The Netroots Take the Gloves Off - Democratic Underground

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The Netroots Take the Gloves Off

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-31/the-netroots-take-the-gloves-off/full/

The Netroots Take the Gloves Off
by Art Levine

They pushed the public option back onto the table. Now, liberal activists are stepping up the pressure on Obama—and hitting wavering moderates with corruption charges.

The liberal activists and bloggers who helped keep the public option alive—pressuring Democratic leaders after it was declared virtually dead a month ago—are now stepping up their attacks against any senator in the Democratic caucus who might join a Republican filibuster. For good measure, many of them are also sharply criticizing President Obama for failing to pressure legislators for strong reforms. Their criticism of Obama has been echoed in milder terms by such outspoken reformers as Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Weiner said bluntly on MSNBC, “If the President calls , it’s tough to say no. We’ve been kind of left to do this on our own, and we need the full-throated support of the president at a time like this when we’re having a big national debate.” As a result of Obama’s absent leadership, the watered-down House version of the public option unveiled Thursday wasn’t fully competitive or affordable, he noted.

Some cable TV talk shows are filled with liberal critics. MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show showcased more intra-party attacks by featuring influential bloggers Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake (twice) and Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com, who lobbed incendiary allegations of health-industry corruption involving Senators Evan Bayh and Joe Lieberman – and their wives.

Before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced his support for a public option with an opt-out for states on Oct. 26, he and wavering Democrats were subjected to withering TV attack ads; polling sponsored by the 100,000-member Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) last week that disclosed a majority of Nevada voters regarded Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as “weak,”, and phone-banking sponsored by the Firedoglake PAC threatening Reid, up for reelection, with a primary challenger.

Now the targets have been expanded to those in the Democratic caucus who may join a filibuster. “This is out-and-out corruption,” Hamsher, a movie producer (Natural Born Killers) turned progressive blogger, told The Daily Beast. She charged that lucrative donations to the Bayh and Lieberman campaigns by health industries and the health-related corporate positions of their wives amounted to “legalized bribery.”

Whether it’s due to such public pressure or merely a change of heart, Bayh, for one, has already “clarified”–or altered–on Oct. 29 the stance he took just the day before, when he leaned toward supporting a filibuster. Then he told CBS’s Bob Schieffer he may block a bill from moving forward for a vote if he didn’t consider it “fiscally responsible.” But a day later his office released a statement, “Senator Bayh will support moving forward to a health care debate on the Senate floor, where he will work hard to address his concerns…” He later added that it would be “extremely unlikely” that he’d filibuster against the bill.

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At least two major membership organizations so far, Howard Dean’s Democracy for America (DFA) with one million members and the five-million-member MoveOn.Org Political Action have launched initiatives against pro-filibuster Democrats. The DFA campaign urges members to ask Democrats to strip any filibuster proponents of their chairmanships. The group is on track to have 150,000 signatures on its petition by next week.

“I would like to see the President fight much harder, but this {health reform} is an issue progressives can fight for and Congress can make happen,” says Charles Chamberlain, DFA’s political director. “We can do the arm-twisting.”