Union Chiefs Warn Obama Their Members May Sit Out Next Election
Richard Trumka's not making an idle threat here. Union supporters don't have much to cheer about in this healthcare bill, and I don't think he's exaggerating the impact on the midterm elections. It's just that, for whatever reason, Obama's a lot more interested in the welfare of bankers than he is in workers:
President Obama sought on Monday evening to assuage organized labor's misgivings about the health-care overhaul, even as several key union leaders warned that the bill's final outlines could severely dampen their enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket in this year's elections.
Obama invited 10 labor leaders to the White House to discuss the negotiations aimed at reconciling the Senate and House bills, which are not heading in organized labor's direction in the three areas that it had identified as priorities. The final bill will not include the House's government-run insurance plan, or "public option"; it will probably include the Senate's new tax on high-cost health plans that could affect many union members; and its penalties for employers who do not provide insurance coverage will probably be closer to the more lenient terms in the Senate bill.
Three hours earlier, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a hard-edged speech at the National Press Club that discontent with the final bill, when combined with a general perception that Obama and Congress have been insufficiently populist in responding to the recession and financial crisis, could demoralize his members. The risk, he said, was a replay of the Democratic blowout in the 1994 elections, when, after the passage of NAFTA and other disappointments to unions, "there was no way to persuade enough working Americans to go to the polls when they couldn't tell the difference between the two parties."
"Now, more than ever, we need the boldness and the clarity we saw in our president during the campaign in 2008," he said.
Trumka stopped short of his September threat that the AFL-CIO might not support the final bill -- after all, he said, labor has been seeking health-care reform for decades. But individual members could sit on their hands. "A bad bill could have that kind of effect," he told reporters. "People could stay home. It could suppress votes."
Amen, brother. It's 1994 redux. Obama and Rahm seemed determined to alienate every progressive constituency that voted for them in 2008, so they will end up staying home this November, ensuring big GOP gains in Congress (and maybe a takeover).
I don't understand why Obama is pissing on one of his strongest, most loyal voting blocks.
Labor has been pissed on for 30 years.
It's expected that the GOP will. They always have.
The Dems believe that they can get away with fucking their base, cause the base has no where else to go.
My response...ok...fuck you...I'm stayin' home. If the opposition wins...oh well...I'm no worse off than I was before and maybe politicians will wake up to addressing MY needs.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
you will be much, much worse off under the Republicans as a union member. The Democrats may seem to be desultory allies but the Republicans are real, full-time enemies of the unions.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Reeeally? Just how much worse. They gonna reenact slavery?
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
...safely securing their careers and personal coffers by scaring Progressives with the Republicans as alternatives.
Well said.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
The Democrats have the same problems as any other governing party. It is a mistake to assume that all their loyal supporters share the same views on every subject and these views must be balanced. I'm rather happy about that. A party devoted to the interests of a single group make bad governors.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
This would be true if it were simply a difference of opinion between party members. But what's really the case is the president is reversing his campaign positions. He campaigned on a public option -- indeed, vigorously so -- then bailed on the public option while claiming he never campaigned on one. He campaigned against mandates, then supported madates. He campaigned against taxing "cadillac" insurance plans, then proposed taxing "cadillac" insurance plans. This is what's pissing off progressives, not that he tried and failed.
1) Guarantee Choice
2) Make insurance affordable
3) Protect families' financial health
4) Invest in prevention and wellness
5) Aim for universality
6) provide portabality of coverage
7) Improve patient safety and quality care
8) Maintain long term fiscal sustainability
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
... on things like torture, backroom deals with PhRMA and AHIP, warrantless spying, having bankers and insurance companies write their own laws to name only a few.
Most are against these policies. Others defend them. Still others are actually "happy" about them.
At least we're all standing on principle. They just happen to be radically different principles.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
exactly Obama's problem. He is committed to supporting only one group: the rich, the bankster gangsters, corpoate Amerika, the insurance racketeers, big pharma. He's a globalist in the worst and ugliest traditions of the Trilateralist, the CFR and the Bildebergers. The only time he stands up for the rest of us or for the Constitution is when it is a relatively trivial issue, and only then if there is no competing interest from the above mentioned usual suspects or no conflict with the agenda of assuring to the ever-broadening expansion and consolidation of Amerika the Police state.
We've been royally had.
The bogeymen can manipulate you to any position they like.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
that has given us such a spineless Democratic Party. The we-suck-but-not-quite-as-bad-as-the-Republicans Party. But of course, that's the whole plan. As Carroll Quigley put it, "The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy."
"Obama received $20 million from healthcare industry in 2008 campaign"
Headline from Rawstory research into 2008 Obama campaign funding
http://rawstory.com/2010/01/obama-received-20...
Top Industries
Many presidential candidates receive the bulk of their funds from the same industries and Washington-based interest groups that dominate giving to all federal politicians and parties. Beyond this, some candidates receive sizable amounts from industries that make up the economic base of their home state. From this table, you can get a flavor of which are the top industries giving to this politician.
Rank Industry Total
1 Lawyers/Law Firms $43,071,129
2 Retired $42,934,278
3 Education $22,915,462
4 Misc Business $16,558,999
5 Securities & Investment $14,808,875
6 Health Professionals $11,716,570
7 Business Services $11,453,341
8 Democratic/Liberal $11,234,271
9 Real Estate $10,395,123
10 TV/Movies/Music $8,966,774
11 Civil Servants/Public Officials $8,775,628
12 Computers/Internet $8,497,422
13 Women's Issues $6,906,664
14 Misc Finance $6,390,199
15 Printing & Publishing $5,973,558
16 Other $3,661,324
17 Hospitals/Nursing Homes $3,335,944
18 Commercial Banks $3,244,103
19 Non-Profit Institutions $2,962,445
20 Construction Services $2,917,605
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
And the telecoms picked up the bill for the Democratic national convention.
the delegates all rec'd fetching AT&T presents the DNC purse-bags
http://bp3.blogger.com/_MnYI3_FRbbQ/SIMXHjccf...
what made the trips to colorado all worth while!
Two-words, containing a total of 14-letters: Corporate Owned.
It looks like we have ourselves a bit of a "horse race" happening in Massachusetts between the Republican Scott Brown and the Kennedy Clan endorsed Democrat Martha Coakley:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_o...
If Brown slips past Coakley in this unlikely "horse race" (Democrats/Independents backlash against Obamacare/The Mass Plan?) a week from today, Obama and Rahm's "fragile coalition" will be shattered!
Here's but one more article that outlines how the Senate legislation (and this MUST be the final bill for passage) really does hurt Medicare:
http://theragblog.blogspot.com/search/label/D...
This vote coming up Tuesday could be the beginning of the end of this despotic legislation if Brown wins.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
If Brown wins, that will send some shivers up Obama's spine (if he still has one). Exit polls will probably show the liberal base stayed home.
A good piece, thank you!
Unfortunately, this is exactly what I was saying almost all along about Medicare. It will another of a number of travesties.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
these SOB Democrats.
Can we all make the same threat?
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
I've already made that suggestion.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
... at any time.
way things were headed we were not to complain but go out and change them. You know, run locally, campaign locally etc... I seem to have been told that before.
Try doing that without contributions.
Oh...and ask the ONLY true internet candidate, Howard Dean, whether or not the powers that be can destroy you even if you have huge populist popularity.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
If he was quoted by the media as much as far less relevant Republican has-beens.
and all but told him he can suck my balls.
ABOUT TIME. Not the thread...but the action on the part of labor.
We're ALL workers. This is not about unions. What happens to the unions ultimately happens to the rest of us.
We've forgotten that lesson, and it needs to be relearned.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Considering Obama's kissed the ass of the bankers for the last year and has screwed all those who voted for him, I guess he's banking on the bankers to make up the votes due to the lack of progressive voters and the demoralisation of the base.
goodluck with this statement: "I guess he's banking on the bankers to make up the votes due to the lack of progressive voters and the demoralisation of the base."
dandy
the dem party moved to the right, catered to corporate interests and threw many of their traditional bases under the bus, for decades now--- it is about time that those that id themselves as progressives either took back control of the party from the new dems/neoliberals or start another party and run against the duopoly.
the dem party moved to the right, catered to corporate interests and threw many of their traditional bases under the bus,
You can thank the Clintons and their wonderful leadership council for that.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
...for sucking so much Conservative dick.
It wasn't conservatives he was sucking off, it was corporations.
Why do you think the present Administration is blowing the healthcare industry off so much right now.
They want the dollars that presently flow to the GOP.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
exactamundo
the new dems (see, corporate dems) have gambled that the liberals/progressives/left will have no choice but to vote for dems; all the while the new dems work their asses on behalf of the corporations in order to get corporate booty.
and the one power we have: vote withholding. that would throw a wrench in their plans
except for the fact that the corporatists hate high voter turnouts, cuz that usually means a win for progressives. I suspect part of the objective here is to drive away voters.
Sorry...I won't fall into your "Catch-22" scenario.
I'm staying home and labor should to.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
But you gotta admit it's lose-lose.
It paid off handsomely. The Clintons are reportedly worth over $100 million now.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Yeah, I'd suck for a 100 mill too.
How about the Main Street Party? A party that accepts no corporate owned politicians as candidates is a party that can win. A President with a (D) after his name, supporting the taxing of middle class health insurance benefits, makes me want to puke. I'll just vote third party instead.
the health care bill better be better than reported--or my vote stays home.
if the unions were using this threat as a means of leveraging their influence. It is a transparently idle threat however. If the leadership of the unions were to follow through with it it the people who would pay the highest price would be their membership. The Republicans will give them nothing.
A more sensible strategy would be to support congressional candidates that favor their interests. Taking your marbles and going home is petulant and foolish. It just means you are out of the game.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
... did NOT say that their members would not vote. They said the would not support Obama.
Now, if a progressive/independent candidate were on the ball ...
stand a chance. The electoral system would not permit it.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
... that perpetuates the Democratic/Republican tug of war.
How's that status quo workin' out?
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Get a good slingshot, and use them to defeat conservative Democrats wherever possible
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Sorry for the double post C&L...but...again...
I don't disagree, but look at what is happening.
The Democrats are shipping in Harold Ford, Jr. to run in the Democratic Primary to run a primary challenge in New York State against a DEMOCRAT who is being hammered as being to "conservative".
The political parties are not stupid. They know what is happening and they are positioning their own anointed players into situations so they can keep any REAL populist movement from occurring.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
The strategy of threatening to hold back votes is, how shall I say it, stupid. Steering those votes to more progressive candidates is the only sensible strategy. It is, of course, harder and requires some political acumen in selecting suitable battle grounds but it is the one that will pay in the long term.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Didn't I say a progressive/independent candidate could benefit from this?
But, no, you dumped all over me for 'witholding my vote'.
that wasn't directed at you. I disagree, however, with trying to go third party/independent. That is a much bigger challenge with a huge array of barriers both financial and otherwise.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
... to more progressive candidates. That's fine in the very few instances where that's possible.
I'm talking about doing whatever is necessary to defeat corporatist Democrats - including working for Republicans if necessary.
Especially in the House. I'll take ten Michelle Bachmans if it's necessary to defeat one Nancy Pelosi.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Geeeezzzuusss.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Impeachment (including investigations: "off the table."
Single payer health care reform: "off the table."
Torture investigations: "I'm not sure when I found out, but investigations are 'off the table.'"
Stopping the Bush tax cuts: off the table (after all she's personally one of the biggest beneficiaries in the country).
Funding Bush Wars: fully funded.
Bush never had a better friend in Congress.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
a braver man than I if you can stand the idea of listening to ten raving lunatics like that.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
The way even the Progressive Caucus ignores us, we are, for all intents and purposes, out of the game NOW!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
I signed that medical petition on line, here's the comments I added:
We need real health care reform provisions in this country, otherwise quality, affordability and access are all negatively impacted.
Human lives should not be bargaining chips in derivatives and stock transactions on Wall Street, especially since Wall Street has to all intents and purposes decimated our economy, whilst enriching their CEO's at taxpayer's expense.
A good health care benefit through the government is essential to free this burden off of potential employer's backs, as we wait for them to start providing jobs again with a liveable income.
Waddya think, too inflammatory?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Not to inflammatory at all.
bring home the bacon for those Wall Street syndicates
runningruining the economy it's justified.i think the unions should do just as they're threatening...then see what they get in return via the GOP.
because we all know the GOP is soooooooooooooooo pro-union.
Do you see the Democrats working to protect American union workers?
So, it's vote for the guys who will fuck me over, or vote for the guys who say they'll fight ... but every single time, when it comes down to the wire, roll over and put their paws in the air?
with friends like these...
I believe that it was Democrats that wrote the latest corporate bill presently being "negotiated".
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
..and e-mails asking for donations to the Democratic Party during the next election cycle. You piss off the base, give lots of money to bankers, no public option, no war crimes' trials, guess what, my money stays in my pocket. And my vote, well, we'll just see if there's a Progressive strong enough to step up and run on his own and screw the two party system for screwing us.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Corporate end run around the possibility of a real third party emerging to threaten the status quo. It takes the attention off and absorbs any energies that might propel a real third party threat.
Very good, young Jedi.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
the free Corporate tote bag of goodies. Chocolates, coupons, a neat little pen light key ring. You can dig through this nickel-dime loot while the group's organizer gives you the "orientation" during the bus ride.
Now here's a union suit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mzaTSGBN4U&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
catch The Man in the White Suit with Alec Guinness. One of my all time favorites.
Get even more active. Defeat corporatist incumbents without regard to the relatively meaningless (D) or (R) after their name and without regard to who their opposition is.
Too many people have been suckered in by the Sarah Palin/teabagger bogeymen. Every notice how their arguments have gone well beyond any rational right wing approach and have descended into pure lunacy?
It's the only way they can stay to the Right of today's Democrats.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I don't disagree, but look at what is happening.
The Democrats are shipping in Harold Ford, Jr. to run in the Democratic Primary to run a primary challenge in New York State against a DEMOCRAT who is being hammered as being to "conservative".
The political parties are not stupid. They know what is happening and they are positioning their own anointed players into situations so they can keep any REAL populist movement from occurring.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
I don't really have a point here.
Well then, thanks for wasting our time and clogging up bandwidth.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Some would.
I'll be taking my bat and balls...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
we want it now.
Lance Selfa, Socialist Worker here
Alice: In 1935, Roosevelt signed the Wagner Act which brought the US into the modern world as far as labor was concerned. After he did it he was on the enemies list of big business.
Lance Selfa:
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
But we are not children, mycue (registered user 9 minutes), we just have problems with policies you obviously support: like torture, immunity for torturers, secret prisons, imprisonment without cause, warrantless spying and immunity for those crimes and liabilities, Goldman Sachs running the economy, the lowest taxes on the wealthy in my lifetime including an estate tax of zero (right now in 2010); escalation of the war in Afghanistan to neutralize less than 100 Al Qaeda, and a host of others.
Keep supporting these heartfelt beliefs, but why bother with the Democrats? Your hero worship and policy positions definitely lend themselves more to the Republican side.
Or maybe you'd care to mention one progressive accomplishment Obama has made? Fair warning: mentioning health care will be met with a link to the sharp rise in health insurance stocks since Obama has taken office.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I have to agree with you. I thought your comment was rational.
Still got a long ways to go.
ok, let the insults begin.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
You think those angry with the Democrats are whiny children who just want to take their ball and go home?
Perhaps you could "rationally" list a few of the progressive accomplishments of the Democrats in the past three years.
But please use small words for us pouty children.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Stay with the 10 Bachmanns.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Perhaps you could make mycue's brilliant, yet somehow subtle, point a bit more simply.
And please be sure, especially when referencing "10 Bachmans," not to use any fancy descriptions like "hyperbole." It would confuse us lesser minds.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Tue, 01/12/2010 - 12:06 — mudshark
I have to agree with you. I thought your comment was rational.
Still got a long ways to go.
__________________________________________________________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgknPqMQvR4
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
So I'm gonna burn it down.
You're busy talking up the progressive line, but insisting that the status quo is the only path available to progressives. That to do anything else simply assures a Republican win.
But then you talk about not giving up when you suffer defeat, and fighting the good fight.
To me, that's not running to weak-tea Democratic leadership and saying, "Oh, please, Mr. Reid and Mrs. Pelosi, won't you piss on me some more?"
.
WAS all you needed to say
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
if Obama had been fighting really hard for healthcare reform and simply encountered too much resistance, but that isn't the case now is it? He rolled over on the prescription meds issue, he bailed on the public option, and he reversed his postition on mandates and taxing so-called "cadillac" insurance plans. So far, the only campaign pledge he has kept is the Afghanistan troop increase. Comparing all this to MLK or the suffrage movement is what's childish.
allow single payer a voice, which just goes to demonstrate that, by definition, anything that one refuses even to attempt is impossible.
He should've started with single payer, then compromised down to a public option if need be. But it's clear to me now that he was just a Manchurian progressive all along.
in the primaries of 2012?
I'd sooner vote for Howard Dean to be the Democratic candidate for POTUS in the fall of 2012 than Obama!
We should probably try to draft him NOW!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
It would be 1980 all over again!
and I've only somewhat recently become interested in politics - and I don't know my American history that well - but was there ever another time in our nation's history in which both parties in Congress were legally bribed by corporations as they seem to be now? It just seems so bleak and discouraging now.
OBAMA LIED TO US. He is not who he said he was.
Why do anything when in the end they NEVER turn out to be who they seemed to be.
Or something happens to them - maybe they are just puppets and when they get elected the powerful people who REALLY run the country threaten to kill them if they don't do things their way?
How else do you explain this ABSOLUTE INSANITY?
His overriding message was "change you could believe in", along with "yes, we can". Semanticists call this kind of language “abstract language”.
Abstract language is the language of politicians. Take health care. Dennis Kucinich told me "I am the co-author and co-sponsor of HR 676, the Conyers/Kucinich bill, which will provide for true universal, single-payer health care. All residents of the United States will be fully covered for medical, dental, vision, mental health and long-term care. There will be no deductibles, no co-pays, and no insurance company employees whose job it is to deny you coverage so their company makes more money."
Meanwhile Barrack Obama told me "Every American has the right to affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage. My plan will guarantee coverage through partnerships among employers, private health plans, the federal government and states."
One is specific, and the other more abstract, where the devil was in the (unknown) details. The only real flip from the campaign rhetoric was the mandatory obligation to get insurance. I did pay attention to the fact that his largest corporate donors was from the financial/insurance sector. To me it was quite clear that if Obama wasn't corporate approved, we would have seen the Reverend Wright plastered on the television nightly for the 2 months preceding the election. So, I see what I expected, which my guess is, better than what we would have gotten from McCain, which looked like a rerun of Hoover.
you act like the dems are the party fighting for progressive change only to be stymied by the GOP. when, in reality, if you cared to pay attention, the dems have pushed corporate-friendly legislation/policies that run counter to the base's desires.
the dems control the white house and congress, and yet, still, the neoliberalism and american imperialism continue. is that the GOP's fault? are the dems THAT weak that they can't overcome GOP obstructionism, or do they actually agree with the GOP on a lot of substantive points?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N43Cm6ra0hY&fe...
I'm Boycotting NewsCorp! Heres what not to buy: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=news...
I don't blame the Unions if they decide not to vote for any of these god damned politicians who work solely for the Republinazi corporations to the massive detriment of the actual citizens of this country.
didn't "lose" these jobs, they were "given" to India, China and every other place where the workers will take a dollar a day so that all of the corporations don't have to pay anyone in this country a decent wage.
or healthcare or any other of the myriad benefits that were won by unions by busting the heads of corporate overlords.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
some truths are just too big for people to face.
Without proper medical care, some of us have problems sitting.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Rush is able to sit and put on his show. He has good coverage of his health and his chair. He got the cyst removed so he could cover extra large chairs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kjIAXyTgEI
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Cowards Vote": http://www.strike-the-root.com/node/25787
we want everything right now or we're going to the next drive up window.
If you think a Republican takeover of Congress would be in any way a harbinger of improvement in the country or the Democratic Party, you missed the election of 1994 or failed to learn about it in history.
The losses in 1994 included most progressive Democrats in swing districts. They included the issue of health care altogether as an agenda item in Congress for 16 years.
"A Kaiser/Harvard election night survey of Americans nationwide who voted in the 1994 election has found that health care continues to be a key concern, but the voters are rejecting a major overhaul of the system. Instead, they strongly favor approaches to solving this national problem that are incremental and do not significantly expand government control of the health system......Thirty-one percent of those surveyed said they were less supportive of major health reform than six months ago, with half of those citing as their reason that they did not think the government would do it right. More voters now want Congress to make modest changes in the health care system (41%), rather than enacting a major reform bill (25%). In addition, one in four voters favor leaving the system as it is. [Tables 4 and 5]"
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/1002-elecrel.cfm
They laid the predicate for the debacle that was the final six years of the wallowing inept Clinton administration and the total disaster that was the eight years of Bush.
Don't like the health care bill. Get ready for none. Don't like the stimulus? Get ready for tax cuts. Gotta kid in school. Get ready for the Christian plan of the Founding Fathers.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
in your quotation: "...Thirty-one percent of those surveyed said they were less supportive of major health reform than six months ago, with half of those citing as their reason that they did not think the government would do it right."
Ring any bells? Less supportive than they were six months ago? Meaning, after six months of insurance industry lies & manipulation? I mean, I get your point, but the solution is loyalty to principles, not loyalty to party.
over the last year. The public is all over the map. Consistent at times, internally constradictory at the same time.
My point was that leading up to the 1994 election, major defeat of a health care plan in Congress did not work politically.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
The plan itself did not work politically.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
under consideration.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
So, we all agree?
I don't like the health care bill drafted by the industry. No bill is better than a bad one. Being forced to pay for a policy that won't cover health care needs helps no one but insurers. Have you noticed their stocks going through the roof?
The "stimulus" was heavily weighted with tax cuts (ya know, to be bipartisan), and, speaking of tax cuts, we have the lowest taxes on the wealthy in in the past fifty years right now in 2010 under a Democratic House, Senate and White House.
And perhaps you haven't heard, but the Obama formed the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Yeah, he's really the guy to protect the separation of church and state.
When trying to frighten people with the alternative to Democrats you might consider using policy examples where the Democrats actually differ from Republicans. There has to be one somewhere.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
...oh, wait minute...scratch that.
this coming from the guy that, like a technicolor yawn, sets up shop here to regularly mock the few true progressives in the govt? yeah, what else does ricky recommend?
who cannot get out of single digits when they run. And those who support them.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
does kucinich get reelected into the house on some sort of weird minority-of-the-vote-fluke rule that exists only in his ohio district?
Spoken like a true sock puppet of the successful Corporate propaganda model.
What do you stand for? Madison Avenue and all that it brings.
Such a mindset deserves ridicule for its shallowness.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
winning a Congressional District in Ohio. The difference is Boehner has risen withing the ranks based on his appreciation for the limits of his appeal to a broader electorate. Dennis has chosen to spread his appeal across the country but cannot accept the message its shallow depth will take him no higher.
And the whining and teeth knashing about Democrats from those who like Kucinich is likely to enhance Boehner's power if the Republicans win while Dennis will remain mired where he is.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
Really!
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
lots of shifting rationale for one who normally rocks with his cock out
Shifty Q - Rahmsky-Elmo, but my cock kept getting stuck in the sock and he wanted to rock free.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
not to mention that other name wouldn't remind me of 'better off dead' as much as ricky does
projects and hopes you will destroy the temple one day.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
.
you see Boner as more sane and logical than Kucinich?
Who cares where the country stands when comparing the two when you are CERTAIN that Kucinich is the more honorable human being?
not a horse race.
.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
for guessing who's going to win.
The purpose of unions was to unite for the common good of all workers. The problem is that their healthcare plans are provided for by favored tax deductions for corporations. I am self employed and my healthcare deduction is limited to an amount in excess of 7 1/2% of my adjusted gross income. Others that don't itemize get no deduction. Why are we discriminated against?
It is time for the unions to step up and unite for the common good of ALL. This is what has made America great. Richard Trumka is a bad example of leadership in America. Abe Lincoln said that "most men can handle adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power".
P.S. Richard Trumka rants for his rights, but he was a 1960's Draft Dodger. No cajones.
but he was a 1960's Draft Dodger
Two Words....DICK CHENEY
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
had to have had cajones or they would have been 4-F.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
I sympathize completely, but it is not the greed of the 'Left' per se.
It is shortsightedness.
Health insurance as provided by employers without being designated as income, and therefore taxed as income, was begun in WWII to get around wage controls.
Fairness has never been achieved for those who pay for their own policies and or those that have none.
This is only one of many reasons that single payer was the way to go.
The current health care bill is a travesty.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
The current health"care" bill is more than a travesty. If passed, I will consider it a crime against the american People.
So much for the revolution Obama was to lead. Is there a part of the base this guy won't throw under the bus for his own political legacy. Let's face it folks, this health care bill is not about helping the people, it is clearly about this President's legacy, and the leaderships wrongheaded election strategy. The only stronghold for elections Democrats had lay with the unions and now they are told to take it or leave it. Were we willing to compromise to get health care reform, yes; what this bill represents is a handing over of 30 million to the rapacious under penalty of law, and then this president doesn't want to tax the people who have benefitted the most over the past 30 years in this country, but once again, will stick it to the people who have worked hard to win the benefits they deserve.
The only thing that will surprise me is when this President and the Democratic leadership actually stand for something progressive and that benefits the average person and poor person in America. Until that happens, they are nothing more than the same side of a coroprate coin as the Republican party. So where does the hope lay for us progressives and liberals.
where you will be happier? Somewhere where there has been a more recent revolution or even the promise of one.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
"America, love it or leave it."
Now where have we heard that before.....?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I posed it as a question for him to contemplate in answer to an anguished question of his own. I am not qualified as a mental health expert like some here purport to be. But it is obvious he finds little hope on these bleak shores. Many who felt the same way came to this place and made a revolution. But that was a long time ago.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
You don't seem to be doing very well on the substance.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Über alles....
I think he is going to get the gesture returned to him in 2010 and 2012.
Great topic.
117 posts and no one had to say "Glenn Beck is a douchebag."
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Some things can go unsaid and still be obvious.
"I mean Romney is the most conservative on illegal immigration and I don't think Ronald Reagan could get elected in California today."
Ann "Clipped" Coulter
... on Obama's litany of lies.
Almost makes Bush look like an honest man.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
:) Samantha Bee is great!! And-- WOW, that makes Obama look like a scumbag!
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
...they hit this nail squarely on the head:
"there was no way to persuade enough working Americans to go to the polls when they couldn't tell the difference between the two parties."
The Democratic Party somehow managed to stay as useless when they control everything (now), as they were when they controlled nothing (Bush middle). Hmmm, now how could that be??
...when the Democrats lose majority, we can blame the Republicans for the fact that nothing is getting done! YAY!
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