That’s 59% of the remaining Dems that are not accounted for at Stand with Dr. Dean. Among the Senate Dems who have taken a position, 97% support the Public Option. 36 Dems are verified as publicly supporting the Public Option, and there’s one non-supporter, Mary Landrieu (LA).
First, the filibuster: One Republican Senator, Olympia Snowe, is in favor of the Public Option, and thus wouldn’t filibuster. I strongly believe that the 60 Democratic Senators (I’m including Al Franken), whether they personally do or don’t support the Public Option, damn well better not vote to filibuster a Democratically crafted Public Option. It’s what 75% of the country wants, and we’ve only just begun to get pissed. So we’ve got 61 votes to bust through any filibuster attempt. The Republicans would have to get 1 major Democratic defector, assuming we don’t get a single other Republican on our side. It sure is a good thing that Joe Sestak is pressuring Arlen Specter from the left. Maybe for once we should actually put the Republicans on notice that this time, they’ll have to actually DO the work of the filibuster and shut down the Senate with indignant orations on how diabolical it would be to have healthy Americans for less money than were already paying.
For voting on passing the actual bill, we need 50 votes. If it’s a tie, Vice President Joe Biden can break the tie. We’re at 37 so far at Stand with Dr. Dean. 13 Votes remain and 22 Democratic Senators are not accounted for. We have to do whatever it takes to get these remaining Dems to go on the record. There is a super strong mandate of 75% of America supporting the Public Option. If a bill with a strong Public Option is crafted and voted on, probably only a very very small number of Republicans would vote for it, and you know what? That’s their fucking problem. Anyone else who doesn’t vote for the Public Option will have a big fucking election problem. In 2010, Republicans in the general election and Democrats in the primary election are going to get voted into the private sector if they don’t stop sucking up to the private insurance industry. So whichever Senators are listening to the message were sending, stop with the Bipartisan bullshit. Craft a strong Public Option bill, get it to the floor, get it past the filibuster, and get it the upperdown vote, and get improved healthcare to many tens of millions of Americans.
Tom Daschle, what the fuck is your problem, anyway? Your goal is supposed to be getting good health care coverage to the most number of Americans, for the least amount of money. You can start to do that, at a minimum, with legislation for a strong Public Option. Would you throw that all away, all those AMERICAN LIVES, just to get a few more Senate Republican votes, and maybe some industry cash?
Somehow I got into a rant. Anyhow. Just 13 Dems and we win. We’re not close, but it’s doable with enough public pressure. Start writing those letters, and making those phone calls! It’s now or never.