Check The Diagonal

Yes We Can and Why I Did

“But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been
anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible
odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't
try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a
simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.”

-Barack Obama, New Hampshire 2008

There are dozens of recaps and impact analysis stories on yesterday’s historic health care reform vote in the House so I’m not going to do that today.  I am ecstatic that affordable health care is now a right for all Americans.  This is what change looks like and is exactly why I voted and worked so hard to elect President Obama. 

Instead I’m going to tell a story about why I care so much.  Those of you who believe in fate or even dumb luck might appreciate it.

I’d never been to Iowa before, yet there I was, freezing my ass off in the December arctic cold in front of Des Moines International. I was waiting for my new boss who had invited me to a customer call to assist in my ramp up. That’s typical for life in sales, August worldwide sales meetings in Arizona, or winters in Chicago or Des Moines; it’s never South Beach in January. The company we visited were not good prospects but we were flying out the next morning and they were really nice guys, so at the end of the call we invited them out for dinner. They declined, a Democratic Presidential candidate named Barack Obama was speaking at a local high school and they wanted to go hear him. After some education on how seriously Iowans take their civic responsibility we could only accept their invitation to join them.

At this point I have to admit that I was seriously unhappy with this turn of events. I was cold, there was no sale, and I wasn’t going to get a cocktail to soak my miseries with.

As corny as it may sound what happened next literally changed my life forever. It wasn’t the speech itself, which was a combination of his red state-blue state speech from the 2004 Democratic Convention and his Iowa victory speech. This was the first time I’d ever heard a politician speak without depending on personal pronouns to carry the point. The speech wasn’t about him or the shiny new job he wanted to get his hands on or how he was going to single handedly make my life better because he was so great. The speech was about the people in that gym and it was about personal responsibility and accountability and perseverance and accomplishment in the face of the longest odds. It was about the failures of cynicism and the power of hope and what could be accomplished if Americans would stand up and work for change, because we must, not selfishly, but on behalf of each other.

For my entire life I equated my own personal success with wealth creation, with hustling to get ahead and get by. I had escaped the ghetto of my childhood and never looked back. At that moment I realized that I learned all the wrong things, and that I’d lived my life in a very shallow and meaningless way. Now I feel very strongly that if all I do with the balance of my life is to create more wealth in order to create more distance between myself and where I came from, I will have failed miserably. 

I was 39 years old the day I voted for Barack Obama in the Georgia Democratic Primary.  It was the first time I’d ever voted in my life and looking back I have a lot of guilt associated with my non-participation in our government, especially considering the Bush 8 years.  Understand though, where I come from parental guidance was a daily lesson in what not to do and politicians only pandered in my neighborhood during the closest of elections only to disappear again the day afterwards.  In my eyes, and in the eyes of my community, voting was a privilege reserved for downtown people, rich people and more specifically, rich white people and so I never wasted my time or my energy on voting.  The only thing registering to vote got you was jury duty.  I was wrong. 

Those nice Iowans I met that day took their responsibility seriously because it is.  Elections matter.  If President Obama has taught me anything over the past two years its that one person CAN make a difference.  Perfect isn’t achievable, waiting is untenable and ambivalence, in the way I was, is inexcusable.  But if we each get up and try to do only what we can, great things can be accomplished.

“When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge -- we overcame it. We did not avoid our responsibility -- we embraced it. We did not fear our future -- we shaped it.”

-President Barack Obama, White House 2010 

 

Facts are stubborn things...

A very good Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island…

I agree with this.  Liars need to have very good memories and in this internet age the Republican Party will be made to remember and answer for every single word. 

We know the Republican machine has been lying to the American people, this is a fact. What happens to their party when the general public, who was lied to in order to create false opposition to this bill, realize it.

60 Votes in the Senate

Overall my net is that I'm happy with the HCR bill taking under consideration the true definition of hard.  I am also pretty disappointed and discouraged by Progressive understanding of the same. There is a monumentally huge difference between what is ideal and best, and what can get passed in the current political environment, and by that I mean the one party system we currently live in.  

I sometimes feel Progressives lose sight of reality and what can get passed and signed into law because they so firmly understand would be ideal. I do think our country would much better off if more of our Representatives look like Bernie Sanders, Russ Feingold and Al Franken.  And I do think Single Payer is the best possible HC system for Americans.  We just don’t live in that world.  The public option was the single most popular aspect of HCR with the American people, and when it came time count to 60, that meant jack.  Understanding what is just and right and more ideal is not the key to victory; working and understanding the system is.  You cannot win at anything if you don't know the rules of the game.  Progressives like Howard Dean would have us forfeit based on a dream that would never become reality. 

Just call the 60 votes on the Manager’s Amendment this weekend a win for the home team at any cost and move on. 

I know it’s a moot point at this stage but we Democrats didn't have 60 when President Obama was elected. Reconciliation would have been the only way to pass anything HC related and that would have meant no insurance reform which there is plenty of in the current bill.

and on paying attention

This is exactly what I’m talking about regarding paying attention.  If we don’t, we will be fed misinformation and untruths by people and organizations not concerned for our best interests, the public welfare or the greater good.

Every Republican lie and vague misinformation should be attacked in the very same way.

 

Thought Al Franken was a comedian?  Think again, he’s got game.

Shep Smith is the man

I still don't understand how he keeps his job on Fox but Shep Smith continues to keep it real..

Barrasso looks like a deer in headlights.  Smith knows the issue better than he does and refuses him the layup of regurgitated Republican talking points....love it!  Worth watching.

"It's not a government take over Senator. That's not fair and we both know it. It's not a government takeover because what it would be is a government option if you have insurance now and you like it you can keep it. If you want the government option, a government run, paid for by those who buy it, government run option to try to keep costs down."

 

The GOP's alternative to universal coverage- Oh grow up!

Representative Lynn "The GOP is looking for a Great White Hope" Jenkins thinks the answer for uninsured Americans is that they should "be a grown up and buy their own health insurance."

The woman questioner in the video is a full-time working, single mother of two whose employer does not provide health coverage. I cannot imagine any more grown up than that.  This is not a welfare case and if it were, the government would already be paying for her health care.  This woman works for a living and wants an insurance option that she can actually afford to pay for herself and Lynn Jenkins laughed at her. 

Call Lynn Jenkins and let her know single working mothers who cannot afford health care for their children is no laughing matter.

Washington, DC Office
Phone: (202) 225-6601

Topeka Office
Phone: (785) 234-LYNN (5966)

Sums it up...

I found this over at Ballon Juice.  They just don't get it do they?

If it's good enough for the President and the Senate...

WTF Chuck?

Chuck Grassley's job is to slow everything down, pretend he is willing to work with the Left while making sure the Right knows nothing is ever going to get done as long as he is leading the negotiation.

Check out these two juicy bits within a moment of each other:

I don't think it's going to be possible to work it out with the administration because they're all over the field -- all over the ball park, I guess, as we say.

But, yes, I do believe it's possible to reach an agreement.

 

How can you oppose reform with numbers like these?

If these numbers from the CDC don't make you angry I don't know what will.

The United States ranked 29th in the world in infant mortality in 2004, compared to 27th in 2000, 23rd in 1990 and 12th in 1960, according to a new report from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Does it really ALWAYS come down to racism in this country?  Is this a black and hispanic problem or an American one?

The infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic black women was 2.4 times the rate for non-Hispanic white women. In 2005, the infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic black women was 13.63 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to a rate of 5.76 for non-Hispanic white women. Rates were also higher for Puerto Rican and American Indian women, 8.30 and 8.06 respectively.

 

Another good ABC truth piece

Via Media Matters

The truth about Tea-Baggers

Greg Sargent has no real surprise here.  The Tea-Bag movement never wanted to have an honest debate.  We know this.  Their objective is to stop Obama from acomplishing anything positive as long as he is in office.  No matter the cost to the American people.

“The goal is not compromise, and ANY bill coming out this year would be a failure for us,” the moderator said, according to AFL-CIO’s notes.

And

Another organizer on the call, according to AFL-CIO, added: “The purpose of Tea Parties is not to find a solution to the health care crisis — it is to stop what is not the solution: Obamacare.”

Republican FAIL

I saw this while reading Steve Benen this afternoon.  Ramesh Ponnuru at The National Review lays out the Democratic playbook.

If you were a Democratic leader who wanted to lay the groundwork to cut Republicans and moderate Democrats out of the legislative process, wouldn't you be portraying the critics of your health-care legislation as unreasonable racist nuts right about now? In September you could say that you really wanted to work with Republicans but unfortunately they are all being intimidated out of working for the common good by their crazy base. All the more reason for Republicans to do what they should be doing anyway: to make the case against the legislation in as measured, civil, and sensible a way as we can.

I disagree in that Democrats don't really need to "portray" Republicans as out working for their crazy base.  They are.

 

I told you Bill Maher was right

Investor's Business Daily printed this gem on the latest in death panel nonsence today:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

Hawking is British and has lived in the UK his entire life.

Americans are stoooopid.

The Pelosi/Hoyer USA Today opinion piece

The piece titled "Un-American attacks can't derail the health care debate" can be read on the USA Today site.  

However, it is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue. These tactics have included hanging in effigy one Democratic member of Congress in Maryland and protesters holding a sign displaying a tombstone with the name of another congressman in Texas, where protesters also shouted "Just say no!" drowning out those who wanted to hold a substantive discussion.

I dislike the use of the term Un-American since that was the exact blunt instrument used by the Cheney/Bush gang to beat the American public into a war in Iraq post-9/11.  I didn't like it when it was a Republican strategy and I don't like it any more now that Pelosi and Hoyer use it today.  That being said, there is something ironic about the Conservative dissenting strategy of trying to drown out anyone from thinking, speaking or listening by shouting "this is America."

Uh-Huh

Care of Andrew's Daily Dish

"[W]e must stick to a discussion of the issues and not get sidetracked by tactics that can be accused of leading to intimidation or harassment. Such tactics diminish our nation’s civil discourse," - Facebooker Sarah Palin, two days after calling Obama's healthcare plan a "downright evil" that will target her Down Syndrome baby with a "death panel."

Bill Maher is right, Americans are stupid

Worth a complete read here.

Money quote:

And before I go about demonstrating how, sadly, easy it is to prove the dumbness dragging down our country, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. On the eve of the Iraq War, 69% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9/11. Four years later, 34% still did. Or take the health care debate we're presently having: members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and "listen to their constituents." An urge they should resist because their constituents don't know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told his Congressman to "keep your government hands off my Medicare," which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways.

McCain said she was qualified to be President

Sarah Palin, via her facebook account:

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we're saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course.

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Steve Benen summarizes beautifully.

But in the larger political context, a statement like this positions Palin as something of a disgrace. After insisting that her family be left out of political debate, here's Palin dragging her special-needs infant son into the discussion, in order to spread an obvious lie. What's more, for Palin to write such a statement for public review makes clear that she's either conspicuously unintelligent or she thinks her followers are idiots. Either she believes her own vile nonsense or she assumes her audience is foolish enough to believe patently ridiculous attacks.

Either way, Sarah Palin is a national embarrassment, and she's getting worse.

and this is the woman John McCain nominated to be one step away from becoming President of the United States.

Very good factual counter to Republican fiction

This is the Obama team at their best, speaking directly to the American people. 

Great quote

"If every member of Congress put their heads on their pillow every night like I do ... knowing this could be the night I lose my house, we'd fix health-care in a week." -Rep.  Steve Kagan (D-Wis) who is the only member of Congress to reject federal health benefits until his constituents can have equal coverage.

(HT: Steve Benen)