Amy sold us out on health care so let's start working to get her replaced

[becxx]

As early as the summer of 2009, Amy said that there was no rush on health care reform--a cold and cruel statement given the many senior citizens stuck in the Medicare donut hole, the many uninsured, and the many insurance poor who need insurance reform now. It is apparent to me, however, that Amy does not listen to average citizens. When health care reform was discussed, Amy spent her time talking to the rich and powerful and she made it clear early on that she was not interested in a public plan that would have made insurance more affordable.

All in all, Amy has done a terrible job of representing Minnesotans and a great job of taking care of the rich. It is no wonder the folks at UnitedHealth Group seem to be so fond of her.

Also, it does appear that Amy plans to join with sell out senators like Joe Lieberman to cut Medicare. When many of our seniors are already strapped for cash, a cut in Medicare is about the last thing they need.

I plan to start working to find a good candidate to run against Amy and at the precinct caucus and senate district convention, I will be talking to other asking for support in replacing Amy with a better senator. Amy is certainly no Paul Wellstone but we can get rid of here in 2012.

Please help me and start thinking about this. Do you have ideas as to who we could have run against Amy.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Oh yes, several of us on DU think we have the perfect candidate

and he's one of us.

[becxx]

13. Hi

Lydia,

Please send me an private email telling me who that might be. Thanks

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Sorry, you're listed as not qualified to receive PM's yet

However, I can give you a hint. It's a DUer who was a Kucinich delegate to the 2004 Dem convention, and no, he wasn't at the gathering you attended.

[DisgustedInMN]

19. Hi LL..

... if you could PM me that candidate's name, I'd be pleased to offer it up at my 6th District Precinct Causus.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. Unfortunately, Amy isn't up for re-election till 2012.

:-(

[CatholicEdHead]

2. I still back her as a moderate DFLer

She is moderate enough to do well in outstate Minnesota. Any legislative process is messy. Sure health care could be alot better, but it could be alot worse if someone other than Amy makes it through the primaries/caucuses. Odds are while they would carry the inner Twin Cities metro, they would have trouble in outstate Minnesota except for the college urban areas.

[becxx]

3. Wellstone was liberal and was popular and won

Liberals can win in Minnesota. Wellstone was one of the most liberal, and he won. Also, it doesn't really matter whether Amy can win outstate at this point. She will not be getting the support of unions and much of the Democratic base now that we've seen her true colors. Anyway, in case you have not noticed--there is no health care reform. Where is the health care reform?

Also, after Massachusetts, Amy said we need to slow the process down. That means seniors continue to be stuck in the donut hole, seniors continue to have problems with hunger, more and more lose coverage everyday, and more and more become insurance poor. You can that moderate? I call that cruel and Republican. It would be funny if Amy were not so cruel and so very Republican. I don't think moderate in Minnesota means cruel. The great majority in Minnesota want health care reform and Amy is out of touch.

[ISUGRADIA]

7. Not getting union support? please!

Klobuchar has had an average 90-95% voting recod on issues the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, UAW, SEIU rate. She is not going to lose union endorsements, support or $ in 2012. The DFL leadership is not going to abandon her. Any endorsement challenge will be underfunded and without establishment support. She's been around 60% approval overall and 90% among Democrats.

Somebody can run against her but I'd be interested in how anyone thinks they can overcome Klobuchar.

[becxx]

9. DFL is going to support a Republican-type who is happy to leave donut hole unclosed

Oh please, if the DFL establishment supports Klobuchar, they are out of touch. Then again, they were big Hillary Clinton supporters too. LOL And we see how important the DFL establishment was and who is sitting in the White House. LOL A bunch of retired folks to whom one pays attention. There's a new generation here and it is not going to like a Klobuchar. Neither are the seniors when they find out Senator Cruella's plans for social security and Medicare. And if you think the unions like SEIU are happy with Klobuchar on health care reform, you haven't been involved in the lobbying for this issue. SEIU, for example, has been sending out emails regularly to get folks to push for positions with which Amy disagrees.

What kind of a Democrat is Amy? A Lieberman type. And what happened to Lieberman? He was routed out of the Dem party, remember? I will never vote for Klobuchar again after seeing the way she sold out the middle class on the health care issue. The windfall profits she wants for big health insurance and pharmaceutical corporations are not in the best interests of the middle class or most businesses. Our country cannot compete in the world if we allow the big insurance and pharmaceutical corporations to charge such high prices and then drive up the cost paid by businesses and individuals for insurance. Not to mention the fact that it is just plain immoral to let seniors and others go without health care when they need it.

[ISUGRADIA]

11. OK then

show me the union press releases criticizing her, the DFL elected officials who are turning against her, the candidate rumblings tro run for the endorsement. Obamba had money, lots of it, and yes, establishment backing to overcome Clinton including Kennedy, Kerrey, and, gasp, Amy Klobuchar to name a few.

I see no name challenger coming forward and no funding going to someone against Klobuchar in 2012.

There were a lot of complaints about Chris Coleman in St Paul during the RNC and how he would get a tought reelection because of it. He sailed through. Right now, same for Amy in 2012.

[kenfrequed]

16. Well

By that standard why not show me some actual union press.

The fact of the matter is that Kloubachar was soft on healthcare reform. She never supported single payer and was at absoulte best a tepid supporter of the public option. Her vote cannot be counted upon for progressive reform.

In a better world we would have another candidate in the mold of Wellstone. If Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer suddenly decided to run a primary challenge against her in 2012 I will back him all the way.

[CatholicEdHead]

20. And someone in the mold of Wellstone would have trouble

in today's environment. Wellstone had a unique, very strong persona which reached across lines. He also was in before the ultra-polarization we now see. Back when he ran there were many old-school Republicans in Minnesota who looked for common ground. Today's T-Paw Republicans are not like that.

The key is to be able to win outstate Minnesota to become Senator if you are a DFLer (vice versa for Republicans). That means moderate Republicans (GOP Party faithful call them RINOs) and those with independent streaks that are drawn to the Independence Party (which their party platform overlaps more with the DFL than the GOP).

If Amy runs again (as I expect her too), she will be very tough to beat across the state. An unknown would tilt the race in favor of the GOP.

[Minnesota Raindog]

23. If you doubt how extremist today's GOP is, read this Daily Kos survey

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/2/832988/-The-2010-Comprehensive-Daily-Kos-Research-2000-Poll-of-Self-Identified-Republicans


Pretty fucking scary.

[CatholicEdHead]

24. Thanks, much of that is not that surprising

Looking at what is coming out of today's GOP. The generational shift from Arne Carlson to Tim Pawlenty is huge. Moderation, discussion, and compromise are out the window for the endless and very mean spirited My Way or the Highway approach.

[kenfrequed]

27. Uhm...

A: It was a poll of self identified republicans. There have been a lot of them that have fallen from the party after Bush and no amount of right-wing-nuttery or tea parties is going to woo them back.

B: Placing the Sex education question immediately after asking whether they would accept a gay teacher teaching high school might have weighted the thing a bit.

C: The numbers were actually better than I thought. Sure most of them seem pretty nutty but the number of respondants that contradicted the supposed party line or that were not sure gives me a bit of comfort.


But in all cases the answer to this is not moderation and capitulation. This only encourages the right wing to run farther to the right and convinces them (falsely) that they actually are in the majority.

The real answer is education and being a bit more strident in our own vision and to communicate it better.

[kenfrequed]

26. Eh I disagree.

He continued to get reelected at the height of conservative power in the legislature- during the Gingrich years.

He ran as a populist progressive when many Democrats were no longer thinking about populism and he wore his politics on his sleeve. I can count less than a single handful of votes he cast that I disagreed with and you almost always knew exactly how he would vote. THAT is why he was popular and reelected and not because he 'reached out across the aisle' he made his issues the issues of Minnesota and the Nation and elaborated on a progressive vision when many democrats were suddenly rolling over and claiming to be fiscal conservatives.

We need to start communicating our positions better and explain how they help people and stop assuming that people are automatically going to tune out. Playing a delusional middle is a tactic, and one that works poorly, and it avoids explaining your position and intention in favor of platitudes that people know are complete BS.

[CubFan7125]

12. She Has Union Support

I'm a proud member of the CWA and I know for fact my union stands behind Amy. I'm proud to call her my senator and hope she will be for a long time. As for your not voting for her, that's fine. This is the USA.

[dflprincess]

14. In 2006 at least one union's PAC took a hit because the rank and file

were not happy that she was endorsed. This was after a case had been made to the endorsing committee about why she was not a candidate labor should support.

I imagine if she and her DLC/Blue Dogs pals have their way with "reforming" Social Security and Medicare that there will be quite a few more that aren't so enamored with her.

[dflprincess]

4. Amy remains popular because of her refusal to take public stands on real issues

those she's certainly to commended for her courageous stands against texting while driving and poisonous metals in children's toys. :sarcasm:

I doubt if Amy-kins will manage to maintain that popularity outstate when they find out she's signed on with other DLC/Blue Dog types to "reform" Social Security and Medicare

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7503549

Senate bill S.2853 would set up a bipartisan commission to design and propose a new set of spending constraints, requiring Congress to consider the proposal on a fast track and vote it up or down, with no power to amend it, thus removing major budget and funding decisions from the normal congressional process and depriving the public of opportunity to impact the bill.

Democrats cosponsoring S 2853

Conrad, Kent - (D - ND), Bennet, Michael - (D - CO), Bayh, Evan - (D - IN), Dorgan, Byron - (D - ND)
Feinstein, Dianne - (D - CA), Klobuchar, Amy - (D - MN), McCaskill, Claire - (D - MO),
Nelson, Bill - (D - FL), Nelson, Ben - (D - NE), Shaheen, Jeanne - (D - NH), Udall, Mark - (D - CO)
Warner, Mark - (D - VA), Webb, Jim - (D - VA)

And of course - that man of the people
Lieberman, Joseph - (I - CT)

When this crowd starts talking about "reform" it's time to get very afraid because it can only mean we're about to get screwed.

Someday the SAT test will include the question:

Which of these does not belong?
A. Hubert Humphrey
B. Paul Wellstone
C. Amy Klobuchar

[becxx]

5. Love the SAT joke

I'm going to have to remember that one. I think when the seniors find out that Amy plans on cutting their social security, they are not going to think she looks so cute in her mean little black suits. LOL I always find it ironic that Amy so often dresses like a witch. Matches her personality perfectly.

Ah yes, I think I'll do a handout for the precinct caucuses on Amy's plans for society security.

[dflprincess]

6. From what I heard recently

there are plenty of people in the county attorney's office that would think calling her a witch was going too easy on her.

[kenfrequed]

17. Hmmph

The only reason that Kloubachar has not out and out become one of Bayh's blue dogs is because Minnesota does not have a tolerance for it. She relies on people not keeping track of how far she is running to the conserv-a-dems.

[DFLforever]

8. I've never been a fan of hers either but don't fool yourself

she's very well-liked by people in general. I almost pity the Republican who has to run against here.

[glinda]

10. I think we need to at least look at the possibility of a better candidate. She is not with us on

some issues. She might be well liked but I agree that Wellstone was liked also.

[Minnesota Raindog]

18. I'm not A-Klo's biggest fan either but...

...right now, I think people'e energy would be better spent finding and working for candidates to take out Bachmann, Kline and Paulsen. And to keep the majorities in both houses of the Legislature, and the governor's office, so we can control redistricting after the 2010 Census. That's going to be difficult enough.

A good start is to get to your caucuses tonight.

[Brickbat]

25. Agreed.

[dflprincess]

21. Interesting comment from one of my coworkers yesterday

She is a die hard Republican and we generally don't discuss politics but yesterday she decided to inform me that she "really likes Amy Klobuchar".

I think she expected me to announce we had at last found common ground but all I could do was tell her that it didn't surprise me.

[becxx]

28. I know Rethugs who love Amy too

When I read your comment on the coworker who likes Amy I laughed out loud. I've had similar experiences. It would continue to be funny for me if Amy were not Senator Cruella. Her positions, unfortunately, are often just plainly cruel. I am just dismayed with her. She is oblivious to the suffering of others and is so like her Republican fans in this regard. I have found most Rethugs are indifferent to the suffering of others as well. Sad, sad, sad.

[MNmom]

22. She is such a corporate person!

Definitely replace her.

[becxx]

29. Amy loves the corporatocracy

Senator Cruella seems to think her job is working for the corporatocracy. She seems to spend her time meeting with bigwigs and to hell with the great majority.

[becxx]

30. Amy Klobuchar loves PAC and corporate big money

Here's a few of her recent contributions: Here's just a few of her more recent PAC contributions: BLANK ROME PAC 02/09/2009 1000.00 29933369382 BLUEPAC - BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION PAC 09/18/2009 1000.00 10930030501 BORDER HEALTH FEDERAL PAC 04/08/2009 5000.00 29992454969 BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE ('BSC PAC') 03/18/2009 2000.00 29933564894. Amy likes that big corporation money!

When you look at how Amy spends her time and what she supports, a look at her money explains everything--including why she wanted a health care bill the gives windfalls to big insurance, big drug and medical device manufacturers.

All you need to do is give Amy Klobuchar's campaign committeee enough cash and she will listen attentively to your too. LOL