TPMDC
McAuliffe On Public Option's Chances: 'Probably Not, No'
Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 16, 2009, 4:43PM
Former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe
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In an exclusive interview with TPMDC this afternoon, former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe said that from his vantage point, the public option is likely dead in the health care debate.
In the past, McAuliffe has said he any bill without a public option would be a failure. Today, though, he said he'd support a compromise bill because "we've got to pass something."
McAuliffe spoke with TPMDC before he heads out on the campaign trail next week for fellow Democrat Creigh Deeds, who defeated McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial primary. McAuliffe touched on a number of subjects, including the Virginia race (more on that in a later post.)
Asked about the chances for a public option now that health care reform bills have reached the floor in both houses of Congress, McAuliffe -- an ardent supporter of expanding government-run care as part of health care reform -- said he he wouldn't bet on one being part of a final bill.
"Probably not, no," he said. "I wish we could have a public option, but I'm also a realist."
McAuliffe said he still believes a public option is the best way to fix heath care. "I think it would be more efficient, I think it would be better for business, more cost effective and you'd have a better quality of care," he said, "but you know, they've got to get a bill out."
He lamented his prediction saying of the Democratic majority and the health care debate, "we're never going to get another chance to do this like this."
"This is a democracy," he said. "They're in there [members of Congress] and they're compromising. I'm hopeful we could have a public option, but would I bet everything on it? Of course not, no."
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
October 16, 2009 4:54 PM
Well, now I know there will be a public option in the final law.
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Indie Pro
October 16, 2009 4:55 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
bwahahahahahahaha!
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benjoya
October 16, 2009 5:07 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
ha ha
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Mike Hickerson
October 16, 2009 9:29 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
Yes, this is encouraging- Terry Mac's incredible penchant for wrong calls is legendary.
But damn, what a slog this has turned out to be. I never envisioned the Insurance Industry being willing to actually die over this; they are spending money like water, and the public sees this.
Money that should be going towards care.
Oh sorry, wrong business model.
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enoreios
October 17, 2009 12:22 PM in reply to Mike Hickerson
As a resident of your state, I thank you. I'm reminded of the work that I should be doing. Hope to see you around soon.
(RWM is NOT dumb, I have met him)
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tosh
October 16, 2009 4:57 PM
What a useless set of quotes by McAuliffe. Not faulting Evan, but Terry said nothing which is consistent with far too many Dem politocos.
John
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RWN
October 16, 2009 7:20 PM in reply to tosh
Listen,like most of the insiders, Terry is too often wrong and miscalculates what is happening.
Today I got a resolution on the agenda at our State Party Exec Cte Meeting calling the State Delegation to vote to include a public option....against the party insiders...
he is dumb, I have met him
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pol
October 16, 2009 4:59 PM
Are you kidding? Terry McAuliffe is a part of the DLC. There's nothing he'd rather see than for the public option to go down to defeat.
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Walter Mitty
October 16, 2009 5:09 PM in reply to pol
And he knows Rahm really well.
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chimpale
October 16, 2009 5:02 PM
So, realistically, 47,000 people have to die every year because "realists" like you don't have the fucking balls to push something as reasonable and as necessary as a public option.
The GOP would like to thank you, Terry, for all your support in fucking the middle class.
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CVille Dem
October 16, 2009 5:04 PM
Glad I voted for Deeds, Terry!
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Eric Jaffa
October 16, 2009 5:08 PM
They can get a public option through reconciliation.
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twirling fartknocker
October 16, 2009 5:09 PM
McAuliffe is a "centrist" piece of shit.
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EastWest
October 16, 2009 5:19 PM in reply to twirling fartknocker
McAuliffe is a fucking "centrist" piece of shit.
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expatjourno2
October 16, 2009 5:27 PM in reply to EastWest
McAuliffe is a fucking conservative piece of shit who pretends to be a fucking centrist piece of shit.
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converse
October 16, 2009 5:30 PM in reply to expatjourno2
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!
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CVille Dem
October 16, 2009 6:39 PM in reply to converse
THIS
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joececchini
October 16, 2009 6:49 PM in reply to CVille Dem
IS
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ttarleton
October 16, 2009 6:52 PM in reply to joececchini
EXCELLENT NEWS
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putty
October 16, 2009 7:02 PM in reply to ttarleton
FOR KENT CONRAD!!!
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CVille Dem
October 16, 2009 7:14 PM in reply to putty
OMG! I may have to barf on prime time teevee! (Twice!)
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Kevin Cassidy
October 16, 2009 7:12 PM in reply to EastWest
McAuliffe is a fucking Republican
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CVille Dem
October 16, 2009 7:17 PM in reply to Kevin Cassidy
Why did he try to get Hillary elected then? I think he is just a castrata.
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Kevin Cassidy
October 16, 2009 7:17 PM in reply to Kevin Cassidy
oops. I hit send without counting to ten. That was a rude comment.
True but rude.
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Donald from Hawaii
October 16, 2009 8:21 PM in reply to Kevin Cassidy
No, it wasn't rude. But you were wrong to imply that McAuliffe is a fucking Republican. You should have said that he's a fucking clown.
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Buckeye Terrorist Fist Jab Nation
October 16, 2009 5:15 PM
He has no more idea than anyone else on the outside looking in.
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UTMark
October 16, 2009 5:30 PM in reply to Buckeye Terrorist Fist Jab Nation
Agreed.
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Jim H
October 16, 2009 5:18 PM
Terry, if you were a "realist" you wouldn't have been out flogging for Hillary post-May of last year.
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fbacon2
October 16, 2009 5:22 PM
Amazing he didn't go further as a candidate with these powers of articulation. Anyone else get a headache trying to read his statements?
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ru4862
October 16, 2009 5:34 PM
Wait-a-minute? Virginia Democrats were having second doubts about Cree Deeds...Why?
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commie atheist
October 16, 2009 5:34 PM
And if that "something" is so bad that it turns people against the Democratic Party in the next election? Brilliant strategy. Can't understand why he lost in the primary.
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cawleybo
October 16, 2009 5:43 PM
"we've got to pass something."
Who cares if its a stinking pile of mess? We got to get something.
Unfortunately, I fear this is the same wing of the party Obama comes from. Definitiely the same wing Rahm comes from.
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grollen
October 16, 2009 5:48 PM
Compromising with the RNC is called capitulation.
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psyclone
October 16, 2009 5:58 PM
Well, Mr. Realist did such a great job leading the Democratic Party from 2001-2005 after all, maybe we should pay heed to what he's saying!
So TPM, why McAuliffe? Was Tom Delay not available?
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willia451
October 16, 2009 6:03 PM
This guy should just keep his useless pie hole shut. What the hell has HE got but a bunch of nothing to offer?
"We've got to pass something"? Please. Spare me. Not if its a bunch of worthless garbage that is likely to do more harm than good.
Shut up Terry. Let the adults take it from here.
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bluebell
October 16, 2009 6:03 PM
Bluebell on the chances of her voting for Democrats in 2010: "Probably not. No"
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svjim
October 16, 2009 6:04 PM
I am beginning to believe that we are all too worried about what gets passed in the Senate. If health care reform gets passed in the senate with anything that can be called a public option, trigger, opt out, co-op, what ever, then the house is in the driving seat. The house is going to insist on a strong public health care option and Pelosi has the leadership and strength to make that happen in the conference committee. A bill out of the conference committee is only going to take 50 votes plus the VP in the Senate.
Everyone seems to be assuming that what comes out of the Senate is what is going to be come law. What Reid needs to do is just to get anything he can out of the Senate so the House can modify it. So if a trigger gets the bill out of the Senate, I'm all for it because it is going to be modified in conference. Give Snow her fifteen minutes of fame and then let the real hero step forward, Pelosi.
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Tanjaoui
October 16, 2009 7:27 PM in reply to svjim
No, I really think it would be wiser and safer to push for as much as you can at every step along the way. Honestly, if there had been greater pressure for a single payer system from the get go, we might find ourselves a lot closer to a public option today. It stands to reason you start very high and lower your price as circumstances require.
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jdb316
October 16, 2009 11:23 PM in reply to svjim
A bill out of the conference committee is only going to take 50 votes plus the VP in the Senate.
It will still need 60 to avoid a Republical fillibuster. And it's no sure thing that Harry can get 60 to invoke cloture.
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heraldsquare
October 16, 2009 6:10 PM
The 90's have been over for a while now.
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drwu
October 16, 2009 6:22 PM
Another hedge fund billionaire..screw him!
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kash79
October 16, 2009 6:24 PM
And why is he relevant? Honestly, why? Someone please explain. It's not like we are in the summer of 2008?
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xargaw
October 16, 2009 6:37 PM
Just another reason why we have to pressure the Progressive DEMs as much as the ConservaDEMs. If the Bill is garbage, let the Progressive DEMs be the ones that kill it. No Bill is better than a lousy giveaway to the insurance industry.
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bluebell
October 17, 2009 11:16 AM in reply to xargaw
People might begin to figure out that the system is rotting from the center (rotten to the core?).
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xargaw
October 16, 2009 6:38 PM
Just another reason why we have to pressure the Progressive DEMs as much as the ConservaDEMs. If the Bill is garbage, let the Progressive DEMs be the ones that kill it. No Bill is better than a lousy giveaway to the insurance industry.
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Tanjaoui
October 16, 2009 7:33 PM in reply to xargaw
Absolutely. The BlueDogs and Repuglicans become the obstructionists (people already hate them enough). If we pass bad legislation, we'll be living down the canard that government involvement in health care is irresponsible. If you don't get what you want, can't get it, then let blame fall where it belongs. At least that's the way I would play it.
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dougom
October 16, 2009 6:48 PM
Has he been right about political stuff any time recently? Seriously?
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LuxVeritas
October 16, 2009 6:51 PM
Ahh, a great reminder of why I never liked the douchebag.
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ttarleton
October 16, 2009 6:51 PM
My thoughts upon seeing this headline:
Why the fuck should I care what Terry McAuliffe thinks about it?
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
October 16, 2009 7:06 PM in reply to ttarleton
Because his predictive powers are like Colonel Klink's: whichever wire he says to cut to diffuse the bomb, cut the other one.
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1 of 10,000 things
October 16, 2009 7:05 PM
WOW! Hey TPM, how did you score this exclusive?
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Lestatdelc
October 16, 2009 7:26 PM
So says the living Magic 8-Ball that was laughably wrong and unhinged at every step of the way in the last couple of election cycles. Maybe if we got Terry to prognosticate about some Mark Penn (or perhaps Zogby) polling on the PO, they might counteract each other enough to approximate reality.
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Donald from Hawaii
October 16, 2009 8:17 PM
Terry McAuliffe lost my respect last year late in the Democratic primary season when he appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, looking and sounding for all the world like he was drunk. He's an embarrassment to the Democratic Party, and frankly, who cares what he has to say?
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Barry Champlain
October 16, 2009 9:26 PM
Terry, Harry, Kent... Barack?.. and you other nice people who think it's better to "pass SOMETHING":
Go ahead. Pass "something".
And we who do indeed feel that the perfect should be the enemy of the good, where core Democratic values are concerned, will ourselves "pass"... at the voting booths... in 2010 and 2012.
Go ahead. See if it doesn't happen. Pass a piece of crap like Baucus, and there will be NO motivation on the part of the Democratic grassroots to go back to the polls and give the Democratic Party the majority plus the White House, ever again.
Somehow, I don't think you believe this is a real possibility. I think you think we're just going to forget, and dance with the ones who brung us.
Problem there is: WE "BRUNG" YOU.
(Meanwhile, I have it on good authority that the teabaggers will be VERY motivated to go to the polls en masse, and vote out a certain Muslim Socialist, and all his Democratic colleagues...)
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dannyluv
October 17, 2009 12:08 AM
what an assclown
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dannyluv
October 17, 2009 12:12 AM
maybe the assclown should read this
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/harkin-says-congress-will-pass-health-bill-by-christmas-with-a-public-option/
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Tanjaoui
October 17, 2009 12:17 AM
I have written to various Senators asking them to vote no to cloture on any bill that does not contain the HELP Committee's public option. It would only take one, and, if the Democratic caucus picks up a Republican vote, two Senators to scuttle the bill. I've written Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jim Webb, Sherrod Brown, Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer, among others. I don't like it, but I like a public-optionless mandate even less.
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Capitalist War Machine
October 17, 2009 6:22 AM
Oh Terry McAuliffe, it seems all he can do nowadays is broadcast his own moral cowardice. That being said, as God apparently hates him so much as to be willing to change the fabric of reality itself in order to always prove McAuliffe wrong (Obama, Creig Deeds, etc.) this post fills me with hope.
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tmccarthy0
October 17, 2009 11:43 AM
So wrong McAuliffe, and guess what Howard Dean was so much better at running the DNC than you ever were or frankly ever could be in the future. Just quit with your pessimism! There isn't a good deal to like about folks like you McAuliffe.. if FDR has tried to implement his programs with folks like you around what would our country be? Go home McAuliffe and take Mark Penn with you!
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Big River Bandido
October 17, 2009 12:02 PM
Terry McAuliffe predicted on national teevee that Gray Davis would survive his recall effort — mere minutes before the same networks announced that Schwartzenegger had stomped all over him.
Nothin' to see here folks, nothin' to see...move along...
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Joe Markowitz
October 17, 2009 1:26 PM
All you have to do is replay some choice clips of Terry McAuliffe's political predictions from last year's campaign, and then you might wonder why anyone would listen to this guy at all.
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rbe1
October 17, 2009 2:22 PM
We've got to pass something ?!! That's his fucking approach ? Well, folks passing nothing trumps the hell out of passing something which has no real protection for the middle class against the bastards who run congress and the insurance industry.
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mjshep
October 17, 2009 4:19 PM
You're all so hard on Terry Mac. Why is that?
What? Really?
OK, fine.
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Cal Gal
October 17, 2009 4:32 PM
"We've got to pass something." What a stupid thing to SAY even if you think it. Remind me again why this guy was EVER head of the DNC? Something about being a FOB, wasn't it? Well Billary didn't do so well with health care so I think all FOBs should STFU.
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Texar
October 17, 2009 10:56 PM
Okay, thanks Terry. Ready for another round?
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Sode
October 18, 2009 12:53 AM
Terry is now showing his true colors. He is a closet Republican. Public Option is the only option.
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Problem Is
October 18, 2009 4:05 PM
Just like the Obama-Bacchus plan... the worthless corporate tool Terry "The Worm" McAuliffe does not want a public option or any health insurance industry reform to cut into his or any other corporate Democrat's campaign bribes.
Meet the New Republicans... worthless McAuliffe corporate Democrats. Voters get the hook. These biaches have got to go.
Maybe Dennis Kucinich and a couple of other progressives will wake up and form the third non corporate party Amerikan democracy desperately needs before the whole thing collapse into permanent corporate owned governance.
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