The David Axelrod and Howard Dean battle rages on over the Health Care Bill :: Democrats infighting may sink the bill!
scotia
adviser David Axelrod said Thursday that Howard Dean's criticisms of
health-care reform are "predicated on a bunch of erroneous conclusions" and
that for progressives to torpedo the legislation "would be a tragic, tragic
outcome."
"To defeat a bill that will bend the curve on this inexorable rise in
health-care costs is insane," Axelrod said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I don't
think that you want this moment to pass. It will not come back."
Axelrod called in from the West Wing as the White House mobilized Thursday
morning in the face of a surprising and potentially fatal chorus of
opposition from the left.
In the most vivid indication of the crisis facing White House messengers,
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann told viewers Wednesday night that the Senate version
has become "unsupportable . a hollow shell of a bill."
Former DNC chairman and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, an unofficial leader of
progressives, on Thursday began a third day of media appearances by arguing
in a Washington Post op-ed that the compromise emerging this week meets
"none" of his benchmarks for "real reform."
Axelrod, responding on MSNBC, said: "I have a lot of respect for Governor
Dean but he got on the phone with Nancy-Ann DeParle, our point person on the
health care issue, went through point by point. She explained why he was
wrong. And he simply didn't want to hear that critique. I saw his piece in
The Post this morning, and it is predicated on a bunch of erroneous
conclusions."
Asked his response to progressives who say "kill this bill now," Axelrod
replied: "I think that would be a tragic, tragic outcome. . I guess if you're
hale and hearty and have insurance, it's fine to say, 'Kill this bill.'"
Peggy Noonan, the columnist and former Reagan speechwriter, told Axelrod:
"On the issue of health care, you are losing the left, you are losing the
right, you are losing the center. That looks to me like a political
disaster."
"When you describe what's in the bill, there's strong support for it,"
Axelrod replied. "We don't think of the world in terms of left, right and
center. We think of the world in terms of small business people, . senior
citizens, . Americans who are looking for help on a problem that we've been
trying to solve for a century."
On the White House blog, communications director Dan Pfeiffer linked to an
attack by Dean, then rebutted it without mentioning him by name: "[A]
somewhat perplexing new line of argument has emerged about health insurance
reform, with some folks suggesting the Senate bill is a 'dream' for
insurance companies. If that's the case, though, it must be news to them.
The insurance industry has been leveraging its considerable resources in a
ferocious effort to defeat this bill."