Saturday, February 6, 2010

Unless someone is offering up a public option, forget about progressives whipping for the passage of the Senate health bill

By TalkLeft's Big Tent Democrat TL

It takes some chutzpah for a Village blogger like Jon Cohn to insist that progressives clamor for the Senate health bill. Cohn writes:

I should probably reiterate what I've said before. Nobody--not the president and not the members of Congress--are going to move if progressives don't push for [the health bill]. That's where the real shove has to start.
Progressives have been marginalized and insulted throughout the process. Many, if not most, do not care for the Senate health bill. And now one of the people who did the marginalizing and insulting (one of the big proponents of the bill killing excise tax), insists progressives have to fight for the Senate health bill? Amazing.

More importantly, it is not going to happen. Unless someone is offering up a public option (which is not on the table of course), forget about progressives whipping for the passage of the Senate health bill. The Senate health bill is Jon Gruber's and Max Baucus' and Barack Obama's and the Villagers' baby. It is on them. You can't spend a year ridiculing, ignoring, and insulting progressives and then expect them to rally to YOUR cause.

Speaking for me only