The Beat

Are You Represented By a "Public Option Senators"

By John Nichols

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a health care reform champion who has (along with Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller) led the fight for a robust public option has gathered the signatures of thirty senators who are committed to real reform -- even if the insurance companies don't like it.

The signers are not the only public option backers in the Senate. MSNBC's Ed Schultz got Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico -- who did not sign the letter -- to commit to vote for the public option in bills and amendments during an interview Thursday night.

But the signers of the letter are the committed stalwarts, and they will be essential players as the battle over health care reform plays out in the Senate. Many are supporters of bolder reform -- including a single-payer system. Their message to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and the Obama administration is that the public option is a compromise. They're not interested in compromising any further.

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October 9, 2009

But How Does the GOP Win With 1 Percent of the Vote?

By John Nichols

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann maintains one of the largest press operations in Congress. Her staff goes out of its way to "place" the Republican firebrand on television and radio talk shows.

So Bachmann should "get" a thing or two about the realities of right-wing talk radio and conservative cable television.

For instance, while right's radio and cable hosts have loyal audiences, they speak to highly-partisan audiences that like living in an echo chamber. That's the nature of the game. Most liberal talk-radio and cable television programs focus on their side's faithful -- although, it is notable that some progressive hosts, such as Ed Schultz (a prairie populist who made his name in Fargo) and Stephanie Miller (the daughter of Barry Goldwater's vice presidential running-mate) bust out of the echo chamber to take unscreened calls and actually debate conservative listeners.

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October 7, 2009

Obama Should Meet With 'Rethink Afghanistan' Caucus

By John Nichols

President Obama, who is under pressure from the Pentagon and defense contractors to surge 40,000 additional U.S. troops into occupied Afghanistan, met Tuesday with members of Congress to discuss the sorry state of the mission and its uncertain future.

That's the good news -- sort of.

At least the president is talking to the civilian leaders who, according to the U.S. Constitution, are supposed to be making decisions about whether to engage in and escalate wars.

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October 5, 2009

Bernie Sanders Applies "ACORN Standard" to Defense Contractors

By John Nichols

Now that the U.S. House and Senate have established an "ACORN Standard" for policing federal expenditures -- if even a few employees of an organization that feeds at the public trough stand accused of engaging in activities that appear to be inappropriate, then federal funding must be yanked – it would be nice to think that Congress has given itself permission to go after the seriously sleazy players who make it their business to rob American taxpayers.

We're still in "wait-and-see" mode on that one.

But what should by now be clear to anyone who is interested in dealing with government waste is that cracking down on community organizers who try to help poor people find housing and register voters in historically-disenfranchised communities was a cheap distraction. No one with wealth or power was confronted. No policies were changed. No societal challenges were addressed.

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October 4, 2009

Who Decides About War? What About the People?

By John Nichols

The U.S. occupation of Afghanistan has reached its "sell-by…" date.

A majority of Americans now tell pollsters the mission was a mistake. Ninety-eight members of the House – including liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans – have cosponsored Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern's resolution asking the Pentagon to develop an exit strategy.

Unfortunately, the generals who run wars, and the defense contractors who profit from them, want to keep U.S. troops on the ground in that distant land. And President Obama is under pressure to surge tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops into "the graveyard of empires."

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October 1, 2009

Congressman Grayson Has Just Begun to Fight

By John Nichols

Washington Republicans are horrified, horrified, horrified by the bluntness of Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson.

The tough kid from the Bronx (and Harvard Law School) who represents an until recently Republican Orlando-area district pulled no punches Tuesday, when he declared on the House floor:

"The Republican health care plan is this: Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly."

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September 30, 2009

Public Option Rejected As Key Dems Vote "No"

By John Nichols

The healthcare reform debate – such as it is – has already provided more than enough disappointment for Americans who recognize the need for a thorough reordering of the way in which this nation meets the medical needs of its populace.

But the hits just keep on coming.

Indeed, there is good reason to believe the Congress is edging away from a healthcare reform debate and toward a far more limited discussion of insurance reform.

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September 29, 2009

Can the Public Option Be Saved?

By John Nichols

Outside Washington, there is still a sense that a serious debate about healthcare reform is going on.

In Washington, there is a good deal of fear among informed and engaged progressives that the debate may be done.

Yes, of course, something called "reform" might be enacted this year by a Congress where Democrats control both the House and Senate by overwhelming majorities and signed into law by a Democratic president who says reworking the healthcare system is a top priority of his administration.

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September 29, 2009

William Safire: Conservative Critic of Media Monopoly

By John Nichols

Bill Safire and I disagreed on more issues than we agreed.

It's like that with former Nixon speechwriters and Nation scribes.

But Safire, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist who has died at age 79, was an honest conservative.

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September 27, 2009

MoveOn Calls for Afghanistan Exit Strategy

By John Nichols

The online activist group MoveOn.org, which experienced its most explosive growth when it emerged as a focal point for opposition to the war in Iraq, has been criticized for failing to adopt an anti-war position with regard to the increasingly deadly and ineffectual US occupation of Afghanistan.

Now, however, the 4.2-million member group has made a tentative move toward supporting an Afghanistan exit strategy.

In a online e-blast to activists, MoveOn organizers argued Friday against the deployment of more US troops to Afghanistan and for the development of "a clear exit strategy."

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September 25, 2009