But the advent of the blogoshpere, the ability FDL and others have demonstrated: to bust the electorate-jacking myths of the kleptocrats even as they deploy them; has been a game-changer. Their old bag of tricks just don’t work like it used to. And the blogosphere’s inexorable maturation gives me great hope.

I bow in the virtual direction of all y’all.

Blanche Lincoln Of Arkansas, a conservative Democrat opposes any public option.

Doesn’t it make sense for thousands of progressives to threaten a consumer boycott against Tyson foods, the maker of Tyson Chicken and make demands of Ross and Lincoln for a public option that really appears strong such as a single payer public option that does not ban private plans but will eliminate private plans because they cannot compete with government subsidized health care.

Ross and Lincoln don’t give a damn about people like you and I BUT Lincoln and Ross will have to give a damn when thousands of us tell her and Mike Ross, that you can forget us ever buying Tyson chicken from their friends ever again until we get what we want. You have the power of withholding your purchases. You don’t consider yourself impotent anymore and show that impotence in these forums, and instead you say we’re going to upset Ross’ and Lincoln’s apple cart because we’re going after a company right in their back yard and we’re going to get people around the entire country to stop buying their products.

Otherwise if you don’t do this, you have very little power and you look like an impotent complainer. Don’t complain, don’t explain, make them complain!!! Boycott their friends in Arkansas.

http://tr.im/public_option

The point of the Opt-Out was to set a lower bar to negotiate *down* from.

Fall Back Positions:

1. Medicare + 5% –> “Negotiated”
2. “Negotiated” –> Opt-Out
3. Opt-Out –> Opt-In
4. Opt-Out –> Trigger
5. Trigger –> None

Whatever we think of the White House (i.e. Rahm) and all but the most extreme of the ConservaDems, they’d really like a Trigger because they think it gives them their Cake and Let’s them Eat It Too:

Cake: Populist position of being for a “Public Option” in some form

Eat: The PO will never happen, so Big Health will be happy and keep money flowing to the Dems

So that’s where the WH and true “moderate” Corporate Dems like Baucus and Conrad and Reid have wanted the thing to go. Conrad of course wants his bullshit Co-Opts because he’s delusional in thinking that’s populist while properly seeing out healthcare reform to their corporate masters.

The problem has been that a starting point of 1 or 2 would have made it extremely difficult to negotiate down to a Trigger.

Out-Out is more problematic because there’s the pass through of Opt-In, but Reid played the game that it would make *him* look better by pushing for something that was to the left of the WH while feeling comfortable that the ConservaDems would at some point step into the breach and save the Trigger.

I don’t think Reid still grasp that it’s going to make him look Bad when they fall all the way back to the Trigger. He’ll have a Progressive target on his chest, and the primary is coming. I like Jane’s comments in the past that his son also will be targetted, though I think resources probably should be forcused on making sure Harry takes it in the shorts.

Anyway, DDay’s original post is 100% *if* that’s what Leadership and the WH wanted: the strongest position to fall back from once that ConservaDems started making noise.

But we know that *nothing* in this process has been about taking strong positions. The WH and Leadership don’t want it. They want a “win” not just in any form, but in the weakest one they can get yet still claim it’s a win. They think this is good politics as it will keep Big Health on the Dems side.

We all know this is also mistaken:

* Good Policy on this bill would have been the Best Politics

* Big Health will run to the GOP the first chance they get

* the Dems will get blamed for all the Bad Policy

It’s sad to think of those crazy fucks being back in power in 2012 with none of the problems facing the country solved, and some of them made worse. But if back in November 2008 you wanted to draw up Democratic activity to best set up a GOP revival, you couldn’t have drawn it up better. The GOP keeps getting more insane… and our party keeps getting dumber, while Rome Burns.

John

http://www.taylormarsh.com/2009/11/21/i-sent-the-following-fax-to-senator-lincoln/

60/99 = 60.6%
But let’s say that Lieberman abstained. Then it would have been 59…which wouldn’t have reached the 60 vote threshold. But 59/98 = 60.2%. Only if Lieberman had voted with the Republicans would it have posed a problem 59/99 = 59.5%.

Also I think that the opt out might be very problematical for the Republican politicians in the Red States. The opt-out is not, as I understand it, for anything but public option component in their state. Everything else, including mandatory insurance and fines would still be applied. Their Congressmen and Senators have screamed about the evils of the “public option” as socialism, so how can they honestly vote for it in their State? They’d appear hypocrites and make them subject to challenge from the tea-party extremists.

Yet if they don’t large numbers of their citizens will compelled to purchase insurance or face fines. Lots of these would likely be Young Republican men and sundry libertarian types. They’d be fined if they resist, but they’d be livid if their legislators voted against the public option..thus denying them a cheaper opportunity to private health insurance. It’s ideology vs. their pocketbooks.

Very few Republicans and Tea-Partiers actually turn down their “socialist” benefits…and often squeal loudly if they are pared back. But if it were their own Republican legislatures or Governor that did denied them an option available to people in other states they’d be very upset.

So the Republicans in these states are going to be trapped in a pincer. Well-to-do right wingers might mount “tea party” campaigns if they vote against an opt out…but the not so well off types might vote against them if the don’t.

The bill has of course been compromised eight ways to Sunday already, of course, and yet the axis of Nelson and Lieberman and Lincoln and Landrieu aren’t satisfied.

It appears that Democrats haven’t watched ANY of the many Law and Order or CSI franchise member shows. When you pay kidnappers, or blackmailers, it doesn’t make them go away, it just encourages them to ask for more — since they know you’re weak and will pay up.

Expect more of this crap from ConservaDems.

http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/content/steps_to_win/

The merged Senate bill will move to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Debate in the Senate is more free-flowing than the House, and may be extended over two or more weeks. Although amendments need a simple majority (50 votes) to be accepted in the Senate, we expect that for most amendments, procedural hurdles will be raised that require 60 votes to bypass.

After all amendments have been considered, the final bill will be put to a vote. The Senate bill will face a cloture motion requiring 60 Senators to pass. That motion is procedural and Senators will be under pressure to proceed along party lines. After cloture, the Senate can pass a bill with a simple, fair majority of 50 votes.

After the Senate passes their bill, the Senate bill will join the House bill and leaders from each house of Congress will head into “conference” to hash out the differences between their bills. The agreed upon bill (“conference report”) will then be brought to each chamber for a vote which could again be blocked in the Senate by a procedural motion that needs 60 votes to clear.