In trying to get one-time Obama supporters to volunteer for the November election, I often hear this refrain: “The Democrats have sold us out. I’m tired of their spinelessness, their subservience to corporate interests. I’m staying home to teach them a lesson.” Not everyone responds this way, but enough do to make me worry, because if these people don’t show up and work to get others to vote, it could make the difference in race after neck-and-neck race, as a similar withdrawal of Democratic volunteers and voters did in 1994. As I’ve written, we either get past our broken hearts to help elect the best possible candidates between now and November, or cede even more power to the most destructive interests in America.
Tag: Ben Nelson
Jun 17 2010
Feinstein Feeding Right Wing Myth of Unemployed Enjoying No Jobs After Senate Vote
The Democratic Party holds the majority in the Senate, but increasing forgets why it exists, as it continues to enact the disaster capitalism scenario of a major party which screws over it constituents.
Today (Wed) the Senate voted against extending expired unemployment benefits, with 11 useless Democrats voting with the Republicans to increase human misery. Oh, and Plantation Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who just squeaked by in a Democratic primary because of her No Public Option health care stance ? She couldn’t be bothered to vote at all. http://www.senate.gov/legislat… Senate Vote #190 motion to agree with House amend. to Senate amend. American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010
At least people like Senator “He’s with us on everything but the war” Lieberman don’t pretend anymore. He was a NO. So were:
Nelson NB cornhusker strikes again
Webb VA
McCaskill MO
Bayh IN lame duck still can poop on your lawn
Begich AL
Feingold WI
Kohl WI
Landrieu LA isn’t she incredible
Menendez NJ
Nelson FL the other Nelson. on the Gulf.
Pryor AR
Mar 25 2010
Updated:And Back to the House We Go After Senate’s Pryor,Nelson,Lincoln Vote NO
David Dayen at Lake du Fire Dogs has been watching the Senate vote on the Reconciliation side car “fix” to the Health Insurance Bailout bill this morning.
http://news.firedoglake.com/20…
It passed, 56 to 43. V.P. Joe Biden was there, indicating that the administration didn’t quite trust the Democratic Senators to behave themselves. Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas (OPEC API IPAA, Mellon Scaife, & Koch Oil, Mutual of Omaha, & Walmart, LLC) voted against the reconciliation bill.
Surprise ! It has to now go back to the House again for another vote, saith the Parliamentarian
Remember when there was talk of how the amendment process in the Senate would only need a simple 50 vote majority under the rules of reconciliation, and therefore some Senator could offer an amendment with a Public Option, and there was Sen. Bennett’s (D, CO) letter http://bennet.senate.gov/newsr… going around with the signatures, and the People in Charge said Absolutely Not, we are taking no amendments on this because we can’t risk the Republicans delaying with their own ? An everybody got into line?
Surprise ! They were just kidding.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
How about putting it in the year 2011 Budget, Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota ?
“I’d be unwilling to kick up dust on some new matter before we’ve resolved this one,” he told reporters.
A status quo You Can Believe In.
They say over 25 million Americans will be left out of coverage. It’s more. They’re wrong, there’s 300 million who were planning on the Constitution covering them, and it’s still random, depending on which state you reside in.
But only the Democratic Party could try to get away with it, having drawn such courage from watching the Republicans cheer them on as they continue to thumb their noses at the core constituency who actually voted to put them in office, and had bothered to read the quaint old thing.
_______________
update:
AHIP Already kicking sick kids to the curb
nyceve has posted this story about America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP, think Karen Ignagni the lobbyist) which wrote much of the bill incognito, saying that it intreprets the new law as not requiring insurers to cover all child applicants this year. They would prefer to wait until 2014.
This bill is being “sold” as finally making insurance available for all children (except non legal residents) this year. Supposedly the Sec of HHS is going to issue a sternly worded clarification, or something. But insurers can jack up rates in the meantime-
Dec 23 2009
Sweetheart Deals
Attorney General Henry McMaster said he and his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas and Washington state – all Republicans – are jointly taking a look at the deal they’ve dubbed the “Nebraska compromise.”
“The Nebraska compromise, which permanently exempts Nebraska from paying Medicaid costs that Texas and all other 49 states must pay, may violate the United States Constitution – as well as other provisions of federal law,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.
Ramsey, McMaster and Michigan’s Mike Cox are running for governor in their states.
“Whether in the court of law or in the court of public opinion, we must bring an end to this culture of corruption,” McMaster said. The negotiations “on their face appear to be a form of vote buying paid for by taxpayers,” he said.
Video
Health care reform will be an Obama victory
Dec. 22: When Senate health care legislation finally passes, it will be a win for the president. NBC’s David Gregory offers analysis.
Nightly News
‘We’ll assist anyone’
McMaster is encouraging a South Carolina citizen to step forward to sue to challenge the measure if it is signed into law. “We’ll assist anyone to the extent that we’re able,” McMaster said.
Also Tuesday, U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said Republicans need to stop complaining about deals their colleagues made.
“Rather than sitting here and carping about what Nelson got for Nebraska, I would say to my friends on the other side of the aisle: Let’s get together and see what we can get for South Carolina,” Clyburn said.
For instance, Clyburn expects states will get more help covering Medicaid expansion costs. Critics say the federal government’s coverage of 91 percent of those future costs will disappear, leaving states with huge holes in their budgets. Clyburn says the legislation the federal share should be 95 percent, with states picking up no more than 5 percent.
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Feb 14 2009
Bipartisanship No, Working Majority Yes
The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.
In the grown up world, honorable and reasonable people may initially disagree but eventually compromise upon a collective review of empirical evidence. It was in this spirit, that the nascent Obama administration reached out to Republicans with respect to their proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which finally passed both houses of congress yesterday.