Bill Moyers, in the process of pointing out how the Democratic Party has failed to live up to its progressive heritage, made a good point Friday night on Bill Maher’s show on HBO.

It might be better, he said, for President Obama to draw a line in the sand and refuse to compromise with Big Pharma and the insurance industry and the right-wing nutjobs on health care reform. He’d lose the battle, Moyers said, but that loss might lay the groundwork for true reform later on — reform that doesn’t hand the opponents a permanent grasp on everything they want.

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He said that’s what happened when the American Medical Association defeated Harry Truman’s health care plan in 1948. It took nearly 20 years, but Lyndon Johnson finally won approval of the historic Medicare program over the screams of the doctors.

Maybe half a loaf or an eighth of a loaf is NOT better than nothing in the long run.

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Get a backbone, Moyers advised Obama.

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