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Durbin: Progressives Forced Our Hand On The Public Option
Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 5:56PM
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A helpful data point for liberal legislators and progressive activists: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)--the Democrats' main vote counter in the Senate--says that the public option-plus-opt out clause was a pragmatic choice. Liberals wouldn't have supported anything less.
Durbin told Ryan Grim of Huffington Post and a handful of other reporters that Reid may very well have chosen to put Olympia Snowe's trigger compromise in the bill "[i] we thought that just putting the trigger in meant that we'd end with 61 votes."
But they, apparently didn't. Some in the party made clear that they "felt that that just didn't go far enough moving toward a public option," said Durbin.
Undoubtedly progressives will see today's development as a validation of their intense activism--pressure that wasn't always appreciated by Democratic party elders.
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mcc
October 26, 2009 5:58 PM
Thank you PCCC and MoveOn.
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FreeRider
October 26, 2009 6:40 PM in reply to mcc
Why? Durbin stated it was the liberal SENATORS who made this happen, not Move-On.
Thanks go to Brown, Schumer, Sanders, Dodd, Harkin.
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cube3u
October 26, 2009 6:04 PM
The line is forming for all previous nay-sayers and critics who want to take credit....
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Kevin Sutton
October 26, 2009 6:23 PM in reply to cube3u
I'm curious.
Are the naysayers the commenters who insisted that progressives and the Democrats would have to settle for something crummy, or the are they commenters who were angry because they thought the Democrats were going to settle for something crummy?
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lousgirl84
October 26, 2009 6:11 PM
Actually there were a lot more groups than just PCCC and Mov-On but thanks to all of them
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Tanjaoui
October 26, 2009 7:00 PM in reply to lousgirl84
No, it was me. I put a call through to the White House. Didn't get the President, but I left a message. Hey, what can I say? All in a day's work...
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Chris
October 26, 2009 6:13 PM
Glad to see the public option in, but the opt-out lets lawmakers off the hook on an important issue. Any bets that the entire Confederacy opts-out???
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El Puerco
October 26, 2009 9:04 PM in reply to Chris
Let the MoFo's opt out. Once the insurance companies start hiking up rates, the GOP will relent, after paying a heavy political price. In the end, Southerners are not as stupid as others might think. They have a gut reaction against progressive change, but once it happens, they like it. They love them some Medicare and Social Security, and they like SCHIP too.
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CT Voter
October 26, 2009 6:22 PM
So the calling and calling had an effect. That's helpful to know.
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cmpnwtr
October 26, 2009 6:31 PM
Josh Marshall's political analysis of the opt-out and its influence in shifting the tide in the debate is excellent.
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FreeRider
October 26, 2009 6:38 PM
Durbin is saying that the liberals in the Senate forced their hand. Yet, the nutroots think they're responsible.
Adventures in delusions of grandeur! LOL.
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Azdak
October 26, 2009 9:41 PM in reply to FreeRider
And you think the "liberals in the Senate" just came up with a position all on their own, out of the goodness of their (bleeding) hearts?
Kudos to the Senate liberals, but don't dismiss popular support and pressure.
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FreeRider
October 26, 2009 11:32 PM in reply to Azdak
It's not about who came up with the position; it's about who had the power to make or break it. That's the senators, not the nutters on dailykos and firedoglake.
All of the internet bitching in the world would not have mattered if Feingold, Brown, Sanders, etc had not said, "we ain't voting for no trigger."
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hollywood
October 27, 2009 12:25 AM in reply to FreeRider
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. "all the internet bitching in the world" is what moved the conversation away from death panels and socialism to a loud proud left wing grass roots call for something that actually makes the system profoundly more fair, a public option!
With Harry and Barry going toe to toe, trigger or not, opt out or in...... I believe liberal grass roots pressure tipped Harry to favor a bolder move than Barry would have settled for. Yeah Harry.
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FreeRider
October 27, 2009 9:17 AM in reply to hollywood
How is this "Barry"? If you're talking about the President, his name is Barack Hussein Obama.
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Kuyleh
October 26, 2009 11:59 PM in reply to Azdak
He's just talking from experience. After all, look how effective the Rethugs' grassroots' efforts been.
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