Meanwhile, what is the organized left doing? Well today MoveOn.org members received the following email:
To be perfectly honest, I like that they are soliciting opinions. I also like how it is organized so that both the pro and con statements reflect the preferences of their supporters (you get a series of statements as to why we should support or oppose the bill, and first you vote and then you get to weight the strength of the different statements). All very democratic. But a little bit late. There is now no possibility that MoveOn will be able to provide any cover to House Democrats. Not only have they let the conservatives have a head start in mobilizing people against the bill, but they haven't even decided--this late in the game!--that it's a bill worth fighting for.
Dear MoveOn member,We're holding a full-membership vote TODAY to chart our course on health care. Can you weigh in?As you've probably read, President Obama and Democrats in Congress are aiming to pass a final health care package before the end of March. Not every detail is decided yet, but the final package will most likely look like the plan President Obama released two weeks ago. (For more information, see below.)The president has offered a proposal that resembles the health care bill the Senate passed in December, but with a few key fixes. It's definitely not the bill most of us hoped for at the start of this fight, but it does do some important things. And we need to know if MoveOn members want to support or oppose it.Can you vote today? All votes must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (PST) tomorrow, Wednesday, March 10th.The official question is: "Should MoveOn support or oppose the final health care bill if it looks like the plan recently proposed by President Obama?"Before you vote, you'll be able to see arguments for both options from other MoveOn members, and afterwards, you can post your own argument for or against supporting the bill.MoveOn members have worked long and hard to win health care reform. The president's proposal doesn't include a public option, a key component we've pushed for—and regardless of what we decide together today, we'll keep fighting to pass a public option. But with big votes coming up, we need your input on the president's health care proposal.Click here to vote today:For more info, here are a few helpful links:
- An overview of the president's proposal from WhiteHouse.gov
- A CNN report on the highlights of Obama's health care proposal
- A ThinkProgress article on the president's proposal and the differences between it and the Senate legislation
Thanks for all you do.
A few weeks ago they had their Virtual March on Congress, which targeted Senators. This despite the fact that even then it was clear that House Dems would be the ones needing some spine. The result--apparently over 1 million people tried to contact their Senator that day, to absolutely no coverage, to no effect. There's also an email going around asking for $5 contributions to raise something like $400,000 to defend health care. Well I feel like Poland's calvary.
But there should be no mistake: if health care doesn't pass it won't be because the left was outmaneuvered, outgunned, outspent. It will be because at the key moment, it didn't know what it wanted, wavered, and dropped the cause.
Updates: Again via Greg Sargent
GOP billboard campaign! A GOP source says that a half dozen billboards will be erected in coming days in the districts of House Dems wavering on health reform, as part of the NRCC’s “Code Red” programThere are finally some ads from the DNC attacking the Republicans for being beholden to the insurance industry. But I agree with Sargent: Republicans are now irrelevant on health care, and the battle will be won or lost based on about 30 House Democrats, who are receiving virtually no targeted cover. And while it's nice to see that labor is (belatedly) going to be targeting these members as well, I'm not so certain how threatening to take them out electorally is going to play politically.
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