Two Battles to Fight (Update)

(11:00AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

The first battle that needs to be fought is against Democratic politicians who have been bought off by corporations.

Democratic politician’s are now floating a “compromise” on the public health option; a “health co-op.”  It’s a far cry better than requiring, by law, people to have health insurance and claiming that it cures the problem of health care so expensive the people couldn’t afford in the first place.

The second battle that needs to be fought is against the media that continue to refuse to hold Republican politicians, pundits, and supporters accountable for their lies, rhetoric and hatred-filled screeds.  This means that if you live in a Republican state, then look at your local and state newspapers and see if they are holding your politician’s accountable or not.

My local newspaper is The State, based in Columbia, South Carolina.  As we are aware, South Carolina has long been a bastion for the GOP and its Republican politicians.  In looking over the articles run by The State in its politics section, you find the burning question asked “S.C. GOP needs a bigger closet?“, which reports that maybe there are more gay/lesbian politicians in South Carolina than formerly known.

Let’s look at these two battlegrounds…  

Democratic politicians have always sold out the Left.  When the GOP ran Congress, it didn’t have near the majority numbers that the Democrats have today, yet, they were able to ram their bills through time and time again.  That took Democratic votes and it is still happening.

Most Senate Finance Committee members are “inclined” to support creation of member-run health cooperatives to bridge a partisan divide over revamping the nation’s health-care system, the panel’s chairman said.

Chairman Max Baucus said lawmakers in both parties may embrace cooperatives as an alternative to a government-run health plan, supported by Democrats, to compete with private insurers. Most Republicans say a public plan threatens to undermine insurance companies.

The Senate Finance Committee has Sen. Baucus (D-MT) as Chairman, 13 total Democrats, and 10 Republicans.  There is absolutely no reason why Democrats need Republican support, or worse, to cave to Republican demands.  Sen. Snowe (R-ME) is on the Finance Committee and with enough pressure would be the only vote necessary to move legislation out of Committee.  Read the rules (pdf formate) of Committee for yourself:

After the agenda for a committee meeting is published and distributed, no nongermane items may be brought up during that meeting unless at least two-thirds of the members present agree to consider those items.

Think the Republicans could get 2/3 of the Committee to agree to bring up garbage to stall the meetings?  No.

Rule 4. Quorums.-(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) one-third of the membership of the committee, including not less than one member of the majority party and one member of the minority party, shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of business.

With one Republican present, Sen. Snowe, the Democrats could have a quorum anytime they wanted even if every other Republican boycotted the meetings.

Rule 5. Reporting of Measures or Recommendations.  No measure or recommendation shall be reported from the committee unless a majority of the committee is actually present and a majority of those present concur.

The Democrats hold the majority, and, with that majority vote can move any measure from committee.

Rule 8. Bringing a Matter to a Vote.  If the chairman determines that a motion or amendment has been adequately debated, he may call for a vote on such motion or amendment, and the vote shall then be taken, unless the committee votes to continue debate on such motion or amendment, as the case may be. The vote on a motion to continue debate on any motion or amendment shall be taken without debate.

Sen. Baucus can call for a vote anytime he pleases, and, that vote must be taken.  As we learn from Rule 5, that vote relies on just a majority vote.

If you can find anything in those rules that are “forcing” Democrats to continually cave to the GOP, let me, and them, know.  I can’t.  But, that is exactly what is, and has been, happening over the years.

So, who needs to fight this fight?  The Senator’s voting constituent’s.  The Democrats on the Finance Committee:

Sen. Baucus

Sen. John D. Rockefeller

Sen. Kent Conrad

Sen. Jeff Bingaman

Sen. John Kerry

Sen. Blanche Lincoln

Sen. Ron Wyden

Sen. Charles Schumer

Sen. Debbie Stabenow

Sen. Maria Cantwell

Sen. Bill Nelson

Sen. Robert Menendez

Sen. Thomas Carper

If one of those Senator’s is your Senator, call them, write them, protest outside their offices.  These are the people who are against giving us a public health care option.

It does no good for a person to call these Senator’s when we aren’t voters from their state.  As we learn from Sen. Conrad, he could care less if you are a voter.  Sen. Baucus is claiming they “don’t have the votes”.  Since when?  Oh right, since Democratic Senator’s refuse to do the will of the people, instead, caving to the GOP time and time again.  But, it doesn’t stop at just these Senators, or, this issue.  Every time a Senator from your state acts up, call them out as a voting constituent.

This goes hand-in-hand with the second battle; with the media that continue to let GOP politicians lie without accountability to their constituents.  I live in South Carolina, so, my media outlet is The State newspaper.  As I posted in the introduction, the reporting by The State is laughable, at best.

Forget the GOP’s bigger tent.

What we need is a bigger closet.

Linda Ketner, the grocery heiress who tried to unseat 1st District Rep. Henry Brown, R-Hanahan, clearly is aching to run against Brown again in 2010.

Recently, Ketner – who is openly gay – was asked whether her sexual orientation played a role in her narrow 2008 loss to Brown.

“It was no secret to anybody around here,” Ketner told firedoglake.com. “(But) when you lose by such a tight margin, anything could have played a role.”

However, being gay doesn’t hurt much in S.C. politics, Ketner suggested.

“We have more gay people serving in South Carolina than probably in any place in the United States; they’re just not out of the closet. We have an awful lot of people in the closet.”

Ketner, a Democrat, then proceeded to rattle off the names of three elected officials who, she said, are gay. All three are Republican; two are elected statewide, and one, arguably, is the state’s most powerful politician.

Early last week, Ketner’s remarks started echoing around the S.C. blogosphere, leading an aide to one of the named politicians – who has denied he is gay – to note that, deeper in the item, Ketner said she had no firsthand knowledge as to whether any of the three were gay.

It’s just the rumor, she said.

Seriously, this is what The State newspaper calls “political reporting”?  Who is gay and who isn’t in South Carolina politics?  Sure, ask Sen. Lindsey Graham if he’s a closet gay, but, ask him how long he knew that our military and CIA were torturing prisoners?  No can do.

The worst offender at The State over the years was Brad Warthan, former VP and editor, who stated on his blog how he gave John McCain a pass (from calling out McCain on anything) because he “loved the access he had” to him.  Of course, that access sure kept Brad Warthan out of the unemployment line — oh wait, it didn’t — he was laid off.  I had hope that Cindy Scoppe, Associate Editor, would raise the level of reporting and editorial after Warthan left.  I have been, sadly, disappointed.  Truly, who is gay and who isn’t in S.C. politics????  

The hardest knock so far in The State comes in the same article, which is actually three mini-editorials, where they take Sen. DeMint to “the woodshed.”

Speaking of Sen. “No,” DeMint was in the news again last week – OK, on Fox’s Web site – hinting he’ll vote “no” to the nomination of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

Noting the Obama administration’s role in the bailout of GM, Chrysler, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and “more than 500 financial institutions that have received federal bailout funds,” DeMint said, “Right now, liberals may cheer at the corporate takeovers President Obama has engineered. … They like these things now because they like and trust the current president and his appointees.

“But what happens when Obama leaves office? Do liberals really want a conservative Republican in charge of Wall Street and Detroit, to be the nation’s loan officer for college tuition or home mortgages?”

Good point.

So, what are we to do, Sen. No?

Oppose Sotomayor, evidently.

“The dangers of our experiment in extra-constitutional politics are nearing a critical mass,” DeMint wrote. “Which is why President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is not just about the nominee. It is about Obama and his expansive notion of his own power. …

“This looming nomination fight will not be between Judge Sotomayor and the Senate, but between the limited powers in the Constitution and limitless ambitions of the Obama administration.”

Oh, no.

Jimbo, you had The Buzz in the palm of your hand.

Conservative Republicans demonstrably have proven they should not regulate Wall Street. (The Buzz nods his head emphatically.)

Lord knows, Mark Sanford never should be trusted with a student loan unless Jean Toal is gonna explain the form to him. (The Buzz, swaying, eyes closed: “Preach it, Sen. No! Preach it!”)

So, vote against the U.S. Supreme Court candidate?

… Huh?

Get that, Sen. DeMint?  Did you feel that, ummmm, what was that?  A little backhanded swipe at how Republicans… did what????  That they can’t regulate Wall Street?  That’s a wrist-slap compared to the full out smackdown that Sen. DeMint’s rhetoric called for in response.

How about the fact that under President Bush, the Republican Party led our nation to an almost full out economical collapse, much less starting a worldwide economic collapse.  How about posting Sen. DeMint’s voting record that helped prompt that meltdown?  How about refuting, point by point, the total hypocrisy on Judicial nominations?  Oh, I’m sorry, you were too busy snickering over which politician may be secretly gay.  By the way, here’s a clue, ask any gay guy which politician in South Carolina is flaming, and all fingers will point to Sen. Lindsey Graham.  Guess what, only the GOP voters care!

Let’s, instead, talk about how right-wing rhetoric has increased right-wing domestic terrorism in America.  Let’s discuss the hypocrisy of calling American’s “UN-American” for not agreeing with President Bush during a time of war, but, GOP politicians are likening President Obama to Putin, a socialist, a marxist, a fascist — IN A TIME OF WAR.

This is the fight that all of us “newly-minted Independents” who live in a GOP state can fight.  This teenager “snickering” that these newspapers pass off as reporting only hurts the state and country while enriching the politician.  Surely, South Carolina hasn’t profited in any way, shape or form from Republican rule for decades.  Of course, we all know that after eight years of Bush and six years of GOP rule, our nation is so much better off — just look at the unemployment numbers, where, South Carolina is now 3rd in the nation.

But hey, Mr. Yoo of “I love me some torture” fame is now a paid writer for the Philly Inquirer.  Karl Rove is making the rounds as a pundit.  Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz, are all over the airwaves telling lie after lie, and when they, or more specifically, her, gets called out, she whines how unfair it is to bring facts to her lie-fest!  At least there are some reporters calling these people out for their lies, unlike The State, who is snickering about who is gay and who isn’t.

Yes, we have two battles to fight against two separate factions and it is going to take two different groups to fight it.

UPDATE:

Well, guess what Republican on the Senate Finance Committee is downplaying Sen. Conrad’s “co-op” compromise?  Sen. Olympia Snowe.  Now, go back up and read the Finance Committee rules.

Now, tell me that the Democratic Senators are not selling out their own Party when they would have that one Republican needed to pass the public option from Committee to the Senate floor.