Matthews started badly enough, by being thorougly snarky and nasty to Dr. Howard Dean who he berated for what Matthews saw as demagoguery, because he didn't get his way. We have been treated to a batch of progressive senators speaking out against Dean, which made me wonder where was this acrimony when it came to Lieberman? Nelson? Bauchus? And Barack Obama?
Matthews has no clue how deep Dean's sentiment runs. He would learn with in an hour, as Keith Olbermann devoted a special comment to it.
Matthews brought on insurance company darling, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. She was the personification of a talking point and scolded Dean in her comments. Unfortunately, Landrieu tried to rewrite history by claiming that Obama never campaigned for a public option. Dean called her out on the blatant lie.
That part was bad enough, Matthews' lowest moment, and what showed his true agenda, occurred when he examined Obama's very bad poll numbers. The GOP had always been solidly against him, so there had to be another reason his numbers had dropped.
Matthews, clearly being clueless in the current politics of the Democratic party, actually had the audacity, and stupidity, to proclaim that Obama's numbers were so bad, because he is seen as too far to the left. He gets paid to deliver moronic assessments like that.
Thankfully, after about 5 minutes or so, Chris Todd finally said that Obama's plummeting numbers specifically got worse because of a defection from the left...his base.
Matthews response? Nothing.
Worth Waiting For
Markos Moulitsas, mobilized his website behind Dr. Dean's assessment. As did Firedog Lake, AmericaBlog and some other promninent sites. 2 major unions are considering the question as well.
And yet, after kissing Lieberman's ass, the White House and some key Democrats tried the politics of personal destruction on Howard Dean. They now know just how many of us he is speaking for.
You can hear Keith Olbermann's Special Comment (below) for yourself. It is well worth waiting for. He captures my sentiment exactly. Much blame is here to go around, but it all gets down to Barack Obama's lack of leadership. Now I am of the mind that, as Senator Russell Feingold said today, the president got the plan he wanted. I truly believe that as well. This is a great deal for the insurance companies and big pharma. It is not the way to get true health care reform.
If this bill contains a mandate, with no cost containment to prevent the 30 million new insureds from getting fleeced, it will be an unmitigated disaster. Some of the incremental gains can be stomached, but the way it stands now, as has been said by several influential pundits today, it turns into a huge bailout for insurance, and it threatens many with fines for refusing to get fleeced.
The mandate is immoral and must go.
Olbermann was courageous and even said he would refuse to buy insurance, if forced to.
But, listen for yourself. Olbermann gave every progressive a reason to be proud. I am sure it made Dr. Dean smile. If I were Obama, on the other hand, I would be livid. Good, let him stew. Maybe he'll eventually do the right thing.
I doubt it, but it ain't over til it's over.
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