Bill Moyers on the Bill Maher Show

I watched the whole interview, it was excellent.

Link

On what's really happening in the health care fight:

excerpt:

MOYERS:  I don't think the problem is the Republicans . . . .The problem is the Democratic Party.  This is a party that has told its progressives -- who are the most outspoken champions of health care reform -- to sit down and shut up.  That's what Rahm Emanuel, the Chief of Staff at the White House, in effect told progressives who stood up as a unit in Congress and said: "no public insurance option, no health care reform.

And I think the reason for that is -- in the time since I was there, 40 years ago, the Democratic Party has become like the Republican Party, deeply influenced by corporate money.  I think Rahm Emanuel, who is a clever politician, understands that the money for Obama's re-election will come from the health care industry, from the drug industry, from Wall Street.  And so he's a corporate Democrat who is determined that there won't be something in this legislation that will turn off these interests. . .

 - snip -

 excerpt:

I'd rather see Barack Obama go down fighting for vigorous strong principled public insurance, than to lose with a [corporate-dominated] bill . . . . the insurers are winning. Everyone already knows the White House has made a deal with the drug industry -- promising not to import cheaper drugs from Canada and Europe - promising not to use the government to negotiate for better prices -- that deal has been cut . . .

There's this fear that Barack Obama will become the Grover Cleveland of this era - Grover Cleveland was a good man, but he became a conservative Democratic President because he didn't fight the powerful interests - people say Obama should be FDR - I'd much rather see him be Theodore Roosevelt --- Teddy Roosevelt loved to fight - ... I think if Obama fought instead of really finessed it so much . . . I think it would change the atmosphere.

On Afganistan:

 excerpt:

 Now they’ve shifted the mission of troops: to protect the villages of Afghanistan. 100,000 Americans can’t protect the villages of Afghanistan – and now they say we’re going to be there to build a nation – we’re not good at building other nations – we’re hardly good at building our nation. If you're an Afghani and look up and see Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California legislature coming to build your nation, you’re going to run – you’re going to put up a No Trespassing sign. We need to come home.

I'm aware that Kennedy was't perfect, and his support for Obama was embarrassing, but overall I did like the guy. He was a huge supporter and friend to where I live, the Lower North Shore of Quebec.