Brooklyn Mutt

“I think she could win. She wouldn’t be my first choice if I were a Republican but I think she could win.”

“Some of them [at Fox News] are racist, and some of them aren’t.

Because what they’re doing is race-baiting. Basically, they, they have had a narrative going on for quite some time, I think the most famous kickoff was Glenn Beck saying that Barack Obama hated white people, what they’re doing is appealing to people’s basest instincts, racial hatred. Racial hatred is something that’s, that’s something, it’s endemic in the country, but we’ve really gone way past it now. We’ve made huge progress, but there are still a fringe of people who are, who have great fears about race. And what they’re doing is feeding those fears.”

“…to see the Republicans up there carrying on the way they are, I basically concluded that maybe we should just pass this thing. … If the Republicans hate it, there must be some good in it.””

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“Those in our own party who would scuttle this bill because of what it doesn’t do seem not to appreciate the magnitude of what it has the potential to accomplish…But if the bill dies this week, there is no second chance to vote yes.”

“While it does not contain every measure President Obama and I wanted, I would vote yes for this bill certain that it includes the fundamental, essential change that opponents of reform have resisted for generations.”

“Today, finally, after months of carefully massaged messages from the White House, we’re finally seeing the president lay it all on the table. It’s about time. The “now or never” message, which has been true for months, is long overdue, and it’s an enormously effective motivator. But did Obama leave it too late for this pitch? He’s being quickly undercut from an unlikely quarter. Former Governor Howard Dean, a popular figure with progressives—and one with credibility on this issue—told Vermont Public Radio this afternoon that if the Medicare buy-in is removed, then Democrats should ditch Reid’s bill. “This is essentially the collapse of health-care reform in the United States Senate,” Dean said. “Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”

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“The criteria that I use to evaluate the various proposals is; ‘Is it reform?’ And this is reform.”

As for criticism from the left, Dean called the deal “incrementalism in the right direction,” adding, “There will be people disappointed with it. There are parts that I’m disappointed with. But this is real and a big step forward.”

Dean is not, however, without concern. He’s heard, for example, that those eligible for the Medicare buy-in won’t receive subsidies. If that’s true — I haven’t seen this reported elsewhere — it would be a real problem.

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“I think that [Lieberman] is a very complicated guy,” said Dean. “He does [confuse me] because he says he’s a principled guy but there’s nothing principled about holding up a bill… If he was a principled guy he’d resign his chairmanship.”

“If you are with a caucus you don’t owe the leader any vote on any substance,” Dean added. “I have no problem with him voting against the public option… You owe it to Harry Reid to allow him to run the Senate. And if you’re not willing to do that the proper thing to do is to step aside.”