Matt Taibbi Says No Public Option Will Cause Progressive Revolt in Congress

(By Heather, http://crooksandliars.com ) Rachel Maddow talks to Matt Taibbi about what is going to happen to the Democratic Party if the White House settles for a bill with no public option. Taibbi feels that this is the moment the progressive wing of the party draws a line in the sand. They note that Bernie Sanders in the Senate and Anthony Weiner in the House have both said that if there's no public option, there will be no bill at all.

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News & Politics

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• Matt Taibbi
• Rachel Maddow
• public option
• progressives
• congress
• msnbc
• crooks and liars

[laughingchimp]

Rachel misses Taibbi's (and Jane Hamsher's) point. This has nothing to do with Republican support - it has everything to do with where insurance companies spend their money in 2010.

The White House is completely fixated on avoiding another 1994 and will give everything they can to industry to ensure donations.

[SweatLaserXP]

Bill Maher put it best- "Obama needs to be more like George W. Bush. He had a lot of ideas, and they were all reallllly bad, but he got things done." Forget making overtures to the Republicans. They are brilliant at strategy- they know if they can stall it long enough, it will die. This is serious shit. Stop trying to be a gentleman. Let them have it with both fists. FDR didn't get the New Deal by making concessions to Conservatives. This is a lot easier than The New Deal was.

[Jethro494]

In retrospect, Taibbi was right about this. Watered-down healthcare reform hurt the Democrats big time among their base, and is the main reason why they got their clocks cleaned in the midterm elections.

[gamehound83]

When I hear people talk about a public option I almost want to laugh in their face. Big money will never allow it. They own all elected bodies be it Federal or State and it would be against their better interest's.

[rickbar123]

WE THE PEOPLE- just got screwed, again.

[1000Demons]

I totally agree with laughingchimp.

A large enough amount of the Democratic party have vested interests in the healthcare industry that they're just shills, too.

There may well be some people on both sides of the aisle who'd love to see public healthcare, but it's not going to happen in this current climate. They've pretty much scuttled it, deliberately, from what I can tell, which I think is a shame.

[SweatLaserXP]

If the White House doesn't abandon this bipartisan bullshit they're gonna derail the whole bill. Who in their right mind thinks you're gonna get 4 Republicans on board for the public option. They only need 51 votes to pass the bill, not 60. Reconciliation is pointless. Pass the bill with less than 60 votes, endure the filibuster, and that's it. Done.

[MaryJesusJoseph]

I hope he's right. It's time that Progressive Dems stood up for their principles.