Dems The Target Of Hate After Passing Health Care

Well, this should come as no surprise but yet I am surprised. It seems that angry right wingers, in their frustration with the health care bill passing, have turned to vandalism. Not only have they been smashing in windows of dem offices, there's this:

"Federal and local authorities are investigating a severed gas line at the home of U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello’s brother, discovered the day after Tea Party activists posted the address online so opponents could 'drop by' and 'express their thanks' for Perriello’s vote in favor of health care reform."

Why does this surprise me? I still cannot fathom how giving people access health insurance causes such hate. The GOP has a real problem on their hand and it is starting to boil over.

Update: Now death threats.

And This

And This

How The GOP Can Lose Politically On Repeal

Good quote find on how the GOP might not want to tout the "repeal" message too much.

"If the Republicans now keep health care in the spotlight by trying to repeal it, they will be the ones independents voters see as having skewed priorities and they may start to pay the price. Yes, repeal will play well with the base. But focusing on that has a high potential to turn off independent swing voters who have been leaning toward the GOP but are sick of the health care debate and want Washington to be more focused on something else."

So this says what the Dems have to do. keep a jobs bill in the spotlight.

Interesting Thoughts On The Health Care Bill

Good rundown of quotes about the bill. Check it out.

"Now that it's done, Barack Obama will go down in history as one of America's finest presidents."

"Republicans had bet that throwing everything into killing the bill would result in the bill's defeat. The entire strategy was predicated on killing the bill. Now that the bill has passed, it means that the health care system has been fundamentally changed, and there's no way -- and there will not be the votes -- to repeal it."

"Hard fought victories don't deplete political capital; they build it. And political wins themselves often have a catalyzing effect that shapes political opinion far more than we realize."

Health Care Reform Bill Passes

This is the holy grail for dems and they got it. Amazing day for dems. While there was no public option, there were laws implementing fairness.

Some highlights:

-Insurance companies can't deny coverage due to previous conditions like cancer.

-Insurance companies can't drop someone b/c they got too sick.

-Gives 32 million more Americans who didn't have health insurance access to insurance.

-closes medicare donut hole (a hole making seniors pay for some drugs.)

-creates insurance exchanges allowing states to combine and promotes competition between insurance agencies

That and much more. Check out the Times website.

What's next. The reconciliation bill. Two bills were passed on Sunday. One goes to Obama to be signed. The other bill (reconciliation fix-it bill) goes to the Senate to be passed. It's chances are very good.

For the GOP they totally gambled and lost. They are now spouting "repeal" which is the most asinine thing I have heard of in a long time. Take away peoples insurance and safe guards. They are really digging their hole as deep as possible.

Soooo Close

Good news on Health Care

"I have always thought that the key is to get within four or five votes. Once you're there, you're very likely to win. Why? Because then the White House and Democratic leaders can concentrate all their attention on a few holdouts. And they can make an irresistible argument: If you don't vote for this bill, you will be responsible for the political and moral disaster that ensues. I just don't think anybody is willing to be the person who kills health care reform. They may hold back, they may want to see if the bill is going to die anyway, and they may want somebody else to go first. But when the finish line is in sight, they won't say no."

God I hope so!

Huge Week For Dems, GOP and Health Care

This kind of sums it up.

"This is a week for the history books, one way or another. The participants understand that, which helps to explain the intensity of the procedural maneuverings. But some are disinclined to focus on the broad impact, if only because they are too anxious to consider the ramifications if their side fails."

How An Insurance Company Helped The Dems

This was a huge lift to the health care debate. A normal everyday thing in the health care industry actually saved health care reform.

"On a warm Friday in early November, California's largest for-profit health insurer submitted a plan to regulators in Sacramento. Anthem Blue Cross was seeking double-digit rate increases for many of its 800,000 individual policyholders....

Unwittingly, Anthem helped revive Democratic efforts. Every letter it sent out was a political gift for Obama. The only thing missing was a shiny red bow."

Who would have thought that the problem of the health care industry actually revived the legislation they didn't want passed.

Obama Leading On Health Care

Well, it only took about 9 months but the President is finally showing leadership on the HCB. He released his version of the bill and it mainly follows what the senate put out. There are some things in there to entice moderate repubs but mostly a dem bill.

Will it get them the votes? I don't think so but the repubs find themselves in a unique position. If they do filibuster the only way the White House can counter is with reconciliation. With that being the only option, there is no way dems are going to let health care die.

The problem is that if reconciliation is a definite possibility, I think some dems will be pissed off if the public option is not in the reconciliation bill. I will be pissed off.

Dems Messaging Still Sucks

A new Pew Research Poll shows that only 32% of Americans know that the GOP was blocking the health care bill. This is absolutely ridiculous. Not only do dems have to fight tooth and nail to get anything passed, the public doesn't even know how hard they are working.

Dems have always had a hard time of getting their message across but I'll be damned if I am going to let this one slide past. It is their responsibility to let Americans know who is standing in the way of millions of people getting health care.

Dems, you will never be able to legislate until you can effectively put the heat on the GOP. This low number of public awareness of GOP obstructionism cannot be allowed to continue.

What Killed The Heath Care Bill

The fall of the health care bill (while it is not dead yet, it is on life support.) I will lay at the feet of two people.

1. Looking back over the past year, it was the glacial pace of the markup of the Health Care bill the really killed the bill. Max Baucus made the really bad decision to try and get repub support for a bill that repubs had determined early to never support this piece of legislation. Max helped kill this bill

2. The lack of leadership from Obama. While leaving the mark up of the bill in congressional hands, when things were flagging, (during Baucus's mark-up) he did not come out and lead. Blame it on his tenor in the senate, but he did need to come out and bust some heads. 6 months on a bill when you have a majority was way too long. He needed to show some leadership and expedite the process.

What is left? There is a bill the senate passed and the house could pass it. It sucks but it could be passed and can be amended later. Now more than ever we need leadership and what do we see. No one. We see repubs steeling the headlines. Very discouraging.

GOP Going Down In Flames

It might be a total shame that the health care bill has been gutted by Lieberman but the dems are standing together and about to pass health care (next week) to the chagrin of the GOP. So now the GOP has asked the senate, legally, to read a 787 pg amendment. This will take 12 hours.

Are these the last gasps of a party that can do nothing? The problem, however, is that this tactic will eat into time for passing other things. Like Defense Appropriations Bill (troop funding). The GOP is playing chicken with the very people they're elected defend. There is so much disgrace on the part of the repub party it actually makes me sick. Playing chicken with troops lives. Sad sorry bunch,

Lieberman Is A Horrible Person

With a good chance that a dem health care bill could get passed with a new agreement has been, Lieberman pokes up his ugly head saying he will filibuster the compromise. This has thrown the dem party into a frustrated tizzy on how to accommodate this moron.

Now we hear from Politco that the whitehouse has told Reid to make a deal. If I have ever supported the idea of passing a Public Option via reconciliation, this is it! Lieberman is obsessed with whatever petty shit he can get away with. It is time to take everything from him. Committee assignments and whatever else he gets from the dems. Reduce him to chairman of the cloak room.

This man is a sad sorry excuse of a politician.

Digby On The Health Care Battle

Very funny:

"I have a moral objection to paying for any kind of erectile dysfunction medicine in the new health reform bill and I think men who want to use it should just pay for it out of pocket. After all, I won't ever need such a pill. And anyway, it's no biggie. Just because most of them can get it under their insurance today doesn't mean they shouldn't have it stripped from their coverage in the future because of my moral objections. (I don't think there's even been a Supreme Court ruling making wood a constitutional right. I might be wrong about that.) [...]

I realize that many people disagree with my moral objections to men getting erections which God clearly doesn't want them to get, but my principles on this are more important to me than theirs are to them. So too bad. If you want a boner, pay for it yourself."

Pelosi's Miscalculation

Tucked in the health care bill is a bit of a poison pill for dems. In it is the Stupak ammendment, named after Bart Stupak, dem from Michigan, that would not fund abortions in the public option but also not pay for private plans that fund abortions. (A HUGE overreach by government)

There is a provision already on the books that's called the Hyde amendment that bars using federal funds for abortions. (passed in 1976) This simple amendment could have been used and all would have gone gingerly. But in trying to win support from about 10 house dems to pass the bill, she might have inadvertently sunk the bill.

To many progressives, even myself, this is way too much. If it is going to be in the bill, it needs to be scaled back to the Hyde amendment and not such a big reach into the private lives of women.

What are the consequences for putting this in the bill? From Politico:

"Abortion-rights advocates are calling in the cavalry to help fight off an anti-abortion provision House Democratic leaders swallowed in order to win passage of their health care reform bill. Planned Parenthood summoned 80 progressive groups to plot strategy for keeping the anti-abortion amendment — named for sponsors Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) — out of a final health care bill."

Pelosi has a HELL of a job to do. To try and navigate this huge bill through the house while trying to appease everyone in her caucus is a huge task but you really don't want to be fighting your base in this debate. Pelosi, in her zeal to get the bill passed, might have miscalculated.

House Passes Health Care Bill

The house passed a sweeping health care bill on saturday. Not since Medicare in the 60's have dems been able to pass any major health bill. It was a monumental moment and the words like "historic" get easily thrown around. People should really take a step back and look at what is going down in Washington. It is real legislation. A type that only comes around in a generation. This is history and it feels good to be watch it transpire and being apart of it in some way.

Nancy Pelosi knocked it out of the part. The ball is in Harry Reids court.

AMA and AARP Come Out For Health Care Bill

Two large organizations are now supporting the health care bill. AMA and AARP, both representing large groups of people, have come out in support of the health care bill. This is big b/c it keeps the momentum going for the the bill. Especially after the elections when some dems might be squeamish about supporting it.

Now, we just need to pass this darn thing.

Sen Joe Lieberman Sucks

If there was anyone who deserves to be taken out to the woodshed it is Joe Lieberman. From Politico:

"Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill. "

Tell me again why we didn't kick this joker out of his committee positions?

Good Insider Piece About How The Public Option Made It

Very interesting interview with Sen Chuck Schumer on how the public option got into the bill. The quote is long but good. Check it out over at TPM.

This evening I spoke with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who was in that infamous Thursday night meeting with President Obama and other Senate leaders--and who has been one of the most persistent advocates of a public option on Capitol Hill. As Schumer explains it, the disagreement between the White House and Senate wasn't substantive so much as it was tactical: The White House had its doubts that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could really get 60 votes for a public option with an opt out for states.

"The President listened very carefully," Schumer said in an interview moments ago. "He wanted to make sure that the strategy upon which we were embarking had the ability to carry through."

Schumer has been at the center of the fight over the public option from the earliest days of the health care debate--always there to pull it back from the brink when it at times seemed on the verge of collapse. This situation was no different. After the Thursday meeting, four sources in different Democratic offices told me that the White House had suggested they believed a strategy of pursuing Sen. Olympia Snowe's preferred compromise--a triggered public option--might be an easier path to 60 votes. In the end, though, Schumer and the rest of leadership seem to have prevailed upon President Obama that they've picked the right strategy.

What is so interesting about this is that I feel the leadership for the bill did not come from Obama. This early in his presidency, it feels as if he's being too cautious. It might be, to be honest, the move of someone who is showing that he's a bit young in politics. It was the senate and house (of all places!) that showed the leardership here. Which is scary because I always felt the houses couldn't lead a horse to water.

I am sure there is a lot more to this and I can't wait to read the book about it. I do feel as if we are at the precipice of a really good thing to happen to the United States. We are seeing an institution being formed that our kids will look at as if it is part of their rights. Like medicare, social security, civil rights and the lot.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) Uncommitted

Staring history in the face, Dem Sen Blanche Lincoln says she is not committed to a yes or no vote on the health care bill. Can you believe this? The single biggest piece of legislation for the dems in DECADES and this senator is riding the fence.

From TPM:

"When asked if she would vote yes on a procedural motion (cloture) to bring the bill to a vote, a spokeswoman said Lincoln "has not committed her vote to anyone.'"

The polling in her reelection is not good and she doesn't see the opportunity here. The south has huge numbers of uninsured and she could be the one brining this to her state.

She is too damn worried about her seat. This is bigger than her seat. This is history.

Nancy Pelosi Kicking Butt

It has been a while since I have felt empowered by a political figure. Obama was a start but proof is in the pudding. I find that the proof I was looking for is in Nancy Pelosi. She is doing everything she can to put the public option in the health care bill.

From TPM:

"Pelosi's pulling out all the stops to pass a health care reform bill with a public option that pays providers at rates slightly higher than Medicare--even if it means she has to squeak a bill out of the House with the barest majority. Since the beginning of the push to pass reform, the public option has been at the center of the fight, pitting Republicans, moderates, and major industry stakeholders against an extremely determined majority of Democrats, progressive interest groups, and the public at large."

I have heard Obama say he wants the public option in the bill but is not requiring it. I have to state the obvious. What a wuss! There are certain things you fight for as a dem and one of the biggest is health care. While I am not saying Obama hasn't fought for this. His fence riding on the public option is infuriating. I worked for this moment. Called people during elections, gave money, and started this blog all for moments like these when we do something that is right for this country and who do I see doing it. The Rep from San Fran.

This needs to get passed. 20 years from now when my kids don't have to worry about health insurance while in college and when people aren't going bankrupt from medical bills, I will look back on these months.