Could Blanche Lincoln Lose Her Senate Ag Chair?

October 8, 2009

Democratic strategists told the Rachel Maddow show yesterday that they are considering a strategy in which the congressional leadership would revoke chairmanships and other leadership positions from any Democrat siding with a Republican filibuster to stop a vote on health care reform, regardless of how they vote on the bill.

This show of muscle in the Democratic party could be bad for Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, who has previously spoken against the public option and has been viewed as a threat to health care reform so much so that she has even had advertisements like this one run against her in her state, where 17.5% of inhabitants don’t have health insurance.

So if Democrats in fact adapt this strategy, we challenge you to go ahead, Senator Lincoln, and go rogue against your party. We’d be happy to accept Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) as the new chairwoman, considering that you have been so receptive to agribusiness interests over those of 300 million eaters in this country.

Paula Crossfield is a founder and the Editor-at-large of Civil Eats. She is also a co-founder of the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Her reporting has been featured in The Nation, Gastronomica, Index Magazine, The New York Times and more, and she has been a contributing producer at The Leonard Lopate Show on New York Public Radio. An avid cook and gardener, she currently lives in Oakland. Read more >

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dprosenthal
October 8, 2009
It is not surprising that the Dems would employ this tactic - the shocker is that they are being HONEST about it. So much for the idea of voting according to the wishes of the folks who elected you. or even coming to an educated and well-concidered conclusion of your own, just follow the party line.

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