125,000 Signatures and Counting: Tell Harry Reid to Punish Joe 'Low-Blow' Lieberman

Progressives and liberal Democrats are united: Senator Joe 'Low-Blow' Lieberman should be stripped of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Subcommittee if he reneges on his pledge to fellow caucus members to play a constructive role on key votes, meaning no filibuster of Democratic bills. Setting aside his open support for John McCain's presidential bid, this time Lieberman stabbed Democrats in the back at a critical juncture in the healthcare debate by crowing to FOX News he will filibuster any Senate healthcare reform bill with a public option, thus preventing an up-or-down vote.


With this open display of contempt for President Obama and the Party leadership, Lieberman -- the ostensible "Independent"-- gleefully thumbed his nose at 68% of his constituents. He further insulted their intelligence by claiming to take a principled position in order to keep healthcare costs down. This disgusting LIE by the senator from the corporate state of insurance companies is all the more outrageous because it flies in the face of CBO estimates that significant deficit reduction of more than $100 billion would result from a robust public option.

The arrogance of Democratic insurance company shills -- recipients of millions in campaign contributions from an industry that is spending $1.4 million daily to defeat healthcare reform -- senators like Landrieu and Lieberman, is breathtaking. Wallowing in their crass betrayal of the public interest, these senators are still living in the corrupt past, a familiar world of backslapping backroom deals with corporate lobbyists that so diminished the American people's faith in government.

As Lieberman reinforced his tone-deaf politics in yet another losing presidential bid, the people's faith renewed itself and crystallized around the candidate whose promise of "hope" and "change" swept him into office in what was a transformative, generational, paradigm-shifting election. Those fundamental facts have not changed, despite the hard reality of governing in the worst economic climate since the 1930s, amid an obstructionist Republican Party bereft of ideas other than defeating the President of the United States for political gain. To the contrary, pushback from a reactionary coalition of losers at the polls and corporations fearing their imminent loss of power and influence in Washington, makes the need for reform all the more compelling.

The old-style corrupt pols who are standing in the way of reform cannot look beyond the D.C. beltway to the new political paradigm that fueled the Obama victory. In their myopic view, the thousands of white proto-fascist screamers waving racist signs at town hall meetings and Tea Bagger rallies compare to, even supplant, the millions of committed Obama voters -- progressives, independents, and moderates -- that understand the urgent need for reform of our healthcare and financial institutions systems is an economic imperative central to our nation's future growth and prosperity. This reality has not yet sunk in for Lieberman, and never will unless he feels its lasting sting. As President Obama has so often said, change is hard and he cannot do it alone.

Let's send Joe 'Low-Blow' Lieberman a message. There is a grassroots, millions-strong digital network, in his state and around the country, that will not sit idly by while he derails healthcare. Our netroots of committed voters, 21st century activists that can shake out the obstructionists' lies and instantly broadcast them on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and the blogs, is ready to exact a political price from 'Low-Blow' Lieberman for his obstinate stance against the public interest.

Please sign the petition urging Harry Reid and the Democratic Party to punish Joe Lieberman should he stand in the way of healthcare reform. It's time to flex some badass progressive muscle.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, First DINO Hall of Shame Inductee, Gets Target Landrieu Ad

Satan's mistress, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, needs some mighty strong voodoo magic to break out of her demonic possession by wealthcare insurance company goblins. Seriously now, turning to the upcoming Senate vote on healthcare reform, out netroot friends at ActBlue need contributions to get this target Landrieu ad on the air:

"We’re not pulling punches. We need to turn up the pressure on any senator who might be a Turncoat Democrat who supports a Republican filibuster. It’s time to bring back our hard-hitting ad pressuring Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana to support a public option. If we raise $100,000 by Thursday, we can blanket the airwaves and turn up the pressure for Mary Landrieu back home before she decides how to vote in D.C."

Dovetailing nicely with this ad will be the first Keith Olbermann-sponsored free health clinic in Baton Rouge, La. November 14 to publicize the urgent need to pass healthcare reform with a public option. Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary's ears will be burning ... With all the negative buzz swirling around her, there's an excellent chance she'll flip back to her original position favoring a public option. Please contribute what you can here.

AP Headline Writers: Go Fuck Yourselves

"House health care bill has nowhere to go in Senate (AP)"

1) Of course not. The Senate will introduce and pass its own legislation.

2) The continued media kowtowing and assigning of power to the handful of "Democratic moderates" rather than the actual functioning majority of the Senate is pathetic.

3) If Harry Reid doesn't get a bill with a public option passed by hook or by crook, something that will eventually end up with President Obama's signature, then he should be beaten with Joe Lieberman's face.

Correction, but I'm still right

INN points out in a comment to my post below that most people on a military base don't have weapons on them, and as such, my conclusion isn't valid. He's right, of course, and I probably should have looked it up before posting (considering that any circumstance which could be envisioned wherein I set foot on a military base is one I never want to consider).

I have a couple of responses, and I'm mostly sad that my schadenfreude couldn't bring a positive to a horrible circumstance.

1) I'm still right that they're still wrong. That has been proven. Guns in the hands of ordinary people in that situation only lead to more people getting killed, not less.

2) If there was one MP in the building, he or she would still be more effective than virtually any non-combat trained person with any gun you'd care to mention.

3) One has to wonder if this guy would have gone on a murderous rampage if only the military wasn't filled with hate-filled bigots who can't seem to distinguish between a person of a particular ancestry who's chosen to put his life on the line for the same causes that you have and someone of that ancestry who is trying to kill you.

Historic Vote: House Passes Healthcare Bill

The final vote was 220-215, with ONE Republican vote: Joseph Cao of Louisiana, the Vietnamese immigrant who defeated Democrat William Jefferson. Congressman Cao, below, decided he wanted to be on the right side of history.

Oscar the Grouch Trashes FOX News, Wingnuts Go Ballistic

Not known for their sense of humor, wingnuts cried foul. Here's a typical blog comment:

The message is clear, I can’t even sit my kids in front of “Sesame Street” without having to worry about the Left attempting to undermine my authority. And don’t tell me, “If you don’t like it change the channel.”

Dudes, lighten up. Have you seen liberals complain that ABC's "V", a show about cannibalistic reptilian aliens with human skins promising everyone universal healthcare, is a thinly-veiled anti-Obama allegory? Hey, as long as it's mindless but entertaining sci-fi, who cares!

Quotable Republican: P.J. O'Rourke

“I kept waiting for the Tony Soprano votes to come (for Corzine) in the end, the ones that are in alphabetical order and everyone down the list is dead.”

--P. J. O’Rourke

Ha! Me too, P.J. … Only that half the Democratic politicians in Hudson County, NJ are under indictment. (Rimshot!)

How You Can Help the Victims of the Fort Hood Tragedy

As Americans mourn the loss of life and horrible tragedy of the shootings at Fort Hood, the loved ones of the victims are in our thoughts and prayers. Find ways to help here and here.

Is This the Face of the Republican Party: Hatred and Racism?

At the Tea Bagger rally instigated by Michelle Bachmann, ignorant hate peddlers and racists were bussed in to our nation's capital by corporate astro-turf fat cats to scream “kill the bill” and wave racist, repugnant signs in front of the Capitol. House Republican Leader John Boehner claims he didn’t see any such signs. Oh, really?

This repulsive sign compares healthcare reform to the Nazi death camp at Dachau with a picture of piled bodies and the caption: “National Socialist Health Care – Dachau, Germany 1945.” David Schuster of MSNBC, an accomplished TV journalist and all-round good guy, couldn't have said it better: “Some of us had relatives who were in the piles. Do these wingers have ANY decency?”



Boehner can pretend all he wants that he didn’t see the sign (among so many other open displays of racism and hatred) comparing healthcare reform to the Holocaust. But he can’t deny knowing about them now. Eric Cantor, the House Republican Whip, who is Jewish, also spoke at the haters’ rally. What were you thinking, Mr. Cantor? SHAME ON YOU.

It appears Boehner and Cantor are siding with the wingnut lunatic fringe faction of their Party led by Michelle Bachmann. Still waiting for your denunciations, Reps. Boehner and Cantor.

*CRICKETS*

Come to think of it, Boehner could have some things in common with the Tea Baggers: One is an urgent need for remedial history lessons such that he could pass the standard citizenship test to be an American. Here is Hispanic American Rick Sanchez pointing out Boehner’s ignorance with deadpan mockery:



(Sorry for the slight redundancy, Peter, but it's even more pathetically funny on video.)

What a MORON. Truly. Is Boehner really this clueless? It would explain a lot about the Republican Party’s glaring ineptitude. Not that I'm complaining.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your House Minority Leader

The creepily over-tanned John Boehner held up a copy of the constitution and said he was there to "stand here with our Founding Fathers, who wrote in the preamble: 'We hold these truths to be self evident'..."

Umm, John, those are Jefferson's words from the Declaration of Independence. I know you're probably none too happy with the actual preamble with that whole promoting the "general welfare" stuff.

Meme shot to death, funeral on Saturday

In the wake of today's tragic deaths at Ft. Hood, I find myself asking this question:

Normally, when someone brings a gun into a not-traditionally-armed environment, like a store or a school, the wingnuts start going off on how the tragedy would have been easily avoided, if only everyone was walking around armed. Every teacher and student would turn into Clint Eastwood at the end of Unforgiven and take that gunman down slicker than snot, saving lives and protecting Baby Jesus in the bargain. Today's shooting took place at an army base, right? People carry guns there, right? And they're trained to use them, and trained to shoot to kill, right? So if someone could shoot at least 42 people at Ft. Hood before being taken down, when the shooter was surrounded by trained killers armed with cutting-edge weaponry, what the hell do they expect the rest of us to do when someone walks into a classroom or shopping mall and opens fire?

You can have your rifle back when you pry your head from your cold dead ass, Mr. Heston. And that goes for the rest of you 2nd Amendment morons as well.

We’ll Always Have New York's 23rd

So said Andrea Mitchell to David Axelrod. (Hmm …)

Thanks to the right wing PAC ‘Club for Growth’, the gift that keeps on giving!

The Democratic Party’s BFF just elected another Democrat, Bill Owens, from a safe Republican district to join Nancy Pelosi’s growing army of infidels in the House. The notorious New York 23rd was such a reliable Republican redoubt that no Democrat had been elected there to Congress for the past 140 years.

It all changed yesterday when Caribou Barbie, Tim Pawlenti, the Pigman, and the lunatic Beck intervened to purge the Republican establishment candidate in favor of a wingnut, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. The Club for Growth poured $1 million to support Hoffman, and the RNC answered with $1 million for their candidate Dede Scozzafava. All of it down the tubes when Dede dropped out endorsing the Democrat, Bill Owens, who won.

Question: Is the Club for Growth a front group for the Democratic Party? By raising money from Tea Bagger dupes for marginal candidates to knock off Republicans in the primaries, the Club for Growth so far is 0-for-2: They forced PA Senator Arlen Specter to switch parties, and now they’ve elected a Democrat from a 140-year Republican mortal-lock-safe district. Ah, we so love Sarah Palin. She's promising to return, saying the race isn't over, just “postponed” until 2010. Please come back, Sarah, and meddle some more!

Hopefully the wingnuts have enough money in the till to knock off Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, their next target, in his bid for the open Senate seat of retired Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.

Despite Michael Steele’s comic gloating, Republicans would be mistaken to read national implications into the races they won, much less that their governor pickups were a referendum on President Obama. The President’s job approval numbers remain solid with voters in both states.

Virginia and New Jersey reverted to historical form in off-year results electing candidates different than the party controlling the White House. Add to that a weak Democratic candidate (VA), a highly unpopular incumbent (NJ), local issues and low voter turnout, forming the perfect storm that was too much even for President Obama’s campaigning to overcome.

The lesson for Democrats is clear: not delivering on healthcare and jobs for the American people will cost them dearly at the polls in 2010. Had healthcare reform passed Congress with the President’s signature before the elections, I think the base would have been energized to turn out at the polls in sufficient numbers to hold NJ, and make Virginia competitive.

The Democrats need to pass comprehensive, meaningful healthcare reform and a second stimulus that emphasizes jobs. Now is not the time for timidity.

New York’s 23rd District: More Evidence of Republican Madness

The 23rd District in upstate New York is moderate to conservative and a reliable Republican bastion that hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress for well over one century. This could end tomorrow if Republicans have anything to say about it. The RNC pumped $1 million down a black hole in that district to support the establishment Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, a moderate favored to win ... but for the Tea Baggers, that is, with a little help from Sarah Palin.

They decided Scozzafava -- who is pro-choice -- apparently isn’t ideologically pure enough. So they threw their support behind Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, a wingnut who calls Glenn Beck a “mentor.” Hoffman catapulted to the front with a narrow lead in a three-way race, until Scozzafava dropped out this weekend and threw her support behind the Democrat, Bill Owens.

The race is up for grabs, but whatever the result, it’s a win-win for Democrats: If the Tea Bagger/Palin candidate wins, this could be the first battle of a GOP civil war for the soul of the Republican Party. Succumb to emboldened Tea Baggers and drift even further to the extreme right and over the cliff, or … marginalize their most extreme elements and try to attract moderate independent voters. Because they are still prisoners of an extremist ideology, there are no good choices for the Republican Party.

As Republicans fight over their identity crisis, Democrats can only hope that the winners will be the Palin/Beck/Limbaugh extremist faction. If they win beginning with New York’s 23rd, the Republican Party could become a permanent minority party with a public identification hovering between 20% and 23%.

In other election news, Republicans will capture the governorship in Virginia, which is no bellwether since, historically, the off-year gubernatorial election in that swing state has gone to the party out of power in the presidency. In New Jersey, it's too close to call now, but I predict the Democrat Jon Corzine will win, with a substantial assist from President Obama. Jersey’s a Democratic state, and this election reminds me a lot of Brendan Byrne's re-election in the 70s, where he overcame a double-digit deficit to win with a weak economy and state taxes as the cutting issues, just as they are this year. In the end, voters grumbled but realized taxes fund things they want, like education and services.

Hypocrite of the Week: Remember Joe “you LIE!” Wilson? Well, it seems Wilson is blaming President Obama for the delays in the delivery of H1N1 vaccines. Except that he voted against legislation funding the accelerated efforts to combat H1N1. So, if it had been up to Wilson, the vaccine shortages would have been more severe. The irony of this situation is that his wife is infected with the H1N1 virus. We hope she recovers, of course, but the Religious Right, that believes in divine intervention, might have taken a different view … if Joe Wilson were a Democrat.

Memo to "Anonymous"

If you have a cogent thought, I'll publish it, but save your racist rants for the freepers.

From the Sheeple Corner

We get this masterpiece from Jeannie Doyle Curtin of Elmhurst, Illinois:

For years now, we have had to watch Republicans battle the elite television media for a fair chance at debate, with "panel discussions" stacked five to one, liberal to conservative. Now there is a network, Fox News, that allows both sides to have a fair chance to present their opinions, and this is somehow unfair to Obama's people. Ridiculous. He's only making Fox more popular and interesting to the American people.

You mean the "elite" networks that put Bill Kristol on every week? Where conservative guests on the morning shows always outnumbered those from the left?

I don't mind the existence of Fox "News." Mouthbreathers need love too. Just don't pretend it is a "news" network, and by the way....

More immigration, less crime

http://reason.com/archives/2009/07/06/the-el-paso-miracle

Deja Vu All Over Again

KABUL (AP) — President Hamid Karzai's challenger withdrew Sunday from next weekend's runoff election, effectively handing the incumbent a victory but raising doubts about the credibility of the government.

A divided country is torn apart by a stolen election characterized by massive fraud. The incumbent has done little to inspire confidence in a time of national crisis, and the vast majority of the citizenry have a very low opinion of President Karzai, pictured below.

Lou Dobbs, Racist: The Hatemonger's Slander of an Entire Race of People

There is no greater racism, as Geraldo Rivera said so well, than to “slander an entire race of people.” One the BIGGEST LIES, so damaging to latinos in this country, that is repeatedly and irresponsibly stated by Lou Dobbs is that illegal aliens make up one-third of our prison population, when the figure is less than 7% and closer to 6%. Significantly, noncitizens in federal prisons are mostly being held on immigration violations rather than on crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, etc. This is such a putrid and inflammatory lie that Lou Dobbs should be held personally responsible for inciting hatred and violence against latinos.

Here are the FACTS:

He also said that illegal immigrants were “an increasing part of America’s prison population.”

“Here are the facts, according to the Department of Justice:

- In 2000, 27 percent of the inmates in federal prisons were noncitizens. Some of these noncitizens were illegal immigrants, and some were in this country legally. In 2001, this percentage dropped to 24 percent, and it continued dropping over the next four years, falling to 20 percent in 2005.

Bottom line: illegal immigrants make up significantly less than a third of the federal prison population, and the share has been falling in recent years.

- The share of state prison inmates who are noncitizens is much lower. (This is largely because immigration violations themselves are federal crimes.) In 2000, 4.6 percent of inmates in state prisons were noncitizens. This number remained quite steady over the next five years, right around 4.6 percent.

- Over all — combining federal and state prisons — 6.4 percent of the nation’s prisoners were noncitizens in 2005. This is down from 6.8 percent in 2000.

By comparison, 6.9 percent of the total United States population were noncitizens in 2003, according to the Census Bureau.

Anne Morrison Piehl, an economist at Rutgers, says there are a number of reasons that immigrants have a lower crime rate than the native-born population. (To read a paper by Ms. Piehl and Kristin Butcher on immigrants and crime, click here.)”

Like Father, Like Daughter: Lizzie ‘Mini-Me’ Cheney Is (Surprise!) a Pathological LIAR

It’s still puzzling how often Liz Cheney gets away with manipulating the “soft” media venues into letting her lie with impunity. Lizzie will seize any and every opportunity to trash President Obama while fiercely defending her father’s indefensible record with flat-out LIES. Unchallenged, uncontested, shameless LIES.

Lizzie's devil masquerading as Swiss Miss wholesomeness may explain her license to lie on major media outlets. To some the angelic-looking Cheney family provocateur may make for good television, but at what cost the truth? In the rare instances where Lizzie is challenged, as by Lawrence O’Donnell, she will chalk it off as a learning experience and blacklist the interviewer for the future. When Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC lamely admitted that she’d have to “do my homework” and have Lizzie back with some answers, Lizzie whined, “that’s actually not fair, Andrea …” and kept on moving. She hasn’t been back. And despite repeated requests for interviews, Lizzie refuses to go on the Rachel Maddow show. You see, Rachel’s staff has a penchant for research and preparation, and Rachel’s got her number: “Liz Cheney is still on TV — making news by apparently making stuff up.”



Here’s the latest example, Lizzie ‘Mini-Me’ Cheney's cheap shot at President Obama for attending a late night, early morning ceremony at Dover AFB to receive the war dead from Afghanistan:

Liz ‘Mini-Me’ Cheney: “I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don't understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That's really hard for me to get my head around...It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this.”

LIZZIE LIE #6549: President Bush NEVER attended any ceremonies receiving America’s war dead, PERIOD.

LIZZIE LIE #6550: The ban on cameras and media covering these ceremonies was lifted by the Obama Administration. Furthermore, the cameras recorded one ceremony of 18, the one whose family had given its consent to be photographed. The choice was always left to the families, and the President was there to pay his respects and meet privately with the families in a somber and dignified manner.

Lou Dobbs, CNN’s Resident Racist, Falls Victim to Fearmongering Self

Isn’t it invariably true that the media wingnut Carney Criers trafficking in fear and hatred will eventually fall victim to their own self-inflicted irrational paranoia? Glenn Beck never leaves his bunker without an armed bodyguard. Talk radio racist Rush Limbaugh and CNN hater Lou Dobbs have taken similarly draconian measures.

After years of tolerating scurrilous, largely unanswered attacks on latino immigrants from Dobbs, the popular FOX TV tabloid personality Geraldo Rivera has finally had enough. Rivera fired a verbal broadside at Dobbs, blaming him for the “reckless beyond imagining, reckless beyond precedent … defamatory tone” of the immigration debate in this country, adding that Dobbs “is almost singlehandedly responsible for creating, for being the architect of the young-Latino-as-scapegoat for everything that ails this country.”

The slippery Dobbs, who probably viewed Rivera as a fellow traveler, since Rivera’s tabloid brand of sensationalism fits the Murdoch media profile to a T, was clearly rattled by the attack. Rivera is a conservative who appeals to a sizable swath of conservative Hispanic Americans, yes, but one issue that cuts across ideological lines among latinos in this country is immigration. This becomes evident considering that the only pro-Dobbs latinos on his show are so virulently right wing that their ethnic heritage is incidental and exceedingly elitist.

And so, lurking just beneath the surface, the real Lou Dobbs revealed himself: a paranoid coward afraid of his own shadow –- traits common to racists and hatemongers.

After the expected ad hominen attacks on Rivera, avoiding the substance of the criticisms, Dobbs made a sympathy play by claiming he had received threatening phone calls for weeks (which went unreported until now) and that gunshots had been fired at his house. Dobbs linked the alleged threats and gunshots to his “crackdown on illegal immigration and to his opponents’ rhetoric,” Geraldo Rivera most prominent among them. It wasn’t necessary for Dobbs to mention Rivera’s name for the inference to be drawn.

When asked to comment on Dobbs’s complaint of shots fired at his house in Sussex County, New Jersey, a NJ state police spokesperson “chuckled out loud” in a phone interview, and said he “wouldn’t classify the [alleged gunfire incident] as very unusual.” There are hunters in the area and, “at this time of year hunter (shooting) complaints go up.” When asked what he thought of Dobbs’s version of the gunfire incident, the very professional Sgt. Jones said, "I'm really going to leave Lou Dobbs’s assessment to himself.”

LOU'S LUCK RUNS OUT: MEXICAN CHUPACABRA MONSTER FINDS HIM TREMBLING UNDER THE BED!

And so it is. Lou Dobbs is spooked by nonexistent threats and irrational dangers hiding in the shadows and attics of his brain. You’ve made your bed, Mr. Dobbs. Now it’s time to sleep in it with your demons. If you can.

Shep, Shep ... What Are you Waiting FOR?

JOE LIEBERMAN (BACKSTABBER) MEETS WITH HIS PUBLIC

MEMO TO SENATE MAJORITY LEADER REID: If Joe Lieberman follows through with his threat to kill the public option, the least you can do is FINALLY kick him out of the Democratic Caucus and strip him of his seniority and chairmanship. YA THINK?

Because if you don't, there are 30 votes, at least, in the Caucus to do it right now, whether you get out in front of this or not.

Oh, by the way: The people of Connecticut, Joe Lieberman's constituents, favor a public option by a margin of 68% to 21%.

Public Option Will Be in Both Senate and House Bills: The American People Win

Sure, this is Round 1, with several more to come, but it's a big win for progressives and the American people, any which way you look at it. In meetings with Sens. Baucus (Chmn., Finance) and Dodd (transitional chair of Ted Kennedy's Health Committee) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid produced a combined bill that includes the public option with an opt out provision: states may opt out of offering their citizens a choice to buy into a government-run public health insurance option to compete with private insurance.

Considering that public approval for a public option ranges from 65% and up nationwide, the politicos who have been posturing on behalf of BIG CORPORATE INSURANCE will have to justify this disgusting sellout to the American people, and in particular, their constituents.

That means you, Sen. Mary Landrieu. I'd like to see you tell the people of Louisiana, which ranks first in federal dollars per capita and last in (private) healthcare delivery and quality, why you would want to deny your constituents the public option that blue states will surely opt into. Do you really want to go there, Senator Landrieu? Do you really want to lecture us on how stupid and selfish we are because we think the public option is "free healthcare"?

What a Dickensian DINO -- FROM THE STATE THAT SUFFERED THROUGH HURRICANE KATRINA, NO LESS!

That also means you, Senators Lincoln and Pryor of Arkansas. You have a really TOUGH choice to make: "Hmm ... shall I stand with the special interest private insurers or the American people?" And you, Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman, let's see just how brave you are when the voters come a-knockin'. And Nelson, cut the crap about being a "Jeffersonian Democrat," 'kay? The only similarity between you and Jefferson is that you're quite willing to make uninsured and underinsured Americans SLAVES of the private insurers -- "small government" ceding its role to the corporate monopolies. Jefferson would quite readily have tossed you into the Federalist camp.

By the way, after the despicable insurance industry vastly overplayed its hand by issuing false reports against the most conservative bill, from Finance, basically threatening to raise their rates sky-high if they didn't get their way, the House and Senate are now considering versions of repealing the insurers' antitrust exemption. You see, even the sellout DINOS don't like it when their would-be masters flaunt their would-be ownership. Hence the DINOS rebelled against their sugar daddies and got themselves a spine transplant.

Olympia Snowe, take thy "trigger" and go jump in a primordial Maine lake. This notion that the Democratic Party won its electoral majority to effect major change only to have its change agenda, including comprehensive healthcare reform, held hostage by a crabby old lady from Maine is ... well, RIDICULOUS.

We've already got bipartisanship, Mr. President. Longtime Republican Arlen Specter loves the Democratic Party so much that he switched parties, and now he's TO THE LEFT of the DINOS! What could be more bipartisan than that?

Next year, the mid-term elections with 37 governorships on the line will have the public option opt out front and center as a campaign issue. You're up, Gramps Grassley. Let's see you and your right wing colleagues put your money where your mouths are on all that talk about a "government takeover" of healthcare. You'll get the town hall crazy screamers vote, though. Good luck!

The public option opt out could well be the Republican Party's WATERLOO, a term diaper-wearing Republican Senator David Vitter used to attack President Obama. The diapers could come in handy when Mary Landrieu's Louisiana colleague craps in them.

Nice, if stinky, bit of irony. Nice move, Harry.

Postcript: For those of us who fought long and hard for a public option, against the inside-the-beltway conventional wisdom of a punditocracy of idiots, this is a sweet win. Nothing charged me up more than watching David Brooks pontificate on PBS's Newshour that the public option was "dead" and liberals were going through "various stages of withdrawal." Here's to you, Brooks, you arrogant jerk.

Progressives must keep up the pressure. We're close and we've pulled ahead. Now we've got to maintain this momentum all the way to the finish line.

Guerrillas Crash AHIP (Ass Hole Insurance Plans) Conference

I Loooove these guys! YES!!!

FAUX "News": A 24/7 Anti-Obama Propaganda Machine

Shep, why don't you bolt that wingnut den of iniquity while you still can? I get it; the money's too good.

Medicare Part E: Keith Olbermann Pitches In

Did anyone catch Keith Olbermann’s commentary on MSNBC last October 7? Keith dedicated the entire hour of his show Countdown to an impassioned plea for passage of meaningful healthcare reform. Personalizing the experience he and his family faced with his father’s hospitalization for a serious illness, Keith made a compelling case for the urgency of reforming our healthcare system with the inclusion of a robust public option.

I recommend that everyone read or view it. But it wasn’t just Keith’s commentary. It was his specific call to action. As a fairly regular viewer and fan of his advocacy style of journalism, I can say that the commitment Keith made is entirely consistent with the decent human being, before journalist, that he is:

I propose tonight one act with two purposes. I propose we, all of us, embrace the selfless individuals at the National Association of Free Clinics. You know them, they conducted the mass health care free clinic in Houston that served 1,500 people. I want a mass health care free clinic every week in the principle cities of the states of the six senators key to defeating a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate. 

I want Sens. Lincoln and Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock. I want Sen. Baucus to see it in Butte. I want Sen. Ben Nelson to see it in Lincoln. I want Sen. Landrieu to see it in Baton Rouge. I want Sen. Reid to see it in Las Vegas.

I'll donate. How much will you donate? We enable thousands of our neighbors to have just a portion of the bounty of good health, and we make a statement to the politicians, forgive me, William Jennings Bryan, "you shall not press down upon the brow of America this crown of insurance, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of blue."


Lawrence O’Donnell, who guest-hosted Countdown some days later, disclosed that Keith donated a total of $30,000 seed money, $10,000 to kick start financing for each projected free clinic site. As of last night, Keith announced more than $1.2 million has been donated to the free clinics; enough to get them up and running in the following cities and states:

1. Baton Rouge, La. – Home state of DINO Senator Mary Landrieu, who should be on every REAL Democrat’s shitlist as the infamous first inductee to this blog's DINOS Hall of Shame for her craven flip-flop on the public option followed by her contemptuous assertion that people favor it because they “think the public option means free health care.” The free clinics attract 80% working people -- your constituents, Sen. Landrieu -- who do not have and cannot afford health insurance. Free clinic to be held November 14.

2. Little Rock, Ark. – Home state of DINO Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. Senators Lincoln and Pryor inexplicably oppose the public option even though their constituents are for it. Free clinic to be held November 21.

3. Kansas City, Mo. – The change in location is a function of logistics, and will represent the nation’s need for healthcare reform. This will be a 2-day free clinic to be held December 9-10.

Anyone who wishes to may contribute to the free clinics here. Anyone who lives in the cities where the free clinics will be held, please contribute your time, if you can. They need volunteers. The popular TV doctor, Dr. Oz, will be donating his services as a health professional. I’ll update the story as more details become available.

Keith, you done good. This is a decent and generous act that, to my mind, represents the very best of advocacy journalism. Now it’s up to us to follow through contributing what we can to see this reform to a successful legislative conclusion. But that’s not all. As the public option moves to a vote in the House, it’s been rebranded Medicare Part E -– Medicare for everyone. While the idea may have been floated in Congress with Keith’s colleague, Dr. Nancy, lamenting that if only the public option were named something without the negative connotation of “government-run or takeover,” it was Keith’s commentary that ultimately gave it legs:

Just as "global warming" is really "bad climate change," "The Public Option" is in broad essence "Medicare For Everybody." Frame it that way, sell it that way, and suddenly it doesn't sound like a threat, turning the seemingly solid insurance which people have now, into something "optional" and turning anything "private" into everything "public."

Once you said "Medicare For Everybody," there would be just as much to explain. If you were under 65 you'd be paying for it. You wouldn't have to buy it. You wouldn't have to change from whatever you have now.

Suddenly, mainstream media is reporting a “stunner:” Not only does the public option keep the cost of the reform under $900 billion over ten years, but it actually reduces the deficit over the same period. The story here, though, is why these imbeciles would only now treat as a stunning revelation what public option advocates have known for months and why we've fought so hard for it. It's not ideological; it's mainstream good public policy. If local traditional media is becoming less relevant, this kind of obtuse reporting is one reason why.

A final word to Keith’s corporate bosses: Lift the ban on his hilarious skewering of Bill-O the Clown. After the White House’s frontal assault on the journalistic fraud called FOX “News,” it should have become apparent to you that Keith is doing a service every bit as important as that provided by Pulitzer Prize winners Politifact.com, the nonpartisan political fact-checking arm of the St. Petersburg Times.

Rock Obama Is Back: How to Negotiate with Senators on Healthcare!

The Old “Neighborhood Play”

Last night in the course of the Yankees-Angels marathon playoff game, eventually won by the Yanks 4-3, there was a play at the bottom of the tenth that is seldom called. In a routine double play grounder to second, hardly a bang-bang play – Melky Cabrera was out by the proverbial “mile” on a groundout by lead-footed Yankee catcher Jorge Posada – the Angels shortstop Erick Eybar straddled the second base bag without touching it with his feet.

Result: Cabrera was called safe, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia shot out of the dugout like the cannonball man to jawbone the ump. He had a point, said veteran game callers Tim McCarver and Joe Buck.

“As we’ve seen so often tonight,” McCarver said, “the ‘neighborhood play’ is in vogue at second base. He may be straddling the bag but he was straddling the bag all night. Now, Mike Scioscia’s argument is: Why call it now when you haven’t called it all night?”

Joe Buck noted, “They will give that play at second base always.”

“Always!” agreed McCarver.

“But,” added Buck, “technically speaking, Eybar never touched the base.” Later, recapping the game, McCarver and Buck were emphatic: Umps “never” call that play. Except, of course, when they do.

This reminds me a lot of the foot fault controversy involving Serena Williams in the U.S. Open women’s final. When certain rules are historically finessed, e.g., the “neighborhood play” in baseball and the foot fault in tennis, the worst thing an ump can do is to apply the rule inconsistently.

Wingnut Pillow Talk

From the National Review platform bed, America’s premier wingnut porn Magazine:

Rich Lowry: “I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when you, Sarah, dropped your first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think you just winked at me." And your smile. By the end, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, you’ve got it.”
NR – Oct. 3, 2008

Sarah Palin: “We still need to 'drill, baby, drill!' And if those in D.C. say otherwise, we need to tell them: 'Yes, we can!”
NR – Oct. 16, 2009

Rich Lowry: “Oh Sarah …”

Hey Rich, I think Sarah’s coming on to you! She just winked … You betcha!

Al Franken's First Amendment Against Gang Rape: 30 Republicans Opposed it

Dear President Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid:

Why, oh why do you insist on playing bipartisan footsie with Senate Republicans -- THREE QUARTERS OF THEIR NUMBERS THAT VOTED AGAINST THE FRANKEN AMENDMENT?!?

If ever there was justifiable cause for the Democratic Party to STAND ALONE with its filibuster-proof majority in the Senate to pass good -- SLAM DUNK -- public policy on healthcare reform and EVERYTHING ELSE, this is it. IT'S NOT A CLOSE CALL.

Rape-Nuts

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I do not think that word means what you think it does

(Note: It's apparently pick on Louisiana day.)

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said. "He" being Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in Tangiphoa Parish in Louisiana.

I'm not quite sure he knows what "equally" means. Mr. Bardwell's name popped up in a news story when it came out that he refuses to marry interracial couples on the grounds that he thinks it will be bad for their children. He has no problem, apparently, with marrying black couples, just interracial ones.

"If he does an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said."

Why yes, that is what that would mean. And by treating everyone equally, he's discriminating against some couples and not others?

Maybe he's referring to the despicable treatment that the right has given to that downtrodden product of an interracial union, y'know, old what's his name? Oh, yeah, the President of the United States.

Landrieu’s Inferno: A DINO (Democrat in Name Only) Portrait in Infamy

Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s craven betrayal of the public interest, core Democratic Party principles, and her own not-so-sacred honor in reneging on a signed pledge only six months ago to support the public option in healthcare reform, has earned her first inductee dishonor to the Thinker’s DINOS Hall of Shame.

In an astonishing display of arrogance and contempt for the taxpayers who pay her salary, Senator Landrieu today dismissed the polls showing consistent 65% public support for the public option nationwide “because people think the public option is free.”

Oh really. Who the HELL do you think you are, Senator? Do you think the public is a deadbeat who wants something (universal affordable healthcare) for nothing? Or do you think the public is too stupid to understand the public option would offer more choice and competition against the stranglehold of the insurance companies, and therefore healthcare affordability.

Whatever the case, Senator Landrieu, your priorities are seriously, perhaps terminally, misplaced.

Six months ago, in a signed letter to the coalition Health Care for America Now (HCAN) you pledged to support a "choice of a private insurance plan, including keeping the insurance you have if you like it, or a public insurance plan without a private insurer middleman that guarantees affordable coverage."

Today, your tune has changed from the lilting sounds of Cajun and Creole to Sympathy for the Devil and Deal with the Devil. You said: “I'm not open to it. I'm not open to a public option. However, I will remain open to a compromise, a full compromise. Public option is not something that I support. I don't think it's the right way to go."

What happened, Senator? Did the insurance lobby get to you?

Your state of Louisiana in 2006 received per-capita the highest distribution of federal spending among states ($16,263). Hayley Barbour’s Mississippi was second ($14,516), followed by Sarah Palin’s Alaska ($13,805). All conservative Republican red states, whose elected officials, hypocrites, clamor the loudest against the evil intrusions of the feds with their “big government.” Is that why your governor Bobby flies around on the state taxpayers’ dime to Mr. Jindal’s neighborhood parishes, distributing oversized stimulus checks as if they came from the state’s own coffers instead of the nation’s taxpayers’ wallets?

How dare you, Senator Landrieu.

You call yourself a Democrat, and yet the only politician to step forward to gleefully applaud your betrayal was Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said, “Apparently Sen. Landrieu just made an announcement that a government plan is a bad idea, and so I would strongly recommend to the administration, and to the majority in Congress, that if we're serious about getting a bipartisan health reform bill, the best way to go forward on a bipartisan basis would be to take out the government plan.”

Congratulations for being a Democratic Party and corporate sellout, Senator Landrieu.

To commemorate your betrayal, Senator, you get your very own portrait in Hell to go with your induction to the DINOS Hall of Shame. Pictured below is the Triple-6 Beast standing at your shoulder, while health insurance executives frolic worshipfully before you in a Dyonisian feast of greed and excess. Your constituents are nowhere to be found.

Now Democrats have something to aim for: Senator Landrieu’s defeat in the primaries to a REAL Democrat, and not another penny in campaign contributions.

[Postscript: Honorable Mention goes to Senator Joe Lieberman. The only reason he did not make the cut is that he is not a Democrat, but a nominal “Independent” Republocrat who caucuses with the Democrats.

Senator Lieberman has been keeping his powder dry, if you will, for quite some time since supporting John McCain in the last presidential election and declaring President Obama unqualified for high office. Despite the Democratic Party’s largesse, allowing Lieberman to retain his seniority and subcommittee chairmanship, Lieberman waited patiently for this moment –- the moment of greatest impact -- to stab the President and the Democratic Party in the back.

Said Lieberman: “I mean — yes, I mean a government-run health insurance plan. The public doesn’t support it.” (This, of course, is a LIE.) He continued: “the only opportunity to achieve significant reform with bipartisan support is if the public option is off the table. There will be no shot at 60 votes because I’m not the only one against it.”]

The choice is clear: Passing a watered-down pro-insurance non-reform bill with 60 votes, or passing REAL healthcare reform with 50 + 1 votes on reconciliation that includes a robust public option, a strong employer mandate, and repeal of the insurance companies’ antitrust exemption.

The time is NOW for REAL Democrats to stand up and be counted.

Crappy Network News: Jon Stewart Demolishes Worst Excuse for a "Political Team"

How annoying is it to hear Wolfe Blitzer repeat ad nauseum that B.S. about the "best political team on television." Rarely can I watch CNN before its self-indulgent self-promotion in search of competent political news reporting intrudes with a click. In short, CNN SUCKS!

Thanks to America's most trusted news anchor, comedian extraordinaire Jon Stewart, for exposing the pathetic supercilious excuse for journalism that is AC 360. Among others.

Incidentally, one of the right wing hack regulars on the AC 360 franchise, Dan Castellanos, a Cuban American Cold Warrior cited on this blog for his outrageous reactionary views, runs a political consulting firm that is an ad buyer for the AHIP (Ass Hole Insurance Plans of America) anti-healthcare reform campaign. I wonder how image-obsessed AC 360 (C)oops will handle this glaring conflict of interest.

CNN Leaves It There

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Historical Stupidity

The GOP, in an effort to, do something, has a new website up. On it, they list a bunch of Republican "Heroes," and a sizeable chunk of them are African-American. A quick glance, however, shows that all but one of them were born before the Civil War, and the most recent is Jackie Robinson. I don't know if anyone remembers, but an awful lot of African-Americans were Republican for a very long time, for some reason.

Oh, I know, it's because Abe Lincoln was a Republican.

Then came the civil rights movement, and the southern strategy, and Goldwater and Nixon and then the whole modern GOP, which basically told everyone who wasn't white to go screw themselves.

Methinks it will be a while before any more non-white faces join the list.

Redneck Word for the Day: Embrace Your Inner Hickness

PS - Lula, you can borrow this one for your blog, if you like. :)

Message from the Prez: A Call to Action

Carlos --

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

REAL Democrat Alan Grayson on a Roll: People's Advocate Lets it Rip

LESSON NO. 2 FOR DINOS (DEMOCRATS IN NAME ONLY): Is this really so hard?

"IF YOU'RE AGAINST HEALTHCARE REFORM, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

We're Orange and Blue, Illinois!

Heading down to see college boy and REALLY bad football!

Alan Grayson Redux: Teaching Vid for Those Obnoxious DINOS

Congressman Grayson, a Harvard graduate who grew up in a working class union household, understands the struggles with healthcare of blue collar low income, working, and middle class Americans.

That's right. This is addressed directly to Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, and every unnamed "Democratic" senator who opposes the public option; in the House, to the so-called Blue Dogs (I prefer to call them Blue Dinosaurs, DINOS for short).

Watch this and see what it takes to be the people's representative from the Democratic Party in the great tradition of FDR, Truman, and the Kennedys: John, Bobby, and Ted.



Listen up, DINOS. As President Obama likes to say, this is a teachable moment. Having a (D) before your name doesn't make you a Democrat. You still have time to vote like a Democrat. Vote for a healthcare reform bill with a robust public option. If you do not, there are many impressive Democratic candidates lining up to take your place. Believe it.

Diseased PIG Announces Intent to Purchase St. Louis RAMS

The would-be RAMS owner last spotted (below) trolling terrified shoppers for Oxycontin.



RAMS Front Office Immediately Quarantines Team Against Swine Flu!

Quotable Krugman: The Politics of Spite

Paul Krugman of the New York Times, commenting on the spiteul cheers that erupted at the offices of Bill Kristol's Weekly sub-Standard when news came that the U.S. was eliminated as host country for the 2016 Olympics, as usual hit the nail on the head:

For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old.

As for the Republican campaign against healthcare reform, Krugman explains their "scorched-earth tactics":

The key point is that ever since the Reagan years, the Republican Party has been dominated by radicals — ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern.

Mayor Daley Reacts to Chicago's Losing Olympic Bid

He's baack ... this is silly stuff, I know, but it cracks me up ...

Memo to the Unpatriotic Wingnuts

Your gleeful celebration of the failure of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, representing the United States, is incomprehensible and quite literally unpatriotic.

I can understand those who weren't filled with enthusiasm for the prospect of Chicago winning its bid, but wild cheering? 86% of the American people (ironically a larger margin than the 72% of Chicagoans) who supported Chicago's bid, understood the intangible benefits of international prestige and good will toward the United States, as well as the tangible benefits in thousands of jobs created and a substantial boost to the American economy.

Being from Chicago, the President and First Lady gave it their best shot. But it was a longshot. Chicago's loss wasn't a rejection of President Obama and the United States. The U.S. was host to the summer and winter games a total of eight times, more than any other country, most recently in Salt Lake City, 2002. South America never hosted the Olympics. Rio made a strong presentation, and won. On the merits. It's high time South America hosted the Olympics, and Rio is its crown jewel. It's that simple.

That the Pigman, the lunatic Beck, the Drudge Report, Newsmax, and the entire panoply of bottom-feeding denizens of our political sewers on the right should celebrate the moment with anti-Obama rhetoric such as "death of Obamalympics" and "the Ego has landed," is disgusting.

You wingnuts are really, really, I mean REALLY. SICK.

Rio had its own Star Power ...

No offense to the Obamas, but with ...


Pelé, SPORTSMAN OF THE 20th CENTURY, and


LULA, too! ... How could we lose?

Rio will be ready to shine. Unlike Chicago, 85% of Rio's residents wanted the Games.



Also, as Lula noted, Brasil is the only country among the top ten world economies not to have hosted an Olympics. Indeed, the record is pretty lopsided: North America - 6 Olympics; South America - 0.

It's about time. Check out Maracanã Stadium and the projected expansion of a volleyball venue on the right. Maracanã, the Temple of Football (soccer), and hands down the world's most majestic stadium, was built in 1950, when Brasil hosted the World Cup. Brasil steamrolled its opposition only to lose the final to Uruguay, 2-1. Hopefully, we can erase that traumatic history in 2014, when the Cup returns to Brasil.


It's a great boost for a great and beautiful city!

Chicago Loses Olympic Bid

Chicago was the first bidding city to be eliminated from consideration for the 2016 summer Olympic games.

In other news, the 2012 Taste of Chicago has been awarded to Brussels.

A nice corner moment

On CNN.com, Jack Cafferty asks the question "What if more than half of Chicagoans don't want the Olympics?" The answer, of course, is that as long as His Hereditary Dweebness wants it, that's all that matters. In the comments on the post, however, one Stephen Fox, of Panama City, FL, opines: "Should it matter that half of Chicagoans don’t want the Olympics in their city? Jack, probably about as much as it should matter that Obama wants to force health care upon those who don’t want it. :-)"

Oh, Mr. Fox? Are there really lots of people out there who don't want health care? If you're in that category, just don't go to the doctor when you're sick. I do believe, crazy as I am, is that the question is who pays for it, and whether anyone's willing to pick up the tab for those who don't have the ability to pay. Now, we already pay for them in myriad ways, and will almost certainly save money in the long run, but even if we don't, I'm pretty sure that you're just an idiot.

Olympics? We don't need no stinkin' Olympics!

[Editor's note: This post represents my personal views and does not necessarily reflect the position of any other contributor to this page. Any other use of this post or any pictures, descriptions or accounts of the post without the NFL’s consent is prohibited.]

To: The International Olympic Committee
From: Me

Re: 2016 Games Selection

PICK RIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.

Give 'Em Hell, Michael!

Michael Moore vents against the whiny Democrats who have capitulated to the Republicans on universal healthcare, promising to back it up with his considerable clout. If you're one of the spineless jellyfish DINOS who are in the pockets of the (W)ealth insurance industry opposing the public option, you should be more than a little concerned.

We've got your number and we're coming after you. We, the people, elected you to work for us. This means, first and foremost, responding to our overwhelming support for universal healthcare with choice and competition which includes a public option. Poll after poll demonstrates this.

As Michael said, "who the hell do you think you are?" If you do not stand up for what the people want, a strong public option, we'll find someone who will. That's a promise.



So let's get specific here. President Obama may "like" Olympia Snowe, but we don't. Senator Snowe has totally ignored the wishes of her constituents by opposing the public option. One day after her two NO votes against the public option, Democracy Corps conducted a survey of Maine residents with some harsh results for Snowe's position:

* By 50%-39% Maine voters say Republicans want Obama to fail;

* By 62%-29% Maine voters say Obama has made an effort to reach out to Republicans;

* By 64%-28% Maine voters say Snowe should vote for a good healthcare bill even if ALL Republicans oppose it, rather than only support a bipartisan bill; and, most significantly,

* By 62%-27% Maine voters prefer a public option over Snowe's proposed bait-and-switch "trigger" (52%-34%).

Olympia Snowe is becoming more obnoxious by the day. Not only has she stomped on her constituents' expressed desires, but she's really getting into her self-important role as the anointed Queen Bee of healthcare reform. Today she introduced an amendment to "assist" economically strapped states by stripping their most vulnerable Medicaid populations of life-sustaining benefits. Only the good Senator Rockefeller had the guts to rip into her; then, in keeping with weird Senate comity rules, said he wasn't impugning her motives. The day before, she had twice voted against the public option.

To hell with Olympia Snowe.

If Democrats cave to the false narrative that Senator Snowe is essential to a sucker's "bipartisan" bill, there will be hell to pay with their own constituents. We're not in a forgiving mood, and we're already lining up candidates who will challenge them in the primaries as real Democrats. When Michael Moore says he's joining the cause, they'd better listen.

Then there's Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, a true profile in cowardice. In a state that supports the public option by better than 3-2, Sen. Lincoln shifted from support of the public option to opposition in the space of one month: August. Polls show her running behind four Republican opponents. Lincoln's miscalculation is that no matter how many sweeteners the insurance industry has dealt her, she cannot out-Republican Republicans. Her only winning strategy is to stand her ground and run as a Democrat. If she does, we'll support her and she'll win. If she doesn't, we'll oppose her and she'll lose.

Sen. Lincoln, you know what to do. We'll be watching.

Senator Max Baucus's obssessive-compulsive BPD (Bipartisan Disorder) is getting to be tiresome as well. The result has been an execrable (W)ealth insurance giveaway bill. His sole virtue is that he's beaten back Republican filibuster attempts and seems determined to put this monstrosity out of its misery by reporting it out of Committee next week. Then it can hopefully be submerged by the Kennedy Democratic bill from Sen. Harkin's Health Committee.

Let's not forget Sen. Kent Conrad, who has shown himself increasingly to lean right on the fence he's been straddling. This is one DINO with a pronounced identity crisis who really needs to decide whose side he's on. His heartless support for the Snowe slam of easing states' financial burdens on the backs of their Medicaid populations was disgusting.

These are the most prominent villains of the healthcare debate currently unfolding in the Senate Finance Committee. The Republicans aren't mentioned because we know what they are -- they've introduced one outrageous amendment after another -- they're window dressing, a sinister peanut gallery of hideous mutants. It's these others, who for parochial and personal political calculations have joined the dark side, that we should target for political defeat. Ben Nelson, too. This guy's the dean of the DINOS, given his latest statements opposing the 50 + 1 reconciliation strategy.

Hell, the newest Democrat, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a supporter of the public option, is better than this crowd.

AT LAST! A DEMOCRAT WITH COJONES TAKING IT TO THE REPUBLICANS

This is priceless! I’m sure I’m not the only one to have entertained the fantasy of going to Congress and ripping the hell out of those Republican bastards for their immoral policies, taking no prisoners. At last we have one fearless model of how the Democrats should conduct themselves, not only in Congress, but also on the Senate Finance Committee.

The Republicans are bastards; they’re scum; they’re liars; they have no interest in the public good or enacting meaningful healthcare reform. It’s that simple.

Bravo, Congressman Alan Grayson, of Florida, for not just talking the talk of “calling them out,” but actually doing it.



And here’s the icing on the cake. When Republicans demanded an apology (see above), this is what Congressman Grayson had to say to them:



"Let's remember that we should care about people, even after they're born." I love it! WOOT!

Editor's Note: Last night on the Rachel Maddow show, Congressman Grayson struck a more conciliatory tone toward his Republican colleagues. He said:

These people are uttelry unscrupulous. They’re foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who know nothing but NO. One way or another we have to overcome it for the sake of the nation.

Then he said to Democrats:

People want a Democrat with guts. People want to see a Democratic Party with guts.

Amen.

Thanks for the help, but--no thanks

IF you are Roman Polanski (and be very glad you are not), do you want Woody Allen coming to your defense?

If not now, when?

Well, it looks like never.

Oh my God, was Will Rogers right. I indeed belong to no organized political party.

Mr. President, Madame Speaker, Sen. Reid, et al., how did you screw this up so badly?

Mr. President, you were the pitcher who walked onto the mound after his team had just given him a huge lead in the first. All you have to do is throw strikes. Oh wait, I forgot--you're from Chicago, not the best place for baseball analogies.

To the leaders of Congress, I have but one question. WHAT [other than yes, I know, losing insurance company money] THE HELL WERE YOU AFRAID OF??? The Republicans came out of the 2008 electoral cycle at their weakest in decades. The unholy alliance of Wall Street and the mouthbreathers who want Jesus to stop boys from kissing had shattered, with the former exposed as larcenous criminals and the latter as a nativist, racist, xenophobic band of Glenn Beck-following sheeple. Their party stood in ruins and you let THEM define the debate. How do you do that?

As a historian, what fascinates me most is not Democratic incompetence (Lord knows there is nothing remarkable about THAT. Sunrise, sunset, Democratic incompetence). Rather it is the elevation of a fringe miniority from the depths of obscurity to a position of power not only in their own, albeit crippled, party, but in the national arena as a whole.

Note that this phenomenon--the tea baggers, the town hall protesters, Sarah Palin supporters, etc.--is nothing new. Throughout American history we have had the fringe elements of the nativists, the anti-intellectuals, the xenophobes, etc. Now to this old mix we add the accelerant of race to the fire, and something remarkable happens. Historians for generations to come will puzzle over the question of how a marginalized minority of nutcases, IMMEDIATELY after an electoral thrashing, comes to dominate the political landscape.

I don't have an answer. Maybe Will Rogers does.

Target DINOS: Finance Committee Corporatist Dems Vote Down Public Option

And then there were three.

The following Democrats on the Finance Committee showed their true colors as members of the corporatist 'Democrats in Name Only' club:

Max 'Hamlet' Baucus - In keeping with his ethereal rationalizations, Chairman Baucus justified his NO vote stating that his primary responsibility was to report out a bill that would get 60 votes. He also made the 'Rome wasn't built in a day' argument. Fair enough. Baucus is feeling the heat and basically signalled his malleability on this issue as long as he gets political cover. I think he's gone as far as he's willing to go in defending the narrow (and craven) interests of the private insurers that pay his bills. He can read the numbers just like everybody else, including those from his own state.

This debate was more illuminating than all the town halls wrapped in one. In the days ahead, I predict the public option will get a public preference 'bounce' with even more lopsided numbers.

Two numbers jumped out from Senator Rockefeller's impassioned presentation: First, The total taxpayer-funded subsidies to the insurance companies, in the absence of a public option, would be a whopping one-half trillion dollars. That's obscene, and Baucus had no retort except to offer a sputtering halfhearted defense. Second, according to conservative CBO estimates, the public option would save taxpayers more than $50 billion over ten years, and begin to reduce the costs of healthcare.

Senator Rockefeller declared "the public option is on the march!" I loved his use of language here, reminiscent of the great rallying cries for fundamental reform in the history of progressive transformative legislation. Senator Schumer took up Chairman Baucus's challenge. By the time supporters of the public option are done he predicted it would get 60 votes on the floor.

Kent Conrad - Senator Conrad has his own positive agenda, essentially to revive his pet alternative, the so-called medical co-ops. He made an excellent presentation comparing health outcomes in other countries against poor outcomes in the U.S. Conrad's point was that a private nonprofit model, as exists in Japan, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and other countries, is the best fit for the U.S. He also conceded that Britain, which has a government-run single payer system, had some of the best outcomes. It was a sober, intelligent, nonideological systems comparison, and as such, Senator Conrad deserves a tremendous amount of credit for educating the public. So, with these caveats, his NO vote should be taken in context. Senator Conrad is not an opponent of the public option as much as he is a proponent of his own co-op alternative. If it comes to a choice and his co-op goes down, Sen. Conrad will be one of those 60 votes.

Blanche Lincoln - MIA.

Senator Lincoln is personable and also one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, from the red state of Arkansas. She was basically hiding from the debate and projected negative body language vibes. I get the feeling that she'd really like to vote for a public option, but is constrained. During the lunch break she was seen huddling with Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon. Senator Wyden, a bit of a maverick, has his own nebulous proposal that would shift federal responsibility for healthcare to the states. If Senator Lincoln was angling for a little political cover for her NO vote, she didn't get it. Wyden voted YES for both public option amendments.

The public option is alive and well and support for it will continue to grow.

Public Option Showdown at the Finance Corral

Big “D” Democrats aren’t sitting on their hands. Tomorrow, Max ‘Hamlet’ Baucus’s Finance Committee resumes its markup with a showdown: Senators Rockefeller and Schumer will be introducing separate amendments to incorporate a strong public option.

In simple terms, the public option is a nonprofit public plan to compete with the private insurance companies, keep them honest by providing choice, and bring healthcare costs down. It makes eminently good sense. Unlike the untested Co-Op plan favored by conservaDems (DINOS) like Kent Conrad and Ben Nelson, the public option has a 44-year model to draw from: Medicare.

The biggest knock against the idea of Co-Ops is that they won’t have the collective strength to compete effectively against the private insurers. There’s also a regional component. They’re most favored by legislators representing small midwest and western states where co-ops have been most popular; Medicare has national outreach.

This is the first test of the DINOS's commitment to the people over the special interests. Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, and every other Democrat taking orders from the insurance industry to oppose the public option will be forced to go on record with their opposition. Of course, we are hoping they do the right thing, but if they don't they'll be feeling heat-heAT-HEAT from their constituents, Big Time. This is only the opening salvo of the battle to assure that a public option is part of the final healthcare bill signed by President Obama.

The public wants it. The latest NYT/CBS poll rates nationwide public support for the public option at 65%.

Doctors want it. They overwhelmingly favor the public option by nearly 75%. One reason: Many doctors say they've had “largely good experiences with Medicare.”

Meanwhile, even the Mayo Clinic favors a public option, although it has hedged its bets by taking the Baucus-Conrad approach of favoring a “Co-Op public option,” a play on words if you will. It’s described as member-run, non-profit insurance plans which “will be truly public plans because they will be owned and run by the consumers who use them.” Mayo opposes a real public plan modeled on Medicare because they claim it will not control costs and will “punish” doctors. Sounds like an anti-public option Republican soundbite. The only missing element is the Frank Luntz (the Repug with the bad complexion – rosacea or lupus) talking point: the evil “government-run” plan.

Pure politics. Mayo’s playing the Republican game, hoping to pivot to the Baucus-Conrad Co-Op. First of all, their claims are false. The CBO has scored the House (most robust version) of the public option will save taxpayers $110 billion over ten years.

Progressives are turning up the heat by running ads against public option opponents Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, threatening to recruit primary challenge candidates. Both Democratic politicians have already backed down.

Now it’s Max Baucus’s turn to feel the people’s pressure. This ad targets Baucus for standing with the insurance companies –- from which he received $3.4 million in contributions -- against the wishes of a majority of Montanans who favor the public option, 47%-43%, and Democrats, 55%-34%. The ad campaign has already raised $50,000, half of what it needs to run in Montana and D.C., and has caught the attention of Baucus's staff:



As Governor Dean said, every Democrat will “sink or swim” on this bill, from President Obama on down. “We’ve got to do the right thing.”

When 65% of your constituents are clamoring for a public option, what is your problem, Democrats!

From the "Don't Know Much About History" Collection

(A sub-folder of the "We Live in a Stupid Country" file)

Take a peek at this gem.

I was checking out some Flickr photos of New York to compare to the ones I just took. Some genius called "Lolalaptop" thought they would be cute and snap a bad picture of Hamilton on the 10-spot in front of his grave in the Trinity Church yard in the financial district. She made a little oopsie in her photo entitled "Hamilton x 2" though...