I’m referring to the actions of the party. All of that incompetence is the result of the Democrats in Congress. If the leadership can’t control the Blue Dogs, they’re pretty worthless. This is politics we’re talking about. It’s all about horse-trading and/or strong-arming. The leadership needed to find a way to bring the whole contingent on board. Their incompetence at this task is amazing.

I see your point. And it is a valid point, yes. But I worry about being a “small tent party.” Yes, right now it seems like we just can’t get these blue dog assholes in line and it’s pretty unprecedented for them to not be with us on all the procedural votes. But this is a pretty unprecedented bill.

I hate this argument when conservatives use it to justify doing nothing, but it is true that we are mucking around with like 20% of the economy here. There are real fears mixed in with the special interest dollars.

If Democrats were to do what the Republicans are doing right now, which is chopping off the so-called “moderates” because they don’t stick the party line on every issue, Democrats risk losing power. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in an ideal election system, but we don’t have an ideal election system. In a large number of districts the choice is a bad Democrat versus a really, really bad Republican.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I highly favor primary challengers to these jerks who are anti-healthcare, but we need them on so many other issues. Politics really sucks because you do frequently have to make a deal with the devil.

You can thank the mind-blowing incompetence of the Democratic party for this. Single-payer wasn’t even considered.

I do agree the leadership should have taken a stronger stand from the start. But I’m not sure single payer was the right start. To many blue dogs, seriously considering single payer was basically like considering a bill that will require mandatory execution at age 30. It’s nonsense, but that was real. We may have risked killing healthcare very early by standing strong on that in order to compromise to a very strong public option. Can you imagine the teevee commercials if Obama had proposed that?!

Obama had a very hard decision to make in balancing how much pressure he put on the shape of the plan. The prevailing wisdom was that Clinton’s plan was killed largely because he took to the bully pulpit too strongly. Obama took the exact opposite approach. He arguably went too far the other direction, but it was a gamble. It just wasn’t a gamble he won.

All that said, he has a health care bill. Nobody else has ever even had that!

I don’t like how healthcare has turned into a market debate.… It’s amazing how many crazies want to put human health on the same level as a cheap T-shirt.

You can thank the mind-blowing incompetence of the Democratic party for this. Single-payer wasn’t even considered.

You would, perhaps, prefer the Republicans so that we can have universal corporate welfare, no healthcare whatsoever and a federal mandate to teach creationism in schools?

That last point is a red herring, but the rest of what you wrote is the exact opposite of what I wrote in the article.

Although I agree that reform is at about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10, I disagree with not passing anything.

So do I. That’s why I said we need to get rid of the worthless public option, so we have something we can pass.

I also have to take issue with the blanket “Democrats” statement.

I’m referring to the actions of the party. All of that incompetence is the result of the Democrats in Congress. If the leadership can’t control the Blue Dogs, they’re pretty worthless. This is politics we’re talking about. It’s all about horse-trading and/or strong-arming. The leadership needed to find a way to bring the whole contingent on board. Their incompetence at this task is amazing.

PL, you really think Sarah Palin as a candidate would help us? I’m frightened by the prospect; I’m worried that she may have enough charisma to consolidate and jump start the looney tunes.

It’s amazing how many crazies want to put human health on the same level as a cheap T-shirt.

It’s a right, not a commodity.

I also have to take issue with the blanket “Democrats” statement. The majority of Democrats agree with you, me, and other hard-line progressives. However, when you take into account the Blue Dogs in the House and the Conservadems in the Senate, suddenly the Democrats no longer have a majority. What can you do? If Republicans + crappy Democrats > Progressive Democrats, complaining about the party as a whole doesn’t help.

So what do we do? Elect more progressive Democrats. I have personally donated several hundred dollars this year despite the economy to progressive primary contenders against crappy Democrats (and Joe Lieberman).

Even a crappy bill can be improved over time. The original Social Security bill was pretty weak compared to what we have now.

Don’t admit defeat. Get what we can get passed (yes, I agree with Bill Clinton that anything is better than nothing). Elect better liberals (MOST IMPORTANT)! Improve the bills over time.

Plus, do everything you can to get Sarah Palin as the Republican presidential nominee in ‘12.