Senate GOP: We Won't Punish Snowe For Health Care Vote

Politico:

Mitch McConnell and his deputies in the Senate Republican leadership are responding very cautiously to Olympia Snowe's decision to become the first GOP vote for a Democratic health care reform bill.

That's about all they can do.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[Imzadi]

09:41 AM on 10/16/2009

How magnanimous of them...

[jde]

03:03 AM on 10/16/2009

All your GOP bases are belong to Snowe!

[JiminNC]

12:21 AM on 10/16/2009

What Mitch, you are not going to put her in her place?

[KarenT]

09:42 PM on 10/15/2009

They are saying this now as a tactic to bully her into going along with a fillibuster.

[HST]

08:22 PM on 10/15/2009

GOPers are chickenstuff. They threaten and bellow, but in the end they do nothing.

[Dr Scott]

07:52 PM on 10/15/2009

What did she do? Her vote did not matter. None of the Republiscams' votes mattered. Forget Snowe. She won't vote for the final bill, which will have a public option. Democratic leadership needs to FORGET about the Repubs. They are completely irrelevant. Concentrate on twisting Democrat arms. Failure to go along with the party should result in congressional committee shake-ups and primary challenges in their home districts.

[springsm]

07:00 PM on 10/15/2009

Oh Mitch, how big of you. Perhaps when nobody is looking you will demote her.

[Rangergirl]

06:23 PM on 10/15/2009

I trust the rethugs as far as I can throw them....and that isn't far....They will probablly do it on the QT cause they know it will hurt their crappy credibility worse to do it in an obvious manor....

[TheSecularist]

06:12 PM on 10/15/2009

I don't read Politico. They lack credibility.

[BetterDeadthanRedState]

06:00 PM on 10/15/2009

They probably figured that letting her remain a Republican was punishment enough.

[taddles]

04:55 PM on 10/15/2009

Not wise to punish GOPers who very likely would jump if forced. You're already the leader of the minority party Mitch, wanna be the leader of the defunct party next?

[Graywolf48]

02:02 PM on 10/15/2009

Of course they won't. She is now the mole who will assure the GOP will get most of what they want in the final Bill. Then she and her colleagues will still vote "NO" and when the reform fails to have any real positive effect on the average American, they will use it as political capital to defeat Democrats at the polls. It's like following a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy (Snowe) will promise to hold the ball for a naive Charlie Brown (Reid) and at the last moment, as usual, will pull the ball away causing Reid and the Dems to once again fall on their collective arses. Unfortunately, the joke is on we the people.

[StillweRise]

01:25 PM on 10/15/2009

lol... ONLY because its bad publicity for a party whose brand is already in the crapper.

[tigerakabj]

01:40 PM on 10/15/2009

Yep. Can't have a Specter repeat.

Even worse for them, when (not if) she goes, Susan Collins will follow. Whether they go Independent or Democrat, it will still look bad for the GOP.

[tigerakabj]

12:59 PM on 10/15/2009

For those who are saying, "She voted for it so that everybody/media can't claim the GOP is 100% obstructionists and the party of no," Snowe could just be following her constituents and/or just being independent (like her state).

In any case, what's going to count is if any GOPers vote on the final bill, not just a committee vote. The GOP are still largely viewed as obstructionists. One vote in the direction of bipartisanship isn't going to change that. Their rhetoric from the stimulus bill, through the gun-toting/tea bagging townhall August, to the present confirms that.

The only reason the GOP isn't attacking her is b/c they don't want her to switch parties or become independent. If they have a repeat of the Specter flip, it will once again show America that they are the party that needs to be worried about 2010, not the Democrats (they should be worried either way). But if her interview with the NY times is any indication, she will do exactly what they fear, mainly b/c she also has seen the teabagging crazies take over her party. The GOP is screwed no matter what.

[Annieke]

12:51 PM on 10/15/2009

In a democracy even a Senator has the freedom to vote as she likes.