Dear Michael Moore and John Conyers:
By now you have heard of Health Care for America Now. Clearly the effect of this group is to blunt the drive for single payer. As the most visible leaders in the single payer movement we need you to come up with a counter strategy.
Many otherwise intelligent people have lent their support to this diversion. We need some way to regain the initiative. There is a limit to what those of us with a small microphone can do.
As Don McCanne pointed out, private health care insurance is a failed model. All their incentives are with cherry picking their customers and denying care. Passing laws to require them to cover pre-existing conditions, mandating coverage for certain procedures and similar measures would be difficult, if not prohibitively expensive to enforce.
Sincerely
DCblogger
Readers, you assignment, should you accept it, is to fan out across blogosphere, especially local community blogs and spread the good news about HR 676. Remember who your audience is, not necessarily the blog proprietor, or fellow commenters (though building community is important), but the lurker. Be content to spread information and link love, do not permit yourself to be drawn into flame wars.
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And please... Report back with results
so we can know what happened and encourage each other.
[x] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
i've converted all my blogofriends already
but most of them were already pro-single-payer anyway.
i'm going to start emailing organizations in the hcan coalition, urging them to back hr 676.
also, i left comments at the fdl and openleft posts that you linked.
an aside
i just now noticed the hcan address: k street.
thank you thank you thank you
I am working on a further press
SEIU
did you notice all that stuff about SEIU in the comments? Useful to know.
'California nurses union
gets restraining order against SEIU'
quite the soap opera we're having this election year, isn't it?
this smells funny.
As for the grasstops organization that set this up, USAction, their President:
Kblockquote>
William McNary "is the President of USAction and Co-Executive Director of Citizen Action/Illinois, an affiliate of USAction and Illinois' largest public interest organization, he has been called one of the most electrifying and inspirational speakers of our time. Mr. McNary was appointed by the Illinois Senate President to serve as the Consumer Representative to the Illinois Department on Aging's Senior Pharmaceutical Review Committee. In addition, Mr. McNary is a board member of Public Campaign, a Washington, DC-based organization dedicated to building broad public support for clean money campaign reform. He served as Vice Chair of Consumer Affairs for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's transition team. During the last five election cycles, Mr. McNary has worked with the Rainbow/Push Coalition, co-directing targeted voter registration and "Get Out the Vote" campaign efforts. Mr. McNary holds a degree in journalism and communications from the University of Iowa."
Hmmm. Illinois Senate. Pharma committee. Blagojevich's man.
This is an Axelrod op, designed to bleed out real energy for HR 676.
The link on McNary?
Nice catch, but no link.
[x] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Sorry. was angry.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?tit...
nice catch.
i'll see if maybe i can work that information somehow into the emails i'm planning to send to the members of that coalition.
why is conyers smoking the hopium?
does he know something about obama's health care proposal we don't? he's tagging along in the train - he was in georgia yesterday for obama's speech there.
More info, please.
Was health care the subject of Obama's speech? I want to contact Conyers's office, but would like to have more to say than just, "what's the position on Health Care for America Now"?
Conyers
As a member of Congress Conyers has to play a high profile role in Obama's election. That does not necessarily mean that he is backing down on HR 676.
I want to see if there are more demonstrations or other strategies to regain the initiative.
This is the group with Elizabeth Edwards as its spokesperson?
Has she answered any questions about their objectives and how it may be used to undermine actual universal care?
BTW, John Edwards was on WNYC this morning (Brian Leher Show at wnyc.org has audio available) and said that electing Obama was important for improving race relations in this nation, as simply having a black in the presidency would make the issue of race more likely to be discussed.
Uh, John? People got called racist for merely using words which others could interpret as mentioning that Obama is black...remember that? Like there's going to be some big, open discussion after treatment like that? Well, we shall see.
Elizabeth Edwards
So far as I know she has not answered any questions about this. I love Elizabeth Edwards, I just think she is doing the wrong thing here. Unless, of course, we can persuade them to endorse HR 676.
i bet they told her they were for "Universal" and didn't
define it.
Is Elizabeth Edwards still blogging? Does she have her own blog?
Might get response--she used to be very reponsive.
Since I don't know enough about this issue, I would leave interviewing/contacting her to those who really know this topic. But I'd love to hear what she has to say.
Re: Conyers--As someone somewhere wrote, a Dem majority Congress might push back against a Repub prez, but will not do so against Obama. Nor will they push him to more progressive acts. I fear.
Which is why I fear we will not see universal healthcare. And I have no idea what kind of judges he will nominate....
Roll of the dice.
I give her more credit
What Health Care for America Now is talking about is similar to the Edwards plan. I am feeling more philosphical about this. We just need Conyers to come up with a counter strategy.