Obama Tells Liberals Public Option Doesn’t Have Votes

Via Greg, who always gets the good insider info.

In a private meeting at the White House this afternoon, Obama told a roomful of House Dems he doesn’t think the votes are there to pass the public option, and urged them to take the long view and to support the Senate bill as merely the beginning of reform, Dem Rep Lynn Woolsey tells me.

Also: Obama thanked the assembled, mostly liberals, for their ongoing insistence from the left over the months that the bill be improved, Woolsey says. “He thanked us,” she recalled. “He said the bill wouldn’t have been nearly as good as it is if we hadn’t advocated.”

Woolsey, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who was present with around seven or eight other liberals, says Obama compared the health reform fight to the passage of Social Security and Medicare.

“He was very clear: He thought this was as good as it’s going to get,” Woolsey said, referring to the plan to pass the Senate bill and fix it via reconciliation.

Anthem Blue Cross plans to go ahead with rate hikes

By GottaLaff

Here is what Anthem Blue Cross considers "appropriate":

An executive for the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross told state officials Tuesday that California's largest health insurer will go forward with much-criticized individual-policy rate hikes of as much as 39% once a two-month delay lapses May 1.

James Oatman, vice president of WellPoint Inc.'s consumer division, told the state Assembly's health committee that the premium increases, and the profit they generate, are appropriate despite wide criticism from consumers, regulators, members of Congress and the Obama administration.

Is showing them my middle finger appropriate, too? That's what they're doing to us, after all.

How's that health care reform obstruction coming along, GOP?

P.S. My family is one of the 39%ers.

ACORN 'dissolved as a national structure'

By GottaLaff

This is utterly wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Thank you Rushpublics, for screwing with the lives of real Americans... You know... the ones who need those evil, helpful reachy-outers:

The embattled liberal group ACORN is in the process of dissolving its national structure, with state and local-chapters splitting off from the underfunded, controversial national group, an official close to the group confirmed.

And thank you Jimmy Olsen O'Keefe, Jr. Felon.

Though the videos did not produce criminal charges, they appear to have been fatal to the national organization.

"Consistent with what the internal recommendations have been, each of the states are developing plans for reconstitution independence and self-sufficiency," said the official, citing ACORN's "diminished resources, damage to the brand, unprecedented attacks."

No criminal charges. That's right. None.

There is some better news, though:

A person familiar with the New York reorganization said the new group has a new board, including some relative outsiders, like an official at the union Workers United, Wilfredo Larancuent, as well as most of the old leadership. [...]

"It’s not like this is some kind of hostile thing," said the New York source. "This is what Fox has produced. National Acorn and Bertha Lewis are continuing doing their thing, but the New York flagship has been forced into this new organization."

[...] It’s people who still believe in their basic mission of fighting for poor people."

Conservatives don't like poor people. They're "different".

National ACORN says it continues to exist, despite the departure of state chapters, including also California's, which departed under similar terms last month.

Small comfort. The smear campaign worked. Congratulations on your successful sliming of a decent, productive American organization.

VIDEOS: Glenn Beck punk'd by cable listings: "Glen I F"ck"

By GottaLaff

"Beck" is a four-letter word:

A Raritan, New Jersey woman has taken to YouTube to expose something fishy on her cable listings. The woman has her DVR set to record Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck. But when she looked at her scheduled listings last week, the show comes up as Glen I F"ck.

Finally, accuracy on the Tee Vee Machine! Or is it a ::dun dun dun-n-n:: vast left wing conspiracy?

"Thank you. Have a good day."

H/t: CityCountryMe

"Really glad we don't have single-payer... health care... private insurance... is like totally awesome"

By GottaLaff

Chris Bowers over at Open Left tells a personal story about his brand new wife and her brand new broken foot. Oh yeah, and about the utterly frustrating, time-wasting, tail-chasing, wheel-spinning runaround a private insurance company sent them on.

Short version: Broken foot. No care.

In the end, I am really glad that we don't have single-payer government financing for health care, because the current private insurance system is like totally awesome.

In case you missed it, that was dripping with sarcasm.

Just. Go. Read

Michael Moore-- Senate to Middle Class: Drop Dead

By GottaLaff

Michael Moore at his Michael Moore-iest:

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers start building only cars and mass transit that reduce our dependency on oil.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers build cars that reduce global warming.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments in their attempts to not comply with our environmental laws.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the management team which drove these once-great manufacturers into the ground resign and be replaced with a team who understands the transportation needs of the 21st century.

Yes, they could have given the loan for any of these reasons because, in the end, to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and throw 3 million people out of work would be a catastrophe.

But instead, the Senate said, we'll give you the loan only if the factory workers take a $20 an hour cut in wages, pension and health care. That's right. After giving BILLIONS to Wall Street hucksters and criminal investment bankers -- billions with no strings attached and, as we have since learned, no oversight whatsoever -- the Senate decided it is more important to break a union, more important to throw middle class wage earners into the ranks of the working poor than to prevent the total collapse of industrial America.

We have a little more than a month to go of this madness. As I sit here in Michigan today, tens of thousands of hard working, honest, decent Americans do not believe they can make it to January 20th. The malaise here is astounding. Why must they suffer because of the mistakes of every CEO from Roger Smith to Rick Wagoner? Make management and the boards of directors and the shareholders pay for this.

Of course that is heresy to the 31 Republicans who decided to blame the poor, miserable autoworkers for this mess. And our wonderful media complied with their spin on the morning news shows: "UAW Refuses to Give Concessions Killing Auto Bailout Bill." In fact the UAW has given concession after concession, reduced their benefits, agreed to get rid of the Jobs Bank and agreed to make it harder for their retirees to live from week to week. Yes! That's what we need to do! It's the Jobs Bank and the old people who have led the nation to economic ruin!

But even doing all that wasn't enough to satisfy the bastard Republicans. These Senate vampires wanted blood. Blue collar blood. You see, they weren't opposed to the bailout because they believed in the free market or capitalism. No, they were opposed to the bailout because they're opposed to workers making a decent wage. In their rage, they were driven to destroy the backbone of this country, not because the UAW hadn't given back enough, but because the UAW hadn't given up.

It appears that the sitting President has been looking for a way to end his reign by one magnanimous act, just like a warlord on his feast day. He will put his finger in the dyke, and the fragile mess of an auto industry will eke through the next few months.

That will give the Senate enough time to demand that the bankers and investment sharks who've already swiped nearly half of the $700 billion gift a chance to make the offer of cutting their pay.

Fat chance.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com