"If we're going to go down, let's go down fighting for something we believe in"

Alan Grayson, you now have competition: Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on Wednesday:



As for the Howard Fineman proposal to which Rendell refers, here it is:

But I know that I have also discussed the possibility of taking pieces of it and passing them or trying to pass them and trying to force—as you call them—the conservadems and some Republicans to either vote for them or vote against them. If they try to filibuster them, hold them to account.

For example, pre-existing conditions, there‘s nobody—almost nobody in the Senate, I think, who would—on a straight up or down vote—would want to vote against the idea that insurance companies be required to cover people, even if they have pre-existing conditions. Similarly, the idea that you can‘t toss somebody out of coverage if they get sick.

Just those two things alone, straight up or down votes, I think the White House would be smart to try to dare people to vote against them, dare the Republicans to filibuster them.

As I wrote on Friday:

Now the illusion of 60 votes in the Senate is gone, but we still have the 51, maybe 52 reliable Democratic votes we always had, and 51 is still more than 49. Now we can force the Senate dems to stop playing filibuster games and start jamming legislation up the minority's ass - barbed with no lube.

Reconciliation, forcing real filibusters, changing the rules, bribes, threats, cheating - whatever it takes. From 2003 to 2007, Senate repugs had fewer than 55 votes, and won every single time. They rolled over the dem minority nonstop for four years because they did the arithmetic, knew they had the majority, and refused to let stupid shit like "comity" and "bipartisanship" and "cooperation" stop them from getting things done.

Fifty-one votes is a majority. Now the Democrats have to use it.

SNIP

Compromise has failed. Cooperation has failed. Bipartisanship has failed. Moderation has failed. Appeasement has failed. Seeking a middle ground has failed. Splitting the difference has failed. Playing prevent defense has failed. Diluting strong policies and programs to attract oppponents' votes has failed. Acting "progressive" has failed.

Now let's try genuine liberalism. Let's try majority rule. Let's try take-no-prisoners, give-no-quarter, bare-knuckle, kick-'em-in-the-balls, kidney-punch, eye-gouging fighting.

Let's play to win.