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News & ArtsFriday, October 2, 2009
Health The Tenacity Of A Mongoose?
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 10:30 AM
- Mister-E via Creative Commons
I'm not even sure what that means, but Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Montana) is saying that Maria Cantwell showed it yesterday in winning approval for her most recent amendment to his health insurance reform bill:
Baucus endorsed the amendment and said Cantwell has exhibited "mongoose tenacity" in trying to find ways to lower costs for consumers—Cantwell says her program could cut premiums for... low-income Americans by 35%.
I imagine Slog readers have other animal kingdom analogies for the behavior of Washington's junior senator during the health insurance reform debates. Tell it to the comments and then we'll vote on the proper Maria Cantwell spirit animal sometime in the near future.
1
Spirit of a Gosling - we here see her in her imperfections, but around the nation, people are seeing her actions as leading the vanguard for keeping the public option alive.
Sometimes people on seeing a swan, remember only the ugly duckling it used to be when they raised it.
Sometimes people on seeing a swan, remember only the ugly duckling it used to be when they raised it.
2
Look, that amendment is great, but had she been out in public leading things for nine months in coordination with an Obama leading things and actually trying to get the votes of Lincoln Baucus Conrad etc. on the public option, with the elementary carrot and stick strategy coupled with a grass roots mobilization of the Obamatrons all over Montana, Arkansas SD Louisiana Maine etc.,
we'd have the fucking public option.
So being a tenacious mongoose acting alone is like a C+.
Being a lion leading a pride of lions and all the other animals in the animal kingdom -- priceless.
we'd have the fucking public option.
So being a tenacious mongoose acting alone is like a C+.
Being a lion leading a pride of lions and all the other animals in the animal kingdom -- priceless.
3
I kind of like the mongoose thing. Seeing as how mongooses (mongeese?) use their tenacity to hunt out and destroy snakes. The parallels of the metaphor are nice.
4
As a broader metaphor for the Democratic majority, i offer the fainting goat:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_go…
Locks up and freezes when it perceives any potential threat. A more comical version of the opossum's defense tactic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABoUWa_a4…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_go…
Locks up and freezes when it perceives any potential threat. A more comical version of the opossum's defense tactic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABoUWa_a4…
5
Have to say, having voted for her reluctantly, I'm proud of how tenacious she's proven to be as a junior member of this committee. The U.S. Senate is by design a corrupt and ineffective institution, and taking a stand opposed by more senior members of your committee is actually putting your neck out there against future reprisal. Hoping Cantwell has a long career there where she's able to gain more seniority.
@2 - Do you even live in this country? Baucus, Conrad, Lincoln, Carper, and Nelson are all supposed to be Democrats. Remember, Montana, Arkansas, SD, and Louisiana are not states that Obama won - they're not states where he exactly has a whole lot of leverage, and in fact, they're states where "Democrat" apparently means something completely different than what it means out here. Turn your short-term outrage at Obama et al. into long-term outrage at the undemocratic nature of the U.S. Senate, please. The 25 most liberal Senators already represent 51% of the U.S. population. We wouldn't be in this mess if we had proportional representation, but instead, we have to grovel to self-important rural shits out in the sticks.
@2 - Do you even live in this country? Baucus, Conrad, Lincoln, Carper, and Nelson are all supposed to be Democrats. Remember, Montana, Arkansas, SD, and Louisiana are not states that Obama won - they're not states where he exactly has a whole lot of leverage, and in fact, they're states where "Democrat" apparently means something completely different than what it means out here. Turn your short-term outrage at Obama et al. into long-term outrage at the undemocratic nature of the U.S. Senate, please. The 25 most liberal Senators already represent 51% of the U.S. population. We wouldn't be in this mess if we had proportional representation, but instead, we have to grovel to self-important rural shits out in the sticks.
8
DavidG
1. We are not going to change the makeup of the senate or delete it in the us constitution so stop suggesting that's feasible. You have no plan to do it. There is no plan. There's no way to do it even the constitution prohibits an amendment to the consitution diluting the power of the small states. We are stuck with it and it fucking sucks. So given that we are stuck with it and there is no possibility of the long range plan you suggest, we must adopt strategy and tactics to that reality we live in and are stuck with.
3. Those states are the votes we need to win public option. I gave a specific strategy that was not even pursued. You would write off the red necky white working class voters in those states but the fact is until we get them on our side we are not going to have public option because it's in the re-election political self interest of Lincoln Baucus Snowe Conrad et al. to vote against the public option.
4. Instead of us bemoaning our fate one should figure out how to get those senators or those voters in those states on our side.
Obama did not even TRY to use carrots or sticks and did not even TRY to build up grass roots organizations in those states to be ready to primary those democrats who are not sufficiently democratic or to be able to tell them, look, vote for public option and yes you will keep your seat, I will help you, look my e mail list of 40,000 in Maine is now up to 200,000.
5. Your attitude is defeatist, when you have a better plan let us know.
5. Thanks for the input. But I don't think it's more likely I can get Arkansas people to vote to de-empower their state in the us senate more easily than i or we can get them to realize socialism in health care is in their own self interest. The problem is the Democrats and Obama have not even tried to do so!
The commenter who noted the fainting goat is correct. It's the fainting donkey syndrome. In fact I am so sick of the whole democratic party at this point I would suggest they get rid of the donkey motif. The donkey runs away from the elephant and hangs out in Seattle and Manhattan and LA and SF moaning about "self impoertant rural shits out in the sticks" well fuck that pity party I ain't giving the donkey a pass there's about 30 nations whose social democrats figured out how to fucking pass national health care and our democratic party hasn't and isn't and it's called failure and when you buy into it you're part of the problem.
More...
1. We are not going to change the makeup of the senate or delete it in the us constitution so stop suggesting that's feasible. You have no plan to do it. There is no plan. There's no way to do it even the constitution prohibits an amendment to the consitution diluting the power of the small states. We are stuck with it and it fucking sucks. So given that we are stuck with it and there is no possibility of the long range plan you suggest, we must adopt strategy and tactics to that reality we live in and are stuck with.
3. Those states are the votes we need to win public option. I gave a specific strategy that was not even pursued. You would write off the red necky white working class voters in those states but the fact is until we get them on our side we are not going to have public option because it's in the re-election political self interest of Lincoln Baucus Snowe Conrad et al. to vote against the public option.
4. Instead of us bemoaning our fate one should figure out how to get those senators or those voters in those states on our side.
Obama did not even TRY to use carrots or sticks and did not even TRY to build up grass roots organizations in those states to be ready to primary those democrats who are not sufficiently democratic or to be able to tell them, look, vote for public option and yes you will keep your seat, I will help you, look my e mail list of 40,000 in Maine is now up to 200,000.
5. Your attitude is defeatist, when you have a better plan let us know.
5. Thanks for the input. But I don't think it's more likely I can get Arkansas people to vote to de-empower their state in the us senate more easily than i or we can get them to realize socialism in health care is in their own self interest. The problem is the Democrats and Obama have not even tried to do so!
The commenter who noted the fainting goat is correct. It's the fainting donkey syndrome. In fact I am so sick of the whole democratic party at this point I would suggest they get rid of the donkey motif. The donkey runs away from the elephant and hangs out in Seattle and Manhattan and LA and SF moaning about "self impoertant rural shits out in the sticks" well fuck that pity party I ain't giving the donkey a pass there's about 30 nations whose social democrats figured out how to fucking pass national health care and our democratic party hasn't and isn't and it's called failure and when you buy into it you're part of the problem.
9
@6
we can't change teh senate but using carrots and sticks and mobilizing the democrats we do have in lousiana mt sd etc. Obama and democrats could be trying to get public option instead of giving up on it. the rural shits you talk of are needed on our side, sitting in Seattle whining about how they have not joined our coalition is not effective, it is self aggrandizing to no purpose. our democratic leaders are in charge of getting the fucking votes. 30 social democrats or labor parties in 30 other nations succeeded in getting national health care, yet we fail, and we're not even trying and many of us like you seem to think it's okay to sit and whine instead of coming up with a real world strategy to get the votes and get it done.
the fainting goat analogy is correct; the democrats are a fainting donkey.
not even trying to get the votes or make the case or twist the arms in the red necky states.
there is zero chance those states will agree to reduce their power in the us senate and btw there is a clause in the us constitution saying we can't change that anyway, so in the end your position is 100% defeatism, nonhope, nonchange, fail.
hardly like a mongoose. a mongoose kills snakes, it does not sit down at the table and bargain with them.
we can't change teh senate but using carrots and sticks and mobilizing the democrats we do have in lousiana mt sd etc. Obama and democrats could be trying to get public option instead of giving up on it. the rural shits you talk of are needed on our side, sitting in Seattle whining about how they have not joined our coalition is not effective, it is self aggrandizing to no purpose. our democratic leaders are in charge of getting the fucking votes. 30 social democrats or labor parties in 30 other nations succeeded in getting national health care, yet we fail, and we're not even trying and many of us like you seem to think it's okay to sit and whine instead of coming up with a real world strategy to get the votes and get it done.
the fainting goat analogy is correct; the democrats are a fainting donkey.
not even trying to get the votes or make the case or twist the arms in the red necky states.
there is zero chance those states will agree to reduce their power in the us senate and btw there is a clause in the us constitution saying we can't change that anyway, so in the end your position is 100% defeatism, nonhope, nonchange, fail.
hardly like a mongoose. a mongoose kills snakes, it does not sit down at the table and bargain with them.
12
@9 - We fail where those 30 countries have succeeded because of the U.S. Senate. Nobody else in any other democracy has that big a hurdle to surmount.
14
@3: I thought I understood the reference because I'm originally from MT, or because I retain inane factoids like what mongoose(s?) are known for. I guess I'm not the only one. I feel less special...
17
@14 I guess I thought it was sort of doubly ironic, because I would definitely count Baucus as one of the snakes.
P.S. the only reason why I know about the mongoose-snake thing is the Rikki-Tikki-Tavi story in The Jungle Book.
P.S. the only reason why I know about the mongoose-snake thing is the Rikki-Tikki-Tavi story in The Jungle Book.
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