Health care: Harry Reid grows a pair, tells Baucus to STFU, Obama gets the message

(Rollcall)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday ordered Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill.

Reid, whose leadership is considered crucial if President Barack Obama is to deliver on his promise of enacting health care reform this year, offered the directive to Baucus through an intermediary after consulting with Senate Democratic leaders during Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled leadership meeting. Baucus was meeting with Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday afternoon to relay the information.

It's about time that progressives stepped up and stopped the nonsense that some democrats are trying to get away with on health care. When 76% of the country wants health care with a public option, and a supermajority exists in the Senate, then it's time to throw out bipartisanship. Especially when bipartisanship is only going to lead to a watered-down bill that puts more money in the hands of insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

On the White House end, Rahm Emanual signaled that there was some support for inserting a "trigger". This means that there would only be a public option if the insurance/pharma coalition of the greedy didn't meet targets.

On Monday, Mr. Emanuel said the trigger mechanism would also accomplish the White House's goals. Under this scenario, a public plan would kick in under certain circumstances when competition was judged to be lacking. Exactly what circumstances would trigger the option would have to be worked out.

This is a horrible idea. Pushing a [public option 10 years down the road dooms this health care initiative. This is literally a once-in-several-lifetimes opportunity. Ten years from now there will not be the will, either institutionally or publicly, to get this done.

The White House was warned yesterday to stop playing around.

(Washington Monthly)
Progressive Caucus Co-Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) warned Emanuel that he would lose the caucus' votes if the White House compromised on the issue and included a "trigger" that could delay a public insurance plan indefinitely. The trigger idea is backed by conservative Democrats but is anathema to liberals.

"We have compromised enough, and we are not going to compromise on any kind of trigger game," Woolsey said she told Emanuel. "People clapped all over the place. We mean it, and not just progressives."

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said he was reassured by Emanuel. "He doesn't stand by that trigger," Waxman said. "He said the president and his administration and he are for a public plan as one of the options."

So then....

Politico reports that the President appeared to walk back Emanual's message, saying...

"I am pleased by the progress we're making on health care reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals."

It appears that the pressure that the President has been decrying is actually working.

It's a shame when Democrats have to be hounded and pressured into doing Democratic things.

Bullshit Mr. President. And fuck you, BTW

In a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats, whom they criticize for not being fully devoted to "true" health-care reform.

"We shouldn't be focusing resources on each other," Obama opined in the call, according to three sources who participated in or listened to the conversation. "We ought to be focused on winning this debate."

Specifically, Obama said he is hoping left-leaning organizations that worked on his behalf in the presidential campaign will now rally support for "advancing legislation" that fulfills his goal of expanding coverage, controlling rising costs and modernizing the health system.

Obama wants "the left" to turn down the vitriol? Wrong answer, sir.

Without the pressure from the left on "moderate Democrats", we won't get health care, we'll get a watered-down bill that continues the current broken system and pads the pockets of the insurance companies.

My suggestion to Democrats who don't like the pressure is to listen to your constituents. 72% of them want the public option. Do your goddamned jobs and deliver.

I'm so disappointed in Obama on this one.

Palin clarifies

"I am not a quitter. I am a fighter" - Sarah Palin

"So I've decided to quit and to stop fighting," she didn't add, but for logic's sake probably should have.

Let's clear the air here. In all of the post-analysis, there's been a thread running that "millions of people agree with her", and a secondary notion that these people are "real Americans" (cue Mika here).

Number one: millions of people might agree with her, but that doesn't mean she, or they, are qualified to govern. It doesn't make the content of her thoughts more correct for having people agree with them. Read the subheading of this blog: The right to be heard does not equal the right to be taken seriously.

Number two: so because I don't live in Rednecktown or Methville, I'm not a real American? Because I think Sarah Palin is an undereducated hack, a naive buffoon, a bit unstable and quite dangerous in leadership roles I'm somehow not a real American? Because I think she's a doofus who can't speak articulately who is being propped up because she's hot makes me less a citizen of this nation?

Number three: if she's still the GOP's leading candidate after that massacre of the English language she calls a speech, then the Republicans truly are fucked.

Grassley's health care solution

(Think Progress)
During a townhall in Waukon, IA Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked by a constituent of his: “Why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so better than my insurance?”

When Grassley struggled to explain the details of his own health care plan, the elderly man followed up, “Okay, so how come I can’t have the same thing you have?”

Grassley said, “You can. Just go work for the federal government.”

Grassley has been at the forefront of railing against Obama’s health care plan, declaring, “We need to make sure that there’s no public option.”

...unless you're Sen. Grassley.

Shuster rules

David Shuster shoves the amount of health care lobbying money being thrown around right in the face of Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE).

FYI, the health insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies are spending $1.4 million a day to fight the public option. Read that number over until it hits home.

But, they're French....

After all, every other advanced country offers universal coverage, while spending much less on health care than we do. For example, the French health care system covers everyone, offers excellent care and costs barely more than half as much per person as our system. - Paul Krugman

But.... but.... they're French. What can they possibly know. They probably think it's good because it covers croissant-ectomies and stitches after your mistress' other lover's husband beat you with a VHS tape of Jerry Lewis' funniest moments.

Krugman should know Americans will never be swayed by this argument.

But does that really matter? In America, concepts like "less expensive" don't stand a chance against the terrifying notion of "French." It's horribly sad and ridiculous that Americans are more willing to spend twice as much on healthcare simply to avoid anything that's the slightest bit French. We're smart!

Likewise, rednecks will voluntarily pay twice as much for gasoline just to avoid driving a small car.

In my most pessimistic hours, I can't help to think that it's this arrogant, hillbilly defiance that will ultimately doom America to irrelevance and failure. - Bob Cesca

Quitters stick to it. Winners quit.

Thanks to TPM for the headline.

"Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out." - Sarah Palin explaining how she quit so she can more effectively represent her ideas.

You know, because it's easier to influence government from the outside. Look at how influential I am. And look at how much more ex-Presidents like Clinton and both Bushes have accomplished, legislatively and governmentally, since they left office.

It would seem to me that the easy path - if one feels beset on all sides by adversaries - would BE to quit. Sticking it out as per your government and electoral mandate, would be the hard path.

I can't decide if this is a sulk on her part, or a 2-part persecution complex. Blame the liberal media (and Letterman) and suck up to the Robertson Wing with a crucifixion complex - notice how she went back and edited herself from "thinking hard" to "thinking and praying hard" during the press conference.

Several thoughts here.... This is a woman who harbored ambitions for the Presidency and she can't handle the scrutiny of being a governor and a candidate? What did she think it would be like in office? She complains about the nastiness? Does she remember the shit she herself has heaped on Obama, as recently as last week? Muslim Manchurian Candidate, socialist, destroyer of the American way of life. Of course, she professed today to not like the politics of personal destruction. She practiced it well though.

Max Blumental reports on The Daily Beast that Sarah Palin may have quit her job today because she was trying to avert a major, yet-to-be-disclosed corruption scandal. The gist of the rumor is that an Alaska building company called Spenard Building Supplies (SBS) was awarded a contract by Palin to build a hockey arena in Wasilla, AK, and in return, SBS helped construct Palin’s home.

That might hurt.

And this rambling piece of nonsense goes in the WTF Hall Of Fame.

Jon Stewart blasts Glenn Beck for letting guest propose slaughtering Americans

Former CIA analyst and full-time asshole Michael Scheuer appeared on Glenn Beck wailing and gnashing his teeth about how America's security has gone to hell. Then he suggests that the only thing that can get our security back on track would be a mass slaughter of Americans by Osama bin Laden.

Now, does Glenn admonish Mr. Scheuer? Absolutely, he does.

Not.

SCHEUER: The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States....only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government protect them.

BECK: nodnodnodnodnodnod

Here's my question: since an attack would demonstrate that our security is not working, and we have not been attacked, then what does that say about our security?

Hmmmm......

Now go steal some of grandma's OxyContin or you're just gonna end up as pissed as Jon Stewart.

The return of Alice In Chains

This is vintage Alice. This is fierce. The best band of the last decade is back in top form.

I know this sounds like a sales pitch, and I guess it is. I loved these guys. The new single, A Looking In View, is available on iTunes and Amazon. Their first collection of all-new studio material in 14 years, "Black Gives Way To Blue", is set for release on September 29.

A teaser clip follows below....

Health care: Jay Rockefeller stands up, Dianne Feinstein cowards out, Colbert infomercials for GOP, new Stranahan ad

From Senator Rockefeller:

"We have a moral choice. This is a classic case of the good guys versus the bad guys. I know it is not political for me to say that."

"We can't count on insurance companies. They are just maximizing their profits. They are sticking it to consumers."

"I am all for letting insurance companies compete. But I want them to compete in a system that offers real health-care insurance. I call it a public plan"
Government-backed programs are big enough to bring medical costs down, Rockefeller believes.

"Back in 1993, all our Veterans Administration hospitals got together and agreed to buy prescription drugs as a group. The next week, the costs of those drugs went down by 50 percent.

"Today, the insurance industry runs this whole deal, spending $1.4 million every day to fight health-insurance reform. The government has a lot of power to lower prices,"

"But do you want to be non-partisan and get nothing? Or do you want to be partisan and end up with a good health- care plan? That is the choice."

Dianne Feinstein doesn't seem to care for the criticism she's getting about her lack of support for the public option:

“I do not think this is helpful. It doesn’t move me one whit,” she said. “They are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive.”

Stephen Colbert's infomercial for the GOP healthcare reform plan:

New Lee Stranahan ad. Catch all 10 here.

Why does MSNBC let this nutjob on the air?

Here's Pat Buchanan denying climate change, denying the science, calling it a hoax and an excuse for a global, One World Order government.

Seriously, why are they still letting him on air? His views are not that different - more polished, but not different - than the guy who shot up the Holocaust Museum last month.

Nico Pitney gets Dana Milbank to call him a dick

....granted it was after the segment.

According to Nico

"The only thing that surprised me was when Dana turned to me after our initial sparring and called me a “dick” in a whispered tone (the specific phrase was, I believe, “You’re such a dick”)."

Here's the set-up. Nico Pitney is a blogger with Huffington Post who used to work for ThinkProgress. He had been working the Iran sotry endlessly for the past 2 weeks, and remember, the Iran story is being reported almost exclusively by the internet, since foreign press have been banned.

The day before Obama's presser last week, Pitney was told that he might get to ask a question of the President about Iran.

Dana Milbank, a dick with ears if ever there was one, and the traditional media are up in arms because it violated protocol. Traditonally, the AP gets the first question, then the major networks. However, Obama has been shaking things up and since the old line media can't very well get pissy with the President, well... they'll go after the new media for being in collusion. Watch the clip.