Sen. Grassley claims Obama would sign health care reform package with out public option

grain of salt of course...

because a veto would further polarize opposition.

He needs to be seen with some sort of bill of he is going to lose a lot of political capital.

the insurance and pharmaceutical companies a mass windfall. How is the Kool-Aid?

pull the lever for him again.

Primary threats are real for any politician.

They can no longer take their own party base for granted.

off your nose to spite your face".

Don't you just love Democracy?

Alexander Hamilton said "I am not much attached to the majesty of the masses" and wanted a president elected for life with authority to veto all acts of the house and senate.

Our Constitution was a compromise that left some sovereignty to We the People particularly the Bill of Rights, left some power to the states, and created a powerful national government that unfortunately has fallen prey to factions that James Madison warned would be the bane of state governments.

Any way one judges our experiment in government, it is still the oldest continuous government in the world.

and I will never do that again. I refuse to support our current Corporate government any more and will only support and vote candidates that hold the people more important than big business.

You can compromise if you wish, but I won't.

that candidates opposing their choice will get elected and do all sorts of evil things.

There are a few divisive, polarizing issues that cause 3-10% of voters each to vote out of fear; among them are god, gays, guns, and abortion.

Together they generate perhaps 20-30% of a voter base.

You and I don't vote out of fear but facts are many people do.

Congratulations on reaching a ripe old age, you youngster, :hi:

Piss off your base and you can be Liebermanned.

The internet has empowered the base of both parties. Do not underestimate the ability to organize a challenge via mass instantaneous communication, por you do it at your own peril.

That threat should be enough to keep them all in line, but when it isn't, there is no choice but to exercise the option.

Moreover, we Dems can refuse to reselect a candidate for our party's seat and lose to a Republican candidate that could not have beaten the Dem candidate we refused to select.

He knows damned well and good he will never be re-elected again.

And as I ahve contended before, if you do not punish Democratic politicians for failure, you ahve rewarded them for failure and they will continue to fail. You have no choice. We can recover from defeat at the ballot box, but to recover from failure to punish takes at least twice as long.

her/his state or congressional district.

That clearly violates any concept of a democratic government.

EVERY Congressperson and Senator has a national constituency.

And the biggest point in that is they did it to themselves by accepting the donations of corporations from outside of their representative states and districts.

The moment that corporations from New York could buy access to a Senator from Ohio, representation went national and to the highest bidder.

And it all comes down to marketing in their own districts and states. Marketing wins elections. To market requires funding. Funders require access.

Take Kay Hagan for example. She accepted a lot of donations from corporations, but her single largest donor was ActBLue.

ActBlue now has a major seat at her table and the collective thousands upon thousands of ActBlue members have flexed their collective muscles with that access. The threat of losing the ActBlue funding was enough for her to alter her position on the Public Option. This constituency is msaller than the population of the state she represents, yet it has far more access to her than all of the voters in her state because without their funding, she cannot hope to be re-electred.

We cannot afford to dabble in platitudes about the "concept of a democratic government". All we have is the reality of the system we find ourselves within. If we do not function under the terms of the reality of that system, we have already lost.

congresspersons who stand for office every two years.

If We the People are ever to recapture our government, it will be through the ballot box and electing new congresspersons who will vote 100% of the time for their constituents.

Party loyalty is contrary to that concept.

Plus all 100 Senators.

Yes, that includes Dennis Kucinich. He even bent to the whims of his national constituency when he altered his opinion on Free Choice.

It's a fact of political life and a reality.

Reality trumps altruism every time

People be damned. :spank:

happens when voters keep reelecting representatives that cater to lobbyists paid for by corporatists.

This is the same guy who blamed the "death panels" claims on liberals.

:eyes:

I honestly wonder, the same as some wonder about McCain.

This is all just a repeat of the economic stimulus vote shell game. Republicans used the promise of bipartisinship to mold that bill to their own liking to the greatest extent possible, then voted against it anyway. The sooner Democrats understand how Republicans play this game the better.