NYC Letter: Plouffe-plouf

Day 368 of CHOPE

plouf-plouf = (Fr., "splash-splash") a method of choosing by elimination used by children; eeny-minny-miney-moe.

Democrats up for re-election in November must decide what Democrat accomplishments to brag on in their campaigns. Fiscal responsibility? The economy? Taxes? The stimulus? Employment? Transparency? Homeland security? The war on terror? Global warming? What will best help return them to office?

Enter Democrat strategist David Plouffe. Eeny-minny-miney-moe -- it's Obamacare! The only catch, Democrats must slit their throats and pass it!

PLOUFFE: DEMS NEED TO PASS HEALTH CARE REFORM;
HOUSE PASSING SENATE BILL A “SOUND OPTION”

January 20, 2010 (ABC News) - This morning [Jake Tapper] spoke with David Plouffe, the campaign manager for then-Sen. Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, who said giving up on health care reform legislation would be a victory for the insurance companies and a disaster for Democrats.

... Plouffe said "the health care plan has become a caricature. And if we walk away from it now everyone who supported it is going to have all of the downside and none of the upside." Not passing health care reform legislation would be "the worst thing we can do as a Democratic party."

... As to what strategy Democrats should pursue in a Senate with only 59 Democratic votes, Plouffe said "the bill that was passed out of the Senate accomplishes a lot of the president’s priorities or all of them: Lowering costs, ending insurance company abuses, providing coverage in a way that’s going to strengthen our country for the long term."

Asked about plans to have House Democrats pass the Senate bill, Plouffe said, "to me, it would probably be the, you know, a sound option because I think we cannot wait in this country." Mr. Plouffe:

We were given control of the House and Senate in 2006, we won the White House in 2008, we have to deliver, we have to lead, and if we don’t I think people will rightfully question you know how well this has really turned out. So we have to really lead on this and have the courage to do so. And I think if we do that in the years to come, the country will be better off in the years to come but I think also politically we’ll be better off.

Apparently Mr. Plouffe has only just arrived on the planet earth.

61% SAY IT’S TIME FOR CONGRESS
TO DROP HEALTH CARE

January 22, 2010 (Rasmussen) - Sixty-one percent (61%) of U.S. voters say Congress should drop health care reform and focus on more immediate ways to improve the economy and create jobs.

... Fifty-nine percent (59%) say given the country’s current economic situation, the Obama administration should wait on health care reform until the economy improves. That’s a 10-point increase from March of last year. Thirty-three percent (33%) still say the White House should move forward with health care reform.

Seventy percent (70%) of voters nationwide say the health care issue was important in the special Senate election in Massachusetts. That number includes 49% who say it was very important. Only 15% think the health care issue was not very or not at all important in the Tuesday election.

47% GIVE OBAMA POOR MARKS
FOR HANDLING OF HEALTH CARE

January 20, 2010 (Rasmussen) - Forty-seven percent (47%) of U.S. voters rate President Obama’s handling of the health care issue as poor, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Only 32% say the president has done a good or excellent job on the issue that has increasingly come to dominate the national political debate as the plan proposed by Obama and congressional Democrats struggles through Congress.

... In the Republican upset victory in the Massachusetts special Senate election Tuesday, 56% of Bay State voters named health care as the most important issue.

POLL: 67 PERCENT OF AMERICANS OPPOSE
FUNDING ABORTION IN HEALTH CARE BILL

WASHINGTON January 14, 2010 (LifeNews.com) - A new Quinnipiac University poll finds 67 percent of Americans oppose funding abortions with government funds under the government-run health care bill pending in Congress. ... Even those who said they favor keeping all or most abortions legal opposed abortion funding by a 49-45 percentage point margin.

The results run similar to the December 22 Quinnipiac poll, which found Americans opposed abortion funding at a 72-23 percentage point clip.

This is the latest of several recent polls all showing a majority of Americans oppose tax-funded abortions.

A November survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found 55% majority of Americans say that abortion should not be included as a guaranteed medical benefit if the government health care reform plan passes.

That follows a CNN pollshowing 61 percent of Americans saying abortion funding should not be included.

Conducted by International Communications Research from September 16-20, another poll showed 67 percent of those surveyed opposed requiring people to pay for abortion coverage through their taxes.

Absent from the House bill, the Senate bill provides federal funding for an abortion benefit. A sure winner! [Pause.] We can only hope Mr. Plouffe will play a big role in shaping the Democrat strategy for November. [The heavens open. Celestial music. A headline appears.]

PLOUFFE TO PLAY EXPANDED ADVISORY ROLE FOR OBAMA

WASHINGTON January 23, 2010 (NYT/AP) - David Plouffe, who led Barack Obama's winning campaign for the White House, will play a larger role in advising the president as reeling Democrats try to rally in this important election year.

Plouffe's primary job on behalf of the White House will be to devise, coordinate and analyze strategies for the House, Senate and governor's races in November, according to an administration official.

Go to it, Mr. Plouffe! Buck up those cowering Democrats. Set them to quarreling over passage of the Senate bill. Keep them quarreling the rest of the year!

CHOPE.

Junkcare. Pass it. Brag on it. Exeunt.

Posted by Damian at January 23, 2010 11:45 PM