TWD's Agenda For The Day For 1/22/10: Stop Blaming The House Democrats, It's The Senate Democrats Who Need All The Blame

It has really been highly peculiar and damaging to our process the attack that House Democrats have received this week, especially from highly credible and usually rational sources.

And as the week has progressed, the anger directed at them for not giving the 218 votes for the Senate's bull of a bill on health insurance reform has been staggering.

But instead of the likes of Paul Krugman and Matthew Yglesias among others placing the blame on House Democrats (specifically progressives) for just being realistic and fighting for the American people, they need to again direct culpability on the damn Senate.

If this Hackio report is true (because Lord knows how Hackio is), then I suggest Krugman, Yglesias, and others demanding that the House Democrats wise up and get the 218 to WISE UP themselves:

Part of the negotiations center on whether Reid can provide an ironclad guarantee that the Senate will not leave the House in the lurch, aides said. If the House agrees to pass the Senate bill with a companion measure — or a “cleanup” bill — to make fixes, they want to know that the Senate will indeed pass it, too.

There was some talk among Senate leadership on Thursday of putting together a letter signed by 51 Democratic senators pledging to pass a cleanup bill if the House would pass the Senate bill. But that effort fizzled when support for it didn’t materialize, insiders said.

“The Senate moderates’ viewpoint is, ‘We passed our bill. We’re not going to spend three weeks on some other bill,’” said a Democratic lobbyist who represents clients pushing for reform.

“There’s a real possibility it doesn’t get through,” said another Democratic lobbyist.

You see that.

The Senate corporate centrists (because damnit if they are "moderates") don't want to take responsibility for fixing the bill "immediately" instead of "fixing it later." They know that their lobbyists masters won't like that if that is the concluding result of this all.

They would sacrifice the possibility of this bill ameliorating like it should from the garbage that it is for the benefit of their own egos and lobbyists friends. But yet, it's House Democrats, as Krugman says, that are presented with a "moment of truth." And yet, it's people like Raul Grijalva who are "flirting with history's greatest monster?"

It totally makes no sense whatsoever to paint the House Democrats as the purity idiots in this situation. And it's shocking from usually rational minded people like Krugman and Yglesias to create that totally dishonest and/or distorted narrative for those actually fighting for this bill to have any shot of actual, meaningful and lasting reform.

Has the House been flawless in this process? No. But to somehow sale that they are the enemy now in being the barricade for a meaningful bill's passage? You could convince me to see Jackie Chan's latest disaster of a movie before you get me or anyone rational to believe that. (And by the way, I happen to like Jackie Chan a whole lot.)

It is a testament to how egregious this entire process has become. When we start placing more blame on arguably the most progressives figures on Capital Hill instead of the ones with the lobbyists firming apart of their dinner reservations.

A role reversal if there ever was.