Liberals urge Sanders to hold out for public option

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Boston Globe

A liberal group is urging Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to stick to his guns, "be a hero," and hold out for a public option government plan in the final version of the health care overhaul.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said today it is making 10,000 automated phone calls a day to Vermont voters. The calls feature AJ Tassel-Sweet of Northfield, who urges voters to call Sanders.

"I supported Senator Bernie Sanders in the past because I thought he would fight for us. But now the Senate is planning to pass a health care bill without the public health insurance option that most Americans support. Instead, it just mandates that people buy insurance from big insurance companies. That's not reform, that's a corporate giveaway. We need a hero right now who will stand up to Joe Lieberman and the insurance industry," Tassel-Sweet says.

The committee also said that it is running online ads in Vermont and other states and has collected more than 40,000 signatures since last week on an online "we need a hero" petition to Sanders.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/12/liberals_urge_s.html

[FLAprogressive]

1. uh oh is the PCCC about to get thrown under the bus?

[cali]

7. I know one thing: As a Vermont voter, I'm not going to be throwing Bernie

under the bus. He's represented me well for almost 20 years in D.C. And if he's voting for this legislation I'm confident that he's doing so because he believes that it holds more good than bad and recognizes that killing it by voting against cloture after conference, wouldn't actually bring about the public option.

[msongs]

2. the sellout is a done deal. time to find progressive dems and get them elected nt

[quiet.american]

3. Yet, this group completely ignores the billions Sanders got to create community hlth cntrs.

I believe the figure is $10-14B to create 20,000 community health centers across the nation. That is something that is heroic and should not be ignored.

And why also ignore the fact that he and Wyden successfully inserted language into the bill that lays groundwork for state-based single payer programs.

I really hate wild-eyed nonsense that only acknowledges what it wants to. That it's coming from "the left" makes it no more legitimate than if it came from the right.

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. For purists, the good is the enemy of the perfect

[CRH]

4. What at this point can he actually do?

Is he on a reconciliation committee, where his one vote could prevent a bill from reaching the floor? Doesn't appear this is anything more than a gesture that has no potential to change anything.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. He could vote against cloture on the conference report

[CRH]

8. If that could stop the bill from progressing, ...

then by all means he should use his vote to insist the public option is in the final compromise, thereby exerting equal force to Lieberman and Nelson's obstruction. It would also be true to his principles and rhetoric.

However, I have a feeling, there would be more consequence brought to bear of his actions, than have been realized by either Lieberman or Nelson, because I do not believe this administration prefers the public option, they sure did not fight for it.

edit: spelling

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. The likely outcome of that would be no bill passing

And I don't think that Senator Sanders wants that.

[CRH]

10. You are probably correct, but from my point of view, it is better to pass real reform or, ...

fail trying.

Passing this insurance and pharmaceutical bonanza is not a real step toward health care reform. If the mandates prove to be unconstitutional the passage could actually be harmful, giving the corporatists the cover, that 'we tried but the liberal courts said it wasn't legal'.

What little restrictions this bill places on the insurance and pharmaceutical industry are more than out weighed by forced subscription to over priced products and services. This is mandating that people who can not afford or choose not to have coverage in a corrupt for profit system, support the very system that is already a failure.

Even though the poor are to be subsidized, the society at large pays for private profits. Without competition for the corporate monopoly promoting the AMA system of health, just what forces will produce reform? Without the public option, there will be no competition, without competition, there will be no reform. IMHO

I personally don't think it will make it past the courts, and there will be more than a few challenges. The republicans would be fools not to, the ACLU, unions, libertarians and countless others have interests in not supporting this bill. A defeat in the courts would be far worse than not passing a bill, the republican strategists are surely drooling at the chance to fund a court contest. They kill two birds with a single stone, restrictions against the for profit health care system, and the Obama administration's reform proposal blunder.

[jgraz]

6. They're doing the same thing with Feingold.

Nothing wrong with a little participatory democracy.

[rucky]

12. Sanders knows what he's doing. n/t