Blue Dog Bites President

A sure sign President Barack Obama is losing the Blue Dog Democrats. Rep. Mike Ross is furthering the death panel myth.

"I will never vote for a bill to kill old people, period," he said.

There is no bill that would kill old people. Thank you from furthering the myth, Mr. Ross.

Heath Shuler Against Health Care Reform

Rep. Heath Shuler has come out against America's Affordable Health Choices Act (HR 3200).

“I do not support HR3200 at the present time,” Shuler said during brief opening remarks, referring to the House bill that has passed three committees and will be eligible for consideration by the full House when Congress returns after Labor Day. “I do realize that we've got to reform parts of this system,” he said later.

But the Waynesville Democrat, a member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats, said the process should not be rushed even if that means delaying reform until after the end of this year, the deadline set by President Barack Obama. “We've got to make sure we do this right the first time. We're only going to have one shot,” he said.

Delay is another way of killing the bill. Obama is losing the Blue Dog Democrats. Shuler has raised $7,500 in health care PAC money. Obama won't put pressure on Blue Dog Dems. Naturally, they are going to support the health insurance industry. The sooner Obama figures that out the better.

Health Industry Lobbying

Matt Yglesias and Ryan Powers have interesting posts on how the health industry has spent vast sums of money to stop health care reform. The lobbying dollars shifts to the party in power. The biggest beneficiaries of been the Blue Dog Democrats.

Overall, the typical Blue Dog has received $63,000 more in campaign contributions from the health-care sector than other House Democrats over the past two decades, according to the CRP analysis. The top three recipients were Rep. Earl Pomeroy (N.D.), with $1.5 million, and Tennessee Reps. Bart Gordon and John Tanner, both of whom collected over $1.2 million from the industry and its employees, according to the data.

The only major health care policy proposal off by Blue Dogs is the trigger. Current private health care would run in it's current state. If the costs become too high then that will "trigger" Congress to respond. The trigger is a stalling tactic and should be treated as such.

Obama Statement to Congeress on Health care Reform

The White House sent out President Barack Obama's statement for Congress.

"I want to thank the members of both the Senate and House of Representatives for continuing their work on health reform to provide more stability and security for Americans who have insurance, and quality, affordable coverage for those who don’t. I’m especially grateful that so many members, including some Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee, are working so hard to find common ground. Those efforts are extraordinarily constructive in strengthening this legislation and bringing down its cost."

The shout out to the Blue Dogs is making my head spin. Please make it stop.

Blue Dog Democrats Throw Fit

The Blue Dog Democrats walked out of a meeting with Henry Waxman.

“I’ve been lied to,” Blue Dog Coalition Co-Chairman Charlie Melancon (D-La.) said on Friday. “We have not had legitimate negotiations.

“Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are trying to make this bill work for America,” Melancon said.

The Blue Dogs want to keep the health care bill in committee. Which would serve no purpose except help Republicans. Waxman responded to the Blue Dogs.

"I won't allow them to hand over control of our committee to Republicans," Waxman told reporters.

"I don’t see what other alternative we have, because we're not going to let them empower Republicans on the committee."

Waxman is correct. The Blue Dogs have horrible political instincts. The Republican Party is in disarray and the Blue Dogs are scared of what exactly? The Blue Dogs keep saying they want health care reform. When pressed - they can't say what it exactly is what they take issue with. Rep. Baron Hill wants private health insurance to stay in it's current form. If premiums become too costly then introduce a public plan. Blue Dogs call this a cost trigger. I call it b.s.