Little has been more encouraging over the last few days than Rep. Anthony Weiner's appearances all over cable news shows. Strong, articulate, reasonable and smart, Weiner makes a very strong case for why the public option is so critical--we don't get cost containment without it. Here he is, actually succeeding in making his point, even through the Tweety babble-thon.
MATTHEWS: Congressman, it’s a week before Halloween. You got a vote on the floor. You got a vote on a bill. It’s coming out of conference. It doesn’t have the public option. Will you vote for it?
WEINER: I don’t know.
MATTHEWS: OK.
WEINER: Probably not, I mean, because I — if it doesn’t...
MATTHEWS: Suppose your vote counts.
WEINER: If it doesn’t control...
MATTHEWS: Suppose your vote is decisive.
WEINER: But the math is meaningful to me. If, indeed, it turns out it doesn’t save us any money, it keeps this cost going up and up, my citizens are not going to get any relief... the answer is a no. And I think, frankly, a co-op plan won’t do it.
MATTHEWS: Suppose it’s got four elements in it. It’s got individual mandates. Everybody’s got to join. It’s got subsidies for people who are working people. It’s got some kind of encouragement to business to insure people. And it’s got something to do with reform in terms of pre-existing conditions and portability.
WEINER: And no...
MATTHEWS: Will you vote for a bill like that?
WEINER: And no cost containment so the costs keep going up and it bankrupts our government? I can’t vote for that.
MATTHEWS: OK, let me ask you this. Is there any way to get a bill past the Congress except with 60 votes in the Senate and 218 in the House?
WEINER: Yes, I think we can do it with 51 in the Senate under reconciliation.
MATTHEWS: But you would never be — what — what — you would be willing to blow up the Senate rules and basically push it through that?
WEINER: What do you mean blow up the Senate rules? Look, there’s a reason that there’s a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, and Democratic presidency. That middle block of Americans want us to get this done.
MATTHEWS: OK.
WEINER: I don’t think we’re blowing up anything....
WEINER: Look, outside of this town, the American people really don’t care about whether Chuck Grassley [votes] ... for it or not.
(Transcript lightly edited to take out the Tweety babble. The full transcript is here.)
More of Weiner taking on the Village, please. And more reminders that there is a reason that we have a Democratic House, Senate, and presidency, and it's not to appease a handful of Republicans in the Senate.
The weekly Dem caucus meeting shows that House Dems, at least, remember this:
House Democrats dialed in Tuesday for their weekly caucus meeting and uniformly expressed support for a public health insurance option as part of comprehensive reform. Not a single member spoke up on behalf of co-ops, according to both people on the call and people briefed on it....
"Everyone has said on the record that they would support [the public option]. But there is a concern that the conference report would give them an out," said an aide briefed on the call by his boss. "Some people spoke up and said, 'We can't give in on the conference report.'"
They can't give in, either on the House bill or the conference report, and the more the likes of Anthony Weiner and the leadership and members of the CPC make public stands, the less likely it is that they'll give in. And the $130,000+ raised in just two days to support them demonstrates that the "left of the left" will stand with them.