Scarecrow, do you think Obama is as tight with Rahm as it would appear? or is it possible this is a tactic employed by Obama to get the desired effect of Progressives “forcing” his hand? Is it possible that he played it so well that even Wall St. believed it, as evidenced by the rise of Insurance stocks today? I guess I’m hoping so.

I can’t know these things. I believe the President is a very smart man, who learns, but also relies on those he trusts. He has a COS who insists on doing everything, being everywhere, and controlling everyone — so what’s happening is, I conclude, his doing. Rahm’s past strategy has been to satify the conservatives/moderates/Blue Dogs and role the progressives — and that’s produced some bad outcomes. The progressive belief, which can’t be tested because we can’t rerun history, is that we could have done better if we’d pushed harder from the the progressive point of view. Look like we will find out if that strategy is correct. I would, however, very much like to have a Tardis.

All I keep thinking of is that Chiefs of Staff tend to be lucky to last a year and a half.

I have been thinking that it’s really Rahm’s neck that is on the line.

There has been so much kabuki going on that I don’t believe what anyone says on healthcare anymore. I am waiting for deeds not words. The Times article seems to say that conservative concessions to Republicans aren’t working so what is called for are conservative concessions to Blue Dogs. I mean what’s the diff? I keep wondering if Obama and the Democrats really are stupid enough to believe that the Republicans weren’t going to end up voting against whatever came out of the committees. I am cynical enough to believe that the Administration has just been using the Republicans as cover for pushing its own conservative agenda on healthcare as it has done in so many other areas these last months.

I agree that if the Democrats were serious about doing something different, we would expect to see Reid and Pelosi meeting with Obama and Rahm, and we are not seeing this. Another thing to look at to see if any of this is real is what Obama does with Baucus. If Baucus continues to go his own way, if Kent Conrad continues to blather on, I think we can take this all to be fake, a feint to make it sound like Obama is going to do something different when in fact he is continuing to do exactly what he originally intended to do.

Did anyone else get a queasy feeling in their stomach upon finding out Emanuel was going to be Obama’s right hand man? That was the first sign something was wrong, imo. The man is worried about getting elected and staying in office – nothing else crosses his radar if you ask me. The other day I received a call from the DNC asking for money to fight… RUSH LIMBAUGH. Are they kidding? The guy on the phone told me it was an imperative to act in a bipartisan manner so the Blue Dogs could get re-elected. I said “What? You’re telling me we did all this work getting this D majority and a D president, just so they could act like Republicans in order to get re-elected? Got news for you – if they’re going to act like Rs – I don’t CARE if they get re-elected!”

This week’s careful administration maneuvering

Oh my goddess — this is the funniest thing I have read in ages.

This week? This administration? This maneuvering? Beeyotch, please. I can hear the steno pen from here.

And — thanks for putting Jane’s remarkable Maddow appearance on your post, Mr Crow.

If the Obama Administration can successfully portray this as bad faith on the part of Republicans, then conceivably they can reintroduce things they were taking out, like public option and end-of-life counseling. Hopefully, they’ll do that. It shouldn’t be a tough sell, given what’s been going on, but I’m about as pessimistic as everyone else here seems to be.

And thank you for pointing it out. NoScript blocks Flashmedia except when I tell it not to. I would have missed it.

The White House is just now starting to get it.

“a COS who insists on doing everything, being everywhere, and controlling everyone”

That’s the classic definition of a poor manager failing. Can’t delegate, can’t organize, and can’t manage a team.

“the Administration has just been using the Republicans as cover for pushing its own conservative agenda on healthcare”

I believe you’d be correct, but I have to ask, is there any content to a conservative agenda, or is it more of the same?

“Health Care reform” is about starting to break the insurance companies, fee-for-service, big food, big ag, and the MIC. If these are not broken and reduced by the government in a controlled manner, then they will be broken and reduced by their self-inflicted economic collapse.

The fall of empire and change will be very unpleasant, something similar to the disintegration of the USSR.

Health Care Reform is the opening battle in the next US revolution. The opressors (the corporations and their paid political party) know this. Do the opressed know this yet?

It would be nice to believe this could be a peaceful revolution. I’m not so sanguine.

Do we need to make the COS a part of the ticket? I think we should know who’s going to be controlling the agenda, making the deals, etc.

Progressives to Rahm – “Ignorance is your new best friend.”

Actually, it OUR necks on the line. I could give a crap about Rahm’s maneuvering or manure.

Nor is the White House (from LobbyBlog):

AXELROD AND PhRMA The White House’s wranglings with Billy Tauzin’s Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America have certainly been eye-opening (and to people who want effective health care reform, depressing). But, brother, this shizz is about to get REAL. The House Republican Conference is going hard after White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod. Why? Peep this, from Bloomberg’s Timothy Burger:

Two firms that received $343.3 million to handle advertising for Barack Obama’s White House run last year have profited from his top priority as president by taking on his push for health-care overhaul.

One is AKPD Message and Media, the Chicago-based firm headed by David Axelrod until he left last Dec. 31 to serve as a senior adviser to the president. Axelrod was Obama’s top campaign strategist and is now helping sell the health-care plan. The other firm is Washington-based GMMB Campaign Group, where partner Jim Margolis was also an Obama strategist.

This year, AKPD and GMMB received $12 million in advertising business from Healthy Economy Now, a coalition that includes the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, that is seeking to build support for a health-care overhaul, said the coalition’s spokesman, Jeremy Van Ess.

losing not loosing

So.

What’s the plan for getting Bluedog votes?

I’ll visit Bayh, but, unless there are about 10,000 with me, I don’t think it will do much good.

Unfortunately, with Rahm’s attitude I doubt the White House will be working closely with progressives to shape a bill:

WaPo:

“I don’t understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo,” said a senior White House adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We’ve gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don’t understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform.”

That sounds to me that they realize liberals are drawing a line in the sand, but that the White House still sees Blue Dogs and “moderate” Republicans as their nature allies.

I can’t wait to see their faces when the White House asks those same Blue Dogs and Republicans to help them repeal the DOMA.

Speaking of Republican crazies, check this town hall craziness out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..r_embedded

I love Jane Hamsher (like a sister). I know she asks for money quite often, but I don’t know what I would do without her.

THE MONEY the INSURANCE cabal isthrowing at CONGRESSCRITTERS,,…..is BLOOD money,from those who were REFUSED treatment,or DIED never forget this

It’s also a classic sign of insecurity.

I just used Twitter (@karentmurphy) to try and persuade Sestak and Specter at the same time. Perhaps one of them may finally decide to take that pledge. How can either of them be considered a REAL Democrat if they don’t? After all, neither of them has much credibility as a progressive vote.

I see that particular misspelling frequently. Bugs the crap out of me but I didn’t want to say anything.

According to the press feed on Twitter, Gibbs is denying the NYT report and saying that they want a bipartisan bill. My head is spinning.

HENRY WAXMAN goes after INSURANCE CABAL

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/19/84615/6811

That spoon-fed paragraph is designed to discredit the value of the PO, but the PO is only valuable as a wedge that leads to something else. It represents the idea that the current private insurance system is corrupt, bloated and arrogant and needs to be confronted and probably replaced in its current form. The PO has never been an end in itself, and even if there were a “robust” version, rather than the carefully constrained version in the bills, it would only be the seed of what needs to happen over time.

How people characterized the PO is another matter, because everyone has their agenda of what they think happens next. So a Howard Dean may portray it as extremely important, but I don’t believe he believes it is an end in itself. Nothing said in the health care reform debate is as it seems. This also applies to scarecrows.

Uh, do I need to fix something in the post, or are you referring to something else?

Most people are not really paying that close attention. I had a couple from MA come for a visit this weekend. They hadn’t even heard of “death panels”.

Obama had to wait for the Republican leadership to get on the record as agreeing with the crazy before they could make this move. Otherwise, the low information voter (ie. the “independents”) would be lost.

Scarecrow – please fix your typo – it’s LOSING … NOT “loosing” more credibility.

Proper spelling and grammar have been tossed into the loo in America.

A pet peeve from an English English teacher.

I am cynical enough to believe that the Administration has just been using the Republicans as cover for pushing its own conservative agenda on healthcare as it has done in so many other areas these last months.

ding.

Rahm was hired to keep the corpos happy and he’s very good at that. That’s my take.

He misunderestimated us methinks.

Been working on Joe for months. He’s for a PO, sure, but he never says he won’t vote for a bill unless it has it. Jane and I have pushed him to the wall on this and he hasn’t given in yet. But hearing it from lots of others would help. You Go girl.

Sorry man, the English English teacher did a better job.

You know, that is an interesting point. Think of all the Republicans “agreeing with the crazy” video out there now ready to use for campaign ads against Repugs to contrast against people who are suffering.

I am cynical enough to believe that the Administration has just been using the Republicans as cover for pushing its own conservative agenda on healthcare as it has done in so many other areas these last months.

I’m with Hugh here. While everyone is patting themselves on the back (and raising cash) about getting the phrase “Public Option” included in the debate, its just kabuki and self-promotion unless what we wind up with is a good bill — and so far, none of the congressional committees have come up with anything that gets within miles of a “good bill”.

The real problem remains the fact that “single payer” was removed from the discussion with nary a whimper from the progressive community. Sure there are heroes who continue to make the case for “Medicare for All) like PNHP, but since most “progressives” pre-compromised for this inchoate “public option” to begin with, there is no reason to suspect that the sausage that comes out of the policy fact won’t be 95% insect parts and rat shit.

Ah, I see it. The fairies fixed it. thanks.

“Republicans and moderates” their allies? Heck, he’s listening to Jim DeMint. The taunts and epithets from this “senior White House advisor” so incensed me I just wrote a letter to the editor.

My speling is empeckable. My tiping sucks.

Jane Hamsher did a fantastic job….it’s wonderful to hear someone talking powerfully about something that actually makes sense and is the right to do. It’s very refreshing to hear someone saying something truthful.

Doesn’t help that the English language resembles a Rube Goldberg device.

One can only guess at what finally convinced the White House to publically admit that the Republicans have become a party of irresponsible, lying crazies.

Is it not reasonable to assume that no one convinced Obama at least of this? I think he knew how this would play out all along, which wasn’t hard to guess, just as most here have done.

So, as he’s done many times already as President and as a candidate, he keeps on the high road as they all flail about like they always do, and Obama comes out looking like the rational adult and can push for what he’s wants now without losing public support. How many times does this have to happen and with success before most around here will realize how he plays The Game, and not incessantly mock and belittle Obama, just as the Repubs want to happen?

Whatever the reason, after misleading Obama’s followers and loosing more credibility and momentum than they could afford by recklessly hinting the Public Option was just a bargaining chip

Any actual “Obama followers” I know think he’s handled this great and get what he’s doing, just as they did during the campaign when they didn’t get all chicken-little 5 times each and every week. They kept organizing in their communities and won the election. I don’t count those that reluctantly voted for Obama after serial liar John Edwards dropped out or when Clinton lost, as Obama followers. Yes, these people are no doubt feeling “mislead” and are in fact chipping away at the momentum, again just Repubs want.

Wingnuts are using old Obama videos and quotes where he’s clearly supporting single-payer, and that his doctor of many years is saying Obama is a single-payer advocate, as proof that the public option is about a subversive way to get single-payer. I think they’re correct. It would be nice if more “progressives” show a little humility sometimes and realize they could learn a few things from time to time from America’s first melanin-enhanced President.

Of course though, Obama might have lied all those years and is really a BigMoney infiltrator who courted the Left for years to ride them into the White House while at the same time getting all his money from BigMoney and had so much support from BigMedia and that’s why he’s President….except none of that is true.

Single-payer is the next step regardless of what happens next month, so it would be nice to be a well-oiled machine for that next fight.

I sort of like an occasional error in spelling and other things. Makes us human and if this is going to be English 101 complete with rulers on the knuckles, I heading back to bed.

Good Morning Scarecrow and Firedogs,

via Slinkerwink’s latest Kos diary …

please sign FDL’s Stand Firm on the Public Option ! petition

am thinking we need to get them all a Vote Strong ! wristband – as kryptonite to ward off arm twisting

Oh NO, am I loosing my mind or is it back..?

Since I have almost nothing to add to this I’ll ask about the point Bill Maher made yesterday in regard to Public Option or death. He pointed out that Social Security left out lots of folks when it was passed and then it was improved. Any chance a shitty bill might be the same?

Single-payer is the next step regardless of what happens next month, so it would be nice to be a well-oiled machine for that next fight.

on this we are 100% agreed.

i just don’t want to loose a month. *g*

No public option, no bill.

What part of “No” don’t you understand, Rahm? Is it the “n” or is it the “O”?

FU Rahm!!!

You better get you heard screwed on right, because we are taking the bill down if you put coops in.

End of Rahm’s career coming.

Congrats to Progressives for finding a voice BUT if they walk away from supporting a healthcare reform package (even one which does not contain a public option) don’t the Republicans, Pharma, etc. win?

Another framing op. Blue Dogs and Real Democrats. Booyah!!

…but I’m about as pessimistic as everyone else here seems to be.

That’s the spirit (at least to fit in with the cool kids). Right out of the MLK, Rosa Parks, and Susan B. Anthony schools of how to get things accomplished?

Ech, I am a professional editor. I don’t give a rat’s ass how you spell it, punctuate it, parse it, slice it, dice it, SC. I’m just interested in what you’re saying. So there.

Nice job Jane. i just wish the other half of Dems had seen through Obama’s game and voted for Hillary. That was the one person in the race totally committed to healthcare.

My friends and I used to intentionally mispronounce words for comedic effect. Sometimes I would discover to my chagrin that the mispronunciation had replaced the correct pronunciation in my vocabulary after uttering the incorrect version in a formal setting.

What a beautiful, articulate presence Jane makes! And a moment of triumph for her and her hard work and advocacy!

speaking about dogs (blue or otherwise), does anyone know what’s going on with DiFi? Is she still threatening to work to kill anything that feels like an “entitlement”?

I certainly wouldn’t know. I’m a naive rube!

I’ve had similar thoughts. He appears to be “reasonable,” attempting to get both sides in on the conversation. Then when it becomes clear that the Republicans won’t negotiate (I know – it’s crystal clear to everybody here from the beginning), he goes it alone, getting what he set out to get from the beginning.

This cannot happen, however, without lots of pushing from the left. He may still be to the right of many (most?) here, but I think he’s farther to the left than many (most?) here think.

jmo, but i would say yes — so long as there are no mandates, which are massive bailout to the insurance industry and leave them with more $$$ to lobby with. scarecrow has a great diary on that:

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7337

congrats Jane, we are far from victory, but this is a major testament to the power of your blogging and the determination of the FDL community.

Depends on how much tinkering is required. If the bill ends up being perceived as a disaster Dems get blamed, Republicans regain the majority and they either kill the program or modify it to be more profitable to their corporate masters.

How much do we love Henry Waxman?

Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) sent a letter to the heads of several insurance companies Monday inquiring about their executive pay, retreats, and other business practices. The letter comes at a time when the Democrats, eager to push their reform legislation through, are seeking to highlight waste and abuse in the insurance industry.

Lots of Links in the original.

Me too, actually I’m a Rube (eeks!) cubed.

End of Rahm’s career coming

was having a chuckle reading an earlier post – IF we get a bill with a Public Option and the Dems can go into the Mid Terms doing the We Really Accomplished Something on Healthcare! dance, it will of course be due in part to Jane’s efforts – IOW, she will have saved his ass

I have never seen a Chief of Staff so blamed for the policies of his boss in my life. When do y’all hold the guy at the top accountable?

The big difference is insurance was dirt cheap back then, which is why employers picked it up without too much grumbling. Now that healthcare is 20% of the GNP and rising the stakes are higher.

I agree. Obama is not oblivious to what his subordinates are doing.

Wikipedia lists 27 Major Health Insurance Companies operating in the US.

Won’t the Public Option make it 28?

Is that enough change or is single payer worth the fight?

Agreed.

Harry Reid wilts at the first stern glance from any Republic. He’s like having a bobo doll as majority leader, there only to reinforce Republic aggression.

Jane better and better. Delivering words of steel as if they were threads of silk. On target ,clear, concise, words that anyone could understand.

I actually got chills. You go girl…we are right behind you

I take the President at his word — the post is about what people acknowledge publically and why they decide to say that.

Single payer advocates, including me, need to deal with Obama’s statements that since we are not starting from scratch, but instead have a huge mess of institutional arrangements for provide insurance to many, but not all, we have to work from that reality. There’s nothing inconsistent when Obama says, “starting from scratch, I’d pick SP, but we’re not starting from scratch, therefor I don’t support SP but something that is ‘uniquely American’”

I take that at face value as a starting point.

I don’t interpret that to mean America is special so it needs to do it’s own thing just because that’s who we are. I interpret to mean he wants to take what we have and figure out how to fix part of it now and leave parts for later. That means he keeps the employer-based insurance system because he doesn’t want to tell people — employees/unions– he’s dismantling all that to replace it with something else. The something else may well be better, but he’s concluded it is asking too much to force people to go through that transition just because we all think the something else is better. You can agree or disagree with the policy, but I take that explanation as having merit, even if I’d prefer a policy decision to displace the entire system.

The debate has never been about whether SP is better than what we have — it is in my view — or even whether SP is better than a system with mandate, insurance regulation and a PO — it is better in my view — but rather what the policy of transition should look like.

The PO-based policy, as Dean articulates is, is that you put the PO out there and you let people choose. They may choose it or not, but the choice is theirs, not the choice of Congress or the President or the insurance industry. The American people make the choice. And if over time, the overwhelming majority choose a government-sponsored insurance system, then the argument for moving all the way to SP becomes very powerful, and the transition from that point is less difficult. That’s the argument that justifies the PO-based system: the American people make the choice and define the pace of any transition.

The alternative is to have that choice imposed on everyone. The preferred choice of some — SP — may be a terrific idea and be supported by many, but the current proposals all assume that the correct policy is to impose the choice through legislation. A democracy is entitled to do that, so if you get a majority of both houses to agree, then fine. But nothing about the current “debate,” the current composition of Congress, current craziness of the opposition, and current media irresponsibility convinces me that that path is anywhere remotely close to likely to succeed.

It’s a pure judgment call, and who knows who’s right?, and the accusations that anyone who makes such a judgment either way has sold out or is delusional is intellectually dishonest is offensive.

Obviously not. He’s in charge. Frankly, I am starting to find it a little creepy. It’s as though Emanuel were President and not Obama. I sure don’t remember everyone arguing Andy Card was to blame for Bush’s incompetence.

Good morning CBL.

he did just that at the townhall in philly. i will have video up this afternoon,. or you can see it at susie’s place.

Very shrill.

He pointed out that Social Security left out lots of folks when it was passed and then it was improved. Any chance a shitty bill might be the same?

More and more, it seems like shitty bills just get shittier. :-(

Perhaps because Bush has a long history of being spectacularly incompetent that predates Card.

Jane — Awesome job on Rachel and THANK YOU for all your hard work. I’m constantly impressed by all of the efforts by the folks here at Firedog Lake.

He pledged his support in this diary from yesterday

Lewis Black

“A republican stands up in congress and says ‘I GOT A REALLY BAD IDEA!!’ and the democrat stands up after him and says ‘AND I CAN MAKE IT SHITTIER!!’”

I agree. Many of the infiltrator Dems unfortunately have a lot of seniority and power. This is another reason I think Obama has to do things the way he does, and so far it’s proving to be successful for the most part. We, meaning actual Liberals like Obama, do not have anywhere near 60 votes in the Senate and might not even have a majority in the House. As Doung Henning would say, it’s an Illuuuuuuuusion.

This is why I cut Obama (never been a member of DLC or groups like that, even though they’ve tried to get him) some slack on his methods, and so far so good. I’m learning a lot by watching everyone put their cards on the table.

No, I have never in my life seen a Chief of Staff blamed for the policies of his boss. It is highly bizarre, and suggests a reluctance to hold Obama accountable, for what reason, I have no idea.

good morning scooter boy

well, the “blame anyone but Obama” schtick is at least easier to take than the “Obama is a genius who anticipated everything that has happened, and is engineering a brilliant outcome, and we should just support him and wait” stuff…

Well, it’s not going to be very productive.

I believe that progress is an uncertain, ongoing process, rather than an event. And things tend to look better 15 years later than they did when we had to make those awful compromises in the beginning. But even though that’s true, you still fight like hell for every inch, every battle — then take what you can get and get ready to move to the next battle, some of which are rear-guard defense.

Cheney tended to get blamed for their nefarious deeds more often than Bush, for good reason probably. Still the president is responsible for the action of the vice president and Bush was probably aware of what Cheney was doing more often than we thought.

A lot of this is an intentional smokescreen of (im)plausible deniability. Part of the COS role is to be a designated scapegoat.

This is another reason I think Obama has to do things the way he does

no less than Jane Hamsher provides a much clearer explanation:

“Bipartisan” was always code for “no public plan,” something to keep the thieves stakeholders (AMA, PhRMA, hospitals, device makers, etc.) at the table and their money out of GOP coffers for 2010

stark, but un-effing deniable

Can someone please explain to me why the message can’t simply be “We in the government, your Senators and Reps, have good health insurance provided by the gov’t, Medicare and Medicaid work, and that’s what we want for EVERYONE.”

That would be such an easy way to phrase this.

And anyway, why can’t we have the same type of insurance?

I know, I’m being naive, but this is really bugging me and I’d appreciate someone explaining this to me.

Also, Jane’s spot on Rachel was brilliant. Nicely done!

Ok, that’s a reasonable enough explanation.

Jane,

I saw you on Rachel Maddow last night and you were terrific. I’ve been a reader for a long time. I joined today. Congrats and keep up the good work.

Jeff

Yet, he still does not take that formal pledge… why not? I still think it’s more double talk from Sestak. I cannot forgive him (still) for that FISA vote. I think he just likes to talk a good game… while keeping his own “options” open.

Remember Donald Regan as Reagan’s COS? He took the fall due to Iran/Contra and various other Reagan missteps.

Welcome to the Lake. Drop by often…..you’ll like it.

Before Dr Johnson’s dictionary, there was no “correct” spelling in English. And english spelling is not “Rube Goldberg”, its Heath Robinson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson

Hard to argue with his track record so far, don’t ya think? He went against the grain of much of the prevailing thought in Liberal blogs during the campaign and won in a landslide. The Stimulus was by no means certain, and neither was Sotomayor and several issues.

Yet, I think it’s quite fair to say that “Obama is sell-out who is screwing up constantly,” is a sentiment that has dominated here and many other Liberal blogs since before he was even elected.

I’ve been simply trying to make the case that for the most part, Obama is on the Liberals’ side most of the time, and he has earned a decent amount of praise to go along with the criticism given the corrupt system he entered. The balance is way off as far as “holding feet to fire,” and this fractures and demoralizes what would otherwise be a powerful base. This is why I keep bringing up this point, since I feel it’s hurting in terms of getting some things accomplished.

I want to abolish Wall St/stock market completely, create a Dept of Peace, and have single-payer next year, so it’s funny to me how whenever I make this fairly timid suggestion of better balance, I always get called some sort of Obama worshipper who doesn’t think he can do anything wrong. Interesting…

Whatever the reason, the Times article made my day. Thank you, for all your hard work.

Well you know, as ponds go the Atlantic is a very large one and much has been lost in transit. Thanks for informing me re: Heath Robinson.

I don’t think it will fly in the Senate even with reconciliation. First, you can’t do non-budgetary issues in reconciliation so the “public option” can’t be done that way…it’s against Senate rules. Second, I don’t think 50 Democrats or 218 in the House want to risk re-election. What one side wants the other hates. Because they KNOW that if they do pass it, the public won’t see anything by election 2010. Which means their elections go down the tubes and a Republican Congress will reverse it…

Imagine Rahm being in the House while this bill was being considered.

The charitable view:
The “bipartisan” shtick from the beginning was to give Republicans enough rope to hang themselves before the fall. They gleefully obliged with their campaign of transparent lies. And then there were the gun advocates.

Rahm’s plan was to the go in an pick up the big healthcare industry campaign bucks in exchange for a subsidy. Whether he had Obama’s buy-in on this is an open question.

Rahm miscalculated the degree to which progressives represent the mood in the population at large on this issue. And the degree to which grassroots progressives would push back to get a real public option. Congressional progressives made the same miscalculation. Chalk this up to believing the Villagers and the astroturf phone calling before mid-July.

Rahm thought that the media would ignore Democrats cutting the same deals that Republicans cut without media notice. That didn’t work out. Baucus was exposed; Bayh was exposed; Mike Ross was exposed; Steny Hoyer was exposed; all in high-profile articles in the national and business media. And then the White House was called out by a scared Billy Tauzin. And now there are allegations about Axelrod.

Like I said. That’s the charitable view.

…Does anyone else think that Obama/White House/Democrats seriously… don’t get it? That they don’t realize the Republicans are crazy? I know that in D.C., you’re not in the best of loops, but maybe they just didn’t expect it to be this nuts.

Hard to argue with his track record so far, don’t ya think?

I really want to quote Barney Frank right about now… ;)

From Huffpo:

NYT: Democrats Set To Advance Health Care Without GOP… UPDATE: White House Denies Report

geez.

Again, Jane, you were wonderful opposite Andrea Mitchell. That little bomb about Bayh’s wife being on the board of United Health Care was masterful!

And this…

Anonymous White House Aides Attack Advocates Of Public Health Care Option

geez wept.

Marymc,

Why doesn’t the White House take a deep breath….and STFU.

Passive aggressive triangulation is the name of the game.

Probably was a big surprise to a lot of folks in Indiana, too.

It seems particularly self-centered for Kennedy and Byrd to hold their seats when they cannot serve, given the importance of upcoming votes.

I’d never willingly get in the passenger seat beside a passive aggressive triangulator. No wonder people worry. :)

I think I read that Byrd was back. I imagine that both will be there for the big vote – perhaps Kennedy is saving his energy for that.

Can they have proxies cast their votes for them?

The alternative is to have that choice imposed on everyone.[i.e. in single payer]

But that is of course what a mandate does, except the mandate is not to contribute to the public coffers but to private insurers.

88: things tend to look better 15 years later than they did when we had to make those awful compromises in the beginning

We’re that far out from Bill Clinton’s attempt at healthcare reform where he compromised going in. How good is that looking now?

Another blue dog bites the dust revealing himself to be a receiver of $1and l/m big ones. This morning SENATOR TOM CARPER, A BLUE DOG, RIGHT WING MILITARIST DEMORAT was on local talk radio. He had refused to hold even one Town Hall meeting anywhere in the state of Delaware. So for one hour he took calls. I was able to get on and asked him this question. Senator Carper your have taken millions from the insurance companies, you are no pushing for co-ops. I read from three co-ops Florida, Texas, North Carolina all of whom opened up in 1994-1995, and All out of business in 2000. Please tell me where one successful Coop exists? He said, “PUGET Sound, Washington”. I said, Senator are you aware that Co-op is unregistered, unlicensed and untested? How can we expect you having taken millions from the insurance companies to look out for citizens of Delaware”. He said, “I havent taken millions”. He got me on that technicality. He didnt taken millions, only $1-1/2 million. As he lied and distorted facts, local bloggers were blogging. How fast can you say, Read my lips, I am a liar. Carper received millions from credit card companies, banks, Big Pharma and the insurance companies. He had the nerve to speak out his “work” to save Chrysler and GM. What a liar. This man could have saved both these companies from leaving our State if he had supported the Single Payer Health care plan before the Delaware legislature 6 years ago.

If not for the progressive movement, this corporate deal would be done and over. We would have such a watered down nothing bill, just another giveaway to corporate america, we shouldnt support anything less than the Public Option. The action or single payer will be in the States. We can only hope Delaware will continue to fall into red ink, forcing our DEMOCRATIC governor and majority of Democrats in the legislature to enact single payer and save our State from becoming California.

I would do a Snoopy dance if I weren’t at work. Yippee!

I’m highly suspect of how there are 2 or 3 of the “anonymous sources” articles in multiple papers all around the same time saying similar things, and then the official White House Press people are like, “WTF?!?”

Smacks of a PR operation through and through, and given that we’re in crunchtime, the disinformation spin machines are running full-tilt now. Eyes on the prize.

If there were more people like most of the ones I’ve read on this site, we could wake the sleeping giant and put a cork in the mouth of the right wing smear and lie machine. Now if we can just make more of this type discussion heard on mainstream media.

Proper spelling and grammar have been tossed into the loo in America.

Oh, honey, you are going to go out of your mind reading almost anything in America!!!

Just concentrating on the incorrect usage of “its” and “it’s” will be enough to drive you to suicide [or homicide].

Apparently folks were never taught that possessive personal pronouns [its, hers, his, theirs, ours] don’t need an apostrophe! [It’s the contractions (it’s, there’s) that do.]

Also a former English teacher.

I don’t know whether we disagree. If Obama ran on SP, and won, and then asked Congress to legislate SP, and Congress did that, I don’t see any problem. But he didn’t; he ran on something else. So there has to be some other source for such a mandate, because it wasn’t the 2008 elections.

Jason Linkins’ opening of that story really contains the money quote:

I’ve said for a long time now that the press has long endeavored to diminish the public support for the “public option,” characterizing it as one of those foolish and untenable pipe dreams of “the left” when it actually has mainstream support.

Thanks for the link.

I don’t understand your point about Clinton. My 15 year retrospective comment meant something we actually succeeded in passing but only after painful compromising, but was improved later. The Clinton effort completely failed.

I plan on opposing him early and often. He is a democrat in name only and a disgrace to his father and family name. He was raised in Washington, d.c. and for only a short period has lived outside of it. I get nauseous when I see banner ads on this site telling me to call his office and thank him for the good job he is doing. I assume when you say 10,000 you mean Dollars right?

co-ops … we don’t need no filthy stinkin’ co-ops …

I think this should be the TOP post for the next week here at firedoglake. I have emailed it to everyone and their proverbial dog. It can’t be better said than this.

I guess I see less of a distinction between no bill and a bad bill. I think Obama and the Democrats are likely to pass a sellout to the insurance companies, BigPharma, and the medical industry. I don’t think they look at this as something they will want to come back and build on for at least 10 years, if they had their way.

But there are two things out there, neither based on good intentions, which will make this desire on the part of Democrats to walk away impossible. I don’t see anything that will put any effective brakes on costs. Given how insurance premiums are exploding, I doubt it will be 3 years, 5 years at the most, before they are forced to come back to do something to restrain costs. This might involve cuts in coverage as well but they will almost certainly have to move more decisively than they are now. The second thing is that I see depression in 2011 as still a very high probability event. FDR did many great things during the Depression and the impetus for many of those was to keep the country holding together and not flying off into revolution. We could well face a similar scenario where the choice is to improve the safety net or deal with major social unrest. Obama is no FDR. He’s more like a Dan Quayle who can spell. But events could well force him into doing what is right despite himself.

I am so grateful to FireDogLake.COM

I have been so depressed (that the Dems … seem to be walking away from the real purpose of the Health Care Reform effort) and was about to give up on the party! THANK YOU SO MUCH! And your efforts to get the Progressive Dems to send the letter to the White House and the HHS Sec. They really needed to hear from the real base … that put them in office.

LOL You have earned my unending support! I will send my money to you … from this point on.

Signed

SO Happy!

Jay

so what we have here is, not a failure to communicate, but a connundrum:

follow me here because i am trying to work this out (a little like being so engrossed in a good story from page to page, you almost have to go back and rethink what the plot is and who is whom.

okay, before a final bill can be sent to the president to sign into law, it has to be passed by both houses of congress. in the house of representatives, there are not enough votes, without some blue dog dems voting yes, to pass a measure with a public option; while at the same time there are now between 60 and 100 representatives who have said they will not vote for any measure without a public option.

in the senate, still awaiting baucus’s notorious gang of six finance committee measure, there are not enough votes to pass a bill with a public option but might consider a measure with the so-called co-ops.

president obama himself has said he prefers, that being the operative word, a public option to accomplish what he says is the necessary choice and competition to not only cover most americans but, just as importantly, bring down costs. he is open to other suggestions that would accomplish these goals.

let’s be clear here, single payer is the best but out-of-the-question option. next is the public option, not perfect but better than being held hostage to the heath care industry’s voracious appetite for no risk and high profit. then there is the co-op, at present small configurations done in several states similar to the grange or your local credit union.

and to complicate an already murky crisis is the need, here most do agree, for certain consumer protections like no pre-existing conditions, portability and no life-time caps on major medical.

for some reason of which i am not political astute enough to discern, president obama – at least to our knowledge – has not mandated a certain set of requirements; but has left the negotiations up to congress. okay, we all rebelled when gwb would do that and republicans, and most democrats frankly also, fell in line and said okay, sure, whatever you want, we lemmings.

so here we are, what do we politically active progressives do. is something better than nothing; should we choose our battles and hope to fight another day, do we go for broke or just support “health insurance reform?” we must decide amongst ourselves what it is we do support, realistically, morally and patriotically.

to recap: the house wants the public option but can not pass it without some blue dogs and there are some who say they will not vote for any plan without a public option.

the senate does not want the public option, might consider a co-op, but no one really knows yet since the finance committee measure is not done.

we progressives agreed with president obama there must be choice and competition for essential health care cost reduction.

throw in frightened seniors, ranting and raving and gun toting from those who enabled by the likes of fox news and limbaugh, do not trust the government and the 65% of the country who are hanging on to their present health insurance by a fingernail, and what we have here is a mess!

I know it was a very long time ago, perhaps too long for many of us to remember, however, during the campaign it was predicted that Obama might run into trouble “keeping the liberals in line”. Interesting.

There is a very good reason why a single payer system has not even been considered. Single payer systems exist in European countries. This country has been built on what was proudly called “rugged individualism”. We were carefully taught from the moment of birth that we must avoid anything that is even remotely reminiscent of “socialism”. Conservatives are free to define as socialism anything they might disagree with.

I see people, who are obviously frightened and tearful, pleading that they want their America back. I understand them, America has changed. As I see it they want to take their America back from the government, unfortunately it is not the government that is the controlling factor, it is the nameless, faceless, big corporations that have taken over control of everything, yes, even the government.

I worked for a corporation, even a non-profit corporation. It even called itself mental health “services”. Imagine my surprise when during team-building meetings we were informed that we were not a service, but a “business”, and that our prime directive was the generation of profits.
The corporations will not give up their lucrative and enormous profits without a fight. It will never be easy to change the existing system.

I

…sigh…
Equating Reagan and Obama is pretty darn depressing.

Sated with the blood of the hundreds of thousands of Americans sentenced to premature deaths, Big Pharma and Big Health Insurance contentedly move their bloated bodies off to their yachts for a little snooze. On shore, the crazed bands of tea baggers pause in their obscene gyrations long enough to devour a few corpses. Then the cry goes up: KILL THE CHILDREN! KILL THE WEAK! kILL, kILL, kILL!

PO is the gateway drug to SP. I’m ready to inhale.

Who gives a FUCK about Rahm? I’m glad YOU have this all figured out.

and to EightBelles…

I’m not even an English teacher, but it constantly grates on me. The only way to get through is to “wear” something like a filter that sees the errors, but doesn’t stop (or brake) for them. Just keep moving on… ;~)