You Betrayed Kennedy's Memory by Capitulating to Lieberman and Lost MA
| 2008 Registration | Democrat | Republican | Other | Independent | Total |
| Massachusetts | 1,559,464 | 490,259 | 28,887 | 2,141,878 | 4,220,488 |
In his bill, Ted Kennedy kept faith with public option promise made on page 10 of the 2008 DNC Platform. When progressive activists allowed Lieberman to gut Kennedy's bill, the people who elected Kennedy to the Senate did not show up to support a Senate run by Joe Lieberman. The Massachusetts special election should have been a showcase for how Democrats were going to win in 2010. Imagine the message: we are the change we promised, even when it means publicly disciplining our own. We overcome filibusters and delivered on voter mandates like the Public Option, Cap and Trade, Wall Street reform, and more. Progressives all over the country, on fire with the validation of what we fought for in 2008, would have rallied to Kennedy's seat with money and volunteer hours. Republicans, having being defeated filibuster after filibuster, would be demoralized and would have no valid accusation against us other than delivering on what we promised. Instead, we lost to a conservative that was able to crucify a Democratic candidate, because Senate Democrats betrayed Kennedy's memory by capitulating to Lieberman.
Moderate/Corporate Democrats were wrong in 1993 when they did the same thing to us with the Clinton health care initiative. The Massachusetts senate race went badly for Democrats for the same reason that 1994 left Democrats out of control of Congress until 2006. If progressive activists fail to learn the importance of publicly disciplining renegade democrats, 2010 will be another 1994.
When Lieberman threatened to shut down your government in February if the public option was included, what did you do to make sure that no Democrat ever threatened their own party for doing nothing more than delivering on the promises we made to the voters? When someone threatens you, do you get on your knees and beg them to please change their mind? What would possess you then to think that polite calls or letters would have any effect on the kind of Senators that would threaten their own party with a filibuster for doing nothing more than keeping the promises they were elected on?
The moment that Lieberman threatened a filibuster in February, you should have immediately raised money for attack ads against him. You should have organized letters to the editor campaigns all over the country calling for a progressive challenger in Connecticut and for progressives to organize around that candidate. Lieberman was the guy who helped reelect Bush in 2004. How could progressive activists let him get away with threatening us like this? (see PCCC, DFA, FDL, MoveOn for examples of how public discipline of corporate Democrats took us from 37 Democrats in support of the public option to 51)
Before any of the "Democrats are just like Republicans" nonsense begins; remember that Obama risked and lost his 60%+ popularity fighting for the Public Option. This is also not Speaker Polousi's fault; she passed the public option in the House. If you are looking for someone to blame ask yourself: did I use every means at my disposal to castigate Lieberman and other Corporate Senate Democrats for betraying us? Well, now we have a small scale repeat of 1994 in the Massachusetts Senate race, because you failed to act. What is really astounding is that after groveling at Lieberman's feet, after he kicked you in the face for it, after loosing Ted Kennedy's seat, so many of you will go right back to begging.
All the influence and authority you have as a progressive activist is not given to you to stay within your comfort zone. It is certainly not given to you to protect powerful Democrats who betray their party. All the power and influence given to you by Democrats is with you to pass the platform we promised the voters. It is a sacred trust and in the case of health care reform, every year the lives of the 40,000 are at stake.
Massachusetts is the proof of what will happen in 2010, if progressive activists fail to publicly discipline rogue Democrats. In war everyone knows what happens if a soldier turns his gun on his comrades because he does not want to engage the enemy. First you explain the mission, then you threaten him with execution for treason by drawing your own weapon, and finally you execute him for treason. Politics is war and traitors who threaten to shut down your government with a filibuster for following the plan or Party Platform must be treated as if they pulled a weapon on their own comrades.
In Massachusetts you have proof of what would have happened to Obama if mid campaign had switched to Hillary Clinton's pro-industry approach to health care reform, out of fear of loosing moderates. You have proof of what will happen in 2010, if Democrats fail to deliver on Party platform promises like the Public Option. You will lose power and you will deserve it. Massachusetts proves that progressives will not fight for cowards! 2008 proves that progressives can easily overcome a filibuster, if we fight for issues like we fought for candidates. Being an elected Democrat only gives you a chance to fight with us; but you are nothing more than the opposition, if you threaten us with a filibuster.
Ted Kennedy did not compromise the public option or women's choice in his bill. If every progressive leader uses all their influence we can still get a public option and women's choice out of the health care reconciliation process. It begins with you writing a letter to the editor with your support of this and of overcoming the filibuster. This must be followed by calls and emails to your entire circle of influence to do the same. Finally, you must build the whip/discipline process into every other issue campaign you ever run.
The founders never intended for a filibuster of 40 Senators to serve as a check and balance in the government. The two chamber reconciliation process, the presidential veto, the Judicial Branch, and elections serve that purpose. You never had 60 votes anyway with a traitor like Lieberman. I'm glad that the loss of Kennedy's seat makes it obvious to everyone that Democratic Party activists must always be pushing to overcome a filibuster. You won the presidency and a supermajority in Congress, so how can you have possibly been duped into thinking that you cannot overcome a filibuster by Corporate Democrats!?! Maybe now you will get off your knees and deal with people who threaten you with a filibuster as you should have all along.
