It has become obvious that The Republicans are out to destroy Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible. Including flat out lies designed to terrify people.
It became painfully obvious when at least a couple of SENATORS, people from that hotbed of collegiality and comity (that exists only in the mind of Dems) flat out said….”We are out to destroy Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible.”
It only took a few months and several dozen variations of republican Senators, Reps, and Limbaughs saying “We are out to destroy Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible.” Before, voila, a light bulb went off over every Democrats head and they all realized that, hey! the Republicans flat out saying….”We are out to destroy Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible.”
ACTUALLY meant…
“We are out to destroy Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible.”
Good job on decoding that, guys.
So after months of waiting while the Republicans on the Finance Committee stalled by making demands that were only intended to destroy Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible, months that the Republicans and their lobbyist owners used to flat out lie to and frighten the American people in their stated intent of destroying Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible, the Democrats are STARTING to figure out that …hmmm…perhaps we are not going to get Republican support for this bill.
And are finally starting to talk about passing it with sixty votes.
But now they noticed that, hey! you know all those people who have a big D behind their name? Some of THEM aren’t going to vote for this bill either!
Wow!
Even though we have watered down what is now a piece of shit legislation down with all of these concessions to Republicans and to Democrats who won’t support the President on his signature issue….
We STILL can’t get this bill passed!
Hey, all those REALLY smart guys in the Senate who we are supposed to respect…for some unknown reason…as the smartest and fairest guys in America said, let;s see what happens if we have the President float a trial balloon about eliminating the Public Option! Because, they cleverly thought, in all of their Senatorial glory, THEN, if we eliminate the Public Option…The Republicans and Democrats who won’t vote for the bill….STILL won’t vote for the bill and that will be progress!
< cue thunderous crashing from off stage Left >
Ok, THAT didn’t work.
Well, the genius brain trust of DC thought next, Now What? It sure does look like the only way we can get a bill, a bill that most Americans (those peons who elect us, remember them?) desperately want and need to be passed, past the Nihilist Republicans and Turncoat Dems is….to pass a really bad watered down bill, that sucks, and still contains all of the concessions to the Nihilist Republicans and Turncoat Dems through reconciliation!
That only takes 50 votes!
SURELY we can get 50 votes on the President’s, the President that most Americans (those peons who elect us, remember them?) voted for to the point of giving him a mandate to make Change, signature issue, right?
Right?
And hey! We will name this watered down piece of shit bill, that probably won’t work, after Ted Kennedy!
Man, we can pat our own backs after honoring him…. by screwing up Health Care Reform to the point it actually mandates Americans give MORE money to the Insurance Companies that have screwed them all of their lives while providing no alternative!
Woohoo!
Are we badass or what? We manged to capitulate to the Repubs, NOT hold our own Dems to party loyalty and supporting our new President, screw that American People AND name the entire piece of shit after one of the best Senators ever!!!
(Who would of course be horrified)
The moral of our tragedy: If you have to force a bill through using reconciliation….MAKE SURE IT IS A DAMN GOOD BILL.
Not some watered down piece of shit that won’t work.
Becuase, oh you Sages of the Senate….THAT is EXACTLY what the Republicans want.
They want you and Obama to own a bad HCR Bill.
Remember this? “We are out to destroy Obama by defeating his signature issue by any means possible.”
If you pass a BAD bill through reconciliation the Republicans can say once again, Mission Accomplished. Only this time they will be right.
What’s interesting about that is the tone more than anything else. The sell-outs are almost begging the Republicans to help them pass the terrible, insurance company giveaway bill they want so badly — and the Republicans just won’t cooperate. They are making the Democrats go this alone, which is the last thing they want to do because they have to face their own voters after passing something that won’t work — and now they know the Republicans will kill them no matter what they do. They have nowhere to hide.
If these Democrats had a brain in their heads they’d realize that the best way to maintain their power (and keep getting those big bucks) is to pass a good bill. Successful reform will be their only defense because the true political downside to passing a bad bill now is being out there alone selling out the American people all by themselves.
Get it, guys?
Here are a few hints:
You are in charge now.
The Republicans are trying to defeat you, not work with you.
You ARE going to have to use reconciliation.
Since you ARE going to have to use reconciliation….You have to pass a GOOD bill.
Because you own this now.
So throw out all the compromises and do. it. right.
Do what…..works.
Got it?
Because you may put Teddy’s name on it….but if you fuck this up it is on YOU and on President Obama.
Which brings us to our last point.
President Obama, this is your signature issue. The Republicans are trying to destroy you. The Democrats have their heads up their asses. (Which, incidentally, is why they can’t hear you OR The American People.) You simply CANNOT allow either the Republicans and the dumbass Senate Democrats to pass a bad bill.
Period.
It WILL destroy you. A bad bill that does not work will destroy you and your legacy. Remember 94. A bad bill is as bad as no bill, which destroyed the Dem Congress in 94.
If you do have to go to reconciliation and own this, and you will, YOU had better make damn sure the Senate doesn’t screw it up.
It may end up with Teddy’s name on it, but it will be yours, and it better be GOOD.
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Inspired by Hunter, in case you missed it
that democratic party is dead to me.
And have the decency not to put the Kennedy name on it, either. They’re double dead if they do that.
Scrap the bill, start over with SINGLE PAYER as the basis and reconcile that motherfuckers.
Sure, we won’t get single-payer, but let’s wake up those fucking insurance companies and make them compromise with us for a change. The Public Option could be a real one if the Democrats had begun with real change in mind, and the fact they didn’t shows who runs the show…and it ain’t us.
Bottom line – use Teddy for all he’s worth to get what we want and if we don’t, say adios to the two-party system.
g.
We lost a long-standing “friend.”
Last night on C-Span, there was a very robust townhall meeting on healthcare being held in Reston, Virginia, with Howard Dean and Rep. James Moran (D-VA). Howard Dean & Rep. Moran Health Care Town Hall in Reston, VA. Some of you might want to catch some of it!
Maybe, the Dems will do something GOOD, and honor us and Sen. Kennedy, at the same time!
If not, we should vigorously reject any “shit” bill that they attempt to foist upon us — better to have nothing at all.
to naming the Piece of Shit public option after Kennedy.
What kind of spineless appeasers are we?
What utter fools and douchebags support naming a mandatory “purchased” insurance with NO pharma negotiation after Kennedy?
I have been tweeting and writing since 6 am when I heard that HR 676 the ONLY single-payer bill be named after him…
and REFRAMED as the “Kennedy Expanded Medicare Bill” a term that gives people warm fuzzies rather than confusion and fear.
IF the R’s try & oppose THAT name, they will lose every senior vote, every handicapped vote and everyone attached to either.