Thanks to Dennis, I support passage of the bill

[Cronus Protagonist]

I trust Dennis more than any other politician on the hill. If Dennis can be persuaded, I can go along with his decision because I know him to have integrity. Whatever the concept or agreement that swayed him was/is, I'm confident that it is in full alignment with Dennis' integrity. He's not a sell out, of that I am certain.

So Dennis, I support the passage of the bill and I reserve the right to hold Obama and your feet to the fire on fixing the fucked up parts of it.

Obama, you owe us one.

[Warpy]

1. I posted yesterday that politics is the art of displeasing everyone

and this bill is a perfect example of that. There's plenty in it to displease insurance companies and plenty left out to displease people who have been preyed on by insurance companies.

Kucinich just realized what I did, that it's the best we're going to get out of this particular Congress. I'm delighted a liberal lion came around to that viewpoint.

Our best hope is now Grayson and his push for a Medicare buy in, something that should have been done in this bill but which would never have gotten through together with the real restraints on the insurance industry it does contain.

I'm glad Kucinich's support is persuading people in my own corner of the political compass to support this thing. It's a good start.

Now it's up to us to eliminate all the conservative deadwood in Congress so we can expand it.

[bigtree]

2. ha!

Good for you! Good for Dennis.

[zipplewrath]

3. Ha!

Obama, you owe us one.

Good luck ever getting THAT paid off.

I can understand Dennis' decision. He was about to be put truly in a "penalty box" over an issue he really couldn't "win". If he votes against it, whether it passes or not, he's on the leaderships short list for a long time. If it gets defeated, everything he wants to work on is in trouble, and he still isn't going to get a public option. He has decided to continue to play in the game so he had to decide to not throw "good money after bad".

I'm in a different position. They can't put me in a penalty box. Heck, they're already calling me "retarded". They are already bragging that they "rejected" my ideas. This is not what he ran on, key parts of it are what he ran against. I can still call him on it and I will.