General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "But we couldn't *possibly* have gotten single payer!" [View all]Maedhros
(10,007 posts)on the defensive. Everyone complains about how the Republicans continually attacked the President and the Democrats during the health insurance debate. That is exactly what they should have done, from a pure-politics standpoint.
A big part of the reason Bush Jr. was able to get away with so much bullshit was that elected Democrats, for the most part, chose to go along to get along (e.g. Iraq War Resolution). I advocate for an taking an aggressive posture vis-a-vis the Republicans, rather than always searching for ways to appease them.
Republicans and their weasely Blue Dog enablers don't want Single Payer? Make them take the risk of fighting against it. Given the public sentiment at the time, the issue carried more risk for them that it did for the Democrats. They threaten filibuster? Fine! Make them stand there in the spotlight pontificating non-stop about how they don't want to help people lower their health care costs, all the while commenting from the sidelines with OUR message.
Framing legislation based upon what Republicans will accept is a non-starter. Compromise is an end point, not the initial action.