Rahm Emanuel's always been harder on progressives than he is on the Blue Dog Democrats. After all, he was the one who recruited most of these Blue Dogs to run for office, and he's a major part of the reason why the Blue Dogs are working so hard to weaken health care reform in the House. He'd rather deal with the Blue Dogs from a policy standpoint because he erroneously believes that the country is "center-right" rather than "center-left" and that bipartisanship is what Americans want, rather than good policies that was promised by the party Americans voted into office. So giving in to the Blue Dogs makes sense to Rahm Emanuel, and to other aides in the White House from a policy standpoint.
It's that same old Village mentality of where the Democrats must always concede to the Republicans or to so-called "moderate" Democrats in order to pass legislation, regardless of whether they're in the majority or in the minority. Bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., means that Republican ideas must be agreed to in order to pass legislation even though none of these Republicans being courted will vote for the resulting legislation.
Rahm would rather that pressure be not exerted on Democrats from the progressives on the issue of health care reform because it'd upset the Blue Dog Democrats and Senate moderates who want health insurance reform. It's why he told progressive groups to back off on targeting Democrats in this recent article by the Hill rag Politico:
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel warned liberal groups this week to stop running ads against Democratic members of Congress.The powerful top aide to President Obama made his feelings known at the weekly closed-door strategy session of an array of progressive organizations, according to two sources who were there.
Emanuel’s request came on the same day that Obama himself told a meeting of Democratic senators that he didn’t like seeing dollars used by liberal groups to target congressional Democrats.
Some on the left believe administration officials are making such statements only as a favor to Democratic legislators whose votes they’ll ultimately need.
But the White House indicates to POLITICO that it truly believe the ads aimed at Democrat are counter-productive and largely ineffectual. There is no winking and nodding when Obama and Emanuel deliver their message, say West Wing officials.
I've worked in politics for a bit, but I know that when politicians are complaining about ads being run against them--it means that the ad's effective and the message behind the ad is working. It's why these Senate moderates and the Blue Dogs in the House are complaining about these ads to Rahm. They want us to back off because the stronger the pressure is on them, the more likely they'll have to support actual health care reform legislation as opposed to the health insurance bailout bill they want to pass.
Now that they're complaining, it's high time to increase the pressure by showing up at their Democratic town hall events and insisting that they take the Pledge to support the public option, and not to weaken the public option, or else they'll face a massive electoral loss in 2010 because the Democratic base will have been demoralized by the grand bailout of the murder-by-spreadsheet industry without a strong, robust public option in the final package.
Let the White House know that you want REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM, not this HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM crap that they're peddling, and that you want a strong, robust public option in the final package, not the regional cooperatives!
CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AT:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Did you know that the Blue Dog Caucus isn't even united on the issue of the public option? We have about 12 members of the Blue Dog Caucus that supports the inclusion of the public option in health care reform, and we only need three more Blue Dog Democrats on our side. It's why Rahm Emanuel should be focused on twisting their arms to support the House Tri-Committee bill without weakening it severely on the false claims of "cost containment."
When we allowed the Blue Dogs to weaken the House Tri-Committee bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee, it set up the path for later concessions. If the Blue Dogs can do this to the public option, what else will they do when they return back from recess? They'll work to weaken it even further to appease the so-called constituents (teabaggers) who showed up at these town halls and their insurance lobbyists who've donated thousands of dollars to their re-election campaigns.
And then we might not even get a ban on pre-existing conditions, or the ban on rescissions of insurance policies, or community rating, or the public option at all in the final legislation. What we'll be getting if the White House allow the Blue Dogs to get their way is a health insurance reform bill, which is basically a mandated bailout of the murder-by-spreadsheet industry with 45 million new captive customers with no cost-control measures in the legislation such as a strong, robust public option.
The White House and the Blue Dogs like to talk about cost-effectiveness, but is it really cost-effectiveness if they don't allow Medicare to negotiate pharmaceutical drug prices, which could save us billions of dollars, and they kill a strong, robust public option that is initially tied to Medicare reimbursement rates at first in order to keep premiums low and draw a large pool of customers, which could've saved us billions of dollars? The public option in the House Tri-Committee bill, before the Blue Dogs weakened it, generated $200 billion dollars in savings. The Blue Dogs and the White House really don't care about "cost-effectiveness" in this case then, and what they're more concerned about is making these corporate interests happy rather than making us happy with good legislation that would deliver a lasting Democratic majority.
The only way to prevent a craptastic version of the Massachusetts health bill, or a bill without a strong, robust public option in it, is to LEVERAGE PRESSURE on our progressives in the House to stand up as a voting bloc against any shit sandwich that doesn't have vital cost-containment measures such as Medicare drug price negotiation and a strong, robust public option in it. We've got to have them hold the line in the sand for the public option, and if they can do that--then the power of negotiation goes back to them, not to the Blue Dog Democrats, and the White House is forced to twist the arms of the Blue Dog Democrats instead.
It's why we've been working on getting 15 members of the Progressive Caucus in the House onboard with the Pledge to vote against any health "insurance" reform bill that doesn't have a strong, robust public option in it. We've been able to do this because of pressure from you, the netroots, and a strong backing through your donations as well. We just need 25 more members of the Progressive Caucus to take the Pledge. It's why you should visit their congressional offices below, and keep going to these Democratic townhalls and report back about whether they've taken the Pledge.
And these are Democratic Representatives in strongly Democratic districts. They shouldn't be worried about takingthe pledge to vote for real health care reform by refusing to support a bill without a strong, robust public option in it. Yet, they are--because the White House would rather twist their arms than the arms of the Blue Dog Democrats.
Representative
| PVI | Day | Date | Time | Location | Information |
Adam Schiff | D+14 | Tuesday | August 11 | 7 pm | Alhambra, CA | Details & Signup |
Steve Rothman | D+9 | Tuesday | August 11 | 7 pm | Palisades Park, NJ | Details & Signup |
Rick Larsen | D+3 | Wednesday | August 12 | 5 pm | Everett, WA | Details & Signup |
Marcia Fudge | D+32 | Tuesday | August 12 | 6 pm | Cleveland, OH | Details & Signup |
Jim Cooper | D+3 | Friday | August 14 | 9 am | Nashville, TN | Details & Signup |
Pete Stark | D+22 | Saturday | August 15 | Noon | Alameda, CA | Details & Signup |
Eddie Bernice Johnson | D+30 | Monday | August 17 | 8:30 am | Dallas, TX | Details & Signup |
Robert Wexler | D+15 | Thursday | August 20 | 1 pm | Delray Beach, FL | Details & Signup |
Henry Waxman | D+18 | Friday | August 21 | 10 am | Los Angeles, CA | Details & Signup |
Jackie Speier | D+23 | Sunday | August 23 | 5 pm | San Francisco, CA | Details & Signup |
Jim Moran w/Howard Dean | D+16 | Tuesday | August 25 | 7 pm | Reston, VA | Details & Signup |
Allen Boyd | R+6 | Wednesday | August 26 | 10 am | Port St. Joe, FL | Details & Signup |
Susan Davis | D+14 | Saturday | August 29 | 1 pm | Spring Valley, CA | Details & Signup |
Jan Schakowsky | D+20 | Monday | August 31 | 6:30 pm | Skokie, IL | Details & Signup |
Ed Markey | D+15 | Sunday | Sept 6 | 7:30 pm | Lexington, MA | Details & Signup |
It's time to tell them when you go visit them that the public option is the LINE IN THE SAND for you, and that you want them to take the Pledge to vote against any bill that doesn't have a strong, robust public option in it!
Can you also please help nyceve, Jane Hamsher, me, and others in this fight for health reform by donating to our fight?
PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS DIARY so others can see the phone numbers and call today!
UPDATE: Jane Hamsher over at FDL reports that Rep. Mike Ross, one of the Blue Dogs blocking real health care reform, is holding a townhall in his district:
Mike Ross has just announced that he will be holding a health care Town Hall this Friday, August 14, at 2pm in Arkadelphia, AR. Arkadelphia is about 60 miles southwest of Little Rock.
Twenty percent of Mike Ross's district lives in poverty, 21.8% are uninsured, and nearly a quarter are African American. Yet Mike Ross boasts about holding health care reform "hostage," insuring that medical costs stay high and that fewer people are covered, and protecting insurance company profits while people in his district suffer.
No Arkansas candidate for Senate or Congress was opposed by the other major party in the 2008 election. The only opposition came from the Arkansas Greens. The Greens were removed from the ballot by the state in 2008, and have announced that they will sue. If anyone is interested in challenging Ross, let us know.
Ross will also hold two telephone town halls: one on Thursday, August 13 at 7:10 pm, and the other on Thursday, August 27 at 7:10 pm.
Bring anyone you know to Rep. Mike Ross's town hall events, and GET ON HIS TELEPHONE CONFERENCES as well!