If I hear one more Republican Senator lecture us about Ted’s "bipartisanship"…:
Kennedy’s Republican friends should not make that disingenuous argument in his lamented absence. Lest there be any doubt about what he truly wanted, his bill includes a robust public option along with all the insurance reforms and cost controls that the president has endorsed since this process began.
How would he have handled the intransigence and dishonesty of the Republican opposition? We know that he could shout as well as whisper — and that he could be partisan as well as bipartisan. He believed that the time for incremental changes had passed. He was ready to fight. The tragedy of his death is not only that he didn’t see the triumph he had dreamed, but that he fell before he could lead the nation to that final victory. Now that victory will have to be won in his name.
It’s time to get it done. And there’s simply no excuses.
Related posts:
- Early Morning Swim: Jay Rockefeller Still Fighting for Public Option on Countdown
- Early Morning Swim: Jay Rockefeller Discusses Public Option on Ed Schultz
- Early Morning Swim: Rachel on the Public Option
- Early Morning Swim: KO Interviews Howard Dean on Public Health Care Option
- Early Morning Swim: Jane Hamsher Talks Public Option Politics with Rachel
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Posted yesterday by Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer,.in the American Conservative, of all places.
Hmm…..
The deposition transcript.
His Family needs to come out and issue a strong and definitive statement that he supported universal health care for all Americans. That is what he wanted. END OF STORY.
great post, we need to cut them off before they start using Kennedy to get what they want done
here’s a grammar check bt;
the conjunction isn’t “there is simply no excuses” instead; “there are simply no excuses”
that conjunction should read “there’re simply no excuses” which I think in this case should forgo the conjunction altogether
Is it possible for you to go ONE day without peppering a thread with conspiracy? Especially on one discussing Senator Kennedy and his definitions of “bipartisan”
Or do you just disrespect people like Sen. Kennedy for the hell of it?
“Bipartisan” to the republicans for years was the ONE VOTE from Joe Lieberman. Oh but now they’re saying at least 20 votes from republicans on health care reform will be the proof that it was a bipartisan bill!
Oh please. I wished every republican right now in the country would take a 2X4 and start smashing their own forehead with it. Because they deserve it.
I’ve seen that before. My Q is, who the hell did Plame think she was working for or doing, if the CIA didn’t wrap it up after it was exposed. Edmunds sounds flakey on this one to me.
It’s not as if emptywheel didn’t patiently explain to ghost a few times over the last couple of weeks just why Ms Edmonds wasn’t real credible on this claim.
I guess for some folks, the conspiracy idea is more fun than the facts presented.
The online identity alone should answer your question. I could do a post on my one and only marriage, and guess what?
I missed emptywheel’s work on the subject. Thanks for letting me know she did her usual thorough job.
dragon of the south, life doesn’t compartmentalize, i think you need to renew a discussion of your marriage on every single thread and am wondering why you do not
I now retire from that discussion
back to health care, I sure hope the kennedy family has something to say pronto
Gimme a fuckin’ break.
Do you really think the obstructionists in Congress give a rat’s ass what Kennedy’s family says?
no I don’t but it will help us with our resolve and democrats who otherwise would do anything in kennedy’s name
If Dems wouldn’t do anything when they had Kennedy in their face what makes you think they’ll change now that they don’t have to deal with him? Yeah, they’ll come out and say all kinds of the politically correct shit then do what their corporate masters tell them to do.
that’s a good point sd
off to work all
Actually they will revise history and try to transform Kennedys memory into that of some wishy washy dealmaker.
Agreed.
Yeah, I find myself wishing Teddy made a videotape statement about what he really wants in health care reform, with the tape to be released in another week or two…
2 x 4 substitute
I don’t think it would make much difference. The Rethugs knew Kennedy could be a moving force behind any type of heath care legislation but since his diagnosis they’ve not had to worry about it. Once single payer was eliminated from the equation it’s been all kabuki all the time.
Now the thugs are whining that they don’t want Kennedy’s funeral “politicized”. The mans life was in the political arena, how does one talk about him without talking about politics. Guess it gets in the way of their revisionist reality.
That weasel Bobo Brooks in the NYT already started down that road this morning.
Great clip BT. Thanks for posting it.
Christy has a post up
Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.
US KIA Irak: 4336
US KIA Afghanistan: 805
Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.
Namaste
“life doesn’t compartmentalize”
That’s the second time I’ve seen that here this week. It does explain why it never worked for me to explain “Ode to a Grecian Urn” on algebra tests. As a former air traffic controller, it also helps me understand why pilots didn’t much care for me rambling on about family problems rather than issuing clearances to separate them from other aircraft. Otherwise, I don’t see much use in the phrase.
what the disingenuous and revisionist gop won’t tell you, and certainly the enabling msm won’t, is health care reform with a strong public choice is the compromise; teddy wanted and believed in universal health care for all – the ability for one and all to buy into medicare.
They are already trying to appropriate Kennedy for their crappy insurance bailout. Look at what Pearlstein wrote today in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..919_2.html
I think the fate of health care reform has been hammered out during this month of August. Of course nothing has been made public yet (even politicians can keep a secret short term) but I suspect it has all been decided. First, it has to make Obama at least look good. Next, it has to make Congress look good no matter which party or position.
I suspect it will end up looking like health care reform lite.
One guy today even raised the question of whether it’s “constitutional” for the federal government to require that every American have health insurance. I’d never thought of that one.
And that relates to the topic HOW?
Namaste, SD
Just exactly how robust is the Senate HELP committee public option? How large a group of people would it represent? How many people could join it? Would it have the ability to negotiate drug prices down? Would it have the power to get health providers to co-operate with it?
When people say “robust” is that bullshit or what? I had the impression all the plans public options were already weak.
HR 3200 contains Robust Governmental Intrusion also, the following is directly from the bill:
Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and “other information as is prescribed by” regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for “affordability credits.”
Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details — there’s no specified limit on what’s available or unavailable — to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify “affordability credits.”