See, here's the thing about the very concept of "bipartisan" compromise: The only Republican officials left are from the far fringe of their party. So you really can't negotiate with them in any meaningful sense - you can only capitulate.
And that's pretty much what the members of Max Baucus's little private party have done. They've stripped anything resembling real competition from their secret healthcare proposal. I wonder why Republicans are running this process? (And please note: not one member of this cabal is a progressive, nor from an urban area. Not quite representative of the rest of us, wouldn't you say?)
This would be a very good day to flood the offices of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Sens. Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the Democrats slicing and dicing away our future, with PHONE CALLS (not emails) telling them you want a strong public option - unlike President Obama, apparently.
WASHINGTON – After weeks of secretive talks, a bipartisan group in the Senate edged closer Monday to a health care compromise that omits a requirement for businesses to offer coverage to their workers and lacks a government insurance option that President Barack Obama favors, according to numerous officials.
Like bills drafted by Democrats, the proposal under discussion by six members on the Senate Finance Committee would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to any applicant. Nor could insurers charge higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
But it jettisons other core Democratic provisions in a reach for bipartisanship on an issue that has so far produced little.
[...] In the Senate, officials stressed that no agreement has been reached on a bipartisan measure, and said there is no guarantee of one. They also warned that numerous key issues remain to be settled, including several options to pay for the legislation. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss matters under private negotiations.
They said any legislation that emerges from the talks is expected to provide for a non-profit cooperative to sell insurance in competition with private industry, rather than giving the federal government a role in the marketplace. The White House and numerous Democrats in Congress have called for a government option to provide competition to private companies and hold down costs.
[...] The senators involved in the negotiations are all members of the Senate Finance Committee, and include Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the senior Republican. Others participating are Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, and Republicans Olympia Snowe of Maine and Mike Enzi of Wyoming.
But here's the real money quote:
Individuals would have a mandate to buy affordable insurance, but companies would not have a requirement to offer it.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is why we voted for Democrats - so we could hand over our fate yet again to the Republicans. Let them know what you think.
((( "...telling them you want a strong public option - unlike President Obama, apparently." )))
Why is that apparent? Obama has said repeatedly that he wants a public option. Further, that phrase is linked to an article that doesn't mention Obama in any way.
.."With the public option being such a lightning rod in the current health care debate, progressive activists are already emailing around these numbers as evidence that voters are way ahead of the politicians. Certainly, the findings provide a boost of sorts to President Obama, who has stood by the public plan even as Republican opposition has crystallized."
This is why it should be apparent to the Finance Committee!
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
> Obama has said repeatedly that
> he wants a public option.
President Obama has said a lot of things he never meant to do. He's a liar. Big surprise for a politician, I know, but Obama is a traitor worse than any Republinazi since Obama has a brain and he was hired to put an end to the Bush regime's Christian terrorism and treason and yet Obama has done nothing he was hired to do.
USA PATRIOT Act is still being inflicted against us. The fascist State is still demanding AT&T, Verizon et al. hand all of our calling records, emails, and web histories over to them. The Department of Homeland Security still exists despite being a Christofascist Orwellian terrorist agency roughly equal to the CIA qand the Scool of the Americas.
Obama is worse than baby killer Bush.
Um...no...no he's not dude..
Not by a loooooong shot.
He ain't perfect, but he's waaaay better than booosh.
need to take your nap.
Go away, a$$hole troll.
Seriously, you have NOTHING to offer but idiocy. I'm surprised you're not asking for his birth cert., or have you decided to give that one up?
You disgust me - take it somewhere else. Go see malkin's site, that's your speed.
Obama is a corporatist. He is the chief corporatist in a the Corporate State. You won't hear that from the Right Wing, only the Left Wing.
What wing are you, the head in the sand wing?
His first act was to threaten a veto of the non binding TARP disapproval resolution. A CYA feel good act by the Corporatist Congress.
Washington is for the Oligarchs. Obama knows how to fit right in.
Trillions for the Oligarchs and War Profiteers, penny pinching for the people.
I am in the socialist wing.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
If you thought Obama could get whatever he wants just because he's president you have a very poor grasp of how government works. He's the president not a dictator. The blue dogs and a few more repugnacans need to get tossed out before things will really change.
You missed this quote from today's WH press conference:
"I don’t believe that the President has come down one versus the other in terms of denoting co-ops equal to or above public option."
A former award-winning journalist and lifelong class warrior, keeping a jaundiced eye on the Washington elite.
Anyone who thinks that calling politicians or writing them letters or standing outside of their offices parading back and forth actually does anything are deluded rubes, suckers who deserve to have their pockets picked by the fat cat fascist piles of treasonous shit that run the United States.
Parading back and forth asking "pretty please" has never worked. Calling up some criminal and crying will not work, has never worked, and will never work.
Got any better ideas?
Well by golly the internet has a lot of reach.
Organize a massive protest(s), locally, or right outside the Capitol building -- be seen, be heard.
Actually, it does work. Why do you think Rethugs fall over themselves to apologize to Rush if they ever suggest he's less than a gold-plated saint?
It's the calls they get.
Unless it's a whole lot of calls from insane Rush worshippers. They don't care as long as their palms get greased by the lobbyists that own them. The only thing that they really hate is publicity, they prefer to conduct their business in secret. When Rush is displeased he mentions their names over the airwaves and the crazier members of his audience take it from there. Placating Limpballs buys their anonymity.
I love how you have nothing at all to suggest as an alternative - just lots of whining.
Try harder.
GD freepers!
President Obama has been pretty blunt about that, "I support a public option", "I will only sign a bill with a public plan"...can't get more blunt than that. The link has nothing to do with him either, get off the dudes back.
...presser yesterday, the White House mouthpiece said that Obama would also be OK with a healthcare co-op that didn't necessarily include a public option.
Speaking as a former employee of a US Senator it would be much more productive to call the offices of the committee than the offices of the Senator unless you are a constituent. If you are not they will not write down anything you say and if you stop in and bring them anything it will not make it further into the office that the front desk circular filing cabinet. Honestly they will be polite but will not spend anytime listening unless you can vote for them. At least that's what we were instructed to do and I doubt anything has changed. But the committee office is different - they will listen to anyone.
Becuase that ignorance is going to cost them.
Whether they like it or not, people out of state do matter because they can contribute to primary challengers.
I spoke to someone in less than 2 minutes.
My sister calls him routinely - they're rude and nasty to her every time.
*
Maybe because she calls all the time.
Baucus' constituents should also flood the committee phones with calls as well.
(Sen. Bingaman) since I'm one of his constituents. His staffer said the Sen. still supports the public option but is still "working out the details" with the committee of six. Yea it may be pointless since his job is secure (he gets 67% of the popular vote nowadays), but he is gonna feel at least some electoral pain and fury from NMers if he goes along with this crap.
In Illinois we tossed a senator out on his ass after he voted to confirm Clarence Thomas. We did NOT forget.
*
Well - actually - I'm for single payer -- but Senators Leahy, Durbin and Schumer have just put up this website :
Citizens for a Public Option
GO SIGN THE PETITION!
*
Today I feel truly sorry for Americans once again and forever subjected to the bad faith and empty rhetoric of their elected representatives.Your health is precious and sacred and shouldn't ever suffer under a system where profit is God.
FUCK these soul sucking scumbags.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Thank you for your sentiment. We heartily agree.
*
I'm certain that a majority of Canadians are in complete Solidarity with your fight for meaningful health care reform.
Don't let them sell you out.People need to know that this is a fight they cannot afford to lose.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Yes we are, and we feel for you. What they are proposing is barbaric. I feel I'm watching the USA slip down to a second-world nation (if there is such a thing.)
Psst: you have to make them afraid of you
far left loon >.<
What total bullshit. I'm not calling these assholes. They ALREADY KNOW what the public wants.
So is Obama going to veto the bill if it has no public option? Something inside me says a big, fat NO. He wanted rapid action. Now he's got that sharp pain in between his shoulder blades.
Et tu, Bluedogs?
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
I don't think I'll waste my time on Baucus. I'll call Reid to pull his chairmanship and I'll call the White House to BITCH - a lot - and I'll sign the Durbin/Leahy/Schumer petition at
www.citizensforapublicoption.com
*
.
Not really: there is a world of difference between reading the thermometer and feeling the heat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anjT71N4PGM
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
appalled. I checked my appallation meter twice after recalibration. No question. Appalled. I guess US senators only dance with the ones what paid 'em.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
on the fritz since 2000. I don't think I want another one installed.
...has an exploded face, springs sticking out, parts lying all around it, and the needle is impaled into the far wall after being ejected at high speed.
Times like this I hope the religious types are right, because these people will burn in H-E-double hockey sticks.
I'm just superstitious enough to hedge my bets.
Sounds like my bathroom scales.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
from the Onion. O.T.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/678.html
and they don't give a damn about the ones who brought them to the dance!
I suspect that everybocy might be missing a key point in this health care debate. Sure, it's about preserving the obscene profits of the few corporations that control a vital industry and milk it for all the profits possible. But thee's another issue that puts the status quo in the interest of ALL the employers in America.
If your health insurance is dependent on your J.O.B., and not portable if you quit or move to another company, this is a major incentive for you to stay there, even if you're overworked, underpaid, even mistreated by your boss. The benefits slave is the new modern substitute for the wage slave, and don't think your employer doesn't know it.
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
Every now and again I try to impress this upon my co-workers. A perfectly rational desire to hang on to health benefits can really cripple one's ability to do that pursuit of happiness thing, if you know what I mean.
I'm just superstitious enough to hedge my bets.
They hold that over everyones head.
Employees are just as bad. Nothing tells your employer that you are a ripe rube ready for plucking than when you roll into the parking lot with a new car and start complaining about your credit card debt.
Debt is slavery.
Call Baucus and them call Reid. Tell Reid to yank the chairmanship of the finance committee from Baucus.
*
Oh Really!!! Speak for yourself Why vote for the Democrats at all.
I vote SOCIALIST! SO SHOULD YOU.
Single Payer is the only way.
Get the blood sucking vampire
healthdeath insurance companies out of business.statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshBF73aDKA
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
and they said he is a strong proponent of a public option and has a history of voting for it.
Since I have a lot of respect for Ron Wyden, and know he's been working on his health care plan for years, could someone please share what the objections are to it?
i don't see a public option in wyden's plan...
**BEWARE**
Also, wyden's plan, as you see on his web page, gets the nod of approval from: The Lewin Group
in fact, it blankly states: The Lewin Group, an independent consulting firm, has estimated that Wyden's plan would reduce overall national spending on health care by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years and that it would save the government money through great administrative efficiency and competition. which, by itself, is mastabatory bullshit. efficiency and competition, i wasn't born yesterday... jesus
but, consider this:
Lewin Group is..... (drumroll, please), owned by UnitedHealth Group!!!
yay!!!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
But I don't see it as necessarily a bad thing. The absence of the public option is not good. However,
I'm really interested in what I consider the bottom line:
how many uninsured people will it insure?
what mechanisms will prevent the insurance companies from continuing to increase premiums at their own whim?
Since I see the second one as the biggest argument for a public option, if Wyden doesn't have some means of addressing it, then that is probably a fatal flaw.
shadowy health insurance front-groups coming out to praise the plan isn't a source of concern?
as far as the mechanisms to prevent a continuation of price increases/care denial/etc, wasn't that what the public option was for?
that's not healthcare reform... (obviously)
that's not even health insurance reform
this is the opposite of 'reform'. instead of moving away from insurance-dominated health care, the congress will be legislating a system where we are legally bound to pay insurance companies. and, without a public option (yes, single payer in the only way to go, just for conversation's sake...), without any "competition", the insurance industry will be in complete control--the public will be legally bound to pay for denied services.
It sounds like the next biggest heist in history, right after the bailouts.
I'm convinced your elected respresentatives, in collusion with corporate officials, see the American public as a big cow to be milked. These multi-million dollar CEOs and WallStreeters spend all day trying to figure out how to shake the nickels and dimes out of your pockets. Everything is about money and not more.
That's how this Cannuck sees America.
far left loon >.<
it sure does
and like the god-awful bailouts, it will be sold to the public as pure good
I can concur with your view. You can't hear ANY piece on health care these days, without everyone having a fit about the cost. And of course, this plays directly in the hands of the corporate fuckers who will not be asked any question about how much THEIR practices cost.
Neither did we hear nothing similar during the run up to the "War on Terror" didn't we?
If killing is more important than healing...fascism cannot be far.
heisters. they're loyal only to $ and power, having consolidated so much of it already... and there's seemingly no bottom line on tactics utilized ...but you know that already you read international press and/or independent news.
I really do appreciate your perspective - I'm about ready to head for Vancouver!
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is why we voted for Democrats - so we could hand over our fate yet again to the Republicans."
Not I. I voted for McKinney, having learned my lesson by observing nonstop capitulation by the Democrats under Bush. They were so consistently pathetic, it was obvious little if anything substantive would change under our de facto one-party system if the "opposition" got in, and here we are. Money rules the "two-party system." Long past time to build another viable party.
would have more success with congress than Obama? What planet are you from?
It's not just about McKinney, Ron...it's about developing a political movement of progressives and Leftists that is as dedicated to promoting and enforcing progressive principles as the people of the Right are....and are willing to put basic fundamental principles of egalitarianism, peace, and sustainability over personal profit.
The fact of the matter is that dependency on the Democrats for promoting progressive change has led us nowhere but isolated, defeated, and thrown under the bus while the "centrists" and Blue Dog/DLC/Dixiecrat/Corporate Alliance simply rolls us over time and time again. Too many liberal/Left/progressive principles have been sacrificed to the mantle of "electability" and "bipartisanship", and for what result?? The same old endless loop between "centrist" inaction (or action that simply passes the buck while enriching the same old tired ruling classes), and right-wing activism (whether by the GOP or the ConservaDems).
Perhaps it's time we started thinking outside the box for once, and escape this endless loop of defeat and dependency.
Anthony
Actually, I voted for McKinney, too, for this very reason: because even with supermajorities in both houses of Congress and a Democratic President, they will still find some way to sell themselves out to the military/corporate complex and screw their political base.
I don't necessarily agree with the idea of a "one-party" system, since there are fundamental differences between Democrats and Republicans on various issues (mostly cultural). The problem is that in the long run, even those differences mean very little when it comes to the fundamentals of serving power over the powerless.
Sorry to say this, but whatever hope I did have that Obama would turn things around has simply vanished into thin air. He's as much a part of the system as any other politician, and not even his gifts of oratory will turn things around as long as he remains locked in the hive mind of the system.
Maybe now that the scales have been removed from our eyes, we can get busy working on that independent Left party and movement we so desperately need??
Anthony
The health insurance industry are getting just what they want from the Finance committee: an individual mandate to buy insurance from them with no public competition. President Obama needs to stand his ground and get a real health care reform bill passed instead of this thing coming out of the Senate Finance committee.
Monitoring the Senate, I've heard at least 4 Senators come to the floor to support essentially the "Obama plan"....and one, Wyden, with his alternative.
The most effective was Sheldon Whitehouse. It does seem the Dems are finally using press/agency
material that provides strong economic arguments for the "plan".
It's about time.
I'd like to see Obama really do a national speech where he does a "Perot", using charts to just show how
much money "doing nothing' would cost us.
not insurance scam is what's needed...
anyways, reid and the dems have the 'power' to remove him from the chairmanship. he's still there. it says something.
Bingaman's NM office closed early and isn't taking calls. Could it be a shitstorm is developing?
I just called the DC office - they said that the Finance Committee's plan is not released yet and that as far as they know, a public option is still on the table.
whether in the Senate or House and ask them to withdraw from their health care plan, which is a really sweet plan for Federal employees, and purchase private insurance, if they can't provide coverage for all Americans. They have a lovely plan, as we are all aware. This would be a fine way for them all to show their solidarity with the average Americans they seek to represent.
How many do you think will take us up on that suggestion?
This is shameful, President Obama campaigned against lobbyists, well the lobbyists don't have to worry they have the Blue Dogs to do their bidding.
Now, President Obama, grow a pair and tell them they might as well go on vacation because you're vetoing any bill without a strong public option.
Let's see what your made of.
The Bloody Blue Dogs and the COROPRATE CONTROLED MEDIA has kill any REAL Health Care Reform, just look at there Bamk accounts.
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