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.
of you have sat, and perhaps thought, with us!
1 comment:
Our own drmagoo and I once argued with a friend. This friend insisted that give a Set A and a Set A' (not A), that there could be a third option, when drmagoo and I argued that there obviously could not.
Similarly, what is the compromise that Landrieu speaks of? Given the options of a "public option" and "not a public option," what is this compromise?
And in your reconciliation plan, don't forget the outlawing of the "pre-existing condition" clause.
- Jim
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