Posted on 08/10/2009 5:24:41 AM PDT by radar101
House Democratic leaders have set up a healthcare “war room” to help their rank-and-file members navigate a tumultuous August in which they find themselves on the defensive on their signature issue.
The effort is being run out of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) office, but is being manned around-the-clock by a rotation of leadership and key committee staff members, according to leadership aides.
Although the war room or “healthcare hotline” is primarily designed to give members the ability to get immediate health policy answers and updates from leadership offices, top Democrats are also planning to use the war room to help their colleagues respond effectively to political and press attacks, if necessary.
“The news is being monitored very closely,” a leadership aide said in describing the various functions of the healthcare hotline.
Democratic leaders have more or less opted to operate as if the House were still in session and keep in much more regular contact with the Caucus.
In fact, even the war room itself is only one part of an aggressive internal communications strategy that House Democrats are embracing during their August recess, which is usually a time when party leaders loosen their grip on the majority of their members.
But this August is far from normal.
In addition to lacking a last-week-before-recess-triumph on a major bill that Democrats can tout back home, this August has Democrats deeply divided over what healthcare reform should look like, with liberals in the House threatening to block President Obama’s top priority if doesn’t include a “robust” public option to compete with private health insurers, and conservative Blue Dog Democrats still eyeing skeptically the concessions they won from leaders.
With more news accounts of Democratic town hall meetings running rampant with angry and even violent anti-healthcare protests, the bolstered communications plan is designed to help members respond to negative town hall coverage and push ahead with a message that is designed to resonate above the chants of protesters.
But at the same time, House leaders are looking to receive constructive feedback on just how upset core constituents in various districts are over healthcare reform, as leadership staff in Washington starts looking at different ways to stitch together three healthcare bills into one package for a vote on the floor this fall.
Hoyer and other leaders will be staying in constant contact with Blue Dogs and other centrists, as well as with the progressives. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who serves in leadership as the Assistant to the Speaker and as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, will be making daily calls to freshman and sophomore members, leadership aides said.
“There will be constant calls, once a day at least,” a leadership aide said of calls to members. “And e-mail will be non-stop.”
And the number of Caucus conference calls will slowly increase, as well, aides said.
While Democrats need to defend certain members and keep in close contact – if not remain in negotiations – with many others, they also said they do not want to let the overall healthcare message get lost in response.
“We are still pushing, district-by-district, for members to bring this conversation directly to their constituents,” a leadership aide said. “We’ll do whatever we can to facilitate the successful passage of healthcare legislation in September.”
rinnnng rinnnnnng
click
Hello
Yes I’d like to know where I can go to beat up some conservatives?
errrrr.....click
Should be lie room. How to lie about health scam.
Guess that will have to do.
The Tea Partiers, whom are this countries great hope are not asleep either.
Bless them all.
Democrat Congressional clunkers too dumb to read and understand the bill need help now. Are the answers phoned in to the town meetings from the liars at the war room?
Thugs, goons, war rooms, Democrat are so crude.
All we want is the truth.
Tort reform now, starve the Democrat pigs.
Bring it on!
Hey...they admit they want “war” on this issue?!!!
Its like a mystery cult. They believe if they huddle together, put the right words in the right order and chant them over and over, they will get what they want.
A cargo cult is a type of religious practice that may appear in primitive tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced, non-native cultures. The cults are focused on obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magical thinking, religious rituals and practices, believing that the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors.
Over half of the people do not want this Deathcare bill and they know it. But....facts are facts....the people can't stop them.
So what is it they are so worried about? They are never going to get all the people to agree and like having a Socialist health plan and government hands in who lives and who dies.
They need to face the fact. They have a choice, pass it and they own it, or go back to the drawing board. Never trust them, even if they change the final package to look better, they will simply add the other provisions back in right before a vote, or they will add bits and pieces into other bills down the road.
Amazing. Rather than listen to and do the will of the people who elect them, they set up a barricade and prepare to go to war against us.
Cargo Cult! Excellent! I was struggling to find the proper analogy. That is it.
Of course, illegals still won't pay anything and welfare bums won't pay anything...Looks like you and me again!!!
Get out into the streets and to the Townhall meeting at every opportunity.
Burn up the phone/email lines to your congresscritter.
War room? I think it’s more like the Fuhrerbunker under the Reichschancellory with General Zhukov closing in.
Legacy from the Clinton years.
We fight with different goals.
They fight to control you, and any means necessary to achieve that end are acceptable to them.
We fight so that no person can be controlled by another person. Totally different mindset. It usually means that we are constantly on the defensive, adjusting according to their latest tactic.
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