Blue Dog Democrats Complain Of Being Shut Out Of Health Care Debate

New York Times:

Forty-five House Democrats in the party's moderate-to-conservative wing have protested the secretive process by which party leaders in their chamber are developing legislation to remake the health care system.

The lawmakers, members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, said they were "increasingly troubled" by their exclusion from the bill-writing process.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[truth969]

Serious Question for the Left.Since you guys want this insurance more than anything,you must know something about it.If we all have the same plan,will we be able to purchase extra ,to cover the medicines and treatment that the plan wont.25,000 unnecessary deaths in Great Britain per year are from universal care.We know the politicians will buy the best for them with our money,but I doubt our insurance will be very good.

[truth969]

RASMUSSAN POLLS 41% want Universal 44% Do Not

[Buddy McCue]

Did you follow Rasmussan polls over last year's campaign season? Did you notice that they were usually the "outlier" poll, with results that differ from all the other major polls?

Did you also notice that when they predict things, they tend to be wrong? There's something fishy about Rasmussen.

[truth969]

There ia something wrong with you,Why do you think we should all think like you.I bet if the polls said 60%-40% it would be right.

[jdt67]

Why would Obama want them; they don't support a health care plan that doesn't slavishly kiss the butts of the health care industry. Personally, I don't know why it matters. The president has pretty much sold us out anyway.

[truth969]

He is not selling you out.He doesnt have the power that you think.The other Democrats have a job to do,which is to do whats best for the entire country,not what you guys think is right.The lastest Rasmussan Polls show 41% want universal and 44% oppose it.

[LeeCalif]

Keep Blue Dog - Obstructionists out our way to healthcare for Americans.

[Kram]

Aw, the poor republican-lites are not going to be able to carry the corporate fascisit mantle. How outrageous that a majority of our elected representatives would actually work on behalf of the people who elected them.

Isn't it better to have the legislation written by a handful of corporate lobbyists instead? How are thsose bluedogs going to thwart the will of the people - like the bluedogs did in the Senate bankruptcy reform bill, if we don't let them poison the democratic party with the miserable ideas of the GOP?

Bluedog democrats = republican lite = totally clueless, and useless!

[GoodFeathers]

Can someone please list those blue guys in the dems? We need to make sure they will never win again.

[Mugzi]

I was thinking they should get mountains of faxes and e-mail for single payer health care...

[marijam]

Keep them out. They have nothing to offer, anyway.

[billthinx]

Chain up the dogs! They are unreliable and DINOs. These types want to keep the campaign coffers open to big Pharma, BIG insurance profiteers and the rest of the medical-industrial complex. Dump the dogs!

[davism97]

Without fail conservatives are ALWAYS on the wrong side of history. Conservatives stayed loyal to England in 1776. They opposed emancipation in 1863. They supported W and his war of terror. Now they oppose universal healthcare (something the entire western world other than us has adopted). Let's face if conservatives ruled the world we'd still be living in caves.

[Buddy McCue]

Someone should collect a master list of these things. It would be a long one. Conservatives have a habit of following in the footsteps of the Left.

First they oppose whatever the Left suggested, they fight it, they lose, and then they eventually come around to pretending that they were for it all along.

[wijg]

Since we know historically the party in power gets lobbied the most. I'd like to know what Democrats are getting lobbied the most from the health industry. I think conservatives and liberals alike could get behind the idea of going after the Democrats getting paid to do the health industry's bidding. conservatives would like the the idea because they're Democrats, liberals would like the idea because they are working against the American people's interests.

[theone718]

I don't want them writing the bill. They will just be watering it down making it less likely to..........I don't know.......HELP PEOPLE. I understand they live in pretty conservative districts but their only goal is to water down the bill, especially the public option.

[Georgiapundit]

Go Dawgz!!!

[Cogs]

President Obama has broken his promise that lobbyists would no longer make policy. He has welcomed their input on reforming health care. The for-profit insurance companies are going to help write the health care reform bill. He must either fight for real changes or admit he is just another politician bowing to the inluence of big money.

[PACOLLEGEGIRL]

Breaking a promise is a far cry different from doing what it takes to get this healthcare ball rolling!

President Obama CAN NOT do this alone! It's NOT AS IF HE'S GOT 60 SURE votes in the Senate! He's only got a sure 41, I believe! So don't be so quick to judge. Alot, if not most of the blame belongs to and on the states that send those BLUEDOGS & CONSERVADEMS serve as a the REPUBLICANS D-TOOL!

I've always fauted the states (INCLUDING PA) for the demacrates NOT being to get laws passed!

[Andrea Castillo]

President Obama pledged to stop lobbyist influence in the White House by not norminating any to his administration (William J. Lynn? Ron Kirk? I'm just sayin'...), not that he wouldn't speak to them at all.

However, your comment highlights a more interesting point: are you implying that the ends justify the means?

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

He never said he wouldn't talk to lobbyists; when the Sierra Club's Washington person calls, do you really want Obama to say no? Obama basically pledged that lobbyists wouldn't be running the government itself -- ie, no foxes guarding henhouses -- and with a couple exceptions, based on the people's unusual expertise, he's stuck fairly closely to that pledge. A heck of a lot more closely than any R (or DLC Dem) would have, for sure!

[neocon666]

That's because health care reform going to be written by the democratic party, not republican meat-puppets who call themselves "blue dog democrats".

[Andrea Castillo]

So moderates are great if they happen to be Republican, but "meat-puppets" if they swing to the other side of the aisle? Intriguing.

[GoodFeathers]

You are a good looking babe!

[GeorgeP922]

BINGO !!!

You got us!

We are Partisans, but as a "lefty" I feel much more comfortable in the same room with a strong centrist republican then a knee pad wearing DLC lackey.

[freelyb]

Not really. It's a continuum that's bound to shift. The more that all of you lean left, the better for the whole.

[PACOLLEGEGIRL]

C'MON EVERYBODY....WE'VE GOTTA GET THOSED DOGS OUT!!!!!

SEND EMAILS...LETTERS.

CALL EM'!

Let's do what EVER is necessary!

In the words of Malcolm X: "BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!" They MUST GO!

[truth969]

You are threatening your party with this comment.The politicians have a job to do.They have to do whats right for the population as a whole,not what certain people think they should do.I would like to keep 90% of my take home pay,and purchase insurance in the free market(That way I can get rich also).But Obama has other plans for us.He wants to do what he wants,and also doest think of everyone

[UncommonSenz]

So, you want to pay 10% tax, regardless of what it cost to provide the services you consume. In other words, forget about everyone else, you think 10% is enough. But you still want affordable care (while spending nothing to fix the spiraling "free market" costs, which eventually will make it unaffordable, even to you).... so somebody else has to pay for it.

Nice free ride you got there, looking out for number one and nobody else.

But, somehow, Obama is the one not thinking of others? You know there is a whole big world out there that doesn't at all match the stuff on Fox News. You really should try seeing it for yourself.

[PlaceboStudman]

private insurance is a ponzi scheme, and if you lose, you don't just lose your money, you lose your life. As much as I loathe and detest The Feds, when they do their jobs, they do a heck of a lot better job than private insurance...or for that matter, private anything, when it comes to offering mandatory services like health care. Let the private sector worry about luxury items and elective services, and put the government in charge of the mandatory stuff that everyone needs (house, car, medicine, etc).

[PACOLLEGEGIRL]

We've had EIGHT-YEARS of the politicians doing what they felt were BEST FOR THE FEW! Now, we have an OPPORTUNITY here for the rest of us to get somen done that's a benefit NOT a punishment! I don't give a CRAP about what the repubs, bluedogs or conservadems want!

FUNNY HOW NO ONE WANTS TO LOOSE THEIR HOMES OR HEALTHCARE BUT THE SAME ONES AREN'T WILLING TO SPEND TO GET DONE WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR ALL TO BENEFIT!

THE REPUBS, BLUEDOGS, CONSERVADEMS & OTHERS did this to AMERICA...NOW, DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES TO FIX IT!

[PACOLLEGEGIRL]

You can take how you wanna take! WhatEVER we need to do to get them OUT...We WILL! How is that a THREAT?! We ALL have the POWER TO VOTE!

[Andrea Castillo]

Machiavelli would be proud.

[GeorgeP922]

I find it hillarious a Venezullan national is hurt by American politics.

We don't play that rough here, and yes, the point is to crush the other party, duh!?!?