- BIG NEWS:
- Rahm Emanuel
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- Barack Obama
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- GOP
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- Charlie Crist
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In the 1998 midterms, Democrats actually gained seats. A rare thing for the president's party to pick up congressional seats in a second midterm election. Nevertheless, the Democrats won the day and Republicans lost a net five seats.
Take a guess how the Republicans responded. Naturally, they freaked out like infants and demanded that the party shift to the center, you know, where it's safe -- abandoning their congressional agenda in lieu of safe, small beans policy. Then they waited for all of the Democrats to be seated before they moved any votes to the floor. You know, just to be fair.
Wait, no. That's what the Democrats are doing in the aftermath of the Massachusetts special election.
The Republicans, in the days immediately after being "thumped" in the midterms, didn't make pee-pee in their big boy pants. They didn't freak out and reevaluate their agenda or crawl back to moderate Democrats for additional support.
The Republicans impeached the president.
Before anyone was sworn in, the Republican House of Representatives voted to impeach President William Jefferson Clinton on December 19, 1998.
Hey, Democrats. Do you like apples?
Now, I'm not suggesting that the Democrats should suddenly race around trying to quickly remove Republicans who have engaged in nefarious underpants parties. (I'm looking at you, John Ensign -- who voted for impeachment, by the way.)
I'm just suggesting that the Democrats find their mysteriously vanishing spines, and right quick.
While I'm fully aware that the Senate requires 60 votes for cloture, especially when the Republicans have opted to filibuster everything, there are other solutions. The Democrats still hold an 18 seat margin in the Senate. They hold a gigantic 78 seat margin in the House. They lost just one seat yesterday to an empty shirt who, for some reason, thought it would be awesome to auction off his daughters on live national television last night. Weird and creepy. Anyway.
And the legislation we're talking about passing here has nothing to do with removing a president from office because of something which, honestly, seems more like the marital rule these days rather than the exception. This bill is about providing affordable, life-saving health insurance to 30 million Americans and ending a cycle of abuse at the hands of a corporate cartel.
Instead, the Democrats plan is to wait until Scott Brown is seated and their 60 vote supermajority is gone, leaving them with one less option. They're waiting up. They're literally sliding an extra ace across the poker table to the sweaty, drunken degenerate on the other side. Here, we thought you might need some help, Biff. I'm sure you'll return the favor.
This, of course, is just plain dumb. If and when the tables are turned, don't count on the Republicans to return the favor. In 1998, they used a similar opening to impeach the president -- how can anyone seriously expect they'll behave differently in the future?
Nothing will ever motivate the Republicans to join with the Democrats in a spirit of bipartisanship. And, beyond Congress and in terms of swing, independent and Obama-Republican voters, they're either going to like or hate the health care reform bill. How it's passed isn't really going to matter at this point, especially after enduring the long, painful legislative push through the sausage casing.
But okay. The president and certain Democratic members of Congress want to wait until Pimpin' Scott Brown is seated. So be it.
Here's the only real way to pass a serious, stable health care reform bill at this point. You've probably heard this discussed today already, but Senate leadership and the White House ought to cut a deal with House leadership to pass the Senate bill as-is, then guarantee that House-friendly amendments reflecting the "conference" negotiations -- and maybe a public option -- will be passed via reconciliation and signed immediately following.
This way, the core legislation won't sunset or be shredded during a reconciliation proceeding. The basic bill will be stronger and more sustainable, while the extras will be subject to the dicey, potentially shoddy 50-vote simple majority. Still not great, but better than allowing the whole thing to be beaten all to hell and potentially abandoned down the road due to the Byrd sunset rule.
The bill passes, the House is satisfied, and the president's pledge to wait for Brown to be seated is honored.
That's the fair-minded and complicated solution. Here's what a stronger party would do, with both 30 million uninsured Americans in mind, not to mention its own political fortunes. They'd use the nuclear option. Roll back the threshold for cloture to 57 votes, or just kill the filibuster once and for all. The downside is some near-term political blowback, and Fox News will totally explode. But that might be fun to watch. However, the biggest of the caveats here is that the Democrats will surely be the minority party again and will definitely miss having the filibuster as a tool.
But not only would the nuclear option help to pass health care reform, but it could also help to pass finance regulatory reform, climate legislation and even things like a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell. No matter what anyone says, Republicans will not vote to repeal DOMA. And, despite their bullshit populist teabagger rhetoric, they won't vote for additional regulations against Wall Street.
Suffice to say, there won't be any nuclear option. But a party that cares about the agenda it sold to the American people -- an agenda which overwhelming majorities mandated in 2006 and 2008 -- would feel an obligation to pass that agenda through any legal, constitutional means possible. Or, you know, it could sit back and let that agenda, and health care reform with it, fail. A course of inaction that could lead to a Republican majority in November, and then, ironically enough, the inevitable congressional investigation and impeachment of the president.
Political weakness and unrequited accommodation, these days, only begs further, forced and irreparable political weakness.
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Kill this bill and get a good one. This bill has nothing but lobbiests stink all over it. It is one consession after another and a big high five to the health industry. We need a public option and a opt out clause in it. ALL THESE TAXES FOR ROADS, FIRE AND POLICE, AND SCHOOLS AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE KIDS, A HOUSE BURNING DOWN, OR TRAVEL ALL THE ROADS, BUT I STILL PAY. AT LEAST I CAN USE TAXED HEALTH CARE MORE THAN TWICE A YEAR. Any government health care haters out there, lets take away grandmas Government run medicare. I bet you tune changes fast. If you even realized that medicare was government run.
Apologies for my uninformed ranks. I am a jaded soul.
The problem is we still believe there is a huge difference between republicans and democrats. There isn't.
Both sell themselves to the parasites that destroyed the world's economy and sold us mssmurder, war, torture, fraud, masslayoffs, and poverty of billions as a terriffic way to make profit. We bought it and that is to our great loss. becdaus without realizing that they lied and murdered and WE condoned it we will never get out of the claws they now use agains us.
The democrats are as deep in the pockets of these parasites as the republicans. The difference is a marginally less volatile lack of conscience on the part of the democrats. Basically they are the same though. The take millions to make us lose billions while parasites feed on the blood of the people of this planet.
If we as a people do not start to demand from those spineless, corrupt,
Imagine paying medicare/medicaid through payroll for 40 years.
100 x 12 x 40 = $48,400
Then you wind up at the hospital at age 70. 1 week goes by ...
sorry pal, bye bye boot.
Can you say ponzi scam?
Apologies for my misinformed rants. I have an overwhelming distrust in our government sometimes in terms of them actually doing more harm than good, and taking more than providing.
Why does government run Medicaid only allow 1 week of hospitalization, then sends you home even if you are ill?
Is Hospice Care covered by government run Medicaid?
Big Fat NOPE.
I've worked in hospitals that do indigent care (that means lots of Medicaid patients), and what you're saying about hospitalization just isn't true. In fact, Medicaid is the emergency program that patients are put on when they don't have insurance and have high medical bills that their income isn't high enough to cover (like the kind you get from extended hospital stays). That's why you hear things like "all taxpayers have to pay for the uninsured".
This just occured to my father - in - law. Just isn't true? Really....
I think you two are talking about two different things. I know you are talking medicaid and he is talking about medicare not medicaid as he stated.
Apologies. Apparently I wasn;t given the correct information, Cancel my above gripe.
This would only be true if they could pass the House bill through the Senate, not the other way around.
The Senate bill is just a bad bill all around. Other than removing pre-existing conditions, it contains many key flaws:
1) It mandates that people buy insurance from private companies or fines them.
2) It taxes health insurance benefits, putting more people at risk of losing their employer-provided policies.
3) It mistakes subsidies for affordability. All you have to do is look at college education costs to see that subsidies (Pell Grants and Stafford Loans) only encourage providers to raise prices at huge expense to the government.
4) It relies on private companies to provide insurance, but does nothing to increase competition in this oligopoly.
5) By not providing for increased competition, all of the above encourage insurance companies to raise rates and does nothing to mitigate that inflationary pressure.
The bottom line is that the middle class will pay more for less and be taxed for the privilege. Reform shouldn't make the situation worse than it already is.
Why can't the Democratic leadership get it.
You do, AxelDC.
Bob, you couldn't be more right about this if you were God.
The Democrats have reached out, offered their hands, their dignity, had them slapped, spat on,
and worse by the Republicans.
It's more than past due for the them to wake the F up and return grief to the Republicans in no
uncertain terms. If it must go down, it's easier as a supporter to respect the party if it goes down fighting for its beliefs.
The Republicans will let America drown to float corporate interests. Americans aren't their concern.
The DLC/DSCC/DCCC will let America drown to float corporate interests. Americans aren't their concern.
This health care bill died when Nebraska was paid off and a tax exemption was made for unions not to pay certain healthcare taxes.
Americans, rightfully so, HATE these types of special deals. This is how you lose Ted Kennedy's seat in MA to a republican.
Ramming this thing through as is would be political suicide for the democrats. This current bill is horrible, and congress can do much better, and now it will be forced to. Since the bill does not actually do anything to 2013, I think we can wait a little while and get it right with bi partisan support.
The only bill worth passing, is the House bill.
If I hear "bi partisan" again, I'm going scream.
We do not need sixty votes.
To bend over backwards to accomodate Brown is absolutely pitiful.
I'm tired of witless excuses from our party.
Act like the majority and pass the House bill with a public option.
ASAP!
Come on Bob, clearly the Republicans have taken it to the extreme, but is isn't of any real importance, even if the Repulbicans ends up looking like Jocelyn Wildenstein.
Please forgive my ignorance.
Bob stated that "the Rebublicans have opted to filibuster everything,". Have they?
I've visited CSPAN many times, and I've YET to see a filibuster. I 've seen them threaten to, I've heard, MANY TIMES that if a bill comes to a vote, they WILL, but I haven't seen ANYONE spend one, five, ten, or 72 hours tieing up the Senate in a REAL filibuster!
Let's make 'em DO IT!
Exactly!
What a lame position Reid has taken.
If they had to stand on the floor of the Senate and read the phone book the people would see the obstructionist politics.
The way it is now they get the benefit of the filibuster without any of the blowback.
:-]
IT WAS ALL POLITICAL POSTURING!!!!!
the DLC wanted to elect as many corporatists as they could, so they used the Dean Machine and then threw Dean under the bus after they won in 2008.
the filibuster has evolved into something cynical wherein the 'debate' part is presumed and the assumption of the filibuster-proof majority is then used as if an actual filibuster were taking place. knowing they don't have the votes, the cowardly dems table the legislation, rather than force a public vote to reveal the republican opposition.
the apparently 'weak' dems are actually working for the same things as the ostensible republicans. they are trying to hide behind a label (D) and those are the facts. the DLC, DSCC, DCCC and R parties are the same.
I wish you were called into be a WH advisor, Bob. The Democrats should know by now that the republicrabs want nothing to do with bipartianship -- but now that they think they smell blood after Mass., the only strategy they will go with is taking down the democratic party altogether. The right wing of the Supreme Court yesterday gave them exactly the amunition they needed -- because now the only information voters get will be propaganda spin churned by the corportations and regurgitated by FOX. Either the Democrats act now on behalf of saving the American Middle Class -- or watch the demise of democracy -- and with it the end of a viable two party system. By the way, all this talk of a third party is sheer nonsense -- it;s only corporate interests paying to move the repulicans even further to the right. Don't be fooled,"In
Spine?? What's that??
I think what the President and other dem's need to do is sell the healthcare bill. During the August recess the Repub's defined the bill. No democratic on a national stage has come forward to rebut that definition. If Health care Reform is a good idea, and I think it is a terrific idea, it needs to be sold. Not in one speech but over and over again. Then pass it and improve it. You have this whole year to pass it. Right now I must say that to pass the bill will come off as an all knowing elitism. Sell it explain why we need it. Keep it simple. You can't convince everyone but you don't need everyone.
Unfortunately, trying to get the health care reform bill passed is like beating a dead horse. The best course now is to take the most popular portions of the reform bill and quickly get them passed. Forced to just say no or filibuster the most popular reforms will put the repubs on the skids.
My three to see get passed are: 1. elimination of pre-exsisting conditions. 2. Withdrawal of anti-trust exemptions for the insurance industry and 3. opt in to Medicare for those over fifty.
The Democrats certainly need to grow a spine, but using it to push forward sham health insurance reform may not be the best way to demonstrate it (and may do them more harm than good next November, given the poisonous nature of many of the current bill's provisions).
I'd suggest rather rolling up their sleeves and writing a GOOD bill, then daring the Republicans (and "Democrats in name only") to filibuster it (not a bad strategy for a lot of other legislation that they've been waffling on for the past year, either).
Just to be clear, I consider the demise of the current bill to be a good thing. If that turns out to be politically scary for the Democrats, then they should consider changing the behaviors that caused them to screw this up so soundly and hope that this conversion seems credible to voters prior to next November.
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