First, if you haven't already, give to the progressive Democrats in Congress who are standing firm on the public option.
In a report by the NYTime's Mark Leibovich on Baucus' importance in health care reform, our Senator opened himself up to widespread online humiliation:
After speaking at a preventive-care conference here last week, he was swarmed by protesters. Or, in Mr. Baucus's words, "agitators, whose sole goal was to intimidate, disrupt and not let any meaningful conversation go on." There were a couple of people in the crowd "with YouTubes," Mr. Baucus added (meaning cameras), and he posited that the agitators were paid and probably from out of state. ("I could just sense it," he said.)
AFL-CIO: Public option must be part of health care reform. "If Senate and House members vote against including a public health insurance plan option in health care reform, they very well could lose the backing of working families and their unions in the next elections, says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka."
Without the public option, there's no "enthusiasm" from voters. Of course, this caught the White House by surprise: "'I don't understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo,' said a senior White House adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'We've gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don't understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform.'"
"'It's a mystifying thing,' he added. 'We're forgetting why we are in this.'"
You know, which is pretty lame. But, seriously? Jim Messina was at the Forward Montana fundraiser with Jon Tester when I asked Jon point-black if he supported the public option. If it wasn't obvious from our group of progressive Montana activists that we were serious about the public option...?
Real Time's Dana Gould reports on a town hall meeting, and a Remote Area Medical clinic in L.A. Nice contrast between the angry, paranoid, delusional Tea Baggers, and the quiet, polite working people (with insurance!) lining up at 4 am to receive medical treatment:
Barney Frank confronts a Tea Bagger who compares Obama's healthcare reform to Nazi policies:
"Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it."
