Sure there are plenty of angry teabaggers, Republicans, and Red Sox fans in the Bay State who came out in force last Tuesday to vote for Scott Brown because they like him and hate healthcare – but not enough to give him a victory. The crucial edge was provided by Obama voters who stayed at home, and Obama voters who voted for Brown in protest. And one thousand of those folks were polled immediately after the election by Research 2000, to find out why they did what they did Tuesday.
And the answer is the opposite of what you’re hearing from the mainstream media, the GOP, and timid corporate quisling Democrats like Lanny Davis and Evan Bayh: They are disgusted with the President and Congress because they are not being ambitious and progressive enough. Specifically, the vast majority of these abstainers & protest voters are frustrated with the progress of healthcare reform and want the public option!
Massachusetts Obama voters who stayed home
- 86% of them want a Public Option to be included in the Healthcare bill.
- 2/3 of them felt that NEITHER Brown nor Coakley represents their families’ “economic interests”
- a majority would be more inclined to vote Democrat this year if Dems regulated Wall Street more strongly;
- twice as many prefer Wall Street regulation to decreasing spending as a solution to the economy’s problems.
Mass. Obama voters who voted for Scott Brown
- 82% of them want a Public Option to be included in the Healthcare bill. (Strange to vote for totally anti-health Brown then, but you do crazy things when you’re pissed and frustrated!)
- 57% say Obama “not delivering enough” on change he promised!
- 62% felt neither Brown nor Coakley represents their economic interests;
- 53% vs. 14% would be more likely to vote Dem this year if Dems regulated Wall Street better.
see the rest of the poll here.
I know there were several factors that caused Coakley to lose to Brown: Coakley’s weaknesses as a candidate and the Dems’ complacency over the race; Scott Brown’s hard work and the passion of the teabaggers nationally; but it couldn’t have happened without the disillusionment and disgust of progressive Massachusetts voters, both Democratic and independent.
Of course the mainstream media, the GOP, and conservative Democrats are spinning this the other way; that Obama and the Democrats lost this election because they are “too far left” and trying to get too much done. If the Democrats believe that, and move even more to Republican-Lite, they will doom themselves to further defeat, on top of not helping anybody they’re pledged to help. Didn’t Truman say, voters will choose a real Republican over an imitation one every time? Here are a few petitions you can click on to help inject some steel in their spines:
- Bold Progressives: Dems, be stronger not weaker!
- Credo Action: Pass the Public Option thru reconciliation.
- True Majority: We need “Liberal Lions!”
- Move-On: It’s time for Dems to fight for working families!
- Move-On: Deliver real healthcare reform with a Public Option!
- Democracy For America: Dems must lead to win in 2010!
Health care is DEAD, pal. Of course, yours was free in the Joint wasn’t it?
We shall see, Andy T. Hopefully you’re wrong. Shame that you’re rooting for health care to die, and 45,000 Americans to keep dying each year.
I’ll remember your taunts if you’re wrong. I have your e-mail address, “pal.”
You have mine as well…. bet you wont email me!
And he is not wrong, The health care bill is dead..
And wiseup no one dies in this country from lack of health care, they die from a lack of personal responsiblity..
Catastropic health care is only 98 dollars a person… But alot of people prefer spending the money on an updated iphone!
The poor in this country gets healthcare free… What is really a problem is that people with a pre-conditioned health problem can’t get insurance … if they are middle class the government health nets will not help them..
My suggestion: The government needs to stop being the daddy to the underserved, and needy, and start providing crisis aid to its citzens that really need the help and who deserve it!
Vern,
Good points. The same thing could hurt Loretta Sanchez. She too has forgotten the people and sounds like a Republican more often than not…
I was thinking much the same thing. The Democrats still have an 18 vote margin in the Senate – and they’re acting weak as kittens.
Looks like some of them never wanted to get anything done anyhow (and that’s a good thing!) and now have found their excuse for failure: we only had an 18 vote lead!
“They are disgusted with the President and Congress because they are not being ambitious and progressive enough.”
Well said Vern. I also well feel that that progs should continue to press forward and marginalize themselves right off a cliff.
“Sure there are plenty of angry teabaggers …”
Teabaggers …. “Teabaggers” Vern??
You must be really upset about something – that is beneath you Vern.
18 that will get cut in the next election to maybe the dems being the minorty if they keep doing what they are doing now
45,000 will die because we don’t pass Health Care is a lie.
Other than that, Vern, you are right on the money. The people who stayed home made the difference.
If I was a Republican, I’d say that the Democrats need to be more BIG TENT and keep those radical progressive fringe kooks out. As it is, keep on keepin on. I love to watch the self-immolation of a Leftist.
I don’t know if health care is dead, but I see Vern’s point.
Obama campaigned on health care and the people gave him the Presidency and Democrats the majority and they couldn’t get a damn thing passed. Bi partisan is one thing, but enough is enough, stop trying to please everyone. Democrats are wussies!!
Lam Pho is so right, the Dems are “wussies”.
The American people gave our party a mandate and we have done nothing with it. We have frittered away our chance to bring any lasting and meaningful change to this country.
While I won’t place all the blame on the shoulders of the President, he has failed us in many areas. He promised he would pull the troops out of Iraq, close down Guantanomo and get us REAL healthcare reform. He has done none of these things.
He has spent far too much time trying to build bridges with the right. He and the Democratic congress should have crammed these things down the rights throat and moved on. Instead they have tried to appease them.
At this rate Obama will be a one-term President and the right will control congress in the next couple of years. The American people want to see someone who leads and gets results, not someone who talks and gets nothing accomplished. After one year all his promise has turned into nothing more than empty promises. So sad.
Watch them eat their own!!
It will not pass because it is a ridiculous pile of crap and some dems just can’t stomach letting it through!
Not even corrupt dems/repubs will push this shite through, because you neglect to realise that the American people still rule this land and they are not stupid!
Corperations and other special interests rule the country. Electing one person (Obama) who mostly got his funding from regular people will not change this, he still has to deal with the vast majority of elected who do.
Perhaps the Republicans would support a network of Free or reduced cost clinics as long as the money for them benifited thier corperate friends.
Nelson could be right, who knows? But one thing for sure is the Dems really screwed up the bill with the payoffs to states and the unions. Does anyone like this angle. And it does seem they were trying to ram this down our throats rather quickly and were not very open in the dealings. I expect better from our representatives.
Vern, I think a lot Dem’s and independants voted for Brown, not ’cause they have rejected Dem’s and the president, but because they just like Scott Brown. I’m a Democrat and on the progressive side of the fence, but I sort of like Scott Brown, too. Joined the Army National Guard in college, and has stayed with it through the years, now a Lt.Col. — that’s not your standard Republican pol. Those guy’s wrap’em selves in a flag, talk tough, and avoid the military — Rohrbacher’s an example. Brown’s hesitant to interfere in women’s personal lives when it comes to bearing a child, and people who want to commit to marriage. I suspect the new Senator Brown is going to be one of those Republicans that annoys the hell out of the Republican establishment — kind of like McCain and Colin Powell used to do. We’ll wait and see.
All come on, the new president is learning still. Can’t close Guantanomo because it houses real bad people. Can’t just pull out of Iraq, that was tried before in 91.
And this health care lie is just a bail out of the bankrupt health insurance companies.
I thought the expansion of Medicare to all was the best way to go. And tax the value of medical plans that the chosen few get.
Medicare would be just like the roads you use to get to work on, paid by government taxes. But you have the choice of supplemental ins. Just like the choice you make of using a Bus, Car, Bike, Shoes, etc as your supplement transportation on the government supplied roads.
Hey Andy T, comment #1:
(Also sent via e-mail.)