Lefty Groups Planning Massive TV Ad Push In Health Reform’s Final Stretch
Lefty groups to vulnerable House Dems: Hang tight, the air cover is coming!
Major liberal groups and labor unions allied with the White House are planning a massive TV ad push in coming days to get health reform across the finish line, and are vowing to match the huge amounts conservative groups are spending on the air attacking reform, multiple sources familiar with the plans tell me.
Foes of reform, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are already up on the air with multi-million-dollar ad campaigns warning hundreds of thousands of voters that Dems are preparing to jam the bill through Congress. This has prompted some to wonder whether a similar push is coming from the left. It is.
Americans United for Change is set to announce a $500,000 ad campaign in the districts of multiple House Dems across the country, a source familiar with the plans says. The labor federation AFSCME is preparing a “significant push in the weeks ahead,” according to an AFSCME official, who adds that ads could air before and after the House votes on the Senate bill, providing cover for Dems who find themselves under assault after voting Yes.
Americans for Stable Quality Care, a pro-reform coalition which is working with the labor powerhouse SEIU, is finalizing plans for a major buy in multiple districts, an official familiar with the plans says.
And MoveOn is currently polling its members to ask whether the group should support the Senate bill. If the answer is Yes, the group will mount an “aggressive grassroots campaign, including ads,” one source involved in the planning says.
Details are still being worked out, and it’s always possible that plans could change. But officials involved in the discussions expect to match or come close to matching the push coming from conservative groups, which is expected to top $10 million or more.
“We expect to match the business groups,” one official says. “The air cover is coming.”
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You said:
The vote counting in the House won’t start in earnest until the language of the reconciliation fix is released.
Well, when the heck is that going to happen? The longer they wait, the more money needs to be spent to provide “air cover” to those invertebrates, and the wobblier those invertebrates will get.
So WTF is the effing delay, anyway?
Supposedly we’re supposed to see the reconciliation fix by the end of this week
@Greg
Don’t know if you picked this up in comments or saw it on MSNBC last night but Markos flamed Kucinich and said if he votes against the Senate bill then he would be primaried. He is continue to flame him today on twitter and man its a sight to behold!
continuing that is
great news Greg. I have to day that seeing the rallies FOR HCR yesterday in DC (I accidentally bumped into one) and seeing the rallies actually covered on the news (Couric and CNN covered them Williams did not, anyone know if ABC did?) most of the people there were really fired up. I also have been getting daily emails pushing for HCR from the WH. with a different number/talking point every day (yesterday the average high payment for insurance per family, today the number of people who die per minute without insurance). I see this really coming together and think that the counts of votes will be very different once we know the CBO score.
Let’s get it done!
sweet! Now it’ll be easy to see which groups to contribute to, that won’t sell out to the establishment in the end.
I mean look at HCAN. Their first two principles:
•A truly inclusive and accessible health care system in which no one is left out.
- NOPE
•A choice of a private insurance plan, including keeping the insurance you have if you like it, or a public health insurance plan that guarantees affordable coverage without a private insurer middleman.
- NOPE
Hard to take them seriously now.
ugh, have to say not day. edit button please!
Re: Markos v. Kucinich
From DailyKos.com writer “MinistryOfTruth”:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/9/844389/-Rachel-Maddow:-Who-really-paid-Bart-Stupaks-rent-%28UPDATE:-Stupak-gets-a-primary-challenger!%29
Markos v. Kucinich is an example of two principled people whose principles have clashed.
I support Kucinich on this one: This bill is a massive gift to the Corporate insurance predators and significantly strengthens those Corporations at the expense of the American people.
preview and threaded comments are in the works — close to being done!
threaded comments suck
Dennis Kucinich on Countdown the other night:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/35771329#35771329
Kucinich is, again, being a consistent progressive voice.
And, as always, that’s a lonely place to be.
Ummm not exactly.
http://twitter.com/markos
I’d pick just one tweet of Markos’ about Kucinich but it wouldn’t do the entire flame job justice. BTW he says Kucinich doesn’t have a single legislative accomplishment which…..is pretty much the absolute truth. He also posted his case against Kucinich from 2007. Pretty compelling stuff.
I wonder if the person saying Kucinich is a “consistent progressive voice” knows Kucinich used to be VERY Anti choice and VERY much against stem cell research. I guess you could be a progressive with that record, but it would be hard to say you were consistent.
Greg, will pray to the internet gods for that preview. many thanks. not crazy about threaded but can live with it if we get the preview.
Markos is a hypocrite:
Remove mandate, or kill this bill
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/15/814776/-Remove-mandate,-or-kill-this-bill
Kucinich on Countdown, explaining his objections:
Hrmm…left vs the left.
Healthy debates.
The real debate starts once the fix is public.
At that point its time to call, all the cards will be laid out on the table for all to see.
No more bluffs, no more draws.
Time to place your bets.
“sgwhiteinfla”, just because I disagree with someone doesn’t mean that I don’t ultimately support them.
I’m pragmatic enough to agree with your slogan “better than” … in the end.
In the end I will work for and vote for Obama in the 2012 General Election.
But if you’d like, I’ll start a pot of coffee brewing and spend the rest of the day explaining all the policy disagreements I have with Obama and his malignant Corporate “New Dems”.
Just because the Corporate-Dems have the might doesn’t make them right, though it might make them right-wing.
And just because a Cassandra like Kucinich doesn’t have the might doesn’t mean he’s not right.
But if you are saying that Kucinich is wrong, well, does that explain his early support of Obama?
Kucinich took a LOT of heat from some progressives for his early support of Obama. And many other progressives sat up, took notice, and ended up supporting Obama in part because of Kucinich’s support.
And, yes, Kucinich is that influential amongst some progressives.
“spend the rest of the day explaining all the policy disagreements I have with Obama and his malignant Corporate “New Dems”.”
Sorry to burst your bubble but that’s pretty much all you do every other post you make.
urm, /blockquote /b[old off
Hey so, Pelosi says she has the votes if it were held today.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/85975-pelosi-says-house-has-votes-for-healthcare-if-vote-were-held-today
They just need to communicate & explain the personal economics of the bill. The best thing about the current bill is that it will allow individuals and families to opt out of insurance coverage until they need it. Since insurance companies would not be allowed to deny coverage based on preexisting conditions, but individuals and families will be penalized only at the rate of only 2.5 percent of their annual income if they do not have insurance, it makes sense for middle class families earning under around $500,000 per year to forego insurance coverage until they get sick. Clearly insurance coverage costs most middle-class families far more that 2.5 percent of their annual income, so the current bill serves as a disincentive to purchase insurance. It’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.
@”mike”
{sigh}
I’d rather have a President pushing superior progressive policy solutions that I could be a cheerleader for rather than being stuck listening to excuses be made for cr@ppy Corporate ’solutions’.
And, “mike”, it was Obama’s supporters mean-spirited support of Obama’s Corporate-friendly ’solutions’ that finally brought me out as an Obama critic. Part of it is a historical perspective.
I look back at the 1990’s and the Republican policies that Clinton* enacted and I just get sick and then I look at the Republican policies that Obama is pushing and I just don’t want to put up with another 3 to 7 years of this triangulating-working-against-your-base nonsense.
*Clinton signed loads of right-wing legislation that is still having extremely toxic effects.
See: Telecommunications Act and Commodity Futures Modernization Act for some of the most toxic aftereffects.
As for Stupak, it seems the easiest way to isolate him is to mention to all those Dems who would follow him that they are aligning themselves with a member of an anti-Christian cult. Stupak’s association with “The Family” is long and tangled, quite possibly involving subsidized low cost rent which could actually be undeclared income and smacks of being bought and paid for. “The Family” is far more akin to organized crime families than a church. They are a very shady organization whose secretive accounting practices do not support their contention that they have nothing to hide.
Stupak’s “principled” stance on abortion seems much less so when his rather dodgy involvement in “The Family” is examined. He has repeatedly lied about his association with “The Family.” Why?
Stupak’s erstwhile allies might want to distance themselves from him lest they get sucked down in his wake.
“healthnut”: “middle class families earning under around $500,000 per year”
Would you like to correct that surreal error or do you want to stand by that falsehood?
Shall I assume your other math is incorrect as well and that your entire argument in support of this Corporate giveaway is nonsense?
Where’s big pharma? They were big players before. I guess the deal’s off for real, then?
I like threaded comments.
And gasman, I think extra special attention should be turned onto Stupak, and his $600 rent agreement needs highlighted and explained.
$600 rent? In Washington, D.c.? The last time I paid that little for rent in Boston was in the early 90s, and the apartment wasn’t great, by any stretch of the imagination.
@Greg–once the reconciliation fix is drafted, do you know about how long it’ll take for CBO to score it? A week or so?
Look NR. I hold nothing against you for pushing from the left non stop nor do I hold anything against people who sincerely push from the right, and I’m not talking about those who push policies being pushed by API and the such, I’m talking about those who believe we should pay for everything we do, which are few and far between.
I just think it was political suicide to push for the kill the bill campaign when there were, what I thought, better avenues to getting everyone covered and not be beholden to a profit driven agenda of corporations when it comes to our health as a nation.
The push for the PO via reconciliation comes to mind. If for whatever reason it doesn’t make it this election cycle, there’s no reason why majorities can’t be expanded in 2012 which could all but ensure a strong PO be passed shortly after when many of these functions of this reform will begin to take shape, ie the insurance pools which would contain the PO that will be available to those who either don’t have insurance or lost their job and need insurance.
“Supposedly we’re supposed to see the reconciliation fix by the end of this week”
Greg: Do you know whether it will already be CBO-scored when announced publicly or will the scoring follow the public roll-out?
The questions about Stupak’s involvement with The Family and receiving subsidized rent for several years will definitely come out in a primary.
I’d like to pay $600 rent that includes maid service.
More bizarre Mittmentum antics:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/romney-i-never-really-called-myself-pro-choice/
Depending on how they are implemented: Threaded comments mean that the first commenter can hijack the whole thread.
If threaded comments ‘bury’ responses I rarely read those responses.
If threaded comments aren’t buried I rarely read to the bottom of the thread.
With flat comments like this website I regularly scroll through the majority of comments.
The flat comments on this website is one of my favorite features.
“Threaded comments mean the first commenter can hijack the whole thread”.
That happens with nonthreads as well, and it doesn’t even need to be the first commenter.
The flat comments on this website is one of the features I hate about this website, and my admiration for Greg’s work is about the only thing that keeps me around.
That, and the scintilating commenters, of course.
@”mike”
I dearly hope I am wrong but I absolutely believe that the current bill leaves US “beholden to a profit driven agenda of corporations when it comes to our health as a nation”
Once the health-insurance system is completely PRIVATIZED I don’t believe there will be any turning back, there won’t be any later ‘fixes’ and the Corporations will be too powerful to later push a Public Option.
If the bill didn’t have the Corporate mandate I’d feel differently. But the mandate strengthens Corporate insurers to the tune of $100’s of BILLIONS of more dollars in very short order.
I don’t believe that the financial gains that Corporate insurers will make under this Corporate friendly bill will allow for ‘change’ in the future.
As I’ve said, paying off these Corporate leaches, as the current bill does, is like feeding cockroaches that scurry through the walls of your home. It only makes the problem worse.
O/T, but this is really fun: Gallup Presidential Approval Center
You can compare the approval ratings of all Presidents since Truman.
Time waster.
But fun.
@News – If I wasn’t clear – apologies.
This bill has a penalty of 2.5% of your income for not having insurance. In order for that to be punitive… you really have to make a whole lot of money.
for example – to NOT cover my family, it looks like it’ll cost me about $160 a month. Thats a lot lower than I pay now!!! And – with no pre-existing conditions etc.. one could just get insurance when needed.
I’m onboard!
“healthnut”, by that math you make half again as much as the median income earner.
That means that the REGRESSIVE fine included in this bill doesn’t hit you anywhere nearly as hard as it does over half the income earners in the US. And, specifically, my complaint was your misstatement of how much the ‘middle-class’ earns.
Again:
Take out the mandate to pay ransoms to predatory corporations, take out the REGRESSIVE taxes, and eliminate the restrictions on women’s freedoms.
Then we’ll talk.
I’d still have to look at the other REGRESSIVE policies that Obama keeps adding to the bill, but those three issues above are what lost my support of this Corporate handout.
it is funny how the politcians attack the insurance companies, while handing them a bill that stands to make them even more money.
might be time to by some ins co stock.. no?
@News – the penalty is simply insane! It’s not even a penalty.. it’s an INCENTIVE! Why should anyone have insurance.
If I made 40k, my penalty would be 1k or about $83 a month. Find me a policy anywhere that covers a family for $83 a month!
The economics of it are really not well thought out.
“Find me a policy anywhere that covers a family for $83 a month!”
That’s funny because a friend of mine just last year adamantly claimed that health insurance cost only $50 a month because that’s what it cost them through their job.
Union employees sometimes have good healthcare coverage as part of their jobs and never worry about paying even $10 a month.
Now of course the employers are often picking up a sizable portion of that tab, but many employers (that I’m aware of) aren’t transparent about what they are paying to supplement their employees healthcare.
But, again, my complaint is that the current bill forces Americans to pay ransoms to CORPORATIONS whose primary mission is to minimize payouts.
That is done through a combination of factors including overcharging, high-copays, and high deductibles, all of which are still allowed in the current bill.
Read how 21% of Massachusetts citizens don’t get healthcare because they still can’t afford it:
http://www.kff.org/uninsured/upload/7777-02.pdf
And I know families making “40k” who would end up missing a mortgage payment if they got a nearly $1,000 dollar fine.
And since this is math time:
30 million new customers paying $83 a month for insurance is: $29,760,480,000,000 PER YEAR.
Even using your low-ball numbers the Corporate insurers are looking at an easy $30 BILLION more dollars PER YEAR off the top of which they are allowed to skim at minimum $4.5 to $6 BILLION dollars in overhead.
Again: STOP SELLING CORPORATE INSURANCE.
If you want to sell anything, sell something decent like:
MEDICARE FOR ALL. Even with a ‘buy in’ Medicare is cheaper and provides better healthcare outcomes than Corporate insurance.
“… Rep. Alan Grayson arguing for a vote for HR 4789, a bill to allow anyone to buy into Medicare.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy2Y5Uevisk
We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.
Lee Iococca
Over the last decade the top one-half of one percent of the wealthiest households,.05% in the U.S. accounted for 34% of total income growth. The poorest filthy stinking rich making up the bottom of that 1/2 of 1%, the bottom .05% brougt up the rear in shoring in 22% of the country’s total growth in income. So…the top 1% weathiest represented 56% of total income (growth) in the last decade. To bring in the poorest of the poor of the filthy stinking rich which is the bottom 9% of top 10% wealthiest leaves about only one piece of this big pie left. The top 10% received 84.9 % of the total growth in income over the past decade. The other 90% of the households in the U.S. received a grand total of 15.1% of this great American “Apple Pie” You can bet your *** that every one of the healthcare insurance industry executives are the beneficiaries of nine-tenths of the American that the rest of working Americans have put a lot of blood sweat and tears into making the pie. What do we get for our efforts in raising this country’s productivity year after year after year? We get slave wages, no job security and little or no access to affordable adequate healthcare. HOw to pay for it? Thats easy. Go back to the way it use to be and make the weathy pay taxes on their fortunes. No, I’m not saying pay more taxes, I’m saying pay them period! The top 10% saw their incomes grow by 400% over the last decade while paying less of a percentage in taxes than most all Americans. Even more discorting is their after tax income grew even more at 460% attributed to the lack of regulations in banking and Wall Street. If you want to pay for something then bring back the capital gains tax, estate tax (or at least make it a reasonable share) and make sure that 90% of Americans get to share just a tad more than 15% of this country’s pie. After all, we are the ones that have worked our hands to bones raising productivity to all times high in this country. The 400 tax returns representing the weathiest income earners showed that only 6% of their income is attributable to actual wages paid to them for working. Their hoards of money makes them 400 times more money. I’m all for free enterprise and opportunity but somewhere along the way it has been hijacked and is the epitome of a country ruled by a ruler or king who becomes richer and more powerful by making the slaves or peons produce more and produce it faster. That size gap amongst the classes does not manifest when everyone is playing by the rules and doing so in an ethical way. A select few seem to have stolen or better said, paid for a copy of the test and completely destroyed the learning curve process. Makes it hard as hell to advance to the next grade for the largest majority of the class.
I almost hope MoveOn votes no — or better, votes yes but uses their money to buy air for someone else’s ads instead of producing their own. Their stuff tends to range from preaching to the choir to great big easy targets that Republicans can use to attack the left. They’re like the proverbial child with a loaded gun.