The Democratic Party Has Not Failed Us On Healthcare Reform

[Powdered Toast Man]

It will be written that way here and many places when this is over and the watered down ineffective bill is passed in the coming months, but it is not true.

The Democratic Party did not fail us.

Congress in whole failed us.

There 100 Senators; not 60, and they are supposed to represent the whole country; not just their respective parties. The country as a whole wants real reform.

The Republican Party should bear just as much blame, if not more, for this failure as our own.

Aside from that, I just feel numb and have nothing else to say on this tonight.

[varelse]

1. The Republicans succeeded

their goal was not, and IS not to implement health care reform. It's to discredit the Democratic party and regain lost ground in 2010 if they can.

[Powdered Toast Man]

2. And in doing so they failed the country.

I don't care what their goal actually is; their goal is supposed to serve the country.

They have not done this.

[varelse]

7. True

makes it somehow even more appalling that they're winning this fight, and a number of other ones. All that success without even a simple majority. How do they do this?

[rwheeler31]

19. no

[varelse]

47. I hope you're the one that's right

the bastards certainly do not deserve to gain any ground. :(

[TheBigotBasher]

56. Agreed in some part

but I am happy with the baby steps extension of medicare and medicaid, in addition to all the other good parts of the bill. Social Security started off as a baby step, Republicans know this, those in the Democratic Party need to remember it as well.

I doo have to add I am tired of blue dogs using a solid GOP voting bloc to blackmail the Party. We had a Leadership election. They lost. Get in line.

[backscatter712]

3. Certainly, the GOP has failed the country.

They put their own power ahead of the good of their constituents.

They had no serious ideas of their own, all they suggested was cutting taxes and the same old trickle-down shit that fucked up the country in the first place.

But really, they didn't want health care reform at all. So they obstructed, and lied, and gamed the system to block reform by any means necessary.

Suffering constituents didn't matter to them. All that matters is power, and they want Obama to fail so they can retake power, so they blocked health care.

[Powdered Toast Man]

4. Yes.

But that said, they should receive just as much blame for this as the Democratic Party, if not more.

[FLyellowdog]

5. I was just contemplating the futility over all this

when your post came up. I agree...and I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired about HCR.
You'd think this nation could come up with something workable, fair, and beneficial. Guess that's too much to ask. I'm quickly becoming less and less interested and will probably just accept whatever comes down the pike with not much thought. What choice do we have? :mad:

[Powdered Toast Man]

6. Since they don't listen to us anyway...

None.

[pnwmom]

8. Good post. Welcome to DU, Powdered Toast Man! n/t

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. There are 40 Repukes in the Senate. That should make them irrelevant.

Except you have some senators calling themselves "Democrats" who are in reality anything BUT.

I don't blame Republicans for acting like Republicans. I DO blame "Democrats" who act like Republicans.

[Powdered Toast Man]

24. Blame them all.

Do not let the Republican party be without their share of the responsibility to serve the people who voted them in.

[laughingliberal]

53. I do see your point but, sadly, it is almost always the party in power that

pays the price at the midterms. And that's true, to some extent, even when things are going fairly well. The voting public is not that tuned in.

[OHdem10]

10. In a perfect world you might be right. However, in this world

there is a real fact. The GOP has never been and will probably
never be for Health Care. No rational Democrat should have ever
expected anything from them. I know they are doing a headfake
by becoming suddenly the Guardians of Medicare. They are simply
taking advantage of the situation. Typical GOP Politics.

[Powdered Toast Man]

25. That doesn't mean it's right.

They are supposed to serve the people; politics aside, that is their job. Period.

[Cleita]

11. Welcome to DU Powdered Toast Man.

It's true we here at DU tend to frame things politically. I feel the fact that there were Americans who had the power to help other Americans who needed their representative government to help them when they were hurting instead had to play "divide and conquer" games, while the corporations fed on those American's blood, is shocking to me as well. I understand how you feel numb.

[jtrockville]

12. This does not excuse democrats who bargained in exchange for nothing.

Max Baucus took single payer off the table before negotiations even began. Why? What did he get in exchange for that? What did he get in exchange for any of the concessions he made?

The only thing that comes to mind is: contributions from the insurance industry.

[dysfunctional press]

13. WRONG.

with the same numbers on their side, the repugs could get THEIR shittiest legislation passed.

this was a democratic party failure, 110%

[rwheeler31]

15. They could do it when fear was all around,

now we want a real process and progress.

[dysfunctional press]

34. there's fear all around now.

with the 'real' unemployment rate closing in on 20%(or more, depending on the state), people can't help but to be afraid.

[Marr]

16. Agreed. n/t

[KrR]

18. Why weren't they able to privatize Social Secuity then? n/t

[dysfunctional press]

33. smart parasites don't kill the host...

until the time is right.

privatizing ss when the bubble is set to pop isn't a good idea, unless you happen to like angry mobs with guillotines.

[KrR]

36. Umm Bush tried to do it but couldn't get puke votes even...

that was my point.

[dysfunctional press]

40. when was the legislation introduced, and by whom?

:shrug:

i honestly don't recall there ever being a serious attempt to do so.

but they sure had their way with medicare part d.

[Powdered Toast Man]

22. Your reasoning lets them off the hook with no responsibility.

I don't care what party the belong to; their job is to serve the people. Period.

[dysfunctional press]

28. and 'their' people are the wealthy elites and the corporate "people"...

do you even understand how our two party system works?

[Powdered Toast Man]

45. The wealthy are not the only ones who vote for them.

Do YOU understand how our system is SUPPOSED to work?

[dysfunctional press]

49. the non-wealthy people who vote for them KNOW how the repugs will represent them...

the repugs don't try to hide their legislative agenda. they are for the wealthy, and they have conned A LOT of the ignorant poor into believing that the best way to help themselves is to allow the benevolent wealthy people to keep more of their money.

try paying a little attention to the world around you sometime- you'll learn a LOT.

and believe me- you've got a LOT to learn.

[Edweird]

55. Actually, I think they did it with less.Wasn't their majority slimmer?

[Bjorn Against]

14. I think the two party system failed America

We have a Republican Party that opposes any sort of health care reform and we have a Democratic Party which has many members who ally themselves with the Republicans to insure that health care takes a back seat to insurance industry profits. The system is set up so quite often the only "choice" voters have is a choice between a Republican and a Democrat who acts like a Republican. If we were to see real competition in our electoral system then we might see real health care reform.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. For all the blather about the free market and being able to choose the products you want

it doesn't seem to apply to what kind of people we want representing us in our government.

[TicketyBoo]

27. I have said it before

and I'll say it again.

Not much is going to change until we get real campaign finance reform.

Television advertising for candidates should be banned. The way campaigns are run is every bit as toxic to the American public as cigarettes. They banned cigarette advertising on TV, and they should ban political campaign ads, too. Never gonna happen because the ones who would write the ban are too addicted to the foul campaign methods and contributions.

Sometimes it feels like a hopeless situation.

[Bjorn Against]

38. I agree that campaign finance reform is crucial

As long as big money dominates our elections we are not going to see any sort of real change. I wouldn't go so far as to say television ads should be banned, but I do think that we need radical changes to the ways in which ads are handled. I think that campaigns should be publicly financed and the campaigns will all have an equal amount of money that they can spend on producing ads, then all candidates should be given an equal amount of free airtime to air those ads. The public owns the airwaves and the networks should have to provide free airtime for the public good. I think ads are good in the sense that they allow the candidates to put forward exactly the message they want to put forward without being filtered by the news media, but the current system that allows the candidate with the most money to get the most airtime for their ads needs to change.

[salguine]

39. You're not nearly going far enough. I firmly believe that the only thing that will

really change this country looks like this


I've believed for thirty years that it will have to happen eventually,
and I used to pray that it wouldn't happen in my lifetime.

Now I hope for it every goddamned day.

[Bjorn Against]

44. I don't want to see that kind of revolution, I would like to see this kind however...

[PHIMG]

20. How did we wind up with 10 Fake democrats in the Senate?

The Democratic party failed, the leadership and the rank and file failed.

It's time we take our party back from the DLC and the rest of the corporatists.

[Powdered Toast Man]

23. Do not let the Republicans go blameless.

The whole system failed us.

[B Calm]

26. I think we know which political party will be punished next election

and it won't be the cons. I'm sick of these spineless SOB's in the Democratic party! God Damn, they had a fucking chance to do something good for the hard working people in this country and they fucking blew it! We gave them a 60 seat majority and they couldn't govern.

[PHIMG]

29. Since when do Republicans get Democratic Senators elected?

Big money owns both parties and we have to fix that.

[dysfunctional press]

35. the republicans have NOT failed their constituency...

you don't seem to grasp that.
i'll type it slow for you-

they

are

NOT

on

"our"

side

of

the

equation,

fence,

battle,

what

have

ya...

gettin' any clearer yet?

[Powdered Toast Man]

46. No reason to be rude.

And yes, they have. Just because they are ignoring the people who voted for them does not mean they are not still their constituency.

While they may serve the rich and powerful, they are SUPPOSED to serve EVERYONE.

Is it clear to you yet?

[dysfunctional press]

48. it's pretty clear that you never took a civics class.

or if you did, you weren't paying any attention whatsoever, as you haven't a CLUE about how our two-party system operates.

educate yourself.
please.

for your own good.

[KrR]

21. Umm... Its going to a good bill that will go down in history... n/t

[PHIMG]

30. Yes for being the high water mark of sold out Democratic controlled cash and carry government n/t

[slipslidingaway]

31. They both have failed, but right now I know which Party is setting the policy. n/t

[salguine]

32. No not "failed" us...I think "fucked us" is more what they did.

[Luminous Animal]

37. 50+1. The Democrats failed us.

[Incitatus]

41. x

[niyad]

42. as robert fisk said, once elected, they forget they work for us

[WeCanWorkItOut]

43. They've been failing for a long time--since LBJ caved to the doctors in 65

Johnson was in a hurry to get Medicare through.
So he gave away oversight, let doctors and hospitals
charge whatever was customary. And somehow "customary" costs
rose faster and faster. Over the years this hurt more and more.
But Congress yielded to the lobbyists for doctors and
hospitals, and later for pharmaceuticals, and let it happen.
And NPR and the rest of the media, and
the "liberal elites" and the academics, they all let it happen.
It's not just the insurance companies or Congress who are to blame.
It's like our financial crisis. Many people to blame.

[treestar]

50. True, the Republicans deserve plenty of blame

But then the voters who gave us conservative Democrats are part of it, too.

[GeorgeGist]

51. You fail.

[Umbral]

52. Sorry, the voters removed the Republicans from the equation.

The failure of the health care initiative rests solely on Democratic shoulders. Maybe they will learn something from this mess, how to act like an opposition party would be a start.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

54. Nope, the Dems failed by compromising before they needed to

They should have started by insisting on Single Payer, and then the Strong Public Option would have been the compromise position.

By trying to anticipate what they thought the Republicanites would accept they

1) Automatically moved the argument rightward

2) Showed weakness

Always start by asking for MORE than you think you can realistically get.