I accept that Sargent is correct.

Democrat of Oklahoma? The other Senator from Oklahoma is that insufferable religio creep Coburn, direct from the C Street Horror, who used Sotomayor's hearings to fantacize about supposed threats to 2nd Amendment rights, despite the Supreme Court's theater-of-the-absurd reading (5 to 4, naturally) of the 2nd Amendment to find rights in it never before imagined.

But I digress. That's Oklahoma. Voted for McCain by about 67% I think.

The attempt to delay this is an attempt to kill it, plain and simple.

"If health care reform is going to happen, it's going to have to happen in a bipartisan way."

No, Rep. Boren, you've got that exactly wrong. The "bipartisan way" for health care reform is no health care reform at all. You know perfectly well that the only purpose in delaying it is to begin killing it.

Whether or not health care reform with a public option makes it, and I think it will, there's an urgent need to drastically change campaign financing. Public financing of campaigns needs to be on the front burner soon.

Boren is a Republican. He refused to endorse the party's candidate in 2008 and he wants to kill the bill in order to get a Republican elected in 2012.

or he (Obama) will actively campaign for Boren in his district.

LOL!

There is no way national health care should be controlled and killed by a few house representatives from red states. Who cares about Boren, tell him he does not control the White House.
And why are there so many blue dogs on the Ways and Means Committee in the first place?

The only thing Oklahoma cares about is military contracts. Obama needs to play hardball with these guys.

Dan Boren is one of those blue dogs who I will definitely mucus bathe. I can't stand his obstructionist ass.

Why should anyone in Congress slow this down. As the president said and is obvious from anyone remotely interested in politics over the last two decades, health reform was always a key issue. What the hell was Congress doing over those two decades? Many in Congress were there over this time period, yet they seem stymied by Obama's wishful timeline of "by the end of the year." You know Health reform, energy reform, immigration reform and tax reform have been on the table for the last half century, yet many in Congress seem surprised and reluctant to take up any measures. you would figure with all the lobbyist representing any number of these issues that there is ample data, ample policy research and plenty of public support for general reform. So what is holding them up? Me thinks it is all the grubby people trying to squeeze out whatever advantage they can insert into the process should it go forward. The if it doesn't you have all these inserts to give you cover for not supporting reform.

Did you guys see what Rep Buyer of Indiana tried to insert into the Commerce committee mark-up,
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_9/hoh/36956-1.html

I called his office to find out if they had any additional info on this proposed idea and the guy told me the may update his website later. Fucking ridiculous. If I was Dem I would get on my soapbox and scream to high heaven about this Rep Buyer proposal. Something tells me that this "surcharge" is just a clever language switch for tax. So how does adding taxes, let alone invading people's private lives, rectify with the GOP's image of no taxes, fiscal conservatism and small government?

If these guys are so stupid they can't see how their own constituents are suffering or simply don't care because they want the perks from the industry, then they should get out of the way and shut up. They are beyond dispicable in their callousness and uncaring for their fellow man. Really, Congress ought to loose their insurance benefits until they come up with plan for all Americans that is comparable to theirs. I have never seen such a group of morally bankrupt people in my life. I really hope that the progressive websites are keeping score on these guys. Regardless of Party, they need to go when election time comes up and they need to know WHY they have lost our support.

Tell Dan Boren if he wants to slow down something he can slow down his father's gay philandering, he can slow down his constant kowtowing to Republicans, he can slow down his appearances on Fox News.

Dan Boren has had government health care most of his life, first while his closeted father was governor of Oklahoma, then while he was senator from Oklahoma, and now as a "Democratic" representative from Oklahoma. Isn't it time Oklahoma turned the page on the Boren family?

If you ask me (and I'm a 4th generation Oklahoman), he's as worthless as Inhofe and Coburn. What good is a Democrat who's as fringe as those two?!

While I am not siding with the Blue Dogs on this issue, Boren is in somewhat of a precarious position and I so understand what he is doing. He represents Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District, where Obama received just 34% of the vote, making it McCain's 25th best district in the WHOLE country. There are only two Democrats in Congress in whose districts Obama performed worse than in OK-2: Chet Edwards (Central Texas) and Gene Taylor (Gulf Coast of Mississippi).

Plus, he is only in his third term, so he doesn't have as much leeway as more entrenched incumbents on issues like this. So while we may disagree with what Boren is doing, it would be politically absurd for him to risk his entire career on this issue.

What we progressives should be doing first is going after Blue Dogs opposed to a public option who represent districts that Obama won or almost won. Some people that come to mind are: Sanford Bishop (GA-2), John Barrow (GA-12), Leonard Boswell (IA-3), Dennis Moore (KS-3), Mike Michaud (ME-2), Glenn Nye (VA-2), Patrick Murphy (PA-8), and Jim Costa (CA-20).