Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Commentary By Ron Beasley


As I noted below Obama is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Afghanistan. Well the same is true when it comes to health care reform.  I think no health care bill is better than one that doesn't really fix anything.  Let the Republicans block a good bill.  Well apparently the real progressives in the House agree.


House Liberals Write Directly To Obama: No Public Option, No Support



In a letter delivered to the White House moments ago, the two leaders of the bloc of House progressives bluntly told President Obama that they will not support any health care plan without a public option in it � and demanded a meeting to inform him face to face.


The not-yet-released letter � the first joint statement from progressives since news emerged that Obama might not address the public option in next week�s speech � is their sharpest challenge yet to the president, given the extraordinary sensitivity of this political moment. The letter urges him to mention the public option in his speech.


�Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, a public option built on the Medicare provider system and with reimbursement based on Mediare rates � not negotiated rates � is unacceptable,� reads the letter, which was sent over by a source. It was signed by Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Raul Grijalva, the two leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.


�A health reform bill without a robust public option will not achieve the health reform this country so desperately needs,� the letter continues. �We cannot vote for anything less.�


Obama seems to be willing to let the very vocal lunatic fringe, who are featured on TV simply because they make good TV even though they only represent one or two percent of the population, drive the debate.  The progressives in the House are not and read the polls that show that 60 to 70 percent are in favor of a public option.  Obama wants a bill, any bill but there may be enough progressives to make him live up to his initial rhetoric.



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3 comments:

  1. smintheusSeptember 4, 2009 at 3:38 AM

    Obama wants a bill, almost any bill, to point to as his achievement. He's badly wounded by defeat. But Democrats can gain big if Republicans block reform. People are not flocking to the GOP despite the decline in popularity of Dems, and Republicans can't point to an agenda of their own. It's hard to take, and get, credit for making sure that nothing gets done.
    For reform advocates who block a bad bill, there's almost no electoral downside. It's only republicans and blue dogs whom voters would hold accountable.
    Almost inconceivable to me that Obama did not try to push through some early and easy legislative victories in things that the public would actually approve, before taking on health care reform. Instead, he damaged his reputation on bailing out Wall St. crooks and breaking a series of campaign pledges.

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  2. Russ WellenSeptember 4, 2009 at 4:40 AM

    I honestly don't think Obama's heart is in the "public option." Remember: He was surrounded by that University of Chicago free-market mentality.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ron BeasleySeptember 4, 2009 at 4:53 AM

    I agree Russ. I really don't think his heart is in anything progressive. We voted for change and got a rerun of Clinton.

    ReplyDelete

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