Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:18pm — connecticut man1
Hot off the front page of the burnt orange...
Is it me or is it getting hot in here? Even the media is ratcheting it up a notch.More proof we are a center-right nation from CNN:
Seventy-two percent of those questioned in recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say they favor increasing the federal government's influence over the country's health care system in an attempt to lower costs and provide health care coverage to more Americans, with 27 percent opposing such a move. Other recent polls show six in 10 think the government should provide health insurance or take responsibility for providing health care to all Americans.
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We were all wondering
just exactly how the media would react to the summit today. FOX noise should be throwing everything they have at the wall over the next few days to see if it sticks. Maybe someone will toss BillO, mistaking him for a pile of crap, and break his vocal chords? lol
Good news
Does this mean we can raise the bar and start demanding some actual policies rather than getting excited about someone getting to show up at a summit?
It would be nice if we could start ratcheting it up to elelven.
Only tyrants rig elections.
What do you mean, we?
So far as I know, "we've" been demanding actual policies for some time....
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
GMTA!
heh.
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We can't afford not to have single-payer!
I'm not sure what provoked this comment, gqm
Some of us have been "demanding some actual policies" in various ways for quite some time.
Over the past couple of days there was a push to get some single-payer advocates in the summit. We got some. People were glad. I don't recall anyone here getting what I would describe as "excited" about that little success, but it was gratifying.
Today I, for one, moved on to communicating about single-payer and HR 676 to folks who showed up at the Fair Share rally. Tonight I'm working on other ways to keep single-payer visible in this city, at least, as an option. (I got some ideas on the way home from the rally.) This weekend, I'm writing (again) to my congress member to ask him to co-sponsor HR 676 (as he did in the previous Congress, but has not so far done in this one). And after that...?
And that's just me. Others here do much, much more. F'rinstance, my heroes DC Blogger & hipparchia.
I don't know where you got the idea that getting someone to show up at the summit was the "summit" of our activism on this issue around here.
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We can't afford not to have single-payer!
To be fair...
Some of us have been trying to create some buzz on that success. We, as a group, need to show some cheers even for the little successes. You have to celebrate a little to keep everyone motivated and driving on.
This news is another spirit raiser for the many that put in the calls and sent emails, etc., to get our people into the summit. We tell them to celebrate but remind them that this is the first step.
And we do still have a lot of work to do.
Well, yeah, sure
and heaven knows we have little enough to celebrate. Make the most of every success.
I was just objecting to the sense I got from gqm's comment, that our activism here was centered on or limited to that single thing - when we've been doing so much and talking about it so much.
This does give me an opportunity to tell you how much I've appreciated your contributions to the struggle, ct. man1. Very useful and beautifully written posts. Thank you so much for bringing them to us!
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We can't afford not to have single-payer!
We can't see our size...
... only because of the fucking village. I don't think Gupta going -- Obama's pick, remember -- or Conyers and PNHP geting in, happen all in the same news cycle because everybody suddenly turned nice. These are not victories in themselves (gqm) but I think they are signifiers of strength.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Means we don't always recognize our victories
It's going to be rare that we have such an immediate (relatively speaking) and clear change that we can attribute to our actions.
My convos with folks at and after the rally convinced me that we do not, indeed, know our numbers. But a lot of our numbers need to know that they are not alone. That's a focus of my activism at the moment.
To my mind, and this is going to sound weird I know, one of the most damaging things about the "Yes we can" chanting and trope I keep encountering is that it distracts from the power that a person who holds onto a belief because s/he believes it is right, without regard to how popular it is or how "left" it is or whatever, can have.
I got empirical evidence at the rally and after. Too much to process now though.
OK, I will try to file a complete report - as complete as I can make it - in the next few days.
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We can't afford not to have single-payer!
LOL! :)
Thanks... But I do know I am just a cut and paste facilitator of info with an eye towards activism and a bit of snark. But I may have to bookmark this comment to peek at whenever I get tired of Blogging, as everyone does once in a while. :)
define 'eleven'
i'm not really being snarky here [well, not entirely]. have you got some specifics you'd like for your fellow correnteans to be doing?
... we do not, indeed, know
... we do not, indeed, know our numbers.
this is why i love it when you post your pictures and reports [even incomplete ones]. i know for a fact that i'm not the only person living here on the redneck riviera who wants single payer [and other lefty things], but it sure feels like it some days [ok, most days]. i certainly don't expect hordes of lefties here, but it's nice to see evidence of them in other places. thanks.
It doesn't help
You know, it doesn't help, either, when our president goes for the easy jab at "bleeding heart liberals." His comment, yesterday at the conference, on compromise was squared directly at the left. I hope you all know what part of his speech I'm talking about. He also spoke to the people always focused on cost, but he seemed to have gone out of his way to insult the left. He first said that progressives would be angry, and then went reaching for the actual slur, and that was exactly what it is. Worse yet, it had the intended effect. The audience laughed in an almost "yeah, you know those liberals" acknowledgement, not even blinking. It'd have been different if he'd have also added in "conservative wingers", but he didn't. He seems all too quick to bad-mouth his base. I don't get it.
Sorry for going off on a tangent, but I couldn't get past this after he said it, today. To me, it tainted everything else said in that conference.
But, we've always been at war with Eastasia...
don't apologize
it's a worthy tangent. and a worthy target too.
obama can call me a bleeding heart liberal all he wants to, since it's true, of me at least. i resent like hell that he's playing everyone's emotions [lefties and righties both] like he is [and i'm pretty sure that at least some of it can be attribted to axelrod and maybe to plouffe] but i was gratified to learn early on that obama's a poker player, since it's a game i'm good at. also, i much prefer brandishing torches and pitchforks to sucking up, so his insulting me means i don't have to be nice to him.