Take Your TennCare Axe and Shove It Phil! - We the People Are Fighting Back

In an explosive post - GOVERNOR BREDESEN LIED - progressive Tennessee blogger, Sharon Cobb makes available internal documents and a video which add yet more fuel to the fire damning our allegedly Democratic Governor. While I have yet to wade through the documents, I've seen the documentary. It is a powerful weapon in the war against Bredesen's immoral TennCare axe.

Bredesen has no one to blame but himself.

As both conservatives and progressives keep pointing out, Bredesen ran for office on the promise to fix TennCare. His years of experience in the business end of the healthcare field supposedly made him uniquely qualified for the job. Yet his Lizzy Borden “fix” has been nothing more than taking the axe to healthcare coverage for hundreds of thousands of sick/disabled/elderly/poor Tennesseans.

Any moron could have come up with Governor Phil Bredesen's Lizzie Borden plan.

Michael Silence has a summary of the Tennessee blogosphere reaction to Sharon Cobb's story. As of this moment, the coverage is almost exclusively conservative. But look for that to change soon. Progressive bloggers may be outnumbered in this state, but we are still here. While some conservative bloggers are piling it on the Governor merely because of politics, others seem to actually have a heart. As they say, politics makes strange bedfellows.

Ironically, in a previous post Silence asks: "TN Dems where are you?" Silence admonishes Dems: "In case you haven't noticed, you're getting steamrolled in the TN blogosphere."

Tennessee Dems are so clueless they probably haven't noticed.

Tennessee Democrats are amazingly absent from the blogosphere. Yet more evidence that they are clueless. Or, could they realize that they have no defense? I’d gladly defend them, if only I could find something good to say (there are a few exceptions - a few Dems in this state do vote like Dems, a very few, but with the kind of leadership Bredesen provides, what really can we expect?).

Governor Bredesen’s blog, if you want to call it that, is a great indication of how out of touch Tennessee Dems are with the people.

Check it out if you want a good laugh:

Phil Blog
First blog entry
05/17/2005
11:10p My first blog entry, ever (the one on 5/9 was not from me).

Gee, Phil, what a refreshing moment of honesty. When, pray tell, will you blog again?

Tennessee Democrats just don’t get it. Most of them are every bit as out of touch with the people as is our Millionaire Governor. Out of touch with the people means they are out of touch with their base. The best candidates they can come up with could easily switch parties and fit in with the Republican agenda far better than they fit in with the traditions of the Democratic Party. Harold Ford Jr. is a prime example of a Democrat that the Democratic base cannot stomach.

Unless they start 'getting it', look for a Republican landslide in 2006. All the Dems in this state will either stay home, move to friendlier states, or be too sick (or dead) from the effects of Phil Bredesen’s axe to show up at the polls.

Meanwhile, Bredesen’s Lizzie Borden plan is not a done deal.

Thanks to Sharon Cobb's efforts, the Tennessee blogosphere is once again talking about Bredesen's axe. If every progressive, or liberal, in this state put in as many hours as she has on the project of saving TennCare, Bredesen would soon be singing a new song.

The local Peace & Justice Center is holding civil disobedience workshops here in Nashville. Reports indicate that they are well attended.

This Thursday, an event here in Nashville will feature Pam Shaw, Leader of the Mississippi Coalition, which successfully stopped the Governor from terminating 60,000 people from Medicaid. Want to stop Bredesen's axe? Be there.

Info on the above events and more is featured at the site of the non profit advocacy organization - Tennessee Health Care Campaign - which had its state funding eliminated after speaking up on behalf of the people and against the Governor's axe.

Be sure to view Sharon Cobb’s heartbreaking documentary (scroll down for the link).

The people she interviews fear they will die from Bredesen’s axe. You can be sure their heartbreaking stories will be covered in the blogosphere, but don’t look for them on Phil’s Blog.

As Sharon Cobb makes clear in her documentary:

Hey, Phil, it’s not over!

TennCare: Grassroots Organizing Committee (GROC) June 14th - GrassRoots Organizing Committee on TennCare, Nashville Peace and Justice Center, 6:00pm - 8:00pm

TN Health Care Campaign: Annual Dinner and TennCare EducationJune 16th - Calvary United Methodist Church, Fellowship Hall, Nashville, 3701 Hillsboro Pike, 3:00pm - 9:00pm

TennCare Rally: Demonstrating for our Lives June 21st - In front of the TennCare Building, 8th Ave & Church Street, Nashville, 5:00pm - 7:00pm