Jane Hamsher

Whipping works--just try it and see!

Maxine Waters takes the pledge. Six down, thirty-four to go.

Maxine Waters spoke with Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films. Per Robert, she pledged to vote against any bill that does not have a strong public option which is available nationwide, from day one (no triggers), answerable to Congress (not states, which would be too small to have bargaining strength to keep prices down).

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Enjoy a special edition of GritTV with our good friend Joel Silberman. 

After Obama picked up the phone and cleared the field for Kirsten Gillibrand, there's no other way to interpret this than a direct stab:Bill Clinton Hosting Event For Maloney Former President Bill Clinton will headline a July 20 fundraiser for Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who is challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in next year's Democratic primary.

Well it is quite the day for health care activism: Not only does Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) relent in the wake of activist pressure to allow a public plan out of the HELP Committee, but Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) takes the pledge.

It still appears to be a very flawed bill that is inferior to the House bill. I'm sure everyone will still be working hard to make it better, and that means keeping the pressure on Hagan.

Read along in the comments:

• Bill Text
• Public Insurance Option,
• Employer Responsibility
• CBO Score

That's great, there are 19 Dems -- many of them Rahm Emanuel's pets -- who draw a line in the sand and say they won't vote for any bill that covers reproductive health. But with minor exception, members who have floated all kinds of lofty rhetoric about their support for a public plan don't want to say they won't vote for a bill that doesn't have one. They want to "leave themselves open."

Lieberman, who voted for every war supplemental and every bank bailout that he ever encountered without batting an eyelash about the expense, suddenly says that a public plan is "a cost we can't take on."