Healthcare for All

Dear Aaron,

We can guarantee healthcare for all if we give every American the freedom to choose between keeping their private insurance - if they have any - and a universally available public healthcare option like Medicare.

ADD YOUR NAME RIGHT NOW

President Obama campaigned on a healthcare plan that included a public option, but for-profit insurance companies and HMO's are already working hard to strip it from any upcoming healthcare bill. They don't want Americans to have a choice and they will stop at nothing to kill real reform.

Today, we draw a line in the sand.

A public option is the only way to guarantee healthcare for all Americans and its inclusion is non-negotiable. Any legislation without the choice of a public option is only insurance reform and not the healthcare reform America needs.

This is just the start. We need your help to generate broad based support for a public option. We will need to canvass our neighborhoods, call our elected leaders, and arrange meetings with members of Congress in the coming months.

We need 250,000 signatures by the time this bill is introduced in Congress. As a start, can you help me get to 10,000 by the end of the day today?

ADD YOUR NAME RIGHT NOW

Working together, we will get healthcare for all Americans. Thank you for everything you do to make it happen.

My bounce-back, they don't want to hear anyone's opinion but their own, "TrueMajority Scam" response is:

Uhh...even the simplest of people can see the illogic here. Medicare is going bankrupt. How do we fix that? By adding more people to it? Errr... Ya, makes perfect fiscal sense. Sort of like going into debt $10 TRILLION dollars.

Here's another fallacy that I can point out for your scheme: if Americans are given a choice to stay on their "private" health care plan or go to Medicare, which do you think most will choose?

Let me put it this way: you have a choice to keep paying money out of pocket monthly for healthcare insurance (my wife and I pay about $300) or keeping that $300 and going on a nationalized tax-payer paid plan.

Hmmm...wonder which will make us more happy.

Now think of this from an employer's standpoint: health insurance is a BONUS, not a REQUIREMENT for employers. Why bother offering it if most employees are just going to go with the government plan anyway? Further, how long before the private insurance companies go out of business because the government has taken over?

This plan is so completely moronic, I can't believe you're hoping that 250,000 other morons will be willing to sign a petition to get it put in place.

Are you people even awake? Time to put down the peace pipe and the prescription dope and actually THINK about what you're pushing here. If you want national socialism so bad, why don't you move north into Canada? Or push for your beloved Kalifornia (Kommunist Republik of) seceed to Canada so you can participate in their nationalized socialist healthcare? Why drag the rest of us into it?

I live in Wyoming and have zero interest in your Kalifornia policies of socialism on a national scale. Bankrupt CA all you want, but leave me out of it. My state doesn't have a state income tax, doesn't have high property or sales taxes, and has a budget surplus every year. Our Senators debate whether we should ACCEPT federal money, not whether we should BEG FOR IT.

TrueMajority my ass, you're just a bunch of Kalifornia Socialists wanting to force the rest of us to pay for your feel good bullshit. You can keep it, you idiots.

Obama's Ice Cream Budget

Dear Aaron

Volunteers burning up the phone lines at our office

Tell us YOUR story

Last night I called a lady who said "God bless you. I appreciate you so much." That warmed by heart.
-- Ben, NC

True Majority rocks! KUDOS to you.
-- Kristine, CT

President Obama is still running a full court press in Congress to pass his budget1. And for the last three nights, we've been fighting alongside the President by calling wavering Democrats and moderate Republicans to convince them to support the President's big, bold investment in jobs, healthcare and education.

It's been phenomenal, and we've made tons of calls into important districts. To say thanks, we're sending free ice cream to the members who made the most calls, and we want to share some of the stories we've heard from callers all over the country.

But this is your moment in history too: tell us your story of fighting for Obama's budget.

Just don't try to tell us by replying to our email or entering any un-moderated or anti-budget/anti-Obama posts on our site. We don't like dissent, just Obamabots.

Well, I guess the incentive is there. I can work hard, burning up the phone lines, trying to get Obama supporters rallied up to work on getting his magic budget passed--the budget which, of course, you have put out ZERO information on, only that "Obama is backing it" and that it will "reform healthcare." Ya, thanks for the hugely interesting tidbits there.

Any mention of its size? How much the Congressional Budget Office (a non-f#$@#$ partisan group) says it will actually cost? Any of that?

Nope, just a lot of garbage about feeling good 'cuz we're helpin THE MAN.

Wavering

More crap from the Democratic Socialists who are more socialist than democratic...

Dear MoveOn member,

President Obama only needs 50 votes in the Senate to pass his visionary, progressive budget. There are 58 Democrats and Independents in the Senate, so it should be gliding through no problem, right?

Wrong. While most Democrats are supporting the president's agenda, some are wavering. They're backing away from key reforms—like making polluters pay to address global warming1 and rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans. They're even asking for compromises on major health care reform.

My bounce-back response:

Uhh...just because Obama is the one pushing this new Hillarycare doesn't mean it's not Hillary's plan. You know, the one that got thrown out for 16 years? Even her own husband couldn't see it through.

Wake up, you socialist nitwits! SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE DOES NOT WORK, WILL NOT WORK, AND IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR AMERICANS! We're already taxed enough, put upon enough, and screwed over enough by our govenrment.

What makes you think that the same people who F up the VA system won't F this up royally too?! What will you do ten years from now when nobody is going to medical school because it's not worth it? We already have more @#$@#$@%#$ lawyers than doctors graduating from universities.

Less than 4 days to back Obama's budget!

The latest from "TrueMajority" (aka "TrueMarxist"):

Dear Aaron

Help pass Obama's budget.

Last night President Obama went on national television to continue pitching his visionary budget . Obama made a powerful case that this budget must invest in what is "absolutely critical to our economic future" - jobs, education, and healthcare[1].

But this morning, key members of the budget-writing committees are talking about scaling back, and a coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans are threatening to stop the bill altogether[2] .

We've got less than 4 days to convince Congress to back Obama's budget on the first try.

My response, which TrueMajority's email system bounces back as undeliverable since they aren't a majority of anything but socialists:

Oh no! Obama the Messiah won't get his multi-trillion dollar budget passed?! AIIEEEE!! We're all gonna die! No Hillarycare, no fake stimulus to pay off his Wall Street buddies, and no money for his special interest friends at ACORN and the like? Damn! We're in trouble if we don't force this behemoth through!

One thing we just gotta have is more deficit spending. Especially in trying economic times like these. Hey, the Great Depression was much shorter thanks to the massive deficits that FDR ran up, right? So we should do it again!!!!

Hurry! Hurry! Step right up to what the Congressional Budget Office says will only amount to financial doom thanks to 4% higher than GDP for the entire time frame out to 2019. Yep! Bust out the BIG NATIONAL CREDIT CARD, Obama's got a plan! Nevermind we've been making minimum payments on that baby for years. It's all good!

Obama Needs Our Help!

Dear MoveOn member,
Last month, after announcing a bold blueprint for change on energy, health care, and education, President Obama said, "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they're gearing up for a fight. My message to them is this: So am I."1

Now the fight is on: Yesterday, President Obama held a campaign-style event highlighting job-creating green businesses, while a top big-business lobbyist falsely called Obama's energy plans "devastating to the economy." Tomorrow morning Obama is going to Capitol Hill to try to persuade Senate Democrats to stand strong in the face of industry opposition to his budget.

President Obama can't do this alone—he needs all of us to help. We're racing to expand our local organizing to counter the industry pressure. The campaign is volunteer-driven, but it takes money to make training videos, develop hard-hitting ads, and pay the community organizers who recruit and manage the volunteers.

And my response to this "we're all about democracy, but we don't want your emails" response was:

If by "special interest" you mean American taxpayers, their employers, and every economist who's not paid by you to say different, then yes, they're lobbying against this crap-ass bill of Obama's.

Hello! We don't need government to force us into "green" energy. We're doing it just fine our damn selves. Sorry if it didn't happen overnight and if you're precious EV1 got canceled, but that's not my problem. I'm already ponying up over 50% of my income to pay taxes for everything from publik skool to your alternative transportation (failures) schemes. FU if I'm gonna pay more!

Obama's budget is so full of pork, wasteful spending, and DEFICIT that it's a nightmare! How can I support that? Just because 0.10% will be "green?"

I don't think so. Make Al Gore and John Kerry pay for it. They've got the money. Leave my skinny wallet alone!

Get the "Blue Dogs" on board

Not to be outdone, TrueMajority had something to say too:

Dear Aaron,

President Obama has proposed a terrific budget that invests in education, health care and job creation. But special interests are pulling out all the stops to squeeze Republicans and some conservative Democrats into opposing Obama's budget1.

So we've hit the airwaves calling on targeted members of Congress to do the right thing. Our ads are already on the air in key districts, can you help us keep the campaign going so we can pass the President's budget?

This is a big campaign - USAction / TrueMajority has built a coalition of 90 national groups pushing for this budget. We've used rolling billboards and traveling cookie shows to advocate for our priorities, but a television ad buy in multiple districts is a new level of committment for us. We're serious about this.

But we can't win unless these 'Blue Dog' Democrats and 'Moderate' Republicans get on board2. We saw during the stimulus debate how a handful of these folks can derail action. And it looks like conservatives are running the same play again - trying to convince just enough legislators to 'just say no' so they can halt all progress3.

Each of these ads costs $3,000 to $4,000. We put these out quickly, but to win this we need to keep up the pressure. Please pitch in so we can do more:

Chip in $40 now so we can keep up the pressure to pass a budget that invests in our priorities?

-Drew

Drew Hudson
TrueMajority / USAction

And my response (which bounced, of course):

F*** the budget. We'd be better off if the government just went out of business. Tax someone else, you knobs.

Throw (virtual) tomatoes at AIG!

Here's what I received today:

Dear MoveOn member,

Y'know, the AIG million-dollar bonuses being paid out with our taxpayer money got me mad enough to, well, throw something.
So MoveOn member Kris Khoury helped us whip up a game that does just that!

It's called "The Great AIG Tomato Toss," and it's oddly addictive. We should stop throwing money at the people who ruined our economy—and start throwing (virtual) tomatoes. Play it here:

http://moveon.org/tomato/?id=15777-5497524-1TOgyCx&t=4

It's a fun game, but it's got a serious purpose: to get the outrageous AIG bonus money back. When you play the game, you can also sign our petition to demand the return of the bonus money. The more people who play the game, the more signatures we'll be able to deliver to congress. 300,000 of us have signed already, and we're shooting for 400,000.

So check out the game, pass it on, and then sign the petition if you haven't already. Together, we're going to get some justice from the people who played a role in creating this whole financial crisis in the first place—even if it that call for justice starts with a single, juicy, digital tomato.

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Marika, Patrick S., Peter and the rest of the team

And my (bounced back) response:

Why not throw tomatoes at Obama, Pelosi, and all the others who gave them the bailout in the first place???