New York Times editors suggest that Republican resistance to health care reform is probably "as much a matter of politics as principle." Believe me, I know principle and even knew, once upon a time, some principled Republicans. This is politics.
Democrats are at least torn between politics and principle, but now they need to act on their most principled imperative -- fixing the health care system so it functions well and serves as many of us as possible -- with the hard-riding politics they should have learned from Republicans by now.
Congressional Democrats need to be reminded about twice an hour for the next weeks just what they need to do. So haul out your teensy little communications devices and be prepared to tweet reminders to every member of the Democratic caucus on both sides of the debate at least twice an hour for the next several weeks.
Here are the tweets, extracted from the Times editorial, "Democrats' Choice":And for those Democrats in the House who see the abortion issue as a key principle, the overriding reason why House Dems and their supporters shouldn't cave in, ask:The Senate already has approved its bill with a 60-vote majority. Both parties have used reconciliation in the past.
Liberal Democrats are right that the Senate bill is too stingy. Yet there is much in the Senate bill for them.
Do House liberals really want to deny 30 million uninsured Americans the chance at coverage?
Do House deficit hawks want the deficit to rise even more?
without reform, there are no plans to rein in the relentless rise of medical costs and the Medicare obligation.
The issue of abortion coverage can’t be addressed in a reconciliation bill that must deal only with budgetary matters.
That last one is too long for a tweet. When House staffies call you and ask you to quit with the tweets, you can throw that last question at them.Are they willing to scuttle their party’s signature domestic issue and a reform that this country desperately needs, rather than accept the almost-as-tough language of the Senate bill?
