34 traitors should be kicked out of the party.

[impik]

[Cha]

1. I know I'm pissed at my chicken blue dog.

Cluck Cluck arcuri.

[fedupinBushcountry]

21. Yeah

he is the congressman for my hometown in N.Y. To make me feel even worse Glenn Nye my congressman now also voted no. ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

[playboyj305]

25. Yea Nye is a joke. He didnt vote for the first House Bill. Me and my wife are shocked.

[liberalpragmatist]

38. Arcuri is an idiot

He got spooked, flip-flopped, and then disingenuously tried to claim opposition from the left.

What a fool. His district isn't even THAT Republican. Now he just looks like a coward and he's lost the support of the unions and the Working Families Party.

He seemed to have so much promise just a short time back.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Yes. nt

[tallahasseedem]

3. I agree...

we need a full list.

[rurallib]

4. You can bet their names will be writ large all over the blogosphere tomorrow.

[oldtime dfl_er]

5. and will be

if there's any justice, in November!

[still_one]

6. How do you know it wasn't planned that way? In order to provide them cover /nt

[vaberella]

11. Exactly why I don't agree with the OP. n/t

[Cha]

20. Don't know..all I know is one of them is my blue

dog and the Working Families of New York helped get him elected and he turned chicken and ran after he voted YES the first time.

OFA & moveon emailed me constantly about calling and writing him..which I and my friends in my District did.

[treestar]

40. How does he justify voting for the first bill but not this one?

Since isn't this the "watered down" Senate bill?

:yourock: for your efforts!

[stevenleser]

36. Yes, please, as I said below, most of these folks would have voted "Yes" if Pelosi had called them

and said we needed their vote.

[angee_is_mad]

7. name names

and I will take care of it.

[femmocrat]

12. Jason Altmire of PA. n/t

[harun]

8. We have the list, now we need to get them defeated.

[Wilms]

17. That could be the easy part.

Getting a progressive elected might be another story.

Of course Rahm Emanuels meddling doesn't help.

[butterfly77]

9. K&R!!!

[vaberella]

10. I disagree. I just want Stupak out! n/t

[BlueIdaho]

13. Walt turncoat Minnick is on the list

May he burn in hell.

[mucifer]

14. I'm pretty sure some are progressives we need progressives

[pampango]

28. The last I saw yesterday there were 75 progressives for the bill, 4 undecided, 0 opposed.

I haven't seen this morning how those 4 eventually voted.

[craigmatic]

15. They're not traitors they're just democrats who managed to get elected from conservative districts

Their only real use is to give the dems a majority and to deny the repubs a seat. It's better to have them in the party where they can be limited than to have repubs there with freer hands.

[KingFlorez]

16. We got it passed, that's what counts

[Kalun D]

18. Real Traitors

If you kicked out the real traitors, all the DLC'rs and the corporatists that voted for this sham of a health care "reform" bill there would be nothing left of the party. Which might be a good thing, they had a super majority and didn't do jack sh*t for the people.

It's been this way for a while, about 99 percent of the repugs are sold out to the corps and about 85% of the dems.

Sucks but what can you do. It's a corporate duopoly, the working class are just being used by the people that really own the politicians.

Now misinformed people want to root on the politicians like Kucinich who stood up for what a real progressive should have, although he didn't last against the corporate majority onslaught until the end, oh well.

All because of their perception of a 2700 page bill that no one person has fully read and comprehended. Their perception molded by the corporate TV, the very corporations that have corrupted the politicians, the bill, and always continually the unsuspecting working class victims that believe that Orwellian TV.

[troubledamerican]

23. + 1. When the Supreme Court strikes it down, "root out" Schumer & Feinstein for

giving us Alito.

[pampango]

29. We'd have to kick out the whole Progressive Caucus using your logic. They all voted for it.

Only some of the moderate and blue dog Democrats stood up "against the corporate majority onslaught".

[travelingtypist]

19. They shouldn't get another penny.

Not from the DLC, not from the Democrats in their district. Primary their DINO asses out!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

22. I agree

[Sebastian Doyle]

24. If we're going to purge the party, let's start with the Senate Finance Committee.

This corporate fellation scam should have never seen the goddamn light of day, and they're the ones that wrote it.

A Democratic majority should have had two bills to choose from: HR 676 and SB 1218 (Ted Kennedy's bill from 2007)
Nothing other than those should have ever been considered. Those who made REAL reform impossible are the ones who need to go.

[karynnj]

31. Neither of those bills could have gotten the 60 votes

In fact, neither could have gotten 50. Don't take my word - Bernie Sanders said single payer, which both of those are, does not have the votes - his estimate was lower than 10 votes. Explain how you get something passed that at most 10 Senators would vote for?

[Sebastian Doyle]

43. Like I said, if a Democratic majority was ACTUALLY all Democrats

then it wouldn't have been a problem. And the worst of the traitors are the ones who deliberately wrote a shitty bill to begin with.

So let's take a look at the supposed "Democrats" on the committee that produced this piece of shit:

* Max Baucus, Montana, Chairman
* Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia
* Kent Conrad, North Dakota
* Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico
* John Kerry, Massachusetts
* Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas
* Ron Wyden, Oregon
* Charles Schumer, New York
* Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
* Maria Cantwell, Washington
* Bill Nelson, Florida
* Robert Menendez, New Jersey
* Thomas Carper, Delaware

13 names there, and how many of them fit any reasonable definition of the name "Democrat"? I doubt anyone who's not a DLC'er could find more than 5 on that list with any redeeming qualities at all.

[depakid]

26. Now that is an impressive statement

Hearkens back to something Krugman wrote back in the days before the 2008 primary season.

[Kaleva]

27. I disagree. Many of them probably were given cover by Pelosi.

[stevenleser]

34. People need to read and understand this comment of yours Kaleva

I'm betting that most of these folks were released by Pelosi to vote "No" once she had the necessary votes. Many if not most of them would have voted "Yes" if Nancy had called them up and said she needed their votes.

This vote is not a good choice to determine who should stay and who should go. We should just enjoy the victory.

[Kaleva]

41. I agree.

[Tailormyst]

30. You do realize we live in a democracy right?

Your view on this is scary.

[pampango]

32. 24 of the 34 belong to the Blue Dog coalition; none to the Progressive Caucus.

1. Bobby Bright (AL) - Blue Dog
2. Artur Davis (AL) -
3. Robert Berry (AR) - Blue Dog
4. Mike Ross (AR) - Blue Dog
5. John Barrow (GA) - Blue Dog
6. Jim Marshall (GA) - Blue Dog
7. Walt Minnick (ID) - Blue Dog
8. Daniel Lipinski (IL) -
9. Ben Chandler (KY) - Blue Dog
10. Charlie Melancon (LA) - Blue Dog
11. Frank Kratovil (MD) - Blue Dog
12. Stephen Lynch (MA) -
13. Collin Peterson (MN) - Blue Dog
14. Travis Childers (MS) - Blue Dog
15. Gene Taylor (MS) - Blue Dog
16. lke Skelton (MO) -
17. John Adler (NJ) -
18. Harry Teague (NM) -
19. Mike Arcuri (NY) - Blue Dog
20. Mike McMahon (NY) -
21. Larry Kissell (NC) -
22. Mike McIntyre (NC) - Blue Dog
23. Heath Shuler (NC) - Blue Dog
24. Zack Space (OH) - Blue Dog
25. Dan Boren (OK) - Blue Dog
26. Jason Altmire (PA) - Blue Dog
27. Tim Holden (PA) - Blue Dog
28. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD) - Blue Dog
29. Lincoln Davis (TN) - Blue Dog
30. John Tanner (TN) - Blue Dog
31. Chet Edwards (TX) -
32. Jim Mateson (UT) - Blue Dog
33. Rick Boucher (VA) -
34. Glenn Nye (VA) - Blue Dog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Coalition

[nyc 4 Biden]

33. McMahon may not be a Blue Dog but he is a New Democrat.

http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=44728

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrat_Coalition

[Thrill]

35. LOL. Some actually wanted Chet Edwards as Obama's VP

[liberalpragmatist]

39. Chet arguably gets a pass

Because he actually does vote with Democrats on more things than one would expect from his district. And his district is REALLY Republican, where opposition to the health care bill is very high.

He's one of the few I actually think should get a pass on this.

The thing is, I'm not a purist - at all. I think we need to be pragmatic about who gets to vote for what based on their districts. But really, on health care, no more than a handful of Democrats should have voted no. I mean health care is a unique issue. It is arguably the central policy goal of the Democratic Party for 60 years. Why the fuck did these people run for office as Democrats if they were going to vote against health care?

Yes, I realize some of them were in "tough" districts. But aside from the most Republican ones, none of them were elected in districts that were so Republican they couldn't have at least made a case for the bill. And if some of them lose, so what? What's the point of being a member of Congress if you aren't going to try and solve problems?

[BlueGirlRedState]

42. Chet's not going to get another term

I don't see that happening with all the challengers to him lining up in the GOP primary. I think he only voted against health care to try to save himself but it's not going to happen.

I'm a Democrat, so I'll vote for him, but my heart is not in it.

[bigwillq]

37. No, they shouldn't.

While I wish for every DEM member of Congress to be a strict progressive, the reality is that is likely never to happen. Some of the NOs were probably doing so for political reasons because of the districts they represent. Some were probably even given the OK to vote NO by Pelosi. Just because they don't vote a certain way, doesn't mean they should be kicked out of the party.

[AlinPA]

44. At least one is a complete slimeball: Jason Altmire (PA), UPMC lobbyist. nt

[bigwillq]

45. Then vote him out.

Kicked out is a little irrational, imo. We do live in a democracy, after all, and we may not always agree with how some vote on certain bills. But that's the process. If one doesn't like it, they are free to vote him or her out next election. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't or don't belong to a certain party anymore.

[Bert]

46. yes and no

The house was very careful to get just a few more votes than they needed. Some of those 34 would have voted aye if they had to, but it was a way to give some of them, say from Texas, to not get hurt by the bill. If we had lost, I would be for tarring and feathering every single democrat who voted no or abstained by the way.

[MellowDem]

47. They voted that way because they're in vulnerable districts...

by and large.