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Title: Dem civil war comes to Feinstein’s door
Source:
HotAir
URL Source: https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10 ... vil-war-comes-feinsteins-door/
Published: Oct 11, 2017
Author: Jazz Shaw
Post Date: 2017-10-11 09:28:03 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 907
Comments: 11
Showing absolutely no respect for their elders, the young, SJW branch of the party was quick to pounce as soon as she announced. With a rebel attitude reminiscent of the Tea Party in 2010, calls for a primary challenge came from elected officials in her own state delegation within hours. (Politico) Khanna told POLITICO that the senator does not represent progressive values on issues including privacy, foreign policy and technology innovation, saying “She was totally out of touch when the whole debate happened on encryption,’’ when Apple and law enforcement battled over phone data in the wake of the San Bernardino massacre. Khanna, who backed Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary last year, also criticized Feinstein’s skeptical view of single-payer health care, a favorite cause of the progressive wing. Single payer seems to be the litmus test for the Democrats this year. If you’re not onboard with that then you’re not in the corner of Bernie Sanders. And that means that you’re part of the old guard who supposedly cost the Democrats the last election. It’s not a bad move politically, either. Recent polling shows that a plurality of Americans are still in favor of it, despite the fact that a plan to implement it in Feinstein’s home state was projected to immediately bankrupt California into oblivion. (And the same would happen on a national level almost as quickly.) It wasn’t just the freshman Congressman from Silicon Valley calling for a primary challenge. Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos fame quickly began tweeting at state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, urging him to get into the race. Moulitsas described Feinstein as, “the most pro-Trump Blue-state Dem in the country.” Not for nothing, but when you can actually describe Dianne Feinstein as being “pro-Trump” the wheels are seriously starting to come off of your party. She’s had a couple of allegedly “moderate” votes in the past, such as supporting the Patriot Act extension in 2012, but for the most part she’s been a loyalist, supporting Obamacare, gun control, medical marijuana, abortion rights, gay rights and pretty much everything else. If she doesn’t qualify as a liberal these days then the liberals have run entirely off the rails to the left. So will it work? I’m going to say it’s unlikely at best. Feinstein has been playing this game a long time now. She’s a prodigious fundraiser and has plenty of favors to call in if she needs support. She immediately attracted the endorsement of not only her follow Senator, Kamala Harris, but also Barbara Boxer and Gavin Newsom (who may well be the next Governor). Word has it that Pelosi will also come out in her defense. That’s not to say that a primary challenge couldn’t attract some support and pick up speed, but they’ll have an awfully steep climb ahead of them. And it will also probably mean large sums of money flushed down the rat hole of an internecine fight when they need to be saving it for a very challenging midterm cycle.
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When senior California Senator Dianne Feinstein announced that she would run for yet another term in the upper chamber there were at least some in her party who were surprised. One issue, while not disqualifying, was her age. At 84 Feinstein isn’t the oldest person to ever serve in the Senate (that was Strom Thurmond, who made it to 100), but she would be 92 a the conclusion of the next term. But more to the point is the perception that the party has moved significantly to the left and has possibly left her behind. Feinstein, a centrist Democrat, is the next target. Hours after she announced her reelection campaign Monday, Silicon Valley-based freshman Rep. Ro Khanna said he had urged fellow California Rep. Barbara Lee and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich to challenge Feinstein.
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#1. To: Tooconservative (#0)
This reduces the only really legitimate answer to the health care issue to a matter of loyalty to an old quirky guy from New Hampshire. It trivializes the issue, and those people who stand for single payer as the best answer to the single most pressing economic issue of our time. I myself personally think that the only solution to our health care situation is universal Medicare, which is to say, single payer. My criteria are that no health care solution is adequate that does not cover 100% of the people in the United States. Nobody can be left out or left behind. I don't mind private insurance covering as much of that as can be reasonably done without financially overwhelming people, but in the end, everything has to be covered, for everybody. Republicans do not accept that philosophical/theological position. They are content having a system that leaves certain people out to fend for themselves. To me this is immoral and wrong, and my view is that of millions others. Bernie Sanders has absolutely nothing to do with the morality of this. He just happens to agree with us. On the Democrat side of the house, there is greater morality than on the Republican. Republicans really don't care about the fundamental point: EVERYBODY MUST BE COVERED by GOOD health care. Many Democrats do care about the fundamental point; many others at least claim to care. The Democrat party is divided into two camps: those who CLAIM to care, but are REALLY crony capitalists looking out for the best interests of insurance companies (their big donors), and ready to to load the rest of the really expensive cases onto the government, versus those who also want universal care, but who want it administered responsibly, by making sure that everything goes through the government, cutting out the profit of the middleman insurance companies and not just leaving the government to hold the bag for the very worst risks, where private insurers cannot make money. So, the Bernie Sanders, single payer approach is the more FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE approach, overall, than the crazy-quilt Obamacare approach, because the Universal Medicare approach brings ALL of the premiums, for the very unhealthy and the very healthy into one pool, and takes out the profit motives of insurance company investors, while the Obamacare approach locks in substantial profits for health insurers and locks in much higher per- capita costs on the government's back. (The Republican approach also maximizes insurer profits, and shifts hard cases onto the government, but saves money by leaving whole swathes of people without protection at all.) Bernie Sanders is simply an avatar for the Universal Medicare view of things, which is (in my view and the view of many) the only viable, fair and responsible method. We don't want that because Bernie Sanders wants it - I don't care about that old coot at all - but because it's the right thing to do. Obviously a Republican can never accept that. Nevertheless, infantilizing the opposition by suggesting that single-payer Medicare is simply delusional. Because there is common ground among crony capitalist Republicans and crony capitalist Democrats on the matter of maximizing profits to their contributor insurance companies, we won't end up with universal Medicare. What we'll end up with is overly expensive private for-profit insurance, with the rest of the country on a government plan, that costs far too much.
If California can't make it work, you can't make it work elsewhere outside gated communities of healthy and relatively wealthy people. Enclaves like Connecticut, for instance.
France makes it work.
France benefits hugely from foreign tourism dollars. I always consider France to be a special case, not applicable to other countries.
It's tough for me to see it that way. France seems the most normal - the most "like America" - of all of the countries to me. The French are just not different - same way of eating, same way of thinking, same tempermental view of personal freedom and rights, ethnic diversity, "melting pot" concept of Frenchness - est anglais qui peut, est francais qui veut. France isn't foreign, and the French want individual control of their health care like we do. Americans can't tolerate British style or Canadian style controlled care, and aren't stoic enough for German care. We like our Medicare. French medicine is just universal Medicare. We can do that. It's expensive. But not backbreakingly so. It does mean wealth redistribution from the top down. France has been better about bringing the top to heel and putting them into the same harness and yoke as the rest of society, and it would be good for America to follow the example.
French pay less for medical care and are healthier. But medical/pharma/insurance industry cannot make such killing as it does in USA. And this is the real reason. Same with countless wars - it is about profits for the military industrial complex.
“the most pro-Trump Blue-state Dem in the country.” Fineswine is an old school Jimiah Carter Democrat, like The Donald and Chuck Schumer.
We really need to retire these senators at 80. 75 would be better. They're too old to conduct proper oversight committees that would require long hours. As a result, the federal bureaucracy runs on autopilot with little supervision from the Senate. This is a problem with a number senators in both parties.
This is a problem with a number senators in both parties. You don't realize that the elected Senator/HOR "leader" forms a team consisting anywhere from 100-200+ supporting staff that does all the work; this is done at taxpayer expense, of course. Get rid of this silly staff and the elected representatives will quit naturally as they will be overworked. These staff members are the "bureaucracy" that need to be eliminated to bring back America.
I believe that they also have thousands of private sector lobbyists, foundations, etc. to "help" them as well. These worker bees launder the money and write the bills in conjunction with the D&R party, Deep State gov staff.
Well stated. And, the American public "thinks" the issue is all about an elected leader. Total rubbish!
Single payer seems to be the litmus test for the Democrats this year. If you’re not onboard with that then you’re not in the corner of Bernie Sanders. And that means that you’re part of the old guard who supposedly cost the Democrats the last election.
#2. To: Vicomte13 (#1)
Republicans do not accept that philosophical/theological position. They are content having a system that leaves certain people out to fend for themselves. To me this is immoral and wrong, and my view is that of millions others.
#3. To: Tooconservative (#2)
If California can't make it work,
#4. To: Vicomte13 (#3)
#5. To: Tooconservative (#4)
I always consider France to be a special case, not applicable to other countries.
#6. To: Tooconservative (#0)
#7. To: Tooconservative, Carter Democrats (#0)
#8. To: hondo68 (#7)
#9. To: Tooconservative, hondo68 (#8)
They're too old to conduct proper oversight committees that would require long hours. As a result, the federal bureaucracy runs on autopilot with little supervision from the Senate.
#10. To: buckeroo, *The Two Parties ARE the Same*, lobbyists, foundations (#9)
the elected Senator/HOR "leader" forms a team consisting anywhere from 100-200+ supporting staff that does all the work; this is done at taxpayer expense, of course
#11. To: hondo68 (#10)
These worker bees launder the money and write the bills in conjunction with the D&R party, Deep State gov staff.
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