#NeverPete

Those three folks you mentioned are no longer in power. The lesson to be taken from that is every one that contributed to the weakening the final version of Obamacare is gone. Trying to appease Republicans with the notion that we might bring a few over to our side is folly. 

Obamacare was modeled after a plan that was originally put forth by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Mitt Romney was the first to put it into action. The same policy guy that formulated Romneycare formulated Obamacare. Obama literally passed the Republican healthcare plan and Republicans called it Communism. The lesson that should be taken is that it doesn't matter what plan Democrats pass it will be referred to as Socialism.  Given that is the reality, why not give them an actual socialized healthcare system?

Here is how you handle party holdouts.  You strip them of their committee positions and then you announce the party is going to look for candidates to oppose them in their next primary. Then you withdraw financial support from them in that primary. 

As I stated earlier in this thread, I think the Republican lawsuit will likely overturn Obamacare drowning the baby so to speak.  At that point, what do you do as you have reinvented the entire healthcare system?

If tens of millions of people suddenly lose their health care, that might sink Trump AND virtually all the vulnerable Con senators.

I'm baffled as to why people getting medical care is so horrifying to Republicans, to the point that they've been working for the better part of a decade to take it away. The honorable, noble Republicans! They want you and your children to sicken and die! That's what will make America great again--mass deaths!

Trump doesn't have and will never have a coherent health care plan. He'll make some fumbling attempt to set it up so billionaires and big corporations make as much money as possible, while the little guy gets fucked. That's literally all he knows how to do.

That’s a good recipe for having Senators switch parties.   You are not going to bully someone like Joe Manchin into going far left.    Remember joe Lieberman?    

Politics is the art of the possible.   

Politics is the art of the possible.   

The difference between Republicans and Democrats.

Republicans: We are going to run a mentally unstable authoritarian white nationalist whos prior experience includes bankrupting five businesses, advocating sexual assault, illegally running a sham university, illegally running a sham charity and selling mailorder meat for President and we are going to win.

Democrats: Universal Healthcare like every other first-world country?  It is too hard we might as well give up now.

Nothing even something as ludicrous as white nationalist authoritarian dictator as President is impossible. The only thing that guarantees losing in this day and age is never trying.  For years, I thought this was simply a lesson Democrats never learn, but then I realized it was a feature, not a bug that was built in by the party establishment and big money donors. Mayor Pete is the astroturfed big money candidate. He is here to tell us what we can't do. 

I wonder what the prior occupation of Nancy Pelosi's chief healthcare care policy guy is?  Anybody? 

Priorities:

1. Get rid of Trump.

2. Retake the Senate.

3. Implement universal health care, climate change mitigation, wage equity, fair taxation, flowers, sunshine, and free beer.

#3 has not a prayer until #1 and #2 are accomplished. Therefore, Democratic strategy should focus on #1 and #2, even at the expense of #3.

When we retake control of the country, we can get everything done that needs doing. Until then, talking about it is futile and even counterproductive if doing so endangers #1 and #2. Let's be pragmatists--whether it's fair or not, whether it's dirty pool or not, the Republicans will always score points by painting the Democrats as "radical extremists." Yes, yes, I know, electing and supporting a con man and rapist was the actual extreme. But no point in giving the Cons a free sound bite.

What I'm envisioning is something like LBJ, whose facade was your basic Texas asshole politician but in actuality, wound up leading the civil rights movement. Get a "moderate" Democrat in there, win the Senate, and then and only then begin the radical liberal agenda and implement socialism and take away everybody's guns and give free everything to everybody and drive unemployment up to 140% and cause the earth to spiral into the sun. You know, just the way Republicans say it will happen.

1. Get rid of Trump.

2. Retake the Senate.

3. Implement universal health care, climate change mitigation, wage equity, fair taxation, flowers, sunshine, and free beer.

If the guy that is running for president says he isn't going to implement universal health care, you can't get to it no matter what happens with 1&2.

Let's be pragmatists--whether it's fair or not, whether it's dirty pool or not, the Republicans will always score points by painting the Democrats as "radical extremists." Yes, yes, I know, electing and supporting a con man and rapist was the actual extreme. But no point in giving the Cons a free sound bite.

You have to remember that the same message claiming our candidate is a radical extremist will be delivered no matter who the nominee is. 

What I'm envisioning is something like LBJ, whose facade was your basic Texas asshole politician but in actuality, wound up leading the civil rights movement. Get a "moderate" Democrat in there, win the Senate, and then and only then begin the radical liberal agenda and implement socialism and take away everybody's guns and give free everything to everybody and drive unemployment up to 140% and cause the earth to spiral into the sun. You know, just the way Republicans say it will happen.

 It won't happen with Pete. He isn't posing as a moderate Democrat so he can pull a liberal trojan horse. If anything he is posing a moderate Democrat when he is really a conservative Democrat. Do you think he is going to roll back the Trump tax cuts on all of those billionaires and big corporations he is getting money from?

Anyway, the whole notion that Democrats need to go right down the middle to win is false. Republicans are running so far right they are fascists. Their supporters are literally walking down the streets chanting, "Jews will not replace us!"  Why should Democrats move to the middle? If now is not the time to run a progressive when will that time come?

It is also a losing strategy. It is what we went with in 2016. Hillary ran right down the middle. Republicans called her a communist just like they would have a more liberal candidate. We know how that turned out. In 2008 we ran a black man by the name of Barack Hussein Obama II.  He prevailed over Hillary in the primary when she ran right down the middle. Conventional wisdom said he was too radical to win, but he did. (For the record he ran as a progressive Democrat but governed as a moderate Democrat)

In 2016 Republicans thought they had their candidate in Jeb who ran right down the middle in their primary. He suffered a humiliating defeat in the Republican primary.  

In 2012 Republicans ran Mitt Romney who they said was a more mainstream choice than a second term for a radical leftwing, communist, non-citizen, member of a radical Christian black libration church and sleeper Muslim Obama. He went down in flames and he was so sure he was going to win that he already had ordered the celebration fireworks. 

The bottom line is neither the Democratic nor Republican base turns out for the moderate middle of the road candidates.  In 2020 we know the fascist Republican base will turn out for fascist Trump because he is their wet dream come true. Were else are they going to find a candidate that is all in on white power? To win we need a high turnout. The Democratic base will not turn out for Pete.  According to polling, he has more trouble with the base than any other candidate.  Don't let corporate America and rich individuals fool you. They want Pete because they know he is on their side. Hell, they are paying for his campaign. These same folks love Donald Trump's economic policies. They only want to get rid of him because they fear is going to do something crazy or lose the election because he is unpopular with the general public.  Pete is their insurance policy because they crap in their pants when they think about what a Warren or Sanders presidency would mean for them. 

More deluded rhetoric from a brainwashed and blind hater. MAGA 

MAGAMAGAMAGA said the angry toddler, who knows no other words.

Kevin Lewis proposes "free beer", . . . and lots of other stuff.

As much as poor old DonDiego might favor the policy of free beer in theory, . . . in his experience poor old DonDiego opines that  "free beer"  is rarely  "excellent beer".

He opines this reality might even apply to several of Kevin Lewis's proposals, especially universal health care..  

DonDiego doesn't even know what "wage equity", and "fair taxation" mean; he supposes they mean whatever the reader wants them to mean.  

DonDiego does enjoy sunshine, but eternal sunshine would upset the biological balances of most earth environments.  As might messing with the climate.

DonDiego finds his present health care quite adequate, . . . he'd would prefer no one mucks it up. 

Oh, and flowers are nice.

Messing with the climate is what we're doing, big time, and climate change mitigation is about doing it at least somewhat less.

DonDiego may find his health care adequate, but many people do not, and if Trump succeeds in his quest to destroy the health care system, they will have no health care whatsoever. This will bother me even if my current excellent health care continues. It will not bother Trump or Trumpers at all, as many of those who die will be of what Trumpers regard as the inferior races. I suspect that most folks would rather have un-excellent health care than none at all.

If DonDiego doesn't know what wage equity and fair taxation are, he should educate himself. Those are not entirely subjective concepts or completely subject to opinion.

If DonDiego likes flowers, he should consider that given the Trump administration's anti-environmental policies, the next generation may only see them in picture books.