An interesting memo just distributed to all Senate cheifs of staff

[FourScore]

An interesting read. This memo was just distributed to all Senate chiefs of staff:

STRATEGY MEMO TO SENATE CHIEFS OF STAFF

From: Adam Green, co-founder, Progressive Change Campaign Committee -- on behalf of the PCCC, Democracy for America, and Credo Action

RE: The right lesson from Massachusetts & the path forward on health care

We wanted to make sure you saw the Massachusetts Research 2000 poll, reported on by the Wall Street Journal, NBC, Politico, Huffington Post, TPM, and others.

It polled critical 2010 swing voters: the 18% of Obama voters who returned to the polls and voted for Republican Scott Brown.

• On health care, they oppose the Senate bill because it "doesn't go far enough" and a whopping 82% support the public option.

• On the economy, by 2 to 1 they think Democrats have put special interests ahead of folks like them -- and by large margins think stronger regulation of Wall Street is more important than cutting spending.

• And 57% say Democrats are not "delivering enough on the change Obama promised."
Why did they vote for Scott Brown? They are angry and want Congress to fight on their side against entrenched power. Scott Brown pretended to be a populist, so he won.

Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh, and Mark Penn are telling Democrats to learn exactly the wrong lesson: Slow down. Give Americans less change.

It's not an accident that each of these men have crashed presidential campaigns into the ground. Don't listen to them -- their thinking got Democrats into this political mess. Voters want bold populism, and if Democrats don't give it to them Republicans are ready to pretend they will.

The best thing Democrats could do in 2010 is fight big corporations like insurance companies and Wall Street. On health care, the path forward is obvious:

Step 1 -- The Senate passes a "reconciliation" bill with the popular public option and other budget-related fixes to the original Senate bill on issues like the national exchange and excise tax. This takes only a simple majority.

Step 2 -- The House passes both the original Senate bill and final reconciliation bill back-to-back and sends them to the President.

Step 3 -- A signing ceremony takes place that Democrats and voters can be proud of.

What would this "public option through reconciliation" strategy achieve? A popular public option, 30 million new Americans insured, pre-existing conditions provisions, a national exchange that "gives people access to the same kind of plan Congress gets," and all the other insurance industry reforms Democrats have been pushing. All without worrying about Joe Lieberman's vote.

Plus, Democrats would be popular -- for finally taking on insurance companies by passing the public option. Again, among the swing Obama voters, only 32% support the current Senate bill but 82% want a public option.

All the old arguments against using reconciliation are gone. It's now the only way to pass a comprehensive health care bill, building off the Senate's prior work. And once reconciliation is being used, the Senate has the votes to pass a public option.

After Massachusetts, passing the public option is a no-brainer -- it's populist, it's good policy, and it's what 2010 swing voters want.

That's why in the 48 hours after the Massachusetts election, over 150,000 people signed a petition advocating the "public option in reconciliation" strategy. More are signing literally every minute, and our three organizations will deliver these signatures to you in the near future.

You can see the Massachusetts poll here and our recent national poll here.

Please feel free to reply with any feedback. And if you would like to be part of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee's ongoing dialogue with Hill staff, please click here and let us know.

Thanks for your time.

http://www.americablog.com/2010/01/memo-on-what-happened-in-mass-and-how.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Marking to read later..

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. K&R for some Change we can actually believe in!

:kick:

[Nite Owl]

3. The term public option is thrown

around. Are they talking about a real public option, open to anyone who wants that or will it be limited to a few who who have no other choices. I know the argument its a foot in the door etc, etc but the door might be closing on that foot and we had better get all we can and depend on later as those opportunities never seem to happen. It would be smarter to let the Senate go first to make sure they come through. No one is asking about community rating for those with pre-existing conditions. The way this has been passed so far is useless because of the high costs for people who are sick.

[FourScore]

5. It's a good question. I can only surmise the answer:

If they have 51 votes for a full public option, then they should do it. Otherwise, pass it in the best form that they can for now.

:shrug:

[Froward69]

4. Voters want bold populism,

...and if Democrats don't give it to them Republicans are ready to pretend they will.

That says it all right there...

[leftstreet]

13. Yep, 'Republicans are ready to pretend they will'

That says it all!

And both parties KNOW this

[glitch]

16. When faced with real populists vs phony populists, the voters will choose real populists everytime.

Our problem is we haven't run any real populists in a long time. Once we do, we win. WE win, not corporate stooging DINOs.

[dmr]

41. In this case, the reference is a false populist of the GOP variety

and there are many of them. There are also plenty of Independents who will get bamboozled and vote for the faux populist.

I do share your desire for a true liberal populist, though.

[glitch]

68. Yes - IF we can return to our populist roots.

I think the path is clear but quite honestly I am making no bets on our taking it.

[Enthusiast]

47. Everyone but the brain dead

Teabaggers know this!

[midnight]

45. Yes it does...

[crispini]

6. K&R

I'll be back to read later. This looks good.

[liberalla]

7. bookmarking for later!

[TheKentuckian]

8. I bet we don't have 51 for anything beyond the union deal and that's pure politics

The majority is an illusion.

[laughingliberal]

10. I bet you're wrong

I bet we have between 51 and 54 for a public option, more if the President was working for it.

[TheKentuckian]

14. I'd love to be wrong and believed as you do a few weeks ago, even

That more than 54 though is hard to buy at all. It ain't just Holy Joe and the Senator from Mutual of Omaha causing the problems.

I doubt we have 35 votes for a full public option.

[dmr]

42. I'm hoping the Dems will be so pissed off at the GOP

that they vote in Medicare E.

In your face McConnell, Lieberman, DeMint ....

[laughingliberal]

44. I saw Howard Dean interviewed a the day after the MA election and he is convinced there were always

at least 51 votes in the Senate for a public option. Full public option? Not sure but I know when Harry Reid put the public option with state opt outs in the blended bill he felt he had a good chance at 60 for it. Somebody killed that. And I know he felt he had 60 for the Medicare expansion before Lieberman killed it. I think I know enough about Harry to know his count couldn't have been that far off. I count as possible nays: Lieberman, Nelson, Nelson, Conrad, Lincoln, Baucus (although I think he was prepared to vote for it before), Bayh, Landrieu. Even if every one of these defected that's 51. We could lose one more and still get there with Biden.

So, I think he has a minimum of 51 for a public option. In fact I believe the White House intervened, for whatever reason, to kill it. Can't prove it but, at least for the Medicare expansion, Lieberman had been pushing for that and was on record about it in September. I think Lieberaman was the one Harry put that in for and then the sudden defection. Weird, huh?

[laughingliberal]

9. It's not an accident that each of these men have crashed presidential campaigns into the ground.

Should be obvious if voters really liked any of the ideas these guys have one of them would have gotten a little closer to the White House than they did. It's big time fail to listen to them. In a time when people think the problem is the government isn't doing anything to help them, these guys want us to do less to help them. Brilliant!

[Vincardog]

11. DING DING DING we have a winner. Medicare part E for Everyone NOW

[Mithreal]

15. +1

:applause:

[chimpymustgo]

53. MEDICARE E - FOR EVERYONE NOW!!!

[iamjoy]

67. Yes, And Just Like with Medicare

Rather than mandating everyone buy insurance, there can be limited enrollment windows and late enrollment penalties to discourage people from waiting until they get sick to buy coverage. If we can't get rid of pre-existing condition exclusions, we can expand the limitations on the exclusions. For example, the same rules that apply to employer based plans should apply to individual ones as well. We would still need to limit redaction - once the policy is issued, that's that. If insurance companies are worried about misinformation on the application, they should have an underwriting process that includes a physical. Medicare also has Low Income Subsidies to help those who couldn't otherwise afford it.

You could also mandate that parents must carry insurance on their children.

Mind you, I'm not opposed to mandates, but if it's a sticking point, we just have to find other ways to discourage people waiting until they get sick to buy insurance. And I have no problem mandating it for children - school attendance is compulsory. A parent can't not feed their child. Well, a parent shouldn't be able to have their kid not covered - but just as we have free public education and programs to help low income people feed their kids, we should have programs to help them get their kids insurance too.

I think if we encourage enough healthy people to buy into Medicare, it will lower the average cost per person. Right now, it's only seniors and/or sick people on Medicare - no wonder it's costly.

Let's pass it through reconciliation. We may lose this November, but at least we'll have gone down doing something worthwhile, not like cowering, ineffective wimps. So it would only be good for ten years. If after ten years the program is a failure, it should end. If it's a success, I dare that Congress to get rid of it.

[izzybeans]

12. If only the From: line said "Office of Harry Reid"

or "From the Office of the President"

[kentuck]

17. I talked with a gentleman from MA yesterday...

in my job. And he said most people voted against the Democrat because they thought the proposed healthcare plan would change their present state plan in MA, which they are mostly happy with. They do not want to gamble with losing it. Just another viewpoint.

[Bitwit1234]

18. It is a crying shame that the HOUSE is being tarred with the same

slime the senate is perpetrating. They are getting blamed as well as the senate who are 100% the cause of all this crap. I think it is time we got rid of all the deadwood and put new blood in the senate. Baucus, Nelson, Reid, Landieu and all the rest. Send em home..

[Zenlitened]

19. Sweet! - n/t

[Beavker]

20. It would be nice if we had a Media with dignity left

This is the kind of stuff that needs reported on. Instead, Brown wins and it's all about the Democrats beind done. That HCR is dead. No one wants it.

Why can't they dig deeper? Find out REALLY why this right winger took a place that had been so left for so long. Quit just regurgitating what the old, fat, rich, white repukes, and Faux News and their buddies at CNBC play in a loop all day long.

Money. It's almost becoming pointless.

[dominic savio]

21. populism as profanity....

Why is it, that the most fundamental part of participitory democracy, populism, has become such a difficult concept for Democratic leadership to comprehend? The cheesecake senator elect from Mass. won soley because he drove around in his old pick-up telling voters that he was a regular guy fighting against all the fancy entrenched powers. Was that not the foundation of Obama's appeal...that he was a regular guy and not one of the inside power elites? To allow the right wing wackos to commander the mantel of POPULISM will be the end of any progressive dreams of a future, more equitable society.

[Enthusiast]

49. And W Bush convinced

millions he was gun slingin' cowboy. Yet he was all hat and no horse.

[truedelphi]

23. If you want to know why a channel reports the way they do, look no farther than the

Ads that they run.

Note all those Big Pharma ads for everything from an anti-peeing drugs,to sleep aids to the usual high cholesterol etc.

Surveys have already proven that we click away from those ads. But they ads control what the news casters say at night.

Which is why, except for Bill Moyers, there is not a single Talking Head that has used the phrase "Single Payer Universal Health Care."

[Enthusiast]

50. You are correct.

And it is pathetic. Some of these drugs are outrageously expensive, next to useless and many have life threatening side effects. It's like the side effects are often worse than the disorder the drugs are originally designed to treat.

[truedelphi]

71. Future Big Pharma ad: "Do you occassionally sneeze loudly?"

"We have a new drug called Snnezorin. It will stop you from ever sneezing again. No more embarassment at public gatherings. No more searching for a Kleenix during a public meeting.

"Possible side effects may include blindness, paralysis, heightened impulse to commit suicide, enlargened heart, and in some rare cases, outright death."

[Enthusiast]

72. Zactly, lol. nt

[saracat]

22. I can agree with this! But I doubt they will get through the WH "tin ear"

[BP2]

24. K&R

:kick:

[annabanana]

25. Well I sure as hell hope this memo didn't end up

in the circular file.

It is spot on.

[Quantess]

26. Looks like a good article.

Too bad they chose to vote for Brown.

[secondwind]

27. They should take this path, quickly! As I've been saying, Byrd and Lautenberg aren't getting

ANY YOUNGER! We seem to forget we have two old guys on our side right now in the Senate, and they both come from States with REPUBLICAN Governors!!!!

[Lasher]

46. No they don't.

West Virginia has a Democratic Governor.

[Edweird]

28. I thought the poll said 82% supported SINGLE PAYER.

[SandWalker1984]

29. Take out the marriage penalty in both HCR bills!

The more I read about the so called health care reform (i.e. The Corporate Health Insurance Profits Protection Act) -- the more I find to dislike.

From MSN:

Health bill may impose 'marriage penalty'

Both the House and Senate plans have higher premium caps for a married couple than an unmarried pair making the same money.

By The Wall Street Journal
Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together if the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress is passed.

The built-in "marriage penalty" in both House and Senate versions of the health care bill has received scant attention. But for scores of low- and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say "I do."

[midnight]

Thanks for the find.... "marriage penalty" I wonder what family values sweetheart

put that in the bill?

[midnight]

62. Thanks for the find.... "marriage penalty" I wonder what family values sweetheart

put that in the bill?

[TexasObserver]

30. GO LEFT is the real message from the defectors.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. They don't get it. The people want the public option open to everyone. Not just the uninsured.

[defendandprotect]

32. Voters want MEDICARE FOR ALL ... even CATHOLICS . . .

want a government run health care program ---

and they want it to include pre-and-post-natal health care --

CONTRACEPTION and ABORTION ...

right down to choice/for any reason .... 50%-53% --

the higher figure is when Latinos/Latinas are included!!


So the US Catholic Bishops, Rome -- and Pelosi are playing a very deceptive game!!!

This about the Catholic Church trying to regain control over women and over reproduction.


However, just as many Catholic women as any other women have abortions!!

**************************************************************************

[FailureToCommunicate]

33. Here! Here! -from angry reddish Massachusetts! From Sam Adams thru Shay's rebellion

till this recent vote this state has done lots of crazy things against conventional wisdom...

[bertman]

34. Recced because I LOVE this. nt

[Douglas Carpenter]

35. kick and recommend!!! kick and recommend!!!!

[ddeclue]

36. chIEfs not chEIfs

[Greyhound]

37. K&R

[VPStoltz]

38. Never underestimate the folly of the beleaguered voter.

I am beginning to believe the American electorate can be very spiteful when it doesn't feel like the doing the "right" thing.

[adamuu]

56. I have to admit, I understand the sentiment

I hope I would never let it boil over so much that I'd vote for the fake populist, but I do understand

[lib_wit_it]

39. Sent to Obama and staff? And,(obviously I don't understand the protocol) to the senators themselves?

[sce56]

40. I know I heard Jon Stewart say just recently Bush had a 51 Repugs seats in the Senate

He got everything he wanted!

[Hekate]

43. KnR to read later. Thanks

[bkohatlanta]

48. Obama so far is a wheeler dealer, who gets deals no one wants and calls it victory.

Robert Oppenheimer
On the explosion of the Atom Bomb:

Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

This Obama Bill did nothing for the people who need it most. It just makes the rich richer and murders poor people.
Being sick means, "your doctor" gets a swimming pool and a yacht while you, your spouse and children are homeless.

Allow the importation of foreign drugs, so we can afford them.
Allow immigration of Foreign Doctors from Russia and Ireland among countries. The AMA is a monopoly of greed and they kill people(poor people), real doctors from other countries will give some competition.

[rpannier]

52. But, we've been told over and over

He's not a king or a dictator or a God or some other thing to that effect that's why he can't get these things done

No matter how they slice it, it still sounds like a non-leader to me

[Highway61]

51. Obama not doing enough

These boneheads who voted against their own interest...well, Lets just see what Brown will do for you. You deserve everything you get.....NOTHING

[Recursion]

66. These boneheads

We all vote against our own interests. It's a question of which interests and to what degree.

[NorthCarolina]

54. I thinking about switching my cell service to CREDO. Does anyone here have them as their provider?

I love the fact that a good portion of their proceeds are used to support Progressive government.

[adamuu]

55. I emailed it to my two Senators. n/t

[alberg]

57. This is what needs to be said and repeated till they "get it".

[rosesaylavee]

58. Great letter but will they read it?

Will they think about what it says? Or are they so far gone that they will see who it's from and circular file it? If these folks haven't figured it out by now, I don't think a letter is going to sway them to try being a bit more risky.

This is up to us - a march on Washington... a national strike. WE need to find something that will bring it home to them that this 'safe' course is not really all that safe.

[karacarina]

59. Hope they're listening ...

Come on Dems, take charge while you still can.

[RoccoR5955]

60. From day zero

We have been telling him that this country needs a very sharp turn to the left, not the center.
These false Dems are hurting everyone's chances.

[WillyT]

61. Big K & R !!!

:kick:

[Angry Dragon]

63. K&R

Will read later

[BeFree]

64. That poll

The Maas one is crap.

It was weighted to match the fictitious outcome of the diebolded numbers.

You are being brainwashed.

[MarinCoUSA]

65. This is a joke, right? This d/n happen, did it

N/t

[johan helge]

69. Incredible

that people with such opinions change from Obama to Scott Brown. Brown is against everything they stand for? Don't they know that?

[FailureToCommunicate]

70. Hey, give us a break! He drove a T-R-U-C-K !