Let's never forget they had the power to do exactly what we elected them to do, and as of yet, have shown us nothing but the finger.

If the GOP hadn't gone so far off the reservation, I might consider voting for replacing all incumbents, but alas, the GOP is just to screwed up to be taken seriously.

The rest of the country for the most part is nowhere near as leftwing as east Portland. There are sufficient numbers of Democrat representatives and senators in competitive seats who don't want to flush their political careers down the loo for some fanciful bow-tied socialist agenda. That's the name of that tune.

Thanks for that insight. Isn't Rush on?

The core values of the Democratic party leadership has dwindled down to simply electability, and attaining that by pealing off as many Republican moderates as possible. The Democrats are now acting as the moderate wing of the Republican party, moving the old Republican party further to the right.

Come on now Professor, the polls show the proposed take over of the health care system has stabilized at about 53% against, and 35% for the Dem's plan. The majority of Americans clearly do not want a public option.

The fact that seizing control of 300 million citizens health care, cutting Medicare, and taxing those currently with insurance at prohibitive rates isn't a popular idea shouldn't surprise anyone.

The Dems can't even agree amongst themselves on a public option, why would you think the rest of the country would swallow it? And the only reason they can say it deficient neutral is the hugh tax increases in the proposal. Not the smartest course of action in this economy.

Not that I think they could, but if the Dems managed to push this through in reconciliation they would lose 100 seats in the house, and the Senate after that.

I dislike Bluemanure, but at least he's not stupid. Forcing the changes proposed would be political suicide.

Besides, in about 8 weeks the IDF is going to start bombing Iran. Iran will attempt to close the Straight of Hormuz. Then we'll get to observe the President's crisis management skills.

We are headed for much more pressing issues than health care.

Polls taken at this point don't reflect what could have been done if deadwood like Wyden had been helpful from the outset.

And it isn't just health care. Aside from one Supreme Court appointment, these guys have delivered nothing, on anything, in the crucial first year of this Congress. I won't be voting Republican, but I'm not going to give money to, or work for, the Democrats, either. Nader was right: They're all crooks.

Man...

Some people are delusional.

Blumenauer...left wing? You must be kidding. He's about as center of the road as you come.

That US politics has been skewed (as in 'skewed the pooch') by a group of screaming morons manipulating the morons in the conservative media.

I think HMLA267 has been collecting its figures from the bottom of its soiled shorts, given the perverted opinion it provided. It can go back to calculating ICD code charges to illicitly bill some poor premium payer.

Let's just cut the insurance companies, health and otherwise, loose from all anti-trust protections and set the anti-trust investigation teams loose on the industry.

....Can you say "conspiracy against the sovereignty of the consumer"?

I knew you could.

Well, given the fact we are upping the troop levels in Afghanistan, engaging in rendition, wiretapping, and Club Gitmo is still operating - what's the difference?

I have a premonition that the GOP consumes itself incestuously and falls off the radar into oblivion, the Democratic Party replaces it, being the new conservatives as far right as it is now, and an Emergent Party develops on the left as the liberals and facility of a 2-party 'system'.

Id like to see a new party created.. Call it "The Seperation Centrist Party" or something along those lines..

It would be for natural born citizens (not corporations and the lobbyist organizations that represent them) who identify somewhere in the center (as I believe most people identity with, somewhere in the center)... We don't all have to agree on everything except the features noted below.

It would be for citizens who are most definitely for seperation of church and state principles and are against allowing corporations to have the same rights as natural born citizens..

In other words, keep the extremely biased and prejudiced platforms of religions and the influence of corporate dollars out of the political system.

Return the premise of our government to of, for and by the people...

Possibly worth remembering that, at the beginning, none of them were citizens, natural born or otherwise.

Well we go, Bluemenauer is center of the road? That's explains the far left well.
I guess?

Have they gone so far off the left that Earl looks center from that distance?

It's not just health care.

"Mr. Blumenauer, 61, finds himself fighting to retain one of the touchstones for liberals this year, a public insurance option in the health care overhaul, and is watching his hopes of curbing global warming grow cold in the Senate"

The global warming movement will prove to be the biggest whooper the left has ever undertaken. I suspect our host here even has suspicions about it.

But oh well we shall see what happens.

I don't know what to think about global warming, but I do know that it's being used as a marketing ploy for so much crap that I'm immediately suspicious of anyone who comes preaching it.

It's the same deal with health care reform. All the hot air, but what we're probably going to get is little more than mandatory private insurance -- just what the industry weasels want. Thanks, Wyden. Thanks for nothing.

Blumenauer...left wing? You must be kidding. He's about as center of the road as you come.

The fact that Godfry thinks Blumenauer is "center of the road" pretty much proves Mr. Joubert's point.

Couldn't agree more with this post. The dems have big majorities in House and Senate, a superstar president, and can't get off the dime on health care? WTF should us regular folk ever trust these guys on anything if they can't get this done right? would be funny if it wasn't so sickening.

I'm tired of all this socialist talk about how the government is going to own this or that:

Listen close: It's not what the government owns. It's who owns the government.

Hey lets just give everyone a government job.

Take care of the unemployment problem and the health care problem in one swoop!

the polls show the proposed take over of the health care system has stabilized at about 53% against, and 35% for the Dem's plan. The majority of Americans clearly do not want a public option.

That's an amazing leap of logic. Tell me--how does "not liking the Dems plan" equal "not wanting a public option of any kind?" Because so far, even physicians and health care workers want the public option.

But maybe you're unclear what a public option is? A lot of people are.

The fact that seizing control of 300 million citizens health care, cutting Medicare, and taxing those currently with insurance at prohibitive rates isn't a popular idea shouldn't surprise anyone.

Ah. That's what I thought. you really *don't* know what the "public option" means. Here's a hint--notice the word OPTION.

We are headed for much more pressing issues than health care.

You mean like Afghanistan? C'mon, "HMLA", nice try. One reason the country has a president and Congress is so they can handle more than one thing at a time. You do know that, right?

Listen close: It's not what the government owns. It's who owns the government.

They're not listening, Bill. They think the false polarity of "Democrat" and "Republican" is what it's all about. It's like the political savvy of the average American is that of a 11-year-old. Or Rush Limbaugh.

Oh my Jimbo... are you paying attention to senatorial filibusters being waged by Repugnicants?

How about Steve Novick's quote, "I think people realize you can’t do everything precisely all at once."

That's why I like Novick - he's got a terrific sense of humor. Sure, that's the problem here: The Dems really want to do all these stunning good moves. There's so many great things the Dems are in the process of doing that one moment in time is just too small to fit all that goodness in.
They're a victim of their own wonderfulness. The terrific job they want to do with Wall Street is wedged into the same precise moment as the terrific job they want to do with Iraq, and healthcare, and there's just not enough space in the universe's limited concept of time for all this legislative goodness to squeeze through.

But here's the good news: The American People understand this conundrum, and forgive these magnificent, noble leaders. We're certainly not mad at them. No, instead we recognize what's going on here and love the Democrats for at least trying so hard to be good. Can they help it if there are only so many hours in a day?

Sure, Steve, and the idea that nothing good is happening because our two major parties have been purchased by the big corporations, never even enters our minds.

Like I said: I love Steve Novick's sense of humor.

"I don't know what to think about global warming, but ... I'm immediately suspicious of anyone who comes preaching it."

Be suspicious of each of its 'proponents.'

And absolutely reject ALL who DENY it, who dispute and obstruct the reformation to abate climate crisis, (yeah, many many jobs in businesses -- namely Extractive non-MANufactured 'production' -- HAVE TO do business differently, sustainably, or be outlawed; change or shut down), who claim to KNOW to DENY crisis is increasing but offer no evidence, and are the same ones who are LIARS in everything else they've said, from 'WMDs' to 'death panels' -- that is, when you hear climate crisis denial on hatetalk radio and TV, you can be certain the truth is the opposite of what they say because it is every time.
Absolutely reject all denials of 'global warming' climate crisis. (For examples, the denials -- in-effect or so-stated -- of Do-Nothing Congress or of ostrich-head Blumenauer et al.: REJECT them.)

But, yeah Jack, be suspicious of each case exploiting ("marketing") the true fact that the climate destabilization is nearly irreversible from worsening to UNinhabitable by humankind.

There are now three major political parties in the country: Traditional Democrats, Traditional Republicans and Know Nothings. The problem is that the Traditional Democrats and Republicans are both in the Democratic Party and that's why it can't get anything done. The Republican Party has been taken over by the Know Nothings and why anyone else chooses to deal with them or take them seriously is beyond me.

Political parties in the US aren't on some kind of broad spectrum...it's merely a smudged dot on the wider spectrum of political belief. Compared to Europe and other parts of the world, it is all to the right of the center of the entire spectrum, including Earl.

Earl is a garden variety "liberal" Democrat. A man brought to the pinnacles of power with the assistance of energy utilities and monied property interests. Yeah...'Democratic' ones, if that made any difference to monied interests that bought into both sides...to cover their bets, y'know?

In no way does Earl represent "the Left". He's as mainstream milquetoast as they come. He's 'middle of the road'.

That ANYONE would consider him a spokesman of "the Left" is ludicrous...typical in US politics...and brought about by way too many years of the whacko right wing Repugnantcans screaming about how they were the "voice of the people"..."the mainstream"....they've skewed the true idea of what IS the "middle-of-the-road".

It ain't the 40% of whackjobs who think their Lord is going to issue in the End Times at any moment....and have a controlling interest in the Republican Party. They ain't the middle-of-the-road....Earl is.

Jack,

If you are uncertain what to think about climate change, you could not do better than to read a reasonably short, witty, very smart book by an Oregon HS science teacher in Corvallis called "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" (Greg Craven, see more at gregcraven.org).

The book is "about" climate change but what it's really about is giving people a tool for making a decision in the face of uncertainty. Climate change is the subject because he was motivated to write the book (and create one of the most viewed YouTube videos ever, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF_anaVcCXg ) because of climate change, but the method is equally useful when considering almost any issue where lay people are forced to make decisions while having to rely on the expert judgment of others.

The book is so good that I'll make you a money back guarantee: if you buy WTWTCH and don't think it's well worth the money ($15), I'll buy it from you at full retail price.

Godfry, you crack me up. In the same breath you say that the entire American political landscape is a smudge to the right of Europe, but then fire off some nice blasts at "the whacko right wing."

So which is it?

Tensky,
You are telling people a complete falsehood in claiming those who claim to KNOW to DENY crisis "offer no evidence".

In truth there is abundant evidence and you are simply ignoring it and trying to get others to follow.
Your LIARS skreed is no match for the truth and extensive science and sceintists who are exposing the global warming crisis as the fraud it is.

It is you who offer nothing but hate and misrepresentation. Packed in your Tensky dialogue.

Advising others to reject the denial is a pursuit of horrific public policy.

The idea George offers that a book explains the cost to be slight is more nonsense than we can afford.

Any policiy spawned from such a load of bull will be very costly.

One need only look at Oregon's ocean dead zones and the baseless fabricated link to global warming by so called experts. And the distribution of that concoction as if it were real.

That's the type of sceince that Tensky appears to rely upon as he/she lectures for others to ignore the truth.

Earl Bluemanuer has never studied global warming to any degree where he would learn enough to lead on the issue.
Just as he has never studied the outcomes of smart growth in this region as he lobbies for more of the same planning that brought us every boondoggle discussed here.

@ jimbo 8:28 pm, Bill McDonald 8:42 & 10:43 pm:

Reminds me of Paul Krugman's observation that we've become a banana republic with nukes. Election of a "superstar president" has done little to reassure me. Can't speak for the rest of you out there in serfland.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/demolition-accomplished/

Dear Liberals: Enjoy the moment. In November 2010 Harry Reid and a nice list of Democrats will have their ass handed to them along with their walking papers. Count on it.

Actually Ben, you'd have to read the book to know what it says.

I saw that video long ago. Too many false premises to discuss here but the comment section on that youtube peels it apart.

Krugman might as well be Tensky. He thinks skeptics are traitors. Perfect.

This AGW advocacy is an astonishing demonstration of pure dysfunction.
An it will ultimately hinder other progressive interests including universal health care.

So go ahead and cling to it and own for as long as possbile.

Fred...

The right side of the smudge.

Wazzamatter, having trouble visualizing? Think skewing, bell-shaped graphs and standard deviations beyond the mean. The entirety of American politics is to the right of center and it is being largely driven by the agenda of those to the extreme right wing of that entire blob.

Read Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century for a much better explication of the problem than I can present here.

Teabaggers are just the latest set of prompted players in the manipulate the media games.

"Political parties in the US ... merely a smudged dot on the wider spectrum of political belief."

"... fire off some nice blasts at 'the whacko right wing.'"

As someone else said, the "whacko right wing" are those who believe NOthing, only they hate the Democratic Party label.
Whacko's are off the edge, not anywhere in the 'smudged dot spectrum' since whacko's have NO 'political belief' and stand for NOthing, NO principle whatsoever ... excepting hating whoever believes in principle especially democracy.

- -

Thom Hartmann today said "there's a vast and important difference between Democrats and Republicans," as he was trying to garner support for, or at least slow down the defections from, the Democratic Party.

What Hartmann shoulda said, also, is 'there's a vast and important difference between Democrats and actual liberal principled leftists,' who believe in and stand for literate unity in acknowledging human pathos in: #1)Justice, 2)general Welfare, 3)domestic Tranquility -- peace baby, 4)common defense amongst ourselves -- NO standing army, NO mercenaries, and leftists who believe in and stand for the blessings of 5)Liberty -- NO search and seizure and detainment without probable cause and a warrant and charged indictment, for ourselves and our posterity: Very very much vastly and importantly different from the Democratic Party.

Awesome take on the whole dismal affair by Sam Smith, the DC bojack:

http://prorev.com/2009/10/end-of-politics.html