Despite some inner bickering, one thing Kentucky Progressives agree on is that Congressman John Yarmuth of Kentucky's Third Congressional District is Congressman awesome. A co-sponsor of HR 676 and constant friend to the working American Yarmuth has been a leader in the Congress since first elected in 2006. Yarmuth was at it again in a video released today, linking the lack of Universal Healthcare directly to the loss of jobs in his district and calling out Mitch McConnell for delaying the process of fixing a broken healthcare system.
Alan Grayson has been a godsend in a mostly disappointing Democratic Congress. Like John Yarmuth of Kentucky, he has been elected in a district that is not a cakewalk but still fearlessly stands up for what he believes is right. With the Healthcare fight raging on and getting closer to an up or down vote, Grayson is once again trying to speak for the will of the majority of the American people who would like to see at least a public option in the Healthcare bill that will eventually be voted on.
Its about time. For decades Progressives in Kentucky have been completely disgusted with the anti-American tactics used by Mitch McConnell and his minions in the Kentucky Republican Party who followed him like obsessed disciples. When President Obama first entered office I could not believe that a man as seemingly intelligent as he is could ever think he would be able to work with a man such as McConnell. Now, it appears after reaching out to McConnell and his radically Corporate Republian Party and pulling back a bloody nub just as we predicted here the President has had his fill. Thankfully, he is finally taking McConnell and his crowd to task.
We all know how loud, boisterous and idiotic the tea-bagger movement was in disrupting the townhalls last year with their rude behavior and little concern for fellow citizens views. With that in mind proponents of Universal Healthcare are also waging a campaign to be heard. Thousands of them rallied today in Washington D.C. to make their voices heard. It remains to be seen if they will get the same airplay as the opponents of Progress in our country.
Some of the most frustrated folks in America right now are the leaders of America's labor movement. They have good reason to be, as an all-out war has been waged basically by both parties upon them in the last several decades. After the last election, when they used so much energy and support working Americans won the White House and a huge majority in both chambers of Congress they had really hoped that the plight of working Americans would be addressed through healthcare, wages, an end to outsourcing and the Employee Free Choice Act.
After the much advertised "bi-partisan" forum on healthcare it seems to me one glowing fact remains for the American people to be blinded by. Republicans simply have no interest whatsoever in changing one of the most costly and least effective healthcare systems in the world. They also care very little about whether millions of uninsured Americans recieve coverage and ultimately seek Emergency Room treatment for illness, passing the cost on to everyone else. Now, it is time for Democrats to take off the gloves, come out swinging and fight with every power at their disposal to pass true healthcare reform.
The most hypocritical Senator for Communist China, Mitch McConnell is at it again. Yes, this man talks a good game about the American people while he outsources their jobs to oppressive governments who use virtual slave labor all while telling them we should "listen to" them. However, the sorry truth is that Mitch McConnell could really care less about what the American people think.
After months of leaving it to Congress to come up with the details of the Healthcare Bill the President Obama has released his own plan for healthcare. The only problem is that it widely resembles the plan put foward earlier by the Senate in many regards. While the House plan was far from perfect it was far superior to the Senate plan in many ways. Unfortunately, the President still seems to think that compromising with Corporate Democrats instead of using the bulley-pulpit for forcing real reform is the best route to go.
In Kentucky there is one person that working folks simply know as Congressman Awesome. With our depressing Congressional delegation, he is the one bresh of fresh air on the national scene. He is Congressman John Yarmuth of Kentucky's Third Congressional District in the Louisville area. He has been a godsend not only for Kentucky Democrats, but for all of those in the country who truly believe in Democratic ideals for our country. With the dangerous environment for incumbents, national Democrats need to do all they can do to help us get John Yarmuth re-elected.
Instead of fighting for real healthcare reform it seems as if long ago President Obama has settled in on a strategy of "reaching out" to Republicans and Corporate Democrats. This will include a televised debate on Feb. 25 between the two parties. Now, reaching out would not be such a bad thing, if it weren't for the Republicans simply not wanting any real reform in the system and doing all they can to slow and stop the process. Just a look at some Republican ideas lets you know this is yet again another practice in futility.
All through the healthcare debate last year Republicans made one thing perfectly clear. They simply would not accept any kind of meaningful reform and indeed just sought to delay the problem by making President Obama and the Democrats mad. Now, one leading Progressive is scoffing at the idea of bi-partisanship on healthcare and is offering the suggestion that could have saved healthcare if it would have been fought for, the public option.
I guess the lessons of last year have not completely set in. All the lies about "death panels" and "death books" and all the right-wing lunatics shouting like idiots at town-halls must be a distant memory. That is because it seems as if the President seems determined to repeat the failures of last year. Has he not learned when you reach out to Republicans all you do is pull back a bloody nub??
I keep hearing from the President and other party leaders how our country needs to get past "partisanship". Well, sometimes it is a very good thing to work together and try to agree but the times we live in do not call for that particular solution. Yes folks, what we need right now is a good round of ugly, nasty, bitter partisanship to achieve progress for the working class.
As a Democrat it makes me just a little sad to write this but as a Progressive seeing what was coming out of Washington after Blue Dogs in the House and Corporate Democrats in the Senate poisoned the process it makes me happy to say that for the time being Universal Healthcare is dead in the Congress. I say this as an uncovered American who desperately wanted real reform, but saw the process devolve away from me to how to pass out more Corporate Welfare. In the end, the bill that would have come out of the "House of Lords" known as the U.S. Senate simply scared the hell out of me.
There are many reasons being floated about for the loss of Ted Kennedy's seat. While the media will spin it how they want it as a lifelong Democrat I know what has happened. Our leadership has become almost as beholden to special interests and Corporate money as Republicans and it has made our party just as despised as the Republicans.
The loss of the late Ted Kennedy's seat should bring us back to the drawing board on healthcare. After wasting months on trying to negotiate with traitorous Blue Dog and Centrist Democrats it is now time to take them, and the Republicans they serve out of the equation. Yes folks it is time to do what our forefathers envisioned and have a 51 vote majority pass healthcare.
Everyone knows by now that the race for Senator Kennedy's old seat has become very close. Indeed as hard as it is to imagine a Republican in his seat, they may very well happen now. While some Democrats are viewing this as the end of the healthcare bill if it indeed does happen, there could actually be a silver lining behind the storm that would take our sixtieth vote.
With so very little good news coming out of the healthcare deliberations between the House and Senate at least one thing has happened that is good to report. It appears as if 19 Senators have banded together to call for a repeal of health insurers anti-trust exemption. However, as always there appears to be at least one Corporate Democrat standing in the way.
In keeping with the theme of the last couple of decades it appears as if the very rich and Corporate America will not be asked to sacrifice a damn thing to cure the ills of this country. As always, our government is bought and paid for and the working class are the only folks who will be expected to foot any bill. These newest developments have made what was going to be a horrible bill much worse.
Well, they say that cats have nine lives. However, compared to the public option for purchasing healthcare, our feline friends have relatively few lives. Yes, the public option has been killed and reincarnated time and time again by "Blue-Dogs", "Centrists", and "Moderates" all of whom are just code words for Corporate-Whore Democrats. Of course it does not help that "Progressives" in the Senate and our President had not the spine to fight for it. Now, it appears as if it will suffer it's final, long-awaited death.
