If you missed the last two nights of Countdown with Keith Olbermann you missed a lot of new details in the Health care Reform debate, and I don't want to sound bleak, but things do not look good. The main points are these.
Wendel Potter: "If there's not a public option, the plan that is passed, if it's passed and signed by the President, will not be sustainable. And it ultimately will be a disaster for the middle class and ultimately be a disaster for the Democratic party . . .
~snip~
"We'll be paying a lot more out of our own pockets. We'll have the appearance of being able to afford premiums but we won't be able to afford health care. That can not be sustained."
You can watch the video here
And then there is the news that Rahm Emanuel will be representing the White House in the presumably upcoming Houuse-Senate Conference committee. Thus the title "If you wanna kill the (Public Option) you gotta do it yourself.
More below the fold, and it ain't pretty, with a call for action that puts it all on the line.
With Rahm "Anything that looks like a win is a win" Emanuel in charge we are totally screwed unless we get a triggerless Public Option out of the Senate before Conference. This means we have to pressure the Senate with everything we have got in order to make sure the give us Competition instead of force feeding us to the monopolies that caused this whole disaster.
Sadly, that isn't the worst news, nor is the news brought to us by Mr. Potter.
From Mad As Hell Doctors comes this disheartening truth from Paul Hochfeld, who reported the following on Monday Night's edition of Countdown.
Hochfeld: "The public plan option that we are gonna get from this Congress, since it's basically written by the industry, using our legislators, is designed to fail, it's designed to attract the sickest, most expensive patients, and that's called adverse selection, and adverse selection is the death knell to any insurance company, and the public plan is just another insurance company."
"So, after it comes online in 2013 and it starts to fail in 2016, at which point we're spending, what, 20% of our GNP on health care, the industry's going to look at this designed to fail public option and say "See, the Government can't do health care". And it'll be the wrong lesson. The Government CAN do health care . . . "
To say the least, this is quite depressing, but my goal was NOT to write an UpstateDem diary, but to motivate you to action.
So, back to the matter at hand.
Rahm WILL be in on the Conference committee on the White House's behalf, and the Senate has already indicated that it will be looking to the White House for leadership on issues that Democrats can't resolve among themselves (i.e EVERYTHING).
This puts us, We The People, or the proletariat, in a bind. The Dems have finally gone behind just spinelessness and have now entered F$%king it Up On purpose territory. What is there that we can do?
You can watch the video below from last night's Countdown. As usual, parlimentarian LOD (LegionOfDoom/Laurence O'Donnell) explains in plain language when asked if Dems don't care either that "Dems care, just not enough"
And that seems to sum up the problem, with a few exceptions (Sherrod Brown, Tom Harkin, etc and Independant Bernie Sanders)
Worse, we have Sen. Ben Nelson saying he may not even vote for cloture, which seems to defeat the purpose of EVEN HAVING SEPERATE PARTIES! In my opinion any Dem who votes for the other parties filibuster should be throw the hell out of the caucus, but knowing Harry reid he'll probably offer Nelson a better Committee to chair.
Here's the vid, for any who are interested.
Now, as I have stated before, my PUBLIC OPTION is to kick Dems in the @$$ until they get it right, and, barring that, to BRUN THIS BIG TENT TO THE GROUND, because, honestly, if the best we can do on reform is what the people we are reforming want, why the hell did I vote for Democrats?
And that is EXACTLY what I want you to tell your Senators.
Contact your Senator Here
And Tell Them if THEY DO NOT VOTE FOR A PUBLIC OPTION in the Senate Vote Before Conference You Will Be SITTING HOME in 2010
CALL The White House at 202-456-1111 and E-Mail the WH here
And, again, to be honest, this is what holding their feet to the fire is all about.
Frankly, if this is the best the Dems can do, I might as well register as an independant and run for office my damned self. Hell, I might as well lead the next tea party myself.
Keith Olbermann, during his talk with wendel Potter, has these stunning and sad words to say . . .
KO: "With the strangle hold they have on us and obviously on many of our pivotal politicians, how do we ever liberate ourselves from an insurance cartel that, in part runs the Government of the United States of America?
The sad part, that is what Keith asked before Wendel Potter gave the answer I quoted in the beginning of this diary, and compared to Mr. Hochfeld's view that is just cheerful.
Back to Rahm. You may be surprised to learn that RAHM IS NOT MORE POWERFUL THAN PRESIDENT OBAMA. He does what Obama wants. With that being said, despite all the kabuki and excuses, if Obama pushes for and signs a watered down, FUBAR Health Care Refrom that f$%ks over the majority of America, why should I pretend that he is NOT the problem? Why should I have hope, and, if so, is it only a fools hope that is left?
I hope Obama is better than that, but it has moved beyond trust but verify. The time has come to put OBAMA's FEET TO THE FIRE, before he lets his Chief Of Staff push us into the flame.
I voted for CHANGE. I voted for MORE and BETTER Democrats, not MORE and BETTER EXCUSES!
Now is the time when the veil will come off. Does Obama stand for us, does Obama stand with the people? Or is Obama smiling at us while he sells us down the river?
I have hope, but, like Keith Olbermann, I am losing it fast. Let's hope Obama is with us and not against us, and let's hold Obama's feet to the fire to make sure he knows there are consequences for him too, should he fail to do what is right for the people.
Please Recommend Slinkerwink's diary Snowe Trigger Still On The Table!, as she has the Truth for those of you who think I am tilting at windmills here.
Fow what it is worth, I want the best for our nation. I am a patriot FIRST and a partisan second. I hope that explains my pessimism today to those who seem confused by my motives.
Cheers
Crossposted at The Progressive Electorate.com and Docudharma.com
