If you get a chance, try to call your Senator today and ask that Senator to oppose the Senate’s health care bill. You can try district offices if they DC number is busy. Even if you’ve got a Democratic Senator, this can help in terms of keeping tallies of calls for and against.
Whatever happens with the bill, we’re likely to be in great shape to make some gains in the House. If you want to give some money that gets spread among all 238 districts currently held by Republicans, you can do so here:
Update. Please use the comments to discuss any protests that you are hearing about against Trumpcare and anything else that we can do to stop it.
Eljai
For those in the DC area:
Here’s the facebook link.
rikyrah
CALL CALL CALL
FDRLincoln
I called Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, who is officially undecided. His staffer told me that they are waiting for the CBO score and that the senator will base his decision on that.
Moran often talks like a moderate but almost always caves to the far-right. He did say he would not vote for the House bill a few weeks ago. His staffer told me that remains true. I asked him “if the CBO says this bill is as bad or almost as bad as the house bill, does that mean he votes no?” The staffer said he didn’t know.
FDRLincoln
The other Kansas senator, Pat Roberts, went from “undecided” when I called last week to a firm yes over the weekend, despite the destruction this bill will cause in the rural areas.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I applaud your efforts, but am fatalistic now.
After all the concerned facial expressions and appropriate words of earnest worry, all the GOP will fall in line while promising to soften the thing.
Miss Bianca
going to a postcard-writing party tonight. Only semi-good thing I’ve got to report is that Gardner appears to be running scared. Just keep the pressure on, I guess.
http://www.coloradopols.com/diary/96217/gardner-desperate-to-control-trumpcare-damage#sthash.YBiRBnBW.DOrxuCJK.dpbs
LesGS
San Diego Indivisible will be holding an AHCA vigil between 7 and 9 pm, Tuesday, 6/27, on the First UU Church campus (4190 Front St), across the street from the UCSD medical center. I’m told there will be some speakers, music, and media. I’ll be there as a congregant and musician.
Ohio Mom
Rally in downtown Cincinnati tomorrow (Tuesday Juneb27) evening, 5:30, Piatt Park, across Vine St from downtown Library. I have to do some schedule juggling to get there though. Wish me luck.
There are some rallies in Columbus but I don’t have those details.
Ohio Mom
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yeah, I am not hopeful either. That didn’t stop me from spending the better part of my morning writing emails and making calls.
I am taking the same approach as when my kid was diagnosed with autism sixteen years ago. I’m going to do whatever I can so that I can live with myself later. I’ll be able to be at peace because I’ll have no regrets.
(It turns out that all the therapy sessions I arranged my life around, and all the expenses, did help him learn to compensate, though he will always have many challenges, including insurmountable ones. But still, I have no reason to kick myself and I don’t.)
Mike in DC
I’m thinking about running for Congress next year. But Steny Hoyer is my congressman, so it’s rather quixotic of me. But I’d like to get my feet wet, shake hands and talk to people and get a sense of what they need. Steny won’t be there forever…
Mnemosyne
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
It’s quite possible now that it’s going to be passed. There’s no reason to let the Republicans get complacent and think we’re all going to calm down once it’s a fait accompli. Let them know that there will be consequences for them.
Mnemosyne
@Mike in DC:
Maybe you should run for a state or county office first, rather than making a quixotic run. Who are your state reps?
Lizzy L
I just called Harris & Feinstein’s offices, to thank them for standing firm on the AHCA.
cintibud
Called Sen Portman’s Cincinnati office again, the only place someone has answered in the past. Had to dial multiple times due to busy signals, finally got connected to a voice mail describing how to leave a comment only to be told that the mailbox was full. Sent an email instead.
Mnemosyne
Another idea — if you’re reasonably close to your senator’s local office, write a letter or postcard and hand-deliver it. If the office is closed, tape it to the door or slip it under.
Spanky
@Mnemosyne: @Mike in DC: This, absolutely. I’m also in MD-5 and there are a shit-ton of known faces lined up for when Steny steps down. But there’s a re-energized Democratic Party getting the machine oiled up even in blood-red Calvert County where I am.
Mike in DC
@Mnemosyne:
There are 3 delegates from district 22 and 1 senator. 2 of the delegates are currently on their 3rd 4 year term, 1 is on his second. The senator is on his 3rd 4 year term. I think it’s less uphill, but still unlikely. I’ll give it some thought. The filing deadline appears to be February next year.
The Truffle
No matter what happens, the GOP has (hopefully) screwed themselves with this. That said, I’m flabbergasted by for Trump voters who are now shocked–SHOCKED–that he’s taking away their healthcare. What did they expect?
Cheryl from Maryland
@Mike in DC: Montgomery County here. I think running for the MD General Assembly is a great idea. The Assembly has been okay this session against Hogan, but the Democratic Party in MD needs new blood. The turnout in 2014 was abysmal.
Librarian
@The Truffle: “I never thought they’d take away my health insurance,” sobs woman who voted for the Taking Away People’s Health Insurance Party.
cintibud
@Mnemosyne: Excellent Idea – I’ll take a walk downtown tomorrow at lunch
dlm
@Librarian: I have no sympathy for these people. Let them die.
Old Broad in California
Called Sens. Feinstein’s and Harris’s offices to thank them for their opposition and to tell them that this bill would have awful consequences for me and so many others.
tesslibrarian
Had to leave messages last week with Johnny Isakson & David Perdue, so I faxed and emailed them instead.
Today, left a message with Perdue, but Isakson’s voice mail is full, and I can’t seem to get a person. When I’ve talked to district offices, there’s a lot of “oh, we’re not there–we don’t know” stuff that is pretty frustrating, even though the people are nice, so I stay polite, even though I’m pretty sure it’s BS, especially with Perdue.
On the upside, someone will actually be challenging Jody Hice this year, and if she can get funding and her act together, maybe she can make a difference. I’m just happy to have a choice in my district that didn’t involve a write-in campaign for Charles Darwin.
Mike in DC
@Cheryl from Maryland: The general assembly seems like a better fit for me than city or county council. Councils seem like a distinctly different career track.
Jeffro
I’m telling y’all every single Republican senator has been promised a nice fat cushy job if he or she ends up losing reelection because of their vote for this bill .
We should take it as a given and start a new #BoughtOff
The Moar You Know
@dlm: Neither do I.
@dlm: Fuck that. That’s what Republicans do. I help people and animals. I don’t leave them to die.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
we really are living with an administration run like a second-tier right-wing radio show
Elizabelle
Is the doom and gloom that called for? It’s an awful bill. Don’t the hospitals and insurers have some say? Don’t we still have a week?
Glad to be away from US cable news.
dlm
@The Moar You Know: I used to be quite a caring individual. I’ve changed.
Chris
I called both Tillis and Burr. Got through to Tillis quickly but it took a dozen tries to get through to Burr. Young man who answered the phone said they were busy! I thanked him for his work. Maybe Burr is getting an earful…probably about Trump? But who knows. I felt better after I did my part..as futile as it may have been.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: But I was told that single payer was immensely popular.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
They are the worst.
Omnes Omnibus
I called my good and my bad senator today. Thanked the good one and her staff and asked them to keep up the good work. Urged the bad one to vote no. Right now, he is part of the Gang of Four. I will keep calling.
Elizabelle
@Baud: don’t let cable or the horse racers dispirit you guys. This is a moral issue, and it is life vs death and economic destruction.
Baud
@Elizabelle: I rarely watch cable news and I’m not dispirited. But to be fair my life isn’t at immediate stake.
Uncle Cosmo
@Mike in DC: Take a look at the Delegates. The advantage there is that it’s vote for 3, first 3 past the post – you may have luck with voters who usually support the machine ticket because they know one of the incumbents, asking them for one of their other two votes. Forget how long they’ve been there, look at who’s bankrolling them & how they vote. If you can find daylight between the positions of any one of them & your own, you might have a shot. But resign yourself (unless you’re independently wealthy) to a lot of work going wherever there are 3 voters to rub together & shaking a lot of hands.
It can be done. I was campaign manager for the first outsider in a couple of generations to take a Delegate nomination & then seat away from the Baltimore County Democratic machine. I think he turned 25 during the campaign. There were no more than 20 of us working for the campaign, we threw a crab feast to raise barely enough money for materials, walked a lot of blocks, went to a lot of meetings & handed out a lot of flyers, It was a long time ago. But it can be done!
D58826
I’m sure it’s more complicated but the OBAMACARE mandate is an unconscionably infringement on the freedom of an American. On the other hand it is freedom at its best to lock a person out of the system for 6 months if he drops coverage for whatever reason.
And it is freedom at its best have a system that allows a person to chose their own doctor, even if that doctor will not see you because Trumpcare has kicked you off the system and you can’t pay..
D58826
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well at least when he fails the smacked ass test you won’t see his pink cheeks on TV.
Ohio Mom
@cintibud: It’s funny to me that you have luck with Portman’s Cincinnati number, I live in a Cincinnati suburb and have the most luck getting through to a swarmy intern on his 800 number (listed with the Columbus number on bottom of his home page).
Clearly at this point, they are in hiding. Have you looked at his twitter? Ohioans are ANGRY!
Mike in DC
@Uncle Cosmo:
Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.
Mark
I have to admit that I don’t and wouldn’t live in a state that would elect senators who would support legislation that intentionally harmed so many. I won’t even change planes in most of those states. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish Lincoln had let the South succeed (with Northern refuge for all slaves), The Senate & Electoral College leave us with a non-representative government ruled by the truly evil.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
for Cole and other Mountaineers
ETA: ETA: Also, passing the word along for anyone who can do this
Jim, Foolish Literalist
D58826
@Ohio Mom:
Should have thought of that on 11/8
Percysowner
I left Portman a voicemail on the one line that picked up. I’ll send a backup email, just to cover my bases, then try calling him again tomorrow.
rikyrah
Yeah…what are the numbers?
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It the Trumpsters want to sell single payer to US public, let them. At this point, they could sell anyone of the 20 or so high income countrie’s healthcare systems that do better for far less money.
What is the single payer system that would be easiest to implement in the US? Australian Medicare for all. All right thinking Americans would shrink from the ghastly hellhole of Australia. Right, then!
H.E.Wolf
@Mark:
No way should Lincoln have let the South succeed. Nor do I think he should have let them secede. Lincoln’s speeches on the value of a united country are eloquent in support of his position.
[ETA: my links are effed up, but as they both go to the web page for Lincoln’s speeches, I’m leaving them as they are. Sorry for the snafu.]
Here’s a good link.
And here’s a good quote:
PS: I phoned my Senators this morning. I am not giving up.
DeeFromTexas
I called Cornyn and Cruz a couple times and got voicemail. (It’s hard to be a Blue Texan. This time I said: since I’m sure you’re voting for the AHCA come hell or high water, then at least do what I’m going to do: tell your constituents what I’m telling my friends–close your purse for all non-essentials; don’t buy Christmas presents this year. You’ll need the money for your nursing home. Too bad for the stores.
I haven’t seen any blog posts about this–what happens to the economy if people get scared about paying for healthcare and cut down on other spending?
Yutsano
@jl: I have long thought between our current insurance structures (including existing Medicare) that copying the Australian model of a basic coverage for everyone but insurance for the gaps is the best course of action. This is also how South Korea works as their basic insurance leaves a LOT of holes. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
cintibud
@Ohio Mom: Wow, just checked out his twitter and you are right.
I’ll try the DC number again
SatanicPanic
@rikyrah: millions and millions. bigly. tremendous numbers
Earl
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Of course they’ll fall in line. As the saying goes, the thinnest reed in the world is a moderate Republican.
And seriously, what happens if we “win” and trumpcare doesn’t pass? Trump + Repubs get to sabotage Obamacare, blame it on us, and a complicit media will at *best* serve up some “views on the shape of the world” differ bullshit.
Time to let it go; the fuckwits who voted against healthcare are going to not get what they didn’t want one way or another. Let’s at least avoid the blame as much as possible.
jl
@Yutsano: The Australian lifestyle horrifies all right thinking Americans. Too much shrimp and too much barbie, and too much beach. Too much not worrying about going broke from health care. Way too much in increase in life expectancy since they introduced their Medicare for All.
Would be horrible to enslave the American people with the way the Aussies live. Someone pretend to be an GOPer and suggest that the Trumpsters threaten us with the living hell of Aussie health care.
“it’s either TrumpCare of living like the Assies do. OMFG!!! No, please don’t do that to hard working Americans!”
SatanicPanic
@Earl: No way, let’s fight it out until we can’t fight. At the very least we can say we tried.
jl
@Yutsano: BTW, that is a standard solution in most high income industrialized countries that still use profit or non-profit, or some mix, insurance companies: A basic uniform comprehensive health care insurance policy. Option to buy supplemental health insurance for coverage over the basic minimum.
Public option for that insurance market is important and very popular in Australia. No surprise that Australian conservative governments have tried to kill it twice.
We should take encouragement that public opinion defeated two attempts And an unpopular attempt to kill it was one reason for Howard governments defeat.
So, we can do it here.
Edit: just looked it up. Australia spends around 10 or 11 percent of GDP on health care. And ever since they adopted their health care reform, their increase in population health beats ours by a mile.
Yutsano
@SatanicPanic: To wit: the Democrats are doing another all night sit in.
@jl: Yup. Even when the Netherlands went private there was still a stopgap system. And even now there are Dutch folks who want the public to take more control because the private system is proving to be more expensive. ACA was as close to the Swiss model as the US has come but the Swiss have many more regulations (including health insurance can’t be for profit) than the ACA did.
If this things passes, we’ll have to. The health system will fall apart under the BHCA.
rikyrah
Kellyanne Conway Reveals the Real Motivation Behind Medicaid Cuts
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 26, 2017 9:58 AM
Over the last few days it has become clear what the Republican talking points are when it comes to their efforts to dismantle the Medicaid program. The plan is to lie by suggesting that the AHCA (House version) and the BHCA (Senate version) don’t “cut” funding for the program, but simply slow the rate of growth in the future. Dan Diamond zeros in on why a focus on the rate of funding is a lie.
In the midst of an attempt to obscure what is really going on with the Republican effort to repeal Obamacare, it was fascinating to actually hear Kellyanne Conway make an argument that gets more to the heart of their motivations.
……………………
But what this really comes down to is the age-old Republican argument about the undeserving poor—a classic dog whistle reference to people of color. The message is that Obamacare provides Medicaid to able-bodied people who don’t want to work. If they’d just go out and find a job, they’d get healthcare through their employer like you and I do. That is strike two.
debit
@Jeffro: Well, it sounds like the money is cut off until it passes, so yeah, it’s a done deal. When the GOP weighs angry voters against sweet Koch money, the Koch money wins every time.
I don’t think they realize that all the money in the world won’t buy votes when people have been utterly devastated by their legislation.
SatanicPanic
@Yutsano: I am proud to be a Democrat. Our party is on the right side of history.
rikyrah
Neo-Cons Are Pushing Trump Toward Regime Change in Iran
by Martin Longman
June 26, 2017 1:04 PM
I’m troubled when I see elected officials who have real influence with the administration on foreign policy who recommend flatly insane policies. For example:
It’s hard to define what might be an acceptable level of safety. The Iranian government certainly takes an adversarial posture toward the United States. They have been responsible for ordering acts of terrorism against our people serving abroad and against our allies. The worst examples I can think of are in the 1980s and 1990s, but they’ve certainly been working hard to build up the military power of Hizbollah and lending support to Hamas, both of which of have used terrorism in their struggle against Israel. They’ve also been locked in a kind of subterranean escalating war of tit-for-tat against Saudi Arabia which has taken on the flavor of a regional sectarian war across the region, from the Emirates and Yemen to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and even the heavily Shiite portions of Saudi Arabia itself. During our occupation of Iraq, Iran lent a big hand in the resistance which resulted in the death of many American soldiers, particularly at the hands of roadside bombs.
There is also, of course, the nuclear issue. The Obama administration worked diligently with the international community, including Russia, to put in place a program that can prevent Iran from rapidly and secretly obtaining nuclear weapons. It’s important that this program work not just because Iran is an adversary that engages in asymmetric warfare. It’s important on general principle as a demonstration that the international community can function in its anti-proliferation role. It’s also key for preventing other countries in the region from seeking their own nuclear weapons programs. We can debate how rational the Iranian regime really is, and whether or not they hold worrisome religious beliefs that might make them more prone than most to act irresponsibly with a nuclear arsenal. The safer course is not to get distracted by such side-arguments and instead just hold to a policy based on anti-proliferation and avoidance of a regional nuclear arms race.
jl
@Yutsano: Netherlands system permits cherry picking and gaming by vertically integrated providers. Has some of the same weaknesses ACA has. Swiss don’t fool around. Their highly regulated oligopolies get a fair and predictable ROI in stable markets in return for putting up with very strict regulations to preserve social welfare improving aspects of markets.
Edit: outside of Switzerland, some of their companies are absolutely ruthless, of course (Swiss saying: business is war by other means) , and then, well, let’s skip the topic of Swiss banks. But no place is perfect.
rikyrah
Trump’s Defenses Suggest Guilt, Not Innocence
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 26, 2017 2:13 PM
Donald Trump and his friends in the right-wing media are employing several tactics that are designed to defend him against possible findings coming from the investigation underway by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller on whether or not his campaign coordinated with the Russians in an attempt to influence the election as well as whether or not the president obstructed justice in trying to shut down and/or influence the investigation.
The least surprising tactic for regular readers here will be that recently Trump has employed his typical pattern of lie, distract and blame. I’m going to repost all of his tweets on this topic because they are suggestive of how obsessed Trump is with this claim.
………………..
This is all based on a report in the Washington Post about how the Obama administration responded to the intelligence that was developing about Russia’s attempt to influence the election. It is significant to note that, as recently as last week, Trump was still calling the whole thing a “big Dem hoax.” In this series of tweets Trump assumes that the basics of what the Russians attempted to do is true and then blames Obama for not doing anything about it. It is just another example of how this president will say anything that suits his purpose in the moment—completely disjointed from any factual basis.
………………………………………….
That pretty much nails down everything I wrote about the Washington Post story last week. The idea that the Obama administration did nothing is a lie, plain and simple. For those that think they should have done more, they’ll need to document exactly what that would have been and how it would have changed the dynamics at the time.
bystander
@jl: Yes, but Australians can’t get a full body scan at will the way we Americans can. I actually heard that as criticism of the French system. They have to wait maybe for days to get an MRI.
I’ve had countless MRIs, all took appointments weeks in advance.
rikyrah
From Nancy LeTourneau
Quinerly
All calls to Sen Blunt’s DC office last week and today go straight to vm. Local Clayton, MO office answered. She took my info and said they hadn’t had any calls on it today. MISSOURI folks call!
D58826
@Yutsano: Well Der Fuhrer did tell the Aussie PM, top hos face no less, that it was better than our system. So there is one vote for it or at least until some one tell Der Fuhrer what is actually in the system
jl
@rikyrah: That is interesting. Trump yelled at top volume during the campaign to ask Russia to release more stuff on Hillary and Dems. So, everyone knows about that stunt, which might be collusion, but not criminal. So I assume these trial balloons are about something else, not widely known yet. I wonder what it is.
Edit: also I notice Trumpsters trying to stir up more bitterness among Democrats over their 2016 primary. I wonder why they are trotting that out again. But, should be a signal to Hillbots and Berniebots still feuding to be wary of being played to the GOP and Trumpsters’ advantage.
SatanicPanic
@rikyrah: They want to get out in front of the inevitable- Trump admitting in a tweet or on live TV that he did, in fact, collude with the Russians. You know it’s coming.
D58826
@rikyrah:
I guess since the statutes don’t contain the exact words ‘Trump colluded with Russia’ , I guess he is in the clear. It’s just another example of unless the exact words are used then everything is ok. the phrase ‘ radical Islamist terror’ is another one of those magic fix it all phrases.
Gravenstone
@The Moar You Know:
Animals at least don’t have agency to make their own informed choices, so they deserve our support when possible. When people make supposedly informed choices that in turn immiserate them, then they are free to reap the consequences of those choices as far as I’m concerned. fuckem.
Gravenstone
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, Johnson’s reasoning may suck, but at least he appears to be a No vote, for the time being anyway.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gravenstone: Yeah, I don’t care what’s going through his grubby little mind as he votes as long as he votes no.
Jeffro
Pro-trump super PAC already running anti-Mueller, anti-Comey ads(!?)
I say for the millionth time: can y’all IMAGINE if Hillary Clinton tried to pull ANY, much less ALL, of this shit?!?
JPL
Score is out 22 million w/o insurance by 2026
rikyrah
@JPL:
uh huh
uh huh
Betsy
Look at this fantastic idea!! “Medicare Part M” (for “middle-aged”)
http://www.samefacts.com/2017/06/health-medicine/after-trumpcare-medicare-part-m/#idc-container
Who can get this into the hands of the Dem strategists??
D58826
@JPL: Well I guess if you can identify those 2 million with coverage you can send them a card from Der Fuhrer saying that they are winning bigly.
You know kidding aside, what kind of a country have we become in which we debate the merits of a healthcare plan based on how few people it throws under the bus. I sane society would be saying – ok, Obamacare failed and we have this plan that not only picks up the folks on Obamacare but also the 25 million or so that Obamacare missed. Now maybe in that debate some will suggest an amendment that actually picks up an extra million or so above those 25 million.
I suspect that Barak would be out beating the drums for that kind of plan even if it was called Ivankacare
D58826
@Omnes Omnibus: For any of the supposed no votes – A no vote by another name is still a NO vote. I would even send a small campaign contribution. Two cents is about right because that is about all they are worth under normal circumstances.
Quit now
You can’t stop it. Do you think they care what you think?
Yutsano
@Betsy: That was originally supposed to be part of the ACA.
gene108
@rikyrah:
The problem with Medicaid pre-ACA / pre-expansion was that once you made any money at all you got kicked off.
I know people on disability, who were averse to getting a job because they’d lose their Medicaid after their first paycheck and their condition would get worse.
Medicaid expansion provides a huge incentive for people to try and work without losing what they have.
Republicans are living in a straight up Bizaro world, where everything is the opposite.
smintheus
Anybody have advice about what to do when your Senator’s (Toomey’s) offices will never answer their phones? My local office says they are “on the other line”!
Cheryl Rofer
The CBO score is out, and only 22 million will lose their insurance.
A humanitarian triumph!
Cheryl Rofer
CBO report here.
Tazj
ADAPT activists being taken from wheelchairs, injured, and their phones confiscated by police at the office of Sen. Todd Young R-IN. This is according to Vox reporter Jeff Stein.
Jeff Stein @JStein_Vox 1m
Replying to Jstein_Vox @NationalADAPT
Amber adds “The protesters witnessed police erasing photos from the phone of the woman who was dragged, plus a woman who was next to her”
jl
@Cheryl Rofer: What is weird is the lack of cynical political con tradecraft on display here. According to TPM, the ultimate loss in people covered over the planning horizon is 22 million. But the initial loss soon after passage is higher than the House bill.
15 million people lose coverage next year. NEXT YEAR!
So, the Senate GOP puts these gimmicks in to (edit try* to) protect themselves for 2018, but produce a bill that chops off more people next year (NEXT YEAR!).
I think the rapid immediate losses should be highlighted.
*failed attempt.
Need a slogan like ’15 million lose next year! You’ll see 22 million lose, if you’re still here!”
Just as Horrible, Now Faster
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/just-as-horrible-now-faster
smintheus
This jumped out at me in the CBO summary:
The CBO report treads rather lightly on the question of what 1332 waivers will do to disrupt healthcare, but even it admits that some people will be financially crushed by them.
smintheus
@jl: better: “within 6 months”
Earl
@SatanicPanic: And what precisely is the strategy for when Trump cancels CSR payments and stops enforcing requirements to purchase insurance, causing both widespread withdrawals by insurers and a death spiral in many counties? All under the name Obamacare and attached at the hip to the Democratic party?
Because Trump and the repubs *will* break health care and 2018 is a long way away. *someone* is gonna end up holding the bag on this fuckup and I’d really like it not to be Democrats.
Everyone here keeps discussing fighting Trumpcare as if the alternative will result in people continuing to get healthcare. It won’t, but it will result in a world where we’re blamed for the ensuing disaster. Preserving Obamacare may take slightly longer to blow up, but Repubs still have 18 months at bare minimum. I’m fully confident in their ability to wreck it.
smintheus
Also, this:
This is crucial, but not as clearly delineated as it should be:
D58826
@Tazj: THese types of videos shoulkd be appearing in every TV market 24×7 of every critter for the next 18 months. With the simple line ‘This scene bought to you courtesy of the GOP. WE can do better vote D’.
jl
Everyone calling GOPer Senators needs to ask why they want to cut your healthcare NEXT YEAR!
Rich people get a retroactive capital gains cut.
You get your health care slashed NEXT YEAR, or maybe more accurately, as smitheus says, with 6 months. You get your health care slashed, effectively, NOW!
FAR worse than House bill. Doesn’t even give people time to plan.
A better way to cull the excess population? Is that what the Senate is going for.
Deadly incompetence of these 10 or 13, or whatever, rich old white geezers in their quiet back room, if they put a bunch of gimmicks in the protect themselves in 2018 and produced this enormity. Kills people quicker, and makes it look worse for Senate GOP for the midterms, if it passes.
jl
@Earl: People hold the current administration, whatever it is, responsible for what happens on its watch, with very few exceptions. Gas prices are a good example.
And sabotage of ACA will bake longer than carnage from either House or Senate version of Trump/GOPcare.
So, political and policy and moral arguments all point in same direction: stop Trumpcare.
You need to be less defeatist and call your Congressperson. If you see a bad story in the media, call up the organization and complain.
Mike in DC
4 million will lose their employer provided health care next year under this bill. Clearly political geniuses were involved in the drafting. If this passes, there will be carnage at the polls next year. If it doesn’t, we have to impose maximum pressure to protect the ACA and keep them from chipping away at it.
jl
@Mike in DC: thanks, that is important to emphasize. Incompetent swindle job by Senate geezers produces huge losses in populations who think they are safe almost immediately. Need to spread the word. Call up local stations and ask why they are not covering this news that their viewers need to hear.
Barbara
@Earl: Earl, get a grip. Most people don’t understand the ins and outs of subsidy payments. All they know is that Trump didn’t do anything to make Obamacare better and actually ended up making it worse, with no excuses since his party has an absolute majority in the House and the Senate. Do you think people looked at Hurricane Katrina and asked who was in charge when the Army Corps of Engineers approved a suboptimal levee? No, they looked at who was in charge when it broke.
D58826
On the related topic of WH briefing. The briefing was off-limits to cameras. Spicy was asked if the cameras could be turned on. He ignored the question. Seems to me at that point the media had 3 choices
1. bend over for a larger application of vaseline
2. all walk out
3. turn the cameras on and dare spicey to do something about it (maybe bring battery backup power packets in case spicy turns the electricity off)
They chose option 1. If the MSM won’t fight for the 1st amendment, when they are in the best position to do so, then they are worthless and the freedom of the press portion of the amendment has been repealed. And I’m sure SCOTUS will finish the job on the other clauses.
bupalos
I called Portman AGAIN. Told them I’m already disappointed enough that he’s let it get this far that I would never vote for him no matter what, but that they know that by now anyway, just said go ahead and do it so everyone can see what a fraud he and how bad he was lying about insisting on protecting medicaid expansion the last 5 times I called. Just go ahead so I can have an easier time convincing everyone I know what a goddam liar he is. Said maybe I could get his smirking a-=hole face on the 3,600 mailing pieces our community rights group sends out instead of Jon Husted, who may be equally execrable but at least not guilty of directly increasing suffering and death via fraud while pretending to be oh so concerned. Just go ahead. Do it Robbie. Do it. Thank you for your time.
rikyrah
@Mike in DC:
4 million employer provided Healthcare coverage LOST
Ohio Mom
@bupalos: I’ve met my match. I get irate and sarcastic on the phone with Portman’s smarmy interns but I am gentle next to you.
Which I think is fine, they aren’t going to be swayed by facts and figures or sad stories, let them consider the rage they are unleashing.
Cheryl Rofer
@jl: The only thing I can figure is that destroying Obama’s legacy is ALL that matters to this Congress. I think it so consumes their tiny minds that nothing else has a chance of intruding. It is the same kind of thing that happened during Reconstruction. Mindless hate.
D58826
@rikyrah: Well Kellyanne’s solution is to get a job with a better employer.
bupalos
BTW staffer said Portman has no official position on it right now since CBO just came out, and lines are open and answered quickly at the Cleveland office. 216-522-7095
Get that phone ringing people.
Mike in DC
This bill is a catastrophuck.
jl
@bupalos: Huge cuts in coverage within a year should be a hot topic everyone mentions. Retroactive capital gains cuts for rich. 15 million people, 4 million with employer health care, lose their coverage starting 6 months from now, with effectively zero time to plan.
Seems to throw a big wrench into the argument that ACA is failing (actually, that is not true, it is being sabotaged by Trump/GOP) as reason to vote for this.
Their slogan should be: “Hey, if you’re worried about losing your ACA coverage, let the Senate take it away right NOW!’
Win-win for everybody, right?
D58826
@bupalos: Profiles in spinelessness. How long should it take a Christian, since they tell us they are at the drop of a hat, to come to the obvious position. You don’t even have to ask the ‘what would Jesus do’ question. You already know the answer. You knew the answer before the CBO score came out. You knew the answer even if Trumpcare only threw 100k people under the bus. You have known the answer since the day you voted to block Obamacare in 2010.
Ohio Mom
@bupalos: Every time an intern tells me Portman is still researching the bill, I point out that he was on the committee that wrote it. He’s had more of a heads up than the entire country, minus twelve others.
Then I say,pick up any major newspaper, every single one of them has already published what the outcome will be. And the internet is one big Spark Notes. There’s gobs of analysis, and all of it says the same thing.
Quinerly
Trump speaking live in the Rose Garden. Looks like shit…looks heavier…doing that weird snorting/breathing thing as he poorly reads the written speech.
bupalos
@jl:
Meh, if you ask me, this is what they are trolling for, part of the kubuke. I don’t even want to get into debating the timeline, that’s for after they’ve already won. Makes the headlines on the next round “Republicans cave and agree to save 10 million people’s insurance!!” when they just set the timeline a little further out which is probably what half of them want to do anyway.
Personally I’m delighted they are starting with such a horrible opening bid, and I half hope they just go through with it. They’ve already agreed to the principle. They ARE passing some form of ACA timebomb in the next 12 months no matter what. Begging for them t show mercy and make the fuse longer is a suckers bet.
Whatever happens, our messaging needs to be as long as these clowns are around, you’re on borrowed time with your healthcare, and hedgefund guys are collecting your interest payment.
Earl
@Barbara: You’ll understand my skepticism, given our recent referendum on the subject last November.
Fox will blame Democrats for Obamacare’s failings, CNN will shapes-of-the-world-differ, and MSNBC will let Megyn Kelly explain what happens. I’ve not seen a single coherent strategy for getting the public to place blame for any potential sabotage of Obamacare where it belongs.
As for voters, have you forgotten the death panel hysteria already? When you see eg Kentucky Kynect polling significantly higher than Obamacare, I’m extraordinarily skeptical of many voters’ ability to not blame Dems for the shortcomings of Obamacare, even when actively sabotaged by Republicans. After all, they’re about to take an axe to Obamacare and where, exactly, is the pushback? From the left only as near as I can see.
I reiterate, someone is going to take the blame for this fuckup and I don’t want it to be us. All the stuff David talks about at length on here is going to come to pass no matter whether Trumpcare passes or not; it’s a done deal at this point.
Earl
@jl:
Bro, what rock have you been living under for the last 15 years? Let’s just start with what percentage of america thinks Obama is a muslim. http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/nov/23/arsalan-iftikhar/do-59-percent-americans-believe-barack-obama-musli/
Or see President Hillary’s emails. Pushback against the media worked *super* well right there.
Earl
Ooh, or another example — remember when CBO said Trumpcare will cause 20-odd million people to lose their health insurance, and was thus universally condemned on news channels?
Because my memory is more like Republicans lied their asses off and not a single member of the media called them on it, but ymmv.
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: Oh! I will be there! I also thought ODP was holding a vigil at Portman’s downtown office on Walnut. I’d rather be at Piatt.
Kathleen
@cintibud: I always call the Washington office, where you can only leave a voice mail. Good to hear local office mail boxes are full. I called again today.
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: I read at cincinnati.com where when he asked people on Twitter what they thought he got 2300 tweets, almost, if not all of which, were against. Shocked that the web site even reported it.
Kathleen
@SatanicPanic: Amen!
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: Hmmm. He said last week “he didn’t know what was in the bill either”.
ruemara
@jl: There are no Hillbots fighting Berniebots. There are Bernie faithful who keep bringing this up and fighting us. Even now. So lay the blame where it should go.