MoveOn Targets Blue Dogs Who Voted Against Health Care Reform (AUDIO)

MoveOn.org is targeting Blue Dog legislators on health care reform, running radio ads in the districts of Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Charlie Melancon (D-La). All three voted against the health care reform bill last week in the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Greg Sargent had audio of the ads last week, which urged listeners to call the reluctant lawmakers: "Instead of helping [STATE] families get more affordable, quality health care choices, Congressman [XXXX] sided with the special interests and insurance companies ... If you believe it's time for quality health care every American can afford, call Congressman XXXX at 202-XXX-XXXX and ask him why he doesn't."

At the time, MoveOn was threatening members who might vote against reform. Now they're making good on the threat: the ads begin running on August 5th.

Listen to the Georgia version:

The rest of the ads can be found here.

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Comments

[Whinger]

07:06 AM on 08/05/2009

The people are behind MoveOn, time to clear the road.

[Gr82bRight]

05:55 AM on 08/05/2009

Moveon.org now there is your real threat. These guys are like the tea party folks, only from the left and loaded with the billions of George Soros.

[WonderfulLife]

02:56 AM on 08/05/2009

Actually 1.5 million dollars is being spent PER day by the Health Care Industry to fight the American middle class from getting a public option. Money that goes toward paying staffers to leave fake negative posts on all the major blogs and to pay for professional agitators that are being bused to town hall meetings. They are determined to maintain their stranglehold on the health care industry and they don't care one bit about doing this above board and/or ethically.

So we need to counter that by contacting those who are in Congress and in the House.
Start with Democrat Mike Ross, the Bluedog Chair on Health Care at:
[e-mail]
Call him at his AR office at [phone] - phone [phone] - fax
Call him at his Washington office at [phone], 1-800-223-2220, [phone] Fax
Twitter him at RepMikeRoss

Tell him how you feel about how he's handling health care for Americans after accepting millions of dollars from the health care industry.
And PLEASE send copies of his contact information to EVERYONE YOU KNOW asking them to also contact him. Come on folks-let's make some NOISE!

[lindaj3884]

01:08 AM on 08/05/2009

The insurance industry is spending $1 million a day on advertising to defeat health care reform. If we took the multimillion dollar salaries and bonuses from the execs and the 30% of our healthcare dollars for insurance premiums that go to administration and put them in a single payer system - like- Medicare (3% admin costs) we would all be better off. My insurance copay went up 25% this year. It is robbery by the insurance industry. It's time for our legislators to grow a pair and give the American people real change we can believe in. A Single Payer system like the rest of the industrialized world. We are 37th in the world in quality of care. We got a lot of changin' to do!!!

[Tropiholic]

09:25 AM on 08/05/2009

they have all the money in the world to prevent access to healthcare for all americans yet won't pay out a single dollar in benefits to their own customers, what's wrong with this picture??

[greygrey]

11:23 PM on 08/04/2009

The dogs are talking about co-ops. Some of them want co-op an d a watered down public plan. I just want them out. If we can't have single payer or public option, then let's just have new representatives.

[spinns17]

12:33 AM on 08/05/2009

funny that walmart asked for the same thing

[Tom Payned]

10:59 PM on 08/04/2009

Politicians only like money being involved when it comes to them.

Now, if only we had enough to stuff in their campaign coffers, give their family members ghost jobs, and take them on junkets.

Then we'd have a fighting chance.

As it is, they're not afraid of losing their next election. They'll all have nice little cushy jobs all lined up with the health insurance protection racket, be put on the boards of other health insurance rackets, and end up lobbying, for lot's more money than they're making now.

It's a sick system we have.

[mlaiuppa]

08:49 PM on 08/04/2009

Good for them. It isn't a threat if you don't follow through. That's the cornerstone of discipline.

[VegasWolf]

07:50 PM on 08/04/2009

Looks like it's time to donate more money to MoveOn.org.

[koolyout]

06:38 PM on 08/04/2009

Their is no way that this pay to play system will ever be defeated, as long as our elected representatives must spend virtually half their time raising campaign contributions. Thereby dedicating most of their energy to being re-elected and selling themselves to the highest bidder in the process. I cannot remember a time when this allegiance has been more transparent than now.Even With a democratic majority in both houses a real health care initiative, the only attempt in several decades, may be gutted and then finally shelved, because even this so called majority is so corrupt and tainted. manipulated by the corporate lobbyists and their minions. These representatives are finally being fully exposed for who they are.
When are we, the american voters going to finally stand up to these corporate and political thugs. It is time for a general strike. We must tell them, we will not work for you, we will not fight for you, we will not buy from you, and we will not die for you, until all the criminals on wall street and in Washington are held accountable for their actions. Only then will the words democracy and justice for all resonate as truth.

[MiddleRiver]

10:21 PM on 08/04/2009

Well said!

[PennP]

10:05 AM on 08/05/2009

The whole problem comes down to being able to field viable candidates who won't play the game. You can't get them out if you can't replace them, unfortunately.

[GeorgeP922]

06:36 PM on 08/04/2009

Folks, this is the time to donate.

MoveOn is a well oiled machine that relies on a war chest supplanted by recurring donations of members.

Adam Green left MoveOn to make a more targeted PAC, the PCCC.

The PCCC and the DFA(Howard Deans PAC) are also running ads that rely on Donations right now.
http://healthcarecantwait.com/

By all means help out both groups, but if you want to see ads keep running we got to make sure all of the groups fighting for American's access to affordable health care have the resources they need.

The PCCC has really inspired me with the efficiency they show with their money.
They have very low overhead and are working 24.7

To donate for their ads please click
http://healthcarecantwait.com/

[militarymomforobama]

05:51 PM on 08/04/2009

To honor the birth of our 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama, I urge everyone to go to barackobama.com and give what you can to fight for healthcare reform.

Happy Birthday President Obama!

[socalgal38]

05:59 PM on 08/04/2009

Oh sure like a hundred bucks from a couple of thousand people makes sense considering that the insurance company gave him over 19 million.

Close your eyes if you want to but I voted for a President that said he would change how politics worked and that he would not accept any lobbiest money. Democrats and Repugs are all alike on the take and not giving the common American a break.

[neocon43]

06:05 PM on 08/04/2009

Why not give it to someone who needs help.Thank you move on for really taking this bill down.These are conservative districts and this only helps defeat the bill.

[GeorgeP922]

06:27 PM on 08/04/2009

Wow you are dense, she is telling Democrats to waste their money by giving it to a political entity to afraid to fight and with enemies on both sides.

MoveOn and PCCC and DFA scare you to death because you know All Americans are behind this.

The ad itself is non partisan, and that scares you more.

[socalgal38]

05:33 PM on 08/04/2009

When single payer was removed from the table, everyone should have started fighting. Instead people started saying ok we will give up single payer if we have a public option and everything hinged on mostly everyone wanting a public option. The compromise we have now has nothing to do with Health Care Reform, it is HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM. The public option is not available to everyone, hence never to become single payer.

There is no competition, no restriction concerning discriminating on age, and fraud. We already know how they have proven fraud in the past so what has changed?

[GeorgeP922]

06:29 PM on 08/04/2009

If you knew a little better you would know single payer would not go either, but the folks are the far left are sometimes blind.

The Pragmatic leftist would have put Single Payer up as the proposal, and then negotiated to the Public Option with a Trigger for Single Payer if costs and deficits met certain benchmarks.

This is politics my friend, as Democrats we need to seperate what "I" want, and realize our goals and map a bulletproof path to achieve it.

[socalgal38]

06:43 PM on 08/04/2009

We have no barganing power when we have no single payer option. That is why we have a @hitty public option. There is no trigger for single payer in any proposals. There is no path to single payer in any proposals.

Since when does a Trigger ever get anywhere. There should have been triggers yrs ago now it is so far out of hand that a trigger now means nothing.

The objective should be to lower the costs, nothing in any plans will do that plain and simple.

[JHKH]

05:01 PM on 08/04/2009

If legislation is "watered down" to try to gain votes from Republicans and Blue Dogs, and they still fail to vote for the measure, why not re-do the bill and put back the concessions that were given? If they didn't get their vote on the weakened versions, and the bill still made it out of committee, I say put the muscle and teeth back in. We don't need their votes. They can vote against the bill at the peril of their continued incumbency.

[socalgal38]

05:22 PM on 08/04/2009

If you haven't read the original or the present proposals you don't have a clue what is going on.
The original proposal does not have a viable public option. It is not a plan that everyone can join, it is not designed to lead to single payer.
The watered down bill is no better, except i don't think the watered down one does not make it manditory to purchase insurance. The original does.

[totaldisbelief]

05:56 PM on 08/04/2009

It was always "smoke and mirrors"....deceit and lies

[judesuper]

04:55 PM on 08/04/2009

Good to know. These folks are just repubs pretending to be dems. That's why they're called dogs. OH, actually that puts a bad name on dogs.

[LeftLeaner]

04:49 PM on 08/04/2009

Good, at least someone is sticking up for the "American PEOPLE".

Those staged protestors who are disrupting the Town Hall Meetings are planted there by lobbyist firms who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo with healthcare.

Everything worthwhile is worth fighting for, so let's show these artificial protestors, where the truth lies.

[KDog76A]

05:23 PM on 08/04/2009

you get the part that MoveOn is a lobby in its own right, don't you?

[nomadrdw]

05:35 PM on 08/04/2009

MoveOn isn't owned by the insurance companies or big pharma, its a group of citizens, not a corp

[GeorgeP922]

06:31 PM on 08/04/2009

No genius, they are a PAC, a political action committee.

Spinning is for smart people, lying is for idiot teabaggers.

[Willow712]

01:58 AM on 08/05/2009

I was in a patient's room tonight and Fox news was on. The woman said, "watch this clip and see how many people are so vehemently opposed to health care reform." then they showed the lobbyists' plants, yelling and screaming. I sure hope people are smart enough to know what's going on.