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Ear to the Ground

Don’t Take Blue Dog’s Word for It: It’s Worthless

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Posted on Sep 8, 2009
Mike Ross
house.gov

Rep. Mike Ross, head of the House Blue Dogs, says he can no longer abide a deal he made with White House chief of staff (and Blue Dog patron saint?) Rahm Emanuel. Ross’ vision of the public option already made liberals queasy, but now the Arkansas Democrat says even that version is too much.

This isn’t a total surprise. The August recess has weakened proponents of serious health care reform (including a public option), and it doesn’t help that President Obama and leading Democrats have indicated a willingness to cave.

We’ll see what happens at Obama’s big speech Wednesday, but we’re not holding our breath.  —PS

Washington Post:

Rep. Mike Ross (Ark.) of the Blue Dog Coalition said he could no longer support any bill that included the creation of a public option, a key element of a proposal he helped craft in July in marathon negotiating sessions with party leaders and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

“An overwhelming number of you oppose a government-run health insurance option, and it is your feedback that has led me to oppose the public option as well,” Ross said in a statement to constituents.

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By cryptoman, September 9, 2009 at 12:50 pm #

Are you unfit to exist ? The health insurance boardrooms break down the criteria like this. The healthy & wealthy get a pass. But, if you have a pre- existing condition,terminal illness or are disabled you will be denied benefits. This is corporate eugenics. Where matters of fiscal and physical fitness are arbitrarily decided. And death follows denied,stamped on your claim form.
Pretty heady stuff playing God in these boardrooms.

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By MarthaA, September 9, 2009 at 11:00 am #

Blue Dogs and New Democrats are Political Conservative sophists and whatever they say will be the exact opposite of liberal.  When they say they are fiscal conservative, check and see if they are politicians; if they are politicians, then they are political conservatives, ALL political conservatives are FAR RIGHT EXTREMISTS, whatever they say; CONSERVATIVE is the Right and LIBERAL is the Left.  With the exception of Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal, on PBS, all the political talk shows on television are Right-Wingers and Right-Winger’s Democrats, which makes it easy for Right-Wing Conservative EXTREMIST Republicans to denigrate, accuse, condemn, and denounce liberals, and a liberal agenda that would be beneficial for the greater majority.

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By Anarcissie, September 9, 2009 at 10:33 am #

DBM:
‘If ever there was an issue for the progressive caucus to show that they have some sort of influence and spine, this is it.

Get everything they can possibly get with a 1 vote margin….’

I don’t think they can get anything.  If Mr. O were a Lyndon Johnson type and really interested, he would have been busy doing horse trading with the Blue Dogs to overcome their hesitations about his proposal, which incidentally would be one page long, not 1000 pages.  (He would have written off the Republicans right away.  He had 60 votes in the Senate.)  If that’s been going on, I haven’t heard about it.

The progs’ choice is to go along with nothing—to keep issuing free passes—or to refuse to go along and promise to make the matter a major issue in 2010 and 2012.

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By Bud, September 9, 2009 at 7:15 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Mikey Ross,another southern politician with the backbone of a sponge,and the mentality of a grapefruit!

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By DBM, September 9, 2009 at 12:42 am #

If ever there was an issue for the progressive caucus to show that they have some sort of influence and spine, this is it.

Get everything they can possibly get with a 1 vote margin but don’t close the door on more reform in the next few years.  There has been no compromise on anything from the Right in years (negotiating only after getting “pre-conditions” you know!).  There should be not one iota of compromise on this one from the progressives.

Cut the BS and vote.

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By P. T., September 9, 2009 at 12:04 am #

The health care industry owns that guy—lock, stock, and cash register.

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By LostHills, September 8, 2009 at 11:49 pm #

Blue Dog (Def.) “A coward. A scoundrel. A thief in the night. A republican by another name.”

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By Rodger Lemonde, September 8, 2009 at 11:09 pm #

The “opposition” to single payer and public option is
not reasoned argument. What we hear is astroturf
bullshit and “no” and “I can’t vote for that.”
This isn’t debate it is bullying. Screw the opposition
go for single payer, fix our crappy death machine
health system and let the bastards live without the
massive bribes from insurance and pharmacutical
companies. If they can’t ever get elected again tough.
The project is better health care for Americans.
Or is lack of a spine holding us back?

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By Anarcissie, September 8, 2009 at 9:19 pm #

A public option (in fact, actually, Single Payer) is probably the most popular product the progs have to offer.  So if they want to threaten a split, this is it.

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By LostHills, September 8, 2009 at 8:40 pm #

I’m 55 years old. I’ve been voting Democrat ever since I cast my first vote for Jerry Brown, for governor of California, the first year 18 year olds were given the right to vote. I still love Jerry Brown, but I have not loved the Democrats for a long time. I’ve just been voting for them because I despise the Republicans so much. That’s not a good enough reason anymore. If they ever want my vote again, they better pass health care reform with a public option, and they better start bringing the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Continuing the war and passing health care reform without a public option are both deal killers, and as far as I’m concerned, I’ve already said goodbye. They can sink or swim on their own, now….

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By tyler, September 8, 2009 at 8:01 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Why weren’t the voices heard that opposed the iraq war?? 

More people opposed the iraq war than oppose a public option health care plan, but the war generated huge amounts money for companies that pay off politicians, in the form of campaign donations, to keep the country at war.  ‘Sorry people, we don’t hear you, we’ve got money stuffed in our ears.’

Why now are politicians using the excuse of ‘listening to their constituents’ to scrap even a weak public option plan??

Because providing a public option means there is competition to private insurance companies, taking clients, well let’s be real, taking money (as if private insurance companies regard clients as people.) away from them.  Insurance companies pay off politicians to ensure that policies remain in place to keep their companies profitable, and any politician would be out of his mind to bite the hands that feed, right?

Sometimes it is profitable to ignore your constituents, and sometimes it is profitable to pretend you’re listening.

The large majority of representatives and senators ON BOTH SIDES are the scum of the earth, elitist liars and cheaters.  The few that are decent don’t have a hope in hell of changing anything. 

Americans desparatly need to turn off their reality TV and have a good look whats being done to them.

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