Moveon: Not Giving In

Moveon.org e-mail | 8/20/09 | Moveon.org e-mail

[FrdmLvr]

Dear MoveOn member,

The public health insurance option is the heart of health care reform and right now it's under serious attack.

Even some members of the administration are pushing President Obama to give in to conservatives and drop it: one senior White House adviser told The Washington Post, "I don't understand how [the public option] has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform."1

This unnamed source apparently doesn't understand that the public option is the key to lowering health care costs and expanding coverage.

But there is a group of progressives in Washington who DO understand. Sixty House Democrats have signed a written pledge to not vote for health care reform unless it includes a robust public option.2 That's more than enough to block a bill without the public option.

These representatives are already facing pressure to back down, but if we stand strong with them, we'll send a clear signal that the heart of reform can't be compromised away. Can you make a contribution to the progressives in Congress who are standing tall for the public option? Clicking the link below will take you to ActBlue, where you can donate.

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51789&id=16918-10389527-DoDo86x&t=3

Progressive bloggers just launched a campaign to raise money for these progressive heroes and they've already raised $175,000. Let's see if we can double or triple that! It'll send a clear message to Washington that those fighting for the public option have millions of Americans standing with them.

And even though some White House advisers seem to have forgotten, the reason the public option has become central to reform is simple: we're fed up with the insurance companies and we need real accountability for them. They've had decades to fix the problems with our health care system, but they haven't done it. Health care costs are spiraling out of control, millions of people can't get insurance, and even those of us with insurance can face bankruptcy or worse if we get really sick.

A public option will give Americans a real choice when it comes to our health care. It'll end the insurance companies' stranglehold on our health care system. And that's exactly why those companies, and their allies on Capitol Hill, are fighting so hard to kill it.

Right now, the 60 Democrats who've pledged to vote against a bill without a public option are the strongest bloc fighting to win real health care reform, and they need our support. Clicking the link below will take you to ActBlue, where you can make a contribution to help them keep fighting.

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51789&id=16918-10389527-DoDo86x&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Justin, Daniel, Kat, Nita and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Debate's Path Caught Obama by Surprise," The Washington Post, August 19, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51791&id=16918-10389527-DoDo86x&t=5

2. "Sixty House Progressives: We'll Kill Any Health Care Bill Unless It Has A Public Option," Talking Points Memo, August 18, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51792&id=16918-10389527-DoDo86x&t=6

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Moron.org

[xcamel]

[unixfox]

We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs.

LIES, LIES, LIES!

George Soros is the evil bastard behind this socialist outfit! EFF THEM!!

[andy58-in-nh]

I just could not let this little tidbit pass unremarked upon:

"We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs."

Oh, really?

MoveOn has received financial support from numerous leftist organizations, including the Tides Foundation, the Shefa Fund, the Stern Family Fund, the Steven and Michelle Kirsch Foundation, the Compton Foundation, and George Soros's Open Society Institute. Following a September 17, 2003 meeting between Soros and Boyd in New York, Soros and his associates gave nearly $6.2 million to MoveOn over a period of six months. The contributions included $2.5 million from George Soros personally; $2.5 million from Peter B. Lewis of Progressive Insurance; $971,427 from Stephen Bing of Shangri-La Entertainment; $100,000 from Benson & Hedges tobacco heir Lewis Cullman; and $101,000 from Soros' 34-year-old son Jonathan Soros, an attorney and financier recently promoted to deputy manager of Soros Fund Management LLC.*

*Source: www.discoverthenetworks.org

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

So when are these folks going to actually move on?

[HighlyOpinionated]

Okay, everyone, SEND THOSE PINK SLIPS to your Congress members.

You can locate the Congress members who will be up for re-election in 2010 at http://voteofnoconfidence.org and click on "Congress" and the PDFs.

[swain_forkbeard]

“This unnamed source apparently doesn’t understand that the public option is the key to lowering health care costs and expanding coverage.”

What a canard! Expanding coverage via a public option will definitely INCREASE, not decrease costs, and everybody knows it.

[FrdmLvr]

See my byline.

[rolling_stone]

We need another boated, inefficient, money losing, politically beholding bureaucracy like a hole in the head. How many govt employees will this need?