Fuck You Rahm and I am writing to the president asking him to tell you to stop telling us what to do.

Actually, Rahm, what's f@*#ing stupid is insulting the people who worked their asses off to get your president elected, knocked on doors in the dark in dodgy neighborhoods, made hundreds of phone calls, contributed a lot of money on their credit cards that had to be repaid over time, and gave generously of their time and energy--all because they hoped they might see some issues of importance to the bloody LEFT in this country treated with respect and addressed. Guess we know where we stand in your hierarchy. As someone who knew foolishness once said, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, fool...won't get fooled again."

What may prove to be the most f@*#ing stupid thing of all, Rahm, is having made you chief of staff.

Rahm is right if for no other reason than that attacks on Dems now are distracting from the Central Front in the War on Terror

In case any of you missed it, I recommend

Health Care Ground Game: The Week That Was

or did I miss all the huge pro-health care advocates at the townhalls and all the counter-punching TV adverts?

Making that effing stupid and pointless

At least Rahm says it to their face.

The political reality is that these "blue dogs" cannot get reelected if they support clearly liberal policies. And realistically, if they don't get reelected, the best you can hope for from their districts is another blue dog. The worst is triggering a reaction and having the district go deep red.

Rahm Emanuel is talking to the wrong f-ing people. He should be screaming at the f-ups who are joyfully f-ing up his boss' -- our President's -- agenda.

Rahm,
Your slavish devotion to purely symbolic and utterly fruitless bi-partisanship is horse-fucking America's middle class. While you're busy stroking blue dogs and Republicans, people are losing their health insurance and not getting the health care they desperately need. There are real lives in the balance.

If it wasn't all about you, Rahm, you might see the bigger picture, which is the people outside of your political playhouse who are getting screwed by your beloved blue dogs' corporate benefactors.

Ok, yeah, Rahm's an asshole.

Moving on to more urgent matters, it appears to me that at every meeting there need to be people in the audience taking notes while the teabaggers spout their crazy about what's in the bill, who will then go to the mike and call them out one-by-one. "Mrs. Jones, you said this bill had provisions for killing old people. Can you tell me what section of the bill that's in? Have you read it? If not, who told you it's in the bill? If you didn't read it, how do you know it's in there?" And so on and so forth. Very calm, straightforward, prosecutorial laying out of the facts that lead in one direction: CrazyTown!!!

I'd also like to see a supporter at every meeting dedicated to shaming. As in, someone who will stand up and say, "Mr. Smith, I couldn't help but notice you're a gentleman of an age who probably is on Medicare. Medicare is government-funded healthcare for the group private insurers most want to avoid insuring - older folks. I say government-funded because I pay for it every paycheck. It's deducted right out. You're welcome. I'm ok with paying taxes to help people who have worked hard all their lives and deserve some leisure in retirement rather than constant fear that the next health issue will take their home and retirement savings. I wouldn't feel good about living in a country that treated its senior citizens that way. What I can't understand is why you are so unwilling to extend the same courtesy to me. I mean, I'm out here cheerfully paying for your healthcare and at the mercy of these private insurance companies, and I could easily lose my home and life savings before I ever reach retirement age if my insurer decides to find an excuse to deny payment for treatment. And I would still be paying for your healthcare while I lose everything. I just don't understand how taking the healthcare I pay for and refusing to allow reforms for my healthcare - reforms you aren't even going to be paying for - can be explained as anything but meanness in the historical sense - selfish, petty, miserly. Presumably you have some children and grandchildren who are in the same boat as I am - and you don't care about protecting them either. It just really saddens me because it's so un-American to be so uncaring towards your fellow citizens. I can't understand it or why anyone would want to force their fellow citizens to remain at risk of ruin or death as a result of a condition we all share - being human and prone to illness. I personally don't want to live in a country with such an appalling lack of spirit that it can't treat the least of us better than a stray dog who dies in the street."

And, of course, pack the meetings early with progressives so only a few nutters get in.

You go Rahm. He is absolutely right on this. You all have your heads up your asses.

How about a mail campaign in the form of a koan?

"Dear Representative X:

How can a responsible person ever succeed in satisfying an unreasonable person while remaining responsible?

Sincerely,
A Reasonable Constituent"

Who is keeping Howard Dean out of the White House/health-care debate? Dean is the most important, and most authentic and rational progressive voice, and the White House doesn't even acknowledge his existence. I think that is because of a Rahm/Dean feud, and it has disastrous consequences for moving this forward.

Rahm is full of himself and he is killing any progressive chances with health-care reform. He and his brother want no part of any public option, and they kept single-payer off the table as even a bargaining chip.

Maybe we ought to listen to Rahm and the rest of the Obama team when it comes to tactics. Maybe, just maybe, these guys understand the politics of getting a bill passed a little better than do angry internet commentators. Who came from nowhere to get elected President of the United States, after all? That guy must be an idiot.

Rahm was personally responsible for recruiting many of those Blue Dogs when he ran the congressional campaing committee. He deliberately funded conservatives and promised them they would not be required to support Dem party bills.

Fuck Rahm. We don't have to have solidarity with neoliberal centrist blue dogs. For the sake of our grandchildren we should be splitting off into a progessive party. The Bush era fiasco should have opened the door for a truly progressive agenda. Instead we're stuck with Rahm and Barack's moderate conservatism. Fuck Rahm.

Rahm's insightful leadership was critical in having Democrats vote for the Iraq war authorization in order to "take the issue off the table" for the off year elections the following month and what happened there? The right shoved it up his and the other Dems ass anyway and they knocked off a number of good Democrats who were stupid enough to follow Rahm's advice. Then he opposed Howard Dean's 50 state strategy in 06 and advised all Dems not to talk about the war because it was a losing issue. The number one reason people voted out the Republicans in 06 was corruption and the second reason was the war. Rahm is a corporate tool at best, a capitulator who has always been in it for himself. So screw Rahm and his DINO strategy. It doesn't work.

"Hell, bring back the Republicans!"

No thank you.

If Mr. Obama plans to run again in 2012, he might want to think seriously about taking public financing. I can't see the roots pitching in to the extent they did in '08 - this root, anyway. It's about time we get something for our money besides rude demands from Emanuel.

I only had time to read about half the comments, so if this is repetitive, I'm sorry.
I think the idea that Rahm is worried about being embarrassed sells him short by a good deal. Yes, he does have a stake in protecting blue dogs, but not because he, personally, got them elected. The fact is that if they are challenged and beaten by more liberal Democrats, those seats will then go Republican in the general election. As much as we may despise lukewarm Democrats, their votes and seats ARE important and we can ill afford to lose them.
Also, and I think this is where we do tend to be a little naive, taking RE's protestations at face value ignores the fact that he is always parsing influence and pressure from every direction. By excoriating progressives with whom he actually agrees, he puts blue dogs further in his debt without any intention of actually eliminating the pressure on them from the left wing of the party. It is clear that Obama wants as good a bill as he can get, and I have no doubt that Emmanuel is pushing in that direction from the inside. His efforts are made more powerful BOTH by left wing pressure in the media AND by the fact that he has defended them publically. He has no real interest in calling the dogs off. We help him and he maneuvers. And, in the end, we really don't want to lose those seats in the congress in the next election. This guy is really good at what he does, and he is on our side. Keep yelling and he will keep telling you you are idiots for yelling and the blue dogs will get pinched in the middle with no place to go but health care. In the meantime, we need to check our thin skins in the cloakroom. IMHO.

Well lets face it the debate is not about true health care for all the debate is about how do we keep the Insurance money flowing into the politicians coffers. The most we have done here if we get anything done at all is to get a toe in the door but that is about it as far as true health care reform. It seems now that some sort of complicated fill out this form, fill out this form, fill out his form pay this much deductable but you can have full deductable until you cross this threshold blah blah blah blah...... system will grudgingly emerge from the congress and signed by Obama as a "We all worked hard to get this bill passed aren't we great and Americans can be proud of their elected officials who will then slink off to their fundraising dinners attended throngs of suited lobbyists who will be stuffing money into their pockets as fast as they can suck it out of the public who have to use thier credit cards to pay for their drugs and proceedure to stay alive.....Obama has sold out and that is the only truth coming out of this debate about "Health Care" in America. THe opportunity of a generation has passed and Obama facilitated its failure even if he doesn't know or believe it. Cow towing to intransigent republicans, who as Hillary so brilitantly put it the other day..."If Obama walked on water they would say he can't swim"....is stupid. Obama Republicans are not your friends they don't want to be your friends they do not want you to succed they want you to fail..don't play in the pig pen if you don't want to get dirty. Brush the obstructionist aside including the so called "Blue Dogs" who are just republicans in dogs clothing and do what you said you would do....get a single payer plan in place everything else is just deck chairs on the Titanic and the Insurance companies have already taken all the life boats!.

I'm already sick of Illinois.

Vermont in 2012!