"Never before have so few with so much promised to take away so much from so many and then laugh their asses off as the so many with so little vote for the so few with so much." A James Pence Quote
"American Politics, a sport for the rich and enslavement for the rest of us." A James Pence Quote
During the healthcare negotiations we got pretty disgusted with Ben Chandler and his whole "Blue Dog" coalition. Instead of negotiating in faith and coming up with a real healthcare reform bill Chandler and his cronies in that Corporate Democrat coalition decided to poison and delay the process turning it into Corporate Welfare or nothing at all. Well, for millions of Americans unfortunately these folks got what they wanted and we will get nothing at all as usual. Now, he wants our sympathy for stabbing us in the back.
How can we talk about the death and burying in a shallow grave of the public option without mentioning Mike Ross? Yes, this Congressman from Arkansas was the first to blow the trumpet and lead the march among Democrats to commit the heinous murder of real competition in the health insurance marketplace. While Ross has made some good votes in the past, his early salvo against the public option seems to have evolved into a fatal blow.
Today Democratic Party leaders got what they will consider bad news. However, I see things a different way. A Democratic Congressman from Alabama with one of the most Conservative voting records in the caucus has decided to defect to his kindred spirits in the Republican Party that wrecked this country. I see this as nothing but a victory for our party and all I can say to Parker Griffith is goodbye and good riddance. Would you please take a few of those Blue Dogs with you??
As some of you that read here regularly may have noticed, I have not refrained from ripping into Democrats and Congress here lately when I feel that they are wrong. Unfortunately, too many times here lately I find myself almost as disgusted with Democrats as Republicans. However, this is not something I take particular pleasure in. I would much rather be talking about the good things my party is doing for our country and today I finally get a chance to do that, although as always it is tempered by the fact that many elected Democrats are quite simply bought and paid for, gutless, and belong in the elitist, uncaring party on the other side of the aisle, the Republicans.
Remember last year when the stripping down of regulations on the financial industry over the last couple of decades allowed these institutions to pick the economy clean, crashing it?? I would bet that many folks who lost their jobs, and many folks like me who lost huge percentages of their 401ks remember that too well. Unfortunately their are two groups of people who seem to have completely forgotten the lessons of late last year: Corporate Democrats and Republicans.
Fired up and ready to go? Only if you're a Tea Bagger or a Right Wing Coservative. Gotta hand it to these folks, they are fired up and ready to go and the Progressive Democrats seem to be lazy, ready to sit on their rear ends and whine. Virginia, New Jersey and Maine are proof positive of lackadaisical, lazy, carefree Progressive Democratic efforts. When I wrote this April 15, 2009, I wasn't kidding:
Nancy Pelosi has the unenviable task of trying to reconcile Blue Dogs with Progressives in the House. This is made harder by the fact that these Blue Dogs seemed to be opposed to any bill that asks the wealthy or businesses, all of whom have walked all over working America the last several decades to sacrifice anything. Meanwhile, Progressives realize it will take sacrifices from these folks to achieve any real reform to healthcare.
It appears you can teach an old dog new tricks. That is especially true if it is a Blue Dog. Despite being elected as Democrats they are learning a whole host of new tricks and are recieving a whole lot of treats. Yes, just a little green and these Blue Dogs are more than ready to roll over.
A new compromise has been reached after negotiations with rebelling liberals on the deal struck earlier with Blue Dogs. The last minute agreement should move the bill through committee and preserved some subsidies to the working poor, preserved a public option and cut drug costs more deeply.
Well the only good news on the Healthcare front from yesterday came from Progressives. They vowed to fight on for a robust public option and vowed for reform for all Americans, not just who the Bluedogs have deemed deserve it. They are holding a presser today to protest the Corporate Healthcare compromise.
Well, the bad news on real Healthcare reform is that no compromise has been reached on the Healthcare Bill in the Senate or the House. The good news is that no compromise has been reached on the Healthcare Bill in the Senate or the House. In the Senate, we have Corporate Democrats negotiating with Republicans to kill real reforms and in the House we have the horribly disgusting and traitorous Blue Dogs who are determined to kill real reforms.
With all the Republican touting of CBO reports, here is one I bet they will convienently ignore. While the CBO has been critical of some Democratic proposals lately, today they issued a report that Republican scare tactics are just that, propoganda. The CBO has determined that a public plan and private insurance could coexist.
We have been very critical of the efforts of Mike Ross to deny millions of Americans affordable healthcare and a public option. We have been very critical of the fact that he, and the Blue Dog coalition he is a "leader" in have sold their souls to the Health Insurance, Big Pharmeceutical, and Healthcare industries and sold Progressive change in this country down the river. It is not hard to figure out who butters Ross's bread, and he seems to proudly display all the characterisics that make him the Mitch McConnell of the Democratic Party. Even more perplexing is that in Mike Ross's constituency there is one of the greatest needs for real healthcare reform.
Before I write anything else here, I would like to say that for the most part I like Nancy Pelosi. While I have not always been pleased with everything the House as done with her as Speaker I believe overall she has done an admirable job. Unlike many rural Americans I believe that San Francisco is actually in America and their representative does mostly reflect my values as a rural American. Nobody ever agrees with anyone all the time.
With all the disgust with the Blue Dog coalition there is one Caucus within our party who deserves our thanks. The Congressional Black Caucus is coming out for us, not only critisizing the Blue Dogs but calling for Healthcare to be passed on time, before the recess.
Who is profiting handsomely by the debate over Universal Healthcare?? The almost 50 million people who are without coverage who may finally have the chance to afford it?? Businesses who need an affordable alternative to offer insurance to their employees?? Well, no it seems the only ones really profiting from the debate right now is the Blue Dogs, who are being bought off by the business and insurance sectors to do just what they are trying to do, block any real reforms.
Dan Quayle was Vice-President during the years of George H.W. Bush. This was a time that saw the first Gulf War and and deep recession that cost these men their jobs. Actually, were it not for the second Bush Administration, the first would have probably been remembered as the most incompetent Administration ever. Now, Dan Quayle is speaking out and showing he has a lot more intellectual failings than just his spelling skills.
