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It’s quite convenient that what Joe Lieberman is demanding — no public option, no Medicare buy-in — happens to look just like the Senate Finance Committee bill that the White House wrote with Baucus. Now the White House is saying Reid should take it:
W.H. to Reid: Cut deal with Lieberman
The White House is encouraging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to cut a deal with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and eliminate the proposed Medicare expansion in the health reform bill, according to an official close to the negotiations.
But Reid is described as so frustrated with Lieberman that he is not ready to sacrifice a key element of the health care bill, and first wants to see the Congressional Budget Office cost analysis of the Medicare buy-in. The analysis is expected early this week.
“There is a weariness and a lot of frustration that one person is holding up the will of 59 others,” the official said. “There is still too much anger and confusion at one particular senator’s reversal.”
Joe gets his way by giving Obama what he wanted anyway. Sweet. The weak and ineffectual/corrupt Reid will no doubt find a way to do just that. And Byron Dorgan’s drug reimportation bill that Harry Reid is blocking from coming to the floor? Well, we probably won’t see that either. Because it’s not part of the White House’s PhRMA deal, it can’t be in the bill. And if we’ve discovered one thing, it’s that the White House and Harry Reid will do anything to deliver on those secret deals.
Sorry, Harry Reid, you’re the one that takes the hit for this. If you let Lieberman lead you and the country around by the nose, it doesn’t matter who asked you to do it. Slipping in “annual limits” on coverage, manipulating procedure only when there’s something you really want, and then shrugging your shoulders and calling yourself a prisoner of the Senate parlimentarian when you want to facilitate some massively unpopular clause in the interest of the insurance industry — it’s all going to come to rest on you. Personally. I promise.
Sane people have long ago realized that coddling Lieberman is what got us here and needs to be stopped.
If you want to let the health care establishment know that they sacrifice their credibility by continuing to embrace and financially support Lieberman and his wife Hadassah, sign the petition to the Susan G. Komen Foundation telling them to stop giving them money raised for cancer research.
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Shocking, I say.
You know, I’m starting to wonder if Obama is really committed to meaningful health care reform.
Yes, that was sarcasm.
Jane, do you think Lieberman would let the bill through to a vote if Reid cut the Medicare buy-in provision, or do you think Lieberman would find something else to object to?
Again, Voters of CT, what were you thinking?
Need any more evidence Obama doesn’t give a shit about real health care reform, he just wants a feather in his cap?
The profiles I’ve seen today of this Komen Foundation seem to suggest that it is a body more devoted to promoting right-wingers than breast cancer research. Given that, what makes anyone think that a bunch of liberals calling them on their crap is going to do anything?
I mean, isn’t this just another example of how the Congress and the media have conspired to keep the conversation in fantasyland? Why would we think this issue was distinct from all the other ones? Why would we think anybody would play fair this time, or that the media would notice or care?
No, he already has voice strong objection to CLASS.
Looks like Goerge W. Bush got a third term!
lol, yeah, beginning to wonder if Obama is really committed to meaningful health care reform is lot like beginning to wonder if Fox News is really committed to fair and balanced view points.
I called my senators, my rep, and Reid and Lieberman’s offices. Of all, Lieberman’s box is full, his state numbers are off limits to anyone outside the area code. He is not listening to anyone. I sent comments to the president. I wrote the VIEW. (Elizabeth is on the SK board too.)
This is shit. Dump the bill if there is no meaningful change. Why should we be forced to buy insurance just to create more profits for these companies?
I am furious.
I think we all deserved to be ruled by Republicans. Afterall, we are foolish enough to elect a senator with 2 years of experience as President. What exactly did we see in him?
I just expressed my opinion via the WH contact page. In polite but firm terms. (I managed to avoid using the F-word, although I certainly thought it at appropriate points.)
UnHoly Joe should only take a long walk off a short dock, into Long Island Sound.
And Reid should pull Joe’s committess assignments immediately.
What did they promise us?
Change!
What did they give us?
Shit!
While the public may despise Lieberman, he’s still coddled by elite institutions like Komen (via pass-throughs to his wife). Which is why he never suffers any real consequences for his actions.
If people want to continue to “race for Hadassah” that’s fine. I’d be surprised if they do, but have no problem with that.
But Komen should be honest that this is what they’re doing with the money people are “racing” for.
You are a little late to the party. (g)
Instead of calling Reid/Liebermann and Komen, should we not contact Bernie Sanders, Roland Burris, Russ Feingold and Sherrod Brown urging them to filibuster the bill. Afterall, they worked for the compromise, and they must also have egos. They cannot let their hard work go down the drain.
Thanks Jane.
If there is something shocking here it is this;
He is not holding up the will of 59 others. He is obstructing the will of the majority of Americans. Very telling to see harry admit he thinks nothing of We The People.
Oh yeah, fuck joe the weasel.
So then Lieberman’s game is not to neuter the bill per se, but to deny O the “victory” of getting a bill signed. The other 3 Senate clowns seem more intent on neutering it.
Tried to walk in the Komen 3-day. Was told if you don’t have $2300, don’t bother.
Turned me off to that charity.
Friendly reminder.
Why does Senator Douchetastic still have this gig?
Takes more than one to tango. He is only holding things up because he is allowed to do so. imo lieberman is a tool–a willing tool, but a tool. In whose hand is the tool.
Fox News has picked up the Lieberman/Komen story
Keep after it, Jane. JoeLie and his family name, Mud.
What Obama is taking the heat for this open defeat himself? This saves Harry’s job maybe but Obama and Rahm just got owned on a popular issue they could have passed.
Someone explain how passing a bill like this helps Obama politically more than not passing a bill?
According to that article all the celebrity talent involved are secretly sexual devients. Hahaha. Well done, FOX. Made me laugh. Guess ya gotta pass a sexual purity test to be in politics. Oh, wait…
“A liberal Web site is trying to enlist celebrities…”
On Fox, that’s like saying Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler and The Devil Himself are working to recruit “the far left liberal Hollywood Elite” in the fight to stop breast cancer funding/research…
Spin away, Fox. We would expect nothing less from you…
well Hadassah must be one from the looks of it ;)
I like the way you think:)
Was told if you don’t have $2300, don’t bother.
Limousine rentals can be pricey, right? “Another bottle of Dom over here for Hadassah…”
Didja know that Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler and The Devil are secretly homosexuals who break their marriage vows to ravage their barely legal office assistants?
heh – that’s a good one!
good point
She’s married to “Smokin’ Holy Joe.” What else do you need to know? Heh…
Reid isn’t stupid enough to follow these marching orders, is he? Doesn’t he like his job?
That’s truly hilarious. What does FUX have on Neil Patrick Harris? That he and David are secretly straight which is why they got invited to the Playboy mansion for Halloween?
I’m sure Glenn Beck will be all over the story…
I’m not a political strategist, so take everything in this post with a grain of salt.
But I think they’ve realized that they have a problem with their base now, and they’re hoping to minimize that problem. They probably feel (correctly) that a President running for re-election will usually get the benefit of the doubt unless the country is in a real shitter. Meaning, he can probably count on more votes from folks who aren’t left of center in his relection campaign.
Therefore, if he can stop the bleeding on the left, he’ll be ok as that loss will be offset by the new center voters. To do that, they probabaly feel (again correctly, judging by the apologists on this site alone) that by passing any bill, even one that the insurance companies will celebrate for years to come, will stop that bleeding on the left as they will have passed something called “health care.”
That’s why, IMO, it’s important for us, on the left, to make sure we make those that think like us realize the truth. That this bill is NOT reform, it’s SHIT. Because if we can turn that bleeding on the left into a gusher, then he will have some hard choices to make. I.E., maybe he really will have to reinforce his base.
All this from a knownothing, out-of-the-loop old fat guy though. It’s JMHO. YMMV.
Jane – looks like WH is trying to have it both ways -
linkage
Another petition. All we do is sign fucking petitions.
Where are the progressive senators? Why do we/should we, have to tell them what to do? Where are their convictions? All they do is TALK? Sherrod Brown said he was done compromising, so why doesn’t he stand up and draw a line in the sand: If no Medicare buy-in he’s NOT voting for it. Why doesn’t Rockefeller? Or Harkin? But Noooooo. They don’t draw lines in the sand. All we get from these fucks is Talk and more talk about what they might do, while Lincoln, Landrieu, Nelson and Lieberman run rings around them. Washington understands and reacts to lines in the sand. And all we do is send out more and more petitions, or threaten to have a primary. No one is afraid of us. WE couldn’t take down Lieberman and now he’s laughing at us.
Here is the bottom line: Every precedent shows that no matter what happens, in the end, the progressives will cave.
Campaign contributions raise the barrier to entry for non-bought minor candidates.
my point in linking the Fox News story – is this story appears to be gathering ‘legs’ something SGK does not want
Jane,
Why is it (again) that Obama, Reid and the rest of the Senate Leadership empower Lieberman by talking about the need for 60 votes…and FDL’s own Jon Walker lays out the options available without mentioning that the option to force the Rs and Lieberman to stand up and read the telephone book night after night.
Can it really be simply because they want to avoid taking ownership for selling a piss-poor health care reform plan? The 60 vote mantra preexisted this particular sellout, and gets rolled out on many more subjects than just health care.
Jinx!
What are we gonna do, fire him? Lobbying houses would pay 5x his current salary for an amoral weasel like him.
Yes I saw that. I’m thinking of the Fox “journalist” writing that. “Now how can I discredit the people at Firedoglake?
1) Call them liberal
2) Don’t name them early in the article
3) Make sure that people know that the sick Hollywood perverts are behind this.
You know that they love to match a financial ethical scandal with a sex or gender scandal.
What was also hilarious about that article is they call Lieberman an independent democrat. They couldn’t just say independent. They had to get that “democrat” in there.
They’re not pushing him one way or other, but are working “hand in hand”. So I guess that means “pulling”, rather than pushing. Same thing they did with PO. Bullshit.
something SGK does not want
Excellent.
OK. Any suggestions on what we can/should do to hold ObamaCo accountable here? This is unacceptable. The free pass is over.
Is Fox nuts this charity apparently helps guys like Joe get their wives money so far I haven’t heard that our side is involved at all.
So if we attack them on the Left Fox attacks them on the Right the charity suffers and Joe’s wife and any other Righties with wives employed there lose money.
We win! pile on Jane after all what Famous person’s PR person wants their star in a charity the Left and Right don’t like?
Primary the shit out of party obstructionists in 2010, while simultaneously supporting candidates who are…um…Sane.
TPM:
yeah.. but given that those obstructionists apparently include the current occupant of the WH?
Sounds like Reid’s really pissed to me.
They’re not pushing him one way or other, but are working “hand in hand”.
Hand job?
@Blub, time to ditch the donkeys. Hitch onto the Green party. Fundraise/volunteer/vote for the Green party. As long as the current 2 party system remains we will keep on getting swindled.
The press does not fake a WH story without a source a real WH source Rahm is being obvious again.
Streets.
Greenwald nailed Obama for this now-established M.O. of having one spokesweasel say one thing and a different spokesweasel say something else.
Change you can believe in.
What is this serious if so forget all the compromise we can pass a great bill now. EW last thread had a great bit about how well the richest 1% are doing tax them to pay for it!
Is there a way to see Lieberman’s investment portfolio?
TPM is confirming the senate report. I laughed at the following comment there (MCC)-
“How on earth did we get to the point where I’m missing Snowe??”
How true? With her, at least we know where we stand.
I’m sure the Liebermans are in that 1% too.
Sorry, but I will believe this when I see it. Smell a Red Herring here. Precedent has shown that the more these people (Reid/Obama) are abused, the more likely they are to go back for more abuse. Never seen more people take more shit with a smile and turn the other cheek than those two.
This is why I tend to believe the earlier story (which is being denied at this time) that the WH has instructed Reid to make a deal with Lieberman. That’s more in keeping with their style.
In the process of supporting good candidates in 2010, maybe a viable alternative to the current occupant of the WH emerges. Yes, it’s a longshot, but I can dream. Further, if a mess of dipshits were replaced in 2010, it would put more pressure on BO to do the right thing going forward. Think of the “Blue Dogs” who have done everything but sell their first born to fuck up HCR. Without them, things might well look very different right about now…
Assuming a POS health care bill comes to a vote,our best hope is that the Progressive caucus can hang together and kill it. I don’t want Obama to get a “win” if I have to pay more for health care.
TPM
Is there anyone that can challenge Obama in the primaries? The nation chose poorly and the best we can hope for at this point is that he only serve one term. Obama is a disaster of monumental proportions. One slick huckster politician.
oh I’m sure those cots are being positioned on the Senate floor as we speak
Bwahahaha! perfect and yes can we see Joe’s stock picks there is no way his assets went up that much on the stock market last year even if he had insider stock tips.
I am more than a little surprised at the level of willful naivete in the comments section on this site. A lot of people here have adopted this knee-jerk position that if something isn’t going progressives way, its because Obama and Harry Reid are just secretly corrupt jerks who dont believe in any of what we believe in anyway. It of course has nothing to do with the fact that nothing can get passed in the Senate without 60 votes, and no amount of shouting, fairy dust, or sternly-worded Internet comments will change that.
The conversation here also seems totally devoid of historical context. The Democratic Party has been trying to push through a major health care bill of this kind for the past SIXTY YEARS. They have NEVER gotten this far. They are 10 feet away from the frickin finish line. Even without the public option or the Medicare buy-in, this bill still would represent major health care expansion and reform. For all of that, we hear nothing but cries of betrayal, DINO, thats not change I can believe in, Im staying home in 2010 AND 2012, on and on.
It would help if people in this conversation would debate the issue within the confines of actual political reality, rather than pretending that Obama is a failed president because he didnt permanently upend that reality in November 2008. As if he ever promised that he could, would, or should do such a thing.
And that, I would submit, is one of the primary reasons he doesn’t give a shit. As soon as his term is up, he goes to work being a straight-up whore, instead of the quasi-stealth whore that he is right now.
If Obama, Reid, Lieberman et al wanna scrap HCR with a PO or “buy-in” or I say let ‘em. They are giving the minority of Americans what they want and the majority be damned.
This country and it’s voters deserve exactly what’s comin’ to them for electing these on-the-take morons – no more no less.
Just wait until 2012 when private health care insurance costs take up 20% of everyone’s take home and then watch Americans bleat and bray, piss and moan and otherwise go batshit crazy about it.
The sad fact about “the home of the brave” is that the only way Americans get up the courage to force the congress and/or the Prez to do anything is after they loose something. Until then it’s politics and lobbying payoffs as usual.
As for history, the only thing Obama will get credit for is being the first black to be elected POTUS, period. That’s besides getting elected on “the audacity of hope” and then going all “Hoover & Bushie” on the electorate.
“one spokesweasel say one thing and a different spokesweasel say something else.”
That’s “Hope-a-Dope.” Nice, huh?
Big traders or little traders? When the big guys move serious cash in to a stock then they are happy. eCHAN probably knows what is big money for those guys though.
Ever hear of the bully pulpit Obama could have sold transformational healthcare reform by going directly to the people. Instead he went to big pharma and big health insurance to cut back room deals.
ah yes, the obligatory principled pragmatist™ has joined us
@todaylies. Staying at home is a political reality. I have no idea what are you are saying. If we dont like our choices, we dont have to vote for either of them. Please explain why is this not a reality?
@todaylies, and to add, I dont consider Reid and Obama to be DINOs. On the contrary, I think that the whole Democract party is LINO- Liberal in name only.
Jane,
Is there currently a progressive candidate in Nevada that can be supported financially as of now to run in the primaries against Reid?
The primaries are beginning soon I would imagine and Reid will be the only candidate in the race against the Republican by default if noone challenges him in the Democratic primary.
Who is the candidate that will challenge him in the primary?
We Dems have winced along still hopeful but watching closely as Harry Reid and Obama let – I repeat LET -our HCR bill be insulted, demeaned and degraded.
If they think we’ll now still be so desperate to take take this slimy pitiful piece of shit handed to us after Joe Lieberman is done crapping on it some more, they are INSANELY WRONG.
A RED FLAG WARNING: It’s already been murmured that Harry is rapidly working behind the scenes -with White House approval I believe -to bypass the Conference Committee and ram this Lieberman-Reid final bill through as THE only bill..
We have to draw the line NOW, since they won’t. Say NO to passage of the Lieberman/Reid Senate bill. And say it loud.
Government by Disaster Capitalism
Since 2004, the Lieberman Gambit has been clear and bipartisan:
1) DNC/DLC establishment, with the exception of Howard Dean, has kept Lieberman around as a dependable agent/excuse for ignoring any progressive initiatives that might disturb the existing corporate lobbying/congressional fundraising/legislative public policy power structure.
2) Karl Rove’s $20 million contribution to Lieberman’s re-election over Ned Lamont has proven to be the best investment return of any political bribe in the 21th century …. so far.
When rhetoric deliberately obscures intent, the actual results speak for themselves. Obama’s actions since his election to the senate are consistent with four words — Mentored by Joe Lieberman.
Again, that is wishful thinking that a big Obama speech or 10 would have saved the day from the three egomaniacs who are blocking healthcare reform at every turn. What impact would Obama’s “bully pulpit” have on the Connecticut senator’s position, in light of the fact that he obviously listens to no one but AETNA, John McCain, and his own ego? The bully pulpit would be used to rally the public to whip their senators into line, right? Well, the public option already polls in the 70% approval range in Connecticut? Obviously, that is having absolutely no effect on Senator AETNA, is it?
Obama’s “bully pulpit” also has no effect on Ben Nelson, who comes from a state where being allied with Obama is seen as a distinct negative by a very conservative population, and where the the senator is also bought and paid for by the insurance industry. And Olympia Snowe? She is a Republican who owes the Democrats nothing, they know it and she knows it. It’s all gravy for her no matter what she does.
“It of course has nothing to do with the fact that nothing can get passed in the Senate without 60 votes, and no amount of shouting, fairy dust, or sternly-worded Internet comments will change that.”
No, that is false twice over. On one hand there is reconciliation that can be used while on the other the nuclear option can be used. This is a failure on Obama’s part because all that has to happen is for Biden to make a parliamentary ruling on filibusters and then it would take 50 votes plus Biden’s to pass HCR. Of course only having the 50 vote threshold instead of the 60 vote threshold gives Obama all sorts of excuses to give us junk HCR that the corporate lobbyists want rather than HCR that can benefit us.
It certainly is a potential political reality. It’s just a very foolish one. As if the solution to our current dilemma in Congress would be to have fewer Democrats and more Republicans voting on this legislation.
And how is that bad exactly? We will get the same bill anyways (and who knows a couple of Republicans may actually make it better by insisting that exchanges be open to everybody and not just uninsured).
Anybody catch one of the morning shows-maybe Dylan Ratigan–where obama said, after being asked to grade himself–that he’d give himself a B+ now, and an A- after “he” passed a health care bill? Anybody else notice a little arrogance and selfishness here??? “He” passes a health care bill??? A-? Wow.
Could be that once the “common” people (that is, those who don’t keep up with this stuff) get their notice from IRS that they need to provide proof that they’ve purchased some of that expensive and useless insurance–then they’ll see what’s happening. On the other hand it’s more likely they’ll blame democrats, as the r’s will be out there in force complaining about the bill. We’re in a bad state all right. Why didn’t we elect Kucinich, again??? too feisty? Yeah, we wouldn’t want somebody who would actually fight for us. That would be un-civil besides he didn’t have a good motto. “Hope”.
The guy is out to lunch and it will cost him, and his, dearly.
this isn’t really in response to 73.
Has anyone checked to see if that bill has a hidden clause providing health care and other “benefits” to mistresses? ['Cause that right there would garner a LOT of Senate votes!! And they would be "bi-partisan"!]
Does anyone really think that Lieberman would hold up his half of any bargain Reid & Obama made with him?
He’s probably got a “wish list” that’s 13 pages long, and now includes some sort of action against Jane & FDL.
Arrogance? Not really, it’s just a question of who*
Regardless of the issue, it only says that Obama knows who designed the course, what’s on the final exam, who’s grading his work, and on what curve are grades awarded.
*Wall Street, Big Insurance, Pharma, etc.
Yep, the “OH, BUT WAIT, you don’t want the REPUBLICANS BACK IN POWER DO YOU?” crap is present and accounted for.
Does anyone know how keen organized labor is to help organize around this? That’s the only way we’re going to get sizable street protests. I remember the Housing Now! protests in WDC in the early ’90s? 300,000 union organized protestors makes for a pretty impressive sight.
cut a deal with lieberman and barack, reid and all the else have just cut their collective throats with their base; granted they need (or so we keep being told) those almighty moderates and independents, but any election is a non-starter without your base!
first, it was single payer, then the public option, and finally enlarged medicare for lower age; then yearly caps on medicare reimbursements. jane said it, we see it, this smells and is nothing more than a give-away to the health care industry. this is a betrayal of which we the base will never forgive.
There are no liberals in the senate. They are all talk or one would have filibustered. Burris dropped his threat when they dropped the ethics investigation against him last week.
Honestly, “Sarah Palin! Sarah Palin!” they are the boy who cried wolf. She can’t run for every single congressional seat and she has no desire to do so. She doesn’t want to be a senator either.
Most districts are so gerrymandered that the only competition is in the primary. You have more power in an off-presidential-year congressional primary than in any other national election. All of them need to be challenged. If voting Republican is the only way to keep the seat Democratic, what’s the point?
“Where else are you gonna go?” indeed! If you stay home, they’ll use it as an excuse to go further right and proceed to gut Medicare and Social Security to pay for the war. (See Feinstein and Bernanke). If they lose the races because of progressives, we might scare a few into doing the right thing. Even voting third-party or independent would help – look at the power Lieberman has.
Yes obama sold you out. The insurance companies win!
You left out the extra weight that he would need to carry on his walk. As if the weight of the dead weren’t enough. Carry on.
The Medicare buyin is now an “essential” part of the bill. WTF?
Let me do my translation…when you hear “Make a deal with Lieberman”, they mean make sure Lieberman definitively takes the egg on his face and kills the bill before we switch to reconciliation. I.e. don’t just say we’re going to reconciliation already, because not enough Americans have yet figured out that Lieberman killed the bill. It’s also some make-nice so the White House can try to stay on good terms post-reconciliation with Lieberman for Cap and trade and other issues.
By now you should have noticed a pattern. When the Gang of 6 thought they could come up with a bipartisan miracle, the White House said “at least hear them out.” They got to sound bipartisan, but of course they knew Democrats wouldn’t agree to their weak compromise.
When they tried to reconcile the still very weak Finance bill to the Help, etc. bills, the WH didn’t demand the public option from the Help bill, they said “at least hear them out.” Nice words again, but no surprise, Reid put the public option in the bill.
Now Lieberman and other Gang of 10 members are trying to blow up the whole bill. Once again, the WH makes nice and says “at least hear them out.” But of course the WH knows it doesn’t matter because the momentum has already shifted to reconciliation.
Obama’s style is not to draw lines in the sand. It’s to keep on pushing until your enemy (Lieberman, Nelson,…) shows their ass and gives you the excuse to disregard them. Frustrating, but smart, in the long run.
Sure is now!
Brace yourself with patience and the big HCR will soon enough be represented by free tongue depressors or one free enema per anus.
The bill is garbage and I hope it gets squashed. The liberals are too busy fighting the right to analyze the bill and determine if they really shld support it. How can any of us support a bill that does not allow our government to negotiate rx prices? How can we support forced mandates to big insurance companies? The industry that we are opposed to is going to make billions off of this deal and progressives are fighting to get this passed? Hmmm, makes you wonder. If the so called progressives were really about healthcare reform we wld be just as opposed to this bill as the republicans are. But since Obama supports it we go along with it and are hopping mad if someone dares to stop it.
The progressive media is too engaged in fighting against the right and not focused enough on real accomplishments. We want to fight like hell for the president’s bill ( that we know sucks)to pass and then spend the next four years griping about how it sucks.
If ever there was a time for progressives to flex some muscle this is it. Instead of fighting against the right to get the president’s bill thru WE shld be making demands to get what we want. The democrats and the president needs a bill, any bill will do, they will agree to do anything to get one passed. Instead of using this leverage and getting what they want the progressives are fighting for what they dont want bcz they dont want the president to fail.Remember the party who wants it the most is the one who gives up the most.If the administration thought that progressives were going to stand firm they wld be more likely to make a deal that progressives want. But since progressives talk a good game and always back down they are getting the back of his hand. There is a reason why the progressives are on the bottom of the food chain in DC. Essentially progressives have chosen sacraficing their goals in order to support Obama. I dont have insurance right now but I hope the plan fails bcz forcing me to buy insurance when I dont have the money for it does not do anything but add another burden to me.
I think the progressives should hold their ground and let leiberman and the bluedogs, that includes the President, kill the bill. The liberals have been set up since the summer to be the fallguy. Every time mrs. greenspan, chuck todd, tweety, or dancin dave gregory has a chance they dump on ‘the left’. Fuck them, I think they should eat this defeat and we start looking at primaries.
Barry looked pathetic when the big banksters stood him up this morning.
This isn’t 3D chess anymore.
WE are being shafted, the idea that reform is MAKING us become customers to insurance companies makes me sick. With this move today, I have had it with him.
Randi Rhodes just read your Komen petition on the air, said “Good for you, Jane Hamsher. I’ll sign that” and added if there’s anything else she can do, she’ll do it.
Maybe a national segment tomorrow with you?
..
I honestly, sincerely DO NOT want the RETHUGS back in power. But the truth also is, I have been just as frustrated with Obama in power as I was when Bush was in power. With the exception of the tone, not a damn thing has changed. The richest 1% of the population are still making out like bandits; Wall Street are grabbing more than they ever grabbed before and all O seems to do is give a speech once in a while to appease us, and we buy his BS.
Wrong again, mikesong. Here (h/t to Hugh) is Obama’s MO:
Step One: Announce program in a speech using lots of progressive sounding phrases but with no details.
Step Two: Follow up with announcement where all of the progressive elements have been dropped, still no real details.
Step Three: Let House Blue Dogs and “moderate” Democratic Senators hack it to pieces. Ignore House progressives.
Step Four: Do outreach to Republicans so that they can deliver a few whacks at as well. Make a few snide insinuations about progressives wanting to destroy the Obama Presidency.
Step Five: Start leaning on progressives with “something is better than nothing” and threaten to harm their re-election chances.
Step Six: Pass a thoroughly crap piece of legislation with Blue Dogs, regular Democrats, and a few “progressive” votes, and with all or almost all Republicans voting against.
Step Seven: Bullshit signing ceremony at the White House
Rinse and repeat.
Wow, your powers of translation are truly extraordinary. You find detailed messages with no basis in evidence. Logic where there is none. And progressive intent where evidence to the contrary abounds.
“Make a deal with Lieberman” doesn’t actually mean make a deal with Lieberman, it means make him pay a price for killing the bill? Seriously? How many times has this man screwed the D party and not paid a price. He campaigned for McCain and Obama pushed for him to keep chair of Homeland Security.
The only pattern I can discern is the streak of rose-colored BS that shines through in your comments here at FDL.
I can only show you the history and patterns, I can’t make you drink.
Your pattern is clear. Obama is on the right track, no matter what he does.
What everyone else said above in responding to your absurd “analysis,” and
Could you please cite chapter & verse as to how Obama has “disregarded” Lieberman????
Please, go back to your home @ the Obama campaign site.
Better title “So-called liberals played by Politico -AGAIN!”
Is there nothing that Politico serves up that people here will not lap up?
sadly, I must agree with you that Obama, as shown by his lackadaisical attitude recarding HCR. Our celebrity president is more concerned about photo ops making flowery speeches.
Step Six: Pass a thoroughly crap piece of legislation with Blue Dogs, regular Democrats, and a few “progressive” votes, and with all or almost all Republicans voting against.
Step Seven: Bullshit signing ceremony at the White House
So which signed laws do you nominate as a “thoroughly crap” piece of legislation?
Anybody? Which of the laws that Obama has signed do you consider to be so compromised and weak as to be not worth it?
Obama would sell his own soul just claim a win. Pathetic!
I actually questioned from the get go whether Liberman already had cut a deal with the WH to block anything other than the deal Emanuel already has cut with the healthcare industry; i.e., no public option and a giveaway to the industry in the form of forced insurance on us after 2013, the next presidential election (to ensure Obama gets corporate support for reelection). I more strongly believe it now since the only thing Liberman appears to agree to is the bill Emanuel wants. My guess is Obama has agreed to stump for him in the next election. The problem isn’t Liberman. It’s Obama.
Obama and Rahm are neoconservative corporatists who have set out to destroy what’s left of the middle class and labor unions by applying the Shock Doctrine. They want a labor class of serfs willing to work without benefits for table scraps. They plan to abolish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment, worker’s compensation, public education, and any remaining vestige of the safety net. They do not want to reform health care; they want to abolish it. They dream of creating a world empire by constant warfare that eventually controls access to all the world’s natural resources. Free market everywhere all the time, baby!
They regard liberals and progressives to be their real enemies and that is absolutely true, although some are slower than others to realize what’s really happening.
They intend to blame liberals and progressives for the end product, whether a bill passes or not. And they will attack them next fall in the lead-up to the 2010 midterm elections.
Liberals and progressives need to seize momentum now and place the blame where it belongs. A good start would be to kill this terrible bill.
If only William Jennings Bryan were alive today to start the counterrevolution with an electrifying speech awakening the dead from their slumber like his “Thou Shalt Not Crucify Man-kind Upon A Cross of Gold.”
So let it be written; so let it be done.
LOL! Pushing rumors to drive up page hits is a great strategy with all these suckers born every minute.
Now this is interesting, coming from one of the “suckers” so it won’t mean much.
But @102 you seemed to be saying, “No, no, there is a perfectly valid 11 diminensional chess explanation here” which you painstakingly explain @102.
Now, it’s rumors???
I’ve heard of man crushes before, but never have I seen one that required that kind of 11 dimensional bullshit to cover for immediately followed by saying it’s all really bullshit anyway.
Too bad too. I thought the post @102 wasn’t bad. I mean I could buy it. Well, maybe right after I bought that beachfront property in Kansas you’re selling too.
Oh well, good luck with that man crush thing. Hope it works out. But, sadly, I’m also not really interested in buying that beachfront property either. Sorry.
Harkin is ready to cave:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/harkin-theres-enough-good-in-this-bill-without-medicare-buy-in-trigger.php
Kiss this mother goodbye. Unless there are three Progressives willing to kill the bill entirely (to prevent Snowe and Collins from simply replacing them to pass a shittier bill), this things is is just begining to get watered down to the hilt. Imagine the woody that Ben-Ben, Senator Wellpoint, Blanche & Mary (figuratively) are getting over Lying Lieb’s power play. They’re ready to go to town to have other things tossed out.
John
Nobody? All this anger and disappointment and nobody can point to a list of the worthless bills Obama has signed? Are you all being paid by the DLC? Are you afraid to stand up for the True Path? Has Rahm Emmanuel hidden under your bed, making you tremble? Come on – just a couple of those worthless bills would be good.
When this site informs the public what the powers that be are doing, they get nervous. That’s usually a sign that they should stop what they’re doing, not that something’s wrong with the messenger. Instead, they send out the trolls. When asked about the air speed of a swallow, be sure to ask which sort of swallow you refer to.
That’s because Harkin is an Obamabot, a corporate whore, a Blue Dog, a DLC stalwart, etc. In fact, only the people on this blog are Pure Enough for the Mission.
If this is upsetting to you, why are you here?
There must thousands of other blogs that you can celebrate all that which is mediocre at.
Mr. Obama doesn’t draw lines in the sand so he won’t be seen when he walks over them. It’s not to trip up his enemies; he thinks he does that by agreeing to their terms before they tell him what they are. Consequently, they just ask for more, which he anticipates and has it ready to put on the table. The circularity would define hilarity, were he not playing with so many breakable things.
So you can’t come up with anything either. I suppose Axlerod got to you too!
What would you like me to come up with?
see 116 above. Or maybe you disagree?
I’m NEW HERE, HEAR ME OUT!!!
I think that we as progressives should go along with any compromise that Harry Reid needs to get 60 votes in the Senate. We need to get all of the reforms that we can into the Senate bill and conference it with the House, but still make sure that it can get to 60 in the Senate.
THEN!!!
We get Reid to push the PUBLIC OPTION by itself through the Senate by using reconciliation.
Basically, strip the Senate bill of any public option or Medicare by-in. Pass that thing with 60. Then use reconciliation to get the public option with only 51 votes.
IS THAT A GOOD IDEA?
So you want to me to name a piece of thouroughly crap piece of legislation that Obama has signed?
Mmmm, well, if he signed the health care bill as it is being represented right now, that would qualify, but I guess that doesn’t count. So, I’ll go and take awhile and refresh my memory on all the bills Obama has signed to see if I find some that thoroughly a piece of crap.
But, while I’m gone, I also hope you’ll do me a favor. We’re progressives here, and this is a progressive website, dedicated to supporting progressive ideas and politicians. If you think there’s a reason we should support Obama, then please recite to me the list of progressive bills he’s signed to date. OK?
Obama is a progressive, but corralling votes to get where we need to go is a hard process. I’m satisfied with his effort so far. It’s refreshing to have a president who takes climate change seriously, that alone is reason enough for me to support Obama.
Well, I’m a right wing troll, if Booman is, so far be it from me to say what’s good. I just want to know what’s worthless so I can improve my political acumen.
Well, you’re also likely not a troll at all, and are here expressing your own views, which is fair enough.
And based on that response (It’s not at all the response I was expecting) I’ll forget about my homework too, and just let you and whoever you were responding to at 116 work all that out, ok?
another buyout, what a total surprise. 3 years and ticking down. this guy and his congress has got to go.
is there any like really honest people in the WH besides the cook?
And a lovely good evening to you too!!
Help us Jane. We need to mobilize!
The Democrats once again snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory…
Jane,
At what point will it take you, me, and everyone to put our own bodies “on the line” and risk arrest? I attended a health care forum in southern Vermont and I listened to people who said that they’re not activists, but they’re fed up with their government and the lack of help they’re willing to give to provide adequate health care. Person after person said they’ve had it, they’re giving up, and they’re willing to get themselves arrested in their representatives’ office because there’s nothing else they can do. I feel like we’re at that point… or very close to it.
What will it take for leaders in the health care reform campaign to just throw their arms up and put our bodies on the line? When are you willing to do that? What will it take for you to encourage people to do that? I really do think this is where we’re coming to.
I’m anxiously awaiting the enlightening list of total crap bills signed by Obama. The Ledbetter act? The credit card reform act? The stimulus? By God, do you mean the Ted Kennedy act? What do you have in mind?
Wrong. We can do health reform without the public option and medicare buy-in in one bill and then use reconciliation to get the public option.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY QUITTERS ON THE LEFT????
If you’re waiting for some of these cats to back up their grudge against Obama with a half-reasonable interpretation of the last 10 months, they’ll have you waiting forever…it ain’t happening.
This is what I’ve been saying all along, that this bill will go nowhere until it conforms with the secret deals Obama made with the health care/pharmaceutical industries. What you are seeing is the reality of Obama’s “chess game”. Game’s almost over, checkmate to happen right before Christmas. We lose.
The idea that Mr. Obama’s lackluster performance regarding government secrecy, domestic spying, torture, foreign wars, bank subsidies, and health care “reform” merit praise from middle Americans is a curious argument. Mr. Obama claimed to be “transformational”. He’s done little more than transform the name tags in the White House, and he thinks he earned a B+.
I get that impression. The political program here seems to be Homer Simpson’s “but I’m mad now”.