Well ya gotta hand it to Harry. Now that he has 60 votes and can no longer use his patented, whining motto of “We Don’t Have The Votes” as an excuse to be THE WORST LEADER EVER…He has come up with a new strategy for failing the American People.
We don’t have a Bill.
Wait, let me rephrase that.
Harry Reid to President Obama: “Sorry to stab you in the back on your signature issue, Mr President, but I am SO incompetent at “leading” the Senate that I cant even get a Bill out of Committee.”
“So hey, I am just going to give up….again… and go on a nice vacation.”
“Sure,” Harry says, “I know that in the three weeks that I am basking in the sun the following things will happen:
* 143,250 people will lose their health insurance coverage
* 53,507 people will file for bankruptcy because they can’t pay their medical bills
* 1,265 people will die because they lack coverage
But hey! What can I do about it? Just because it is MY JOB to make sure things actually, ya know, GET DONE in the Senate, what am I supposed to do….twist Baucus’s arm or something?”
“So sorry, Mr President,” Harry whines, “but you are screwed.”
“Yes, yes I know, Mr. President,” Harry grovels, since grovelling seems to be the only form of address ‘Fighting’ Harry Reid knows, “you promised the American people that this would get done. I know you have spent all of your political capital on this issue, I know you have pissed off our base by shunting DOMA, DADT, and Torture to the back burners to get this done. I KNOW I am handing the Republicans a huge victory on a silver platter and doing the only possible thing that could lead to a Republican resurgence….”
“What’s that you say Mr. President? You say that I played right into DeMint and Inhofe’s hands….”
“Yes, Mr. President, I know what Inhofe said:”
“If he is unsuccessful – which I anticipate and will predict he is – on getting a vote prior to the August recess, then I would say there’s no way in the world they’re going to get this done this year,” said Inhofe. “And next year would not be any easier.”
“But what am I supposed to do about it???”
“I am just the guy whose job it is to make the Senate run for the American People, if the Republicans want to kill Health Care, kill your presidency, kill more Americans than died on 9/11, by taking a vacation……who am I to stop them???”
.
“You should really be talking to Baucus, Mr. President, he is being mean to me!”
.
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“Yes Mr. President, this is Max.”
“Whoa now hold on there Mr. President! I know I promised and promised to have a Bill done before we went on vacation! But I have other things to consider beside the American People, your Presidency, letting the Republicans kill Health Care and become a force in politics again by handing them a victory on a silver platter! I have my constituents to consider!”
These donations total about $3.4 million, or $1,500 a day, every day, from January 2003 through 2008.
Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which is drafting a major health care reform bill this month, insists that this cascade of money is not unduly influencing his work.
“Mr. President, if I can make my constituents happy by just by stalling and stalling and stalling and then taking a vacation, I am MORE than willing to stab you and the American People in the back!”
“So screw you and the American People, Mr. President, what do I care as long as I get paid. AND get a nice Vacation!”
.
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This is YOUR government at work. These are YOUR Democrats stabbing YOUR President …and YOU…in the back. All to serve the special interests, The Ruling Class who have bought YOUR government out from under you. And are using YOUR own government to screw you, and screw President Obama.
It is, apparently, not just the Republicans who want Obama to fail, who want to “break” Obama. Apparently Reid and Baucus are happy to play along, to play RIGHT into their hands.
This is THE time. If you want Health Care Reform, if you want President Obama to succeed, if you want the Republicans to stay in the wilderness and not build them a road back to power….
If you want financial reform, if you want equal rights for the LGBT community, if you want action on torture, if you want to end the wars, if you want to save the planet….if you want action on any of these or any other issues…
WE HAVE TO WIN THIS FIRST.
That is the RealPolitik of the day, like it or not.
THIS is the time. THIS is the battle we have to win. We have to MAKE this their Waterloo.
Go to slinkerwink’s diary: Tell Congress Health Reform Comes First Before Vacation! and make the phone calls and send the E-mails and dammit…..YELL LOUDER to take our government back.
Only YOU can do it.
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is much better than the far more well studied comprehensive rationing bill later? Hey, I am after all a baby boomer and know senior health care my parents had will disappear just as the social security and nuclear depletion of 401K plans has.
Sadly, this situation was all too predictable and I believe it was.
Given the sheer size of this issue, in all its respects, if any of us were put in the WH this last January, would we have just let this all develop like this? Of course not!
No, we would have made the best possible use of the Bully Pulpit starting in January. We would have launched a massive campaign to steer public opinion in the right direction. It’s the only way to combat the lobbyists and their lackeys in congress: threaten their careers over this issue.
It’s only in the last two weeks that the WH has noticed things weren’t going so well. Only last week did they deign to talk to progressive bloggers and ask for help. Looking at TPM, it looks like he’s already given up about getting anything before recess.
For what little it’s worth, I don’t think this is the end of the world. Perhaps this would be a good time for folks to go to their Senator’s offices personally and express their discontent. I certainly will do so. I need to get out more anyway 😉
At this point, my greatest fear is that they’re going to come up with an awful bill that legislatively sabotages any real workable Public Option, just so they can declare “Victory!” and call it a day. Given Obama’s wishy-washy position on the Public Option all this time, he gets no points for leadership on this one. Methinks they’ve really miscalculated on this whole thing, which I suppose shouldn’t be surprising from a bunch of arrogant, neo-liberal hacks.
If we don’t get a good bill and the progressives manage to shoot it down, then it’s back to square one and the pressure will only be that much greater next go-round.
Still, that’s the machinations and those disturbing numbers you put up will still be there. Those numbers say more about our so-called “leadership” than a million words of complaint could ever do. They’re killing people for profit.
How do we make this happen in a non-violent way?
Shanti.
with something of equal value. Maybe something like a credit default swap?
Harry was offered last night by Lawrence O’Donnell, who was Patrick Monahan’s chief of staff. He said that the senate leader the majority leader has no power and his only job is scheduling. This was in regards to the fact that Bacchus is withholding information and harry is missing in action per usual. Color me prejudiced or guilty of watching the Godfather too may times, but the fact that Harry is from Nevada speaks volumes to me. Then add that to the fact he’s a Mormon to boot, and I keep picturing horses heads in beds. The same goes for the other creep from Nevada Ensign.
Pelosi interview this morning, WaPo.
I admit it, Im totally confused. Im not a sausage connoiseur.
We just didn’t know the “‘Em” was Us!
and his tenure in he Senate. I would support someone like Frankin (to be silly), or Feingold (to be more serious).
Warmest regards,
Doc