McAuliffe Comes Out Swinging: Without Public Option, Health Care A "Failure"

Former Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe is demanding his party take a stand on health care legislation that the president and many others aren't willing to take: Pass a bill with a public option for insurance coverage or don't pass anything at all.

The long-time adviser to the Clintons, striking an atypically progressive tone, urged the White House to get more assertive in its handling of health care reform and described a bill without a public plan as a "failure."

"If we don't have the public option, we are wasting our time," McAuliffe told the Huffington Post. "To chalk something up and get something that is not the right thing to do is morally wrong... To pass something just so you can go home and go into election saying we passed something is not why lawmakers are sent to Washington."

After a bit of silence following his loss in the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary, the former DNC chair has come out swinging on the year's most important legislative issue. On Thursday, McAuliffe agreed to host a fundraiser with the first Virginia pol who insisted that a public option be in the bill. The offer, he said, extends to Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner -- both of whom have been sour on the idea of a government-administered option for insurance coverage.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/21/mcauliffe-comes-out-swing_n_265307.html


Fine time for him to show up and say something. No shit Sherlock. All these Democrats coming out NOW and making all these bold declarations re: public option - WHERE were they in the beginning of the work on this issue? Why didn't they START here? Too little too late? *sigh* :eyes:

I just hope there are some D's listening.

I wasn't too thrilled with McAuliffe when he was running the Party, but I like what he said today.

I like it because it's the truth.

"Health insurance reform" without a robust public option (and by that I mean a plan that is projected to cover 50+ million Americans within five years) will be nothing more than a give-away to the insurance industry that is dying to get 50 million new customers all of whom must buy their products or become criminals. Many of us on the left are nearly fed up with the Democratic Party. If the Party sells us out on this, we will be done with this Party for good.

:dem:

-Laelth

Definitely better late than never.

NOW if they will just walk their talk we might get somewhere.

But is it just talk? He's a big time prostitute for corporate money.

greasy, shifty, slimy

Sucking at the corporate teet isn't your ticket to the top anymore in the Democratic party.

They have to at least FEIN moving to the left. The days of the DLC proteges encouraging capitulation are gone.

Oh wait.... the public option is the DLC-esque policy option. Single Payer is the "left".

OK maybe this isn't so encouraging after all.

I don't want the public option to co-exist with the sharks. The sharks will kill the public option.

We need Medicare-For-All.

in a very, very long time.

I'm flabbergasted.

He's right, of course.

I hope he's okay.

lol

in any strong form, and he will stand on public option's corpse to make himself look taller to the left who spurned him at the ballot box.

I don't believe ANY dog and pony show rhetoric from THAT crowd.

Medicare for all is what the DLC killed.

they seem to be late on so many issues..

he would be promoting single payer, universal health care coverage.
competition with for profit insurers will will either postpone needed changes in our system or destroy our chances of ever seeing decent comprehensive health care in the US.
he is being vocal to appease democrats and progressives to help insure that the people do not become unruly and demand something sensible.
the complex and many layered plan for a public option to work alongside the for profit industry will not produce the results we need and that failure will be used to roll back the clock.
we all need to be vocal ourselves and demand a single payer model.
i have been calling my representatives every day for weeks. normally the phone bank people who work for senator murry (D WA.) are polite and helpful. two days ago the tone changed and when i suggested that the senator consider the common good and support a single payer model the woman who answered the phone got quite snotty. i am sure she wanted to hang up on me as she insisted that the senator supported the public option but not single payer. i wonder if the calls they are getting are beginning to get under their skin?
if you live in washington state i urge you to call both murry and cantwell and your local representative and urge them to do the right thing.

On Edit:

I'm wondering if McAuliffe isn't some of messenger to the more "centrist" wing of the party -- either to provide cover for supporting a public option, to twist a few arms, or something in between. An unexpected voice of support to change the playing field. As the former party chair, McAuliffe has a lot of connections and influence regardless of how he might be viewed here.