If We Can't Shame Them, Shun Them!

If every state Democratic Party decided to shun any Democrat in Congress who is trying to hold up health care reform, I wonder what kind of response we could get....

Well we have our first test case, corporatist Dem Mary Landrieu:

Democratic Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu is out as keynote speaker for the Palm Beach County Democratic Party’s annual fund-raising dinner next week because party leaders dislike her stance on health care reform, county Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel said today.

Landrieu, a moderate who recently described herself as “extremely concerned about a government-run, taxpayer-funded, national public plan,” has not committed to voting to cut off a likely Republican filibuster and forcing a vote on the legislation.


Democrats need 60 votes to invoke “cloture” and force a vote.

“We just didn’t want to have a keynote speaker who’s not committed to cloture. It would have just been wrong,” said Siegel, who said party higher-ups and rank-and-file members had voiced displeasure with the choice of Landrieu as a keynoter.

Good on Palm Beach for making a stand. Hell we won't demand that Landrieu vote for the health care reform bill, but she should for DAMN SURE be willing to commit to voting for cloture. That is the least she could do. And until she and the rest of her corporatist Dem partners commit to that then they should be treated like red headed step children.