Pelosi is back on the porch
What’s that saying?
“Run with the Blue Dogs or stay on the porch”?
Looks like Nancy Pelosi has returned to the porch swing. From The Hill:
Pelosi’s decision to move away from the agreement that was made with a group of Blue Dogs to get the bill out of committee would steer the healthcare legislation back to the left as she prepares for a floor vote.
Pelosi is planning to include a government-run public option in the House version of the healthcare bill. She wants to model it on Medicare, with providers getting reimbursed on a scale pegged to Medicare rates.
“The speaker is full-steam-ahead,” said a senior Democratic aide.
[snip]
Pelosi wants decisions on the public option and tax this week. She wants to produce a bill that will be a starting point for negotiations among the disparate and, at times, warring factions of the Democratic Caucus.
“The Speaker is committed to having a strong public option in the House bill because it is the best way to promote competition, control cost and keep the insurance companies honest,” said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. “The caucus continues to meet to discuss the legislation and its provisions.”
The Blue Dog Democrats, who are billed as centrist are about as centrist as Newt Gingrich. Pelosi’s decision to abolish her agreement is good news for the American people. Certainly, nothing is final, but the idea of trying to appease these DINOs and the rest of the congressional, “no ideas” Republicans was causing my opinion of Pelosi to plummet recently. I am delighted that she is stepping away from them. My advice is to step far, far away from them and then keep on stepping. Time to align with the Universal Single-Payer advocates. They’re not your daddy, Nancy, but they will have your back when you have the courage to advocate for, what you know in your heart to be, the right thing.
We’ll have your back, too!
Related posts:
The Blue Dog Coalition whip count shows that opposition to the public option is fading and is very low down on their list of priorities: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/blue-dog-opposition-to-pu_n_298637.html.
[...] is a good rebuttal. There are also decent discussion in the comments. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi seems to send a signal that the Blue Dog influence is [...]