Saturday, January 23, 2010
All together now:This week has seen a unified call for action from several prominent progressive bloggers. Steve Benen (Washington Monthly): Know what would really make things easier for Dems? If the House passes the Senate health care bill, and Democrats prove they're capable of delivering on their agenda. Ezra Klein: A lot of the onus for health care's sudden derailing has been placed on the House, which is bafflingly opposed to passing the Senate bill. Matthew Yglesias: ... while losing the MA Senate seat puts certain objective constraints on what Democrats can do the most important constraints come from within. ... There’s no rule preventing the House from passing the Senate health care bill. Kevin Drum: There's really no alternative to passing the [Senate] bill as is ... Jonathan Chait: There are only two options on health care: Something that involves passing the Senate bill through the House, and nothing. That's just a sample of what's out there. Of interest is the fact that none of those bloggers had any serious problems with the Senate bill's excise tax. The one that Jonathan Gruber tells people will - Be "progressive"
- Lower the "costs" of health care
- Result in those affected by the tax getting more money in their pay packets
All of those assertions are dubious, but for mysterious reasons those progressive bloggers bought the pitch. So it's no surprise that they are gung-ho for having the Senate bill be passed by the House, even if that ignores powerful political forces that won't go away.
posted by Quiddity at 1/23/2010 07:34:00 PM
4 comments
"...not passing anything at all is a defeat of epic proportions. This cannot be stressed enough. Ask yourself if, in nine months time, when GOP Congressional gains have eliminated the possibility of rebooting HCR for years, you will be happy that at least the Senate bill didn’t pass."
it's being held up in order to draw this idiotic white house (intent on protecting the corporate class) to the negotiation table, screamer.
congress erred in passing TARP quickly under similar high pressure, fear mongering tactics. that was the chance to apply leverage on wall street and inject reform. instead that opportunity was squandered. pelosi doesn't want to repeat the same mistake.
when GOP Congressional gains
you're predicting gop retakes congress? based on what? the mass win? chris hayes pointed out 800,000 dems stayed home. that tells me the reason brown won was because of disaffection on the left. passing a bad bill that even dems disapproves of isn't going to make everything better. it needs to be held up and made better. congressional dems aren't rubberstampers. that's the republicans.
re benen, klein, yglesias, drum, & chait posturing as if there is only one solution: pass the senate bill or face armageddon. that's just not true. it's a strawman argument.
it's really insulting to needlessly instill panic like this. really, how is this any different from bush's "my way or the highway" approach?
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