It seems that the democrats in the Senate are near passing health care legislation without a public option and without expanding medicare. Neither of these giveaways, irritating and disappointing as they may be, water down the bill so badly that it should not pass. As much as I hate to admit it, Lieberman is right when he points out that the yet-to-be-challenged subsidies that will benefit those who cannot afford to pay for universal mandatory health insurance premiums on their own will do. Those subsidies, along with the yet unchallenged prohibitions against insurance company weaselry like denying people with preexisting conditions coverage, make the bill good enough to support. Here's Maddow interviewing Tom Harkin (D-IA), who makes the point well, elaborated metaphors notwithstanding:
Progressives also should stay focused on the moral grounds for health care reform. The focus on how much reform will cost, which is the focus of those in the pockets of the pharmaceutical and health insurance companies, is a republican one. Progressives need to stay focused on the following moral imperative and to pound it home as often as possible: too many people continue to suffer and die for lack of quality, affordable health care. We must continue to focus on getting as many Americans insured as possible, especially the working poor and lower middle class, who make too much to qualify for currently available state and federal health care assistance for the poor from vulnerable populations. Falling through the cracks (or into the canyons) of the current shoddy patchwork of health coverage that only covers the poorest of us, children, or seniors, these middle folk are the productive workers aged 18 through 65 who provide and care for those who cannot do so for themselves. It’s the middle people, the ones whose labor and love make the world go round every day, who need this legislation to pass.
So, as much as I would love for progressives to lash out at the conservatives, especially the conservative dems who are trying to hijack this legislation by turning it into a De facto overturning of Roe Vs. Wade, we need to stick together to pass this compromised yet still very progressive legislation. Regarding the attack on the reproductive rights of women by Nelson, Stupak, the Blue Dogshits, the republicans, and the Bishops with whom they play golf, the most serious attack in decades, organizations like NOW! and Planned Parenthood, with all of our help and support, can challenge those parts of the law as unconstitutional, as they no doubt will in short order. Go to the NOW! and Planned Parenthood websites and sign the petitions, spread the word, and donate whatever you can. It’s organizations for women like these that are robustly spearheading the progressive response to all this continued Stupakity.