Dick Durbin: "(Teddy) tried to put together not all that he wanted, but what he could get."

[denem]

Single Payer or Nothing

Kennedy: A towering record, painstakingly built
Senator mastered the arts of gesture, compromise

(Compromise) was a lesson Kennedy learned the hard way. In 1971, President Nixon unveiled a plan to expand healthcare to nearly all Americans through their employers, with the federal government subsidizing insurance premiums for the poor. The plan was strikingly similar to many that Democrats would put forth in subsequent years. But in the early 1970s, the then 39-year-old senator from Massachusetts wanted more. He stubbornly held out for a straight up national healthcare system paid for through general revenues and Social Security taxes.

"It's really a partnership between the administration and insurance companies," Kennedy griped in 1971 about the Nixon plan. "It's not a partnership between patients and doctors of this nation."

In the end, neither the Nixon plan nor the Kennedy proposal passed, and Kennedy would wonder, decades later, if he had missed his only chance to install a plan — even an imperfect one — that would give every American the chance to get health insurance.

"We should have jumped on that," Kennedy said.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/20/a_towering_record_painstakingly_built/

[phantom power]

1. Negotiation 101: start by asking for *more* than what you want, not less.

[dflprincess]

2. Teddy was right about the insurance companies in 1971

and it holds true today (probably even more true). A deal with the devil is not reform. Durbin is just looking for a way to justify his willingness to throw even a weak public option under the bus.

[denem]

3. Durbin's comments are from February - Not a commentary

on the current senate debates.

[dflprincess]

4. I should have paid attention to the date

Though, if all these elected officials of "ours" who are saying they can't pass Medicare for All now would get behind it and really push it we might have gotten somewhere. At least there may have been a real public option that would have given the private companies some actual competion - and done it sooner rather than later.

[denem]

5. February, Dick was already penning Ted's obituary.

BTW - the Blue Dogs and ConservaDems are not 'ours'. Kennedy was, and from experience, believed single payer was doomed.

[dflprincess]

9. It's why I put it in quotes - just as you did

I know they're not "ours".

[BattyDem]

6. And THAT is the problem with the Dems!

They give up and accept defeat before they even begin. "Oh, we're not going to win, so let's not even try." :grr:

WRONG!

You start out demanding EVERYTHING you want! So what if you won't get it? You start from the best and when you have to give up a few things to get it passed, at least you still end up with a good bill.

Starting from your COMPROMISE position and working down from there is just plain stupid and will never get you anything even close to what you want.

:eyes:

[denem]

7. Kennedy started out demanding everything - and got nothing - Even after Watergate.

'The worst call' in his words.

[BattyDem]

8. How many years ago?

So once again, defeat is accepted before the fight even begins. "It didn't work before ... why bother trying that again?"

There may have been a time when "playing nice" would have gotten Kennedy a good bill, but things are very different with the GOP now. No amount of compromise or negotiation is ever good enough for them. Look what happened with the stimulus bill. Obama and the Dems made concessions and they still voted against it! So what was the point? If the bill was going to pass without them anyway, why bother giving them anything? They have no ideas, they're not trying to help, they're not interested in doing something for the American people - there is no compromise that will ever satisfy them because all they're interested in is embarrassing and destroying the Democrats so they can regain control. Our side has to recognize this and stop playing "Bipartisan Bingo" all the time. Then they might actually be able to get a strong healthcare bill.

[BlooInBloo]

10. And now DUers will hate Kennedy. It's funny watching some coalesce into a tight little diamond...

of all or nothingness.