Kent Conrad proudly tells us why the Senate Finance Committee Bill is a Republican Bill
By John Amato Thursday Sep 17, 2009 1:00pm
Watching Kent Conrad proudly read off the list of items that the Senate Finance Committee included or should I say turned over to the conservatives in their bill just to kowtow to the obstructionist minority party is just mind numbing. Why didn't Baucus just let Renzi and Grassley write the bill for the democrats? Didn't John McCain win the election? He's actually proud of what they've done. Republicans should just love this bill. It cuts out all the things that would have an impact on health care reform. Here's Kent Conrad's ode to da republicants.
Mitchell: How did you do? Are you guys going to get any Republicans to join you in this?
Conrad: Well, we certainly hope so. Look, they asked a series of things be excluded.
*They didn't want a public option, it's not in this package. They didn't want an employer mandate, it's not in this package.
*They wanted tax reforms so that the high end Cadillac plans would have a levy on them to discourage over utilization, that's part of the package.
*They didn't want illegals to benefit, many Democrats agreed, that's not in the package. Those here illegally will not benefit.
*They wanted to make certain that federal dollars not be used to support abortion and so they're not.
*There's the beginning of medical malpractice which many wanted to see be included. There's a clear statement on that.
So I hope that they'll see as we go through the process that there's much here that's worthy of their support....
If Mitch McConnell had told the Baucus Dogs that Americans should be required to produce at least three forms of ID to enter hospital emergency rooms, Conrad probably would have included that, too. In that respect I think the Republicans blew it. Luckily for us, Americans, Senators, Republicans and a lot of members of his own committee do not feel the same way.
Republicans don't like it because... it's a health care bill. Democrats don't like it because... it's a bad health care bill designed to kowtow to Republicans who won't even vote for it. Health care advocacy groups don't like it because it "would give a government-subsidized monopoly to the private insurance industry to sell their most profitable plans - high-deductible insurance - without having to face competition from a public health insurer." A good reason not to like it! And unions don't like it because there's no employer mandate and it would "tax health plans."
Even President Obama's response to the bill was terrible:
Despite months of anticipation, the White House on Wednesday stopped well short of endorsing Sen. Max Baucus's (D-Mont.) healthcare bill.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the release of Baucus's Senate Finance Committee healthcare legislation — the last of five committees to unveil a proposal — moved the legislative process along, but President Barack Obama still thinks the bill will change.
Oh, there is one group of people that love the Bacus bill:Insurance companies.
Following Baucus’ announcement, HealthNet shares increased by 3%, United Health Group Inc shares rose by 2.7%, Humana Inc. grew by 2.6%, Wellpoint stock gained 1.7% and Aetna Inc rose 1.6%...
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No bill at all.
that the point of a health-insurance bill was to provide good health insurance that people can afford so that they won't die of curable diseases or go broke by curing those curable diseases.
I didn't realize that the point of a health-insurance bill was to tell the Republicans "No hard feelings over that election thingy."
I honestly can't imagine how Conrad can say these things without thinking "What an emormous tool I am being." But then, I guess that's why I'm not a Senator. I'm probably forgetting all those times the Republicans went on TV and talked about how much they'd changed their bills to win the favor of Democrats.
No, actually I'm not.
to get North Dakota and Montana, or did the British just give them up
to buffer Alberta and British Columbia?
ummm got news for you ricky, only montana borders bc and alberta
Miss Teen South Carolina?
...ever played poker or negotiated with a car salesman before in their freaking lives?
Unbelievable. What a bunch of out-of-touch, pussywhipped failures. Who in the hell put these special kind of idiots in charge of "negotiations"?
I didn't know they were writing the bill for the corporate fascist nazi elite. Oh I guess I knew that.
Funny... I'm no longer interested in what these two have to say about much of anything. They had their chance and they fucked it up.
:)
A GINORMOUS waste of time and money.
This isn't a bill.
And we pay the salaries of these people- our so-called 'representatives'. People like Conrad and Baucus wasted countless hours of precious time with their incompetence and would be fired at any other job. These wet noodles make me sick. If only their constituents paid attention...
People died while the morons were playing their little bipartisan circlejerk game.
... to the post. I was thinking almost the same exact thing. What a waste of Space. This group has been kicking it for months. And we finally get something with zero chance of going anywhere.
When I see Conrad or Baucus talk and kneel to the right-wing...I always have this sense I've seen it somewhere before. I finally just figured it out a few seconds ago.
It's that "SQUEAL LIKE A PIG!" scene in "Deliverance".
Baucus and Conrad are the Ned Beatty character in the film. And the Republicans are...the Republicans in the film.
with Republicans. Or was that Anaconda?
Just go with the all Dem bill version and the hell with the obstructionist minority and just say "NO" party. Screw the Reslugs.
Oh sure they will..HA..HA..HA.
Just like they are going to help you get Re-Elected in 2012.
This kind of thinking is beyond Stupid,it's Delusional.
Oh, there is one group of people that love the Bacus bill:Insurance companies.
Was there ever any doubt that Max was writing this for his corporate masters? If so, the bill is the proof.
should cost these DINO's their jobs.
50 votes. VP as a tie breaker. Pres signs the bill. DONE!!
and we all know the good lord kills a fresh litter of kittens when the GOP's feelings get hurt!
That being said, poor Obama seems to be stuck with the equivalent of having to herd cats, these Dems (the blue dogs specially) are such a monumental collection of tools... it is embarrassing.
...but right now, you have only 42 solid votes in the Senate for a robust public option, and you 'd have to flip 8 "moderate" Dems in order to get to 50...and any one of the 8 can filibuster, requiring 60 votes for cloture. With no replacement for Ted Kennedy's seat, and the GOP united in opposition, it would be very tough even through reconciliation to ram a bill through...and the screeching from the GOP would be ear-splitting. (At least, even more so than now.)
Given Obama's instincts to play to the "center", and the willingness of Big Insura to throw cash around, I fear that the Baucus bill might end up being the one that gets Obama's signature...and if that happens, the Left should bolt the Dems forever. Better no bill pass and we start all over again next year with single payer as the foundation than to pass this monstrosity.
Anthony
need to be hit where it hurts. I watched a woman be interviewed on cnn and she was talking about how she wouldn't ask for someone else to pay her car insurance so why should she pay someone elses health insurance. America is the only country I know of that is brianwashed this badly.Every other country in the western world treats their citizens better. But I still hear americans spouting off as to how "america is the best country in the world"
With health care heading the way it seems there, I hardly think so
We can be, and we have a few good things going for us already - not the least of which is forums like this.
We have a bunch of work to do. Most of it undoing what the GOP and the "cons" have done over the last thirty years or so.
We can be good again, maybe even the best. It is a country of the people and in spite of all the RWNJ's - most people in our country are regular well meaning folks.
... potential to be something, and actually be something are two very different things.
What you just said, pretty much applies to every other place on earth...
where they???
Read the post by MJ Rosenberg on TPM. He posits that for a lot of these folks denying coverage is an inherent part of the racism that rules them.
the best at? By all indicators I have recently seen, we barely come anywhere near the best.
Oh, wait a minute...we kick frickin' ass on incarcerating citizens.
Hell yes.
max's bill help us, I can see the headlines now, NEED MORE GUARDS TO RUN PRISON'S, PEOPLE CANT PAY FOR INSURANCE, THEY GET TO GO TO PRISON.Just think,when you go to prison, they give you health care,FREE.
Conrad: "Well, we certainly hope so."
Sigh. Hope springs eternal in a dumb man's head.
I hear the title is 'How to negotiate from a position of strength and come away with nothing'.
Ladies and gentlemen, how on earth do you go into a negotiation; give the other side basically everything they want; and not at least get a concession that they will vote for it? How f***ing stupid is this guy?
If you determine early on that the other side won't support the bill regardless of what you do, why give them anything? I don't get it.
The Dems need to stop playing games and exercise the power they have to craft a bill that is worth the paper it's written on; this one surely isn't.
I am so sick of these spineless wimps who only care about the next election.
The Democrats Health Care Plan is a policy of appeasement! We feel sorry for the poor bastards who can't afford health insurance but it's not our responsibility!!
this is NOT "The Democrats Health Care Plan"; this is strictly the Max Baucus/Gang of Six plan. There is also the plan coming out of the Senate Heath Committee (now headed by Harkin (IA), who has practically guaranteed a plan with a public option will pass his committee), as well as HR 3200 (the House plan) and HR 676 (the single payer plan).
Actually, this could be more said to be the Max Baucus/Olympia Snowe plan, since it is basically taylor made to illicit her support.
Anthony
You do whatever it takes to stay afloat regardless of anyone's opinions coming out of the media megaphone.
And she's still saying she has concerns about the plan and won't sign on! This really pisses me off!
It is not okay for a very small minority to hold the rest of the country hostage to their laughably inadequate bill.
*
how can they have such "power" to halt change other then the Medical Industrial Nemesis and the MSM are doing all the dirty work?
"Conrad: Well, we certainly hope so. Look, they asked a series of things be excluded."** "So I hope that they'll see as we go through the process that there's much here that's worthy of their support."
that is pathetic
sounds more like a GOP plant than a democratic senator... in other words, he fits right in
This Conrad jackass along with Baucus, is a filthy stinking POS and garbage. I would spit in his face if I had the chance!
These dirty no-good SOB's know why the democrats won huge the last two elections. But it's awfully hard to do the right thing by your constituency, especially when you have no morals what-so-ever, and are only looking out for your next corporate fascist bribe.
Why don't they just have it tatooed on their heads: I am corrupt as hell, and I will screw you all day long for some corporate cash!
Dirty rotten ba***rds!
I have realized that voting for a democrat is a wasted vote. A vote for anything is a vote for a republican. There could be 1 republican congressperson in the senate and every law would be rewritten from an ultra conservative pro capitalist standpoint. dont think i'll be voting anymore or donating to political causes. it will save me about 3 hours on voting day, i'll take a nap instead.
I've actually had my eye on Conrad for a while. He was on Air America a lot, and often did well. And then history put him in the spotlight and he acted just like any other idiot. The funny thing is, I think he knows that, and sees it passing over his head. A mere, venal politician. Guilty.
I haven't heard anyone mention this yet, but how about giving health insurers a huge tax cut? Wouldn't that fix everything?
And if it doesn't do the trick, we can just grant them fully tax exempt status.
And if THAT doesn't fix it, we can privatize Social Security and let the insurance companies run it!
I mean, as long as we are going to turn to failed Republican ideas, why not really go for it with some gusto...
"A shit sandwich"
Just signed their own political death warrants.
I'm not sure when these bozos come up for re-election. But the next round would be poetic justice.
Conrad comes up for re-election in 2012. oh well. I have a feelin the same goes for Baucus.
But on a bright note, The AFL CIO says they will back Conrads opponent(D) in 2012. This guy is hard to figure out. On one hand,
"Conrad voted against approving use of military force in Iraq in 1991 and was one of only 23 senators to vote against the war resolution of 2002. While he initially voted in favor of the USA PATRIOT Act, he has been an opponent of warrantless wiretapping and of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. (source wiki)
And on the other hand, he pulls this stunt. Ins Co's deep pockets. Gotta
be.
WTF!!!!! Democrats control the White House, the House and senate, yet the Democrats STILL fall to their knees to grovel to the Republicans!!!!
At this point I fully expect the Republican to reclaim the White House, House and senate by 2012....this is sickning..
My message to the Democrats we put in office-
GROW A F*CKING BACKBONE!!!!!!!!
Talk about the ultimate insult...
Let's be honest. There was a poll out recently where most North Dakotans supported a public option. It's just their Senator thinks he knows better. He's really embarrassing himself by bragging about how Republican the bill is. Didn't he know about the 2008 election?
Or did his staffers not tell him? The Dems won, not the Republicans.
Kent is another bubble boy politician who has no idea what the ground game is.
For the North Korea school of negotiation. Make ridiculous demands often enough and promise wonderful things if the other side meets them, then pull out over the shape of the table.
So we had an August where the neo-cons could prance around and protest a bill that wasn't even written, and now Sen. Baucus has (to paraphrase "American President") spent twice as long as anybody else to produce a Health Care Reform Bill that has no chance of reforming health care.
Had the chairmen proceeded in the normal manner, the bill would have been out well in time to be put in with the rest in conference and we might have had something to discuss during the August break. Better lawmaking, but less entertaining. I, for one, could have stood less of that sort of entertainment very easily.
*They wanted tax reforms so that the high end Cadillac plans would have a levy on them to discourage over utilization, that's part of the package.
"over-utilization" = RATIONED CARE.
Wake up America!
Conrad is saying, look mitchell, the American people need to know that the health insurance people have been very to us in the senate. They have givin us money to run for office and more money to stay in office. Noe if the people want stuff in the bill then they are going to come up with some money too. Right now the health insurance companes have put 1.4 milliom dollars a day to get what they want.If people want things, they are going to have to put more that a $10 or a $20 in the pot. You know we here at the congress are going to take care of the people who take care of us. Its just like the Auto insurance, they gave millions to the state people and now "WE" have a LAW that makes sure YOU must have auto insurance. I know the rates have jumped about 250% but, if the people wanted cheap auto insurance, they should have given more money. In this bill we have made sure that the health insurance companies will not go broke. What, do you want them to go after a Tax bail out tooooo!
Holy shit with all of these concessions you would think the republicans still controlled everything. Oh wait they do. Baucus and Conrad are two of the most pussfied cretins in the world. These two tremendous losers would negotiate themselves out of winning the lottery. We elected the Democrats into power with huge majorities for this? How about fool me once assholes. Baucus, Conrad on Obama learned nothing from the stimulus bill. I don’t think even the republicans could have ever imagined just how super spineless and easily bitch slapped the democrats would be. The republicans are playing chicken with the democrat’s cowardness and they are winning. What a bunch worthless marks. And they wonder why they are in trouble in 2010.
This is not a "lose" for Baucus. He receives millions in donations from the health care INDUSTRY. Conflicts of interests be damned, this is America! He is doing what he must, and WINNING, not losing.
I, too, thought the Dems won the majority.
Well said, Servo.
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