WataugaWatch

Sen. Ben Nelson gets no Blue Dog love in Nebraska. How tragic, how sad, how well deserved.

Labels: Ben Nelson, health care, Senate Blue Dogs

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), quoted in this a.m.'s NYTimes: "There are 52 solid Democrats for the public option. Only about five Democrats oppose it. Should the 52 give in to the five? Or should the five go along with the vast majority of the Democratic caucus?"

Harkin doesn't name "the five" (though six might appear to be the correct number, if 52 + 6 still equals 58, which is the total number of Democrats in the Senate, not counting the two unaffiliated senators who caucus with the Democrats). So let's guess:

Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas)
Kent Conrad (North Dakota)
Ben Nelson (Nebraska)

That's five right there, based just on public statements and some committee votes. That's five without adding Max Baucus, since he has said he'd be for a public option, if the planets in this and every other solar system aligned just right.

Labels: health care, Senate Blue Dogs

To recap: the five Democrats who voted against the Jay Rock public option amendment to the Baucus health reform bill in the Senate Finance Committee: Max Baucus of Montana, Tom Carper of Delaware, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, and Bill Nelson of Florida.

What's the insurance market like in those five senators' states?

NORTH DAKOTA -- 89% controlled by Noridian/Blue Cross Blue Shield North Dakota

ARKANSAS -- 75% controlled by Blue Cross Blue Shield Arkansas

MONTANA -- 75% controlled by Blue Cross Blue Shield Montana

DELAWARE -- 42% controlled by CareFirst/Blue Cross Blue Shield

FLORIDA -- 30% controlled by Blue Cross Blue Shield Florida

NOTE: The U.S. Department of Justice defines a "highly concentrated" market as one where a company controls at least 42% of the market share.

An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics found that those Senate Democrats who opposed the public option amendments got more cash from insurers than those who supported it:

* The Democrats who voted against the Rockefeller amendment have collected $97,472 more on average from insurance companies since 1989 than the Democrats who voted for it -- $325,424 compared to $227,952.

Hat-tip: Chris Kromm & Sue Sturgis of Facing South

Labels: corporate power, health care, Max Baucus, Senate Blue Dogs

Which part did you like best, that the five Senate DINOs below voted with their puppet-masters, the insurance corps, yesterday on the Rockefeller amendment, or that Sen. Baucus said he actually supported a public option but wasn't voting for it because it couldn't pass the Senate because he would vote against it?

The Corporate Kleptocracy is alive and well in the U.S. Senate and doesn't even bother any more trying to cover its own hilarious twisted logic. Thank you so much for playing, and don't forget your parting gifts:

Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Tom Carper (D-DE)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Max Baucus (D-MT)

Labels: health care, Jay Rockefeller, Max Baucus, Senate Blue Dogs

Ryan Grim is reporting that "whip counts" of the Blue Dog Dems in the U.S. House is showing that the overwhelming voter support for a public option in health insurance may be having some impact. Grim writes that there is now a "lack of concerted, ideological opposition to a public option." The Blue Dog caucus is split.

The bluest of the Blue Dogs, and the leader of their opposition to actual health care reform, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), has a looming scandal on his hands. Ross took a big fat payoff (or ... "bribe") from an "Arkansas-based pharmacy chain with a keen interest in how the debate [on health care reform] plays out."

When a dog turns this blue, there's usually corporate money supplying the color. We're looking in your direction, Heath Shuler.

Not that these Democratic outliers in the House will ultimately matter to reform or to history. It's the corporatist Democrats in the Senate that hold all the power on this issue.

Labels: health care, Health Shuler, Mike Ross, Senate Blue Dogs

Sen. Kay Hagan was one of 16 Blue Dog Dems in the U.S. Senate summoned to the White House this p.m. for a meeting with President Obama (ABC is reporting).

Quite the list of frail reeds (and a few who ought to be ashamed to be clumped up with any kind of obstruction): Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mark Warner of Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Tom Carper of Delaware, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet of Colorado, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, and Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

Labels: health care, Kay Hagan, Senate Blue Dogs

Guest Blogging: Irmaly

Yesterday (Friday) was an interesting day in the health care reform movement. Without getting into all the details, things were swimming along until three wanker Democrats in the U.S. Senate (and one wanker "independent Democrat") wrote a letter saying, "Whoah. We're moving too fast. We must stop this. We must get more information. We can't get this done before the August break."

They said this because also yesterday (Friday) the insurance lobby, already spending $1.4 million a day to move Congress critters in their direction, was all in a dither because the chances of a government public option passing the Congress moved from "no chance" to "distant possibility" (according to insiders on The Hill).

You see, if they could just slow things down enough, the insurance lobby would have more time to buy off more congressmen and scare the public more.

Here's a list of the wanker Democrats who are trying to stop health care reform in its tracks:

Wanker Ben Nelson (202) 224-6551
Wanker Mary Landrieu (202) 224-5824
Wanker Ron Wyden (202) 224-5244
Wanker Joe Lieberman (202) 224-4041

President Obama appeared in a non-scheduled press conference at 4 pm yesterday (Friday) and laid it down: "We WILL pass health care reform THIS YEAR." In his weekly address this morning (Saturday), he drew a line in the sand, saying (among other things) there had to be a public option.

We are where the rubber meets the road. Will the people win? Or will the insurance companies?

Spread the word. Hit the phones. And remember this scene from "The West Wing" when you call the wankers:

JOSH Forgive my bluntness, and I say this with all due respect, Congressman, but vote yes, or you're not even going to be on the ballot two years from now.

KATZENMOYER How do you figure?

JOSH You're going to lose in the primary.

KATZENMOYER There's no Democrat running against me.

JOSH Sure there is.

KATZENMOYER Who?

JOSH Whomever we pick.

KATZENMOYER You're bluffing. I'm in your own party!

JOSH Doesn't seem to be doing us much good now, does it?

KATZENMOYER I'm an incumbent Democrat. You'll go to the press and endorse a challenger?

JOSH No sir. We're going to do it in person. See, you won with fifty-two percent, but the President took your district with fifty-nine. And I think it's high time we come back and say thanks. Do you have any idea how much noise Air Force One makes when it lands in Eau Claire, Wisconsin? We're going to have a party, Congressman. You should come, it's gonna be great. And when the watermelon's done, right in town square, right in the band gazebo .... You guys got a band gazebo? Doesn't matter, we'll build one. Right in the band gazebo, that's where the President is going to drape his arm around the shoulder of some assistant DA we like. And you should have your camera with you. You should get a picture of that. 'Cause that's gonna be the moment you're finished in Democratic politics. President Bartlet's a good man. He's got a good heart. He doesn't hold a grudge. [puts on sunglasses] That's what he pays me for. [walks away]

Labels: health care, Senate Blue Dogs, The West Wing

Kay Hagan's Declaration of Independence last week (as quoted by the N&O): "I'm Kay Hagan, and I vote the way I think people in North Carolina would want. But more than that, I vote according to my gut."

Prior to that, her gut was telling her to sound perhaps a little more abrupt than absolutely necessary. She told an audience of journalists at Elon that President Obama's deficit spending, as projected by the Congressional Budget Office, was "completely unsustainable and unacceptable."

We don't think that was the way the people in North Carolina would want her to speak and act. We think that was the way Sen. Evan Bayh, self-anointed leader of the Senate Blue Dogs, wanted her to speak and act.

And after all that in-yer-face-Obama talk, Hagan voted yes on final passage of the Senate version of Obama's "unsustainable and unacceptable" budget. In fact, and according to the N&O's reckoning, Hagan has voted yes on every major Obama initiative so far.

Such Evan-Bayh-courting on the one hand, and such voting on the other, might tend over time to convince some of the voters that you're basically a trifling politician.

Labels: Barack Obama, Evan Bayh, Kay Hagan, Senate Blue Dogs

...out of Evan Bayh's ass.

And who is running and barking with the Senate's Blue Dogs? None other than Kay Hagan.

He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.

Labels: Evan Bayh, Kay Hagan, Senate Blue Dogs