Begone, you interlopers!
It’s really amazing how much effort national progressives are putting into going after Jim Cooper. Posts by national bloggers giving Coop crap for a pushing healthcare reform bill that doesn’t provide for a public option is one thing. But actually going to the trouble of setting up an anti-Cooper website? Talking of trying to recruit a primary challenger?
It is excessive and it is misguided. More progressive minded folks than I have already weighed in on this subject. A political operative, the city’s feminist conscience in the blogosphere and a former Music City Democrat have all picked a side — against the national interlopers
Interlopers? Well, maybe those THREE people who think Cooper is peachy have no problem with him, but democracy is funny -- it requires the input of even more people than that. Shocking, I know! And quite frankly, lots more Democrats are unhappy with the Cooper option:
If the 2010 election for Congress were held today would you definitely vote to reelect Jim Cooper would you consider voting for another candidate or would you definitely vote to replace Cooper?
Among Democrats:
Reelect: 44
Consider someone else: 42
Replace: 14
Do you approve or disapprove of Congressman Jim Coopers' actions on health care?
Among Democrats:
Approve: 16
Disapprove: 77
If Jim Cooper opposed a public health insurance option would that make you more or less likely to vote for him or would it have no real effect on your vote?
Among Democrats:
More: 9
Less: 47
No effect: 44
Sure, it's not three super important people, per the author of that post, but it's quite a few people who 1) aren't unsure about Cooper and are willing to consider someone else, 2) disapprove of Cooper's handling of the health care issue, and 3) will be much less willing to vote for him unless he does the right thing on health care.
Instead of trying to shut out the "interlopers", maybe his supporters should try to get Cooper to vote the right way. Because if he does, the case against him becomes lots weaker.
But let me go back to "interloper", because it's a charge us national bloggers get all the time -- is this author (at the Nashville Post) worried about the "interloper" insurance companies that are bankrolling Cooper and buying his votes? In his time in Congress, Cooper has gotten some serious cash:
Business PACs: $961,081
Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $298,103
Health professionals: $238,532
Insurance: $185,759
Health Services/HMOs: $137,481
Misc. Health: $125,398
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: $104,650
You want more interlopers? How about his donors by geography?
New York: $316,555
Washington DC: $249,514
Chicago: $159,383
San Francisco: $63,650
Boston: $53,600
This geographic breakdown, by the way, omits PACs. That's another million that would come almost entirely from the DC and NYC categories.
We live in an interconnected world, one in which politics knows no boundaries. Money and assistance will flow to candidates from all over the country. And we're not going to let the insurance companies use puppets like Jim Cooper to stymie NATIONAL health care reform because three people in Nashville and the Nashville Post thinks it's unseemly. The insurance companies and business PACs sure aren't troubled by reaching out across state boundaries to affect local politics, if we can help empower a true grassroots populist candidate to hold Cooper accountable, then we will.
Ultimately, all we can do is help empower a local challenger. That's it. The voters of the 5th congressional district will have the final say. Jim Cooper, some local Dems, and the local media may not like democracy in action, but it's our job to enable it wherever we can.
And some advice to Cooper -- vote your district, and there's nothing people like me can do to knock you out of office.
Do you favor or oppose creating a new public health insurance plan that anyone can purchase?
ALL:
Yes: 61
No: 28
Democrats:
Yes: 80
No: 11
Independents:
Yes: 64
No: 26
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