House Dem Leaders Deny They Told Blue Dog Dem Not To Work With GOP
Blue Dog Dem Rep Jim Cooper, who has been accused in the past of undermining fellow Dems, is now making the incendiary claim that the House Dem leadership has explicitly told House Dems not to work with House GOPers on health care.
But the Democratic leadership is adamantly denying the charge.
Cooper made the claim in an opinion piece for The Huffington Post. In it, he praised former Dem and GOP Senators who are seeking a bipartisan health care consensus, and contrasted that with the House, charging that “we are explicitly told not to work with Republicans.”
Cooper’s claim is enormously helpful to Republicans, who are circulating it right now, because it bolsters the GOP talking point that Dems are ruthlessly ramming reform through with no concern for Republicans. Cooper — like other centrists — is urging a bipartisan approach to health care, even if it requires tossing overboard key provisions like a public plan option.
But Stephanie Lundberg, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, says the charge is bogus. “The Democratic leadership has strongly encouraged the committees and rank and file members to work with Republicans to find areas of common ground,” Lundberg emailed me, adding that the message to Dems is to “seek bipartisanship where possible.” Hoyer has already met with GOPers on health care twice.
This isn’t the first time Cooper has made embarrassing assertions about Dem leaders with no evidence, as Glenn Thrush points out. In February he said that the White House had encouraged him to buck Nancy Pelosi on the stimulus, before quickly retracting the claim.
The question now is whether Cooper will retract this latest charge, or whether he’ll provide supporting evidence of it, by clarifying who in the leadership supposedly told Dems not to work with Republicans and which Dems were told this.
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Gee, if only the GOP had the benefit of Cooper’s help, their health care alternative might have had some actual numbers. Give me a break!
You think maybe they’ll debate the merits of the plan? Or will it just be party line and the rest of us be da-mned?
Hmmm… Cooper… sounds very much like GOOPer… coincidence???
Your bio says this clown was a Rhodes Scholar. That devalues that brand.
Why is Republicans proving they were shut out of negotiations “helpful” to them, except to send a thrill up Broder’s leg?
Look, if we American people wanted Republicans writing legislation we would have voted for more of them.
Bluedogs *are* republicans. When they caucus with the gop, they’re talking to themselves.
“Cooper — like other centrists —”
Opinions differ on whether or not he is a centrist.