I'm calling out (and calling) the Blue Dogs

[deaniac83]

Crossposted from http://www.thepeoplesview.net">The People's View.

Health reform is really near the finish line. This is a critical juncture. Yesterday, the President put his bold leadership on the line and gave it one big push. Now, we need Democrats in the House and the Senate to push final reform through. I say Democrats, because the Republicans have decided that obstructing is the only path they are willing to go down. So it's on the majority party, the governing party. The Democratic party.

When the House last voted on health reform, the House progressives heroically did the right thing and voted for the bill despite its many imperfections. Conservative Blue Dog Democrats, however, weren't in a cooperative mood. 97% (all but two) of the Progressive Caucus supported the House bill, while only 57% of Blue Dogs did the same. 23 members of the Bluedog Coalition voted NO on the House bill. All the statistics and numbers here are obtained from Progressive Caucus and Blue Dog member lists and vote tallies of the House health care vote and the Stupak amendment vote. We are now hearing that Bart Stupak (who is a member of neither caucus) is threatening to walk away with 10-12 members because the abortion language in the Senate bill that the House now must pass does not disrespect women quite as much. Speaker Pelosi has always shown great leadership, and now we are hearing that 10 Democrats who voted No on the original House legislation may vote for the Senate bill and the reconciliation fix.

I don't know about you, but it's too close for comfort for me. I want to give Speaker Pelosi a hand. If the Bluedogs are going to be called Democrats, have the privileges of the majority party, hold chairmanships, and run things as part of the majority party, they must bear some responsibility and take some tough votes for the leadership. Below, I am listing three categories of Blue Dogs I believe need to hear from us (especially constituents)

1. Those who voted NO on final passage, and NO on Stupak. These members, in theory, should be the easiest switchers from NO to YES on final passage. In all likelihood, their reason for opposition was the public option. Now that that's gone, they no longer have an excuse to vote NO.
2. Those who voted NO on final passage, and YES on Stupak. If Stupak wasn't enough to get them to vote yes, the public option may have been the reason they voted against the bill. It's gone now, and they should be able and willing to accept the Nelson language on abortion.
3. Those who voted YES on final passage, and also YES on Stupak. These may be some of the wavering 10-12 above. Your message to them should emphasize that Nelson's language on abortion is still fairly restrictive, and the Hyde amendment remains in place. They need to keep their Yes votes on final passage.
So here are the Blue Dogs, in those three categories (with leadership listed on top, and the rest of the list alphabetized). If one of these members is your member of Congress, please call his or her office first, and then call as many other people as you can.

NO on final passage, NO on Stupak - 9 Blue Dogs

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration - Phone: [phone]
Dan Boren (OK-02) - Phone: [phone]
Allen Boyd (FL-02) - Phone: [phone]
Bart Gordon (TN-06) - Phone: [phone]
Frank Kratovil (MD-01) - Phone: [phone]
Betsy Markey (CO-04) - Phone: [phone]
Walt Minnick (ID-01) - Phone: [phone]
Murphy (NY-20) - Phone: [phone]
Glenn Nye (VA-02) - Phone: [phone]

NO on final passage, YES on Stupak - 14 Blue Dogs

Jim Matheson (UT-02), Blue Dog Co-Chair forCommunication - Phone: [phone]
Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip - Phone: [phone]
Jason Altmire (PA-04) Phone: [phone]. This genius went on Fox Noise to express his "skepticism" on health care.
Bobb Bright (AL-02) - Phone: [phone]
Ben Chandler (KY-06) - Phone: [phone]
Travis Childers (MS-01) - Phone: [phone]
Lincoln Davis (TN) - Phone: [phone]
Tim Holden (PA-17) - Phone: [phone]
Jim Marshall (GA-08) - Phone: [phone]
Charlie Melancon (LA-03) - Phone: [phone]
Colin Peterson (MN-07) - Phone: [phone]
Mike Ross (AR-04) - Phone: [phone]
John Tanner (TN-08) - Phone: [phone]
Gene Taylor (MS-04) - Phone: [phone]

YES on final passage, YES on Stupak - 18 Blue Dogs

Remember these members have already voted Yes on the House bill, so when you call, thank them for their vote and ask them to hold firm in that position and vote Yes again. Talk about the abortion language only if they bring it up.

Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy - Phone: [phone]
Joe Baca (CA-43) - Phone: [phone]
John Barrow (GA-12) - Phone: [phone]
Marion Berry (AR-01) - Phone: [phone]
Sanford Bishop (GA-02) - Phone: [phone]
Dennis Cardoza (CA-18) - Phone: [phone]
Chris Carney (PA-10) - Phone: [phone]
Jim Cooper (TN-05) - Phone: [phone]
Jim Costa (CA-20) - Phone: [phone]
Henry Cuellar (TX-28) - Phone: [phone]
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03) - Phone: [phone]
Joe Donnelly (IN-02) - Phone: [phone]
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08) - Phone: [phone] - by the way, Ellsworth is running for the Senate to replace Bayh. If you can create some pressure within the party, that could work well.
Mike Michaud (ME-02) - Phone: [phone]
Earl Pomeroy (ND) - Phone: [phone]
John Salazar (CO-03) - Phone: [phone]
Zack Space (OH-18) - Phone: [phone]
Charles Wilson (OH-06) - Phone: [phone]

If you'd rather use one of the toll free numbers to the Capitol Switchboard and ask for one of these members, here are those numbers: 1-866-338-1015, 1-866-220-0044, 1-866-311-3405.

Please make a few of those calls. Make as many calls as you can. Get your friends and family and neighbors to call. If you have friends or family that live in the districts of the people I listed, call them and get them to call. Flood their offices. They need to hear from us. Let's get health reform done - together, all of us, on the same side - on the side of reform. Let's roll.

For the original post with the sources linked, please see:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2010/03/im-calling-out-and-calling-blue-dogs.html

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Don't stop with the blue dogs.

Go after guys like Grijalva and Kucinich as well.

[deaniac83]

2. Oh, I plan to

Kucinich really is a lost cause. He was on Washington Journal on C-Span yesterday being the left puritan that he is bashing the president's proposal. I wrote about that on my blog yesterday:

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2010/03/kucinich-will-vote-with-republicans-on.html

And the Grijalva story has me pretty angry. This is not the time for progressives to peel off from the most far reaching social safety net since Medicare. I will do another piece on him later on or tomorrow.

[Hello_Kitty]

6. Yeah, who does Grijalva think he is, a Blue Dog?

Everyone knows that when the Blue Dogs want to strip out popular provisions like the public option or sniff panties like Stupak and Nelson, they must be appeased. But the dirty fucking hippies? Hell no. They need to STFU and take whatever the DLC deigns to give them.

:eyes:


Seriously, if the HCR bill included a complete repeal of Roe v. Wade would you still support it? I think you would.

[Cha]

3. Thanks deaniac..I called my blue dog today, Michael Arcuri,

and talked to his aide, Colby. In a nutshell.. He said he hadn't made up his mind yet and I said "Please do it for the People."


Michael Arcuri's number~ 202-225-3665

[deaniac83]

4. Thanks for calling!

I'm of the mind that we need to make their phones ring off the hook until this thing is signed, sealed and delivered.

[Cha]

5. Steve Benen of WashingtonMonthly did

a whole piece on Michael Arcuri yesterday. When I talked to his aide he said he hadn't made up his mind Yet.

"CRAVEN, CONFUSING COWARDICE.... I can appreciate why there's at least some optimism in progressive circles about health care reform's chances. The odds of success are clearly better than they were, say, six weeks ago.

But it's important to remember Democrats' capacity to shoot themselves in the foot.

By all appearances, the margin will be razor-thin in the House, where it will be imperative to keep as many Dems who voted for reform the first time on board with final passage, while reaching out to Democratic opponents to change their minds. When weak-willed incumbents like this one show almost comically-bad judgment, the task is all the more difficult.

Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY) voted for House health care legislation in November. But he says he's almost certain to vote no on the Senate bill when it comes up for a vote in the House later this month, according to a report in the Utica Observer-Dispatch.

"There would have to be some dramatic changes in it for me to change my position," Arcuri said.

Back in November, he was saying somewhat different things. "There are some parts of the Senate bill I like better, and some parts of this bill I like better than the Senate version. I look at this as piece of the whole -- this is the first step in a process."


And why, pray tell, would Arcuri vote for health care reform before voting against it? He apparently has three reasons.

The first is that he thinks the health care reform bill should be broken up into parts, and considered piecemeal. Whether Arcuri realizes it or not, this is absurd -- reform doesn't work piecemeal; the parts are interdependent.

The second is that he doesn't like reconciliation. This, too, is a rather pathetic excuse. Not only does reconciliation exist for budget fixes, but Arcuri is in the House, where there's already majority rule and no need for reconciliation.

The third is Arcuri's concerns about the excise tax, which is at least coherent. But keep in mind, under the White House approach, the excise tax's eligibility threshold is raised, and implementation would be delayed until 2018, which is intended specifically to address concerns like Arcuri's.

In truth, Arcuri's opposition sounds like someone searching desperately for an excuse. He's just scared. I understand why -- Arcuri represents a swing district in central New York, and he doesn't want to lose his job for doing the right thing.

But it gets us back to the same inescapable electoral dynamic: Arcuri already voted for health care reform. He has, in other words, already taken the proverbial hit. Arcuri can reap the possible reward only if he helps deliver on the promise. If he turns tail now, the political problem doesn't get better for his re-election campaign; it gets considerably worse.

Later this year, Arcuri is going to see one of two television attack ads in his district: (1) an ad that tells voters, "Arcuri voted to pass a liberal health care reform bill"; or (2) an ad that tells voters, "Arcuri voted to pass a liberal health care reform bill -- and then ran anyway when things got tough."

His fear notwithstanding, Arcuri will be in a much stronger position to defend himself on the heels of success, not failure. I'm not suggesting he take one for the team and vote for reform regardless of the consequences; I'm suggesting that it's in Arcuri's own self-interest to support good legislation that will help his constituents.

Cowardice always seems easier, but the consequences are usually far more severe."

—Steve Benen 11:15 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (24)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/monthly/2010_03.php

[Yuugal]

7. I live in his district and don't buy it

Arcuri kept his promise to progressives by voting for the house version. He is making a good move if he drops his support for the corporate care version being foisted on us now by Obama and his rich ins buddies.

I certainly don't expect a guy like Arcuri, who has no doubt watched the many faces of Obama develop over the last 2 years, to run out and buy a sword to fall on for the guy anytime soon. This mess is all on Obama. He was the one who started negotiating by punting on first down and giving up single payer without a fight. Then he sent health care out to die on the town hall circuit; he cut back room deals and sent Rahm in to kill the reimportation of prescription drugs.

Guys like Arcuri had tons of courage to vote for the PO in the house, especially in a district like this, and Obama and his corporate crew of senate dems shanked him from behind. My advice to Arcuri is: hang on friend. Stay away from the dc whirlwind that is going to hit the purveyors of this corporate crap bill. We just might keep the seat.

[butterfly77]

8. K&R!