So we are now finding out the answers to some of our questions about which members of Congress actually represent We, the People...and which ones represent, Them, the Corporate Masters.
We have seen a Democratic Senator propose a policy that would put people in jail for not buying health insurance and a Democratic President who has taken numerous public beatings from those on the left side of the fence for his inability to ram something through a group of people...and yes, folks, the entendre was intentional.
But most of all, we've been asking ourselves: "why would Democratic Members of Congress who will eventually want us to vote for them vote against something that nearly all voting Democrats are inclined to vote for?"
Today's conversation attempts to answer that question by looking at exactly how money and influence flow through a key politician, Montana's Senator Max Baucus-and in doing so, we examine some ugly political realities that have to be resolved before we can hope to convince certain Members of Congress to vote for what their constituents actually want when it really counts.
The first vote came on Senator Jay Rockefeller's (D-WV) amendment. All 10 Republicans and five Democrats voted against it, thus killing the amendment. The five Democrats that voted against it weren't surprises. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT).
The second vote was on Senator Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) amendment. That amendment received Carper and Nelson's support, but Baucus, Conrad and Lincoln still joined the Republicans in opposing the public option amendment.
On a personal level, I don't care what Baucus and Conrad think. They both seem to have it in their head that having a public option in any health care bill would mean that the bill wouldn't pass. They are wrong, but they will continue to believe what they have believed all along.
The big thing is that most of the Democrats on the Finance Committee support some version of the public option, whether it's Rockefeller's or Schumer's. That is good news.
Here are ads that Democracy For America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee are trying to get out on the air.
