The title of this diary pretty much says it all.
Folks, I don't know how else to get the attention of the confused, spineless House Democrats right now.
Neither President Obama nor Speaker Pelosi seem to be providing much leadership.
So maybe it's time for a nice hot cup of "If the people lead, the leaders will follow."
If you're a pragmatic progressive like me (and like Paul Krugman, Josh Marshall, Matthew Yglesias, Jacob Hacker, Jed Lewison, etc.), you've already come to the conclusion that the only way to salvage the current HCR debacle is for the House Dems to rally behind the Senate bill.
The Senate bill is very far from perfect or complete. But the cold, hard reality -- a reality which I'm not happy about, but which I can't avoid facing -- is that nothing any better will get thru the Senate any time in the foreseeable future.
In fact, I suspect that if the Senate bill were up for a vote in the Senate today, many of the dithering, cowardly Blue Dogs who voted for it before would probably turn tail and run for the hills.
THIS IS IT, folks -- this is as good as it gets right now. It's the Senate bill (possibly with a near-simultaneous reconciliation package of improvements) or nothing. To paraphrase Winston Churchill: The Senate bill is the worst possible option -- except for all the others.
So: I propose we raise ONE! MILLION! DOLLARS! to be divided among the PACs of the House Democrats who will agree to support the Senate bill.
I have no idea how such a thing is done -- I've never set up an online fundraiser before. I'm just hoping this diary gets the ball rolling.
Thanks... and if you like this idea, please recommend.
UPDATE: Jerry Nadler supports the Senate bill, with a reconciliation fix and another round of improvements later.