!!!!! UPDATE:
Ah, I see; he may “reluctantly” vote yes. Well, as long as he feels bad about it, I guess that makes everything fine.
A few days ago I posted a diary in which I was urging people to stop focusing on Bernie’s M4A proposal and instead devote 100% of their healthcare-activism attention on the existential threat that Graham-Cassidy poses to the ACA over the next two weeks.
I made the mistake of framing the diary as a slam on the timing of the M4A rollout, noting that it could have easily been scheduled for early October (less than 3 weeks later); there was absolutely no reason whatsoever to insist on holding it last week, when it would serve only to distract attention from Graham-Cassidy.
I was supported by many but was also attacked and berated by some for “just using it as another excuse to attack Bernie” and that “bringing Bernie into it” served only to reopen the primary wounds, etc etc.
While I stand by my opinion that it was shitty timing on his part, I did agree that the Bernie/timing slam was (ironically) itself distracting from what should’ve been the main point of the diary: Taking action NOW, with all hands on deck. Of paramount importance is killing off Trumpcare for good this time, saving the ACA; this (and funding the CHIP program) must take precedence over everything else related to healthcare over the next two weeks...even my own grumbling about something which I felt distracted from this goal.
I was also told by some in that thread that there was nothing to worry about; all hands and focus were indeed on the task at hand, so I was making a fuss over nothing.
Still others went with the “let ‘em repeal it! It’ll hurt them politically!” line, which shows a shocking level of naivety and cruelty (yes, it would probably hurt them next year, but as 2016 showed us, there’s no guarantee of that...and millions would suffer in the years it would take to repair the damage).
Others gave me the “walk and chew gum at the same time” line...and I agree that it’s possible to discuss SP/M4A while also battling to save the ACA, that only works if people understand that the ACA still has to be saved.
AND YET...what do I see here, not just a diary, but a front page diary about how “NOW IS THE TIME” to “transition from Obamacare to single payer” without so much as even mentioning Graham-Cassidy ONCE.
In other words, a diary which proved my original point: Rolling out M4A before securing the ACA first was poor timing because it generated headlines like that one.
And it’s not just here—there was also this article by Ryan Grim of the Intercept a few days ago, which again proved my point:
To Grim’s (kinda, sorta) credit, after multiple people pointed out his error yesterday, he (or someone at the Intercept, anyway) later updated the title specifically to reflect recognition that they jumped the gun bigtime:
Oh, and to clarify: No, I’m not saying that the M4A rollout caused Graham-Cassidy to magically spring into existence; they were already quietly working on it in the background. I’m also not saying that it’ll be Bernie’s fault if the GOP manages to pull it off (it’s possible that it’ll tip things over the edge, but it’s also possible that the fix was in no matter what).
What I am saying is that RIGHT NOW, UNTIL OCTOBER 1st, 100% of our collective “future of healthcare policy”-related attention must be on STOPPING Graham-Cassidy...which is the exact opposite of what headlines like “Now is the time to transition from Obamacare” and “The Obamacare Fight is Over” encourage people to do.
I’m not asking for any apologies, because my prior diary should have stuck to the primary call to action...but I do think I’m justified in calling out how poorly-timed (and horribly headlined) the FP diary is.
Anyway, the good news is that NOW all the players from last summer seem to be springing into action (MoveOn, Indivisible, etc etc), which is great. That also, ironically, gives me a little breathing room to post a diary like this one.
So, y’know, there’s that.
CALL YOUR SENATOR AND URGE THEM TO VOTE *NO* ON GRAHAM-CASSIDY: (202) 224-3121.
VISIT TRUMPCARETOOLKIT.ORG
UPDATE: E.J. Dionne Jr. has an excellent piece in the Washington Post which sums things up well:
This is a matter of urgency because the authority the Senate has to pass Obamacare repeal with just 51 votes expires Sept. 30. So if the bill comes up, it would probably hit the floor the last week of the month. All who care about the expansion of health-care coverage need to focus their energies on defeating this latest attack on Obamacare. However we eventually arrive at universal coverage, which we must, it will be far easier to get there by building on the ACA.
And assuming the latest repeal effort fails, last week’s push for a single-payer system could come to be seen as a useful initiative, provided that “Medicare for all,” as its supporters like to call it, is treated as a goal, not a litmus test. Defining the left pole of the health-care debate is helpful, in part because it shows how fundamentally moderate Obamacare is. It is not, as many conservatives have claimed, anything close to a socialist scheme.
Oh yeah, one more item which will make stopping Graham-Cassidy even harder: YOM KIPPUR falls on Friday, Sept. 29th — Saturday Sept. 30th this year.
I don’t know if even Mitch McConnell would have the chutzpah to schedule a vote during the most sacred Jewish holy day, but he might...which would be a slap in the face to Dianne Feinstein, Ron Wyden, Chuck Schumer, Ben Cardin, Michael Bennet, Al Franken, Richard Blumenthal, Brian Schatz and even, yes, Bernie Sanders himself, not to mention.
For that matter, Rosh Hashanah runs from this Wednesday evening through Friday, which could complicate their schedules as well.
Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur will also make it more difficult for many Jewish activists to do what they need to do during these critical final days.