Fuck Rahm Emanuel! (aka Karl Rove) Mobilize Yourself

by: Paul Rosenberg

Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 19:30


So Rahm Emanuel thinks he's Karl Rove:

Rahm Slammed Dems Attacking Other Dems As "F-king Stupid," Sources Say

The Politico's Jonathan Martin reported this morning that Rahm Emanuel warned leaders of liberal groups in a private meeting this week that it was time to stop running ads attacking Blue Dog and "centrist" Dems on health care.

I'm told, however, that Emanuel went quite a bit further than this.

Sources at the meeting tell me that Emanuel really teed off on the Dem-versus-Dem attacks, calling them "f-king stupid." This was a direct attack on some of the attendees in the room, who are running ads against Dems right now.

Tellingly, Rahm raised the specter of a loss on health care, sources at the meeting say - which suggests that the White House may be less certain about victory than officials allow publicly.

"He started out with, `We're 13 and 0 going into health care,'" one source at the meeting said, meaning that Rahm was touting the White House's string of pre-health care legislative victories.

So pass a GOP-friendly bill with no GOP support and call it a victory?  Well Rahm's right about one thing: He is Karl Rove.

Fuck him.  The President works for the people. Not the other way around.  Not even a public option?  No pass. Let the fucking Republicans give us fucking Republican legislation.

Firedoglake has new tools for self-mobilizing at town halls:

Paul Rosenberg :: Fuck Rahm Emanuel! (aka Karl Rove) Mobilize Yourself
Dday wrote early in the week:

Actually, I'd make it simpler than that, as Kevin Drum did - why does health insurance exist? They are nothing more than middlemen who in theory smooth the payments for your health care over time so that you're not hit with a big bill when you need treatment. But that's not how it works in practice. So really what they have become is a middleman, taking a 30% profit off the top for the service of moving your money to your doctor.

In fact, with Obama's mandates to fork over your money to them, they will become exactly the same kind of state-sanctioned rentier capitalists that the American Revolution was fought in response to.

The British East India Company is having the last laugh, after all.

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Fuck Rahm Emanuel! (aka Karl Rove) Mobilize Yourself | 52 comments
agreed with all of this... (4.00 / 1)
you know, it seems really revealing to me that the right-wingers at these town halls are not pissed about mandates.  clearly, they are receiving their talking points from the health insurance industry, by way of a couple intermediaries.  

my worry though is that enough people are going to be upset about the mandates in 2014 or whenever they take effect, that we could see a bloodbath in the congressional elections.  maybe this is unfounded and the democrats in congress know something i don't, but their past behavior doesn't inspire confidence...  

now, if that anger were channeled by a mass movement for single payer... (4.00 / 2)

[ Parent ]
They Know That Corruptions Pays! (4.00 / 4)
maybe this is unfounded and the democrats in congress know something i don't

Who needs re-election?  They can always get a cushy lobbyist job.  Each one dreams that he or she could be the next Billy Tauzin.

The only reason in the world to pass mandates is to make a public option viable.  What they're doing now is both suicidal and nonsensical.

Who else would do such a thing but the national Democratic Party?

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
I have been saying similar things - (4.00 / 1)
If the Democrats pass the bill with individual mandates without a medicare-like public option ... the American people will begin to throw them out of office ASAP.  There will be no way they can spin there way out of this legislative debacle.  
[ Parent ]
But since nothing happens until 2013 (4.00 / 3)
they make it through 2012 (is there a connection?) and 2010.
[ Parent ]
another problem with rahm is (4.00 / 2)
the whole politics of polarizing people and dividing radicals and progressives is destructive to the hopes of both - in the long run.  in this case that would be people who want single payer health care and people who are content with a market based system with a public component to it (public option).  

only someone who didn't prioritise holding on to power more than either strand could say something as divisive as what he did.  yes, the democratic big tent is a tenuous thing and it means sucking it up frequently, but he's doing exactly the opposite of that - if you want to support centrist policies, then expect to get criticised - including in public if we feel like - from people to the left of you.  that's how it works.

and if you don't like the big tent, then start another party ;)

Rahm's Just A Symptom Of What's Wrong With The Party (4.00 / 19)
A healthy political party wouldn't let a putz like him within 30 miles of real power.

You keep a diverse party together by giving everyone something important that they want, and asking them to sacrifice something less vital.  You don't ask all the sacrifices to come from the same people all the time, and you damn sure don't yell obscenities at them when they push back.

This is true regardless of the fact that the folks you're favoring are the least fucking loyal party members, and the ones you're screwing are the most loyal.  You're supposed to do it the other way around--another symptom of how failed the Democrats are.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
I lay this on Obama (4.00 / 10)

  Obama's for a public option. (Or says he is.)

  The blue dogs are against it.

  The progressives are for it.

  So Obama sends Rahm to dump on... the progressives.

  It's going to be a long four years.  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

[ Parent ]
Agreed (4.00 / 2)
And I am beginning to see this push for reform as just another scam. It may have always been understood by the insiders like Rahm that the Democrats would settle for faux-reform. His job is to back down the real reform movement.

No one is even talking about single-payer. Check! The public option must be traded for no pre-existing conditions. Check! The rest will suffice for claims of victory. Meanwhile the pharmaceuticals only need to run a cheesy and ambiguous ad about "no politics" to keep their choke-hold on the American people.

[ Parent ]
Here's What I Don't Get... (4.00 / 2)
Say we get the worst case scenario Rahm appears to want: health care status quo with an individual and employer mandate. How does that not fail and leave millions pissed off? And if it fails, how does that not destroy Obama and Rahm's historical reputation 10, 20, 30 years from now?

It makes no sense.

It's also why progressives need to do exactly what Rahm tells us not to do: loudly call out the corporate Dems and Republicans while promoting candidates who stick up for the middle class. If the worst happens, it most likely be a political choice between true fascism (raw corporate political power) and progressives. If we listen to Rahm, there probably will be no choice if everything fails with health care and the economy. We will have to pray our political elites will be democratic, more like George Wahington than George W. Bush and Dick Cheney (and Obama, for that matter, on national security). That's a slim reed.

That said, I still don't the logic of status quo plus mandates. Perhaps I have missed something?

[ Parent ]
It Makes No Sense (4.00 / 2)
That said, I still don't the logic of status quo plus mandates. Perhaps I have missed something?

It make$ lot$ of dollar$.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Make an ad targeting Mr. Emanuel (4.00 / 8)
For being a mole for the Banksters and Insurance companies.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."
Obama appointed Rahm (4.00 / 6)

Rahm Emanuel is an odious, filthy whore who would sell his children to a slave trader if there was any money in it for him.

But it was Barack Obama who put him where he is.

Barack Obama is not, and has never been, interested in health-care reform. Or any other reform of anything, really.

He's become everything I feared Hillary would be. And Hillary didn't pretend to be a change agent.

 

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

since when was this phrase acceptable on (4.00 / 3)
a progressive website's comment thread?

an odious, filthy whore

[ Parent ]
Well (4.00 / 3)
Given the existence of the legendary Media Whores Online...  I'd be inclined to say, "Since the creation."

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3
[ Parent ]
Hillary was always (4.00 / 1)
more committed to health care reform than he was.
[ Parent ]
It was Hillary who pushed for individual mandates (0.00 / 0)
All during the primary there was all this talk of how Hillary was to the left of Obama on health care because Obama didn't actually deliver "universal care" the way Hillary did.  And that was all due to the individual mandate Hillary promoted and Obama fought against.

Today, however, many of the same people promoting Hillary's health care plan would have us believe that Obama supporting an individual mandate was a shift to the right.  To those that hold those contradictory opinions, I roll my eyes in your general direction.

You would think that at least someone would attack Obama for caving in on individual mandates, but that hasn't happened, either.  It is all very strange.

[ Parent ]
Blah... (0.00 / 0)
She would have sold out the public option in a heartbeat if it meant getting a bill through... she pretty much said as much... she stated that she'd be willing to compromise on any issue... well, guess what?  That's the only issue that is a "stumbling block"... it would have been gone in a heartbeat!

Baucuscare is very similar to what she was proposing in her campaign... very few differences at all... I don't see how we would have been better off...


REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

[ Parent ]
let's be honest with ourselves. (4.00 / 2)
hillary would not have done anything substantially different than obama.  their ideologies seem to be not that far apart.  they may be a little more or less conservative or liberal than each other on various issues, but fundamentally they are on the same page.

the only democrat who would have done us justice on health care was kucinich. a president sanders or mckinney would deliver health care as well.

[ Parent ]
I also think Hillary would not be much different, (4.00 / 1)

[ Parent ]
Sorry, I pushed a wrong key there somewhere... (4.00 / 1)
What i meant to say was that I do not think there would be huge differences between Obama and Hillary, but during the election, you all said Hillary sucked because she was too beholden to the corporate powers that be, and that Obama was on a much higher plane and would be different.

Well, bullshit, he sucks in the exact area you all said Hillary did. He seems to be as much of a corporate whore as Bill ever was, maybe worse. I do not think it would be much different under Hillary, and I do not know what they have on him besides his family's lives, but this thing with a "behind the scenes" deal with of all lobbyist's Billy Tauzin the turncoat Dem turned Repuglican lizard money grubbing son of a bitch???

WTF???  They were both pre approved by corporate interests.

We do not get to vote for Kucinich, in fact, he was painted as a left wing kook. This is not a democracy anymore, our congress does not even get to write the bills, they are written with the lobbyists and Rahm in the White House. Is there even anything worth saving here??  

[ Parent ]
Then why didn't she stay in the Senate a push the issue? (0.00 / 0)


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."
[ Parent ]
Fuck 'em (4.00 / 9)
Remember, that's the new battle cry. Like "Nuts" during the Battle of the Bulge. I seem to recall a funny item on OpenLeft a month or two ago from a PA union guy saying that battle cry while talking about Arlen Specter.

In any event, Rahm's attitude ties neatly into your discussion this weekend about how neo-liberalism has failed. It's really Reagan-lite, compassionate conservatism as a layer over the same Republican ideal of corporations uber alles. It's why, as you noted Paul, Obama is not talking about jobs and rebuilding the middle class (New Deal liberalism) but instead talking about health care and other issues that serve to distract the base while benefiting corporations more.

We cannot recover economically without rebuilding the middle class at the expense of the corporations and the ultra wealthy who have benefited so much since Reagan. Rahm is a perfect example of what is wrong with Obama and the corporate Democrats. I'd be shocked if Obama, Rahm, Summers, Geithner, et al cared about the 99% of Americans who do not have it made as they do. If they did care, we'd see very different policies.

Finally, progressives need to get ahead of the health care train wreck by doing what they are doing, calling out Democrats who have sold out to corporations while promoting members of Congress who have not sold out. Just sayin.

wasn't Rahm the 1st appointment.? (4.00 / 5)
last year, after FISA, i said:  "oh shit, here we go."  and dropped any support i had been offering.

as soon as Rahm was appointed i realized the full scope of the Clintonian "3rd Way," bullshit that we would soon endure.

Nah (4.00 / 2)
Personally, I think it is important for someone to play the role of enforcer.  I know we tend to see things through the lens of left versus right, but I personally don't think Rahm cares much about policy at all.  I think most would tend to agree with me on that.  But once you agree, you can't really criticize him within the context of ideology.

Rahm's goal is "not to fail" based on what we all know is a fairly warped view of success and failure.  I think he is simple responding to the power structure he knows and understands.  It is important to understand he isn't attacking the base and defending the Blue Dogs for ideological reasons, but because these pressure points tend work -- or at least he thinks so.

The real goal of the left is to retrain Rahm and others like him.  Make him understand that the power structure has changed and the base is larger and more demanding these days.  Make sure he realizes we actually have real power these days.

(Exactly how to do that without splitting the baby, I don't know.  I fully realize I have multiple goals that may be in conflict.  It is just a maze we have to navigate somehow.)

an enforcer would be nice (4.00 / 10)
But only a dumbass or whore would think it is progressives who need enforcing and not the Blue Dogs and Senate wankers who are tanking meaningful reform.

On twitter: @BobBrigham
[ Parent ]
Yeah.... (4.00 / 1)
I like that someone like Rahm is there to herd the cats... problem is, he's going after the wrong ones!!!

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
[ Parent ]
This Is Incredibly Naive, Mark (4.00 / 4)
Rahm comes from a wing of the party that's been fighting the left since at least the 60s, if not the 30s.

The only question is "how hard?" and "over what?"

If folks fail to learn from history, well, as Buffy would say, "doomed to repeat it in summerschool."

Hey, wait!  It's summer, now!

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Rahm's about the Revenge of the Faux Left Technocrats (4.00 / 2)
I know, am friends, went to school and worked with such types. They fake left, mostly on social issues, but run right when it's about their bottom line, which in the end is what they really care about. Not quite openly IM-moral, but more than a shade A-moral.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
Rahm (4.00 / 6)
can get away with this because he doesn't fear us. He doesn't fear us because we have shown ourselves to be risk adverse. Until we actually target an incumbent in a marginal or red state with a real chance of losing the state we will remain essentially powerless.
Rahm works for Obama (4.00 / 3)
Let's not delude ourselves that he's the problem.
And Who Does Obama Work For? n/t (4.00 / 2)


"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3
[ Parent ]
Apparently, Billy Tauzin, Lloyd Blankfein, Rick Scott, Mitch McConnell... (4.00 / 4)
And, if he's not careful, Mitt Romney in 3.5.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
Considering the flack OL took (4.00 / 4)
For objecting to Obama's appointments, can I say how bitter the taste of ashes are to have been proved right.  Either the appointees reveal Obama's general lack of progressivism in whatever sense or they are off the reservation and he's failing to rein them in, but either way it sucks and so do they.  

Rahm as CoS really did bug me much more even than Gates in Defense.  Too bad he isn't a lot more like Joshua Lyman, the character supposedly based on him.  

Josh Lyman Based On Rahm? (0.00 / 0)
Seldom has a failed adaptation been more fortuitous.

Now, if only we could work a little reverse-engineering mojo.

Damn, couldn't we find a way to end up with Felicity Huffman as CoS?  Put Tab "A" from Sportnight into Slot "B" from....

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Supposedly, he was (0.00 / 0)
And I suppose that Tobie Ziegler was based on David Axelrod.

Actually, that one works more for me than Josh/Rahm. Both were abrasive and arrogant, but Josh was a mensch. Rahm's just a suckup and schmuck.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

[ Parent ]
Will the real Obama please stand up? (0.00 / 0)
Fool?

   I.e. a true believer in working with the enemy.

Coward?

   I.e. too gutless to fight the enemy.

Sellout?

   I.e. in bed with the enemy.

Pragmatist?

   I.e. this is harder than we realize and this is as good as it gets, for now.

Eleventy-Dimensional Interplanerary Chess Grandmaster?

   I.e. he's outfoxed us all, GOP, progressives, centrists, Mr. Magoo...

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

You Lost Me With Mr. Magoo (0.00 / 0)
Mr. Magoo is a Super Eleventy-Dimensional Interplanerary Chess Grandmaster!

(The Grand Nagus in Star Trek DS9 is based on him!)

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
You just know Rahm has all the (4.00 / 1)
Rules of Acquisition totally memorized.  
[ Parent ]
Not So Sure About #35 (0.00 / 0)
"Peace is good for business"?

I think he keeps forgetting that one.


"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
Then he's clearly moved on to Twelveny-Dimensional Interplanerary Chess (4.00 / 1)
Take that, you blind old doddering fool!

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
Heh (4.00 / 2)
It doesn't surprise me at all that the two most one-issue, useless Republicans in Congress, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario, have no town halls or events whatsoever lined up. Then again, that has nothing to do with Cuba, so no importance there right? Neighboring Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen doesn't seem to be gearing up for anything either.

Ah, gerrymandering. What you do to me.

I thought of Rove this week (4.00 / 2)
as emails from Obma (OFA) and my centrist Dem senators and congressmen came in.

First they asked for Arkansans rallying support of "insurance reform", by weekend it changed to "health reform". And i thought of how awful the Rove speak was... Karl must be laughing at us while he pens a new GOP populist game.

These people are leading us over a cliff too.

No public option - then no health plan (4.00 / 3)
It's time to tell Rahm: "No public option, no health reform."

Start sending this message to your congressional delegation.

Rahm is obviously going to be a CEO of a major health insurer, and spend a great deal of time showing how his company "cares" about its clients. Meanwhile it will spend less and less on direct care to patients and more on pay and bonuses and dividends.

Rahm = Terry McAuliffe (4.00 / 1)
Rahm is the new Terry McAuliffe, without the lounge lizard charm. Ugh!
Obama wants any health plan he can get (4.00 / 2)
Sad. Obama just wants any plan he can get. Any plan. Just for bragging rights. Yikes!
The Emanuels have a huge stake in this already (4.00 / 1)
with his brother Ezekial coming up with the most insurance beneficiary plan ever and writing a book about it.

I knew that we wouldnt get good health care reform from obama, but I never knew it would be this bad! If you want me to go to a Towne Hall and argue with these fuckers, give me something to stand up for~! HR 3200 aint it!!

Demand that Rahm resign (0.00 / 0)
Hit up your congressional delegation demanding that they demand Rahm resign for his abusive behavior toward and contempt for our elected representatives.

It's time the congressional delegates started playing hardball with Obama as he hides behind Rahm's skirts.

Congressional message - demand Rahm resign (0.00 / 0)
Here is the message I sent to my Congressional delegation:

There have disturbing reports of Rahm Emmanual acting contemptuously and abusively toward  the Democratic Congressional delegation favoring a public health care option.

Stand up to this bully and insurance industry stooge and demand that he resign.

It is better to have no health care "reform" than one without a public option. Stand up and do the right thing, not what Rahm Emmanual (proxy for Obama) has ordered you to do.

Respectfully,

Football coach mentality (0.00 / 0)
So Rahm's 13-0, huh.  Given these weak bills, the question becomes, who is he playing?  A Division II schedule for a Division 1-A team, for sure.  That doesn't win a national tital or even get you into the BCS championship game.  Rahm's strategy is bad for Democrats and bad for the country.

If you are so tough, try beating up on the people sinking real health care reform (unless you are one of em).

RE: "Fuck Rahm Emanuel!" (0.00 / 0)
Oh, dear me! Now you have given me the Vapours!

Vapours - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V...

RE - Well Rahm's right about one thing: He is Karl Rove. (0.00 / 0)
No, he is Obama's Nijinsky!
Fuck Rahm Emanuel! (aka Karl Rove) Mobilize Yourself | 52 comments
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