Eric Massa: "A member of Congress should read the legislation, should understand what the problems are ...

because the question implied that Massa was "only" speaking this way b/c he is in a "swing district". And, thus "reading the political winds". It's really rare that actual integrity is in evidence in a congress critter.

getting something much better in the future relies on seeing some take a stand now against pure crap. To date, I would have to mark him down as the first, if he's for real.

For example, Donna Edwards is already hedging a bit about voting down what comes out of committee (I doubt she will). That's an even bigger test than voting on 3200.

In fact, I would ask -- what do you think Massa would do if they need just one vote on this dog after it comes out of committee (and it will be much worse!) should things go that far?

I do get exhausted thinking about going through this again, but I think it's the right thing to do.

from his bio:

"For more than a year, Congressman Massa worked at a manufacturing company in Corning. Unfortunately, due to unfair free trade agreements, the company could not afford to keep those jobs in America, and so, like thousands of other manufacturing workers in Western New York, Mr. Massa was laid off."

So, yes totally concur. He's "been there".

Bryan, it's always useful to hear from someone in the district. Personally, I get pretty frustrated when people talk about my district (because they usually don't know what they're talking about).

The Southern Tier is in pain, but they aren't going to put up with any "band-aid" solutions.

and they shouldn't have to.

would be totally different

If he's saying that he's a SP guy, and he can't vote for 3200 because it just doesn't do enough for even a compromise from him, then it should be easy to conclude that he'd happily vote 'yes' on SP if it were The Bill in question. It's not a big stretch because he's said that he would vote against his constituents if it were the right thing to do. Not being sure is fine, just looking for a read on him by people who know him better.

I'm happy to give an opinion on a hypothetical situation -- let's say 3200 passes with a "public option." It gets stripped out in committee. How do my area reps vote? I can spit into 3 districts -- I live near the point where they all intersect, so ...

Van Hollen - yes
Hoyer - yes
Edwards -yes

Van Hollen and Hoyer are no-brainers. Edwards is supposed to be the progressive heroine, but I predict w/ confidence that she'd fold, and rather quickly, too.

Here is a link for you on the treason remark.

I don't agree with the treason remark, or even that Grassley was "wrong," as the article states. Here is something from the NYT:

The Iowa Republican, while not explicitly mentioning euthanasia or rationing of care, also said that he did not want government policy to “treat life at age 85 different than we do life at 35.” (At a town hall meeting last week in Adel, Iowa, the senator said, “We should not have a government plan that will pull the plug on grandma.”)

Mr. Grassley — a member of the Gang of Six, the group of Senate Finance Committee members most responsible for that panel’s health care bill — told Fox News, “I have had very strong views for about four months during this debate that I’m not going to do anything with the health care bill that puts a government bureaucrat or any government policy making a determination on whether or not we are going to value life at the end of life any more than at age 30 or 20.”

His original remark in Adel smacked of hyperbole, yes, but given Obama's remarks that this topic would get discussed on the hill, I've had a difficult time agreeing w/ the progressive response that he was lying (or a traitor).

.