Tonight, Democrats lost Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in a bitter special election.
This is already a sad day for those of us who loved Ted Kennedy. But to make it even worse, conservative Democrats are claiming that the loss happened because Congress was "too far to the left." Really?
Democratic politicians are on the verge of learning exactly the wrong lesson from tonight's election. Can you sign this emergency petition telling them to be stronger -- not weaker -- in 2010?
PETITION: "The loss of Ted Kennedy's seat -- due to a lack of enthusiasm among Democrats and Independents -- sends a clear message to Congress. The Senate health care bill is not the change we were promised in 2008, and it must be improved. The Senate must use 'reconciliation' to pass a better bill with a strong public option." Sign here.
Reconciliation is a procedure that only requires 51 votes to pass a bill instead of 60 -- and with the loss of Kennedy's seat, it's the only option Senate Democrats have to improve their bill.
The only other options are to give up or for the House to pass the previously-passed Senate bill -- which was largely written by insurance companies and would cause Democrats even more losses in 2010.
Poll after poll shows that Americans think President Obama and congressional Democrats aren't fighting hard enough for change.
CNN reported tonight on Massachusetts voters: "the message is that they’re frustrated with the slow pace of change."
But conservative Democrats are out of touch. Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) said, "Whenever you have just the furthest left elements of the Dem party attempting to impose their will on the rest of the country -- that’s not going to work too well.”
But a huge majority in Bayh's home state, and across the nation, support the public option!
We're joining with Democracy for America and CREDO Action to send this petition to two million progressives, and we'll soon deliver it to congressional Democrats.
The more people that sign, the bigger our impact will be -- so please tell your friends.
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
-- Stephanie Taylor, Michael Snook, Max Berger, Andrew Perez, Natasha Patel, and the PCCC team
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