McCaskill To Tea Partiers: "I Don't Understand This Rudeness"
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) may have just hit upon a new way for Democrats to deal with the Tea Party crowds: Lecture them as if they were unruly schoolchildren:
"Let me just tell you -- and I said this yesterday, I'm gonna say it again -- if anyone wants to bet you whether or not we're gonna get a single-payer nationalized health care bill out of Congress, take the bet and take their money, 'cause it is not gonna happen," she said -- only to hear the right-wing crowd booing in disbelief.
"I know you hate to hear good news," she said, "but we will not do this."
She later said in exasperation: "I don't understand this rudeness. What is this? I don't get it, I honestly don't get it. Do you all think that you're persuading people when you shout out like that?"
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
It is a shame she is so opposed to single payer.
I do have one question; don't these Tea Partiers have jobs? Mosty folks are working now.
August 11, 2009 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a problem of demographics - a large number of bay boomer pigs sucking on the gov't teet. They want theirs so you can't have yours.
August 11, 2009 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
+1 for the crowd control
-1 for the opposition to single payer
And yet, I think it's a net gain.
August 11, 2009 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's a net gain because single-payer was never on the table this year whether McCaskill supported it or not. So while I disagree with her opposition to single-payer, she's merely stating a fact when she says it's not going to happen.
The only problem is when she points out to the crowds that they aren't going to persuade anyone by acting like hooligans, she may have tipped the Democrats' hand. They WANT people to scream and shout and draw Nazi symbols because that's what repulses independents in this country and draws them to the other side. If the teabaggers realize that their tantrums are counter-productive, they might start actually using more persuasive strategies.
August 11, 2009 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen!
It was NEVER in the legislative play. It was never in Obama's campaign or Hillary's for that matter
Neither were Death Panels
August 11, 2009 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
They don't HAVE any persuasive strategies. If they had, they wouldn't need to resort to these histrionics.
August 11, 2009 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes and if you watched the President today in Portsmouth New Hampshire you would know why it is not on the table. I think my Pres did a great job of explaining what he has in mind and what is bullshit and fear mongering.
He also explained why single-payer is not an option.
August 11, 2009 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Call em out Claire...why do they peddle lies others have told them and shout down those who're there to tell them the truth
As for single payer.....I wish you people had taken a reality check three months ago
And I have said so time and time again as one who prefers sort of arrangement with a single payer nucleus....
Get real please stop wasting your energy, my time
August 11, 2009 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gallup
8/6-9/09; 1,010 adults, 4% margin of error
Mode: Live telephone interviews
(Gallup story)
National
Would you advise your member of Congress to vote for or against a healthcare reform bill when they return to Washington in September?
35% Vote for, 36% Vote against
Republicans: 10 / 66
Democrats: 59 / 10
August 11, 2009 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Single payer?
Seems to me that the Democrats need to have an ACTUAL in conference bill to talk about and in the meantime need to tell folks why health care reform is good for them.
Single payer
Death panels
British national health system
Guvmint out of Medicare
August 11, 2009 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
So almost a thrid of the population has no opinion???
August 11, 2009 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope it means that almost a third of the population chooses not to express an opinion until they know what is actually in the bill.
That said, as long as we are now clear that the actual content of the legislation is of no consequence to the other two thirds of the population, we might as well write and pass whatever Obama can agree on with Waxman and Schumer.
One third will oppose it, one third will support it, one third are now a question mark. But, we will get health care reform that is good for the country as a whole. That would be leadership, not to mention delivering on a campaign promise.
August 11, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The GOOD news is that 1/3 have no opinion AND, though not sure it is in this one, 70% in 2-3 prior Gallup surveys want "major reform"
Now that tells me we have a message problem.
It also tells me that the Baggers, Birthers and Deathers might have overplayed their hand
Tea Party Organizers Admit: Goal Is No Reform At All
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/tea-party-organizers-admi_n_256584.html
What it tells me more than anything else -
The progressives need to get their heads out of their collective asses
Stop talking about single payer...stop bashing blue dogs (fucking stupid) and start pushing the basics of health care reform
When we get to conference, if we get to conference.......until then
Ride to the sound of the gunfire and shoot at anyone wearing blue
August 11, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
PLUS
Take the 150 million from BigPharma
Like I care that Robert Reich is "appalled"
August 11, 2009 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think that Digby had a good idea yesterday:
August 11, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish we could give McCaskill credit for an original way to deal with the racists, but I'm afraid this is just more evidence that Claire is a little ... how do I say "retarded" politely? ... slow.
She's a Blue Dog to make Blanche Lincoln look like Bernie Sanders.
She's not against single-payer, she's against any kind of reform that incoveniences the private health insurers in the slightest.
Don't compliment McCaskill for anything, ever.
August 11, 2009 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
You mean aside from being an early endorser of Obama, campaigning aggressively for him, regularly calling out the Republicans in the Senate and voting to support Obama's agenda? Aside from all that?
August 11, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
(xpost)
What it tells me more than anything else -
The progressives need to get their heads out of their collective asses
August 11, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I feel very strange defending Sen McCaskill because I have never liked her, but in her defense, she is publicly on record as supporting a real public option (that is, not co-ops, not something with a trigger, etc). Clearly the private insurers would rather not have a strong public option, so your criticism is inapt. That said, I am as disappointed as anyone else that she is so down on single-payer.
August 11, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe she is against single payer but that isn't how I would read her comments. One could be a huge single payer supporter and still utter those same words - it's not gonna happen.
We need to focus on the bill we have.
August 11, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
We need to focus on the bill we have.
Actually, I wish we had a bill. It would be a lot easier to defend an actual bill with actual language. It is killing us that the enemies of reform can say anything and it is impossible to prove them wrong because we do not have a legislative text against which can compare their claims.
That said, I take your point. We should defend the reform effort we have, not agonize endlessly about the one that we would rather have. Sen McCaskill is more an ally than an enemy, so we should be grateful for that much.
August 11, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
The real opposition to health reform is small. The exaggerated opposition is just that. They are trying to make it seem like there are a lot of people opposed by busing in folks from who knows where. The media thrives and feeds on it and even distorts the facts.
The people overwhelming voted for Obama partly because of his stance on health reform.
Keep the faith. He is going to get it done and he intimated today to a question about bipartisanship and why even bother and he as much as intimated he will get it done one way or the other. I have always believed he had something up his sleeve in case of this pushback. I may be wrong, but I don't think so.
August 11, 2009 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is absolutely no trust left in each other. How do you have a debate with someone who won't even acknowledge what you say at face value?
Right...it's all one big vast conspiracy to slip single payer in. I'm an advocate of single payer but it's very clear that it's not even on the table...not even being considered being put on the table.
Can we PLEASE have a conversation about the actual versions of the bill and what the opposition would like to see included as a solution? If your answer is nothing, then you can leave, because we're trying to solve a problem here.
August 11, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
C'mon Eric that wasn't a rightwing crowd it was more than mixed.
only to hear the right-wing crowd booing in disbelief.
August 11, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
That poll just shows again that Republicans will vote against their own self interest rather than support a Democratic bill. Most in these townhall meetings are senior citizens, who seem to be saying, "Hey I have my healthcare--so screw the rest of you."
August 11, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Senator needs to take the playbook from Harry Truman and give the Republicans hell or just call out their lies as lies. The State is extremely split politically and we shouldn't forget that Rush Limbaugh hails from Cape Giradeau.
August 11, 2009 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
ONe of my very best college friends was from Cape Girardeau....real lefty..hippie party boy...prominent local family
Not everything bad comes from CG...Charlie rocked
August 11, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
So their base shouts and gets heard. And our establishment sells against our base. No wonder there is (YAWN) so little passion on "our" side. Well it's not really my side anymore. Just can't do the "vote for me so I can campaign against what you want" thing any longer.
August 11, 2009 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lack of passion?
Speak for yourself or is it YAWN for yourself
August 11, 2009 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
>>Well it's not really my side anymore. >>
You've been saying that for nine months now. Do you really, really mean it this time?
If so, will you take your "we're screwed, Obama is a traitor and the Democrats are the mortal enemy of everything good and decent in the world" over to NoQuarter where you belong?
{fingers crossed}
August 11, 2009 8:33 PM | Reply | Permalink