Just a hearty Amen and an addendum to Ed Kilgore’s post below, which provides one of the most crucial insights of the entire health care reform debate going on among Democrats: Every Democratic senator must be put on record — and soon — as supporting the party on cloture, no matter which health reform bill he or she advocates.
This has to be the first flashpoint at which Democratic leaders invoke party discipline, particularly when the stakes are the most important legislative reform in many decades. This is our line in the sand, where the emphasis should now be for all Democrats who care about health care reform and their party’s integrity.
And let all rank and file Democrats agree on one thing, if nothing else — that any Democratic senator who betrays the Party on a critical cloture procedural vote will get exceptionally well-funded primary opposition, regardless of his or her approval numbers. And may all progressive bloggers, journalists and activists pledge their hearts, souls and firstborn to the cause of denouncing cloture turncoats as shameless sell-outs for the rest of their miserable days.