Jezreel's Comments (3240)

“I totally agree, Set. That's why I said their anger is misdirected, they are misinformed and their anxiety is misplaced.

Nevertheless, they, like us, do have a legitimate basis for concern even if elected officials and special interests groups are stoking their emotions for political purposes.

Politicians on both sides have used this strategy to win elections for years. President Obama talked about it during the primaries:

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."”

“Co-signed.”

“Several recent polls have indicated that the individual mandate is acceptable IF it is accompanied by price controls, affordable access and a government alternative. I agree with that premise.

But without cost controls, enforceable regulations, affordable access and, in my opinion, a government alternative that's open to everyone, the individual mandate is nothing less than a guaranteed source of revenue for the insurance industry.

In my view, it does not make sense to expect an entity that exists solely to earn money to suddenly become amenable to government regulations that will adversely affect its bottom line.

A limited public option would become a dumping ground for the sickest Americans who would be priced out of the private insurance sector by a for-profit industry. A government option that is open to everyone would introduce competition and drive down costs and ensure a mix of people in both sectors.”

“Thanks. Well said.”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed. If there is a silver lining to this situation its that the true colors of our elected officials and movement leaders are being revealed for all to see.”

“I think its important to distinquish the Tea Party crowd from the Republican Party. While, I absolutely loathe the more extreme and racist rhetoric of the Tea Party crowd, I also believe that some of their concerns are valid and not unlike the concerns we Progressives have.

They believe that the government is taking over their private lives. They also believe that the government is becoming too involved in the corporate sector at the expense of the general populace.

Many Progressives believe that the government is too influenced by corporate lobbyists and funding. We believe that this health care debate has revealed how little influence average American citizens actually have on the legislative process and how much the legislation is crafted to serve corporate overlords.

Elected officials on the Republican side are also corporate whores. They are simply tapping into the anger of people who know they are being exploited. Tea Partiers are misguided in their anger, and misinformed as to the source of their legitimate anxiety.

Elected officials on both sides of the aisle are exploiting our differences to keep us divided.

For too long our government has been working against our interests. They've passed legislation that has destroyed our manufacturing sector, sent our jobs overseas, replaced us with foreign workers, destroyed our unions, squandered our retirement funds, gutted our investments and made our children's lives less prosperous than our own.”

“You are right, Von. Medicaire was not a perfect Bill when it first passed. But it also did not involve a marriage between our government and an entire corporate industry and a federally enforcable mandate requiring all uninsured Americans to purchase the product of said industry.

Mandating Americans to buy insurance from a private, for profit corporate entity without regulating the cost of premiums or providing an alternative governmental option is undemocratic and quite possibly illegal.”

“And your point is?

Should 45,000,000 mostly employed, American men, women and children go without affordable health insurance because you like your present coverage?”

“Howard Dean has as much right and credibility as anyone to express his views on this subject. I for one, respect his sincerity on the issue of health care reform far more than John Kerry who voted against Senator Dorgan's amendment to reimport prescription drugs, an amendment that would have saved Americans over 100 billion/10 years.

And where was Kerry's effort to discredit Joe Lieberman who has actual responsibility for gutting the most recent compromise of the public option; the medicare buy-in?

Why haven't we heard Senator Kerry condemn the deals Mr. Obama and Rahm Emanuel and Max Baucus made with the pharmaceutical and insurance industries? Those deals resulted in the removal of the public option from consideration in the Senate and in the politicization of the FDA to prevent the passage of the Dorgan amendment.

Dr. Dean does not legislate. Senators Lieberman and Ben Nelson do. Senator Kerry would better serve the American people by directing his criticism to the real obstructionists, namely President Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel and elected officials in the undemocratic Senate. Indeed, he would be more helpful if he concentrated his efforts on revising the Senate rules that allow a single elected official to effectively obstruct the will of the American people and the vast majority of elected officials.”

“Well said, Awake-and-Sing.”

“Co-signed; New York. Also, fanned and faved.

BTW, Glenn Greenwald provides the most reasoned, nuanced and undistorted explanation of the philosophical, ideological and practical tensions underlying the health care debate among Progressives.

In a nut shell, Cenk and you and me and many other disappointed Progressives are coming into the realization that Mr. Obama and the Obama administration are corporatists at heart.

We are witnessing a reinvigorated version of the Third Way - a Clintonian Triangulation just repackaged with sleeker, updated marketing in the form of a beautiful, brilliant, extremely charismatic biracial man - but a corporatist none-the-less.

The health care debate has revealed the willful use of government power to regulate against the benefit and will of the American people and to the benefit and will of corporate interests.

The individual mandate portion of the insurance reform bill represents the most robust form of corporatism we've seen to date. In this new manifestation of corporatism, our government is merging with its corporate benefactors to ensure an IRS enforced, perpetual flow of taxpayer dollars to the insurance industry and a perpetual flow of campaign donations to the Democratic Party. This latest quid pro quo transaction between the government, the insurance industry and big Pharma will virtually guarantee a perpetual flow of campaign finances, perpetuity of political power and progressively watered down legislation favorable to corporate overlords. ,

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/”

“I agree wholeheartedly with your apparent assertion that the role of the W.H. in preventing the inclusion of a government run alternative to private sector insurance. I would take it even further and say that Lieberman was, in my view, doing the bidding of the administration which began floating the idea of a public option free health care Bill in early February.

That being said, my comment was in response to someone else who did not mention the public option or the W.H. It other commenter, like me, was focused on the subject of this article; namely Moveon.org.”

“Precisely.

And I suppose in Mr. Obama's and Rahm's minds, the unions and progressives in OFA who are opposed to this BILL also don't matter.

And to think, this is coming from the same administration that claims to want to represent all Americans, that wasted the first 8 months of 2009 obsessing over Chuck Grassley and other wingnuts and then coronating queen Olympia Snowe and finally abdicating control of the health care debate to Joe Lieberman. And that all happened after they sold out the American people to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries and finally politicized the FDA to stop drug reimportation.

If this doesn't scare the bejeezus out of other segments of the population who are counting on this administration to level the playing the field, I don't know what will.”

“Agreed.”

“"Is this the same bill that they just raised a million bucks to attack a Senator who also objects to this bill?"

No. This the bill that resulted from that Senator's obstruction on behalf of the insurance industry, not that it wasn't already flawed before Lieberman's betrayal.”

“Co-signed.”

“Well said, Jason. I agree with the metrics you selected and with your conclusion that they will not be achieved with this Bill.”

“Co-signed. According to David Plouffe, millions of us helped to garner support for health care reform. Like many others, I too called and visited my Representatives offices, wrote letters, signed petitions and advocated for health care reform.

Also, like others I decreased my advocacy work because Mr. Obama, himself never assertedly advocated for his own health care policy which he said must include a public option. Mr. Obama consistently sent out mixed messages and remained noncommittal throughout this process. He refused to take a firm stand even when Mr. Reid and members of the House publicly asked him to join the struggle for his signature policy effort.

As it turns out, I and others were right to question Mr. Obama's committment to the agenda he set forth during the election.”

“Mr. Mogulescu, thank you for saying what has been obvious to the rest of us for 2 days.

Even MSNBC's Mark Murray wrote that Mr. Obama made was wrong to conspicously snub Dr. Dean on several occassions since the beginning of his presidency.

I have never met Dr. Dean personally, but I have tremendous respect for his professionalism and his knowledge of health care delivery and reform. I was shocked by Mr. Gibbs personal attack on Howard Dean, especially in light of the administration's embrace and defense of Joe Lieberman'.

I hoped that Mr. Obama would realize the impact of Mr. Gibbs comments on the Progressive base of the Democratic Party. But when I heard David Axelrod use the same messaging strategy this morning on Morning Joe and on PBS Newshour last evening, I realized that this was an agreed upon effort by the administration to discredit Dr. Dean regardless of the effect that would have on the millions of Americans who comprise the Progressive base of the Democratic Party.

Mr. Obama has lost my support - not because of anything said or done by any Progressive activist, but because of his seeming disdain for the people who elected him and his apparent willingness to discard their trust and confidence in his candidacy and the Democratic platform.”

“PTA: "The bill will shift the power away from the insurance companies and into the hands of consumers."

Really.

How does guaranteeing the insurance industry 30 to 40 million additional, captive customers and no real constraints on their bottom line shift power away from them and to consumers?

Until someone answers that question, I'll remain in agreement with Dr. Dean.”

“Agreed. The rules governing the Senate must be changed if we, America, not just Progressives, are to achieve real change. At this juncture, those who are abusing the rules of the Senate have effectively rendered the country ungovernable. Our political discourse has been reduced to name calling, lies, smears, distortions and misinformation coming from the Well of the Senate.

This year alone, the House passed at least 10 major pieces of legislation on the economy, education, banking, finance and other issues. The Senate took an entire month to pass the unemployment extension legislation - a law that took the House 2 hours to pass. The rest of the House Bills are lanquishing in the Senate with no prospects for being debated this year.

This is not effective governance. The Senate rules must be changed.”

“Agreed. We do need to support unions. I had hoped that the current Administration would offer more than rhetorical support but that does not appear to be the case, to date.

Mr. Obama, like his Democratic predecessor, appears to be more of a corporatist than a Progressive and the extent of his committment to the future of organized labor is still unanswered.

American minorities who moved into the "middle class" during the 90's lost a lot of ground between 2001 and 2008. Many middle class families of all races and ethnicities have returned to the ranks of the working poor with limited employment, health care, housing and educational opportunties because of changes in employment laws and a concerted effort by corporatists, conservatives and Republicans to demonize and marginalize unions.”

“In my view, there is no greater advocate for the poor and working class than America's unions. I am grateful to Richard Trumka and Mr. Stern for their work within the Progressive movement to enhance the lives of ordinary Americans.

Together with Dr. Dean and a few other Progressive activists who are willing to forego the embrace of the Beltway elite in order to make a difference for Mainstreet America, the unions wll make a big difference in this struggle to get access to affordable health care for ALL Americans.”

“Ditto on all points.”