WP implies Howard Dean and "liberals" could be blamed if health care reform fails.

[madfloridian]

The warning is stuck in the middle of a long article about whether Dean is still relevant. Kind of sly how the reporter did that. I wonder who the heck that "anonymous Democratic strategist" might be?

Outside the Beltway, Dean Manages to Stay in the Debate

Here's the warning:

At town halls, in keynote speeches and on cable talk shows, Dean has become a leading voice in the debate, warning that if Democratic leaders abandon a public option, they surrender their principles to political realities. But in his appearances, which are not coordinated with the administration, Dean is helping to fuel what could become a calamity for the White House.

"What Howard is doing is principled but destructive," said a Democratic strategist and former Dean adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intra-party debate. "If health-care reform goes down because of the public option, it's going to be the liberals that bring it down, the Democrats doing it to themselves."

Stand up for something and you will get blamed if it fails, rest assured.

A little more from the article.

Dean, 60, has become a politician without an office. He is seven months removed from the DNC chairmanship and five years removed from his pioneering up-start presidential campaign, and the former family physician appears to enjoy the freedom to speak his piece. And on this day, bringing the tumultuous August fight on health care to the wooden picnic benches at Range Ponds State Park, he did not appear concerned about the potential consequences for Obama.

"This vote is not about Democrats versus Republicans and conservatives and liberals and all that stuff," Dean said, his voice growing louder and cadence faster. "This is about whether you're going to vote for the people who donated to your campaigns -- the health insurance industry -- or you're going to vote for the people who pay your salary. And we're going to be watching, because there are going to be 535 people casting that vote."

He talks about his wife's problems with insurance as a doctor.

Dean's wife, Judith Steinberg, whom he met in medical school, still has a medical practice near their Burlington, Vt., home. "The insurance companies are driving her crazy," Dean said in the interview. "I think her experience is very typical of most primary-care providers."

Dean did take a few shots at the Obama administration's handling of the current debate. "I think that there's a very mixed message coming out of the administration," he said. "What I'm selling is something that's really clear."

I don't expect to take the blame if Democrats in congress vote for those who gave them the money. They bear the blame for stalling on real health care reform.

We may not get another chance for decades.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Of course the "loony left" will be blamed

and what happens when the LOONY LEFT collectively stays home in 2010 and 2012?

By the way, yesterday Buchannan was almost gleeful as how the Democratic party is tearing itself apart... I get his glee... it is the rift between the Loony left, and the Neo liberals that should join the Republican Party. They don't because they are way too moderate for those loons.

If anything the system is showing why we need proportional representation and this winner takes all does not work.

Then again, if this does not pass, I will not say it is the loony left, that is a cop-out. It is because we have now fully entered the fascist mold, and yes fascist states can have elections, and seem to be democratic in any and all other ways. Just ask Franqist Spain, or Echeverria's Mexico. Especially the latter.

[stray cat]

2. Of course they can - and they would be right

Those with pre-existing conditions who still can't get covered would have every right to blame the people who prevent passage w/o a public option. It doesn't mean people shouldn't hold out for a public option it just means we may end up with nothing instead of something and we should admit to that and take the blame up front.

[JDPriestly]

27. Congress could simply pass a bill barring exclusions of coverage based on

pre-existing conditions and could prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage for any reason other than failure to pay premiums and co-pays. That would resolve the lack of insurance eligibility.

It would not resolve the lack of insurance affordability.

In fact, did you know that H.R. 3200 requires in addition to monthly insurance premiums a maximum annual deductible of $5,000 for one person and $10,000 for a family. Let's say a family has an adult disabled child with a very costly chronic disease or condition, and let's say that family has an income of $40,000 per year. How can that family afford a deductible like that? Impossible. It's just absurd. Here in California, funding for SCHIP and other programs like MEDICAID is being reduced. Without a public option, a family like that would probably choose to pay the fine rather than try to get insurance. They would not be able to afford it.

[dotymed]

46. ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. I AM A PROGRESSIVE. IF THERE IS NO PUBLIC OPTION, THERE IS NO CHANGE

I have a short life ahead of me due to heart failure. I do not
care what is offered. If there is not a public option I will
die. That is how it should be. There needs to be a
constitutional amendment that guarantees Americans that health
care is a right, not a privilege.

[rudy23]

3. Yes. I just posted about how using the term "Waterloo" is an attempt to lump us in with the R's

They're trying to come out of this smelling like a rose, and the two things they're going to do is

-blame the liberals for insisting on a public option, b/c we only want to bring down the president, just like Grassley and the gun toting birthers

-at the same time, declare "WAR" on the GOP, to show us which side they're on.

Not buying it.

[madfloridian]

5. That's what this article sounds like.

What you said.

Dean must be making some difference in pushing for the public option if the WP is sending out warnings.

[dmosh42]

4. You have to get a vote first.....

The spineless leadership don't want to bring it to a vote, or the scumbags who vote it down will be in the open. Then we have some targets for election day. That's what Reid and Pelosi fear.

[madfloridian]

7. To be fair, Pelosi and the House pretty much support the public option.

Reid....that's another matter.

:hi:

[katkat]

34. yes, don't blame this on Nancy

Nancy is okay. Rahm and Terry McAwful sound like the cowardly anonymous sources for that article. Reid is beneath contempt. Of course, the buck stops at Obama's desk.

[ShortnFiery]

6. The WP has leaned to the Corporate right for almost a decade now.

Many of the articles outside of the Editorial Section are still worthwhile but one has to be cautious - they love their corporate masters and don't call this paper "The Mouthpiece for the Power Elite Within the Beltway" for no reason.

[madfloridian]

8. I agree, and this is a slyly written article.

It purports to praise Dean's efforts, but that is really not what they are doing. It's a warning to the "left."

[Individualist]

9. This article has the stink of DLC all over it

[madfloridian]

13. Yes.

It does.

[Sebastian Doyle]

14. Yep. Those filty fucking Repukes have attacked Howard Dean almost daily since 2003

And they have attacked Liberals and REAL Democrats every day of their miserable existence. FUCK the DLC. :puke:

[glitch]

10. K & R for all the NAILING comments on this thread.

"Just how stupid do they think we are?" Naomi Klein

[BlueIdaho]

11. Congress will be blamed not the President.

Congress will own this if it goes down to defeat - and its likely people will blame the republicans as much if not more than the Democrats. This will just add to the already low opinion most folks have of congress in the first place.

[tsuki]

12. Idiot beltway strategist. Without the public option, there is no

health care reform. Just a few regulations that will be repealed as soon as the GOP gets back into office. Any one check what happened to Lawton's health care reform when the Jebbles took office?

[OHdem10]

15. The WAPO wants GOP Plan. If that Pesky Howard Dean would

just get out of the way, the GOP could overcome Obama.

[rucky]

16. Depends on what comes out of committee.

And there better be a public option, or the article will be true.

[madfloridian]

17. "A thorn in the side" of the WH?

"POLAND SPRING, Maine -- Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean is emerging as a thorn in the side of a White House that effectively swept him out of Washington, regularly challenging President Obama and Congress as he crisscrosses the country, preaching his progressive vision for universal health care.

"The worst thing that could happen is to pass a bill without a public option," Dean told an assembly of Democratic activists in a fiery speech at a pep rally and picnic here last weekend. "Then we'd put 60 billion new dollars a year into the health insurance industry that is busy taking away your health insurance when you need it most, stopping you from getting health insurance, taking it away if you lose a job and not giving it back to you if you get it back."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/19/AR2009081901773.html?hpid=topnews

Another sly warning.

[Hansel]

18. "This is our time" (Barack Obama)

But stop acting like it is.

[madfloridian]

19. Olbermann covered the remarks of that Democratic strategist tonight.

Was glad to see that.

[Octafish]

20. Washington Post was selling places at the HC table to the highest bidder.

Now those are some sick bastards.

[madfloridian]

21. I remember that. I guess Dean must be having an impact...so they warned him.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

22. Another lecture to the "liberals" from Marc Ambinder at Atlantic Monthly.

The White House and Senate Democrats won't buckle to demands from liberals that they revise their health care strategy, officials said today.

White House advisers and Democratic strategists concede that President Obama's poll numbers are at post-inauguration lows, and that the public has grown queasy about the health care debate. But they insist that the discontent has its roots in disenchantment over Washington's ways. They note that large majorities of voters disapprove of how Republicans are handling health care in Congress and that President Obama remains the most popular active politician in the country.

Steve Schale, Obama's Florida campaign director in 2008 and a Democratic party strategist, said via Twitter that Obama "is DC's adult. Make the GOP show its cards, give mods a few wins, and go sell it. He's still the U.S.'s most credible poll."

In a statement today, Sen. Max Baucus said he was committed to a bipartisan bill. "The Finance Committee is on track to reach a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive health care reform that can pass the Senate," he said. Republicans and Democrats, and their staffs, will hold a conference call tomorrow to discuss their progress.

A White House official conceded today that Obama would have to weather anger from liberals for a while. More worrisome, officials said, was the growing belief that Obama's brand is being tarnished. A new Pew poll shows that voters don't think Obama is working with Republican leaders, and that a plurality blame Republican leaders. They believe that Obama's favorability rating declines, largely from independents (and within that group, women), can be reversed if he reminds these voters of the bipartisan instincts in his bones.

..."The president continues to operate under the belief that liberals will warm to the bill when presented with a goodybag that includes includes an individual mandate, community rating, guaranteed issue, and a minimum required package. There's no chance, really, that a bill WON'T feature these reforms. Quietly, to secure and keep Democrats on board, the White House is going to bargain, providing inducements, like more money for favored projects, etc., in order to secure individual votes.

[katkat]

36. bipartisan, what a bunch of crap

Is there anyone in the country except Obama himself that cares about or believes in bipartisanship?

Is here the slightest evidence that any Repuk is interested in bipartisanship(sic) except as a code word for obstructionism?

Here's a clue, Rahm: the unfavorability rating is because Obama is copping out on what he promised.

I imagine he'll get reelected, since his opponents are worse, but probably without money or volunteers from a lot of ctual Democrats.

We should send our money to actual Democratic candidates. Let me put in a plug here for Specter's opponent, Admiral Joe Sestak, who is firmly supporting the public option:
http://joesestak.com/Home/Home.html

[KakistocracyHater]

23. I stopped reading "aged news" years ago, this won't change my mind

either. If it requires any research, or facts, or any context at all-the msm won't do it.

[Karmadillo]

24. It's hard to believe there was a time when I would actually pay money to read the Washington Post.

nt

[madfloridian]

25. Agreed.

The Cilizza/Milbank video in their smoking jackets was just too much.

The paper is used by the right wing in both parties to get their warnings out.

[madfloridian]

26. WP also using Ezra Klein to marginalize Dean's efforts.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/08/howard_dean_and_the_goalposts.html

He goes after Dean's health plan during his campaign in 2003....that was 6 years ago. Come on, Ezra.

[mnhtnbb]

28. Dean signaled a long time ago he wouldn't toe the line to corporations

and that's when the powers that be and the corporate news whores went into overdrive
attempting to marginalize him. They succeeded with the "scream". Then he rose from the ashes
to become DNC Chair and look what he built! Now, they're after him again because
he still stands on the side of people having power in this country--not the corporations.

I continue to admire the man more than any other politician I could name.

[DFW]

29. I find the theme of whether Howard is "relevant" or not rather arrogant

Obviously, I am not completely impartial on the subject of Howard, but even so, he is in demand as a Democratic
speaker and standard-bearer everywhere, whether on talk shows, Netroots conventions, or cruises sponsored by The
Nation, one of the most eloquent voices for progressive politics either in print or on the web. He has every bit
as punishing a schedule as he did while chairing the DNC during an election campaign, and this time, it's by choice.

Howard could just as easily have accepted a few high-paying prestige positions, and become a fading "elder statesman"
of the party. Instead he's doing exactly as he said he would: took a position at a law firm to have some income and
lend them a "name," and spends the rest of his time "raising hell for causes he cares about." As he is eloquent,
very knowledgeable and a dynamic speaker, he is in demand both as a speaker and an authority in his field. He also
happens to be very knowledgeable about environmental issues, something rarely discussed (he was very vocal on this
at Davos) in the States.

Howard is even in demand by the British media as a commentator. He also is having quite a time being able to say
exactly what he thinks (something he was always famous for), without the constraints of being a loyal member of
the Obama administration under Rahm's thumb.

Questioning Howard's relevance is a sign of a wannabe journalist who thinks he or she is raising an "important"
question or issue that does not exist. Manufacturing a waning relevance of Howard Dean on the pages of the Post
does not make it so. It sounds more like an attempt for some mid-level Post reporter trying to make a name for
themselves. A journalist gains relevance by raising themes of importance and examining issues that exist. Making
them up does not make you a name except on Fox. The Washington Post may not have descended to that level yet, but
the days of Ben Bradlee are certainly long gone.

[madfloridian]

30. Tell it like it is, DFW. The title gave it away before I got to the hit paragraphs.

Interesting statement from you.

"Howard is even in demand by the British media as a commentator. He also is having quite a time being able to say exactly what he thinks (something he was always famous for), without the constraints of being a loyal member of the Obama administration under Rahm's thumb."

I think he is far more appreciated abroad than he is here by his own party.

Are you going on The Nation cruise? Or are you overseas now? That cruise sounds interesting.

Thanks for the post. I believe the choice of Rahm sent a message to the rest of us. I thought the day it happened, and I think so now.

[DFW]

31. I think Howard is appreciated plenty by the party rank and file

Far less so by the current Party leadership, who, as far as I can tell, is happy Howard got us
as far as he did in 2006 and 2008, and then pretty much told him, "thank you very much, now please
get lost." I'm sure they saw the move as a step toward bi-partisan government, with Howard as an
overly partisan obstacle. Well, well, well. The Republicans have proven themselves the bigger
obstacle, and I'm rather confident that Howard's presence might have inspired the party rank and
file just a bit more than Tim Kaine or Rahm Emmanuel (correct me if I'm wrong there) have done so
far. If there's anyone out there who has felt really inspired by Tim Kaine's leadership of the
DNC, my apologies. But if there's anyone ANYWHERE who feels inspired by Tim Kaine's leadership
of the DNC so far, other than his mom and his Great Aunt Gertrude, it's news to me.

I am currently on my annual summer trip back to the States, in a lost tiny corner of the least
thickly settled part of Cape Cod (no, I will NOT be going over to the Vineyard later this month).

Katrina has graciously invited me to be part of the cruise, but the timing is just awful for me,
and I would have to head back for Europe Dec. 20th, work like crazy in about 4 different countries
for 3 days and then head back to America for Renaissance Weekend on Dec. 26th. I'm not sure I want
to punish myself that much, although I would dearly love to take part in the cruise.

I think the selection of Rahmbo was a weighed one on Obama's part, and he went for organizational
talent over ideological inspiration. Obama is no fool. He extended the hand of cooperation to the
Republicans way farther than they ever extended it to us. Rahm was part of that gesture. They could
have played along. Heaven only knows we did that above and beyond the call while Cheney (er, I mean,
Bush) was President. Instead they chose to bite off the hand offered to them, chew it and spit it out
on national television prime time. It's now up to Obama and Rahm to decide whether to give them the
other hand as well, or smack them silly with it. I know which way Howard would have decided, but Howard
wouldn't have gotten his hand bitten off in the first place.

I have seen some well-written posts here supporting the theory that Obama was playing a well-thought-out
game of rope-a-dope. Maybe. There are some strong arguments to be made for that. I certainly hope so. If
not, we're the dopes.

[BrklynLiberal]

32. I have vague recollections of the days when the WP was a decent newspaper.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our third quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!

[booley]

35. The "Loony Left" is just doing what Obama told them to do

Obama said we should "push him to do the right thing"

Not our fault we took him at his word.

Though frankly, always blaming others for one's own mistakes is one of the things I loathe about conservatives. Their fuck ups are always somebody else's fault. It's the Liberals who don't have any power or the Democrats who went along with them or the "fake Conservatives" that somehow keep popping up to control their party . Yeah, cons love the "No True Scotsman" fallacy.

This WH would get no sympathy from me for doing the same.

[mmonk]

37. We get the blame for everything while never getting anything we want.

[dana_b]

39. +1

how about blaming the idiots who won't budge - like the Blue Dogs?

[Overseas]

38. And notice how little public talk there is about who is to blame for the USA's moral disgrace

of treating healthcare as a privilege and leaving 47 million uninsured and allowing its citizens to go bankrupt trying to pay for medical care.

Howard Dean is not the one who told the Democratic leaders to take the best plan, Single Payer, a MIXTURE of public and private systems, off the table. He's not the one who gave the President that terrible advice.

The disgrace that is our Pay-or-Die system has failed miserably to prove their case when they last defeated national health insurance telling us the private sector could do better over a decade ago.

They had their chance and failed miserably. Costs skyrocketed and coverage plummeted. End of free ride fellas. You all failed miserably, is where Democrats should have begun.

Then gone on to say-- You are welcome to present any other options that can beat this-- Single Payer, opening up Medicare to all as a public option. Medical services privately delivered by private doctors you can choose, and everyone is covered, for less than we pay now. Beat that and we can talk.

No more of this -- gotta be fair to the private sector -- crap. They certainly have not been fair to us. And how fair are they being now by hiring right wing PR firms to gin up dangerous hate and fear just to preserve their billions in profits?

[stevietheman]

40. Since legislation w/o a public option isn't real reform, I'm happy to take the blame.

Blame away! I don't want to be stuck _forced_ to buy from private health insurance companies!

[PufPuf23]

41. Dean speaks clarity alas

A health insurance reform bill that passes more mandated entitlements and compromise of regulation of the private health care industry seems to be the track unless there is some sekret Obama mojo going on -- which is doubtful.

Better no Health Care Bill than a poor one for most and barbarian compared to other western industrial societies because of the satisfaction of political "success" and resultant inertia.

A new health care bill does not require 100s of pages of ambiguous detail under any circumstance. A goal of good, honest, Representative, and transparent government is simplicity and understanding by as many willing to look.

Plus there is much else going on in the World and in local communities that needs to be addressed now off in the Shadows.

The Progressive Caucaus may be in the process set up to vote against legislation without a robust Public Option and as scapegoats if no Bill passes. We may get a regressive "solution" passed that creates inertia and a new political status quo in health care that more than anything else mandates guaranteed cash to insurance companies with not guarantee nor any closer to rational health care for communities or families unless "privileged" in some manner.

[LaPera]

42. More scare tactics, they'll never stop...There's no fucking way public option will fail, it will

evolve into single payer and the republicans and the mighty filthy rich subsidized welfare receiving insurance corporations knows this, as well as every aware liberal.

It will make America stronger, small businesses stronger, our economy stronger and empower the workers and we will become stronger, labor and the democratic party stronger....

The enemy,the republicans & the corporations are so frightened of this they will NEVER stop these lying attacks, prepare for it to get even uglier...much more despicable, frightful and horrifying tactics we could ever imagined.

WE HAVE TO STAY STRONG AND FIGHT TO THE END FOR HEALTH CARE WITH A PUBLIC OPTION FOR ALL, NOW!!

[PassingFair]

44. I fear they will water it down so much it will remain "public option" in name only.

The "safeguards" put in place to protect
insurance company profits will render it
ineffective.

:cry:

[Butch350]

43. Bullshit! It would be the insurance companies to blame, along...

with all those who are trying to kill health care REFORM. Is their any other way to see it?

[Iggo]

45. WP opens ***** to allow the ********* of shaved *********.

[The Wizard]

47. Howard Dean speaks the truth

That's something the Washington Past hasn't done in quite a while.

[2Design]

48. Dean got Obama in the WH and Dean is right on this - there is no

reform if they water it down - I don't want to be forced to be a customer of Big Insurance when they don't deliver - I am with Dean - if this fails - the country fails because it will have no soul left