We will turn the Congressional vacation to our advantage. As the hated Murder by Spreadsheet insurance industry pummels the American people via the public airways with nonstop lies,we will systematically be contacting every member of the Progressive Caucus to demand that they pledge to vote against any bill that does not contain a strong public option.
We're rolling out a new tool to track the vacation schedules and movements of progressive members of Congress.
We're asking you to let us know where they'll be, we'll then post this information and ask people (especially constituents), to meet progressives wherever they are during the recess, and explain to them why they must take the Whip Count Pledge to hold the line in the House come September.
HERE IS OUR BRAND NEW VACATION TRACKER TOOL. PLEASE USE IT.
HERE AGAIN IS THE WHIP COUNT TOOL. PLEASE USE IT!
Please note: We will gladly accept anonymous tips from Congressional staffers, journalists or whomever for the Vacation Tracker. You can email them to me and you have complete assurance that your identity will be protected.
WE ALSO RAISE MONEY FOR OUR HEALTHCARE HEROES
We must be as focused, determined and relentless as the enemy. And yes, those who wish to perpetuate the deadly status quo, are the enemy--people are dying and need healthcare yesterday, not politics as usual. And anyone who wants to quibble with my choice of words, please save it for after we've won this battle.
Jane Hamsher registers the disgust we should all be feeling toward some of these progressives.
It's incredible that we're even having this discussion. The hard fact is that 76% of the country wants a public option. I'm not even blaming the Blue Dogs.
Where are the fucking progressives? The Blue Dogs are organized, they are whipping successfully, they know what they want and they are negotiating for it, and they don't give a shit. The progressives are sitting in safe D+22 seats and with notable exception, they aren't saying anything. They aren't signing letters, they aren't making statements, they aren't calling the Blue Dogs out for being Blue Cross Dogs, they are just sitting there.
. . . People are paying attention to health care. If 76% of the country wants a public plan, you can imagine that figure is probably 99% in a D+22 district. How are these members going to explain selling out over and over again when 40 of them working together could have made a difference?
If we raise this debate in these districts during the August recess, it makes a crappy sell-out vote very hard to take. Lots of young enthusiastic people would like to have those seats, and if old dinosaur progressives have grown ineffective in those jobs, it's time for new blood.
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HISTORY BECKONS US
So here's the plan: Like I said, delay becomes our advantage. We need you to begin tracking where the Progressives will be during the recess, and then report this information on the Vacation Tracker. You will then need to do diligent follow up and persuade Progressives to take the Pledge.
You will know, thanks to the information from the Vacation Tracker, where to go and when to be present at say, a Town Hall Meeting, fundraiser or wherever.
With your hard work, we can get to forty or more Progressive Pledge Takers before Congress resumes in September.
Make no mistake, historians will be writing about the political battle of August 2009, long after we're gone.
This is our moment, this is our struggle, we will not fail and we will not rest. We must re-commit every day that we will deliver guaranteed and affordable healthcare to all the generations which follow us.
HERE IS OUR BRAND NEW VACATION TRACKER TOOL. PLEASE USE IT.
PLEASE WHIP THESE PROGRESSIVES - THEY MUST STAND BETWEEN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY
And please help us continue this for the American people and against the insurance industry lobby. We rely on your generosity. And take a look at this!
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