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Ezra Klein

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voices.washingtonpost.com - 7/1/2009

Ezra Klein - Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Coalition of the Unwilling

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On the issue of the filibuster, Sanders nailed it. Senate Conserva-Dems, at the very least, should always vote for cloture (not just when they support a particular bill). Then like their fellow conservatives in the Republican party, they're more than welcome to vote against legislation when it ...

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Signs Of The End Times: David Brooks Making Sense
Firedoglake — ... Unfortunately, that ship has already sailed for the stimulus bill and the climate bill, but it's not too late for healthcare reform, where Harry Reid is fast running out of excuses.  As Bernie Sanders says, Harry should kick bipartisanship to the curb and insist that all sixty members of his caucus vote for cloture, even if they're unwilling to vote for the bill itself.  It would also be helpful if Obama would take a firm stand and publicly declare that he will veto any healthcare bill that doesn't include a strong public option - his unwillingness to do so is puzzling and more ...

A Public Health Care Option Would Save Consumers Money
The Moderate Voice — ... some sort of arena battle between various forms of insurance companies. It would be useful to know what Snowe fears would happen in a market dominated by the public plan. How much money does Snowe think they would save (as that, of course, is why they’re voluntarily choosing the public plan and its “price advantages”)? Would this harm innovation? By how much? Would this decrease access? By how much? Why does she think that? Why should consumers prefer her world over Bernie Sanders’s world? ...

Bernie Sanders Demands Democrats Commit To Stop Health Care Filibuster
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Sanders' advice, which he hinted at in a separate interview with the Washington Post's Ezra Klein, is to simply take the parliamentary hurdles out of the process. The Party wouldn't have to worry about whip counts and could, in the end, get a more favorable final product, he believes. ...

Senate Dems Compromise with Themselves to Weaken Public Health Plan
Firedoglake — ... pressure on private plans to reduce costs and clean up their anti-consumer acts is missing. Why is this happening? The Republicans' obstructionist conduct made them irrelvant and gave bipartisanship a bad name. That gave the Dems an open running field to solve the fundamental problems of a rogue industry and runaway costs. But instead the Dems have chosen to fumble the ball and kick it in the wrong direction. Who's coaching this team? Who did the recruiting? As Bernie Sanders told Ezra Klein, ...

How Lucky Are Those Damn Democrats?
DownWithTyranny! — ... On almost any bread and butter issue, if a Democratic member of Congress isn't on the same side as Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, you can feel safe to bet that he's earning his keep from his corporate financiers-- or in the cases of contemptible sleaze like ...

Hullabaloo — ... , and considering the statistical fact of 60 Democratic Senators, there is absolutely no reason to build the policy around bipartisan support in Washington, but bipartisan support in the COUNTRY. Not only will there be massive goodwill for enacting decent health care reform, but a massive political backlash if that reform is wanting or if conservative Democrats, who are the only ones that can stop the policy at this point, shut it down. Bernie Sanders has this absolutely right. ...

Sanders and the "Coalition of the Unwilling"
Daily Kos — Now this is an Independent. Sanders talks to Ezra. The Coalition of the Willing sounds a bit strange to me. You have a Democratic president and a Democratic majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate, and the coalition that is determining health-care policy are seven people, including four Republicans?... Max calls his group the Coalition of the Willing. We'll try and form a Coalition of the Unwilling. People prepared to stay strong for a strong public option. You know my view, which is that single payer is the way to go. But if we can't do ...