More Dean

DEAN: "Kill the Senate Bill"

From Greg Sargent

Dean said the removal of the Medicare buy-in made the bill not worth supporting, and urged Dem leaders to start over with the process of reconciliation in the interview, which is set to air at 5:50 PM today on Vermont Public Radio, political reporter Bob Kinzel confirms to me.

The gauntlet from Dean — whose voice on health care is well respsected among liberals — will energize those on the left who are mobilizing against the bill, and make it tougher for liberals to embrace the emerging proposal. In an excerpt Kinzel gave me, Dean says:

“This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”

Obama Hearts Lieberman

Excuse me while I vomit in rage.

Ah, Texas...

After the recent setbacks in gay rights, interesting that this good news would come from the Lone Star. Texas has always been more complicated politically than the rest of the country seems to give it credit for, but those complexities will only become more apparent, and more important, as the state grows in population and national influence.

Houston Is Largest City to Elect Openly Gay Mayor

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

HOUSTON — Houston became the largest city in the United States to elect an openly gay mayor on Saturday night, as voters gave a solid victory to the city controller, Annise Parker.

Cheers and dancing erupted at Ms. Parker’s campaign party as her opponent, Gene Locke, a former city attorney, conceded defeat just after 10 p.m. when it became clear he could not overcome her lead.

Twenty minutes later, Ms. Parker appeared before ecstatic supporters at the city’s convention center and then joked that she was the first graduate of Rice University to be elected mayor. (She is, by the way.) Then she grew serious.

“Tonight the voters of Houston have opened the door to history,” she said, standing by her partner of 19 years, Kathy Hubbard, and their three adopted children. “I acknowledge that. I embrace that. I know what this win means to many of us who never thought we could achieve high office.”

With all precincts reporting, Ms. Parker, the city controller, had defeated Mr. Locke 53 percent to 47 percent.

This is Kind of Funny

From AP.

Shunned Illinois senator suddenly relevant

WASHINGTON — For Democrats determined to get a health care bill, Sen. Roland Burris is like the house guest who couldn't be refused, won't soon be leaving and poses a plausible threat of ruining holiday dinner. Suddenly, he can no longer be ignored.

The Illinois Democrat, appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, says he'll only vote for a bill to provide health care to millions more Americans as long as it allows the government to sell insurance in competition with private insurers.

And he says he won't compromise.

"I would not support a bill that does not have a public option," Burris, 72, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "That position will not change."

Olympia Snowe's Vote

Trolling the internet for compelling responses to Olympia Snowe's vote in the Senate Finance Committee today. Best so far was on the New York Times website. This from Theda Skocpol, in a response to the question whether it is a healthy thing for one Senator to have such power.

No, it is not healthy. But the problem is not just Olympia Snowe — it is a set of Senate rules, formal and informal, that privilege a few votes from senators in small states.

This vote is not the final word, however. This is just a matter of getting a bill out of Senate Finance committee. Bills have to be merged for a final vote in each house, and a conference will work out final details between the Senate and House versions in due course. A lot can and will change.

Olympia Snowe is trying to maintain her leverage in this process, and she is in a sense a proxy for various conservative Democrats, too. She wants to try to shape the final “compromise” on a public option — essentially to block it with a “trigger” approach that would prevent a real option.

Remember, in the end, Olympia Snowe really cannot obstruct final passage. She may get in trouble with fellow Republicans in the Senate if she votes with the Democrats, but she will be in bigger trouble at home in Maine if she obstructs. Maine people want reform.

We have a long ways to go and this is not really all that decisive.

The insistence here that the people of Maine want reform stays with me. East Coast Republicans are all but an extinct species, and I am somewhat heartened by Skocpol's diagnosis: Snowe may have to support a public option because she has done the political calculus. Now I wish I knew more about the political scene in Maine.

Barnstormin' For The Public Option

Howard Dean recently made an impassioned argument for public healthcare. Too bad there were only 150 people there and I had to read about it in the Concord Monitor. Yep, it was at a local Concord bookstore expressed unbounded optimism like this:

Dean said he is hopeful that the public option can pass either with floor
votes or in the reconciliation process.

"Can," not "will." Every knows it can pass. But hey, it looks like the Dems wont let it.

Why is a former presidential frontrunner and the former head of the DNC (that was, in no small way responsible for Obama's presidential victory) being sidelined to such a degree?

An Interesting Point.

On a recent post about the public option at TPM, reader CranialRectalLoopback made a comment so interesting I would like to share it here.

Why does the Senate pretend like there aren't TWO FUCKING BILLS coming out of committees?

Why is everyone pretending that FOUR OF FIVE BILLS have the public option?

If we follow the new 75% rule of the Repubes, we have 80% of the proposed bills with A FUCKING PUBLIC OPTION!

As a side note: If the Democrats were ever really serious about passing public health care wouldn't they have named it something sexier than "the public option." A better name is harder to vote against, a bad name is easier to vote against, just ask the Republicans with their "death tax."