Dems shrink from health care

[IndianaGreen]

If you haven't done so already, please read first the LBN thread by mike r "Democrats Plan Political Triage to Retain House"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4528912&mesg_id=4528912

Dems shrink from health care

By JENNIFER HABERKORN | 9/5/10 7:24 AM EDT

A handful of House Democrats are making health care reform an election-year issue — by running against it.

At least five of the 34 House Democrats who voted against their party’s health care reform bill are highlighting their “no” votes in ads back home. By contrast, party officials in Washington can’t identify a single House member who’s running an ad boasting of a “yes” vote — despite the fact that 219 House Democrats voted in favor of final passage in March.

One Democratic strategist said it would be “political malfeasance” to run such an ad now.

Democrats have taken that advice to heart; it appears that no Democratic incumbent — in the House or in the Senate — has run a pro-reform TV ad since April, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ran one

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41777.html#ixzz0yf9tErnI

[Dennis Donovan]

1. FoxNews and the Kochs win...

...and the proletariat loses.

[IndianaGreen]

2. The Rightwing Koch Brothers Funded the DLC

From an old post at democrats.com:

The Rightwing Koch Brothers Fund the DLC

Submitted by Ted Kahl on February 9, 2006 - 10:44pm

Do deep-pocketed "philanthropists" necessarily control the organizations they fund? That has certainly been the contention of those who truck in conspiracy theories about the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations funding liberal and neo-liberal organizations. As for the rightwing, journalists such as Joe Conason and Gene Lyons uncovered that the "vast right wing conspiracy" -- or the New Right network of think tanks, media outlets and pressure groups -- was marshalled under rightwing billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife for his Get-Clinton campaign. Prior to the work of Conason and Lyons, Russ Bellant extensively documented in "The Coors Connection" how the Coors Family, Scaife and other wealthy rightwingers have funded the New Right movement since the early '70's. Among these rightwing benefactors are the Koch brothers. But the Kochs have been working both sides of the fence. As Bill Berkowitz writes, the Koch brothers have also been funding the Democratic Leadership Council.

According to SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media & Democracy, the brothers are "leading contributors to the Koch family foundations, which supports a network of Conservative organizations and think tanks, including Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Manhattan Institute the Heartland Institute, and the Democratic Leadership Council."

Charles Koch co-founded the Cato Institute in 1977, while David helped launch Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1986.

This is no less stunning than if Scaife or the Coors family were funding the DLC. So do the Kochs just throw money at the DLC -- as long as the Council supports a free-market" (i.e. unrestricted/unregulated corporate power) agenda that the Kochs generally agree with. Or is it more than just that -- does this really buttress what Greens and other disaffected liberals contend -- that the DNC has just become a party of "Republicrats", thanks especially to the DLC? They would say that corporate backers like the rightwing/libertarian Kochs have co-opted the Democratic establishment -- a hostile takeover of (what was once) the opposition.

http://www.democrats.com/node/7789

Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 14:29:03 -0500
From: [e-mail] (New Democrats Online)
Subject: Important DLC Strategy Session
< http://www.ndol.org & http://www.ppionline.org >

Special Event Invitation:
Please join DLC Chairman Evan Bayh in Indianapolis next month
for an important gathering of New Democrat elected officials and
community leaders:
The DLC's 5th Annual National Conversation
July 15-17, 2001
Westin Indianapolis Hotel
Indianapolis, Indiana


The interesting thing about this event is that it is actually
touting the fact that it is funded by Koch Industries of Kansas.
This company is one of the anchors of the CONSERVATIVE movement,
and is a major contributor to the Bush campaign. To be fair, Koch
is only one of more than a dozen sponsors. Here is the list
of event sponsors, straight from the DLC web site at
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=3397&subid=16... :

Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield
Baker & Daniels / Sagamore Associates
Barnes & Thornburg
Steven & Phoebe Crane
Dominion
Eli Lilly & Company
Emmis Communications
Indianapolis Colts
International Association of Fire Fighters
Koch Industries Inc.
PSComm, LLC
Sallie Mae
Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA)
United Water

http://lists.democracygroups.org/pipermail/rightwatch/2001q2/000103.html

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Of course they did - that was their psyops against the DLC...

...covering both bases, so to speak.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Koch brothers hate the New Deal as does Al From who founded DLC

Now they are coming together in the Catfood Commission for their coup de grâce: end Social Security as we knew it!

Chris van Hollen refused to say that he would oppose cuts to Social Security.

[Cosmocat]

22. I will use a poker anology ...

The dems are mucking an ace high flush being bluffed by someone holding a dead hand ...

They should be running HARD on the bill, HARD and unabashedly ...

Friggen balless idiots, seriously ...

[derby378]

4. That's because they all held their noses while voting for this bill

They knew it was no good for the American people, and they did it anyway.

[IndianaGreen]

8. How come no one else is touting their HCR vote now?

How do you think people will react when the mandates come in play, and we are still in the Great Recession as we certainly will?

[golfguru]

34. Correct, the HCR bill is a piece of crock n/t

[jefferson_dem]

5. It's more than hard to penetrate the web of lies promulgated by opponents of reform.

Politico's stupid framing aside... in the short term, it's probably best for the Dems to avoid the distraction of having to set the record straight. Long term, the real benefits will become more undeniable, even for the cynics and critics.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Did you read the NY Times article in LBN first?

Or are you just reacting?

[jefferson_dem]

9. Of course, I did.

In fact, I tweeted the NYT story hours ago. Harsh reality.

Interesting that the only Dems to make health care reform a campaign issue are blue dogs, huh?

[IndianaGreen]

10. Did you get to the hope part?

“In 2008, there was this sense of hope and this sense of being able to change the world,” said Representative Zack Space, Democrat of Ohio. “A lot of that enthusiasm doesn’t exist now, and I think a lot of that is a result of having been in a recession for two years.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/us/politics/05dems.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

[jefferson_dem]

11. So now you're saddling up with the conservative Blue Dogs to deliver your talking points.

Interesting... Strange bedfellows indeed. http://space.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=20&parentid=8§iontree=&itemid=108

[IndianaGreen]

12. Chris Van Hollen, chair of DCCC, refused to say he would oppose cuts to Social Security

This is what happens when the party's political establishment abandons what had been Democratic core values.

[jefferson_dem]

13. Now you're just throwing a bunch of shit against the wall to see what might stick.

:boring:

Why are you concerned with the Democratic Party's "establishment" anyway? Aren't you supposed to be a Green (who happens to dig the dreaded "DLC" when it serves your purpose)?

[IndianaGreen]

14. I am not a Green! You can't address the issues so you resort to attacking the poster

And the DLC are not Democrats but Rockefeller Republicans.

[jefferson_dem]

15. Oh... well, pardon me.

I assumed since you had "Green" in your handle, that were a Green. Silly me.

Your "issues" are all over the place that it's hard to keep up. SS, health care, election strategy...

I do find it curious that you reference a quote from Zack Space (DLCer / Rockefeller Republican) above, however.

[IndianaGreen]

17. The quote was right on target, regardless of who said it

and it is reflected in the polls (the enthusiasm gap). It also shows in that Republicans and Democrats are now a clear minority. Fifty percent of all voters now describe themselves as independents.

[alc]

20. or some supporters may need to become critics

We're still at a point where the long term results can be good, or can be a total disaster.

The few things that have gone into effect have not worked out as we were sold. There are 100s if not 1000s of regulation details that to be written before we see the long term benefits. Blind support will probably not lead to the fixes that almost everyone (Reid, Pelosi, etc) admits are needed, or to the regulation details being written in a way that benefits us.

[jefferson_dem]

26. Nobody is calling for "blind support." Frankly, I'm more worried about "ignorant opposition."

[craigmatic]

16. To run against healthcare sends the wrong message to the people it says

yeah we did this big thing that we claimed was to the benefit of the public but I believe it's wrong. Then the question becomes "Well if you think HCR was wrong then why did you vote for it?". It just shows weakness and any dem who makes this argument deserves to be replaced by their constituents because they're running as defacto repubs anyway.

[bvar22]

18. Think its bad now?

Can you imagine the disaster in 2014 when 40 Million Americans will be FORCED to BUY worthless Health Insurance they can't afford to use from the For Profit Corporations.

The smartest thing the Democratic Leadership did was postpone THIS little peach until AFTER the 2012 election. The Republicans are scheduled to WIN in 2016 anyway.

[IndianaGreen]

19. We opposed the mandates during the primaries

and it was one of the factors why I voted for Obama in Indiana primary rather than Hillary.

I regret that vote!

[Safetykitten]

28. Got that right. The stampede to disavow this turd will be epic in 2011.

[Aramchek]

21. look everybody, someone's doing the Repukes' job for them.

and in such a principled manner. how progressive!

[ibegurpard]

23. oh the irony

one of the last arguments before they passed his fiasco was "we can't just let it all die and have nothing to show for it...we have to pass something!"
and now they don't want to touch it.
Wish the progressive caucus had held the line.

[dflprincess]

29. Now the Progressive Caucus is claiming it won't support any cuts

to Social Security, including a rise in the retirement age or privatization.

We can only hope they'll stick to their position this time.

[chieftain]

24. You can't win an argument if you don't make it.

If the Dems thought that the citizenry would ignore the lies told by the GOP and their henchmen in the media and realize the benefits of the health care bill, they're just dead wrong.If you want to affect public opinion you have to engage in advocacy. It does not surprise me that some spineless Democrats are running against health care. The amount of political cowardice I have seen from my party over the years no longer stuns me. What is really depressing is the lack of effective communication from Democrats who support the law.We are ceding the debate to liars, fear mongers and charlatans. If we don't get in the game soon, we will turn the country back to those who are most responsible for the many crises we face.

[denimgirly]

25. Blame Progressives for Buckling on this -- If u had the Public Option you'd be in good shape

Costs are rising...anyone surprised?

[Cosmocat]

33. sure ...

cause the dems would not be running even FURTHER way from screams for "SOCIALISED MEDICINE!"

[FrenchieCat]

27. Considering that nothing but negatives are posted about health care reform on DU,

Why would the politicians believe otherwise?

Doh!

[Mimosa]

30. The un-recs have sabotaged this topic.

WHY?

[quakerboy]

31. its a little late for that

They done did that about a year and a half back.

[golfguru]

32. The ugly truths about HCR bill as passed

For profit private insurers (FPPI) win 40 million additional paying
customers, courtesy of US tax payer subsidy.

Not a single restraint on premium hikes by FPPI is in the bill.
Annual rate hikes as high as 34% are already showing up in some areas this year.

No competition to FPPI from public option to keep rate hikes under control.

Competition to FPPI from across the state lines by other FPPI missing in bill.
So each state has it's FPPI operating as a monopoly without outside competition.

Nothing in the HCR bill to restrain slip and fall lawyers or ambulance chasers.

No wonder democrats all over the country running for election are hiding from it.
I can't blame them one bit.

[Milo_Bloom]

35. Why wouldn't they?

HCR represents everything that is wrong with this party at this time.