blueintheface's diary from Dailykos.com
Rahm Emanuel, the man who dismissed the 50-state strategy that led to the political revolution that the 1994 Republicans could only dream about and the Democratic leader who made it his priority to nurse a petty grudge against the man who pioneered the grassroots internet campaign instrumental in Democrats gaining control of the House, Senate and Presidency, recently held a meeting to slam Democratic activists for pressuring the legislators who are holding up healthcare reform, calling their ads "fucking stupid".
I hate to burst Rahm Emanuel's Beltway-approved bubble, but from my lowly position at the bottom of the Democratic hierarchy, I see a whole lot of "fucking stupid", but it ain't coming from the progressive groups.
Please forgive my rant, but I've just had enough.
blueintheface's diary :: ::
Let me just start by saying that as much as the knuckle-draggers like to label anyone who supports Obama as a socialist member of Acorn, I am a loyal Democrat because I live my values rather than pay lip service to them. I am a married, working class mother of three. I believe in equal rights and equal opportunity for everyone (that means everyone). I believe in the Constitution (even the parts I don't agree with). And I believe in Democracy (even standing up for the rights of other people to say things I don't believe in).
So if Rahm Emanuel thinks it's a good idea to alienate me and the millions of others like me in order to try to win favor with the self-preserving, self-absorbed healthcare industry insiders and their paid-for legislators, I think he'd better take a good look in the mirror before calling anyone else fucking stupid. Because prior to the fight for healthcare reform, Rahm Emanuel may think his record so far has been 13-0, but I think his self-serving, cherry-picked score is as suspect as his judgment in calling out progressives for their tactics in fighting for healthcare reform. Some of those same political victories are being touted (fairly or unfairly) by the media as failures and are giving anti-reform groups the ammunition to argue that anything that comes out of Washington as a bad idea, especially healthcare reform. And while Rahm is looking to point fingers for the difficulty in passing this legislation, he's pointing them in the wrong direction.
Fucking stupid is cutting a deal with pharmaceutical companies that leaves potential cost savings on the table without getting them to put their entire weight behind the reform effort to help get it past. Did they really think trotting out Harry and Louise again was going to have the same effect 15 years later? Sorry, but their anti-reform replacements have already taken up their mantle and the insurance industry is playing the fear card this time around through their astroturfing acolytes.
Which is why I think I think it's fucking stupid to let the poster child for healthcare industry greed and sleaze frame the healthcare reform debate. Rick Scott's company paid out almost $2Billion in fines for over-billing and defrauding the government and his story isn't blasted after every Conservatives for Patients Rights ad? Talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight. Why is it that we have to rely on Rick Sanchez to take this asshole down, and why wasn't Scott's past and motivation exposed by the White House and their allies months ago?
Ignoring his own playbook, a knife is all Emanuel is bringing to this fight. And he's using it to threaten the wrong people. Talk about being fucking stupid. How smart is it to throw your support behind the Democratic representatives who brag about killing healthcare reform while leaving your allies who have been working diligently to face violent mobs spewing lies and hyperbole fomented by the well-monied anti-reform insurance company insiders?
Kathy Castor is exactly the type of Democrat that we are talking about when we call for the election of more and better Democrats. But while Rahm Emanuel's beloved Blue Dogs rake in the campaign contributions from the very industry that they are paid to regulate, Castor, Lloyd Doggett and other many other Democrats are being threatened with violence by thugs egged on by the Blue Dogs' insurance industry buddies. And although Rahm is blasting progressives for standing up for real healthcare reform, we are the only thing standing between the healthcare industry, their pitchfork-wielding goons and the defeat of any real reform on the single biggest issue that the Obama administration is going to face.
Whether Rahm likes it or not, the progressive groups and their members are his base. Mike Ross and the Blue Dogs didn't spend hour upon hour getting Barack Obama elected and they aren't supporting him now. It's folks like slinkerwink and Muzikal203, who have whipping up support for Obama since the primaries. And it's folks like nyceve and Jane Hamsher who whipped up support for real healthcare reform long before that. They and groups like Campaign for America's Future, Center for American Progress, and Moveon.org were here long before Ross and the other reform obstructionists, and they'll be here long after they are gone.
So the fact that the White House Chief of Staff can't identify and mobilize his allies, but would rather call them out and antagonize them shows just how fucking stupid Rahm Emanuel is on the issue of healthcare reform. Which is why, as I fight for the real healthcare reform that Rahm's Blue Dog pals are trying to kill, I'd like Rahm Emanuel to kiss my fucking uninsured ass. If he can't stand up for me and my kids and the healthcare system that we deserve in this country, then he should get the fuck out of the way and leave healthcare reform to someone who will actually fight to get it right.
continued>>>
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Progressive-activists-are-by-the-web-090808-687.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
