Right now is the perfect time for us to take stock of a few realities and figure out what to do about them. First, Harry Reid is a lousy majority leader, but that isn’t going to change before the healthcare debate is over. So griping about Harry may feel good but it’s still just venting, pure and simple; it won’t accomplish anything constructive right now. Second, to end a Republican filibuster of a health care bill or a public option amendment in the Senate is going to require 60 votes. If Harry is too weak or spineless to whip Democrats into line, let’s try doing it ourselves. We can start here by establishing what should be the Democratic talking point: with 65% of Americans supporting a public option, the American people deserve an "up or down vote" in the U.S. Senate on a public option. That should become a veritable Democratic mantra over the next couple of weeks.
There's also a necessary corollary to the "up or down" talking point: the obvious consequence of Democratic treachery. No Democrat — regardless of his or her ultimate vote on the public option — should deny fellow Democrats an opportunity for an "up or down vote" on the public option. Any Senate Democrat who fails to support an "up or down vote" and thus supports a Republican filibuster is a turncoat, and we must publicly vow now to defeat any such turncoats in their next primaries. Putting potential traitors on notice and trying to force them to take a position on cloture needs to start right now.
Who are they? That’s a fair question to put to Harry Reid, but as nyceve notes, Conrad, Bayh, Lieberman, Landrieu and Lincoln are the chief suspects. Siding with Republicans on a procedural vote and against the President on his first big initiative should be loudly decried in advance as going nuclear on their own President. If this 60-vote majority won’t hang together to defeat a Republican filibuster on the PO, they won’t do it on any other important initiative. Potential turncoats need to know if they don't stand with their party now, a netroots promise of a Lieberman-like primary defeat is no idle threat. Taking out traitors should become our primary goal (pun intended).
You want a Democratic sound bite? Here's one and now is the time for it:
The American public overwhelmingly supports a public option. In a presidential election, 65% is considered a "landslide," so Americans are in favor of a public option by a "landslide." The American people therefore deserve an "up or down vote" in the U.S. Senate on the public option. No senator should stand in the way of allowing the Senate to vote on a public option, and any Democrat who stands in the way of an "up or down vote" on Obama’s first big legislative initiative is a DINO who the voters should remove from office.
Schumer, Rockefeller, Wyden, Stabenow, Kirk, Harkin, start beating this drum. Keith, Rachel, can we start hearing this every night on your programs, please? Kossacks, let’s get it started here and now.