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Howard Dean -- He May Be Our Only Hope
Howard Dean, on Rachel Maddow tonight, discussed the differences between health INSURANCE reform, versus health CARE reform, among other topics. He succinctly spells it out, and he will be hosting the Keith Olberman hour for two nights. To all of you who might have tired of Keith's dog and pony show (including myself), I would encourage all of us to tune in to what Dr. Dean has to say. He is totally committed to the Public Option -- which is threatened from what I hear today.
It looks like we are losing this fight. Why? Only because of lies and fear-mongering. The only way to fight it is with fire. Let's see what Howard Dean suggests, but it is time to let all our Senators and Congressmen know that we care about this. If we can't pull this off with the numbers we have in the Senate, the House, and the White House (only because of the desire to appease republicans) then it is time to tell the Democrats that we will not show up next time. This is not what we worked, donated and voted for. It is time for them to stand up for us. If they have to appease the minority, then let them know what it feels like to BE a minority.
I worked and donated and voted for an ideal. Howard Dean still talks that talk. Why is he shut out from the administration? Why isn't he the Surgeon General? I am NOT happy with the direction we are headed. Can anyon cheer me up?
It looks like we are losing this fight. Why? Only because of lies and fear-mongering. The only way to fight it is with fire. Let's see what Howard Dean suggests, but it is time to let all our Senators and Congressmen know that we care about this. If we can't pull this off with the numbers we have in the Senate, the House, and the White House (only because of the desire to appease republicans) then it is time to tell the Democrats that we will not show up next time. This is not what we worked, donated and voted for. It is time for them to stand up for us. If they have to appease the minority, then let them know what it feels like to BE a minority.
I worked and donated and voted for an ideal. Howard Dean still talks that talk. Why is he shut out from the administration? Why isn't he the Surgeon General? I am NOT happy with the direction we are headed. Can anyon cheer me up?
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Why isn't he President? I was sceptical in 2004 but growing to love the guy.
July 27, 2009 9:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
CVille, Thanks for the notice.
July 27, 2009 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
CVille,
Most Democrats favor a public option, but not 60 of them, which is the number of votes that will be needed to get anything passed in the Senate (the probable nonviability of a reconciliation mechanism needing only 50 votes has been discussed elsewhere).
There isn't much to be gained by blaming the Democratic majority in favor. If one lives in a state represented by one of the few recalcitrants, or perhaps in Maine, where Republican Olympia Snowe might be responsive to public pressure, communicating with any of these senators would be helpful. Otherwise, continued blogging here might have some marginal effect if it is factually based and strongly worded.
That may not cheer you up much, but I hope it will give you something to focus on besides despair.
July 27, 2009 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I still think it is important to let our senators know that we are behind them in backing a public option. The do need to have an idea how important it is to their constituents, because they will certainly be asked to compromise.
July 28, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, yeah? Why does it take 60 votes in favor of the bill to pass a public option in the Senate?
It will take 60 votes to break a filibuster, but if the "Democrats" in the Senate who won't vote for this won't allow an up-or-down majority vote on the plan the majority of their fellow Democrats want (not to mention what a majority of senators, period, want), then democracy is dead, and the Democratic Party is a sham.
July 28, 2009 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder about the same thing. Is everything up for filibuster now? Did that only begin when Obama became President? That wasn't the standard for Bush, a completely incompetent dolt.
50 votes should be enough, right? Or has truly EVERYTHING CHANGED? If so, why? Because we have a Democrat? Or because our President is black?
The question must be asked, and it was NEVER asked during the Bush administration despite absolute proof of his appointments being made for political reasons. I am so sick of this.
July 28, 2009 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, you could move to Cuba.
July 27, 2009 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, if you were a poor and sick American, you could do worse than Cuba, as Michael Moore demonstrated in his film "Sicko".
I live in Spain, which is much less wealthy than the USA and like all other western European countries we have universal health care (with all the private options too) and I find it amazing that the USA doesn't have universal health care yet. I have come to the conclusion this is due entirely to the essentially corrupt nature of American politics.
July 28, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think this chart shows the discrepancy between the Cuba and US health care systems pretty well.
July 28, 2009 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
EVERYONE LOOK AT THIS CHART!
This is all you need to know about America. What a stupid bunch of fucking idiots who let the greediest whores and liars run every god damned thing that matters.
America! Land of Whores and Idiots!
July 28, 2009 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, the only reason you could possibly think so is because the MILLION DOLLARS A DAY that the insurance, hospital and pharmacy industries are spending to buy our "leaders" in Congress is working! Sadly, there is no other explanation.
July 28, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The reason our health care costs are so high is that so many people skim off the money people pay for health care. First, the insurance salesmen skim off their commissions. Then the insurance company itself skims off their profits. Then, the drug industry skims off enough to pay for all of the advertising on newscasts all day long, not to speak of the advertising they run on other TV shows. Then, the drug companies skim off their profits, as well as the obscene pay they give their executives.
Medical schools join in the skim game too, understanding that doctors can "earn" millions as a result of their training, they charge for the education with that in mind. Hospitals join in the skimming too, as well as the doctors themselves.
What is left can go to improve the health of the consumers.
When we talk about stopping the accelerating pace of health care costs, we are talking about cutting the income of all of the skimmers, all of whom vote, and all of whom belong to organizations that lobby the Senate heavily to protect their members incomes. It should be taught in all of our schools - if you try to stand in the way of a wealthy man and his ability to triple his wealth, you just get trampled.
July 28, 2009 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
David is spot on. I also feel as Cville does, if something is signed it will be watered down to the point of no change whatsoever, all because of spin & lobbying, but let's call it what it is, lies & bribes.
Like many others so much sacrifice, for what? Roosevelt & Johnsonn didn't pass Social Security & Medicare by caving to idiots that were not going to vote for it in the first place.There are Republicans & Blue Dogs everywhere doing their dirty work, but where are the Democrats?
Everyone in the country is on the plus side for dems, except Big Insurance, Big Pharma, & republicans,who are ALL FOR PROFIT. They are making it difficult to keep fighting, but I'm still wearing out my fingers, for what I'm no longer certain.
July 28, 2009 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
You first.
July 28, 2009 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Tell ya what, Mary Alice... YOU move to Cuba. Then you can preach anti-American nonsense while the rest of us try to improve the lot of EVERY American... not just the privileged.
July 28, 2009 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's great about Dean is that he actually cares about this. He has a passion for it. It's not just a game of counting votes and surrendering to the usual suspects.
July 27, 2009 10:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I worked and donated and voted for an ideal. Howard Dean still talks that talk. Why is he shut out from the administration? Why isn't he the Surgeon General? ....."
Good questions, C'Ville. Enquiring minds would like to know the answers.
I'd like to make you laugh but the odds are slim -- unless you can see the bizarre humor in the fact that today I had a claim denied for a "pre-existing condition" I did not know was on the no/no list.
What is my pre-existing condition? Heart disease? Cancer? Diabetes? No, no and no. According to BC/BS it's..... "menopause." Unbelievable.
July 27, 2009 10:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're right. That WOULD be funny if it weren't so unfunny! Good luck on fighting that one, Wendy!
July 28, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
So womanhood is now a pre-existing condition? I mean, I guess that's semantically accurate. Not a damned thing fair about, but it's accurate.
July 29, 2009 12:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't give up. They expect us to cave. And if they win, let's not pretend it's anything but a loss because if you can't face the truth you can't keep fighting the good fight. We've been cowed and intimidated for the last 25 years and more and unless we just accept that we are mere sheep to be herded by the blue sheep dogs, we have no chance to win in the future. Many lives depend on the fight. As has long been the case, few in Congress are fighting this fight at all. They're just waiting for the fix to be in reciting the self-fulfilling mantra of "we don't have 60 votes" and they'll fall in line and vote for whatever because they don't care what is in the bill they won't bother to read. They need to know that we're not being fooled. They need to know that we expect them to get 60 votes or punish the Benedict Arnolds.
"The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing - for the sheer fun and joy of it - to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it." I.F. Stone
July 27, 2009 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
That quote is compelling, BlueBell. Thank you for it.
Although I am a bit disturbed by how much taking the long view may resemble that cockamamie idea of looking for our reward in the next life...
July 28, 2009 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
To paraphrase Keynes, "In the long run we're all dead."
July 28, 2009 8:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha.Good one,Tlees2. Keynes may be right about the long run if we get single payer option; otherwise, in the short run.
July 28, 2009 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Don't give up. They expect us to cave."
Exactly.
No quitting, no premature pessimism.
It;s the 5th inning. Keep fighting til the bottom of the 9th.
July 28, 2009 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Deans fillin in for Keith O tomorrow and Wednesday.
He is a good man.
July 28, 2009 2:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
The revolution will not be televised, brother!!!!!
This is not going to get done by the MSM, but by we, the people, period, end of story. There is nothing in the news to suggest single payer has any supporters, except maybe the handful thrown out of the first Baucus hearing. The same diminishment is being promulgated rel;ated to the public option. We need to get into the streets about this and stay there. We could have a great big rally, but the news is not going to give it more attention then it did the protests outside the Republican Convention in NYC in 2004. At least this time we might not have people arrested that the police think MIGHT go to the rallies. But this will only get done if we, the people, show up!!!
July 28, 2009 2:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Only because of lies and fear-mongering"
- interesting blog today on RCP on the gap in ideological leanings of the far-left Dem committee chairs and the moderate rank and file House members.
Sounds far more plausible to me than the boiler-plate answer to any issue (aka lies and fear-mongering).
July 28, 2009 8:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
link?
July 28, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking of ideological leanings,
July 28, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
RCP is a obviously rightwing.
Most of their blogs are garbages. Everything else is aggragated.
July 28, 2009 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
What do you call this, Lalo?
July 28, 2009 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the Rats can't do this it's time for a third party.
I'm serious-- if they can't stand up to the Pukes what good are they? And I don't mean some loser like Ralph, either.
I really think this will piss off enough people that we can pull the rug out from under the Democrat Party. They're worse than the Pukes-- at least the Pukes stand for something.
Democrat Party, Democrat Party, Democrat Party.
July 28, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh please. There are two political parties in America period. We will all be dead and buried when a third party amounts to shit so have a tantrum and then grow up and get back to work.
The Republicans are the only other option and they are virtually all corporate whores and right wing sociopaths. You will never ever ever get anything out of them that benefits the average person as long as some asshole can dream up another way to screw the average person and make a dollar doing it .... which is never. You elect Republicans if you are rich or stupid.
The Democrats have a large share of sociopaths as well (blue dogs) who will whore out their mother to get an extra dollar in their pocket, but the Dems also have the only thing that keeps this country from being a complete rat fuck and that is practical progressive people who want to help average people. Apparently there is not enough of them to cancel out the Republicans and the Blue Dogs so here we sit with our healthcare dick in our hands jacking off again to the sweet sounds of Obama on the TV telling us NOW is the time.
Thank heavens for Howard Dean to keep talking common sense when everyone else is more full of shit than the day before. I will be watching Countdown!
July 28, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The Republicans are the only other option and they are virtually all corporate whores and right wing sociopaths."
Not the best way to win the hearts and minds of moderates of either party. When you make statements like this, no matter how much I agree with a lot of what you have to say in other areas, I tend to start doubting the intellectual honesty of your commentary.
I am sure the last will garner me a spitting mad response full of invective and spite, but I am really just trying to point out where small adjustments to your presentation might gain massive returns in minds changed.
July 28, 2009 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
There have been more than two parties in the U.S.
July 28, 2009 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why not go to work for a third party? Healthcare is the holy grail. If that's lost and we're still in multiple wars and can't pass a labor bill or meaningful financial reform when we have 60 theoretical votes then being a Democrat is so totally pointless that voting 3rd party is no risk and might be fun.
We have Republicans, Blue Dogs and the rest who hide behind the Republicans and Blue Dogs and say oh dear me, dear me, there is nothing I can do. What's the point of being a member of that party? Because it really is only one party.
So in truth we don't need a third party, we need a second party.
July 28, 2009 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I get the impression that most of the left-leaning voters in my age group are more sympathetic to far-left candidates but still support Democrats because of Bush-era mismanagement.
We want the repeal of DOMA, we want to stop invading and interfering with other countries, we want to end the war on drugs, we believe health care (and adequate salaries + housing) are human rights, and so on. The Democrats pay lip service to some of that, and so they get our votes by virtue of not being Republican.
Electing Obama was our victory -- finally, for the first time in our voting history, the good guys win!
...And then they do nothing substantial.
As the Bush era recedes into memory, that Bush anger isn't going to drive our votes. We'll be looking more and more at the parties who actually advocate for causes important to us, parties less "dogmatically diverse" than the Democrats.
We already saw a shift for conservative voters in the Ron Paul fanatics in the past cycle. Paul's largest group of supporters were 18-24 year olds, a cohort more likely to self-identify as libertarian than republican. (Why they didn't support Barr I can't say, but Paul isn't exactly a regular Republican either.)
The internet will continue to give non-standard candidates wider exposure and larger followings. I can't see that resulting in anything other than the diminishing power of the Big 2.
I didn't expect seismic shifts from the Obama administration, and only a few of his nods to the center have legitimately surprised me. I'm content to see any marginal shift to the left as a good thing. To people less patient, however -- well, the Democrats look entirely ineffective, or even worse, conservative.
The Democrats are going to lose an entire generation.
July 28, 2009 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I came of voting age for the McGovern election so you can imagine how beyond fed up I am. I will celebrate 40 years of Presidential voting in 2012 and I've run through every excuse in the book for voting for a Democrat today because they might do something for me in 40 years.
July 28, 2009 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with every word. The contrast of the cooperation that Bush got from Democrats (Supreme Court Justices, Wars, Tax Cuts, and all the rest) with what the republicans -- without any shame are doing -- voting "No" on anything this President proposes -- makes me sick.
Why is Obama trying for a bipartisan charade? He gives stuff up to please them and they say, "Show me your birth certificate, you undocumented, illegal alien!" And he tries again to please them.
It is time to say, "Millions of people voted for me because they believed what I said about change. I will not give up my ideals or theirs for the sake of wealthy lobbyists for the well-financed health-care industry."
July 28, 2009 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The first political party system (Democratic-Republicans v. Federalists) lasted about thirty years. The second political party system (Whigs v. Democrats) lasted about twenty-five years. The present system (Republicans v. Democrats) has been around for over 150 years, and it's getting long in the tooth. I'm not so sure that a new system sooner rather than later is an impossibility.
July 28, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. The Republican party is obviously dysfunctional but it's not so clear the Democratic Party is much better. I mean what can you say about a party that seriously believes that compromising with a party that is falling apart is the way to either win elections or advance policy. Are they trying to help the Republicans regroup by allowing them to write the healthcare bill or what?
July 28, 2009 8:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Krugman has been calling Obama out for negotiating with himself before he even begins to compromise with the Republicans. Congress is even worse. Big money rules both parties. A change is needed.
July 28, 2009 8:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I keep posting this, but our politicians have no fear at all of us. They know how easy it is to ignore us, then come election time the Repubs will run a cretin in opposition, and all they have to do is point to the cretin and say, is that who you really prefer? So, we need to make our politicians fear us.
I can think of only two ways to do that: One is to do the really hard work of finding and supporting a primary opponent (who we trust) for every Senator who opposes what benefits us and not the corporations. Not only is that hard to do, and takes much more skill and contacts than most of us have, it is also a gamble. The one (who we trust) will very likely prove to be otherwise, once elected.
The second way is to us non-violent protest, that does real harm to our communities businessmen. That probably will have to be a general strike, where no one can get to work for a couple of days. The obvious problem with that is that it takes an extreme commitment to solving the problem that most of us don't have.
We need a third way.
July 28, 2009 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
From Kos:
Sherrod Brown: We'll get a strong public option
by Jed Lewison
Tue Jul 28, 2009 at 10:40:04 AM PDT
Max Baucus and Kent Conrad would have you believe that they are the only two Democrats who matter in the entire United States Senate.
Well Sherrod Brown had something to say about that yesterday on The Ed Show:
Transcript:
We’re going to enact strong insurance reform rules so they can’t game the system, the community rating system and preexisting conditions, ban all of that.
But we still need the public option to keep the insurance companies honest. We’re going to insist on it in the Senate. We’re going to get it in the Senate. They are going to do it in the House. We’re going to have a strong public option. That’s going to be a major part of our health care bill.
Despite Conrad's and Baucus's intransigence, this thing isn't over. The overwhelming majority of Democratic senators -- and American people - support a strong public option. As long as people like Sherrod Brown stand up for the principles they were elected to follow, we can still win this thing.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/28/758754/-Sherrod-Brown:-Well-get-a-strong-public-option
July 28, 2009 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for this information; I only hope it is correct! I sure do love the Ed Show!
July 28, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the system is working as it should. The fiscal paranoids try to keep the costs down while the progressive paranoids try to keep the services high. The difference between the two is likely to create something that is at least semi-palatable to most citizens on the left and right, though probably not the fringes of either side.
Again, as it should be.
At the end of the day, the best we can hope for as a first step is a strong public plan, either government run or private, that helps to keep the insurance companies honest. Combined with strict regulation of the private insurance industry and a mandated new medical IT system, it would be a significant step forward. No one of these measure alone will get us where we need to go, but all them coming together as part of the reconciliation process just might get us something that will be useful despite the obvious and lingering systemic dysfunction of the US Congress.
Good blog, CD. We need to keep debating this stuff out online, because I am quite sure it ends up moving indoors at the Capital in bits and pieces as all viral messages do. Some will stick and some will float off to the place where all good ideas in America seem to die, but I am quite confident we will get a reform bill that Obama can sign that just might be halfway to our actual needs.
That is twice as far as we have come in the last fifty years.
July 28, 2009 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Allow me to clarify one thing: The public option would be either purely government run like Medicare or privately run by a nonprofit insurance collective that is currently being designed. The numbers obviously wouldn't work with private, for-profit management of the public plan.
July 28, 2009 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you have an idea how the structure of the possible non-profit is heading? In my mind I've an analog of Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae--which is probably way off, especially since those two mortgage companies aren't collectives.
July 28, 2009 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good question. I see it as being analogous to any other nonprofit insurance company, such as Kaiser, only with a federally mandated population based on the currently uninsured and nonnegotiable requirements for their care.
We need to mandate coverage specifications for private and public (nonprofit) insurance companies alike as well as for individuals, requirements that actually work from an economic standpoint, in order to design a system that is sustainable and that the American public at large can afford.
Not unattainable goals on either side, but I see both parties leaving low-hanging fruit out of the equation because of the political difficulties involved with the implementing the required solutions.
July 28, 2009 7:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Why? Only because of lies and fear-mongering."
I would suggest in addition that Obama has not been waging the most vigorous fight I have ever seen. I know attacks on Republicans and on Blue Dogs and on their non-ideas and non-policies are off-limits. I am not sure why the issue of why the morality of affordable health care for all is likewise ruled out; I am also puzzled why there is no call to "one nation" and how health care benefits our country and our people. But I am sure it will all be explained to me as every other problem has been explained ...it is the working of such a profound political mind and machine that how could I possibly understand.
July 28, 2009 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
How many Senators are working as hard for a universal healthCARE system as the Blue Dogs are working against it? Have you seen any supposed progressives around your state passionately fighting tooth and nail to make sure that every American who needs healthcare receives it without bankrupting their family? Or are you like me seeing little bitty nuancy frames and memes and slither speak custom designed to make sure that the supposed progressive can escape any responsibility a) for passing the bill or b) not passing the bill.
July 28, 2009 7:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is a very strange dynamic at work here. I see the Republicans fighting, tearing down health care reform and other progressive policy; but they seem to have the podium to themselves. And while I hate the mainstream media, it is not IN THIS CASE, their fault alone. DeMint and Bill Kristol give Dems a pile of ammunition but our gentleman-senators and representatives (including the so called Progressive Caucus) is too polite to lob the grenades back. I am not so sure that "elections have consequences" at least not here, not now. (Two consecutive landslide election victories and the Democratic clowns can only make funny faces). Obama promised to change the tone in Washington...he has not changed the Republican tone but possibly he has watered down even more (who would've imagined it possible...but he is talented) the Democrats.
July 28, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, the Dem offensive is strangely off. All I hear are rightwing talking points and little rebuttal. Obama is not bad, but it seems like one man versus the entire GOP/insurance industry. Where's everybody else? How many townhalls can one man do on his own?
July 28, 2009 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
The right wingers are out calling us......time to advance folks
auto help in calling your congress person
July 28, 2009 6:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is anyone watching? He is doing a great job of hosting!
OK, He could have eliminated the Keith Olberman, Pete Rose interview at the end, but at least he limited it to 5 minutes!
And no "worst person in the world." Howard Dean did manage to discuss health reform civilly and intelligently. Why is he not in this administration? Is it Rahm? or his brother Zeke?
It is our loss. Not too late, though!
July 28, 2009 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink