Madfloridian's Journal - Dean says maybe "catastrophic problem for the Democratic Party if they can’t get this bill out."

Finally by digging around on the internet I found some more stuff about yesterday's health care rally which was attended by about 10,000 people from around the country. It could not be covered by media because of Mark Sanford and Michael Jackson. There just was not enough time to fit such an event into the media's day.

Here is a write-up from The Hill:

Unions demand public plan in healthcare bill

The rally comes amid growing doubts over whether a public plan will be included in legislation. Though House Democrats included a public plan option in their bill, prospects in a key committee appear close to nil. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) issued a statement Thursday touting progress on a bipartisan deal. With Republicans united against the public option, that bodes poorly for liberal interests.

Yes, even though we won the election in a big way...we don't want to hurt the feelings of the Republicans.

Durbin asked people not to be too demanding about absolutes, and Dean continued to speak strongly.

“It’s too early, and I’m begging all of my colleagues, if you feel as strongly as I do about some of these issues, withhold that absolute statement that ‘I cannot vote for a bill that doesn’t include X or does include X,’ ” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

The star of the show Thursday was Dean, the former Vermont governor, who took the stage to raucous cheers. Dean fired a shot across the bow to Democratic lawmakers not committed to including the public option as part of healthcare reform.

“We are here; we’re not going away. We voted for change a few months ago. We expect change. And if we don’t get it, there’s going to be more change,” said Dean.

Success on healthcare reform is a must for Democrats, Dean told The Hill. “I think it’s going to be a catastrophic problem for the Democratic Party if they can’t get this bill out.”

The AFL-CIO blog has more on the event.

Health care rally and meetings

Yesterday, members of Congress met in town hall sessions with constituents who were on Capitol Hill to rally and demand health care reform. Here are a few reports that came in after the meetings.

At the Health Care Providers Town Hall
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean got a zinger in at opponents who are claiming a public health care option plan would lead to “socialized medicine.”

You know who has socialized medicine in this country? Everyone over 65 and everybody in Congress.

Other quotes from Dean:

When doctors and nurses work together, things happen….

Right now, we have rationing in private health care….

The right wing is running around saying Massachusetts didn’t work. But they shouldn’t say that because the reason it didn’t work is because they didn’t put in a public plan.

From Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.):

This is the moment I’ve been waiting for my entire adult life….

We can solve this problem, and we can do it in the next few weeks….

The goal of this whole exercise is not to prop up the profits of the private health insurance industry…and we don’t have to apologize for that.

Here is a video clip from the rally with Sherrod Brown, Robert Menendez, Barbara Mikulski, and Howard Dean.

And of course there is as usual a
great diary by Slinkerwink at Daily Kos on the topic of the health care rally.