Why we must push for censure of Joe Wilson

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday September 10, 2009 · 8:16 AM PDT

2009/09/10 · 08:16

My first reaction last night was to agreed with Barney Frank who dismissed Joe Wilson as someone who was frustrated, knowing he was beat. I can also relate to the general view expressed all over the comments sections here that we shouldn't give the punk more coverage than he deserves, and that we shouldn't allow him to be a distraction. Moreover, he's getting his "censure" through the pounding he's receiving in the press and the campaign donations flowing to his opponents.

But, after further reflection, I think there are a number of reasons we should press for Joe Wilson's formal censure:

Poll

148 votes Show Results

From a tactical point of view (regardless of whether you are angry or indifferent about the incident), do you agree that we should press for Joe Wilson's censure?

148 votes Vote Now!

From a tactical point of view (regardless of whether you are angry or indifferent about the incident), do you agree that we should press for Joe Wilson's censure?

Yes

134 votes

14 votes

Another generation of political cynics in the making?

mrtoad47

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday September 04, 2009 · 10:56 AM PDT

2009/09/04 · 10:56

As a Gen-Xer, I come by my political cynicism naturally--growing up in the shadow of Watergate and so on. Never got involved in any campaign until last year. Inspired for the first time, I worked countless hours for Obama, signing on as a caucus precinct captain, serving as a delegate to the state convention, and making hundreds of phone calls during the general. Speaking with many others of my age group, also involved for the first time, I found that we all shared in common a dread of the other shoe dropping, what with politicians being politicians.

What kept us going was the sheer unrestrained enthusiasm of the 20-somethings who really believed in this guy's ability to bring about change. I saw this extend to an even younger group in the form of my teen and pre-teen kids who waited in freezing temps for hours to see Obama, joined in registration drives and generally did everything they could here in the heart of McPalin country (Tom Tancredo's former district) to fight for change.

mrtoad47

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday September 03, 2009 · 8:39 AM PDT

2009/09/03 · 08:39

Those of us who support single payer, and for whom the public option is already the compromise position, are rightly distressed every time a trial balloon is sent out by the White House saying we should consider dropping the public option in order to "get a bill passed." Positioning the public option as the "liberal" position was a terrible negotiating strategy.

A negotiating misstep that has received far less attention has been Obama's immediate departure from the position he took as a candidate regarding an individual mandate. Candidate Obama pointed out how unseemly it would be to enforce a requirement that somebody purchase something from a private company. President Obama rolled right over on the insurance industry's argument that it was unfair to require that they take all comers without making sure that the youngest and healthiest citizens were required to join the pool. It's a reasonable argument, but he shouldn't have given on it so quickly without getting something in return.

The way to correct this pair of blunders now is to link them together.

RSS

Why we must push for censure of Joe Wilson

Another generation of political cynics in the making?

Tie individual mandate to the public option