Death Panels?, Just Say No™?, Socialism?, Nazism?
I'll admit, I was a bit discouraged by the Blue Dog "compromise", the Baucus negotiations(?), etc. And of course the time frame. We had to keep the momentum, we told ourselves. We had a true supermajority, It was supposed to easy.
Now, call me crazy, but I think that the August recess may prove to turn out as an advantage in the push for real reform.
Why? Well (Sorry Ron), it's simple. It made the Rethugs and their corporate allies make an all out, hysterical push to manufacture the anger of a small minority into what was supposed to look like a popular uprising.
They went all in, but with a really bad hand. And as usual, they played the fear card like it was pocket bullets. They don't really have anywhere else to go from here.
Now that they've shown their hand, they can't pull it back. And the shrill noise they've created will be overcome. Their wild claims are too easy to prove for what they are: lies and fabrications. It will become clear that they only want the status quo.
And they misunderstand an important aspect of fear in this debate: It's a double-edged sword. I suspect that any hesitation on the part of the currently insured (besides the wingnuts) is fear that they will lose what tenuous coverage they have. So naturally they cling to it, like a branch from a cliff.
This fear of change, I believe, can be turned to our advantage. While it's a good move to focus on insurance reform, the other certainty is that the longer we go without reform, the fewer people will retain coverage.
I think that's one of the key points that should be emphasized. The current system does not rest on bedrock--it rests on quicksand. Change for the worse is the only guaranteed outcome of the current system.