Some of us -- maybe all of us in favor of real reform -- think our messaging has been scattershot and poorly defends the multiple fronts on which health care reform is under assault.So what should the core message of...
I suppose the most reliable truism I've learned about politics in my 49 years is that hateful people will always be at war with people who don't deserve to be hated. No matter what coordinates in history one picks to...
All of us complain that the big media often miss the real story, focusing instead on side issues.Now it's happening at TPM, where numerous meta posts have garnered scores of Recs while substantive health care reform hangs in the balance....
1. To prevent the death of reform.Betting the farm on Congress having a strong spine is the same as signing the deed over to the devil. When the morning news shows your congressman or senator surrounded by a mob screaming...
Sorry for the Seinfeldian headline, but for purposes of this post, call me George. And yes, I'm pissed at the cacophony here at TPM, the nihilism and the scattershot messaging about health care reform.Excuse the blunt trauma that may be...
The 300THAT'S NO RALLY, THAT'S A BARBECUEIn a clip from The Real News, David Swanson of Democrats.com says "thousands of people" attended the Healthcare Now! rally on July 30th in the Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill. Not quite. Even...
From left: Jason, Gumbun and sweaty old me mugging like a doofusPREFACEI'm indebted to many sincere and capable people here who put their money where their mouth is when Congress began stumbling over health care reform. Scores of TPM...
First, thanks to all who contributed to send Gumbun and me to the Healthcare Now! single payer rally last week. Special thanks to Gumbun for standing up so tall for this issue and to Jason for going above and beyond...
Got a wake-up phone call from a checken today. Bwak! Bwak! Looks like I'll make it to the airport on time. Should arrive in DC about 11 a.m. after Atlanta layover.Kristy will fly to DC tomorrow.I'll try to find a...
Screen Actors Guild board member and movie star Elliott Gould called me today to express his support for Single Payer health care and to graciously explain a prior commitment that prevents him from attending Healthcare NOW's July 30th rally in...
I understand CT has taken down his blog posts and indicated he is moving on.I have not always agreed with him (understatement?) but I have appreciated his inquisitive nature and rigor in trying to pin down the facts. He can...
As Kristy Ray, kfreed, Jason, Donal and I prepare to visit Washington next week to attend Healthcare Now's single-payer rally and to lobby our delegations, it occurs to me: As compelling as our personal health care stories are, very likely...
As chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) holds sway over the only remaining Senate committee still working on a markup of health care legislation. The HELP committee passed its version, which includes a public option,...
If you haven't read this story of how Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just dealt anti-health reform advocates a potentially winning hand, please do. Reid will adjourn the Senate for the August recess, abandoning any vote until the fall and allowing...
Note from Ripper: Thought I'd pass this along.By Mark Dunlea, Executive Director, Hunger Action Network of NYS; co-chair, Single Payer New York. [phone and fax redacted by Ripper]As the various public option proposals in Congress for national health care reform...
Action on passing universal health care is hung up in Congress while GOP strategists crow about breaking Obama and the media conducts its usual circle jerk.There is and has been for weeks only one point at which the logjam can...
10. Brad and Angelina still adopting risky Third World kids. 9. Sales of hand lotion plummets as insurance executives slow evil hand-wringing. 8. Michael Steele determines that Sarah Palin's stupidity, Mark Sanford's infidelity and Joe Lieberman's flatulence are pre-existing conditions but he...
I should begin by mentioning how grateful I am to the TPM community for digging into their bank accounts to send Gumbun and me to Washington. I'm certain I speak for her, too, when I say it is my profound...
Kudos to Bwak and LisB and Gumbun and Synchronicity, et al, for leading the charge July 31st into D.C. from TPMers who want universal health care NOW. They understand that momentum must BUILD and not be allowed to wane. Stall...
