Update: After Public Option Concession To Blue Dogs, 57 House Progressives Say They'll Vote
As an update to this post, 57 House progressives have now signed a letter vowing to vote against health care legislation unless concessions to conservative Blue Dogs related to the public option are reversed. That's up from 53 this afternoon, which was already more than enough, in theory, to kill the bill. You can view the final copy of the letter, including all signatories at this link.
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Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Thank you Keith - MN-5 is with you!
July 30, 2009 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, the concessions to the Blue Dogs is what's gonna keep these 57 from abstaining?
July 30, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh please Louise
July 30, 2009 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Axelrod held a Members Only message seminar for House Dems today
Wonder what advice he's giving the Progressive Caucus on how to spin joining with Republicans to kill health care reform?
That should be something to watch...Lynn Woolsey can barely manage to string 2 coherent sentences together
July 30, 2009 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
err - the session's tomorrow
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/axelrod-holding-private-messaging-session-with-house-dems-on-selling-reform/
Does anyone take these folks seriously?
Do they take themselves seriously?
July 30, 2009 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Without a robust public option this pile of crap will be just another bailout, this time for the insurance companies. Another Medicare Part D. It will fail conspicuously by increasing costs and putting coverage out of reach of even more people. This will enable opponents of reform to say "See, it doesn't work" and poison the well for yet another generation.
I'm sorry those more into political game-playing than policy are just unable to comprehend this, but it's the truth.
July 30, 2009 8:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the Democrats let the Blue Dogs gut the key to effective revision of the crappy lack-of-health-system we currently have, then the Democratic Party is crap garbage fully as bad as the conservative Republicans. A pox on both their houses.
The Republicans have already committed party suicide. Now, if the Blue Dogs get their way, The Democrats will have followed suit. In that case Progressives need to kill the whole damned effort. That will kill the Democratic Party also or to be more precise, it will demonstrate their uselessness and their political suicide as their uselessness and greed is recognized. The entire party structure is too rotten to be left in place, and killing the health care reform bill will kill the Democratic Party entirely as much as Bush and the conservatives have killed the Republicans.
It's time for a line in the sand. (Sorry for the cliche.) No public option means there is no support for the entire political class in D.C. There's nothing left in Washington worth keeping if the Blue Dogs win. No one is governing, just getting paid off by the special interests. The American public doesn't even count as a special interest.
The Progressives are right. I hope they have the guts to follow through if the Blue Dog destructiveness and greed wins out.
July 30, 2009 11:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't he saying they will vote against the bill unless the concessions to the Blue Dogs are reversed.
Got to admit they couldn't make this more confusing which is of course a hugely bad sign.
If any of them had a bill they could explain they might actually explain it.
July 30, 2009 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The letter itself is extremely clear. It's only TPM's post that's confusing.
July 30, 2009 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
how many members of the blue dog coalition?
how many members of the congressional progressive caucus?
the progressive signers already outnumber the entire blue dog coalition.
remind me again, why have the dems been bending over backwards to accomodate the blue dogs?
July 30, 2009 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Because shut up you dirty fucking hippie liberal fascist, that's why." Sincerely, the Blue Dog Coalition
July 30, 2009 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
This whole damn thing is a mess! Obama should have been at the helm of this from the get go instead of traveling the globe as a roving ambassador!
I thought he knew what he wanted while campaiging last year! The bill will pass, but the longer it takes, more people will meet finacial ruin while the 5 year olds in DC fight it out!
July 30, 2009 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the bill passes tomorrow, it won't go into effect until a least a year later, and then only parts of it. So quit with the hysterics.
A president can't ignore any part of the things on his agenda. Congress has to produce a bill, not the president.
July 30, 2009 11:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but did he have to leave Rham "sure we like triggers" Emmanuel at home?
July 30, 2009 11:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
So what? Was Rahm's statement responsible for the Blue Dogs' actions and Baucus bending over to the Republicans?
I guess if Rahm had not said that to the WSJ, we have a robust public plan out of the House and Senate, huh?
Rahm didn't put millions of health industry money into the blue dogs' pockets. Rahm's statement didn't turn Baucus into a republican toady who gets millions from the insurance companies.
You're focused on some ridiculous shit that has made no difference to the big picture.
July 31, 2009 12:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are exactly right. One of the things Bill Clinton did wrong was to make his health care reform bill his own and to take responsibility for whatever Congress did to it. The result was that anyone on Congress could attack it with impunity because they were not responsible for any part of it and no one was actually responsible for getting a bill out of Congress.
This time Congress is the primary Governmental branch responsible for passing or failing to pass health care reform. The members of the House and Senate have no one to blame for any failure, complete or partial, in the process.
Obama initiated the process. Congress accepted it, took complete responsibility for it and has given us the crap that the media is laying out for the public. We know who to blame for failure. It ain't Barack. (Nor is it Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly or any other lying talk show host.) The responsible individuals are first the Republican leadership of each house (who can't even cobble together a credible proposal that extends beyond the two letters "N" and "O",) then it is the Democratic leaderships who appear to have been chosen for their powerlessness and passiveness. Then the individual members of each house is responsible for their statements and especially for their votes.
July 31, 2009 1:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just read a post renaming the BDogs to OLD YELLOW...It fits...sell outs must be replaced...the way it is written it appears to boil down to a bailout for the Insurance Co whose profits have risen 428% since 2000!
The Ins Co lobbyists are pouring $1.4 million a day into the congressional coffers...At hmc_lavadogs they have a list of all congressional recipients of donations! This needs to get out..call them 1.866.220.0044 or 1.866.338.1015.
baucus must be removed.
July 31, 2009 9:56 AM | Reply | Permalink