Thursday, July 30, 2009

Message And Messenger

Greg Sargent gets wind of The Axe's marching orders for House Dems before they leave this weekend for recess.
With a House Dem bill closer to reality, the battle will shift to a new phase: Selling it. And according to an email to House Dems that was sent over by a source, Axelrod and top White House health care adviser Nancy DeParle will be attending a breakfast with members to discuss “health care reform messaging.”

“This meeting is MEMBERS-ONLY,” the email reads, meaning no press and no staff.

The health care delay has dramatically upped the stakes for the White House and individual members of Congress, who will be at home for a month while their constituents are strafed by advertising from all sides. As Nancy Pelosi put it today, “insurance companies are out there in full force carpet bombing” in a “shock and awe” campaign.

“We have a month where 256 members will be in their districts with a bill to sell,” a senior Dem aide tells me. “Axelrod is going to talk to them about getting out and there selling it. House Dems are going on the offensive in August.”

And hopefully next week, the same meeting plans will be made for the 60 Democratic senators. I'm encouraged mightily that the White House is finally treating this with the seriousness that it deserves.

The Dems have completely dropped the sales pitch on health care reform, and they've flubbed it from the beginning. By not putting out specifics, the GOP has ever so kindly filled in the public with snuff fantasies for old people and medical fascism nightmares where government bureaucrats assign you to die by dartboard because your life is costing too much taxpayer scratch.

Might want to spend the next month, I dunno, fighting back.

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