There's a famous cartoon of a bird trying to eat a frog. The bird has the frog by the head but can't swallow it because the frog has the bird by the neck and is choking the life out of it.

Think of the bird as the Democrats, and the frog as either the cancerous healthcare bill, or the poor beleaguered American taxpayer.

We think the Democrats are going to choke on this healthcare bill, or, if they finally pass it, the voters will strangle them in the coming election. Meanwhile . . .

We should demonstrate the same "never say die" attitude as the frog in the cartoon. The fight isn't over, even when it looks like the politicians are about to swallow us. Please send another letter to Congress opposing the healthcare bill.

You can borrow from or copy my sample letter . . .

I'm very upset that the Democrats seem determined to subject us to the same mis-governance that caused the Republicans to lose their positions of power. Please take note of the following facts, from Rasmussen Reports . . .

* 58% of Americans say Congress is doing a poor job: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_performance
* The number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats has sunk to 35.5%, a 7 year low: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/partisan_trends

I think this is because the Democrats, in their infinite arrogance, seem to determined to pass a cancerous healthcare bill that 52% of the American people still oppose: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/health_care_reform

Equally bad, the Democrats are continuing to behave exactly like the Republicans did. The Democrats promised us transparency, but have repeatedly failed to deliver it. They are now going to reconcile the Senate and House healthcare bills behind closed doors: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/01/healthcare-senate-house-democrats-obama.html

Nevertheless, we know exactly what will be happening behind this veil of secrecy. We know that deals will be struck to . . .

* Provide additional corporate welfare to special interests, like the insurance industry
* Reward powerful members of Congress
* And use our tax money to bribe other members of Congress to secure their votes

We know how you people operate, because the transparency you seek to deny us always ends up being provided anyway, courtesy of the Internet. For instance, we know about the special deals, rewards, and tax-funded bribes that were stuffed into the Senate bill . . .

* $100 million in extra Medicaid money for Louisiana, requested by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).
* $100 million in Medicaid funding for Nebraska, to buy the vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).
* Corporate welfare that also went to bribe Senator Nelson, for the benefit of Mutual of Omaha and other Nebraska insurers.
* $100 million for a medical center to reward Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
* Senator Bill Nelson (D-Flo.) got a special deal that will allow Floridians to avoid the cuts to their pricey Medicare Advantage program that citizens from other states will have to endure.
* Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) grabbed special Medicare coverage for people who may have been exposed to asbestos while working in a mine in Libby, Montana.
* Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) won more Medicare money for the kind of small hospitals that are common in his state
* Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad, both North Dakota Democrats, got higher Medicare payments for hospitals and doctors in their state
* The Democratic Senators from Hawaii secured higher payments to hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured people.
* Michigan's Democratic Senators won higher Medicare payments for their state as well as reduced fees for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
* And the socialist Independent, Sen. Bernie Sanders grabbed larger Medicaid payments for Vermont.

Dana Milbank has exposed the whole rotten story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122102861.html

So much for equal treatment under the law. The American people fired the Republicans when they behaved this way, and they're probably going to fire the Democrats too, later this year. But it's not too late for the suicidal Democrats to save themselves. They can start by . . .

VOTING DOWN THE HEALTHCARE BILL!

END LETTER

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Perry Willis
Vice President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.