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After avoiding direct questions for months, Donna Edwards signed the July 31 letter saying she would vote against any health care bill that didn’t have a public option. I caught up with her at Netroots Nation and she asked me to have a fundraiser for all the members of Congress who signed the letter.
“Carrots, not sticks,” she said.
Blogs across the country came together and did just that — raising $430,000 to thank 65 members of Congress for promising to hold the line at something 80% of the public wanted.
Donna Edwards said the same thing to Cenk Uygur on the Young Turks: “at the very minimum, a strong, robust public option has to be part of an ultimate, ultimate plan.”
Paul Jay of The Real News reported “Rep. Edwards to insist on public option.”
And as she told the Washington Post:
I’ve joined with 60-some of my colleagues who signed a letter to the president and to our leadership saying very clearly that if there’s not a public option in the final bill then I won’t support that bill.
They concluded, “In short, the public option remains a line in the sand for Edwards.”
Then she suddenly caught the #Rahmflu. Less than two weeks after the fundraiser she was equivocating: she “declined to speculate on whether she would vote against a conference bill without a strong public option….’That’s a long way down the line,’ Edwards said. ‘I am talking about the House vote.’”
Rep. Edwards should not have asked people to lead fundraisers of support for members of Congress who pledge their word if she’s not prepared to lead those members to honor it. Call and ask her if she will keep her promise, or give the money back.
| Call Donna Edwards: DC: (202) 225-8699, Silver Springs: (301) 562-7960, (301) 516-7601 and others who took the pledge. Let us know what you hear:
Write Maryland media and tell them to ask Donna Edwards if she intends to return the money. |
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And Donna’s phone jockey, she wanted to know what my comment was. No comment, just send me my money back. I actually DID send her money a while back, but didn’t get involved in the letter signers fund raiser ’cause I was pretty sure they would be liars in the end. Glad they didn’t disappopint.
Stage 1: Give us single payer!
Stage 2: Give us a public option!
Stage 3: Give us a weak public option!
Stage 4: Give us a worthless public option!
Stage 5: Give us our money back!
Change you can believe in.
Do you really care what they say? Every day Obama (& every other Dem. leader touting the proposed HCR Bill) overtly lies about what it will do. If the issue is accountability, Progressives must be willing to vote for the alternative this Nov. (radical Republicans).
How likely is that?
Why don’t you tell Donna Edwards — or the local papers of her district — that? Why stay here and preach to the choir? Go try to convince people of your message!
Both Edwards and Blumenauer are in safe-as-houses CDs. This shouldn’t be difficult for them at all. Not unless they’re being pressured by Rahm and/or his allies, the industry stakeholders.
Jane, with the Citizens United ruling they don’t even have to pretend that progressives and the “people” matter.
Donna Edwards two-faced liar, whose election was hailed as a true progressive victory. Perhaps FDL should remove the Blue America link at the top of the page. Maybe it is time to go find ourselves a new color…
You can send her and all the whipees a free fax at http://faxzero.com/
I hope Jane does a Huffington Post entry on these people.
I love your post.
Gotta say, you are making sense here. All these organizations seem to be supporting crap “democrat” liars. Enough is enough. Support them and give donations? How about f*ck them and every lying liar like them!? Give your money to the Rethuglicans. Screw it. At least they tell you how much they are going to screw you.
I’m quite sure Jane has only just begun :-)
This fight is gonna get ugly. Guaranteed.
Instead of raising money for corrupt, complicit and hypocritical politicians why not collect money to fund people wanting to get out this cesspool before it does finally collapse, and I think everyone knows this cesspool will collapse under the weight of it’s own corruption, greed and the inherent contradictions of it’s political/economic system.
Donna Edwards (MD-4),
Don’t join Democrats in making the bad the enemy of the good. Reject the bad. Demand that a strong public option be included in the final reconciliation measure.
If you’re not going to stand up in Congress for what you know to be right for the American people, give the money back and resign.
I totally agree with this.
These contributions, as well as individual contributions, are going to be considered chump change…like seeing a penny on the ground and thinking it’s not worth the effort to bend over and pick it up.
Donna? Were going after Donna! Is FDL becoming the lefts Teabaggers! Who ya gonna Primary against Donna, Raol Castro?
I’m on board. Where we going?
Not primary, ask for our carrots back.
Vote with our wallets
Holding elected leaders to their word is the right thing to do. It’s that simple.
Only slightly OT – Just got an e-mail from Cong. Grayson:
Call your member of Congress today and demand that a strong public option be added to the House’s reconciliation package now.
The switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Say what you mean, mean what you say.
Is that so fucking hard?
It’s the final days of Empire and at that moment in time all convictions and principles are thrown out the window in the interest of self-preservation. The so called “progressives” are merely trying to make sure they will have a place in the lifeboats as the ship begins to slip under the waves.
How many people here called Donna? I did and shared with Jane what was said.
For quality of life, Europe. For job opportunities, China or India.
This makes me mad. Donna Edwards is a friend of mine. Our kids went to high school together. Believe me, I’m giving her a call.
On another note, I just got the latest e-mail spam from OFA. They’re trying to wind up calls to members with this pitch
I replied as follows in my “unsubscribe:”
PS – it’s “Silver Spring” [singular] in her office address.
We helped get her elected… and it wasn’t to do what she’s doing now.
What part of she has not kept her part of the bargain do you not understand?
I didnt know when we gave we were bribing our politicians. When you gave did you make sure Donna Edwards know it was a bribe, because everyone knows that would be a crime. This demanding our money back stint is just plain childish. My sixteen year old knows better.
We are running out of allies. I am not sure what good this does.
You really expect someone in a district with a large African American majority to go against Obama?
DonnaFEdwards March 28th, 2009 at 11:56 am
49
In response to Eureka Springs @ 46
The Health care in Cuba is excellent and free.
If Obama isn’t doing what’s in the best interests of her constituents, yes. The real question they should all be asking is why Obama is going against them. Why should anyone continue to support him so long as he’s going against them and the American people?
It’s the parent that is the problem
Jane, this is–and always will be–the problem with carrots. They eat the damn things and then disappear.
You need both, but I personally think that sticks are a better value for your fundraising dollar.
Who else here made a call to Donna? This reminds me of the public radio station fund drives. They tell you that you’re listening to all of the wonderful programing for free and then ask you to give them a small donation to be a member. Everyone here gets excellent coverage on many global and US politics for free, day in and day out. All Jane is asking us to do is pick up that phone and make a call. She’s laid out the few simple talking points. She couldn’t make it any easier for us.
Do it because you care about our country, your children, your neighbors. Because you really believe in what you rant about here.
(Did that work?)
Hey, I hate the coward-in-chief just as much as anyone. I am being realistic. I am saying we need to regroup and focus on something we can accomplish.
Like expanding medicare in the FY2011 budget. There are so many battles to fight and we only have so much energy.
No it was not bribing.
It was donating to re-elect a person who was promising to spearhead our values. She ASKED for the fundraiser.
When you support a candidate who says they are in favor of your issues, it is with the clear understanding that they will support your issues when they get into office.
Otherwise representative democracy is not “representative”
Don’t feed folks. Especially when remote and not from the US.
could we raise money in the future, put it in savings accounts, and only hand it out if people vote the way we want?
Oh, I really hope that the person you are talking to was just yanking it. It’s hard to imagine otherwise.
what else do you call campaign contributions? i’m in the same boat as you, they should all be outlawed as bribery, and we should have just a tiny bit of taxpayer money to fund campaigns, and that’s it. but that hasn’t happened yet
Didn’t Texas just vote that we are a republic?
You certainly have the right to feel betrayed but the demanding of moneies back is a childish stunt IMHO and bodes poorly for FDL. There are better ways to react then this.
O, I called, but only because I felt like being sarcastic. At the end of the day, it’s like this: Hmmm, we could have health care for all , OR my family could be set for life. As Dad always said, “family first”. Most everyone (everyone?) has a price and we can’t afford the ticket. The only way this was going to work was if Obama was on board. Clearly he never was.
maybe list them then?
Yeah, that’s the rub isn’t it? We can get an improvement in quality of life in Europe, but prospects aren’t that good for finding meaningful employment. On the other hand, we could go to India or China and find work, but the quality of life could be worse than our own crumbling empire. I sometimes fantasize about a small South American country with few natural resources to make it a target of global bullies.
NEW PROBLEM WITH SENATE BILL
While I know many people on both sides of the issue don’t like the monstrous Senate bill with forced insurance and no public option on one side and other problems to those on the other side, there is a new problem that is going to occur if the bill gets passed.
And, this problem was all set up by the lack of intention to actually reform the system.
The problem can best be called, “You broke it, you bought it.”
Whether they are responsible for any trouble or not, once this bill passes, the public is going to blame the Democrats for any trouble in the health care system.
If insurance premiums go up, Democrats will be blamed. We all know that the rates will go up. Yes, it might not be their direct fault, but once you say you have “reformed” the system and all will be good–or at least implied it–you will get blamed for all that goes wrong. Even if you did nothing to cause what went wrong.
Anyone gets turned down for something, Democrats will get blamed.
It won’t matter how the Democrats explain it or spin it, the public will blame them. Not enough doctors to handle all the newly insured? Democrats will get blamed. Fees for services go up (we know they will)? Democrats will get blamed.
I bet they didn’t appreciate your snark.
You might feel differently if you gave her your actual money out of your actual pocket to support her, and she took the money and sold you out.
Although I agree with you, as to what we must do next. I think you use of the word Hate hurts your argument. Who else would you put in the hate catagory, McCain, Pailin, Gore, Bush?
Yup.
We’ll lose more dems in November passing this atrocity than killing it now. Not what everybody says though, strange…
What makes you think I DIDNT give to Donna’s compaign? The fact is I did. So now what ya gonna do?
“Concern concern concern!”
Note the use of the word ‘might’.
“You might feel differently if you gave her your actual money out of your actual pocket to support her, and she took the money and sold you out.
Then there was no point to making your comment, was there. If you were trying to make a point, then you might have made a fool of yourself.
Enlighten us with specifics please?
What Obama is doing is worse than what Republicans have done and are doing, and Donna Edwards should be standing up for her constituents.
Most of Donna Edwards’s constituents know that Republicans lie to them, but they trust someone like Obama. And Obama is using their trust in him to bullshit them. On health care, he’s bullshitting big-time. Donna Edwards should be working to make sure he does what he said he’d do and that he does what she knows is right for the American people.
We supported her and others to show Obama that we want him to do what’s right. She should stand up for her constituents or give the money back out of a sense of shame at her own failure.
If we’re not going to call them out when they renege on their promises, then we might as well admit we’re giving up on our system of government.
If so, it would not have taken money out of my pocket and put it into lying Ms Edwards pocket.
No sense of humor whatsoever!
Put the donation in Escrow.
I’ll say it again – stop giving money to these people! Use your money to finance primary challengers instead. Congresscritters like Donna Edwards become part of the village once they get to Congress and begin to listen to the village voices more than their constituents. The only thing that will keep them on the straight and narrow is a realistic primary threat. As it stands now, progressives don’t control enough money to counter the lobbyists’ big checks. By consolidating into a single fundraising/disbursement group capable of writing $million checks for primary opponents, the Donna Edwards’ of Congress will become keenly interested in not pissing off progressives.
Stop giving money to elected congresscritters – they are playing you for suckers as they cash your checks and then collect the real $$$ from the lobbyists and influence peddlers.
Seems like bribery to me.
From here:
mreddieb,
Nathan Aschbacher,
I’m looking forward to your logically sound, well constructed, and thoughtful response. You might be surprised by just how quickly I can change my position given such an argument.
The support whomever they feel they must. Perhaps the others got to her and she caved. Politicians do it all the time. They don’t want apparently to paint themselves into a very narrow part of the political spectrum… even when it represents truth and rationality.
This system is completely broken and giving money to ANY politician is a waste of time.
Get rid of ALL private money in politics and government.
Term limit these SOBs
The paid trolls are earnin’ their daily bread today.
whaaaaat?
Sure, I’d vote for a goat fucking republican to get rid of lying Ms Edwards if I lived in her district. That’s how they know you’re not a sucker.
And better the devil you know…
Both of those things will take Constitutional Amendments, not that I don’t think they should be done; just that there’s a hell of a battle to prepare for there.
While we’re at it we should see what kind of movement for national initiative/referendum can be created. After all, that’s how Switzerland finally held their legislature to account for ignoring their healthcare problems.
What Obama is dong is worse than Republicans? Really? Then you shoild vote Republican if that’s how you really feel.
Can someone here explain to me in simple terms why this bill is worse than doing nothing? I have a family member with a pre-existing condition that cannot get insurance at any cost, the way I read the bill that changes immediately. I have another family member who just reached her lifetime cap, and that changes immediately as well. It seems to me it comes down to, either we get this or nothing. I will bet my life savings if this bill fails we will not see any attempt at HCR again in our lifetime. So tell me again why nothing is preferable?
IMO, nobody should be giving money to any candidates, R or D, incumbent or challenger. There are too many reasons to name, but primary among them is that your tiny donations can no longer compete with corporate contributions since the limit has been removed. The private sector now has complete control. They can spend what they want, and even if you do manage to raise enough for a commercial, they can now buy out all of the air time. Your $50 donation means nothing. Money in the system IS the problem, so the idea that you can fight money in the system by donating more is absurd. This bill signals confirmation that the Dems are completely compromised, and we should be exploring new alternatives (certainly not voting Republican).
Have you found the reform that makes it so your family member with a pre-existing condition will be able to afford the premium of the insurance they’ll be forced to buy, in perpetuity? I’ve had a hard time finding the premium caps, and I’m sure the subsidies (if you qualify) aren’t indexed against premium increases, so they’re a very fleeting respite.
Have you found the guarantee that the deductibles and co-pays of that policy will be affordable, so they can actually use it to seek treatment? Do any of the defined benefits tiers cover the thing that your family member has?
Rep. Edwards is flirting with not returning to the Slobber And Spittle Blue slate this year.
For that matter, have you found the part of the bill that enforces any of these regulations on the insurance industry? What agency will be given the budget to deal with tens of thousands of complaints annually, and to carry out the investigation, analysis, and legal services that will be required to deal with legitimate complaints?
If you think that insurance companies are suddenly going to play by the rules, you haven’t been paying attention.
You missed my ever-so-clear point. Obama’s worse in the sense that he’s better at getting people to trust him and then he uses that trust to screw the people over.
It’s easier for people in Edwards’s district to spot Republicans’ bullshit and not vote for them, while Obama’s bullshit is harder for most people to see. They therefore support him and vote for him while he’s making deals with AHIP and PhRMA in backrooms and fucking over the people who trust him most.
Donna Edwards should represent her constituents or get out of Congress so her constituents can find someone who will stand up against the bad legislation that Obama’s peddling as the greatest thing since Medicare in the 1960s.
Had she and others stood up to Obama, he’d have had no choice but to do the right thing.
I say stop giving money to all of them! Let them get it from their overseers-Wall St. Save your money, grow your own food, and , if you can, leave the country. I just don’t see the point in this, anymore. Nothing short of a violent revolution will change this country. The system isn’t “on life support” it’s “dead” to all except the wealthy.
OMG…soo let’s cut off our noses to spite our faces! We can’t get what we want so TORPEDO HCR. Are you KIDDING ME! Ted Kennedy’s biggest regret was not agreeing to President Nixon’s proposed UNIVERSAL health care plan. That was 37…count them nearly FOUR decades ago, a Republican administration proposed a plan that would have required employers to provide health insurance and offered federally-financed coverage to many low-income Americans. Kennedy felt he could get a better deal with a new administration..FORD, CARTER, REAGAN, BUSH, CLINTON, BUSH – 10 LONG Administration’s later, we are finally at the cusp of reform…imperfect that it may be, as were Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Civil Rights, all HUGE game-changing movements in their first passage, and YOU want to PISS IT AWAY because you can’t get the flavor you want in your first bite. Can we get some responsible adults here. We can’t wait another 37 years for perfection! And you call yourselves PROGRESSIVE! Oh no, I think regressive is what you are…maintaining the status quo for WHAT! Give me a break!
Uhm SHE IS representing her constituents! As a proud Marylander whose Democratic Team is FULLY on board for HCR, Donna Edwards is voting w/her constituents who WANT HCR w/all of its warts! HCR will get better, but it has to FIRST get passed!
Then why did Donna Edwards go off on why we must have a robust public option ..yadda, yadda.. watch the you tube interview.. She is talking out of two sides of her mouth.
Bingo!
This is nothing like Social Security. For this to be anything similar Social Security would have to have been government collection of your wages, and then government transfer of those funds to companies like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
This version of reform is tantamount to privatization of Social Security. I assume you support that initiative as well?