Rep. Anthony Weiner talks about AHIP managing to make the argument for the public option for us with their really stoopid report:

At the website Rep. Weiner mentions in the interview with Dr. Nancy, countdowntohealthcare.com, he is looking for a little help in noodging healthcare reform in the right direction:

A Message From Congressman Anthony Weiner 

Today
was another big day on the road to health care reform.  The Senate
Finance Committee approved Senator Max Baucus’s health care proposal,
bringing a reform bill one step closer to a full vote on the Senate
floor.

I’ve been pretty critical of this proposal in the past.  It doesn’t
include a public option, which is the only way to provide real
competition to big insurance companies and bring down costs so that all
Americans can choose quality, affordable health care.

But this is progress.  Even the insurance lobby isn’t happy that this bill is moving forward.  As I mentioned yesterday,
that’s probably as good a sign as any that we’re taking the right steps
towards a health care system that helps American families instead of
insurance company shareholders.

This slow march won’t be complete without a true public option.  It
may not be center stage today, but like a specter in a Shakespeare
play, it looms large.

Anthony

P.S. New York Magazine calls me the “loudest and noodgiest” supporter of the public option.

Help me “noodge” my colleagues and the White House in the right
direction.

Go here and tweet or Facebook the site to help Noodge the White House in the right direction for Rep. Weiner. :)

At the end of the blogger outreach on Saturday, September 26th, '09, I talked to Senator Dodd on the Kucinich Amendment Protecting States' Rights to move forward on Single Payer. Essentially, Dodd refers to Senator Bernie Sanders' efforts and Sanders legislation to deal with Erisa laws and allow Single Payer in States that want to start an SP system. Dodd makes no commitment to support it, but he will look at it. Sanders had previously introduced a partial fix to the system and it was rejected in the Senate HELP committee BUT if we can get him to reintroduce it, or even a stronger fix? One possibly more sympathetic and newly minted Chairperson may have the will to twist a few arms:

I have a tonne of video to sift through. This is the very first one that I am done editing, most of them are pretty long and there will be more from Dodd as well as some from Ned Lamont and Rosa Delauro.

Stay tuned... These events all took place on Saturday, September 26, '09.

So sayeth Senator Sanders and I think most of you will agree:

Bernie cosponsored
Russ Feingold’s bill to rescind the immunity given to
telecommunications firms that took part in a Bush-era spying program.
"We have got to do everything we can to protect the American people
from terrorist attacks, but we can do that and uphold the rule of law,"
Bernie said. To read more, click here.

U.S.  Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jon Tester (D-MT), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have combined efforts to introduce the legislation.

An exclusive interview with Senator Dodd on healthcare, single payer, the public option and a bit about Senator Jeff Merkley's recent statements. Sorry if it is just a wee bit shaky... I am just an amateur. Thanks to the Connecticut State Democratic Party for sneaking me into this event.

I still have a bit over an hour of video from the meeting in Hartford that I wrote about earlier to edit and process.