I’ve always had a soft spot for Firedoglake, even though Jane Hamsher has blown off all but one attempt for me to converse with her. They are often hideously left, but to their credit they are very very thorough and admirably analytical. Their coverage of the Scooter Libby trial, for instance, was absolutely essential reading even though they were determined to show that Libby was guilty (he wasn’t), because they at least reported thoroughly and carefully.

All of which is prelude to this, the single most devastating takedown of Obamacare from the left that I have ever seen. It is intellectually honest and rigorous. Key paragraph:

A middle class family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $8,628 $5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income — out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which families will be responsible.  Many families who are already struggling to get by would be better off saving the $8,628 in insurance costs and paying their medical expenses directly, rather than being forced to by coverage they can’t afford the co-pays on.

This is why the individual mandate, even from the lefty point of view, should be a non-starter. It really, really would cost ordinary, middle-class families, without them having any choice in the matter. It is an abomination.

Somebody needs to get this FDL post to every wavering Dem of a progressive cast of mind.

UPDATE: Oh, and as a bonus, an earlier FDL post confirms the point that I long have made, that what this is, is economic fascism.

This is not to wildly sling around labels as political scare tactics, but to honestly, soberly, and with intellectual integrity discuss what the word actually means. Key paragraph:

Rather than actually helping the poor, this bill is a dangerous and unprecedented step on the road to domination of government by private corporate players who use it to suppress competition and secure their profits — the textbook definition of fascism.

FDL also accuses President Obama of bad faith. Good stuff.

UPDATE TWO: Jane Hamsher kindly emailed me a correction on her numbers, above, as showed in the first excerpted paragraph.