments above. What worries me is that we have a virtual vacuum among the Republican opposition (some Dems rejoice but a vacuum in politics is never a good thing if only because it allows our own side to get sloppy) and now we realize we have a moral vacuum in the WH in Obama and his marketers Rahm and Axelrod and the pathetic appointments Obama has made to his administration (look at Dennis Blair, my God, and the new Trade Rep for Agriculture who used to work for Monsanto; and Gary Gensler, the former Goldman Sachs guy nominated to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who worked to deregulate CDFs — like he thinks the public won’t notice). Being a liar is part of his emptiness, his shiftiness creating new “facts” in each interview and speech. He’s disingenuous as hell. OK, that problem is standing there.

Meanwhile in another vacuum area, this extreme rightwing Tea Party movement is cooking along with virtually nothing to counter it and the newsmedia (all of ‘em, not just Fox) inflaming coverage of TP protest rallies and town hall dramas for entertainment ratings. While both Dems and Republican are acting in a fascist manner (as an earlier poster mentioned) to transfers our public Treasury to private corporations, Dick Army and his gang are stirring up a morally fascist crowd who seem at ease with violence or the threat of it — who are at home with the priority of religion over democracy and science; who hate government, taxes and the public weal; who live closely with the imminence of this cockamamie End Times fantasy kept warm on a stealth level by Sarah Palin for whom many Tea Baggers as well as mediazers carry one of those 4 hour things; and who hate Barack Obama. A dangerous situation could develop, it seems to me. This entire hard right Tea Party movement could become America’s Brownshirts. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m just thinking about vacuums and what rushes into them.

One problem with Obama’s “super-brand” – empty – style of leadership is that not only might he be too weak to effectively counter the American Brownshirts but he will, in part, have caused it. To be fair, it’s not just Obama but his role in the larger swirl of media-politics. If anybody is paying attention to this strategically on our side, please consider ways to fill in substance in candidates we run for office and get off the marketing/branding kick (see Naomi Klein’s “No Logo” 10th Anniv Edition). I’m not an expert but it seems to invite godawful projections in places like the presidency.

Dems should create a special team to split away from the current DNC, DCCC etc who fell for the ObamaRahma ploy to create a think tank to self-examine this emerging nightmare, create a team to search for new candidates. Put Howard Dean in charge. He was duped by Obama, too, and may have been the worst sucker, but at least he realizes it.

Boy am I glad I did not vote for Obama, but instead wrote in Hillary’s name. I was never fooled by his overmarketed promises. He had never accomplished anything before being elected and hasn’t since. He even managed to accept a Nobel Prize for nothing. He’s the reason I no longer call myself a Democrat, but a proud political atheist.

Now who can we run against him in 2012?

Don’t get ahead of yourself, the progressive Democrats in the House haven’t left us high and dry…yet. That remains to be seen. If they keep their pledge to vote down a health care bill without a Public Option, they can still have a very positive impact on this process and, though the chances are slim, it is not outside of the realm of possibility that the bill ends up with a public option in it.

If history is any judge, it doesn’t look so good, progressives are known for being able to be blown over with a feather, they fold like cheap lawn chairs when even a tiny bit of pressure is applied. That’s what Obama is counting on and I sincerely hope that they disappoint him and stand on principle.

That would be a win-win; if they stick together as a block and keep their pledge, health care can’t pass them without a Public Option. It will have to be put back in or the legislation dies. They can hold the legislation hostage just like the regressive Senate Lieberdems can and flexing their muscle in this way has long-term implications as they will have proven a formidable block whose demands on future legislation are to be taken seriously.

If they fold, they will continue to be irrelevant and the conservative position will always win out. And I still don’t understand the pleas from some “progressives” in the blogosphere that the House progressives give up for the sake of expediency. They take threats from Lieberdems far more seriously than they do House progressives. That’s not to say they shouldn’t, the Lieberdems have historically proven to be more rigid than progressives but I don’t understand why they don’t seem to want that equation to change and almost revel in it. That’s myopic; if the House progressives keep their pledge, that doesn’t in and of itself kill the reform effort but it does change that equation in that going forward, progressive demands will be taken as seriously as Lieberdem demands. And we’ll end up with a better bill as a result.

Threats from Lieberdems that they will vote against the bill if it is changed at all in conference aside, let’s assume for a moment that the bill comes out of conference – thanks to the progressives – with a Public Option in tact. Conference report passes the House, now back to the Senate.

When the Senate has to vote, the pressure will be on them to pass the bill with a public option. Sure some have threatened to vote against it, but every Senator has their price and it will boil down to what deals Obama and Reid are willing to cut to get a yes vote on cloture. Remember: Senators can vote for cloture and still vote against the bill and the bill can still pass. It would be a lot of work and an uphill climb for the administration but they brought it all on themselves for not fighting harder for a PO in the beginning as Obama clearly did promise during the campaign.

The point is that if the bill comes out of conference with a PO and passes the House, the playing field shifts. No longer will the pressure be on progressives to cave, it will all be on the Lieberdems to cave. If Obama wants the bill at that point, he will have to fight for it, including the PO he campaigned on. And if the bill doesn’t pass the Senate, the fault will lie entirely with the Lieberdems, not the progressives.

I think a bill will pass one way or another with or without a public option and that’s why we need to bring all the pressure that we can bring to bear on House progressives to keep their promises.

The ActBlue page set up for contributions to Reps. that took the pledge was great, maybe a similar effort could be launched, not for donations but for pledges of donations (similar to the effort to get pledges to donate to Lieberman’s next opponent should he filibuster) for progressives to keep their promises and vote against the bill without a PO. Maybe even something like a pledge to donate X dollars irrespective of how they vote, who the pledged money would go to would be contingent on how they vote. If they keep their pledge, the pledged money goes to them. If they break their promise, the pledged money goes to their next primary opponent.

Just a thought.

I’m done with the Hope and the change we were duped to believe in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIfDc8pIJ54