MoveOn.org Virtual Protest Has Congress Scrambling

February 24, 2010 RSS Feed Print

The liberal online activist group MoveOn.org has House and Senate staffers bracing for electronic gridlock today as it mounts a massive virtual protest in favor of President Obama's healthcare reform.

In a message to offices on Capitol Hill, officials are predicting a big wave of E-mails, faxes, and calls beyond what the offices normally tally. Here's the memo:

Administrative Managers, Chief Clerks, and System Administrators.

Virtual March Planned. A political action organization is planning a virtual march on Congress on February 24, 2010, by initiating mass faxes, phone calls, and possibly emails to individual offices. We are aware of this event and will be monitoring the situation throughout the day. As a result, you may see an increase in the number of voice mail messages being left, an increase in the faxes coming in to your offices, and possibly a higher than normal volume of e-mail. Please remind staff to retrieve and delete messages as soon as possible to allow other constituents to leave messages. Queues for incoming faxes should be checked more frequently as well.

Whispers also received the action call from MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,

If you've never picked up the phone to call Congress about health care, today's the day to change that. Will you join the Virtual March for Real Health Care Reform?

With the future of health care reform hanging in the balance at the president's summit tomorrow, this may be our last big chance to make sure Congress knows that voters want real health care reform.

So we're aiming to send one million messages to Congress TODAY. The message? It's time to get the job done and pass comprehensive health care reform.

Will you join the Virtual March? Click below and we'll sign you up and automatically send a fax in your name today:

Thanks for all you do.

–Kat, Lenore, Joan, Stephen, and the rest of the team

See a gallery of political cartoons.
See photos of healthcare reform protests.

Tags:: healthcare reform,; healthcare

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I will spend what little time I have for responding to an ignorant statement. RE: Open Letter to President Obama on Healthcare.
The writer of that piece has stated that if we hand the healthcare industry to Obama that we can "save big like the other nations do". I wonder which nations those are. Please do research before you make decisions. Or, at least listen to more reliable sources for information. Too many people making uninformed, emotional decisions have hurt this country enough already. We in California know plenty about government having their hands in too many things.
Tony,Lee
California

Tony Lee of CA 5:36PM March 15, 2010

Dear Editor:
As we enter what may be the final phase of debate on the Democrats’ health care reform package, here are a few observations.
Most people agree that our health system - cost of care as well as availability and cost of insurance - needs reform. Costs keep spiraling upward, many do not have access to insurance and for those who do, premiums keep rising.
Republicans and Democrats are fundamentally divided over how to address these problems. Republicans believe that unless the underlying cost issue is addressed, we will have accomplished little and spent at least $2.4 trillion over 20 years doing it. In the process, we will have raised taxes and health insurance premiums, forced many into dysfunctional government programs, turned insurance companies into wards of the federal government, and deprived individuals of choice. And health care costs will continue to inflate.
To tamp down cost, Republicans want to empower individuals to make their own decisions about their health care. Some of the steps: tax credits for health insurance and care (or equivalent funds to those who don’t pay taxes), subsidized state high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance at reasonable cost, expansion of health savings accounts, and medical malpractice reform to reduce some unnecessary costs. Individuals - whether in a large corporation or small business, self-employed or unemployed - would have money in their pocket to decide how best to spend their health dollars. Today, consumers of health care are insensitive to cost because someone else pays the bill. Most health care providers and insurers do not compete on the basis of cost.
Democrats believe in a top down approach. In broad terms, the Democrats’ proposals would force everyone to buy health insurance or pay a penalty (with subsidies for those who cannot afford to buy insurance), the federal government would dictate the terms of the insurance and establish boards to determine what care should be provided, and approximately 15 million more people would be put on the Medicaid rolls, a system that is already failing many people on it.
I urge your readers not to be fooled by the demonization of the insurance industry or the smoke and mirrors of the Congressional budget process in assessing whether the current health care legislation makes any sense for our country - or for the uninsured.
Sincerely yours,
Carlos Zaldivar
San Antonio, TX

Carlos Zaldivar of TX 11:07AM March 10, 2010

As citizens of a great country, we need to stop listening to the oft-repeated and often false statements of talk radio and the uninformed on the subject of healthcare. It is a DISGRACE for the United States to be behind so many other 'civilized' nations in our concern for our own people. We generously help those facing tragedies in other countries but turn a blind eye when Congress nitpicks proposed healthcare legislation to death, leaving our own citizens with no one willing to stand up for them against the moneyed special interests.
If the moral arguments are not persuasive, how about the economic arguments? when are we going to realize that trying to save money by not covering those in our country who need a helping hand only costs us ALL enormously more in the long run? It is false economy to pinch pennies and end up spending billions unnecessarily. When Sen. McConnell publicly states that he will do everything possible to defeat any legislation that may pass without Republican votes, he only demonstrates more fully that these people won't support ANYTHING that might be seen to bring credit to Democrats or to Pres. Obama. What then happens to the Americans who need his support and that of the remaining 534 members of Congress is apparently of no concern to either him or his party.
If Congress dares to show up at the polls in November with nothing to show for even a start on improving health care in this country, they should all be aware that we, who have too long been silent in the face of conservatives' dishonest claims about proposed legislation, will go to the polls in no mood to support those in Congress who have failed to support us.
IF NOT NOW, WHEN???

Diane Eldridge of PA 4:33PM March 04, 2010

MoveOn.org Virtual Protest Has Congress Scrambling

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