Cenk Uygur:Take the Damn Vote

[cal04]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/take-the-damn-vote_b_478142.html

I have now heard countless times that Democrats don't have enough votes for the public option. Twenty-four senators and 120 representatives have signed a letter supporting the public option. Apparently, that's still not enough. Serious people assure us that there just aren't the votes, even to pass it through reconciliation where you only need a simple majority. You know, there is one way to find out.

Take the damn vote.

That way we'll see if all the doomsayers were right or not. And more importantly, we'll see who is on which side when the votes actually get counted. And that's exactly what the problem is. The Democrats don't want to go on the record. They want to be able to kill the public option without admitting who it was that actually killed it.

It's amazing what happens sometimes when you actually take the vote. For example, on the jobs bill Scott Brown flipped over and unexpectedly voted with the Democrats. That led to four other Republicans supporting the bill because they thought it was going to pass anyway. And then a curious thing happened; a whole bunch of the people who voted to filibuster the bill turned around and voted in favor of it in the final vote. They theoretically felt so strong about the bill that they filibustered, but when forced to vote on the merits of the bill, they felt enough pressure from their constituents that they actually voted for it.

[ihavenobias]

1. 2 Things

1. This is the #1 rated diary at DailyKos right now. It's always interesting see how different sites respond to the same message.

2. Twitter Update: We're going to launch Tweetbomb on @SenatorReid tonight at 7:30PM ET urging him to take a vote on the public option. Lets all do it together!

[pleah]

4. Thanks for the heads up.

Will try to participate. :)

[customerserviceguy]

2. Bad comparison

Equating a vote on the public option (or any kind of vote on HCR, since Massachusetts) with a jobs bill is folly. With an official unemployment rate of nearly 10%, a vote on a jobs bill is a no-brainer for a Democratic congresscritter, and even some Repukes have been feeling the heat in the hardest-hit red states.

What's delaying the vote? The lack of wanting to be responsible for finally killing this thing, since it's been on a respirator since Scott Brown's election. It's all a matter of not wanting to be the hand that pulls the plug.

President Obama held a dog and pony show to try to shift the blame for this to the Repukes, and we're now waiting on the poll results to see if that took effect. There won't be any vote until that has run its course, unless there is another delaying tactic offered up in the meantime.

[jgraz]

3. K&R

[libodem]

5. Good idea

I only have cable for my computer now, not for tv. So I watch my video clips here at DU and go to a site to watch tv shows. Not often because I spend my online time perusing DU. Get to the point dammit!!!!

I watched Bill Mahar's show all the way through the other night and was very inspired to just let the bastards filibuster it up. What in the fuck are they going to say after the first 5 minutes? It will come down to to the American people should just die if they get sick, loose their home, go bankrupt, leave a tremendous debt to their families, have charities and fund-raisers to pay for health care, have those big free barnyard Dr's in an animal stall health care, plus what about the expense of dental care. I swear I know people who go to Mexico for dental care.

Make the 'Other Side' get up and speak for 72 hours straight before we take the vote.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. "Take the damn vote" indeed.

Not only that, but fight for what you believe in whether you think it'll pass or not.

In the process you may sway a few people who will vote differently in the future.

In the process you may get your message across to a few more Americans.

The current Democratic defeatist attitude is not helping. (Unless it's helping Democratic politicians cover themselves with their base by claiming that they wanted to do the right thing but the other guys stopped them!)

[ihavenobias]

8. Amen. n/t

[20score]

7. Agreed! K&R