YES!!! What a relief! If Waxman had caved in to the Blue Curs on the public option, I would have croaked (nyuk, nyuk)!

Let's give Waxman a big round of applause. He has stood up to the Blue Currs when nobody else would.

He's tried to bring investigations into the abuses of the Bush administration, the CIA and the FBI only to be told to by the Democratic leadership to layoff.

The Democrats could use some more Waxmans. Lord knows, they don't have anything/nobody else.

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

WaPo said four of the seven blue dogs on the panel went for it, giving it enough votes to pass committee. This whole process has made it clear that the Democrats must separate the wheat from the chaff. Time to primary the obstructionists. I'm tired of hearing them whine about the "tough vote" on cap and trade. Suck it up, guys, or go join the GOP and their loose coalition of freaks, racists, Christian nutsos and obstructionists.

Here's the thing, if they are expecting the public to back off over the recess they are wrong. They are going to get an earful back home, Democrats and Republicans alike, and it's all going to be in favor of getting it done with a robust public option, if not single payer. I can't see that slow walking this thing helps anyone but the progressives at this point. The public now expects something to be done.

Has this made it easier or harder for these blue dogs to go on August break? Did some just cover their butts temporarily?

Blue Dogs will likely herald this as a major victory, but compared to their original wishlist, this seems pretty minor.

sorry Brian. they got the ONE thing they wanted out of all their tantrums and obstruction - the August delay.

oh, and now look, a House bill with those phony co-ops in it, how handy for conference

why a veteran like Waxman didn't pre emptively stifle these 7 bastards is waaay beyond me at this point

This is EXCELLENT NEWS!!!!

for

MAX BAUCUS!!!!

IF, the real public option is gone, this whole thing with blu dawgs and their alledged conservative credentials is all CRAP..They're not conservatives - they're obstructionists!! WORSE than republicans!!!

Last week I sent my Congresswoman aka The Speaker a nasty email re: the public posturing of the Blue Dogs.

I noted that I had received several emails from VanHollen soliciting contributions for health care reform to the DCCC

I concluded "There have to be consequences"

Well thank you Madam Speaker!

Just responded to today's email from VanHollen and sent the Good Guys some more money. Let Menendez hit up Lieberman

And as an extra added bonus to the window decal(!) you will get access to a live conference call with Chris vanHollen, a DCCC Health Care Townhall this Friday 2:30 EDT
http://www.dccc.org/page/invite/healthcarecall?stg_signup_id=15109270
I can hardly wait

The point being folks -- keep up the pressure!

Emails, phone calls, and faxes do work. We need to blast these folks during August and drive home the point: reform health care now!

It'll be a long haul. We'll be battling to the end of the year.

But forget all the pessimism, fearmongering and prognostications -- like all the talk last week about health care being dead, etc,.

It's the 5th inning. We have a few more rounds to go.

If a savings of 1% on the 300-400 percent above poverty bracket saves $100 billion, 1% = 0.01, if 'x' is the total amount necessary for the 300-400% bracket subsidy then:

0.01x = $100 billion

100 *(.01)x = 100 *($100 billion)

1 x = $10,000 billion or x = $10 trillion??

A pretty hefty amount to subsidize one bracket??

The news on huffpost is not this sunny.. looks like the public option is in name only and can't use medicare rates.. Anyone shed some light on this? Thanks

Anyone else pointing out that the "Gang of Six" on whom our political system--in the absnece of what should be justified outrage--has conferred enormous political power over health care, all come from small states with a total population of less than 3% of the nation. And their gross take from the for-profit health industry is over $3 million

----- Original Message -----
From: Kate Stayman-London, CREDO Action
Subject: Baucus and friends have a nasty secret on health care.

Have you heard about the six senators who are out to kill health care reform? Health care policy that isn't just bad — it's corrupt.

The "Gang of 6" has accepted more than $3 million in campaign contributions from insurance companies and big pharma — now they're pushing a lame excuse for health care reform that would benefit those very companies most of all. Tell them to give that tainted money back.
Of course, that's not how they'd phrase it. Sens. Baucus, Bingaman, Conrad, Enzi, Grassley and Snowe say they're striving for "bi-partisan compromise." But what they're actually doing is working to make sure reform won't include a public option or mandatory employer-based insurance — two key policies needed for effective reform.
There are 100 members of the Senate, but these six, inexplicably, seem to be holding all the cards when it comes to health care.
So you probably won't be surprised to learn that all six have taken a huge amount of money from the health insurance industry and pharma.* Take a look:
Senator Lifetime contributions from Insurance/Pharma
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) $1,203,205
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) $206,297
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) $442,165
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-NV) $342,228
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) $702,595
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) $161,706
TOTAL: $3,058,256

These six senators — who, by the way, represent only 2.74% of Americans — are writing bad policy, and they're doing it while they take money from the very companies who stand to benefit the most.

visit my website www.michaelmunk.com

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1913410,00.html

The President's perspective on the topic, and how it has been covered by the media, and his opponents.