Yesterday, on Capitol Hill, I attended my third Progressive Media summit meeting.
As in previous years, about 40-45 members of the progressive media attended the 4th annual Progressive Media Summit Meeting, sponsored by the Senate Democratic Outreach committee.
Joan McCarter AKA McJoan from Daily Kos, asked about the Stupak, anti-choice amendment. I can't help but think she'd have opposed (as I would) any bill that included it.
Photo by Rob Kall
I had a short back and forth with Harry Reid:
The senators on the health panel, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown and Debbie Stabenaw, to their partial credit, literally all said that what they really wanted was single payer-- but that it was unattainable. Bernie Sanders pointed out that Kucinich's amendment in the house, that would enable states to pursue single payer at the state level with impunity from insurers holding it up in the courts, using ERISA, was not passed. But Sander's Senate amendment was in the bill, which would allow states to go forward, with a different way to deal with insurers, however, this wouldn't kick in until 2017 and he was trying to get it dropped back to 2014 (other sources report that even Sanders' staffers say this won't happen.)
Sanders said that he believed once a first state introduced single payer, other states would follow. This is how Canada got single payer. It started in Canada and it took 30 years for the whole country to have it. A lot, perhaps most single payer supporters this to be the case. The problem is, the current health reform bill, as written, will make it even harder to do. That's wrong.
Kucinich, in our interview, explained,
Senator Stabenow, who's been organizing these meetings does a good job. The house doesn't hold a comparable event. The Whitehouse appears to play favorites with a handful of media elites. This meeting is a good thing for both sides. The Democratic senators get a chance to tell what they've been working on, to cite their successes, to discuss some of their challenges-- particularly the filibuster and the Republican opposition. Stabenow said, "We suit up every day and this is what we feel like-- like we're in the middle of a war." We repeatedly heard that the Democrats are trying to govern and the Republicans are trying to keep things the way they are, to obstruct progress.
One thing that stood out was there was very little mention of Obama, no talk of supporting him, nor reports of his progress. The summit focused on what the senate Democratic caucus had accomplished and how progressive media could help. Each senate team, covering Jobs, Health, Energy and Environment, listed their achievements and their goals and challenges.
What became clear to me was that there's acknowledgment from Reid, Stabenaw, Schumer and others that the Democrats, in their efforts to govern, have not dealt effectively with the Republican onslaught. The Dems attribute it to wanting to focus on governing and not on media. I pointed out to Barbara Boxer, who I was thrilled to see take over chairmanship of the senate Environmental committee, from sub-neanderthal James Inhofe, that we needed talking points, like the right wingers have, like Frank Luntz invents, to make non-sexy issues (sorry greens, but average citizens don't get excited about carbon offsets) easy to understand and something they will care about. She gets it that we need it, but she told me that it was "our job" as the progressive media to help with that. Whoah. Frank Luntz is one of the people who do it for the right wingers. He's not a member of the media. He's a highly paid consultant.
I spoke to the left's counterpart to Frank Luntz, or our languaging expert last week-- George Lakoff, about climate change, while setting up an interview on my radio show (wed. March, 17 9-10 PM EST, AM 1360 in Philly and South Jersey). And he said that we should not be talking about global warming, we should be talking about the "climate crisis." I mentioned that to senator Boxer and she waved it off, saying that people didn't believe it was a crisis. I replied that we need to make it a meme, like the right wing does, so it IS believed. And I told the panel on energy and environment, that they should be coming to us, the progressive media, with talking points-- accessible, meme-ogenic language-- that we could take back to our media communities and use effectively. Stabenow told me later that they're working on it. Good. The issues deserve effective representation and advocacy and that means more than just writing legislation. You can build a great automobile, but without fuel, it's not going to move. Legislation needs the power and passion of public support and wonk talk, strictly to the head, doesn't cut it.
Over and over again, we heard the lament, "We want to govern. They want to obstruct. But we're going to get better at their game." I told a few of the senators that my readers have not been convinced that the Dem senate caucus has gotten a lot accomplished, regardless of their claims or the facts. The problem, I acknowledged, was partly appearances and promotion, versus the right wing onslaught.
But it was also because the Dems had not demonstrated that they had effectively wielded the incredible power the American voters handed to them. They looked weak and ineffective and made far too many excuses about the Republican use of the filibuster. Americans want strength, leadership and action, not excuses.
So we come back to Dennis Kucinich, a congressman with big vision, big heart and big cojones, standing up to all the other Democrats in congress and the "progressives" who have decided to settle for the bone they've been thrown. I stand with Dennis. I know the leadership of Progressive Democrats of America (about 100,000 strong) stands for Dennis. Kucinich is a visionary who looks further ahead. His effectiveness is evident in how he raises the ante, pushes the envelope and sets nobler, far more progressive goals for the democrats. All alone, he has been a leader in manifesting the progressive vision.
As in previous years, about 40-45 members of the progressive media attended the 4th annual Progressive Media Summit Meeting, sponsored by the Senate Democratic Outreach committee.
Joan McCarter AKA McJoan from Daily Kos, asked about the Stupak, anti-choice amendment. I can't help but think she'd have opposed (as I would) any bill that included it.
Photo by Rob Kall
Rob Kall: I did a poll with our readers, and we asked, "Are you satisfied with healthcare reform?" Now, our readers are pretty far left. And about 85% said no. But they said no because it wasn't doing enough. Now the answer that we've heard is that this is a first step. The same thing had to be done with civil rights and there will be other steps taken later. I just want to know, are there plans for those next steps?Reid set the message at that meeting. There's more the Democrats would like to do but this is a lot already and they want to get it done. The message to the progressive media-- Be satisfied with what we're giving you and help us close the deal.
Reid Replied: "I'm just telling you this is a first step. It is a hell of a big step. I'll tell you that. Of course there are things we have to do when we get this completed. This is a major, major piece of legislation. There are very few pieces of legislation that are as meaningful to the American people as what we are trying to do with healthcare. There are parts of the bill that kick in immediately and others that take a number of years to kick in. I'm glad that's the case because we're getting lots of (inaudible-- possibly "room") to do it right. In direct answer to your question, of course there are a lot of things we have to do since then. But don't minimize what we're trying to do. It is a HUGE step forward.
The senators on the health panel, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown and Debbie Stabenaw, to their partial credit, literally all said that what they really wanted was single payer-- but that it was unattainable. Bernie Sanders pointed out that Kucinich's amendment in the house, that would enable states to pursue single payer at the state level with impunity from insurers holding it up in the courts, using ERISA, was not passed. But Sander's Senate amendment was in the bill, which would allow states to go forward, with a different way to deal with insurers, however, this wouldn't kick in until 2017 and he was trying to get it dropped back to 2014 (other sources report that even Sanders' staffers say this won't happen.)
Sanders said that he believed once a first state introduced single payer, other states would follow. This is how Canada got single payer. It started in Canada and it took 30 years for the whole country to have it. A lot, perhaps most single payer supporters this to be the case. The problem is, the current health reform bill, as written, will make it even harder to do. That's wrong.
Kucinich, in our interview, explained,
"The big thing with state single payer, the greatest vulnerability states have, is they can go through all the effort to pass a plan in their house and senate and have their governor sign it into law, but then, the ERISA is law, which is currently being used and has been used, to challenge regional health plans immediately come into play and be used to knock out all of those efforts. That's a problem and that's what I was trying to get ahead of in committee and I had a majority Democrats AND Republicans who voted for my amendment in committee. Then the administration stripped the ERISA waiver provision and that was one of the reasons I had no choice but to vote against the bill when it was presented to the full house."Over the course of the Progressive media summit meeting, there were presentations from Harry Reid, Bob Mendendez, Debbie Stabenow, Byron Dorgan, Chuck Schumer, Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Jeff Bingaman, Ben Cardin, Barbara Boxer and Jeanne Shaheen. Before and after the meeting, additional senators came to greet us-- Patrick Leahy, Arlen Specter, Amy Klobuchar, Frank Lautenberg and Daniel Akaka. Mark Begich sent a deputy press secretary (explaining that there were constituents in from Alaska and you don't turn them away after coming thousands of miles.) That's seventeen senators, 18, including Begich.
Senator Stabenow, who's been organizing these meetings does a good job. The house doesn't hold a comparable event. The Whitehouse appears to play favorites with a handful of media elites. This meeting is a good thing for both sides. The Democratic senators get a chance to tell what they've been working on, to cite their successes, to discuss some of their challenges-- particularly the filibuster and the Republican opposition. Stabenow said, "We suit up every day and this is what we feel like-- like we're in the middle of a war." We repeatedly heard that the Democrats are trying to govern and the Republicans are trying to keep things the way they are, to obstruct progress.
One thing that stood out was there was very little mention of Obama, no talk of supporting him, nor reports of his progress. The summit focused on what the senate Democratic caucus had accomplished and how progressive media could help. Each senate team, covering Jobs, Health, Energy and Environment, listed their achievements and their goals and challenges.
What became clear to me was that there's acknowledgment from Reid, Stabenaw, Schumer and others that the Democrats, in their efforts to govern, have not dealt effectively with the Republican onslaught. The Dems attribute it to wanting to focus on governing and not on media. I pointed out to Barbara Boxer, who I was thrilled to see take over chairmanship of the senate Environmental committee, from sub-neanderthal James Inhofe, that we needed talking points, like the right wingers have, like Frank Luntz invents, to make non-sexy issues (sorry greens, but average citizens don't get excited about carbon offsets) easy to understand and something they will care about. She gets it that we need it, but she told me that it was "our job" as the progressive media to help with that. Whoah. Frank Luntz is one of the people who do it for the right wingers. He's not a member of the media. He's a highly paid consultant.
I spoke to the left's counterpart to Frank Luntz, or our languaging expert last week-- George Lakoff, about climate change, while setting up an interview on my radio show (wed. March, 17 9-10 PM EST, AM 1360 in Philly and South Jersey). And he said that we should not be talking about global warming, we should be talking about the "climate crisis." I mentioned that to senator Boxer and she waved it off, saying that people didn't believe it was a crisis. I replied that we need to make it a meme, like the right wing does, so it IS believed. And I told the panel on energy and environment, that they should be coming to us, the progressive media, with talking points-- accessible, meme-ogenic language-- that we could take back to our media communities and use effectively. Stabenow told me later that they're working on it. Good. The issues deserve effective representation and advocacy and that means more than just writing legislation. You can build a great automobile, but without fuel, it's not going to move. Legislation needs the power and passion of public support and wonk talk, strictly to the head, doesn't cut it.
Over and over again, we heard the lament, "We want to govern. They want to obstruct. But we're going to get better at their game." I told a few of the senators that my readers have not been convinced that the Dem senate caucus has gotten a lot accomplished, regardless of their claims or the facts. The problem, I acknowledged, was partly appearances and promotion, versus the right wing onslaught.
But it was also because the Dems had not demonstrated that they had effectively wielded the incredible power the American voters handed to them. They looked weak and ineffective and made far too many excuses about the Republican use of the filibuster. Americans want strength, leadership and action, not excuses.
So we come back to Dennis Kucinich, a congressman with big vision, big heart and big cojones, standing up to all the other Democrats in congress and the "progressives" who have decided to settle for the bone they've been thrown. I stand with Dennis. I know the leadership of Progressive Democrats of America (about 100,000 strong) stands for Dennis. Kucinich is a visionary who looks further ahead. His effectiveness is evident in how he raises the ante, pushes the envelope and sets nobler, far more progressive goals for the democrats. All alone, he has been a leader in manifesting the progressive vision.
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