The financial reform package was brought up with one simple message:
We care about people, real people, and fuck you if you don't.
Mind you, it was phrased nicer then that, but that was the gist. We wanted the filibuster to show how completely beyond the pale the Republicans are. And it showed through. But one of our own also showed their colors. Just as the position is embarrassing to the GOP, now with Nelson it's embarrassing to us too.
Harry Reid, you need to stand up and show the world that you fight for Americans, not banks, and you need to have the moral authority of that argument on your side. You want to win this? Stand up and trumpet the fact that you won't let someone throw the American people under a bus, at least not while wearing your team colors. Drop Nelson from the caucus.
I'm not a big Nelson basher. Never have been. Even during the healthcare debate. Let me touch on why.
I'm pro-choice in the legal sense of wanting to uphold Roe v. Wade but my personal view is that every abortion represents a failure of education, of common sense and a waste of a human life. But I shut up about it. I've seen personal friends who have gone through the procedure and know how mentally anguishing it can be, how much they have to deal with and know that me pontificating wont help anything and just make their lives harder. So while i disagreed with Nelson on the language he wanted in there on healthcare, i didn't disagree enough to take issue with it. I viewed it as a misguided but sincere gesture.
I like single payer, but i dislike the public option. The public option was the worst of both worlds. Single payer keeps costs down. Far, far down. At the expense of an inefficient government system loaded with, lets face it, many of the lowest-common-denominator running the ship. My parents were government employees the entire time i was growing up. There are wonderful people in the civil service, but many aren't. The pay is less then the private sector in almost all cases, so you get either those who want to dedicate their life to public service (the good ones) or the others who came as a last resort because other jobs were filled. The public option doesn't leverage volume like the single payer system does but still institutes that back end. So i didn't care too much that he put the kibosh on the PO.
I like net neutrality. I thought Obama's speech last year on his plan for Afghanistan was thoughtful and sound. I like local control as much as i can get it. I voted Libertarian in the first election i was old enough to vote in, and still hold that when we're ready for it, when people have advanced far enough, that it will be a great system but we're just not there yet.
I am, in other words, the centrist you seem to worship Mr. Reid. I wouldn't call myself a progressive, but I vote Democratic. I sympathize with the Republican Party platform of old while cursing the neo-cons who have taken over the party. I'm an atheist who loves diversity not only for the different viewpoints and cultures, but isn't afraid to admit it's also because i like having a multitude of ethnic restaurants within walking distance of my house. Simply put, there's not a home for me in the religious right, xenophobic republican party. This means i vote for you.
I am the swing voter you lust after. Most of my writing on dailykos deals with science-y subjects because i embrace the reality-based community concept and get tired of hearing 'god did it' on the right. I worked for John Edwards in 2004 because i loved his poverty message but didn't really think Bush was in over his head until Katrina, and felt a twang of sympathy in his last press conference with how relieved he seemed to be to pass the burden on to someone else. It even looked like he LIKED Obama.
You want to keep me excited? You want me to vote this year? Because if it comes down to the fact that i vote for the D because, well, there isn't really any other option, let me tell you something: I'm not going to be that stoked about it. I mean, I'll plan on voting, but who knows. I love hocky more then life itself, there might be a game on that night. There might be a special at the pizza place down the street. A friend might have a party. If i walk into that booth im pulling the lever for your team Harry, but walking into that booth isn't a guarantee. I just dont care as much anymore and know how easily distracted I am.
So give me a reason to vote for you, not just against someone else. This was a money vote. This one needs to have consequences. I dont care if the rules say he gets his committee till next session. Boot him out of the caucus then. Let him chair it without coming to the Dem meetings. Run ads in his state. Give quotes. Drag him through the fucking mud Harry. Don't refer a damn thing to his committee. Make this EPIC. Make this Boris Yeltsin standing on the damn tank sent to kill him and announcing the end of the Soviet Union level epic. You have stones, no one makes jokes about you having lost your balls anymore. We've all seen your flashes of brilliance. You're not a bad guy Harry, just easy to make fun of. Embrace that. Don't cower in fear that people won't like you.
I might vote for you. I sure as hell wont vote for a Republican, but still, I'm only a 'might' at this point. Show me what you got.