When President Obama posed the above question during his reply to the first question in his press conference tonight, I listened carefully during the rest of the press conference for his answer. I didn’t hear it. Or if I did, it didn’t come through clearly enough for me to understand it. I did hear something […]
If Our Neighbor Gets the Same Car for $6,000 Less Than We Do, How Can We Get That Same Deal?
July 23rd, 2009 · Comments Off on If Our Neighbor Gets the Same Car for $6,000 Less Than We Do, How Can We Get That Same Deal?
Tags: Politics
President Obama: Do Town Halls in Canada and France and Send Hillary to Australia and New Zealand
July 22nd, 2009 · 1 Comment
The Health Insurance companies and other opponents of government-funded health care have been trying to overcome the statistical evidence of the superiority of public systems by spreading “Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt” using horror stories and, of course, outright lies about the failures of health care in other nations having such systems. Those of us who […]
Tags: Politics
Lines In the Sand
July 19th, 2009 · 1 Comment
For a long time now, progressives have been looking for lines in the sand. They’ve been trying to get progressive members of Congress to commit to vote no on any health care reform bill that doesn’t include a robust public option, and they’ve also been after the President to clearly state his unwillingness to sign […]
Tags: Politics
What If We Did Health Care Reform This Way?
July 5th, 2009 · Comments Off on What If We Did Health Care Reform This Way?
Step One: The Democratic Leadership in the House and the Senate both come out in support of the single payer bills currently introduced in their respective Houses, introduced by John Conyers (D-MI) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), explaining that they are doing this because a majority of Americans favor single payer. They then whip single payer, […]
Tags: Politics
I Ain’t Marching Anymore
July 5th, 2009 · Comments Off on I Ain’t Marching Anymore
In an article by Ceci Connolly appearing in WaPo yesterday, President Obama, in a “pre-holiday call” with a small group of six high-level Democrats from both Houses of Congress expressed concern over efforts by progressive advocacy groups in online campaigns and advertisements to target “moderate” Democrats whose positions on health-care reform have expressed opposition or […]
Tags: Politics
Anger . . .
July 1st, 2009 · Comments Off on Anger . . .
Tonight, my loving and lovely wife of close to 43 years told me she was angry. She said it had become just too much for her that both Houses of Congress had “taken single payer off the table.” She knows, of course, that a majority of Americans favor single payer. And she also knows that […]
Tags: Politics
Democratic Myths and Political Reality
June 28th, 2009 · 1 Comment
The Democratic Party will be the first to tell you that it’s the Party of the people, especially working people and the middle class. Change we’re supposed to believe in is change from a society moving in the direction of the wealthy, to one that is clearly moving in a direction to restore the American […]
Tags: Politics
Giving the Game Away: Redux
June 13th, 2009 · 2 Comments
Scarecrow provides us a great example of “giving the game away thinking” in a new blog entry. He provides an account of “Democratic Strategist” Steve McMahon’s thinking on what the Democrats ought to do to get a health care reform bill. McMahon’s prescription is perfect for shrinking Democratic majorities in 2010, and for paving the […]
Tags: Politics
Waiting, Waiting, Waiting . . .
June 9th, 2009 · Comments Off on Waiting, Waiting, Waiting . . .
I’ve been waiting for universal health care legislation since 1949. But, of course, the opponents of such legislation don’t want us to do anything “hasty,” and “jam” legislation through Congress. They want “careful consideration” of health care reform as if 60 years of proposals, studies, and deliberation were not enough. Representing the opponents of universal […]
Tags: Politics