Axelrod: Health Care Lobbyists Descending Like 'Locusts' On Congress

[cal04]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/14/david-axelrod-health-care_n_498290.html

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod warned on Sunday that health care industry lobbyists were descending on skeptical Democratic lawmakers "like locusts" in an effort to scuttle the final vote on a reform bill.

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Axelrod rationalized the difficulties of getting a majority vote behind a final health care package by pointing to the pressures these lawmakers face.

"It has been a long and arduous debate," he said. "It is a tough issue for members of congress because there is an enormous lobbying campaign going on, on the other side. Lobbyists from the insurance industry descending on Capital Hill like locusts and trying to pressure people to vote against this bill. There is a lot of pressure on people, but I believe we will be there at the end of the day."

(snip)
If, indeed, there was a ramped up lobbying campaign to move lawmakers against the bill, the White House (at least publicly) wasn't fretting its effectiveness. Axelrod, on both shows, predicted that health care reform would ultimately pass. As did White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who told "Fox News Sunday": "We'll have the votes when the House votes within the next week."

[saltpoint]

1. Axelrod is being charitable. "Locusts" is ok, but I think I'd prefer "diseased

vultures."

[DJ13]

2. .....and Democratic Congress members say Ka Ching!

"Weve got ours, screw you suckers!"

[Donnachaidh]

3. yeah, they are arriving for the *we f*cked the american public into mandates* party

being held by Axelrod and his bosses.

Axelrod's final kabuki theatre scene -- *oh help us, help us puhleeze! Those big bad companies are -bothering- us in Washington*

:eyes:

[yurbud]

4. I wonder if someone has a competing story of Congress' reaction to these lobbyists...

[madrchsod]

well dave...tell your man to call them out---

that worked for fdr......

[lunatica]

5. I wish someone would show videos about this activity

Seeing what's going on would be far more effective than hearing about it. Hidden cameras would be perfect. Expose this crap and show Americans what's going on. Jesus! They've been feeding us lies about how solemn the halls of Congress are and how our elected officials are ponderously wise and seriously leading the 'greatest country in the world' in enlightened ways that we mere mortals aren't smart enough to understand

Get some damn cameras in there and let's see the truth. Enough of the wool blinders!

[harun]

17. I got to say we don't have video of it because it is BS.

I just don't believe they are getting pressure from the lobbyists on this because this bill is basically institutionalizing the for-profit insurance industry and giving them many new customers.

I would be happy to admit I am wrong if someone posts any information to the contrary, i.e. the swarms of lobbyists descending. But I just don't buy it.

[lunatica]

6. dupe

[scarletwoman]

7. Oh please. How much phony crap do they expect us to swallow?

"A lot of pressure on people..." What?

Are these "lobbyists" breaking through locked office doors? Holding guns to their heads? Kidnapping their families for ransom?

Pardon me while I call BULLSHIT.

Poor congresscritters -- they want to do the right thing, but those big mean ol' Snidely Whiplash Lobbyists are running amok, threatening their virtue and tying them to the railroad tracks.

:eyes:
sw

[The Magistrate]

8. Indeed, Ma'am: A Simple 'Get The Fuck Out Of My Office!' Ought To Settle Things....

[scarletwoman]

9. One would think so.

Apparently the evil lobbyists have bound our hapless congresscritters to their chairs and are menacing them with a combination of violence and sarcasm.

Pale, sweating, shaking congressman newly freed from the clutches of a lobbyist: "He used... sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious."

[Dems to Win]

10. They could just lock them out of the room, as they did the single-payer advocates

More asinine comments like this and I'll rethink my commitment to hold my nose and vote for Obama in 2012. The cowardice and double-dealing that Obama has done regarding the public option has already made me commit to not sending Obama any money, as I did in 2008.

For Axelrod and Gibbs to continue pretending that they are standing up to the insurance companies, instead of acknowledging that the Obama administration demanded and received a bill that subsidizes and protects the insurance companies, is infuriating. I'm seeing red.

[scarletwoman]

12. Indeed. Good post. nt

[Gravel Democrat]

14. They locked them out of the room and *ARRESTED* Them!!!

This is unbelievable.

Over and over and over people tell half the story. It's
as if they just can't get their minds around the fact that
Baucus arrested doctors and nurses who wanted to talk
single payer.

Maybe it's just too much and people block it out.

Delusional. Good God if someone can't even remember the
story, no wonder we are where we are.

Doctors, Single Payer Activists Arrested
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/05-9

"It has finally happened right here in the United States. Citizens who believe healthcare is a human right have been arrested and are being processed like criminals through the Southeast District of Columbia police station. Their crime? Asking for single payer healthcare reform - publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare - to be discussed during the Congressional hearings on reform..."

[scarletwoman]

16. We haven't all forgotten. And thank you for posting this reminder for those who may have. nt.

[Fumesucker]

11. A cartoon apropos to this thread..

[scarletwoman]

15. Good cartoon. But it makes me kinda sad.

We count for nearly nothing in the calculations of our Rulers.

[thefaithful]

13. Prez. Obama deserve lots of credit

He will become the first President to eliminate earmarks. No other President have the courage to do so. Kudos.