Jane Hamsher Goes on Fox and Friends, Kossacks Freak.
Jane Hamsher goes on FOX and Friends, gets condemned by Kossak who didn’t even see it.
Jane’s response:
In 2000, the Republicans passed Medicare Part D, and it had no negotiation for prescription drug prices. And then in 2006, when the Democrats took over Congress, the first thing they did was say “hey, we’re going to roll that back, we’re going to allow for [negotiation of] prescription drug prices to be passed. But now that they actually have the chance, they’re not doing it. And you’ve got people like Jeff Sessions on the floor of the Senate saying this is criminal, this deal is criminal, but he didn’t vote for it in 2000 or 2006 when he had the chance. So we’re sort of looking at a situation where people on the right, people on the left, are looking at the Senate, and they’re saying “nobody’s there representing us. Nobody’s representing the people.” It’s just a matter of who’s in power and who’s taking PhRMA’s money.
Now, I’m not one to go for bizarre conspiracy theories, but I have seen more unprincipled, fact-free character attacks that don’t even address the substance of what Hamsher’s arguing than I can believe. At least count, I saw no fewer than six separate diaries, mostly negative, at Daily Kos. None of these diarists seem to notice that last week Markos Moulitsas, who founded Daily Kos, took a strong stand against the bill as well.
So maybe the White House really is, as firedoglake commenters suggest, mounting a PR campaign to demonize opponents of this shitty health care bill. With Rahm Emmanuel in the room, anything is possible.
Meanwhile I just got email from Chuck Schumer asking me to reward failure. No, seriously:
Dear brendan,
At the end of last week, there was a lot of pessimism surrounding the health care reform effort.
Then all of a sudden, late Friday night, we reached a solid compromise that will cover more Americans, lower costs, and hold insurance companies accountable. We voted on it late Sunday night, and it looks like we have something that can finally pass.
This bill is not perfect. If we could have included a strong, level-playing-field public option to help keep costs down — something many of us fought hard for — this bill would have been a lot better.
But it’s going to be a good bill nonetheless, and we’re going to be working night and day through the end of the year to pass it.
That means I won’t have much time for campaigning between now and the final financial reporting deadline of the year on December 31st, and I’ll need your help.
Contribute $5 or more today to keep our campaign on track for a strong finish to the fundraising year while I’m wrapping up health care.
Right-wing Senators are doing everything they can to dig their heels in and stop reform, including pushing our ultimate vote back until 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve. But we’ll stay as long as it takes to get this done.
Here’s a brief taste of what we’re fighting to do right now:
• Cover 31 million more Americans, including expanding Medicaid to 14 million lower-income, working people [yes, by forcing them to buy overpriced junk insurance with high deductibles. Not the same]
• Require insurance companies to spend at least 85% of their income on providing care instead of marketing and bonuses
• Increase funding for the National Health Service Corps, which recruits physicians and dentists to work in underserved communities across the country
• Increase funding for community health centers in 10,000 communities across the country, enhancing primary care for more than 25 million people who have traditionally been uninsured or underinsured
• Close the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” for seniors’ prescription drug coverage
• Prohibit insurance company discrimination based on gender or pre-existing condition — and make sure you can’t lose your insurance because you get sick [this is a lie: they can charge more money if you're older, as much as 300%. so age is a pre0exiosting condition.]
• End the unsustainable, skyrocketing increases in insurance premiums
• And to top it all off, actually cut the federal deficit by $132 billion (per Congressional Budget Office figures)As opponents of reform start grasping at straws to prevent this major achievement, they’ll look to the year-end financial reports of reform supporters for any signs of weakness.
Let’s show reform opponents they’ll find no weakness here. Please contribute $5 or more to my campaign now.
The bottom line is, we can’t let an opportunity like this pass by. After a tense few weeks, it’s amazing to think that all of a sudden we really are on the cusp of reform.
Thanks for your support,
Chuck Schumer
This bill is not perfect. If we could have included a strong, level-playing-field public option to help keep costs down — something many of us fought hard for — this bill would have been a lot better: that fits perfectly with the strategy predicted by Talking Points Memo: “Dems plan on grousing a lot on TV with the knowledge they’ll have to give way in the end. But this strikes me as a key question. Is that really going to be enough?”
So, let’s back up: Obama campaigned on a public option, which was watered down at the behest of Democrats (not the GOP) and Joe Lieberman (who even the brainless baby could have predicted was going to stab the democrats in the back), Schumer’s admitting failure, and asking for money.
Anyone else see how fucking WRONG that is? “We failed, gimme some money so I can continue to represent you.”
Can you see why “we’re sort of looking at a situation where people on the right, people on the left, are looking at the Senate, and they’re saying “nobody’s there representing us. Nobody’s representing the people.” It’s just a matter of who’s in power and who’s taking PhRMA’s money”?
Because that’s the god’s honest truth.
