John Kerry seemed to impress TPM in the Finance Committee today. Check out the vid:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/senate-finance-committee-votes-on-health-care-reform-bill.php?ref=fpa

1:17 p.m.: The below video captures what I believe will serve as the origin of a major talking point for public option supporters. John Kerry lambasting the PwC report and arguing that it serves as a powerful argument for the public option.

I am also interested in people's views on Olympia Snowe voting for the bill. Many progressives have come out and said this is "bad". That it kills the public option in favor of a trigger. I am not so sure. Kerry & Snowe are fairly close, aren't they? I wonder what Kerry's thinking is on how far Snowe will go, or whether it is best to abandon her vote for the final bill?

Thoughts?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/23/785513/-The-Snowe-TriggerA-catch-22-to-kill-the-public-health-insurance-option

Apparently the Medicare prescription drug plan also had a trigger which has never happened.

Of course, how about this evil idea. Put a "trigger" in but completely re-write it, so that it triggers immediately. But still call it a trigger, and Snowe will vote for it.

Because if the above is true, Snowe's trigger will never trigger.

Ezra Klein is less propagandish, but is just overall unimpressed. He said the trigger will happen down the road because costs will skyrocket:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/09/olympia_snowes_trigger_amendme.html

Robert Reich thinks the trigger is bad:

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/09/snowe-job-and-why-trigger-for-public.html

Okay, guys. I am beginning to understand where there has been some anger at John Kerry about this. My thing is talk is talk. But action is action. I think Dems should go for the Real McCoy.

They got Olympia the first round, but the public option (which months ago I thought progressives had put too much investment into outside of other issues) is really needed to make this a good bill. Had a different bill been made, then maybe we wouldn't have needed it. But given the reality of how this bill is coming together, it absolutely needs the public option or it won't work. And the trigger is a bad idea, that will mean no public option.

that was just the start. He really called out the insurance industry.

I think it is good that she voted for getting it out of committee. The bill has to get out of committee and it is a better sign that she voted for it vs against it. From what I saw, I do not like the trigger she designed as it is hard to see how it would provide real pressure.

I would imagine that Kerry is one of the people speaking to Snowe. It is hard to guess how she will go on a final bill, if it has a public option. Kerry and Snowe seemed friendly when they were chair and ranking member of Small Business, but I assume - in both of their cases - that their positions are sincere. I think that only if she can be convinced that it is better than what we have will we have her vote. Her position in making an up or down choice may be easier to get than at the points where changes are still occurring.

already commenting.

Oops. Forgot the link:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/13/792851/-Kerry-Kicks-Insurance-Company-Ass:-AHIP-Study-Shows-Why-We-Need-Public-Option

It looks like he was completely disgusted with the lack of honesty in that report. The consulting company really has embarrassed itself - this goes to their integrity. They knew when they did it how AHIP planned to use it and they knew it didn't model the bill as it came out of Finance. This really is the type of project worth refusing to do if they were forced to do it that way. It was unethical and unprofessional.

to the Kos diary, of course it was already discovered :-).

Not sure what to make of Snowe's vote. My gut reaction is to trust her good intentions, which of course does not mean full agreement, just that she is really trying to work toward a solution that SHE thinks is acceptable, and is not just playing politics. I did not spend enough time with all this to know what her arguments against a non-triggered PO are. I did not hear what she said when she announced she will vote for the bill in committee, but from the Kos live-blog I understand that she said that her vote today does not imply anything as to how she will eventually vote on the floor. Which I do not have a problem with, I think it's only fair, since she does not know what the final bill will look like. I don't know... we shall see I guess...

Totally inane boneheaded comments.

Which is pretty hilarious as he was our nominee and a highly regarded Senator by the obsessive troll who apparently has some secret magic words that John Kerry has to say or else he is not ok as a MA Senator - even if MA votes repeatedly vote for him.

Well, I guess if I have to be called names, this one is accurate and something I am very proud of.

Honestly, though, I think traffic is considerably down on dailykos. But trolls are still around. Good for TomP for writing the diary, but I sensed people only wanted to reluctantly go along with him for the diary. The people who like Kerry (and Obama) have largely left the site, I think.

I don't know the user names as well as I do here. There are some excellent very serious people, like R ( ?) Miller, who is excellent on the climate stuff. I did notice that criticizing Grayson did get several recs though. So, there are people who are rejecting that - maybe more than in the past.

He likely did think it was something that diminished my credibility, which shows his mindset.