Health Care Reform Is About More Than The Public Option: A Debate
The battle over including a public insurance option in health care reform has become a proxy fight between progressives and moderates over how best to use the popular mandate of the 2008 election....
View ArticleWhittling Health Care Reform Down To Nothing Will Cause A Massive Backlash
Unlike in 1994, when The New Republic allowed an abominable article by Betsy McCaughey to codify the Villager mindset on health care, this year they have one of the brightest wonks in the business, Jon...
View ArticleGoing after Blanche Lincoln on the public option
The HELP Committee's release of a more affordable health care reform that covers more people and includes a public option highlights the essential truth of this issue, that more reform actually lowers...
View ArticleA Stimulus For The States
Yesterday on ABC, Joe Biden claimed that the Administration misread the severity of the economic crisis, and did not dismiss out of hand the need for a second stimulus package, though he preferred to...
View ArticlePressure works: Blanche Lincoln gives ground on the public option
Several weeks ago Blue America noticed that Blanche Lincoln, one of the few centrist Democrats facing re-election in 2010, was taking the side of the insurance companies over her constituents in the...
View ArticleThe Blue Dog Lament: We Don't Want To Fix Health Care
As you may know by now, 40 members of the Blue Dog Caucus sent out a letter vowing to withhold their support for health care reform without what they call "significant changes." What's interesting...
View ArticleMisinformation On Hardball About Abortion Coverage In The Public Option
For the second day in a row, Chris Matthews ranted about the prospect of a potential public health insurance option covering abortion services, and his lineup of talking heads agreed that this was "the...
View ArticleI Just Asked Obama A Question About Health Care UPDATED with audio
I had a chance to participate in a conference call with President Barack Obama and some bloggers today about the health care debate. Clearly the very fact of this conference call's existence shows...
View ArticleMinimum Wage, Health Care, And April Greer
As the final phase from a bill passed back in 2007, today the federal minimum wage rises to $7.25 an hour from $6.55 for workers across the country. This brings the federal minimum wage, adjusted for...
View ArticleWhy California Needs A Constitutional Convention
Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign a FY2010 budget revision quietly today, with up to $1 billion dollars of additional line-item cuts that could potentially cause more pain for California citizens. This...
View ArticleBetsy McCaughey, Destroyer of Health Care Reform - Twice?
Betsy McCaughey has popped up before this year, claiming that the stimulus package included funding for comparative effectiveness research, which would "have the government essentially dictate...
View ArticleThe Real Problem With Obama's Poll Numbers
My big takeaway today is supposed to be that Barack Obama is fading in selling his health care plan, as eroding poll numbers, both on health care and his job approval rating, threaten legislation in...
View ArticleAn ex-comic's thoughts on dealing with teabaggers
For all the conservatives trying to make some equivalence between Code Pink rallies and lobbyist-supported teabagger groups on their side, please let me know the instances of left-wing protesters...
View ArticleLiberal Revolt On Public Option Only Thing Saving Health Care Reform
Anonymous wankers in the White House expressed surprise in the WaPo this morning about the intensity of feeling about the public option in the health care debate.President Obama's advisers acknowledged...
View ArticleFanfare For The Left Of The Left (Or, Stop Punching The Hippie In The Face)
I just listened to a good bit of Barack Obama's OFA session, and I think I can now pinpoint what has been irking me lately. He got up there and tried to rebut all the misinformation about what the...
View ArticleRedacted Portions Of CIA IG Report Leak Out - Multiple Deaths, KSM Almost...
ABC has some news on what was inside those blocks of redacted text in the CIA Inspector General report:The CIA and the Obama Administration continue to keep secret some of the most shocking allegations...
View ArticleOn "Politicizing" Death
I'm hearing a lot of whining on the right about the wall-to-wall coverage of Ted Kennedy's death and his politics, and how it's being "politicized". They're particularly concerned that Democrats might...
View ArticleWanted: Left-Wing Demagogues
That after months of tea parties and protests against Big Gubmint takeovers and socialism, the Republican Party would come out as the defenders of Medicare has got to be one of the most hilarious...
View ArticleThe Democratic Party Has A Jobs Problem
The jobs report for August showed another 216,000 losses. That's far less than previous months, in fact the smallest in a year, but still not very good. The unemployment rate jumped up to 9.7%, and...
View ArticleBaucus Plan Would Gut State-Level Insurance Industry Regulation
Max Baucus’ plan had the name of Liz Fowler, a former WellPoint VP who now works for the Finance Committee, in the metadata. When you have WellPoint personnel instrumental in writing the laws, you get...
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