Just in time to ruin your Christmas: Delaware Dem returns
Thank God for my wonderful compadres here at Delaware Liberal. They have all been picking up the slack over the last two (or Jesus, has it been three?) hiatus, and doing a fantastic job too. It was a definitely unplanned break resulting from a perfect storm of end of the year real world work frenzy, holiday parties, sickness, and writer’s block. Everytime I found time to write here again, something else came up, like this weekend, when a Blizzard hit. Speaking of the blizzard, here is a cool shot of our mid-Atlantic region covered in snow:
My writer’s block was not helped by seeing good friends in the liberal blogosphere fighting with one another over the healthcare bill. As you know, I have always been a pragmatic liberal rather than a purist activist, but it was jarring to see a fellow pragmatist like Markos become a champion of “Kill the Bill” after the Lieberman betrayal. It made me reassess a few things, but also left me really with nothing to say, kinda like a family member not involved in a fight between two other family members still wants to hide that fight from prying eyes. In the end, the debate was informative, sincere over policy if not over tactics, and I am going to have plenty to say about it over the next few hours as we begin our holiday vacations with our family and friends.
As my Christmas gift to my compadres, I am relieving them for the duration of the Christmas week, as a thank you gift for being there when I wasn’t. Of course, if they just want to write they can, I can never stop them. 😉
Here is something I found funny:
Welcome back, DD! I missed you, I would really like to hear your take on the whole Senate bill and the split in the netroots over it.
Good to hear from you DelDem!
I too feel a bit lost over the Markos/Dean-kill-the-bill response. I am disagreeing with two of my heroes. Not that I love the Bill. But, it has a few merits and that’s about all we could expect from the first pass.
The process has been fascinating and it certainly has put the focus on the US Senate and how the Republicans there are holding our government hostage. Certainly, they’ve been helped by the conserva-Dems, but it is the solid-block of Republicans that has enabled Lieberman and others like him. And, oh my, how they have enjoyed the spotlight.
Glad you’re back, DD. I, too, am interested in your take on HCR. As a fellow pragmatist, I’ve found the tone of the debate disheartening. And I was shocked to discover that those of us who didn’t support killing the bill were now shills for the insurance companies and Lieberman lovers and “so called progressives.”
What really concerns me is that those who want to kill the bill have drawn a line so firm that I wonder if any compromise is possible – because this fight seems to extend far beyond health care, and there’s far too much purging going on for my peace of mind.
Now, I’m not in love with the bill, but I’m trying to leave myself some wiggle room, and maybe that does make me a sell out. But the absolute certainty of the other side worries me more. Where does FDL (and others) go if they don’t win this battle? – one of many battles ahead, I might point out. This debate has crossed the policy line and become personal. A huge mistake, imo.
Working on my HCR post right now, plus a 2010 one…..