Public Option = Count The Votes

[sandnsea]

Do you see where our Dem Senators live? Do you know where the ones who live in red states stand on the public option?

Begich of Alaska?
Tester of Montana?
Johnson of SD?
Hagan of NC?
Dorgan of ND?
Udall of CO?

I know we have problems with Baucus, Conrad, both Nelsons, Landrieu and Lieberman. That's 12 and enough to kill any legislation. We have to win these states all over again, on every single issue.

[The Magistrate]

1. Still, Ma'am, They Must Vote For The People Of the Country And The Party, And Take Their Chances

We will lose seats only if our elected officials do not stand up and keep the President's promises to the people.

[sandnsea]

2. Oh come now, you can't count either? Can't see all that red?

Do you know more people voted for Kerry than Obama in OK, AR, TN, and WV? That's how much those people hate him and everything he stands for, and by translation - US. Some of those states only have 40% voting for Dems at the national level. I don't know why they call themselves Democrats but they don't think like you and I do.

That is the reality those Senators have to deal with. We aren't doing the job if we haven't shifted opinion in those states. Two Senators can't do it alone.

[The Magistrate]

3. It Does Not Matter, Ma'am: They Must Do the Right Thing, And If They Fail of Re-Election, So Be It

Even in most of those states, a majority of the people favor public option, and a great majority of those in those states who vote Democratic favor public option. These people will certainly fail of re-election if they do not represent the people who voted for them.

[sandnsea]

4. And if they are representing those who voted for them?

More people in Arkansas favor Limbaugh than Obama. If the constituents in those states truly wanted a public option, we'd be seeing them pressure those Senators. We aren't seeing it. We're seeing crazy teabaggers who are afraid of losing their country. Do you want more of those kinds of loons in the Senate?

Regardless, my point remains the same. If we want a public option we have to work for it and those are the states we need to be working in.

Funny how nobody wants to deal with the fact that we've got these 12 Senators to deal with. They'd rather spend the day trashing Obama, and he's on their side.

[The Magistrate]

5. They Have To Vote Right, Ma'am: That Really is All There Is To It

"If you run an imitation Republican against a real Republican, the people will choose the genuine article every time."

[sandnsea]

6. Gosh, they vote for Dems at the local level

but won't vote for those loony liberals that run for President.

That's a cute little slogan Howard Dean has, but it's just not true. Wish it were that simple.

[Ardent15]

7. The Dems at the local level are conservative

That's why the vote for them.

[Sebastian Doyle]

8. "Do you know more people voted for Kerry than Obama in OK, AR, TN, and WV? "

And what do those states have in common........ hmmmmm...



...oh yeah, right.

The Repukes can have their votes. I don't want racist subhuman slime in my party.

[sandnsea]

10. Then you're missing 12 votes to pass health care

Get it?

[Sebastian Doyle]

12. They're not voting for it now, are they?

So what's the difference?

I would honestly rather have 50 REAL Democrats in the Senate (with Biden as the tiebreaker) than 60 supposed "Democrats" with at least a dozen who are completely fucking useless.

[sandnsea]

14. Don't know. Why won't their constituents tell us?

Why aren't we fighting to get some of these votes? Why don't we have a targeted strategy? Why are so many on the left still fighting for single payer when that is just a waste of money and manpower right now? It's ridiculous.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. And here you see one of the strikingly un-Democratic fundamentals written into the US Constitution.

Look, I love the Constitution, I respect the wisdom of the FFs... but that said, the United States Senate has the power and propensity to cause all kinds of headaches and mischief on behalf of, say, the 400,000 residents of Wyoming (who control 1/50th of the Senate) at the expense of 34 Million Californians (who control 1/50th of the Senate).

[sandnsea]

11. I didn't count the numbers in the House

I suspect there are similar problems there. Arkansas has 3 or 4 Dem Congressman, SD has a Dem Congresswoman, etc etc.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Well, the house has essentially equal representation based on population.

I forget what it breaks down to, precisely. My point is that if you're one of the 400,000 Wyoming residents, your vote carries a LOT more weight in the Senate than if you're one of 34 Million Californians.

I'm not expecting or even suggesting it should be changed, only acknowledged-- particularly when people talk about how "deeply conservative" the US population is or how many "values voters" there are. Truth is, demographically, conservative 'values voters' -who tend to live in rural places like Wyoming- are OVER-REPRESENTED in the US Government, which is far more "conservative" than the population actually IS.

[ProSense]

13. The top six Senators support a public option. n/t

[sandnsea]

15. Awesome, that means we have the votes

Now we just need to get out in front of the message and shape it ourselves for a change.

[asdjrocky]

16. Don't make doing the right thing complicated.

The right thing is not complicated, it's simply the right thing and it's their job to do it.

[sandnsea]

17. It's our job to make sure they know it

and to make sure their constituents understand that they're doing the right job. It is not our job to just sit back and whine about the DINOS and the DLC and the President and not have a strategy, after all these years, to get into those red states and change their minds.

[asdjrocky]

18. Trust me, I know that.

I have Icongress on my phone, and I use it. As far as doing their job, we've told them what it is, get us a fucking public option. Now they need to quit whining and just go get the job done.

[sandnsea]

19. What are you telling their constituents?

How are you helping them bring a message to their constituents that they will understand and trust.

[asdjrocky]

20. I don't care.

The people have spoken. We were told they wold end the war in Iraq if we elected them to the house in 06, how's that working out?

This system is broken. If you want to explain a system that refuses to recognize what a vast majority of the people in the country have voted for, said they wanted and needed, then knock yourself out.

If you can't see what they are doing to us, if you want to explain it away with local politics, if you still don't know the vast majority of Democrats don't care what the people need or want, then I want to play poker with you and I want to play right now.

Remember that feeling? That big majority feeling? It was all a lie.

[sandnsea]

21. And there it is

You just don't care. You want what you want when you want it and fuck everybody else.

How's that working out for you?

It's not working out for the country, I can tell you that.

We'll have all but 50,000 troops out of Iraq by August, the rest out by 2011.

Those states I mentioned, the people in those states, not as thrilled with the public option because they don't have enough people countering their lies. Most of those red states, 60% of those people said no to Obama so their Senators are in a pickle. That's reality. I really don't understand why so many people refuse to acknowledge it. We are going to have this fight with every piece of legislation if we don't figure out how to get into those key red states and change the political momentum.

[asdjrocky]

22. Sure, I'm just spoiled right?

45,000 people will die in the next year because they don't have insurance. But I guess that's okay because we'll replace them with the 50,000 coming home from Iraq.

Get it in your head this is not what I stood in the rain for. This is not what I went to Iowa for. This is not what 77% of the people in the country want. You can frame it like it's only me, but we both know if it was only me we wouldn't be having this argument.

45,000 people dead and you want to talk to me about a pickle a particular Senator happens to find him or herself in? Screw their pickle. Screw them and screw them getting reelected. This is a catastrophe on the people. 45,000 is a big number when we're talking about people dying. How many have we lost in the wars? If you try to think about it you have to know that you might know one of these people, or at least buy your gas from one, or pass one on the street. When I'm faced with that, I can't think about the political concerns of a bunch of wealthy people and still look at myself in the mirror to shave in the morning.

It's not about what states are red or blue. It's not about the fear of people who won't take the time to be informed. It's about life and death. Please, I'm not fighting you, I'm begging you, think about the people dying. I can't even talk about what some Senator thinks he can accomplish and still keep his job when so many are just trying to hang onto their lives.

It's not what I want, it's what's right. It's not what I want right now, it's what we've been working on for more than 60 years. This will be the most significant thing our elected representatives can do, right now, to save lives everyday. If they are not willing to sacrifice their jobs, then the blood is on their hands.

[sandnsea]

23. Tell it to the people in those states

Oh, and when I say I don't give a shit if people want to give their tax dollars to insurance companies as long as everybody gets health care so they don't die - remember what you just said. It's about people getting health care and nothing else. I do not care if we make a whole other country of fat cat insurance execs - as long as every person in this country gets real health care that they don't go broke paying for.

[asdjrocky]

24. Rocky's shoulders slouch as he exhales long and slow.

He reaches for the keyboard to type, decides it's not worth it, and pushes his chair back from his desk to take a walk through the garden instead.