The Continued Curbing of Expectations

David Sirota chronicles a seemingly small, typical Washington activity, one that is glossed-over so often by the media and our political elite: the exclusive fundraiser available only to those with very deep pockets and a very strong message. In this case, it's Nancy Pelosi that's involved, and at such a crucial time.

Some background: She has positioned herself as a lead defender of a public option in Washington during the effort to reform health care in America. Time and time again, she's said she will push for a public option. “There’s no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option,” Pelosi has said as recently as a few weeks ago, as if Progressives in the House were uniting to force a public option now that they suddenly found a spine to share.

But on Thursday, there was a different message from the Speaker. CNN on Pelosi showing signs of reticence on pushing for that public option she once vigorously called for:

Pelosi, who said as recently as Tuesday that a public option was essential for passing a health-care bill in the House, on Thursday used language on the issue similar to Obama's speech.

"This is about a goal. It's not about provisions," Pelosi said, adding that as long as legislation meets goals of "affordability and accessibility and quality … then we will go forward with that bill."

She said she still thinks a public option is the best way to achieve those goals, but when asked if inclusion of a public option was a non-negotiable demand — as her previous statements had indicated — Pelosi ruled out any non-negotiable positions.

(Emphasis mine)

What drastically changed in that time period from Tuesday to Thursday, when she said this? Obviously, Obama's speech fell in between. And the White House has made it pretty clear that while Obama says he favors the inclusion of a public option, they won't really fight for that sliver of sanity in the final version of legislation. Now Pelosi seems to have adopted that minimized position. She said a public option was absolutely necessary for reform legislation to pass through the House, and now this carefully manicured statement signaling otherwise.

Now, finally, to Sirota and the fundraiser e-mail from Steve Elmendorf, a registered lobbyist for UnitedHealth, that magically appeared after Pelosi's statements on the public option:

This announcement came just hours before Steve Elmendorf, a registered UnitedHealth lobbyist and the head of UnitedHealth's lobbying firm Elmendorf Strategies, blasted this email invitation throughout Washington, D.C.

And the e-mail invitation Sirota obtained:

From: Steve Elmendorf [mailto:steve@elmendorfstrategies.com]
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 8:31 AM
Subject: event with Speaker Pelosi at my home

You are cordially invited to a reception with

Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi

Thursday, September 24, 2009
6:30pm ~ 8:00pm

At the home of
Steve Elmendorf
2301 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apt. 7B
Washington, D.C.

$5,000 PAC
$2,400 Individual

To RSVP or for additional information please contact
Carmela Clendening at (202) 485-3508 or clendening@dccc.org

Steve Elmendorf
ELMENDORF STRATEGIES
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS SOLUTIONS
900 7th Street NW Suite 750 Washington DC 20001
(202) 737-1655

That's depressing. Sirota again:

The sequencing here is important: Pelosi makes her announcement and then just hours later, the fundraising invitation goes out. Coincidental? I'm guessing no - these things rarely ever are.

I wrote a book a few years ago called Hostile Takeover whose premise was that corruption and legalized bribery has become so widespread that nobody in Washington even tries to hide it. This is about as good an example of that truism as I've ever seen.

Bold, naked and very legal bribery is what that is. Democrats = two-faced clowns.